Bird watching for enlightenment

There���s an issue I���ve been wrestling with for a while, and reading Mark Townsend���s work has really brought it into focus for me. There���s an aspect to following a spiritual path that says ���you are not good enough right now, but if you do all the things you will get a better outcome���. Whether that���s enlightenment, heaven, or some other notion varies, but the idea of improving yourself is part (surely?) of what religion is for.

The idea of improvement creates problems though. I strive, and study and try and do all the right things. (Thank you Mark, for letting me know it isn���t just me, or I would not have been able to admit this). Sometimes, I start to feel like I���m getting somewhere. External achievements help with this. Ooh look, X has occurred and therefore I���m a better sort of Druid! Which on its own would be fine, but it raises the temptation to look around and see who isn���t this far down the path, isn���t this clever, or this good. It may be one of Druidry���s saving graces that we don���t have an agreed model for what the perfect Druid looks like, whereas Christianity suffers a good deal more from the effects of this because there are clearer patterns to follow.

I catch myself doing it sometimes, and it leaves me uncomfortable. In the recognition of this as ���failure��� is also the sense that there should be some other, better way of doing this that doesn���t risk replacing wisdom with smugness or experience with superiority. It also makes me anxious because I worry about being judged by others, not being a good enough Druid myself, not keeping up, not knowing enough or being clever enough and all the rest of it.

I may have come up with something.

When you take up bird watching, there���s a sudden learning curve as all the anonymous and familiar birds around you become individuals you can name. It���s exciting. You move on to less common birds over time, you get more confident about telling one from another from a burst of song or a flash of tail. Then, quite possibly, a thing happens. It stops being the birds that are exciting, and starts to be about the bragging. It���s not the seeing the crane, it���s the knowing how jealous other people will be when you tweet about it (sorry, couldn���t resist). You travel hundreds of miles to see a bird that isn���t rare where it lives, but is blown off course. You dash in, get a picture, dash out ��� you���re a hardcore birdwatcher now, and you don���t bother yourself with boring, everyday birds.

I think this is how it can go with religion, all too often. The practice, the trappings, the process start to take over from the thing that is the core of what you are doing. In the case of bird watching, what���s called for is just being able to enjoy what is there, still being excited about the everyday birds. What is the equivalent for Druidry? As Druidry is harder to define in the first place, I think the short answer is ���showing up���. Be present, do the things (whatever they are for you) show up and experience, and don���t let the idea of big shiny things take you away from the little everyday things. Get excited about seeing something rare and precious ��� that���s a blessing ��� but maybe it doesn���t mean much. Maybe it doesn���t mean we���re getting somewhere, maybe it���s just luck, or grace and we do not need to feel important.

I���m a cheerful, naive bird watcher who still gets excited about robins and blackbirds. I���m going to try and take more of that mindset into the Druidry, and see if I can fret less about being a good Druid.