For one thing, it is not necessary; if you can make an accurate return reflection, you can certainly reflect it to Earth instead (where it can be recycled). There is no reason you should not be able to ground out more energy than you can accurately reflect to the sender, if viewed properly.
For another, your accuracy in returning it may be less than perfect. You might hit close but not close enough; if you can't reflect it to earth, you are going to have trouble reflecting it to an unknown person.
Sometimes this is discussed as if once you return it, the sender will just stop; because they will awaken to what they are doing, or because the returning energy will be too much to handle. The thing which is seldom mentioned is that if the sender (assuming there is one) was consciously attacking, they will likely already be prepared with their own mirrors, etc. Great, if we put near perfect mirrors at each end and pump in energy, maybe we can get a psychic laser effect; guess who is just on the other side of the mirrors to catch the intensified leak-through?
If they weren't aware of sending, they will probably just assume they are being attacked and take countermeasures. If they follow the 3 steps above, fine, nothing is damaged. But many of them will immediately think they have to put up a defensive mirror, or maybe worse (see below; they may decide to teach you a lesson for attacking them). Few people naturally respond to perceived attacks positively (especially if they are in such a bad mood already as to be sending without even realizing it).
Another serious concern is getting drawn into a unacknowledged feud by your own weaknesses. It is often agreed that one should reflect back exactly what is received, without adding anything of one's own. But the same people who advocate that may use terms implying "returning it with enthusiasm". There appears to be an easily tapped source of self-righteousness in most people feeling attacked, and it is very hard not to get drawn into imagining, at some level, the satisfying effects of the energy going back to the attacker; that draws one into a "counter-attack" even without realizing it. Grounding it does not.
Watch for yourself when people are discussing "returning to sender"; see if there isn't very often a hidden desire for revenge or retribution lurking there grasping for their "control panel" - and deflecting their normal attempts at staying centered by claiming to do no more than is "justified". Justified is not the question; self knowledge and balance are.
There is another thread which shows up often in discussions like these; the need to "teach the sender a lesson". In some cases, I have even heard this justified as "protecting the community". This way lies many did the goddess give you an "agent of threefold return" marshall's badge, that exempts you from any consequences "because you are just an agent"? That hubris is gonna teach some hard lessons, but the self appointed marshall may be the major recipient. It would be a little bit healthier to just shed the self-righteousness and call it an ego driven feud. "Teaching them a lesson" gets filed under the pitfalls of righteousness, the ways that one's own weaknesses seduce one.
Also consider, what if despite your initial impression, the negative energy is really coming from inside, from part of you? Are you going to be better off "reflecting it back" (maybe with additional conscious or unconscious oomph) or grounding it? "Gee, I returned it but good, and now they have stepped it up; the sender really needs a lesson!". That may be more true than you know, bucko.
Notice that nowhere do we say that one has no "right" to put up a reflective shield; of course one does, and is fully justified. Also, possibly, unwise. There is a distinction between what one has a "right" to do in "self defense", and what is wise to get drawn into. Reflecting it is neither necessary, nor likely to produce positive results, but if that itself is the lesson to be learned, what can I say? Each chooses their own path, and that is as it should be. At least if one has considered the above, one should know what they are stepping into.
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