The rule is short.
In a recursive construction, an operation applies to a result of the operation. A finite instruction can generate intricate forms. The complexity of the output does not require an equally long list of instructions.
THE RETURN / KEEP A STOPPING CONDITION
REPEAT THE OPERATION / INSPECT THE CONDITIONS
Again.
Not the same.
The scale is smaller.
Exact self-similarity belongs to specified mathematical constructions. A natural system may resemble itself only statistically, within a range of scales. Its material sets limits.
the original crease is still here →The account changes.
Changing resolution can require changing the useful description. Scale transformations help ask which relations persist and which details stop governing the behavior under study.
The image becomes a practice.
Use the same question at a sentence, a page, and a project: what is being kept, what is being lost, what relation matters? Do not insist that the same answer must work at each level.
repeat once more
The recurrence has a stopping condition: when the question produces no new distinction, close the notebook and act at the smallest useful scale.
inspect the grain before the next return →
A loose leaf: Wilson / Changing scale ↗