"Behave yourself!" laws?

[daem0n]

there is only one rule - there are no rules
of course if you metapsychically go to the gym and start insulting someone's mother you have to face the consequences, you could have predicted them ...
it's just life, only with broader perspectives
karma is not astral police or magic force, it's pure cause and effect

[Nagual]

For me, it's just like the "If you don't finish your soup, the monster/witch/whatever will come to eat you!!!  [:O]"

The only thing I could think of is that by acting in a "negative" way, you will strengthen your "negative" side...  More "negative" stuff will gravitate around you, wih all the consequences...

So, for me, it's just "normal"/"logical" consequences to some actions.  No need of divine/astral/whatever magical "come back at you" rules of karma.

[Rastus]

I'll tackle your example.  You want to "Win the Lottery".  Suppose you pick the right planetary alignements, fast for a week, do a 7x(7x7) ritual on your ticket and manage to pull off all 6 digits.  You do realize your life is over?  You will have to move, and become a recluse.  Litterally 100's of people will be hounding your for a piece of your $$$.  You want a good Lawyer to keep it all anonymous.

Now how well will your spiritual development go if you don't have to work for a living?  Not very well.  People need to work to stay balanced.  Not neccessarily the day to day grind of flipping burgers, but something.  With no day-to-day purpose, what do you think happens?  School or something needs to occupy your time.  It's possible to take the money and do some really useful things, but oh the temptations to waste it on fancy cars and houses (you don't need).  Here is the contention with your higher self.

Now the rules of magic(k)?  Daem0n is right, there are no rules.  Some people have no morals at all about doing all kinds of nasty things.  Others have the highest morals, and work under much stricter rules (of course there are benefits to this).  There is always someone (or something) stronger than you, aren't you glad some practitioners are ethical?

Back to your lottery discussion.  Money spells do work.  Not always like you think (you can't force how the result happens).  Did one, got fired.  Next job payed more, so it did in fact work, but not like I expected.  Did it again, exact same result.  See a pattern?  I got what I asked for.  Did a slightly different one, and I got the result I wanted, it was just painfull and humiliating in the process (I'm done with them by the way).  

Now imagine you do a really good money spell, what can happen?  Well you could be in a car wreck, and recieve a settlement (but be unable to walk).  You could recieve an inheritence (which implies someone dear to you died).  You get the idea.  Now not every spell goes the way of the Monkey's Paw, but it can happen.  

By limiting your intentions, you limit the possible negative outcomes.  Remember a tenent of Magic(k), Like attracks Like.  Work towards good and you wind up with Good friends in higher places, work for Bad and....... (okay that sounds like so much tripe, but you get the idea).

[Rin_Daemoko]

Karma is not a faculty of the Universe that eats your actions and then spits them at you.  It is simply cause and effect. Someone once compared it to gravity.  If you jump off a building, you will fall.  Gravity didn't judge you, it just did what gravity does.

Than being said, some people do need rules to keep them in line.  Not everyone is civil, reasonable, or enlightened.  Theories and rules of punishment work for those who have yet to grasp the concept of interconnection between all manner of people, places, and things.

[daem0n]

it's from oh my godess, isn't it, great []

[astralspinner]

It seems most places I go to to read about magic or astral projection have warnings about not using magic 'the wrong way' - there's the "everything comes back three times" rule, the "bad karma" option, the "higher self won't let you" idea, and so on.

There seems to be no actual consensus about what exactly the rules ARE, tho: Some say magic "just won't work" if you try to use it for personal gain; others that "your higher self/a higher power won't let you" use it for personal gain; some say personal gain is fine but harming others will result in harm to you; some say that it works no matter what you do, you just have to live with the consequences... and so on.

The two biggest problems I have with the "you have to behave" rules is:
- if there really ARE such rules, they should be easy to define & agree on, by simple trial and error: "I did *such and such* with magic and *penalty* occurred, but when I did *so and so*, there were no problems" kind of thing

- there are numerous accounts of people using magic for selfish purposes (such as winning the lottery) or just flat-out denying there are any such rules - such as in Astral Dynamics, where RB refutes the concept of 'Astral Policemen' enforcing 'the rules'

So, I'm just wondering: What do YOU think 'the rules' are? And do you have any specific examples of situations where 'the rules' were enforced?