Kill them with kindness

There's an article at http://www.bc.edu/publications/chronicle/TopstoriesNewFeatures/features/Dalton052710.html about someone who helps out those in need in a variety of ways, including growing out his hair and donating it to Locks of Love. 

It shows how an ordinary person can make a difference.

I like the motto he learned from his mother, "Kill them with kindness." 

I think often if faced with someone who is not being nice, if you treat them as if you assume they will be nice, they will try to live up to your expectation.

Serving Others, Serving Yourself

They always say it should be about serving others, not about serving yourself.  Instead of trying to advance your career, you should try to help those in need.

But, you also have to take yourself into account.  If you have phobias of needles and blood, you probably should not serve others as an EMT or nurse.

I read Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer some months ago.  He said something along those lines.  He said that you shouldn't try to do what is most noble, instead, you should listen to hear what your calling is.

I am always asking myself what should I do with my life.  I think in terms of what would be a match for my skills and interests.  I never seem to find the answer.  Sometimes I think it is because I am framing the question wrong, that if my goal was to respond to what others need rather than to find the niche I match, maybe I would do better.  But I'm not looking selfishly for wealth and prestige.  I'm looking for a niche where there's a match between what I have to offer and what is needed, and I'm trying to figure out what I have to offer.

Maybe it's not that I am framing the question wrong.  I don't have to pathologize myself all the time.  It's okay to still be looking.  It's part of the cycle of life.  Sometimes we are at a phase of life that is right for us, and we throw ourselves into it.  Other times, we find ourselves in the wrong place, and keep looking for the right place.  People tell me I should stop looking for something and just be happy with what I have, like there's something wrong with me for looking too much.  But I have had times in my life when I was at the right place and could embrace what I had.  I know what being in the right place is, and where I am now is not it.

Pantheist Prayer

Why would pantheists pray? We don't believe there is a sentient entity listening who is capable of choosing to grant our wishes. 

Prayer opens my heart.   Normally, I go through the day trying to be functional and content.  In prayer, I open my heart to my yearnings, and realize what I truly wish for, that what I wish for is not to get through my to do list, but for health and family and peaceful moments.  In prayer, I wish well to people I care about, and to people unknown to me.  Doing so opens up my compassion.  I feel sadness for the hardships of others.  When I open myself up to feel that sadness, I hopefully will be moved to act more kindly toward others.  In prayer, I express my gratitude and joy for all the beauty that surrounds me, things that I otherwise might not pay attention to, things like friends, kindness, trees, and music.

My druid path

Druidry is different things to different people.  We must all find our own paths.  My druid path has three elements:

1. Druids served their society as diplomats, judges, advisors, keepers of history, healers, and priests. A druid path is a path of service to humanity.  I seek to sow harmony rather than discord, and to inspire people to act with kindness, compassion, integrity, and wisdom. 
2. Druidry is an earth-centered spirituality.   In addition to service to humanity, my druid path includes service to the earth.  The earth is our home and the source of all our sustenance.  I will try to live sustainably and be a caretaker to our habitat.
3. In order to give the best to humanity and the earth, I must grow into the best person I can be.  I will seek to continually grow in knowledge, skill, wisdom, and compassion.  Although illness and injury are often unavoidable, I will try to live a healthy lifestyle.  I will try to act with integrity and kindness.  To aid my spiritual growth, I will engage in spiritual practices such as meditation, movement, music, ritual, and spending time outdoors.

Trees as healers

I sit gazing upon a tree. It brings peace to my soul. In this way, the tree is a healer. The tree doesn't try to be a healer. Just by being, it heals.

I can be that kind of healer. By being true and kind and grounded, my presence can be healing to others. I don't have to try to change other people in order to heal them.

Druids as healers

Druids are healers.

I mean this in two ways.

Druids learn and share knowledge in service to their societies.  They cover many areas of knowledge. One of these areas is preventing and relieving physical ailments.  That is the narrower and more literal interpretation of my statement that druids are healers.

The broader and more abstract interpretation is that druids fix what is broken and heal what is hurt, and not only in the realm of physical ailments.  Following a druid path can mean approaching life with an attitude of helping and soothing. 

How are these two interpretations of druids as healers applicable to my own path? I view my own druid path as a path of service to humans, to the earth, and to myself.  (I have a draft of a blog about this, maybe it will be ready to publish before long.)  Thus, one way to look at it is that my purpose should be to serve in a healing capacity to humans, the earth, and myself.  For humans, I help those who are lost or in need to find their way.  For the earth, I try to live sustainably and heal the damage done by humans to our habitat.  And for myself, I try to grow spiritually so that I can live up to my potential, which will improve what I can give to the world.

It all sounds good in theory.  I'm a lot better with theory than with reality.  I'm standoffish.  I don't jump in to help.  Is this selfishness? Am I more interested in protecting myself than in healing others?

But on the other hand, we all have different natures, and we have to be true to our natures.  Some people are extraverted while others are introverted.  The world needs both types.  Different types of people make different types of contributions to the world.  What is my contribution? Well, that's where the part about growing spiritually comes in.  I'm still trying to find my place.

As for the other interpretation of healing, that which is specifically about physical ailments: I do not see myself as someone who would specialize in that area.  However, we all have bodies, and we all know people who have bodies, so in order to care for ourselves and our loved ones, there are some things we should know.  We should know about healthy living, including about nutrition, sleep, stress, toxins, and exercise.  We also should know when to seek help from medical professionals.  Those of us who suffer from chronic conditions, or who are close to people who suffer from a chronic condition, should understand those conditions.

And that is why I have chosen to study healing as part of my druid study: to learn about healthy living so that I can give good care to my body, to be able to help others with physical problems until they can get proper medical attention, and to develop a generally healing attitude in my approach to life.

Druid Pantheist or Pantheist Druid? Capitalized or not?

Some people capitalize Pantheist and Druid.  I think it is because they see these things as specific religions, so they capitalize them just as they capitalize Christian or Catholic.  I see pantheist as parallel to atheist, polytheist, and monotheist, which are not capitalized.  I see druid as a bit more complex.  I think that to say someone is a druid is like saying they are a vegetarian or an animal rights activist or a pacifist, so it is not capitalized.  However, I think it should be capitalized when used with a narrower meaning, such as to say someone has attained the rank of Druid in the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids.

So, I call myself pantheist and druid without capitalization.  I will not criticize anyone who uses capitalization when applying those labels to themselves.  I think we all have the right to choose our own labels.

But am I a pantheist druid or a druid pantheist?  In such a phrase, the first word is an adjective describing an attribute or state, while the second word is a noun, identifying what a person is.  For example, a person may be described as a wise woman or a happy child.  By this reasoning, I label myself a druid pantheist.  A pantheist is what I am -- I cannot change on a whim my fundamental beliefs about the nature of the world.  Druidry is a practice in which I choose to engage, but which I could at some time choose to stop doing.