rules for living (and dying)

The more I think about it, the more I believe that in life there are really only two basic rules to follow. I haven't decided yet if one is any more important than the other. The rules are to not hurt yourself and not hurt others. If you want to put that in positive behavioral terms, the rules are to be good to yourself and to be good to others. I think the rules take on a slightly different meaning when you put them in positive rather than negative terms, but they are essentially the same.
It seems to me that there are far more names for these rules than necessary. I mean, who is anyone kidding? No one came up with this stuff. No one can claim it. All the rules, standards, or suggestions for living life that I've heard that are any good essentially boil down to these two rules. So why do we need all the rest? Can't we figure out for ourselves whats best? Sadly, we have a hard time deciphering what is best for us, so most of us look to other sources for help in making decisions.
Here's the thing. I think we actually do know what is best. I think if we just broke it down and actually thought about the impact of our decisions on ourselves and on other people we could come up with the best answer. The problem is that so few of us do that. Really, no one does that all of the time. That friends, is why we as people seek out laws and religions and anything else to give us more direct guidance about how to live. Because life is just so much easier with fewer choices to make.
Alas, no matter how hard any of us try, we will inevitably come face to face with a problem that requires us to think beyond all of our immediate answers. Most of us will feel ill prepared because after all, haven't we been working to avoid this? Shouldn't we already have an answer for this? The fact is that there is no way to have an answer ready for everything. We have to be able to look within ourselves and find what is right. We have to be able to evaluate the potential impact on ourselves and on others. These are the real rules, the rules not only to live by but also to die by.