Why Ethics?

By Robin Wood; copyright Robin Wood 1999; used by permission
http://www.robinwood.com/LivingtreeGrove/Ethics/EthicsSet.html

The whole question of ethics is very important, I believe, for those on a Wiccan/Pagan path.
Most of us were brought up with rules to follow. We were "good" if we obeyed the rules, and "bad" if we did not. Very clear cut, very black-and-white, very simple. But here we have no rules. We have no Bible, no Koran, not even a Book of Mao!

Does this mean that we have complete moral license, and can do anything we want, and there are no consequences?

I don't think so. The Universe is always aware of everything we do; and it tries to give us exactly what we expect, and what we need. It determines these things from the way we act. So if we are completely selfish it assumes that, as we are unwilling to lend anyone a hand, we must not want anyone to help us at all. And that is precisely what it gives us. It surrounds us with people who won't give us the time of day. If, on the other hand, we are generous, it assumes that we must want generosity from those around us. So it surrounds us with others who are generous as well.

Just as in physics, all of our actions create reactions in the Universe. But instead of the reaction being equal and opposite, it's the very same thing, magnified. That is the Three-Fold Law, and there is more about it in the Ethics Frequently Asked Questions section.
Rules were originally made to help those who were unwilling or unable to think through the consequences of their actions. We make rules for children, because we want them to grow to adulthood. We don't try to explain electrocution, we tell them, "Don't touch the cord."
But eventually children grow up, and can understand all about electricity, and when to touch the cord and when not to and why. At that point, the rules become obsolete, because reasoning has replaced rules.

So, for us, reasoning must replace the rules. We can no more chew on the cord now than we could when we were tiny. But now we know why. In just that way, we can no more simply throttle the people who annoy us now than we could when we were trying to follow the rules. The difference is that now we know why.

Far from giving us complete license, having no rules to follow means that we have to be even more thoughtful and aware of the consequences of our actions. There are no loopholes in the laws of cause and effect. Whatever we do, for good or ill, will come back to us; there is no one judging us, and no one is going to grant us forgiveness for anything, or let us escape the consequences of our actions.

So the obvious course is to make sure the consequences are going to be something we like! And we do that by being careful about our actions in the first place.

Of course, we all make mistakes. These give us wonderful learning opportunities. And I don't know about you, but I try to learn my lessons (especially the uncomfortable ones) right away! If I can do that, I won't have to take this part of the course over again. Because that's what it comes down to. I think we are here to learn, and have fun, and help other people learn and have fun (not necessarily in that order.) And the better we learn, the more fun it is.

When we make mistakes, I recommend going to whoever we harmed, apologizing, and trying our very best to reverse the harm, in whatever way the person hurts wants us to. That sends a clear signal to the Universe that you have learned. And if you have learned, you will be able to avoid the same mistake when the Universe gives you another opportunity to excel, by handing you the same problem again, and seeing what you do with it this time!

And all of that will, I think, make us more ethical than we were when we were just following rules, without thinking about them at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Wiccan Rede, anyway?
The Wiccan Rede is the closest we have to an ethical guide that all the Craft agrees to. It's supposed to be ancient, or at least based on ancient text; but like so much else, there is no real proof of that, to the best of my knowledge. But it does seem to be very widespread, and it holds a lot of truth and common sense, so I tend to think that it doesn't much matter if it is actually ancient, or if it was written recently!

It comes in a long form, but what you will usually hear is the last couplet,
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill -
An it harm none, do what ye will.

Of course, in modern English, that would be "As long as it doesn't harm anyone, do what you have the will to do."

Whole books can be written about the implications of this phrase. (In fact, I wrote one!) But I'll to try to summarize the whole thing right here.

To begin with, I think that it is necessary to start by being honest, at least with yourself. Without that, it's way too easy to fool yourself about the rest of it; to say, "I don't think this will harm anyone," when you really know, deep inside, that it's bound to - but it's what you feel like doing right now, and so you want to do it. For instance, a spell to make a specific person fall in love with you is going to harm both you and the other person, because it denies that person's right to make their own decisions about the direction their life is going, and that's really really bad for your karma. Deep inside, you probably know that. But if you really want them, you may decide to ignore that if you aren't being honest with yourself. (By the way, a quick rule of thumb to help yourself decide; if it would be unethical to do something by mundane means, it's unethical to do it by magical means. If you think it would be wrong for you to hold a gun to someone's head to force them to be with you, it's unethical to do the same thing with a spell!)

Then you have to realize what harm is, as opposed to hurt. I define harm as wantonly damaging or destroying someone or something, or as interfering with another's ability to choose their own path. You will probably have your own definition. (I think that the really important part is to think it through, and know what your definitions are.) In those cases where someone is going to get hurt, such as breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend, I would say that what we are trying to do here is to minimize the harm. How that is done, of course, depends on the individuals involved. Every case is a special case; that's why a simple list of "do" and "do not" doesn't work very well.

And you have to realize that when you say "harm none," you are included in that statement! After all, you are someone too. Don't harm yourself either. But to get to that point, you have to have a realistic self image, (rare in this society.) In a few words, we must all realize that we are exactly as important as any one other person. It might help here to pretend that you aren't the person in the situation; it's someone else. Then it becomes relatively easy realize, "Sal is really sick, and has to go home now, even if it means breaking up the party." when it might make you feel too selfish to say, "I am really sick, and need to go home. Sorry everyone." Or, if you are a different kind of person, you might realize that it's not fair for everyone to have to go to a certain restaurant when only Fred wants to, and half the group can't afford it. This is still true, even if you are Fred! (I made up these names, by the way. You should too, when you are doing this; I wouldn't recommend using the names of read people.)

There is lots more, which I don't really have the space to go into now, about what love really is, and how (and when) to help people. But the other important thing to realize is what will is.
When the Rede says, "Do as you Will," it's not talking about "do what you want." Will is another thing entirely, a more active principle. We focus our wills, and then things happen. As I say in my book, it's the difference between thinking an apple would sure be good right now, and getting out of the comfy chair walking into the kitchen, and getting one! When we will things, we think about them. We have to, in order to focus. And when you start thinking about things, and thinking through the consequences of your actions to be sure no one (including yourself) will be harmed, and doing all of this honestly, with love, laughter, and wisdom; then you are engaged in Witchy behavior!

For those who are curious, there also exists a much longer set of laws. It's said to have been handed down for several centuries, and I have found it in several different traditions. It's simply called The 161 Laws. Bits of it are very interesting; we especially like the bit about "They must be light as Thistledown." Although we tend to look at ourselves, and say, "Well, maybe two or three thistledown!" We also tend to use the phrase, "Speak not to me of such things, for they frighten me!" all over the place, whenever we encounter something we don't want to talk about.

Is it OK to stop someone from harming other people?
Another tricky question.
Before I would answer this, I would ask, "How sure are you that there is really harm? If you are really sure, are you willing to take the consequences of trying to stop it?"
Whenever you interfere with another's choices, there is a price to be paid. What it comes down to is; are you willing to pay the price?

When you try to stop a gunman, there are several possible consequences. You might succeed, and no one gets killed. You might succeed, but the gunman gets killed. You might keep him from killing some of the people who would otherwise have gotten killed. You might fail completely, and get killed yourself. And so on. And those are just the mundane consequences! On other levels, it gets even more complex. Are you willing to risk it?

We can't ever know exactly what all the consequences for any action are on all levels, or even all the consequences on the purely mundane level, before we decide to act. And keep in mind that not acting is also an action.

We can allow this to paralyze us, and never do anything for fear of harming someone, or interfering with another's life choices. Or we can use all the knowledge and wisdom that we do have, and go ahead with love, and try our best. Acting with all the wisdom and love you have won't save you from the natural consequences of your actions. But it's all we can do, so we do it!

We will make mistakes. It's the only thing that's really guaranteed! But we can live through them, and learn from them. We can learn from them even if we don't live through them!
So there aren't any simple answers for this question (or for most of the others.) It's something that you will have to decide for yourself when the question comes up. And then it's something you will have to take the natural consequences for, and live with, and learn from no matter what you decide. But then, life is like that. Remember, we are here to have fun, learn things, and help other people have fun and learn things!

People keep telling me about the Threefold Law. What exactly is that?
The Three-Fold Law is simply the principle that whatever you send out returns to you three times. It's not a law like a traffic law, it's a law like the Law of Gravity. You can't break it, no matter how hard you try, and there is no way around it. It's simply true.

Anything you send out into the Universe is reflected back, multiplied.

In practice, that means that if you are nasty, you will get three times as much nastiness back. If you are kind, you will get three times the kindness back. If you are stingy, other people will be stingy to you. If you are generous, they will be generous. You get the idea.

It's been known for a long time. You can see it at work all around. People tend to have friends who are basically the same kind of people they are. If you stand in a bank line, and watch the people, the friendly ones have friendly tellers, the business like ones have business like tellers, and the ones who want to argue have tellers who don't want to help at all. The tellers are the same; only their attitudes reflect the customers. (Banks are a good place to watch, because the same people go in all the time, and the tellers get to know them; but it happens everywhere.)

If you don't believe me, try it in your own life. Smile, even if you don't feel like it, and greet everyone as if they were a real person. Be friendly and polite. Betcha that before the day is over, you will really feel like smiling, and that people will be much more likely to want to help you.

It works on a larger scale, too, although it's not as easy to see.

I've had someone tell me that it can't be true, because the sharp, nasty business man is accruing mountains of wealth, while the really nice old guy on the corner is barely scraping by on his Social Security check. But I think they are looking in the wrong place. Don't look at the bank account, look at their faces. Which one do you think is happier? That is what counts. Money is only money; but happiness is real wealth!