Rules and principles
Sandra Dodd
So I'm working on this book, right? And it's supposed to be the
good parts of my site (the stuff I wrote, anyway; can't quote the best
of other people without finding them all and getting releases and all
that), and I thought it would be mostly cut and paste, but what chance
was there I could just cut and paste without commenting or rephrasing?
Some of the pages are way too long and just need a summary anyway.
So I was writing and this came out:
Rules discourage thought. Principles require thought.
I thought that might be a good addition to the record and the communal
thinking here.
When someone's going to follow a rule, the only choice he's making is
whether to follow the rule or break the rule. There's motive and
emotion in there.
When someone's going to make a decision based on a principle there's a
range of right answers!
http://sandradodd.com/rules (for those who are new to these ideas,
though much of what's above isn't there at all).
Sandra
good parts of my site (the stuff I wrote, anyway; can't quote the best
of other people without finding them all and getting releases and all
that), and I thought it would be mostly cut and paste, but what chance
was there I could just cut and paste without commenting or rephrasing?
Some of the pages are way too long and just need a summary anyway.
So I was writing and this came out:
Rules discourage thought. Principles require thought.
I thought that might be a good addition to the record and the communal
thinking here.
When someone's going to follow a rule, the only choice he's making is
whether to follow the rule or break the rule. There's motive and
emotion in there.
When someone's going to make a decision based on a principle there's a
range of right answers!
http://sandradodd.com/rules (for those who are new to these ideas,
though much of what's above isn't there at all).
Sandra
Brad Holcomb
>How does this work long-term? If I live a principle so often/much/long that
> Rules discourage thought. Principles require thought.
>
it becomes habitual, is thought still required? Will the principles then be
"habits"?
Is "thoughtful" living the same as "mindful" living?
I think I'm wanting to rewrite it in my mind as "Principles encourage
thought", since it balances the "discourage" better. Yet I can clearly see
that living by principles instead of rules requires thought, so I wonder why
am I reacting this way?
-=b.