What you should follow and what you shouldn't. (Week 273)

--- >There are certain questions that are often answered with the word “it depends.” It depends on many things, circumstances, events, and realities. ---  --- Rules and instructions are not the same thing; one is mandatory, apparently, and the other is a guide for doing something. Instructions do not oblige us to do anything; they simply tell us the best way to do something or carry out an activity. If we do not follow the guide, we may not be able to complete the activity or, for example, in the case of instructions for assembling a piece of furniture, we may end up with a piece of craftwork or abstract art, but not a functional piece of furniture. In that sense, common sense tells me that I should follow the instructions as a way to reach a goal. But it is something very specific. Like the instructions for baking a birthday cake, if I use ingredients other than those in the instructions, I will not get the cake I want. It will be a cake, but not the one I want. >In this way, I am reaching a goal, so it is important to follow the instructions correctly as a strategy to that end. --- --- Rules are something different, and there are many types of rules, including self-imposed ones. There are rules at work, in society, general rules, and other more specific ones. The norm leads me to have to do something or behave in a certain way, as an obligation, otherwise there could be consequences, sanctions. An example of this would be the rules that protect forests and natural areas, especially to prevent fires, as it is our duty, for example, not to light fires there or smoke or do anything that could cause a fire, but there are people who cause them intentionally, as in many of the fires that occurred in Spain. There is also a rule that says these places must be cleaned up by the government, but this has not been done. There should be penalties for everyone. This is just one example of a social and environmental rule, but there are many others. >I always follow rules like this and also those related to work. They are there for a reason, and if I don't like them, I should look for something else, right? If I accept something, I accept it with its rules, and if not, I face the consequences. ---  --- Now... there are rules that can affect the private sphere of human beings and that contradict higher principles, rules that can affect people's freedom and privacy, and even their health. So in these cases, when rules are imposed that violate fundamental and genuine natural principles and could cause harm to me or my loved ones, I evaluate and study the situation very carefully. Although I always evaluate and consider rules, even when I comply with them, in these cases I do so much more thoroughly. If they are rules imposed to the detriment of freedom, health, or that affect my ability to make decisions about myself, my body, and my way of thinking, I will not follow them. There have been rules like this that in the long run have caused terrible harm and deprived people of their critical thinking and ability to make decisions about themselves, and that is terrible. >Power often corrupts those who create the rules and believe themselves to be superior, affecting people and failing to consider that we are all human beings, not some superior to others, and often causing serious harm to society. I don't want that for myself or for anyone else. --- |||| |-|-|-| |||| |||| The important thing is to always have the ability to discern and think for ourselves, without harming anyone, following general guidelines. This and many other topics are raised by @galenkp in the interesting [weekend topics](https://peakd.com/hive-168869/@galenkp/weekend-engagement-topics-week-273). Thank you very much for that. Thank you very much for joining me today. I wish you all a very good weekend. See you soon. Amonet. |||| |-|-|-| |||| |||| _{All photographs are my own. Used translator [Deepl.com](https://www.deepl.com/translator) free version.}