Dreamers and Doers

(Image : Child of Gaia, collage on paper, SG, ’02)

On a certain Druid Message Board, my daughter (who is an Ovate at OBOD) tickled people saying that it wasn´t the same thing at all, as a Druid, to fight for a concrete bit of land, than to imagine fantastic relationships with trees, for example in some meditations. “I can´t breathe your imaginary trees” she aptly concluded.

That, which was a conscious provocation on her part from the word go, really upset the apple cart! People fell on her with axes and bludgeoned her until she retired from the said Message Board. I know that people sensed her provocation, and might have answered to that, but one comment was worthy of note, a man said “if your theory was true, 90% of this Message Board would not be valid in the context of Druidry”. Ha. Interesting. And if it was true ? I mean, what if it was true that 90% of the people who say they are interested in Druidry don´t get off their butts to do something about it ?? …

Anyway, some people on the Druid Path are obviously not very peaceful. She later “recanted”, did the proverbial and diplomatic knee jerk thingie in the name of peace and harmony, and things came back to “normal”.

However, her last comment really got me thinking, and I think that she is right. It is all too easy to become a “Flat Foot Druid” as she calls them, someone who fantasizes about strange encounters with nature divinities in the dark woods of their mind, but does not even think of changing their real life to live more in accordance with their spiritual beliefs.

For example. You want to “save the planet”? Try to buy a piece of land! And see the difference between Dreaming and Doing. People told her that it was easy for her to say that she was active ecologically speaking since she owned (well, her family owns)  a hundred and eight acres of mountain! Some other people said that they were protecting the trees in their town´s park, and isn´´t that a druid thing to do ? Oh. Aren´t the local councils supposed to do that ? Oh ! You mean…spiritually ? Oooooh. Now that makes a huge difference for the trees!

Easy ???? EASY ?*”&%&&$$$??¡¡¡!!!??? (My computer doesn´t show the Euro sign, hahaha). No, it wasn´t easy to create the Earth Sanctuary. It was a bloody miracle, and not at all of the divine kind! It was a human miracle, of the people who committed because of their ecopsychological understanding, and stayed focused for over two decades. It is a long story – and truly we saw exactly why people prefer to adopt a cactus and have it living on their balcony!

Now, of course, twenty-two years later, some of the horridness has dimmed, and we are, well…comfortable. We are not exactly living in luxury, though luxury is a flexible concept. Is luxury about having running water? Some African women have to walk ten miles, back and forth, daily, to get to more or less clean water. Is luxury about having an electric heater? Television?  A computer? A good car ? Seen that way, we live in incredible luxury and also appreciate it deeply every single day. And no, I don´t care if I don´t have the latest electronic gadget, I only ever use my cell phone to contact with my other daughter who lives down at the village. Two calls a week, period. Luxury is extremely relative.

Being a Druid is about loving the Earth, and I understand that this love is not always manifested in being able to buy a huge property. Gosh,  I understand that, and I bless your cactus on your balcony, – but it is not the same.

And let it be known that I am a Dreamer, not a doer – and that it cost me a tooth or two to accept that thousands of trees and animals are under my direct responsibility now.

Think about it.

You cannot breathe imaginary trees.

PS.-And please watch “An Inconvenient Truth” again.