Just as an example, we can consider the precept about not to lie, but to speak the truth. That's the fourth precept. If we take a hard, unyielding stance, we might end up actually causing harm, and not recognizing that there are some unique situations where not disclosing information, or even making fabrications, is called for. And this is something that I've come to appreciate in interacting with and caring for my 91 year old father, who has moderate to severe dementia is clarity of mind comes and goes. And lying to someone who has significant memory loss, or dementia can actually be the most compassionate thing to do. In that correcting them can cause a great deal of distress, confusion, anxiety. My father will often say to me, and sometimes he doesn't know who I am that I'm his daughter. But sometimes he'll say to me, can you take me home? I need to get a ride back to Staten Island. And if I say, Dad, you are home. This is your home. You've been living here for more than 15 years. What are you talking about? If I were to say that he would become extremely distressed and agitated. But if instead I say, Sure, I can take you there. But you know what? It's kind of late. It's too late to leave now. Why don't we wait until the morning and leave after breakfast? Then he looks at me and smiles. He said yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Everything de escalates and he drops it. And because of his condition, he doesn't remember it in the morning. And this lying which I do all the time. Kind of going with the flow really helps us to connect in that moment. And it helps him to stay calm and relaxed. Another example of the nuances of the precepts Is it in the first precept to cherish all life? Should we take that literally. If an animal, say perhaps your pet, dog or cat is seriously injured, or in a great deal of pain, because of a terminal illness, euthanasia might be the right thing to do to free them from suffering. But then again, when we look at human behavior, we can get into more more thorny terrain, such as in the case of how to respond to acts of gun violence, terrorism, genocide, and any number of harmful acts or or atrocities that we humans are capable of carrying out. How do we cherish life in those circumstances? There is no one way there's no formula each each situation is different. But without having clarity of mind, we run the risk of causing more harm, if we respond out of hatred or aversion. So taking the precepts too rigidly is a pitfall. But so is allowing for too much slack. Some of us might be inclined to treat the precepts as not so important to practice, perhaps even telling ourselves that morality and standards, they're just empty. After all, everything's empty. Well, yeah, in the absolute sense. There's no birth or death, nothing to steal, nothing to disparage, or defile. From the very beginning, nothing to transgress. Nothing to harm. But that's just one side of the coin. On the other side is the relative, the realm of differentiation, that gives rise to our experience of being and acting in the world. If we overemphasize, emphasize or cling to the emptiness side, we're failing to see how our thoughts speech, and the actions have consequences for our relationships to others, and to the planet. So instead, we need to work on them in a more balanced way, the Middle Way, avoiding the two extremes while exploring how to adapt them to the life that we're living.