|
There is an ancient Greek philosophy that begins and ends with ‘In the first place, cause no harm. In the second place, cause no harm. In the third place causes no harm. In the various version of the ‘Witches reed’ from the ancient Wicca religion there is the line “If it harms none, do as you will.” This is one of the corner stones of a successful spiritual path. From the very begins of philosophies there has been the concept of living in unison with everything that the incomprehensible God has created. It is the origins of Taoism, the basis of the Pagan earth religions and the basics of Wicca. Many Eastern traditions are based on the same principles. Today we have pollution, global warming, destruction of the environment and many other problems associated with our forgetting to be harmless. The idea of looking after our planet and all creatures on it goes back to the ancient religions. If a person joins a rally to try to bring about changes to combat global warming they are behaving in accordance with Wicca or Pagan principles. It is possible that if the ideals of Wicca and Paganism had not been eliminated (often violently) from our society we would not have a problem with global warming; we would not have polluted our planet in the first place. What is often missed is that the Christian and Jewish Religions start with Adam being created by God to care for this planet and all creatures on it. What happened? We discover judgment, greed and illusions of power. Being harmless takes many forms. It manifests in our daily lives and in our relationships. It also manifests in the relationship we have with the planet we live on. The idea that doing nothing is being harmless is not valid. In the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (the example of a man divorcing his wife) Jesus taught that we are not responsible for an others action. But Jesus followed that by saying that if we aid, or do nothing, we are as responsible for the person’s actions as they are. Standing by and watching another commit a harmful act is as harmful as the original act. It is a part of the spiritual path to learn when to act and when not to act. We need to learn to understand the difference between personal choice and what is harmful. Maybe someone has a life style that is different from ours. That is nothing to do with us. If it causes no harm it is nothing to do with anyone else except the person concerned, even if religious leaders or others label it sinful. If we try to impose our way of life on others we are causing harm. If a company pumps large quantities of carbon into the atmosphere it is harmful, to our planet and to us. If a dictator in Africa drives his country into poverty and disease it is our place to act. Part of the reason for our being here is to look after the planet and all on it. Poverty is harmful. Following a spiritual path has its obligations. Part of those obligations is to understand what is required of us. Being harmless is one of those obligations. If a person professes to be spiritual and continues to cause harm they are a hypocrite. The spiritual path is a personal journey, but there are some things that are a part of many people looking in the same direction. One of those commonalities is the need to be harmless and to do what we can to combat harmful behaviour. What we do in the external world is as important as the internal journey.
Related Articles -
Harmless, Spiritual, New Age, Wicca, Taoist, Pagan, Christian,
| 
