{took some liberties, went lengthier than intended/ideal}--but I hope I provided what you were after. [also forgive my lack of editing] ______ the strong rule the weak (and the ruler can be defined as strong by his ruling --until he no longer does). To be the Master of ones environment--he must be the strongest. One must fight for the resources to survive and advantage must be taken forcefully when it changes hands (as no one gives up benefits to another willingly where the other gains an unfair upper hand [let's avoid pure equality for argument sake]), Survival and procreation are the primal drives that matter not by what means they are achieved by--only *that* they are. Nature is absolute in it's unfairness here; ends by any means; the only determiner is victory, and victory achieved without rules is done by strength alone to take it (power, cunning, etc.). I don't think any of this negates Honor and Nobility or Civility in any way: but the rules of Nature must be made known in order to not fall victim to "their absence". That is: just because you are Civil and Honest--it does bot mean your enemy will not be barberic, deceptive, and under-handed. If he kills you or extinguishes your race--you should have defended accordingly because: Strength is the lone determiner--the power to take/keep--and in this world of limited resources individuals will always be seeking someone else's: in the end Right and Wrong are meaningless philosophies compared with invaders plundering your community (only the strength to forcefully deter them Will deter them [even if by Ideas]. all of these illustrate the nature of the universe as forever able to be destroyed, unbalanced, and usurped--you are never secure until you have secured you position beyond the corrupting grasp the undeserving envious. Even the Buddha said "nothing is permanent" & "the world is suffering"--but here we have no cosmic justice, only the strength attain/keep power (the lesson is: *we* must be strong, because *we* are Good; the Bad must be stopped in the competition of Nature, but there is no guarantee we will succeed , so we must be as strong and able as possible). we are obviously in a ceaseless struggle for existence if the above held any water for you.