Receipts

Law of Tradition: Every purchase needs a receipt.

Is a receipt anything more than a statement of distrust? It’s basically a piece of paper that is proof something happened. More often than not you receive one of these most frequently at the grocery store where it’s completely unnecessary seeing as in order to get one you had to have paid. I certainly don’t see the staff stopping everyone at the door checking their receipts so the stopping shoplifting theory is out. I suppose a benefit would be on returning something. Most places require proof that you purchased the item from them but definitely not all of them. There are many well-known businesses that will take returns from anywhere so long as they sell the item too. Receipts sure can be handy but it’s certainly in a state of overkill these days.

To Defy the Law of Tradition: say no more to receipts. Many businesses now’adays will ask you if you want a receipt. Say no if it’s something that just isn’t necessary. A few examples when not necessary; tacos; gum; most food items; any purchase less than a dollar; heck, any purchase under ten dollars; firewood; flowers; etc. you get the picture. I’ve been collecting these piles of receipts for years and throwing them away at the end of the day but it’s really just wasted time. I shouldn’t be throwing them away because I should never be accepting them most of the time.

What can you purchase?

Law of Tradition – You earn money
This is wrong. Money isn’t earned, it is rationed to you like food stamps. I think of money now as resource stamps that are doled out so you can then choose which resources you need the most. The entity that controls the money, the federal reserve, has such an elaborate system of controlling these resource stamps, it is beyond the comprehension and out of awareness for most. The myth would be that money is important in regulating resources. The reality is that it is important for controlling the resources for the benefit of very few. Instead of intelligently using our resources, we are beholden to resource slavery. Jacque Fresco refers to this as a rule of scarcity where those in control give the impression that the resources are scarce and that we need to be careful about how we distribute them with money being the lubricant to distribute them. If an item is becoming scarce then lets think intelligently about how to replace/supplement/etc. to serve everyone instead of using a system where those with enough of those ‘prezidential baseball cards’ get to make all the trades. In the worst cases they ignore everyone else and in the best case they embrace everyone around them.

Easier said than done, I know.

To defy the Law of Tradition – think and act with everyone in mind. Think intelligently about your issues and how they affect those around us, and more importantly how to sustainably solve them. Vow to create a sustainable solution to an everyday issue that you and others encounter. Live life to the fullest.

Dare you put your bare feet on the ground?

Law of Tradition

Cover your feet up so you’re not conductive with the ground most of the time. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that shoes started to completely isolate us from the ground we walk on. Now’a’days most shoes have rubber soles that isolate you from the ground. You stop conducting the earths natural energy when you do this. The negatively charged electrons can no longer pass into your body if your skin isn’t in contact with the ground. This leads to all sorts of health issues and emerging new research is down right amazing around this issue.

To Defy the Law of Tradition

Get into Earthing. The Earthing Institute continues to release amazing research on the benefits of earthing. I watched a particularly jaw-dropping video about earthing with flowers. The results are too clear to ignore.

Laws of Tradition

In my formative dissenting days one of my favorite anthems was To Defy the Laws of Tradition by Primus. The first couple of lyrics to the song say it all…

“What if Christmas didn’t come this year? Who would cry the biggest tear..the child or the store?”

For years I thought the lyrics were ‘To defy the laws of tradition, is a crusade only of the brain’ but later discovered it is ‘a crusade only of the brave’. Ultimately, they are both true, it is a crusade for the brave and might only take a crusading of your mind to embrace. The Idea that things happen, often as a result of habit (aka…tradition) with sometimes little thought to how it applies holistically was of interest to me then and still is today. Several times a day I encounter these laws of tradition or perhaps even ideas pretending to be a law of tradition. I have become more attuned to spotting them these days and wish to capture and share these laws of tradition with my own twist as they arise.

 

Shipping cost should be less than what’s being shipped

Law of Tradition

The price of shipping and handling should be less than the cost of the products that are being shipped. I

‘ve often looked at shipping and handling charge as what it costs to ship the item but have come to find out there’s much more to shipping and handling than just the cost of shipping. There are many models in which a business can handle shipping and handling costs and each has their own unique flavor: marketing, incentives, ,simply making more money at your expense, or combinations of various strategies to ultimately turn a profit. Generally, if I’m ordering and item that will include shipping and handling I go for the cheapest option because I’ve been following the law of tradition that I shouldn’t spend any more money than I have to unless it’s absolutely necessary. More recently I’ve noticed pricing online where the majority of the cost is in the shipping and handling of an item. I’ve seen items that cost fifty cents but have seven dollars in s&h. There are no standards I’ve seen in the way s&h is calculated from site to site. Of course, there are similarities across the board but I never quite know what to expect when ponying up for an item before it hits the shopping cart to see the true price it’ll cost me.

To Defy the Law of Tradition

Think less about what an item costs and more about what it is worth to you in your overall budgetary diet. Don’t be alarmed when an item has s&h charges that were more than you expected, but instead simply understand that the business has chosen a certain way to charge them to maximize profits…well a profitable business anyway. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are some that simply have no understanding of it. Shopping locally can potentially be another excellent way to defy this law of tradition. Based on prices I see of items in a local shop vs. elsewhere (online, another country, etc.) it’ll save you some dough if you purchase it locally.

Does every one have your best interest in mind?

Law of Tradition
That when it comes to your livelihood, others have your best interest in mind. Naturally, we all have our best interest in mind. Sometimes these interests overlap with others interests and form a relationship. Other times, they are polar opposites. It is ultimately a matter of personal interest and intelligence. In many societies it’s difficult to have the interests of others in mind due to the way the people interact with each other. In the US, for example, we associate nearly everything to money now’a’days. When the country’s well-being is looked at it’s based on money distribution: jobs, national spending, national debt, etc. It’s generally acceptable to think when you want to take care of your own well-being you ensure you have enough money to do so. Also generally acceptable; if you don’t have enough money then your state of well-being is in jeopardy.

To Defy the Law of Tradition
Keep your best interests in mind all the time and define yourself by them. It is in your best interest to keep all of your surroundings in mind and support them. By supporting them, they are supporting you. This cycle is incredibly important to the well-being of everyone and if the circle is broken the domino-effect of decline begins across all things. This is present in a lot of popular sayings, often said without consideration for well-being: “What goes up must come down”, “What goes around comes around”, “those are the breaks”, “you reap what you sow” – all sayings about this cycle and its affect. If I were to stop this waterfall up top then everything downstream would stop benefiting from it, and thus I will stop benefiting from things downstream. It’s in my best interest not to stop up this flow of water. Since resources are generally only available with money, and clearly there are those that are blocking it’s flow as well, don’t be a blocker to defy this law of tradition.

Spelling and Grammar

Law of Tradition
There is a correct and incorrect way to accomplish spelling and grammar. I see the boundaries of correct and incorrect being fairly far from each other forming a sizable gray area in which I live. The ultimate purpose is to communicate an idea to someone else and if this is accomplished you have used spelling and grammar correctly. Where I’ve seen folks take this law too far is taking time to inform someone of every spelling and grammar mistake you find. Naturally, there are degrees of understanding and comprehension to spelling and grammar and each of us has a unique level of those attributes. I find mistakes in folks use of s/g that have less of those attributes and folks that have more of those attributes find mistakes in my use of s/g. With all those unique levels we create a spectrum that is diverse and rich. Is the goal of pointing out differences between the levels to meld us all into one single non-unique s&g band? That doesn’t sounds nearly as innovative as having a unique spectrum. On the flip-side there are items which I think are a common courtesy to spell correctly such as proper nouns which show respect and that you’re paying attention to whom you are addressing, not particularly the message that you’re delivering. Lastly, there are cases where, of course, it is a business critical element to have the most correct or incorrect s/g to communicate the message. In those cases though it is more of a marketing decision than anything.

To Defy the Law of Tradition
When observing another persons spelling and grammar…

  • Take note of misspelling/grammatical mistakes if you must but if those elements aren’t important to the message per say then keep them to yourself. I feel superior, you feel superior, we all feel superior.
  • Take the opportunity to sharpen your skills as you observe the skill levels of others.
  • Actions (s/g), can be relative, so what you see as correct another may see as incorrect and visa versa.