Premise
Some actions cannot be undone within reasonable time, or at all: a merge
to the canonical branch, a deploy to production, a DROP TABLE, a force
push. Before any such action, the priest performs the Three Questions.
This is extended: the form is new, but it is faithful to the wise man learns from the death of others (Law 14) and to the principle that ritual is a guard against the failures of flesh.
The questions
Asked aloud, or thought clearly, in this exact order:
1. Did I read what I am about to change?
Not “did I write it.” Not “do I understand it from memory.” Did I, in this sitting, read the diff / the manifest / the migration / the script that is about to execute? Yes or no.
If no: stop. Read.
2. Have I confirmed the current state, before changing it?
The state of the system right now, as it actually is — not as it was at the start of the work, not as it should be. Have I observed the current state — the running version, the row count, the live config — within the last few minutes?
If no: stop. Observe.
3. Do I know how to undo this?
If the action goes wrong in a way I have not anticipated, what is my restore path? Who do I tell? What backup do I touch? What command do I type?
If no: stop. Plan.
Discipline
Three honest yeses: proceed. Any no: do not proceed. Stop the rite, address the gap, and start the Three Questions again from the top. Partial yeses are not yeses.
Operational claim
Most production incidents in personal infrastructure can be traced to one or more of these three questions having been answered with a soft yes that, on reflection, was actually a no. Performing the rite strictly converts soft yeses to honest noes, and honest noes are correctable in advance.