A precept (prēˌsept) is defined as a noun that means: a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought.
Simply put, precepts exist to protect you from yourself when you are weak.
The real issue is that most people cannot recognize when they are weak and what this means. Specifically, most people are prone to doing the wrong thing when their will is weak. From personal experience this is not when you are suffering from cancer and dying in a bed. At that point in time most people have a very focused will on one issue: staying alive.
A weakness in will usually exhibits itself when you are lit up on a huge load of vital energy/chi/prana/whatever. At that point in time, you feel like a demi-god. And if the old Norse and Grecco-Roman stories provide any kind of guide this is when that part of you that you spend most of your waking hours ignoring says, “That guy was really disrespectful, you should kick his ass.” And you do…
Or it says, “Go to the tea house and have unprotected sex with a dozen women.” And you do…
Or it says, “It’s only a little cocaine.” And you do…
Precepts prevent this from happening by saying instead, “Hey brother, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. That will get you 5 to 10.”
Religion provides an excellent basis for creating your own personal set of precepts. The Ten Commandments, the Five Precepts of Buddhism, the 13 Principles of Faith all provide an excellent guideline for determining your own personal set of precepts. Or, as Franz Bardon would say, “bind yourself and be free.”
In short, develop your own personal set of precepts and hold to them like your life depends upon it. As it very well may…
