Know the Why

Only then you can effectively tweak or break a rule

Society is based on a number of rules. Most people follow these rules without thinking about why the rules were formulated in the first place. Blindly following rules is dangerous and in case you may need to break the rules then there is a high possibility that you will have a sense of guilt and it will be detrimental to the sustenance of society.

Examples of a few rules

Marriage is considered sanctimonious in most societies across the world. Marriage as an institution was formulated millennia ago when women were dependent upon men for their needs. It served as a rule where men were provided with a permanent sex partner while women had someone to fulfill their needs.

Marriage is so deeply ingrained in society that even pre-marital affairs are condemned and if anyone has post-marital affairs then he has to deal with social outcasting.

Another rule in society is that elders have to be respected. This rule was formulated at a time when society did not change a lot. People who were old had a better experience about how to lead life and the same had to be imbibed by the youngsters.

Similarly, society has quite a number of rules that were formulated in earlier times but are still followed blindly by its people.

Understanding the reason is paramount

There are two kinds of people who break the rules of society. One kind would not pay heed to why the rules were formulated in the first place and would simply do what they feel right. The responsible people would try to understand the reasoning behind the formulation of rules in the first place and would evaluate if tweaking the rules based on the current scenario will it lead to the de-stability of the society.

People in the former case are not leaders and do not think about the whole society. They may simply break rules that suit their needs without thinking about how it would affect the other members of society.

“People who do understand the reasoning behind the formulation of rules would tweak the rules only so much so that they are not suppressed and at the same time there are no negative repercussions for the whole society if many more people were to follow their path.”

Example: Shyam is a person who does not pay heed to the reasons behind the formulation of various rules in society. He got married to Tina and had 2 kids. Later he got attracted to another woman and decided to go with her. He had another kid with the other woman and then moved on with pursuing another woman. All his ex-wives were dependent upon him for financial needs but Shyam didn’t care about them and followed his desires.

Shyam did not have an understanding of the reasons behind the formulation of rules so simply broke one rule after the other. Breaking the rule is not a problem but the process should be well thought out. If everyone in the society follows Shyam’s path then eventually society would not be able to sustain itself and it would lead to chaos.

Valentin on the other hand was married to Cristina. Both were earning well but Christina was abusive towards Valentin. Though the societal rule of marriage says that men should cater to women’s needs but in this case, Valentin decided he had enough and decided to quit the marriage. His decision was well thought out. He understood the reasons for the formulation of the institution of marriage and was sure that his step would not be detrimental to the stability of society. He did not have kids with Christina and moreover, she was self-sufficient so breaking the marriage would not harm anyone.

Krishna is an adolescent boy from a conservative society. The societal rule tells that affair before marriage is bad and that a physical relationship is only allowed within the purview of marriage. Though Krishna is quite young he analyzed the reasons for this rule and came to the conclusion that society would be repressive when people in it have suppressed emotions. Moreover, in current times marriage takes place when one gets quite old and there is no means of handling the bubbling of sexual energy in an adolescent. Thus, he decided to break this rule of society and went ahead and had affair with the girl he loved.

Ram was taught that elders should be respected no matter what. This respect comes with following their directions. This is unacceptable in today’s world. Society has undergone a considerable amount of change and the older generation has no idea about the issues that the younger generation faces. Ram would look at sensual clips from the internet and have guilt feelings as their elders would not approve of it. He decided to break this rule of society where one needs to follow the elders and went ahead with calming his overflowing sexual needs by watching sensual scenes on the internet. He would do so only in private space and would affect nobody. His act was in direct conflict with respecting elders and their ideas but he thought about it well and went ahead with his act. This in no way would affect the stability of society.

Conclusion

Understanding the reasons behind the formulation of various societal rules is paramount if someone is trying to tweak or break such rules. Without understanding the reasons if someone breaks the rule then there is no limit to which he can go. There is also a high probability that such an act would be highly dangerous for society.

A person who understands the reasoning behind the rules would be quite responsible for tweaking or breaking the rule. Actually, he would pave the way for adjustments in the rule in a manner such that the social fabric does not break and at the same time the rules adapt to the current needs of the person. Hope many people tread this path so that society evolves based on current needs and people do not have unnecessary guilt within them. Following this process would create a more harmonious society.