Erlik I have to say I totally agree with you. Its like if you want to cross a river you need to sail it first. I think the most important thing though is to realize that the rules dont exist to begin with. But in my experience it had taken alot of playing by the rules before realizing I had to through them out. It came to a certain point in my creativity where it was like banging my head against a wall. That was because the rules no longer provided enough room to express my self, at that point the rules went out the window. But the cool thing about understanding the rules is that once you go beyond, the rules become your playground, it becomes a kind of game. You control the rules, they dont control you.