Anonymous asked this question on 3/27/2000:
I am Wicca myself. But I would like to hear opinions and experiences of that damnable area of gray we have in the Harm None... Suppose, you know someone whom you care for or know is on a one way ride down the road of destruction but refuses any help from you and has stated explicitely, no permission?
minerva gave this response on 3/27/2000:
In my experience I haven't found such a thing as a gray area. I've known the Rede and the Law of Threefold Return to take care of themselves in keeping the balance, with or without our help. Of course, the transition is much smoother when we work in favor of the flow instead of against it.
As much as we care for people, there's no way of helping someone who doesn't want to be helped (try as we might). After all, free will is one of the most important things we hold dear. We wouldn't want someone messing with our free will; by the same token, if we interfere with someone's decision, we would be bringing the Law of Three into play. So if we do decide we're going to meddle in someone's point of view, we shouldn't complain when someone suddenly starts making decisions for us. It would be something brought upon ourselves.
Anonymous asked this follow-up question on 3/27/2000:
Minerva, see the comments section below. I added this to the wrong place! What I need to clarify is that if this is a complete destruction of a person's life which very well could and is looking to end in death to this person for reasons that are totally twisted out of any rational control by now, would you hesitate to intervene still?
minerva gave this response on 3/27/2000:
I can say I've been in that position, and the most I've been able to do is send positive or protective energy towards them during my meditations or rituals. But as difficult as it is, interfering without consent is still going against everything we stand for, everything we hold sacred. We may ask for the deities to look after them, but that's as far as we should go.
Not that we *couldn't* intervene, mind you. Sure we could. Sometimes we have. But at what price? With what consequences? If we're ready and willing to "take our medicine", to receive what's coming to us for meddling without permission, then by all means... but I think we've been at this long enough to know not to take universal laws lightly, wouldn't you agree?
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