Obey the rules!

This has intrigued me ever since I was little.

Imagine if you were talking to someone one day (someone in authority), and you were talking about what the rules were (for whatever situation you are in - work, uni, whatever). And they said this:

"The rules are: obey the rules."

And you say, "But what are the rules?"
And they say, "I've just told you. The rules are, obey the rules."
"So what rules am I obeying?"
"Obey the rules."
"But how can I obey them if I don't know what they are?"
"But I've told you what they are."
"So I have to obey the rules."
"Yes."
"What rules were they, again?"

And on and on. It frustrates me occasionally. But then it makes sense - one of the rules is implicitly that you have to obey the rules, or there would be no point in them, would there?

Sometimes I find the same thing with God. Only He's not so frustrating :-)
"If you love me, you will obey what I command."
Okay God, what do You command?
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."
And how do I love you?
"Obey what I command." So what do You command? (see above) And you know the ongoing cycle.

But there are other commands as well. So we can actually be practical and DO something (like loving people, forgiving them, doing stuff for them), instead of sitting around stuck in a permanent catch-22.
This is because God gives much clearer directions than the boofhead who says, "The rules are, obey the rules."