rebate asked this question on 4/1/2000:

Is the Rede and the Threefold law a force or a being? Someone sugested that they "automaticly balance things out". How could an unintelligent force do that?

minerva gave this response on 4/2/2000:

Remember, you don't have to understand gravity, or know how it works, or "believe" in it, to be affected by it. You just have to live on this planet. The Threefold Law is the same thing, a universal law. Whether we call it "karma", or even the laws of physics say that "every action has an equal an opposite reaction".

However, the Rede is a code of ethics. It's the guidelines by which we live and operate. Perhaps it is because of the Will of so many people who abide by it that it "balances things out". But I see the Law of Threefold Return as doing that. The Rede only reminds us to flow with the Law of Three instead of foolishly trying to go against it.

rebate asked this follow-up question on 4/2/2000:

So the Threefold Return is an intelligent force that balances and weighs the ethical decisions we make? If we do something particularly evil, how would this "law" manifest its self? Can you point to how this "law" was worked out in the life of, say, Charles Dalmer?

minerva gave this response on 4/2/2000:

Well, if you want to think of things like electricity and gravity as intelligent forces... fine. I see it as a natural ocurrence, like lightning during a thunderstorm. We were taught in science class that objects at rest tend to remain at rest and objects in motion tend to remain in motion. That's more or less what I compare it to.

About something "weighing the ethical decisions we make", ...it's not like there's some entity standing in judgement over us. That's Christianity, not us. We believe everyone is responsible for their own actions, and for the consequences generated by them. For example, people who behave like corporate sharks not caring on whose toes they step on on their way to the top, shouldn't complain when their own rights get trampled on all of a sudden. What goes around comes around. That's basically what it is.

I would need to know who Charles Dalmer is. Could you elaborate?

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