The Law of Plan

Made on purpose, by design — with the maker's intention still inside the thing.

1. 01Brought into being by a maker rather than by accident
2. 02Formed and given shape where there was none
3. 03Designed — intention present before the first material
4. 04Caused to exist; called out of nothing into something
5. 05Fashioned with care, as a garment is cut to a body
6. 06Appointed to a purpose at the moment of making
7. 07Wonderfully and fearfully made, down to the unseen parts
8. 08Original — not copied from another thing
9. 09Instituted; established as a standing thing
10. 10Begotten of a plan that existed before the thing did
11. 11Composed of parts that were chosen, not gathered
12. 12Owned by its maker, and therefore accountable to a design

To stand out and remain — to hold your own head above water before anything else is asked of you.

1. 01To be — to have actual being rather than intention only
2. 02From ex + sistere: to stand out, to stand forth
3. 03To continue to be; to remain in spite of pressure
4. 04To keep one's head above water; to subsist
5. 05To occupy a real place, not a hoped-for one
6. 06To live — to carry on the business of being alive
7. 07To be found present when someone looks
8. 08To endure through a stretch of time, however plain
9. 09To have standing; to be counted among what is real
10. 10To be extant — still here, still going

The unit — added to anything and then multiplied, it always increases.

1. 01The first number; the beginning of all counting
2. 02A single unit — the smallest thing that can be increased
3. 03Unity: many parts regarded as a whole
4. 04The multiplier that leaves a thing itself, and the addend that grows it
5. 05One person — the irreducible place all work begins
6. 06The first of a series, which sets the pattern of the rest
7. 07Wholeness; being undivided within oneself
8. 08A single day, moment or page — the only unit actually available
9. 09The one, singular in kind: unmatched, unequalled
10. 10Agreement — as when two are said to be one

Makeable — it can be done. The blueprint is doable and the maker is reachable.

1. 01Able to be made; capable of being brought into being
2. 02Doable — within reach of real hands and real days
3. 03Achievable by design rather than by luck
4. 04Possible in fact, not merely in theory
5. 05Producible with the materials actually available
6. 06Buildable from a plan that already exists
7. 07Attainable — the distance between here and it is measurable
8. 08Feasible when broken into its parts
9. 09Reproducible, so it can be made more than once
10. 10Open to being formed; not fixed or finished
11. 11Reachable, as the maker himself is reachable
12. 12Waiting on a builder rather than on permission

To rise above the line — past existing and into surpassing.

1. 01To be superior in quality or achievement
2. 02From excellere — to rise up, to be eminent
3. 03To surpass what was previously done, including one's own last work
4. 04To outdo without needing to diminish another
5. 05To be very good at one particular thing
6. 06To exceed the standard rather than meet it
7. 07To distinguish oneself by the quality of the work
8. 08To go beyond the requirement on purpose
9. 09To shine; to stand above the ordinary level
10. 10To be preeminent in a field by mastery, not volume

A living structure whose parts feed each other — a body, not a bolted machine.

1. 01A living being made of parts that depend on one another
2. 02A whole in which each member serves the life of the rest
3. 03Any structured system organised as if it were alive
4. 04A body — arranged, ordered, fitted together
5. 05An entity that grows rather than being assembled
6. 06A form capable of self-repair and reproduction
7. 07A community acting as a single living thing
8. 08An institution whose health can be measured like a body's
9. 09Something that must be fed, not merely operated
10. 10A design in which nothing is decorative — every part has an office

Making, not only made — the mastery level of the plan.

1. 01Having the power to bring new things into being
2. 02Inventive — able to find the way where none is marked
3. 03Originating rather than repeating
4. 04Imaginative in the practical sense: able to see it before it exists
5. 05Fertile; productive of more than was put in
6. 06Resourceful under limitation
7. 07Generative — one work seeds the next
8. 08Formative: giving shape to what is still unshaped
9. 09Artistic in execution as well as intention
10. 10Free — not bound to the only way it has been done
11. 11Visionary, holding the finished thing in mind while building
12. 12Life-giving; what she touches becomes able to make in turn

To lift a thing up — everything can be raised, ascended and increased.

1. 01To raise high; to lift up in rank or honour
2. 02From exaltare — to make high
3. 03To elevate the standing of a person or a thing
4. 04To praise in a way that actually increases what is praised
5. 05To dignify — to treat as worthy and thereby make it worthier
6. 06To promote to a higher office
7. 07To intensify; to heighten the quality of
8. 08To glorify what is good so others can see it
9. 09To lift out of low estate
10. 10To ascend a thing rung by rung rather than replacing it

The bow of understanding — not mere obedience, but adherence to how a thing is made.

1. 01A movement of the body expressing deep respect — a bow
2. 02Homage; honour rendered to rightful authority
3. 03Deference given knowingly, not extracted
4. 04Adherence to a law because its working is understood
5. 05Submission that is chosen and therefore powerful
6. 06Reverence — regard for the order a thing was built on
7. 07Allegiance, pledged and kept
8. 08Courtesy toward the design rather than argument with it
9. 09The posture that precedes being lifted up
10. 10Acknowledgement that a law holds whether or not one likes it