Very wise words Mr Pup.
I was thinking much the same thing last night and was wondering how I could explain myself better without getting short with anyone. I am but a beginner in this and I am learning as I go but I am not a friend of ignorance and become short when I feel comments are put forward with very little thought but I will try harder.
I did come up with what I would call an acceptable area of agreement that I will endeavour to explain.
Often when we come across a falsity in order to get our point across in a short time to a majority of people it is simplified so much that the pendulum often swings back way to far.
That is what I believe has happened with “The Rules of Bonsai” In recent research I have discovered that In 1957, The Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes by Yuji Yoshimura and Giovanna M. Halford was published. This was seen as the "Bonsai Bible in English." It is from this work that the 'rules' of bonsai emerged.
They where followed religiously by the western world to create “authentic bonsai” After some time I imagine as we know Bonsai progression is often slow especially when learning from trial and error, it was realised that they just did not work as a set of rigid rules. This gave birth to suggestions of Learn the rules and then forget them, They are guidelines not rules, Style your bonsai how you see a tree, the rules don’t make real trees, Rules shmools, and the like. I think these comments are just as silly as following the rules religiously without thinking and has caused the pendulum to swing back too far the other way. I see an area in between These design principles are actually an amazing set of tools that are used to create an image of a large old tree in a small pot. To use them you must find the many variations each rule has inside it to bring the image of the tree out in your bonsai.
I don’t agree with how most of these rules are written The first rule on the list I linked to from Brent Waltson states.
Height should be six times the caliper of the trunk. Whoever wrote that should be shot it leads people to believe that if you are doing something different you are “breaking the rules” I would think the rule or Design Principle would be better written
Height of 6 times the caliper of the trunk is about the midway point of the usual ratios of height to trunk width which often range between 3-1 and 12-1. Then we could go on to explain how these different ratios affect the design of the tree and what will be challenging when going outside these ratios. I don’t see this as breaking or even bending the rules I believe this is what the rule really means. But to ignore this principle when designing a tree is not beneficial to the image of the tree or your imagination. It is like jumping out of a plane and trying to ignore the rules of physics.
Not all rules relate the same to a Bonsai as they do to full sized tree but the ratio rule is one that does as we discovered in the “Understanding Design Principles” thread.
I am not saying that you must sit down today and memorise all the rules but as you design your trees don’t ignore them as some believe but explore them think about what each rule means and why it is there whether it makes sense and find your own interpretation for each and every one as you progress your understanding.
So my acceptable area of agreement is anyone who takes the time to explore the rules and come up with their own interpretation of them. To follow them blindly or to pretend to ignore them sits out side that realm and I can’t see either as being better than the other.
Very well said Edward I like your thinking.
You are very much on the subject Jamie
I will dig out a link to an article that I think you might like.
It's too bad your in such a hurry cause the stories I could tell you, Bushels and baskets of stories, hole crates full of stories. But if you can spare a moment I will tell you one story.
taking the top half of trees of since 2005! 
