Your browser does not support script
TWV Presents...



Articles/Essays From Pagans

[Show all]


Views: 15,214,853


June 16th. 2013 ...

How To Stay Spiritual Amidst This Chaos?

Hearing The Music And Dancing The Dance

A Tale of the Wood


June 9th. 2013 ...

Magical Names

The Nature of Sacrifice

The Magick of Buildings

Start your own Pagan Church in Canada - A Detailed Guide


June 2nd. 2013 ...

Maiden, Mother, Who?! (A Discussion of the Triple Goddess)

Gods Who Live In My House

Why the 'Redneck Pagan'?

Among the Greenwod - An Interview with Raven Grimassi


May 26th. 2013 ...

So You Think You've Found a Teacher...

Learning To Live Your Own Life

Raising Personal Magickal Energy for Spellwork

Casting The Wiccan Circle


May 19th. 2013 ...

The Role of Identity in Magic

Talking Trash? It's a Dirty Subject but Waste Happens.

Earth Angels

My Wiccan Journey

13 Keys: The Victory of Netzach


May 12th. 2013 ...

Pagan Studies I: How Should We Define Modern Paganism?

The Third Path

Nothing Special... Part Two

Exploring Paganism


May 5th. 2013 ...

Nothing Special.

The Value of Multicultural Awareness

Put Your Back Into It (Our Lady of the Sacred Honey Badger)

Moon Musings, Planetary Preponderances and Red Lipped Bat Fish


April 28th. 2013 ...

Lessons from the Lessers: Iris


April 21st. 2013 ...

Taken By The Goddess: The Crescent Moon Tattoo

The Gods/Being Godbothered

To Be A Witch

The Archetypes are Gods: Re-godding the Archetypes


April 14th. 2013 ...

On The Inclusion of Children

'Wand Fun' With Grandson

Lessons from a Baby

Lessons of Freedom: On Divinity and Healing


April 7th. 2013 ...

Out of the Broom Closet... Sorta

A Journey Through the Witches Tarot

History and Science Behind Numerology


March 31st. 2013 ...

What is the Magickal Self?

Ethics and Numerology


March 24th. 2013 ...

Keystones of the Sacred Land


March 17th. 2013 ...

Why Some Pagans and Witches Still Hide

Witch Heritage 101: What Happens When Witch Haters Joke about anti-Witch Films

I'm Not a Broom. So What's with the Closet?


March 10th. 2013 ...

Top Ten Stupid Things I Did as a New Pagan: Part 3

Hunting for the Real Witch in Film

The Collective Shadow

Lies - The Opposite of Truth


March 3rd. 2013 ...

Grounding and Releasing Negative Energy

A Patchwork of Magick


February 24th. 2013 ...

Top Ten Stupid Mistakes I Made as a New Pagan (Part Two)


February 17th. 2013 ...

Top Ten Stupid Mistakes I made as a New Pagan... Part One

Gardening with Crystal Energies

A Call from the Ancestors

Moon Musings, Planetary Preponderances and Black Water Snakes


February 10th. 2013 ...

We Are the Weirdos, Mister: A Completely Uncool Story of Origin


February 3rd. 2013 ...

"I'll Grind Your Bones to Make my Bread": Pagans and Animal Husbandry

The Role of Contemporary Culture in Magic

A Pagan Response to Endangered Earth

The Great Mother's Gift, Heinlein, and the Nature of Squirrels

13 Keys: The Glory of Hod


January 27th. 2013 ...

Why We Do Need Wicca

The Cosmos In the Coffee Shop

Learning Consciousness

On Travel Spirituality and Magick

Gratitude


January 20th. 2013 ...

Beloved Backs and How to Save Them

Building or Burning Bridges?

Plants, Magic and Intuition

Plagiarism - How It Harms Our Community

Looking Back


January 13th. 2013 ...

Ramblings of a Pagan Guy: Stupid Clichés

Know Thyself

The Magick and Power of Words

Aging Is Not Easy

The Riddle of Who We Are?


January 6th. 2013 ...

Wicca v Witchcraft

Innate Paganism


NOTE: For a complete list of articles related to this chapter... Visit the Main Index FOR this section.












Article Specs

Article ID: 14432

VoxAcct: 315077

Section: words

Age Group: Adult

Days Up: 731

Times Read: 2,047

RSS Views: 12,566
Knowing Right and Wrong

Author: Stewart Bitkoff
Posted: June 19th. 2011
Times Viewed: 2,047

On one level people want simple answers and to be told what to do. On another they want freedom to choose and make their own decisions. People are multi-level and have the capacity to make their own choices as well as accept direction from others. Discordance sets in when the guidance from others or authority does not fit what the individual wants or feels is right for them. In this case, the individual is in conflict and looks for something else.

Most people are taught a philosophy of ‘right and wrong.’ At an early age aspects of this protective mechanism are projected into daily life and are part of social and religious training. For example, if you do not get-up on time and arrive timely at school this is bad. As an adult, being late will eventually result in loss of job. Or as a youth, if you take street drugs, this will lead to personal problems and addiction.

It is difficult to disagree with these two maxims about daily life. Get places on time and do not take potentially damaging street drugs. However, to complicate matters other factors may be at play. Perhaps the individual is getting to work late because of an inner, hidden unease with this type of work. In time, after warnings by the supervisor, the worker realizes this and moves on. Or the youth experimenting with recreational drugs uses this learning in a future career in brain chemistry. Or in a more damaging scenario, after years of addiction the person sobers up and becomes a drug counselor who, because of personal experience, helps dozens of others.

From a higher perspective, looking at events: travelers are taught to take a more longitudinal and holistic view of the effect of specific actions. In real life, often it is not a simple matter of an action being ‘right or wrong.’ Actions are complex and involve others, having both a collective and individual effect. Before making many decisions it is wise to consider their long term and multi-level effect.

As an example, how about the common situation where your beloved asks- do you think I have put on a few pounds? Does this dress/suit make me look heavy? Sometimes telling the truth can be unnecessarily hurtful, particularly if the individual has been struggling with their weight. In this situation, I’ll leave it to you to figure out what is right or wrong; in most things, we are free to pick and choose.

Further when viewing the effect of personal action, it is impossible to know all the variables involved; particularly over a long period of time and actions that affect countless others. However, for the spiritual traveler, it is possible to know some of this and begins by asking the question: will this action bring me closer or distance me from my higher destiny?

The answer to this question may be thought out as well as perceived. First, we rationally consider and list the effects using what we term our common sense. Next, we use our intuition, requesting if the action will bring us closer or distance us from our higher self. Perception is intuitive knowledge that emerges from our collective consciousness. By turning inward, the traveler unlocks this holistic awareness and uses this answer along with their rational thought to arrive at an action.

At an early age, it is important to learn about the difference between right and wrong. It is important to learn some things are good for us and some things are not. Yet, spiritual teaching must go deeper, illustrating and considering the aspect of longitudinal effect and destiny. While one piece of chocolate may be tasty and even nutritious, twenty is not, particularly, if we are diabetic or prone to dental problems.

Most spiritual training programs teach the traveler to pray, or turn inward in some fashion or another before taking an important action. Within each person, there is an inner voice or capacity to know if an action will bring us closer to our own higher self and the higher destiny of the universe. Most people have forgotten to develop and listen to their own inner voice and have relied upon others to teach them about right and wrong.

This original social, moral and religious teaching, about what is useful in life, was intended as a beginning; and the traveler, as they matured was to be instructed on how to make their own more complex, intuitive decisions. For many, this has been omitted from their training and they continue to rely upon limited and simplistic learning constructs.

Many of which have been tied to a hidden and sometimes not so hidden ‘fear and reward’ system. In a sense, for these travelers, their thoughts on certain subjects have become fixed, often engineered by others.

*
Humanity is conscious energy
Burning like sunlight.
By reflecting the Light into this world
Humanity neutralizes personal spiritual darkness.

Embrace your own inner beliefs
And then travel beyond them.
Embrace higher knowledge
And as the Source Wills
You will become a sun unto yourself:
Knowing right from wrong,
Dissipating your own lower needs and desires.

*
What some call religious training and tradition:
Often is based upon historical and no longer accurate,
Incomplete information; also, in some presentations
There is tendency to misapply traditional exercises to this culture.
Further, many sacred books include
Selective reportage by believers and historians;
With altered teachings to control desired behaviors
Which were insisted upon by the ruling entity or clergy.

Remember many cherished religious traditions and behaviors no longer serve any real or spiritual function. However, they do increase people’s feelings of comfort/tradition and need to be viewed within their emotional framework.
*

The Law

Traveler: Holy One, tell me of the Law

Master: The Law is Inscribed on the heart of each person. Beneath the layers of dust- from selfish living- that surround each heart, is the Golden Rule. The Law is also Written in the Books and is known to all. It is written: That which brings you closer to your higher self and the Beloved is the Measure.

Travelers know what is right; yet, allow themselves to be deceived by their desires. If a traveler would ask their Higher Self or The Light to help make their decision- each would correctly and reach higher.

If you will pray, the Light will cleanse your heart and The Law will be inscribed upon it- Lighting the Darkness. SB





ABOUT...

Stewart Bitkoff


Location: Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

Author's Profile: To learn more about Stewart Bitkoff - Click HERE




Other Articles: Stewart Bitkoff has posted 26 additional articles- View them?

Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE




Email Stewart Bitkoff... (No, I have NOT opted to receive Pagan Invites! Please do NOT send me anonymous invites to groups, sales and events.)

To send a private message to Stewart Bitkoff ...



Pagan Essays
1996-2013





Pagan Web
8,000 Links





Pagan Groups
Local Covens etc.





Pagan/Witch
80,000 Profiles














Home - TWV Logos - Email US - Privacy
News and Information

Chapters: Pagan/Heathen Basics - Pagan BOOKS - Traditions, Paths & Religions - Popular Pagan Holidays - TV & Movies - Cats of the Craft - Festival Reviews - Festival Tips - White Pages (Resources) - Issues/Concerns - West Memphis 3 - Witch Hunts - Pagan Protection Tips - Healing Planet Earth

Your Voices: Adult Essays - Young Pagan Essays - Pagan Perspectives (On Hold) - WitchWars: Fire in the Craft - Gay Pagan - Pagan Parenting - Military - Pagan Passages

Pagan Music: Pagan Musicians - Bardic Circle at WitchVox - Free Music from TWV

Vox Central: About TWV - Wren: Words, Wrants and Wramblings - Guest Rants - Past Surveys - A Quest for Unity

Weekly Updates: Click HERE for an index of our weekly updates for the past 6 years

W.O.T.W. - World-Wide Networking

Your Town: A Link to YOUR Area Page (The largest listing of Witches, Pagans, Heathens and Wiccans on the Planet)

VoxLinks: The Pagan Web: 8,000 Listings

Your Witchvox Account: Log in Now - Create New Account - Request New Password - Log in Problems

Personal Listings: Pagan Clergy in Your Town - Adult Pagans - Young Pagans - Military Pagans

Events: Circles, Gatherings, Workshops & Festivals

Covens/Groups/Orgs: Local Groups Main Page

Other LOCAL Resources: Local Shops - Regional Sites - Local Notices - Global/National Notices - Local Skills & Services - Local Egroups - Political Freedom Fighters

Pagan Shopping: Online Shops Index - Original Crafters Sites - Auction Sites - Pagan Wholesalers - Pagan Local Shops



Web Site Content (including: text - graphics - html - look & feel)
Copyright 1997-2013 The Witches' Voice Inc. All rights reserved
Note: Authors & Artists retain the copyright for their work(s) on this website.
Unauthorized reproduction without prior permission is a violation of copyright laws.

Website structure, evolution and php coding by Fritz Jung on a Macintosh G5.

Any and all personal political opinions expressed in the public listing sections (including, but not restricted to, personals, events, groups, shops, Wren’s Nest, etc.) are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinion of The Witches’ Voice, Inc. TWV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.

Sponsorship: Visit the Witches' Voice Sponsor Page for info on how you
can help support this Community Resource. Donations ARE Tax Deductible.
The Witches' Voice carries a 501(c)(3) certificate and a Federal Tax ID.

Mail Us: The Witches' Voice Inc., P.O. Box 341018, Tampa, Florida 33694-1018 U.S.A.
Witches, Pagans
of The World




Search Articles
1996-2013










 Current Topic
 Editorial Guide


NOTE: The essay on this page contains the writings and opinions of the listed author(s) and is not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Witches' Voice inc.

The Witches' Voice does not verify or attest to the historical accuracy contained in the content of this essay.

All WitchVox essays contain a valid email address, feel free to send your comments, thoughts or concerns directly to the listed author(s).