Book of Path -- Ethics

Ethics

What ethics rule your behavior? I think that the more I read about ethics, the less easily definable that word becomes to me. I am ruled by my need to care for others, and my need to take care of myself (though more of the former). I am ruled by my need to teach others, and to eternally learn. I am ruled by the love I feel for everything, because I believe all things are connected and to not love everything would be like not loving a part of your own self. I am often ruled by what instinctively feels right when making my decisions. My biggest ‘ethical’ rule is that there is always a choice, and every thing -- every action, every word is a choice. I think a person’s mouth, and even actions, work before their brains sometimes which leads to unconscious choices, but they are choices nonetheless. I no longer believe in the ‘rule of three’ that I followed for so long; I feel it is too precise and exact for the movement of choices through the universe. I am ruled by the knowledge that there is a cosmic reciprocation, but it is not exactly a three-fold notion.

How do you treat others? I try really hard to follow the golden rule, and most of the time it comes naturally. But I like to be right and sometimes it’s hard to concede something to another person if it means my not being right. I truly feel that my place in this life is to teach, so I also sometimes treat others like my students. (This honesty thing sucks). I, in turn, am often willing to learn, but the role of teacher comes most easily to me.

How do you treat yourself? I have done a great deal more harm to myself than I have to anyone else. I knowingly went into an eating disorder when I was 16, despite my nursing family background, and that is something that I now must choose not to take part in every day. I’m getting better at putting myself first. By that, I mean leaving some work at work (mental work and grading), and making my wants and interests known to those I love, and trying not to apologize for my beliefs (religious and otherwise) when I have every right to have them.

How do you treat the world around you? Not as well as I should, environmentally speaking. But I feel all things are connected by magick (which I define as the energy in the world that connects all things and can be used for various needs and such), and I try to put out into the world what I would like given back to me – cosmic reciprocation. I believe in an ever-fluid balance in the world, and try to create more good energy than negative to push into that balance.