Hey Everyone!

*hugs*

Hope you all had a good holiday!

I have a question I want to ask y'all (just to get a general idea)  how do YOU view your particular path?

Is it all good? (do no harm ever)

Is is dark? ( Do what I want no matter the consequences)

Is is grey? ( Try not to harm anyone but sometimes it happens)

Or is it something completely different like the "ripple" effect vs Karma?

Let the discussion begin!


(I tried asking this question on Yahoo Answers and the responses weren't what I was expecting, so I figured I'd tried it here and see what happens.

Thanks Everyone!

Bramble

I don't think anything is "all good" anymore than it is totally dark.....depends upon the intention as well as the knowledge of the participants involved....
You can still have things go wrong (unintended consequences) even if you are careful and thoughtful in your practice
Karma in my opinion is part of the path, whether we want it to be or not...
and so is the "ripple" or "butterfly" effect.......which is why it is wise to ask for the universal or higher good to be served first....whatever your path..

just my 2 cents worth...

I'm definitely in the shades of grey line of thinking.

Sometimes light grey sometimes charcoal.

Regardless of what people say they are, I'm with Novia, I think most of us are a bit on the gray to darkling gray side.  I say this because nature demands that we be balanced in all things, even if it is "good" and "evil".  If there is light, there is dark.  For those who are acquainted with the bible, "God" created the light and the dark and called them day and night, and it was GOOD!  There is not much that I see as "evil" in things that are dark simply because they are dark.  I believe that we as practitioners of magick SHOULD use a bit of the "other" stuff in cases where it is necessary...i.e. abuse, neglect, murder, injustice, etc.  We have that right, as long as we understand the consequences.  Do we have consequences for acting out of a just motive against someone?  I believe it depends on our intention behind it.  Are we doing it for justice or are we doing it for revenge?  This is where it gets shaky and where we really have to question our motives and do a lot of soul searching before we make our magickal move.  If someone has harmed many people and we don't see the justice system doing anything about it, (which happens more than we know!), hell YES! we should do something to stop them, and that does fall within the realm of "Black" Magick because it is messing with someone's freedom, free will and various other factors.  Of course there's stuff out there that we shouldn't do at all.  Manipulating people just for your own gain or for sport is wrong and karma does tend to kick you.  I believe very strongly in karma because of all I've experienced in my own life, and I believe VERY strongly that what you do (within reason) comes back to you pretty heavily.  We DO have moral obligations to uphold that center around peace, but if peace is to be had by magickally "smiting" some dude that raped a little girl and left her body in a dumpster, then so mote it be!

I tend to believe the same as seamonster.  I believe that what you send out you will get back.  Actually, from my experience, perception, is that you get back better or worse than what you send out.  (this is going to sound really weird, but you can't be self-righteous about it, or expecting more back....)  Then I can't help but think that good and bad equal each other.  I know that people say there is more bad in the world today, but I can't help but think 'that means there is also more good'.  We don't see it because we tend to see more bad than good, and therefore the media plays on that. (bad news is what sells).  
Here is another question.
good vs bad...............now consider karma.
Isn't smiting "the dude that raped the little girl" karma 'but' 2 bads???

And so it goes....what if....what if we're wrong.....Smiting the one we think is guilty but instead it's the wrong guy. Now we are not only not fixing anything we are creating a whole new set of victims...ours.
We cannot usually go about smiting another person without also harming others in his/her life...
I do think we can bind another from harming others...which is what most of us would first seek to do.

Its easier to be angry to meet evil with evil but all that gets us generally is more evil. I am always amazed at the cruelty and heartlessness that exists in the world and there is no way that only a few perverse individuals are responsible for it all.

my view point would be instead of 'smiting' the supposed guilty party , why not think of the families of those affected or the spirit of the girl involved in such example??? there's where the positive energy flows and can be directed in a way of avoiding negative thoughts or deeds (in some cases it is very hard to distance yourself from the negative aspect of things especially if it is close to home!). as said before, life is balance. take my example; my aunt died at 50 from cancer. she was like a second mother to me. i got very upset at the time and blamed God (christian viewpoint at time) for takin her away from me, but looking back now my circumstances completely changed at the time that i was on placement year at uni, which meant i was at home for 5 months and was able to spend time everyday with her towards the end, not many people get that valuable time with loved ones!!! this to this day was a wonderful gift i was given, and yes she is gone. but she left a closer friend and guide than she was before.

as said every cloud has a lining. its just seeing it that is hard.
next time your focus is on something negative, try to flip it to see why it is negative (such as why is so and so treating me like crap, to i wonder if they are under stress to make them so irrational) and help the person instead of slate them.

wow what a ramble for me
hope this helps some and if not well it has in the least warmed my fingers up from the cold here in not so sunny n.ireland!!!!


peace  to all.

in answer to you bramble i do view my path as hopefully being all good as so far i have only done rituals for myself ( i am only at the start of my path so views may change with experience) so therefore i undertake the consequences directly, but i do believe in karma/the rule of three and try to do right by others and help in anyway possible as u never know when u may need help yourself!!!!


lucky!

My thinking is this: You can do anything you want to do as long as you are not breaking the law or doing it with evil intent.

I make it a point to take others into consideration and see as many sides of the situation and possible outcomes (good and/or bad) before I continue forward.  Sometimes I have to wade thru the mud to get to the clean water ~ or the island as the case may be.

I also believe in karma and try to put good out there, however everyone has bad days.

Another thing that I believe is that we all have a destiny ~ there is a reason why we are here however we may never know what that reason is ~ and once we fullfill that "reason" we move on to our next existence.  With that being said, I also believe that we can choose our own paths while  moving toward our destiny.

My final thought is: Everything happens for a reason.  A perfect example is when a little over a year ago when the banks stopped loaning on houses and in turn we lost the house that were in escrow in to purchase ...... I was so upset, I thought the house was perfect.  We then found another house that was even better ...... bigger house, bigger pool, the lot was twice the size, same neighborhood just 2 blocks away, and it was $130,000 cheaper.  We were able to pay cash and now have no mortgage payment and moved-in in less than a week.

I dont know if this has answered the original question, and I have rambled on a bit, but its what I believe and how I live my life.

.

You did Thiodora.

I don't believe that anything can be ALL positive or ALL negative. Everything has a little bit of both in it, we just have to strive to live a balanced life.

— deviantlina wrote

I don't believe that anything can be ALL positive or ALL negative. Everything has a little bit of both in it, we just have to strive to live a balanced life.

I feel the same way.

Well said. Balance. Belief. Patience. What is light but the opposite of dark? I have some very strong opinions, but I do try never to judge, not my place. Yes, often I fall short of that goal.
You could spend a life time discussing good vs evil. Thats a bit like sane vs insainity. Whose version or opinion is correct?

Bramble, I tend to run to the grey area, just a mere mortal I am.

Is it all good? (do no harm ever) -My intention, again I fall short and cause pain and hurt to others at times. And most definately what you do returns to you sooner or later.

Is is dark? ( Do what I want no matter the consequences) - No, although there are some that would disagree with me on that.

Is is grey? ( Try not to harm anyone but sometimes it happens) - Yes again, the best intentions go astray, or we can't see the real truth or reasons.

Or is it something completely different like the "ripple" effect vs Karma? Life is a circle within a circle within a circle.


clear as mud?

Sundown

lol. As clear as a murky lake Sundown.  Just clear enough that you see something moving but can't tell if it's a fish or gator

Oh yeah!!!!