Wisdom

In The Path Through the Forest by Julie White and Graeme Talboys, I have been reading the chapter called "Wisdom."

They say that all religions go to the same truths, but they take different routes, because people are different, both individually and culturally.

They say:

The conflict and the wars may be conducted in the name of this, that, or some other religion, but that is merely a pretext.  No conflict, no matter how just it may seem, can be termed religious....Religion is to do with the uni-versum, the becoming one. Conflict is to do with fragmenting the one.

They also say:

Each people has its own way into the search for this wisdom....For the Celts, it was wood-sense, tree knowledge, forest lore, an understanding of the natural world that provided a surface system with which to train the mind to the point where mystical apprehension of the wisdom was possible.

The say that the wisdom is all around us.  It is within us, and in everything.  We just have to learn how to see it.  They say it is

in every blade of grass, every flower, every tree, every mouse, dog, cat, cow, hawk, and fish, in every cloud and star, in every human being.  It is written in huge letters in the world about us.

They say, "The only true temple is Life."  That sounds pantheist, except I think pantheism would say that the universe is the temple.

They say that the goal in druidry is not enlightenment, but service.  We seek enlightenment not as an end in itself, but so that it may enable us to be of service.  They say that druids "aspire to harmonizing the material and the spiritual in this existence." They say that it's about maintaining balance where it exists and restoring it where it has been lost.  They say it's about "showing that the universe has a voice that must be heard."

They say:

we must accept that we do not know very much and that we understand even less.  We must accept that we are a part  -- a small facet of the great jewel that is the universe.

And so, here I am, druid, seeking to grow in knowledge and wisdom, seeking to do my small part to hear the voice of the universe and heal that which is broken.