What’s it like to be a Druid?
(Guest blog by Mikalobakus)
Actually, rather like being a human being on a daily basis.
But it depends on the type of human being. Druids are a diverse and ragged edged group, self defined and accepting all comers, up to a point. If you are too far from common Druid thought and practice, probably nobody will try to kick you out, but you may find, and others may point out, that not much is gained, for you or anyone else, from you doing Druid things. And if you become disruptive, you will be encouraged to step aside.
The most fundamental idea in Druidry, for me, is the integration of mankind within nature, both collectively and individually. We are part of the universe, and, through our numbers and our technology, have a critical role to play in the web of life on our planet. We have a fundamental obligation not to mess it up as we are doing at the moment. Similarly, as individuals, we have an obligation to nurture and respect the natural world around us, including the other human beings we may affect by our choices or actions.
For most Druids a significant part of this is a belief in some form of collective consciousness, or spirituality. The spiritual universe is integrated with the physical universe, and may or may not be home to spiritual beings – deities, elementals, spirits of place, souls of the living and/or the dead – maybe all of these, and a selection of others! I try to respect all beliefs in this area so long as they reflect the ideas of integration and mutual respect. A lot of us believe in the use of spiritual connections (prayers, rituals, magic, offerings, …) to gain a wider insight into our universe, and/or to influence the outcome of events in the physical by interacting with the spiritual. Others will see it as mainly or wholely affecting the participants, providing synchronisation, inspiration, motivation, and ideas to the individuals involved. Or both – whatever works for you is fine by me.
Another basic idea, at least for me, is the individual within the group. Every one of us has a personal life path which we make for ourselves, within the universe as we see it and as it affects us in a multitude of ways. Our most important responsibility is to ourselves – our physical, spiritual and material welfare, our growth and development, and our contribution to the groups to which we belong. These form a heirarchy, sometimes overlapping – family, spiritual, friends, community, locality, …., planet, universe. All of these have different interactions, and some are more important than others, depending in part on the politics and administration of the place where you live. This has to be approached in a pragmatic but principled way – if something is wrong, but you have no effective way to influence it, record the fact, sign the petition, and get on with something else. But at the same time, the groups have responsibilities towards you – again depending a lot on where they are in the heirarchy. Do not be afraid to give to or to accept help from a group, and do not adopt an accounting mentality. But at the same time, look after yourself. Emergencies apart, you do no good by giving all you have and then calling for help in the morning!
A personal devewlopment path I find useful is through knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and empathy. First find out the facts as far as possible, analyse them together and in the immediate context, review the facts and conclusions, then look at the wider environment to seek underlying causes, unexpected effects, wider implications. Look for balance and harmony wherever possible, and consider the lives and circumstances of those affected now and likely to be affected in the future. This can obviously be an iterative process at any level, and often is. Doing this can often reveal the complexities of a situation, or illustrate a way forward that was not obvious at the start. At least it can avoid robbing Peter to pay Paul, or jumping on a bandwaggon.
We are unique human beings, and we have a unique basket of talents and abilities. These need to be developed to the point where we can run day to day life, but beyond that I am always looking for things that I can do better than those in my groups. That way my personal improvement provides a growing resource for the group, rather than simply satisfaction for myself.
