One of the biggest stumbling blocks about life is the litany of laws and rules that are laid out to help navigate its waters. Anything that is not a law or a rule is a guideline, and each has different tiers of consequences for not following them.

Laws vs Rules

Laws are meant to be unbreakable. Nature has laws. The universe has laws. They are unbreakable because there are few of them, and they're simple. The law of gravity is easy to understand. What goes up has to fall down. Even laws in religion are simple and straightforward. Karma is explained as "what goes around comes around". Jesus's most famous words were to love your neighbor.

Since they're easy to understand, the consequences of breaking laws are greater. It gets confusing because the laws of man are often more like rules. There's too many of them and they're obscure. They change from country to state or even city. Convoluting these "laws" makes them more like rules. The laws of man are different from the laws of the universe. Their consequences are different, too.

Rules need to be enforced. The enforcement may not happen for several years but still happens. This is another way that the laws of man are more like rules. The enforcement is not equal. Sometimes crimes are overlooked or swept under the rug. The consequences for violating these rules are decided by an imperfect judge, usually also a man. After the time and money are paid, there's rarely a sense of redemption or fulfillment because these violations of rules stay on your permanent record.

Certainly there are some laws that are there for good reason. There are instances like murder where the laws of man overlap with the laws of the universe. Yet, there remains a gray area where the laws of man function more like rules.

Rules vs Guidelines

While rules are written down somewhere, guidelines are more nuanced. They may be social customs. Maybe they're promises. They may even be unspoken. Guidelines may be legal but looked down upon socially. Smoking is an example of guidelines that change over time. Although it was once socially accepted, it's become less so now.

While rules are clear-cut, guidelines need context. Without context, they are easily misunderstood. What makes this particular difference even more convoluted is the enforcement of rules overlapping with accepted guidelines. There are some cultures where drinking beer at the age of 16 is accepted, while other cultures don't allow any form of drinking until the age of 21. So what's the rule and what's the guideline? Which has greater priority?

Since there is a much larger gray area between rules and guidelines compared to rules and laws, it's much harder to follow these guidelines universally without breaking any of them. Moreover, they change across time and location. So, older people used to following one set of guidelines quickly find that they become outdated as the times change.

Just Guidelines

The benefit to guidelines being what they are is that they are just guidelines. Sure, their consequences might be severe sometimes but they won't lock you up in prison or trap you in hell for all eternity or anything extreme like that. They might cause your social circle to look unfavorably on you. What's that to someone who is already used to being an outcast though? Lone wolves are not known to be fans of guidelines.

With each guideline there's a three main paths to take, willingly or not; uphold them, ignore them, or break them. This combination of guidelines and choices is at the heart of each personality and its change over time. As a person gets older, the guidelines they uphold, ignore, or break becomes more concrete over time. Yet, to maintain adaptability and survivability there has to be some flexibility and willingness to change. So what's the right answer here? It's not clear. Make your own principles. There's just guidelines.