Personal Ethics

I've been thinking a lot about personal ethics lately.  I don't hold to any romantic NeoPagan notions of "An It Harm None..." but I do have certain standards I hold myself to.  They are as follows.

All is permitted. 
What I have I hold. 
There is no magic without sacrifice.
Strive for Perfect Love and Perfect Trust within the circle.
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law.

My friend Orius of The Mad Angry Pagan blog shared a quote with me concerning ethics that I find sums up my personal ethics fairly well:

"I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do." ~Robert A. Heinlein

Not how it works.

I do not believe in the threefold law of return. I do not believe in the law of one-for-one return. I do not believe in tit-for-tat, and I do not believe in karma. There is no cosmic abacus keeping track for us. There is only action and reaction: magic and sacrifice. Sometimes we pay dearly for a small act of love and grace. Sometimes there is no payment needed for large acts of hatred and cruelty.  Who can say why Fate spins the patterns she does?

What I do is not for fear of Hell or Karma or threefold return. What I do is my Will. I  can choose to do right or wrong by my own standard of what is ethical.