I would argue that if one is afraid to make changes to the underlying (structural) code, then that is the time when one REALLY needs to sit down and restructure the code to clarify and clean it up.

Indeed, thank you for following through more fully on my thoughts. (By the way, who let you into my brain? Get out of there!) Just to clarify my original point a bit, when I said:

They fear causing new bugs. This is a legitimate fear, and definitely should be considered.

What I meant was that causing bugs is something one should legitimately worry about, not that changing important code should be feared. I further explained that I like to use test suites to help avoid creating new bugs, but your Meditation touches on another technique that can help. Namely, writing good, clean code in the first place, or doing a shakedown on code that isn't good and clean. Nice Meditation, in any case. ++