From: "Steve Morrison" <cpu@ottawa.com>
Date: Wed Sep 20, 2000 3:06 pm
Subject: Reality versus the 3 Fold Law


I had written this as a point/counter-point argument with myself
about action and inaction and choice and responsibility. I stood the
high moral ground in 1999 in a short and very ugly witch war and it
proved to be a watershed in my life, the lives of others around me,
and it showed the hypocrisy in the community as a whole.

The price of my actions cost me friends and some measure of stature,
however no great evil or misfortune has befallen me, as was the dire
predictions of those I "offended", their supporters and the
"touchy-
feely" elements of the community. Based on this and other events
I
have fully come to believe that the venerated 3 Fold Law, the Rede
and the concept of striving to maintain a universal balance has no
place in what I may call "serious witchcraft", or serious
magick
using. I have come to believe if you act with the "greater
good" in
mind, if you act without malice or envy, and if you act according to
the laws (the laws of the state and the laws of morality) no ill will
befall you.


Steve
93 and more



Ethic of 1999 - 3 Fold Law = 2000


I have never been a strong believer in the "3 Fold Law",
which
states that if you do something "good", "goodness"
shall be made
manifest in your life 3 fold for the good action you did with a pure
heart, and that if you do "deliberate evil", that misfortune
and woe
shall seek you out and your life shall become a wasteland. That is a
strictly foundless basis for either a lifestyle or a faith.

This I believe is strictly emotional and spiritual blackmail and a
very poor excuse for inaction, for apathy and for what I see as
cowardice of the "pagan" soul. It is akin to the Christian
concept of
Heaven and Hell as it is a reward system that evokes fear in you and
places limits what you can and cannot do based solely on the precepts
of the moral codes and personal faiths of others, without regard to
what the situation is and to what both your in your opinion deemed
good or evil by either you or society.

The 3 Fold Law, when taken with the "Oh, so noble"
misquoted,
misapplied and more-often-than-not misunderstood "Rede",
"Do what you
will, but harm ye none", we have the 19th century equivalent of
our
modern day Political Correctness and "NIMBYism".
We are given the justification for social and spiritual ennui and
given personal validation and empowerment to walk away. An iron-clad
excuse to do nothing, to not accept responsibility, to not soil our
pretty little hands.

With The Rede as with the 3 Fold Law you are having limits placed on
yourself. The intent of The Rede is not to allow you to interfere
with another's free will. What however is more limiting that The
Rede
itself? I can do whatever I want but I cannot "harm" others.
Every
action you take every move you make affects those around you and to
some degree you are harming many. Taken to extremes just by being
alive you are poisoning the Earth, depleting the amount of oxygen in
the atmosphere and taking up valuable space and resources.

The 3 Fold Law and The Rede are not spiritual guideposts, they are
not markers on the way nor do they contribute to ones spirituality in
any positive manner. What is more valuable and more worthy goals are
compassion, nobility, and accountability leading to acceptance of
your actions.

Personal contentment through spirituality is the highest goal we can
seek to attain, in its most basic form it is a realization and
rationalization of the relationship between you as an individual and
whatever it is that you seek or believe is the One Divine source. It
is the understanding that you are in an incredibly complex universe
and regardless of how many friends you have or who worships the
ground you walk upon that you are a very small part of that universe.
Nor does it matter how it is that others look at you, be it with love
or disdain, because you are an equal part of the universe.

Seeking an understanding with what it is that some would call
Divine, is the crux of any spiritual quest, spirituality is not
measured in stature in the community or wealth of materials and
spirituality is definitely not a popularity contest.

Too many people in this type of community lack the will, strength or
commitment to stand up and make a difference, too many people are
using false crutches like the 3 Fold Law and the Rede as a excuse to
do nothing and therefore be nothing. No movement, political, social
or religious was carried by the meek, no crusade of justice or
knowledge was completed by the timid, and nothing in the long history
of humanity was fulfilled by those who placed limits on themselves or
allowed others to place limits on them.

To complete this "Trinity" of falsehoods and hypocrisy of
faith is
the concept of Yin and Yang. The universal balances the eternal
struggle between "good and evil".
Newton stated "that for every action, there is an equal an
opposite
reaction", this would infer that for every contrite, pure good
act
you do an act of unspeakable horror must be consummated to continue
the balance of the universe. Every time you wish an acquaintance
"joy, happiness and prosperity" for the New Year, you are
inadvertently dooming someone else to a miserable pitiful existence?

So with this in mind apply it with the false rule of the 3 Fold Law.
If you wish me a happy long life, you are cursing someone else, and
you inadvertently are harming him or her, then three times the
misfortune that befalls them will befall you. If you curse me, then
as a deliberate act of malice you again stand to lose 3 times as much
as your actions were done with spiteful forethought.

With Taoist balance and the Rede, you are forced into apathy and
inaction as for every good work that you want to do, or
"will" to do
there is an equally disruptive act, and that leads to harm. "Do
what
you will, and harm ye none", becomes "Don't do what you
will (or
think) and harm everyone". If you act you harm; if you don't
act you
harm.

Do you really think that in the vast measureless scope of the
universe, or that somewhere within the countless threads of the
fabrics of time and space, or in the great universal oneness of
conscience thought that any action I do, or any action you do will
unmistakably alter the course of humanity or the cosmos. If you
believe it will you are delusional and likely for the most part
dangerous. What ever we do, we must do it without a spiritual fear.
Without such constraints as the 3 Fold Law, or without being
misguided by the Rede. If there is a Judgement, be it a Christian
damnation style, or Anuibus weighing our souls against the weight of
a feather, or that of a Hindu mind of moving to a higher or lower
plane of existance. We will be judged both on what we did do and
equally on what we did not do.

The systems of action and social conscience are not able to be
adapted to one another.
The 3 Fold Law is a limiting and confining "guilt trip" not
allowing
one to make hard choices and do the "right and noble" thing.
The
Rede, as an eight-word phrase is incomplete and in the context of the
entire text the Rede offer no more answers of insights to being
functional in either social or spiritual circles. The Taoist balance
hurts as many as it helps, and fosters apathy, inaction and ennui,
yet without any action the universe suffers from spiritual entropy
and neither light nor dark shall be victorious but all shall cease to
exist.

We must act. And we must act with a clear conscience and with a
noble intent, we must not allow the limits of an empty notion like
the 3 Fold Law prey upon our deepest fears and we must not be
constrained by a few hollow empty words like those found in the Rede.

Action has its own reward and that reward is strength. Strength of
Conviction, Strength of Purpose and Strength of Being. What more can
be asked of one seeking faith and questing for answers to spirituals
matters more than Conviction and Purpose and Being.
Personally, 1999 was an interesting year of challenges and obstacles
that on many if not most occasions events required decisive actions,
and many actions were unpopular or questioned by some. Perhaps even
in the eyes of some my actions were seen as evil, derisive, divisive
or malicious hateful acts. I did what had to be done, in the manner I
saw as correct and with seeking personal gain. I acted within the
parameters of my moral and ethical code. I feel anything I did I did
with a noble outlook and with integrity. Speaking without ego, it
would seem that the gods agree. As such, no three great things of an
ill nature have yet befallen me as per the 3 Fold Law. No great
cataclysm has smote my spirit. No great Divine judgement or all
consuming dark has embraced me. No one has acted against me or harmed
me as per the "intent" of the Rede.

1999, was a year of great conflict, and regardless of the threats
actions, threats against my life, the lies and ranting of some, I am
about to embark on the best year of my life, the most productive,
fruitful and rewarding. Why is this so?

Perhaps because the 3 Fold Law applies only to those too timid and
weak to ignore it and not to those who treat it as an empty and idle
threat brought forth by needing words to mask weakness. Perhaps the
Law is a winnowing tool of the gods used to separate the weak from
the strong. Those worthy of reward for actions from those to meek to
act upon the convictions they speak of, but fail to live up to.

Perhaps, because if you believe in the Rede and are going through
life "harming none", you have failed even before beginning.
For if I
harmed any this year or the many that I have been blamed for having
harmed over the past years, and now the Divine is rewarding me, then
I must have acted in good faith and without malicious intent and with
pure and spiritually correct motives. These things I say that are
becoming very positive to me in my life, must have by Taoist balance
caused great pain to others.

Unless I am lying about either the good things happening or in
harming others I prevented a great evil from being done. Either the 3
Fold Law and the Rede and the notion of balance are false statements
or I have been vindicated in the eyes of the gods for the truth and
correctness all my actions in 1999.


srm (2000)