Regular readers should have figured out that Fight Club is a favorite here. And yet, it’s a hard movie to recommend – “graphic” doesn’t begin to describe it.

The the kernel of the short story that came before the novel, that came before the movie, was rules.

Author Chuck Palahniuk said in the afterword to the novel that the inspiration came from movies and books for women that defined social order and relationships, such as How to Make an American Quilt. He wanted to do the same for men, and the result became a cult classic. Fight Club could have been about any topic, according to Palahniuk; the crux of it all was the rules.

For those unfamiliar with the rules, here they are as kinetic typography:

Every culture, every community, every tribe has rules. Christianity has more than just the Ten Commandments, when you stop and think about it. The first and second rule of fight club are interesting in that they are not followed and may not have intended to be followed. Or perhaps it was meant to mean share it, but don’t just talk about it, for discussing the group itself is often disastrous (guys, you know what I mean).

Back on topic: “Go forth and teach all nations” is a rule. Judge by the fruits. Fear not those that harm the body, but those that kill the soul. These are the rules of Christianity in the world.

Monastic communities follow a “Rule of Life,” a spiritual structure by which they grow through limitation. This doesn’t just apply to guys, of course. As C.S. Lewis observed in The Screwtape Letters, we are animals; we are material as well as spiritual. Ritual and rules are for our beneifit, not God’s. And as we tell ourselves we don’t need to go to church, we don’t need to kneel to pray, we don’t need this or that ritual, we slip into laziness.

Monastic, or even club rules, define the life we live with the community we live in. Our community is not of this world, and our rule of life should enforce the priority of the eternal over the passing world’s trends, fads, and desires – even so-called necessities such as nest eggs and reliable transportation.

Have you even considered the Rule of Life you live? Do you more closely follow the Rule of Life of your workplace, your school, or other worldly communities than one of an eternal revolution?