Week 19: The Dedicant Oath: First Thoughts

Related to Requirement:
#11 – Dedicant Oath and Rite
Required Reading:

• Our Own Druidry, p. 129 – 130 (The Dedicant's Oath) 

Optional Reading:

• Rev. Michael J Dangler's Dedicant Oath
• Raven Mann's Dedicant Oath

I'm not real sure how I feel about this weeks assignment. Not because its hard, but because it seems to be aimed at folks who have a patron. I don't. My main concern about writing the oath is phrasing (oaths are a HUGE DEAL) and making sure I have room to move on from ADF if I feel the need in the future.

I'm rather crap at writing ritual/ liturgy. So the rite is going to take me a long time to write and I rather imagine that the oath itself will take me longer still. I should probably start it now, but the summer is always so busy. 

Things I know are going to be important:

9 noble virtues

Norse pantheon

ancestors

I have held to the Norse gods since before I fully knew paganism. And they were the first pantheon I turned to after leaving christianity behind. I'm sure part of this is having read Tolkien too young, however, this fits. The Norse were ok with strong women leading, fighting, loving. I may be pretty domestic, but I also love and lead.

There are a number of reasons to not pursue a more re-constructionist path, but mostly its because I have no use for racists or gender fundamentalists and refuse to be categorized with them. There are other neo-pagan groups that I might find my path leading to at some point. But it's not leading there right now and I'm ok with that. I have a good group here with a secure mix of group and solitary work.

I guess this is mostly turning into musings on why I'm doing ADF instead of reconstruction and why Norse. And the reasons for why ADF haven't changed. I'm utterly put off by the public vocal face of the reconstructionist movement and I'm pretty against killing things, even for ritual purposes (which gets into a whole other level of moral obligation that I've been struggling with for years). And, I don't see the need to be more hardcore about my religion than I am about anything else in my life. Also, the local recon group and I don't get on. Because I'm not hardcore enough.

Week 13: Nine Virtues: Wisdom

Ok, essay is finally complete. I'm really out of practice at writing essays on abstract ideas. Probably because I've not had to do it in... uh... well, at least 10 years.

Initial draft is below. This needs a bunch of revision, but I have a bye week coming up the second week of June, so I'm going to sit down and polish up a bunch of essays that week. This was far harder than it should have been to write. Probably because I just kept procrastinating.

“Wisdom: Good judgment, the ability to perceive people and situations correctly, deliberate about and decide on the correct response.” ADF Dedicant Manual

“The quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.” Dictionary.com

Wisdom comes from the interplay between good judgement and moral action. Without both parts, wisdom becomes ignorance or rash action.

Good judgement can arise from both experience or lessons learned from others. Many things can be learned through experience (the stove is hot!), however, in some cases, the experience or knowledge sought can be obtained from others, through books or by simply asking (the consequences of war). The ability of humans to learn and apply knowledge not only from their own past but also the past experience of others can be argued to be one of the markers that sets humans apart.

Moral action is also a key component. Having the knowledge to advise on a situation but failing to act in accordance with that knowledge is a profoundly unethical act. There may be times where the ethical course of action is inaction, however, inaction is still an action. Moral action is an action that appropriately responds to a situation while aiming to reduce harm and magnify kindness.

Wisdom is intricately linked to both courage and vision. Vision is needed to foresee the consequences of an action and to take additional steps to lessen harm. It is sometimes impossible to avoid all harm, however, the virtuous harms the least and assists the most. Performing the wise, moral thing sometimes requires courage. What is right and what is easy are rarely the same action.

So yeah, obviously needs work, but once I have a draft, it gets a lot easier to manage.