over the weekend, a friend and i were discussing my personal "Rules," the axioms and principles around which i (try very hard) to structure my decision-making, ethics, and behavior... and i realized that although i talk about them a lot, ive never really codified them in any form. i think its pretty important to have a record of these kinds of foundational things, because without it you can forget about important parts of them, or not realize how they have shifted with time (perhaps to your detriment)... also, i think its important just to affirm that you HAVE rules, that youre at least attempting to be guided by more than random happenstance.

because this is a non-trivial undertaking, because there are a LOT of them (well, maybe not so many, but more than just a few), and because honestly i cant come up with all of them right off the top of my head (although i should be able to, see above) ill be breaking these into pieces, probably spread out over quite a lot time. the first few will come fairly quickly, because theyre the "prime directives" as it were, and are always right up front in the thought-process-loop.

for the 3 regular readers i still have, this may not be that interesting. youve probably already heard me talk about these rules at one time or another, probably more than once. for the random readers that wander across this blog from time to time, feel free to use them or dont. if there is a common theme in the rules, its one of free will and personal responsibility, so make your own decision about what is useful to you.

that said, without further ado: the rules.

these first three are the main underpinning of my entire ethical/actional framework. i evaluate virtually everything i do in their context, even seemingly trivial things, and as such they almost operate below the level of consciousness except in the occasions where i am having to seriously deliberate on a course of action.

#1 - Always know WHAT you're doing.

on the surface of it, you would think this is pretty obvious, right? i mean, how can you do something and not know youre doing it? easy, it happens to people all the time. even me, and when you consider how hard i try to be aware, imagine how much worse it is when you arent making an effort. most of the time even the least-introspective people have SOME sense of what they are doing, but often not an understanding of the fullness of their actions... this rule requires that you, to whatever extent possible, FULLY grasp what you are doing, from the large to the small, in all its component parts, for any given decision/action. an adherence to this rule should lead to a greater awareness of the internal forces behind your actions, and a greater awareness of any potential consequences arising from them... which ties in to the next two rules.

#2 - Always know WHY you're doing it.

yet another seemingly obvious one, and yet i am continually amazed how many people, when really pressed, cannot come up with WHY they did something (past "because i wanted to")... it seems like most people work on an almost entirely subconscious level at all times, utterly unaware of their own internal motivations or reasoning (where reasoning even exists)... if you dont understand why you do a thing, there is a reasonably good chance you arent even aware you are doing it (see #1) and you almost certainly arent going to be ready to accept responsibility for it (see #3)... honest examination of why you do things helps keep you on an even keel and makes it harder for you to be manipulated by both your own internal irrationalities, and by external influences (often, people)... you cant act as a free agent (as much as anyone ever is) under your own free will if you dont understand the why of what you do.

#3 - Always be prepared to accept the consequences for your actions, even if those consequences are unintended or unanticipated!

Actions (that is, things that happen in the world) and decisions (things that happen internally, and often lead to actions) have consequences. sometimes the consequences are so small as to be irrelevant for all practical purposes. sometimes the consequences are so major as to be life-changing (both for yourself and for other people). mostly, they fall somewhere in between. If you have been evaluating your actions with the first two rules of the prime triumvirate, odds are, the potential range of consequences are probably well enumerated and understood. before taking an action or making a decision, you should be willing to accept those consequences. if you arent, its a good bet you should be doing whatever it is youre about to do, no matter how badly you might want to. however, it isnt enough to merely be willing to accept the consequences you expect... you have to accept that you have imperfect information, and that there are always factors outside your control that can influence outcomes... just because they were unexpected or unanticipated doesnt let you off the hook. you accept those consequences, make decisions on how to deal with them, and begin a new action cycle, in accordance with these rules all over again. it is a continual feedback loop.


these are the core directives, and the first... however, these rules werent enough. they merely formed an OPERATIONAL framework, not a MORAL or ETHICAL framework. these rules help me to be more aware, clear, and directed... but not be a better person. you could easily conduct, say, a campaign of genocide under these rules, or be a psychopath, or serial rapist... and probably be very effective at it.

i realized i needed more to guide me to who i wanted to be... and that will come in future installments.