The Wiccan Rede, "An it harm none, do what thou wilt" has become a mantram for may neo-pagan and progressive groups. This rede is the antithesis to the, "Thou shalt not", rules of major religions and probably grew in popularity during the counter culture revolution of the '60s; the phrase, "do what thou wilt" can be traced back to Aleister Crowley an early 20th century occultist.

But who determines whether an action causes harm or not? Normally it is the society or religion that acts as the moral authority as to what causes harm. So what happens when you have a society where each person creates their own set of moral values based on their own desires? I think we are starting to see that today with all sorts of splinter groups practicing their own religions with their own morals, in the way individuals will defend their deviant behavior, and in the way our society is acting in a very narcissistic way.

If you want to see the affects of such a philosophy, just tune into the TV series Intervention on A&E. This is a reality show about drug, alcohol, and other forms of addiction. Watching the show illustrates just how devastating these addictions are to the persons friends and family. If you watch enough episodes, you will notice a pattern. Usually the person with the addiction problem will say things like this is my life, my body, or I don't care if I die. In other words, I'm not harming you so leave me alone! But they are harming others. They are harming their friends and family. They are harming society who must shoulder the tremendous cost of caring for people  suffering from addictions.

Another good example of this was a set of commercials that came out around 2000 - 2001. I am not sure of the exact date but I know that some were in response to the 9-11 massacre. In one commercial you see a party of very affluent people. Then it switches to some young kid on the street selling drugs to someone in a fancy car. Next you see people at the party using the drug. Then back on the street you see two kids meet, flash gang signs, realize that they are rivals, and then pull guns out to try and kill the other. A devastating consequence to what some would call a recreational drug and an example of how the actions of some people are causing harm to others they don't even know.

There are many other behaviors that people do that can cause harm.  People who go on welfare because work just isn't their thing. They cause harm to responsible people who bear the burden of supporting them. Reckless driving such as running a stop sign because you are in a hurry, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, drunk driving, You may think that you are not causing harm but you are, from raising the anger and stress level of other drivers to causing accidents. Even a small fender bender can create traffic jams that cause harm to other drivers in some degree, and of course higher insurance costs for all.   

The point is that we are all interconnected and your actions can affect a lot of people for better or worse. If you stop and think about it, you can go on and on with examples of how people who live by the motto, "do what thou wilt" are selfishly causing harm to all of us.  Maybe we need to stop thinking in terms of, "do what thou wilt', and instead live by the golden rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

 - Thomas Paine 2

 
 

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