Is helping required by the Rede

[rjmamula14]

The Wiccan Rede says “harm ye none and do as thou will.” Would harm in this case include passive harm, i. e. not helping others, especially those unable to help themselves. Does it require charity?

[Corbin]

A rede is advice not any kind of rule, instruction or law.

If you want to do something or live your life in a certain way and it harms nobody, do it, free of shame or guilt. However if it would harm, think about it deeply before you proceed.

If it harms none do what you will, if it harms, do what you must - but accept responsibility for the consequences of your actions.

[rjmamula14]

A rede is advice not any kind of rule, instruction or law.

If you want to do something or live your life in a certain way and it harms nobody, do it, free of shame or guilt. However if it would harm, think about it deeply before you proceed.

If it harms none do what you will, if it harms, do what you must - but accept responsibility for the consequences of your actions.

So granted is is just advice, but my real question is whether the advice includes helping others.

[Firebird]

The vow I took at my 1st degree included being compassionate to all, when those who seek me out to help as my ability allows. That said, do I pass the less fortunate? When they stand at nearly every intersection and offramp, it frequently is a bad location. So yea, I drive by many. But I gave a box of cereal to some guy with a sign recently, and I asked him, do you need cash or food? He said anything would help, cereal it is then. Thing is I don't have the fortune myself to help everyone, but volunteering for certain organizations is within the same vein. I do it when I have the time and my body isn't feeling broken.
Bb, Firebird

[Corbin]

IMO

If the question is helping required by the rede then the answer is no, it is not, nothing is required while showing consideration in all weighty matters is advised. Showing consideration to others is always advisable don't you think?

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I have seen people harm their own lives through compassion for others, I have seen others harm their own lives due to their inability or desire to recieve the compassion from others. Everything has a balance we try to find. The rede regards the assumption of personal sovereignty and personal responsibility, not enforcing our will over others wants.

Most of us are charitable by degrees and uncharitable by degrees - any of us could be harshly judged if by the consequences of every single encounter of our lives. But who judges us? Who has that right? Not some punitive force in the universe - some righteous, judgemental and punishing parental God, not some stick readily cocked to strike when the carrot fails to entice us.

So the question is - what do you feel?

Personally I find the need to rely on any kind of advice, rule, law or instruction to act kindly a bit strange (don't you?). I am kind because feel the desire to be kind, I am friendly to the friendly, charitable when feeling charitable not made or coerced into a charitable act (which, by its nature is no charity at all). I don't force charitable acts on others who would not recieve it nor put myself in hazard or harm doing so.

There is a saying 'No man is an island" - this is a lie - every man is an island; for were we not we would be crushed by the weight of grief in the world however we become more then just an individual by connecting to that beyond the individual, to our fellows and the natural world around us.

-‐-------

"Is it not this, Ms. Ives? The glory of life surmounts the fear of death. Good Christian's fear Hellfire, so to avoid it they are kind to their fellow man. Good pagans do not have this fear, so they can be who they are. Good or ill, as their nature dictates. We have no fear of God, so we are accountable to no one but each other.

Vanessa: That is a profound responsibility..."

- Penny Dreadful

[supremz]

The Wiccan Rede says “harm ye none and do as thou will.” Would harm in this case include passive harm, i. e. not helping others, especially those unable to help themselves. Does it require charity?

It necessarily must, as that would include self-defence. If you let other people hurt you, that's still doing harm. Without someone caring for themselves, who is the person that is supposed to become a living enactment of the creed?

That's also why it's occasionally also justified to do things like hexes, charms, and curses. Even if that's technically evil- sometimes banishing and aura cleansing is not enough to keep the demons at bay. You have to use their force against them.

Still, it is better not to adopt a "dog-eat-dog" mentality when working with the craft. Such is besides the point. It's not about being the best or the strongest, nor a competition. This is meant to be fun, so fill up your arsenal of spells with as much variety as possible and have a safe casting. Don't be consumed by the desire to hurt others with it any more than you would be the willingness to allow harm upon yourself. Be free and unafraid to experiment with new things.

[rjmamula14]

Thank you Corbin. And yes a common response to those who say you need religion to have a basis for morality is “is the threat of help the only thing that keeps you from killing or stealing?” Having experienced power shut off due to nonpayment and my family nearly losing our house, I always say that has given me a bleeding heart.

[supremz]

Thank you Corbin. And yes a common response to those who say you need religion to have a basis for morality is “is the threat of help the only thing that keeps you from killing or stealing?” Having experienced power shut off due to nonpayment and my family nearly losing our house, I always say that has given me a bleeding heart.

Exactly. You can't force someone to do right any more than anyone can make them a good person from evil. It has to be their own volition. In the mean time, do try to be the better influence in the world, but know that what were once helpful ways could just as easily be injurious to all if misused and one manages to let their guard down. Better to take responsibility for everything that you put out as well as everything sent back in.

[Corbin]

I have seen people harm their own lives through compassion for others, I have seen others harm their own lives due to their inability or desire to recieve the compassion from others.

I neglected to ammend that to ' their inability to recieve compassion from others or indeed themselves'.

I have been known to aid creatures in distress (occasionally people too ) - not kill insects doing no harm, enduring wasps, freeing trapped bees, removing spiders to run alive, setting snails out of harms way, rescuing trapped bird, comforting a lost dog. I once even encouraged a wild pony and foal out of the road when they were being boxed and shaken by impatient car drivers (they roam free in the New Forest) ... when someone commented on why this is, I stated without any real thought that I liked to live in a world where kindness was an interventionary force that can come from unexpected quarters freely and unannounced. The boot withheld from a casual dispassionate crushing may be the one hovering above our own heads one day.

Your reap what you sow.

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... And thou who thinkest to seek Her, know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the mystery; that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, then thou wilt never find it without thee ...

- (excerpt) Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente

[supremz]

There is a lot of individualism here and I really take a liking to that.