​Baba Is You is a puzzle game where word order matters. Rules can be changed - and usually must be changed - in order to win a level. Here's an example that shows the importance of word order:

The level's initial ruleset gives it standard puzzle game rules: You are the character (Baba), the win area is over there, obstacles are in the way. However, we can manipulate the Wall Is Stop rule by breaking the sequence of words, so that the walls no longer stop the character. And those words can be pushed around to make a new rule:

I pushed the Is down between Baba and Wall to create a rule specifying that Baba Is Wall, so Baba became that extra piece of wall right above the Is. That doesn't seem particularly useful, because it's not. But we get a much different situation by choosing a different word order:

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With Wall Is Baba, each piece of wall became another Baba, some of which are only a short distance from the win area with no obstacles in their way.

So I was contemplating the importance of word order along with this thread from @visakanv where he answers others' questions of what to do in life after reaching a threshold of stability or meaninglessness or power with "help people."

That ordering stands out to me. First they reach the threshold, then they help people as a next step. But why that order? Why not help people first? Help people first. First, help people. When we help people first, we show ourselves that being excellent to each other matters more than grappling with meaninglessness or acquiring power or even reaching stability.

"First, help people" feels more memorable to me than "help people first." The "first" gives it interesting mimetic fitness where it can incorporate other principles. Yes sure please do XYZ, but first, help people.

Of course the real world situation is more complex than my simplified frame with its focus on the words. The help people path often looks a lot like the gaining stability/power/meaning path. But I think it's useful to check in with oneself from time to time and get clear on the why under one's actions and decisions.

First, help people. That help could be for oneself or any number of people or even Earth. How could helping the planet not be helping people? Helping Earth as a way to help people reached me via the book Badji's Tales, which chronicles stories and lessons from an explorer of life's inner landscape.

Does our planet play games? It could have some encoded rule like "First, help people" or "First, help me" somewhere in its soil or its plants. That could be an interesting immune response from the planet to the destruction of its environments. A lot of nature's behavior is intelligent, after all.

This is the full anatomy of an idea about how the planet could be protecting itself by asking some of its people who seek higher consciousness to protect it. I will quote one last relevant excerpt from The Soul of Money:

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