The Law of Return
Sometimes called “Law of Three” or “Three-Fold Law,” the Wiccan Law of Return is probably a familiar ethical principle to you. You might be more familiar with its other names, like the Hindu concept of Karma or Newton’s third law of motion. There are several phrasings, but they all basically say the same thing:
- “What you do will return to you (in the power of three)”
- “Whatever you send out into the Universe comes back to you”
- “For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction”
Oh, the last one is from my physics class :) Even science agrees with the concept!
The only concept I disagree with is the three-fold part. I personally don’t understand how there can be some cosmic multiplier that can accomplish this three-fold task. I also don’t think it’s necessary. Just getting back equal share of the energy one puts out can be brutal enough for most folks who send out negativity. Conversely, an equal share of energy is often abundant enough for those who work to send out positive energy.
I also believe this Law of Return works whether you believe in it or not, just like Newton’s third law of motion in physics. For this reason, be nice to other people! Oh, and never, ever try to use Wiccan spells or ritual for harm (that will be covered more with the Wiccan Rede).
Posted on April 11th, 2008 by Darwin
Filed under: ethics
Hello according to my personal opinion,
well I think there are no guarantees, that you could get precisely what you want to get. If you need a law of return in order to foster your hopes, well it won’t do any harm. I believe in a world that doesn’t care. Therefore there is only one person who will give you something in return. Yourself.
Rainer perfectly stated the major flaw with the “Rule of Threes.” How many good people can you think of that never receive their reward, and how many bad people can you think of that never receive their punishment?
That’s why so many wiccans turn to what I would call the conscience-based theory of morality. “If it ‘feels’ right, it is right.” You can do whatever you want as long as it is in line with your feelings/conscience. Empowering? Sure. A solid plan? No way.
Everybody’s feelings have bias. I have no doubt that Hitler felt like killing Jews, and felt that by killing Jews he was performing a valuable service for Germany and the world. I guarantee that the Catholic Inquisitors felt that they were doing God’s work by ridding Europe of satanic witches. Had Hitler even followed the Rede (which is a terrible moral code in itself) instead of his feelings, there would have been no Holocaust. Had the medieval Catholics followed the teachings of Jesus instead of their feelings, there would have been no murders during the Inquisition. But because they both “felt” that they were doing the right thing, these atrocities happened.
If you think about it, Hitler got off pretty easy. His punishment was to take the easy way out and commit suicide. One second of pain exchanged for the lives of millions. The Inquisitors? Some hundreds of years later, they have to endure bad reviews in books. I hardly see how either fate equals the murders they caused times three.
Look around and see how the Rule of Threes just does not add up.
Kyle, I do agree (and state) I don’t believe in the “three” part, and refer to the concept as “Law of Return” for that reason. As for whether it works or not, I have seen it work much more often than it doesn’t … and have noticed the longer it takes to kick in the harsher it tends to be.
Fair enough. I don’t necessarily disagree that, if you do good things, you’re more likely than not to have good come back. I’d also agree that, in general, those who do wrong, especially over long periods of time, are probably going to end up paying for it in some way.
But if this is a truth; something that is to be believed and followed; something we are to live our lives by; a “Rule,” if you will, it needs to happen every time. It can’t simply be a matter of probabilities.
As much as I hate to draw on my physics class (how I hated that class!) I’m going to have to bring up the spring analogy (”potential energy”) for this. You can compress a spring a little at a time without it recoiling back on you immediately … but each time you increase the compression, you increase the force of the kinetic energy once the spring is finally released to expand back to its original length (and it often overexpands initially).
Maybe I’ve had a few too many science classes LOL but that is the best way I can think of to explain the “time lag” or delay for this Law of Return to work, and also why I say that the longer it takes to come back around to a person the harsher it will be if negative.
Come to think of it, that *MAY* be the basis of the “three” part for some people who didn’t have to suffer through physics.
Hehheh, niiice. Or the boat moving away from shore as you jump; not only does the boat move in proportion to the force you exert on it, you also get sopping wet.
But again, look at Hitler. It’s impossible for me to see how his quick, painless death by his own hand can even be considered an equal “Return” on the millions of slow, torturous deaths he caused.
Of course, you all have at least three times bad things coming to you for saying bad things about physics! ; )
The question of Hitler and others is an interesting one. I think Hitler suffered much more than just suicide. Watch the excellent movie ‘The Downfall’ as an example of what I’m talking about. This shows his last days in the bunker before the fall of Berlin. Clearly he was tortured by his failure. Did he suffer as much as he caused others to suffer? I don’t think so, but who is to say that his suffering ended with his suicide? While I don’t believe in heaven and hell, I do believe that what comes after is a reflection of what we do here. Who know? Maybe Hitler has been reincarnated somewhere and is living a miserable life somewhere.
I don’t know if the actual number is three, but I really do believe, from experience and observation, that you get back what you send out and you usually get it back multiplied bigger than what you originated. If I say something good or bad to a whole room full of people, the response I get back is much greater in size than the original message. This is an example of how something can come back bigger than the original.
@WiccanScientist: I already got back the “bad” from physics - it was called my grade!
I too was musing abouty the humiliation and defeat aspect for Hitler, who truly is an exceptionally bad case. Perhaps he came back as a Jew or Gypsy? Who knows?
So, since you are a physics professor, does the spring analogy/potential energy idea hold up? Or am I “all wet” as Kyle is hinting? LOL
Physics is phun…
True enough, Hitler was a wreck by the end, broken physically and mentally. On the other hand, he was also surrounded by followers, friends, his (maybe) wife, and his dog. How many good people aren’t so fortunate?
I don’t think that I will ever be able to see how people like that can possibly taste justice on earth. He compressed his life’s spring with such force that it lost its memory and could never fully spring back on him. For a person that is responsible for death and suffering of that magnitude, the only possible way that the Rule of Threes could apply would be that its application extends beyond the grave.
If that’s the case, you may as well cut it out entirely and just say that people who do bad things go to hell or bad people get reincarnated as lawyers or something. It’s the same basic concept; you do good, you’ll be rewarded after death. You do bad, you’ll be punished after death.
“Or am I “all wet” as Kyle is hinting? LOL”
I wasn’t hinting you were all wet. That was my bad attempt to work a phun physics pun into this. See, the boat goes backward with the same force that you use to propel yourself forward (the “Return”), but you also end up in the drink (the “Extra Return,” like in your spring example).
I guess I misunderstood ya then, Kyle. LOL It happens (especially when I am on cold meds). I have very much enjoyed this conversation, and have a post idea lurking in the back of my brain that I will need to work on after the dreaded finals week is over. I have a product analysis test tomorrow morning, an organic chem test tomorrow afternoon, a forensic chem test Thursday morning, then have to get my lab report and final project done up for next week in addition to finals in both classes. Look for it around Beltaine.
Still better than taking physics last semester! LOL
That’s waaay too much strain on your left brain and it’s not healthy. Ever consider throwing a history class or something into the mix? Good luck on finals!
All my core classes are completed; the only classes left for my degree are the science classes. The GI Bill only pays for classes that are within my major (or minor if I have one) so I have five more semesters of left-brain strain remaining.
[…] technology or theories to explain those things yet. There are things Wicca can’t explain (Kyle has brought up Hitler in the comments of this post) but just as for science, perhaps we just don’t have the ability to explain yet. That […]