The trouble with rules is that they cause lawyers.Any time anyone, anywhere, comes up with a code of conduct, law, morals or what-have-you, there immediately is created a class of people who will begin looking for loopholes and ways to take advantage of them. Some of the greatest blowups in history have occurred because people were unable to agree on the rules. Often they occur when, for one reason or another, someone decides that the rules that “everyone” agrees upon no longer apply to him (Henry VIII and the schism of the Church of England from the Church of Rome), or when someone decides that the rules are simply wrong (Martin Luther and the 95 Theses).

The harder we try to pin things down, the more difficult it becomes. We either end up having to ignore the rules altogether, or we have to become our own moral lawyers–and encouraging people to justify their own behavior by dancing a little sidestep is not a good idea. It can be habit-forming.

We cannot carry a spiritual advisor around in our pocket to tell us how to live. Imperatives such as “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” by trying to pin things down specifically, leave too much need for loopholes. Clearly there are times when we must kill, if we ourselves are to survive.

Is it possible to have guidelines for living that are applicable to real life? Yes–but only if we allow for human frailty and error. We need precepts that draw us toward ideals, but that allow for human imperfection. Here are some that have served well for many centuries.

Try ‘em on for size. Of course, your mileage may vary.