What’s the difference between following the rules and being righteous?
A lot of us tend to conflate these two concepts but they are definitely not the same thing.
In fact, rules can actually lead us away from becoming righteous individuals, if we’re not careful.
This is because authentic righteousness isn’t just doing the right thing or even knowing you’re doing the right thing.
As Paul Rosenberg puts it, it’s doing the right thing by your own will.
What he means is that we don’t improve our inner workings by following rules.
Instead, that amounts to surrendering our inner workings to someone else’s external control.
When we work to improve our own desire to do things that are worthwhile and courageous, we strengthen our souls and we begin to see ourselves as a source of benefit to the world around us.
That’s what righteousness is and it’s something that’s desperately needed at every level of society.
Under the rules model, our inner goodness takes a backseat to something external, meaning our goodness isn’t inherent but subordinate to someone else’s rules.
Under the other model, our goodness originates from our inner mechanisms and is freely chosen.
This gives us the ability to become objectively better people who grow and expand their goodness.
The person who surrenders his or her judgment to rules is highly unlikely to show courage and to stand up for the oppressed.
But the man or woman who summons the courage to act beyond the rules is the actual hero.
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