Rules, rules, and rules. Sometimes we get sick of following the rules. In fact many times the rules appear to be quite illogical and unreasonable. The road is free of traffic and good for driving at the speed of 70 and yet there is a speed limit of 50. There are so many compliance requirements by so many of the laws that seem complex and unnecessary. Not only the rules, but at times systems seem quite complex. Sometimes, the social conventions appear to be out of sync with the present-day reality.
Probably these rules and customs develop over a period of time in order to help human beings grow. As an individual, we would not have been able to face the tough weather, wild animals, and diseases. It was the need of the hour to organize in the form of a community and that is what we did. Organization in the communities required certain rules: whether written or unwritten. Firstly we developed language and then we used that language to communicate with each other and then grew different conventions and customs that were required to be followed by everybody to be a member of the community. These customs and conventions gradually became traditions and some of them got embedded in the culture and some in the religion. That provided some common thought processes to the community that could bring some degree of consensus in the decision-making process. Slowly, as the societies grew, they codified these conventions and traditions in the form of laws and rules.
There is no doubt that these rules and traditions help us live and grow as a community. However, with the change of the time, these traditions and rules also need reexamination. That is where conflicts start. The older generation generally lived a significant part of their life with these traditions and rules while the new generation is born in a different time and space. They find many of these rules and traditions to be illogical and irrelevant. However, the older generation can not understand and appreciate the perspective of the new generation.
Generally, some of the members of the society develop vested interests in these rules and traditions. They drive pleasure or power out of these. Some of them become experts and like the younger members to approach them for guidance regarding them as experts. Challenging the customs undermines their authority. Some of the older members feel that if the new thought process is encouraged, they would not be able to justify the way they lived their lives.
Most of us forget the substance and stick to the form. We forget that these customs, traditions, and rules were meant to keep us organized as human beings to ensure smooth survival and opportunities for growth. However, over a period of time, many of these become actually hindrances to human growth. The people with vested interests are not allowed to raise their voices for change. As and when there is a voice for the change these vested interests try to kill those voices. It happened with Socrates, Galileo and Jusus, and many more like them.
Human beings are primarily thinking beings and it is impossible for any evolved human being not to think. Freedom of thought and expression is not only a fundamental human need but also a fundamental right recognized by almost all the constitutions of countries around the world. I believe that for the customs, traditions, and rules to stay relevant, they need to be reviewed and revised in view of the changing time and space. Else sooner or later they become irrelevant. However, if the communities are aware of the changes in the ecosystem and revise their rules and customs as per the changing times, that avoids many conflicts and inculcates huge confidence regarding the rules and customs among the members of the society. I feel that such an aware society stays high in terms of happiness as well as development because development takes place automatically when people stay happy.
It is equally important that the rules and customs recognise individual difference. Not everybody is sane. We are not machines. Everybody has a unique constitution. We all are slowly evolving from darkness of the matter to the light of the divine to realise sooner or later that we all are different forms of the same consciousness. Realisation of that unity in the diversity places the rules and customs appropriately. They stay relevant so long as human beings are guided by basic instincts unaware of their core. That moment they become aware of the depth of their being, they no longer need any rules. Their life will automagically be guided by compassion and collaboration. They are guided by internal union and don’t require external rules and conventions.
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