Ethics

by Emma Restall Orr (with Mark Polecat)

1. What are ethics?

The definition of ethics can be debated at length, and in considering the question a number of definitions come to mind, all of which I can roll over and take apart. The crucial points, however, seem to be that ethics are beliefs, they are not facts. As beliefs they are primarily personal and individual; when an ethical code underlies a community, a society, a religion or organization, it comes about by various individuals agreeing that they share certain beliefs.

Ethics are beliefs concerned with behaviour. We might think of them as declaring what is right or wrong, good or bad, but such black and white attitudes don’t sit comfortably within Druidry. A Druid is more likely to view ethics as a way of conveying the spectrum of behaviour between good and bad. Our ethics express what we value in life and in the world around us. In other words, if we value something highly, our behaviour towards is different from the way we would behave towards something we don’t care about.

We talk about codifying our ideas about behaviour in terms of ethics: when we feel sure that a way of behaving is sound, we place it into our ethical code and stamp with it a seal of certainty. It is this personal certainty that gives us a sense of security, affirming for ourselves that we are reasonable citizens, living in a reasonable society. It is also this personal certainty that allows ethics to become dogmas, inflexible and inappropriate.

 

2. Where do I get them? Or, how do I develop my own set of ethics?

Ethics primarily come from the traditions within which we were brought up as children. These include our families, our schools and local communities, and the wider society of our nation, its news and entertainment media.

For most people the family is the most powerful influence, with the first seven years of life said to be the most crucial time in terms of beliefs laid down in our minds. It is for this reason that over the years of our adolescence, when we are exploring who we are as individuals, the family’s ethics are some of the first to be challenged.

As we learn about the world, our own personal experience becomes more important. The day to day rough and tumble of life encourages us to question those beliefs we picked up when we were younger. Some of those beliefs we hurl out as irrelevant or inappropriate to us as individuals, and we search for our own sense of what is of value and what is not, allowing our own experience to be the basis of a new line of ethics. Sometimes we come to appreciate and affirm the beliefs given us by the community of our childhood.

Developing our own understanding of value and ethical behaviour is an ongoing process, however. If we are open minded and willing to learn, to change and grow, our ethics continue to develop throughout our lives.

 

3. Why are they relevant to me as a druid?

Most religious traditions are seeking ways of living within an ethical code. Ethics within Druidry are perhaps more important an issue than in religions or spiritualities where the laws of behaviour are already laid down. In Judaism and Christianity, for example, there are codes of conduct written in scriptures which can be endlessly debated for interpretation but give a clear foundation. In Druidry we have guidance from teachers, priests and ancestral writings, but as an oral tradition we have no divine laws given us to obey. There is no scripture: we have to start from scratch.

Developing an ethical code for ourselves is therefore an essential part of the process of learning to be a Druid. As a tradition that honours the power of nature, the beauty of life through its cycles of birth and death, the importance of symbiosis and natural ecology, the way we are all interconnected, personal behaviour is a keystone and of critical importance.

 

4. Can my ethics be different from yours? When is a difference of opinion on ethics a question of tolerance and when is it a question of challenging unethical behaviour?

As a Pagan tradition that honours individuality and the importance of diversity, local community and ecology, Druidry encourages each come to our own ideas and beliefs about value, beliefs that are relevant to the circumstance of our own lives. It is therefore more than likely that our ethics will differ, person to person.

The second part of the question is interesting. As stated above, it is important within Druidry to avoid falling into a black and white perception of life, and so avoid dogma; it can be useful in the study of ethics to exchange the words and see how the sentence then reads. For example, we could rewrite the above question as: When is it right to tolerate something that is wrong, and when is it right to challenge something that is wrong?

Within our personal beliefs we have a wide range of attitudes and assumptions that are potentially dogmatic views, beliefs that may lie deep in our subconscious but rise up as prejudice, allowing us to be judgmental. This is another part of the path of the Druid: to be conscious of our beliefs so that what we understand to be our ethics never slip into personal or cultural prejudice.

A Druid does not necessarily stay silent, however. If he/she thinks that what another is doing is unethical, he/she will step forward and question the action and underlying belief about value. If he/she does this with an open mind, while remaining willing to learn and willing to accept any necessary adjustments for the place and the time, it can be done with honour.

It is worth considering that, perhaps, the only thing which is truly intolerable is intolerance.

 

5. Is anything totally unethical?

In Druidry, because there is no divinely-given code of ethics or behaviour, no list of commandments and no supreme god as judge of our actions, there is also no absolute right or wrong either.

In any given community or gathering of people, where ethics are shared, every person present might agree that something is unethical. That is as far as we can go.

 

6. What good are ethics in a world of multinationals, animal testing and nuclear weapons?

If this question is concerned with the effectiveness of individual beliefs or action on a big wide world then Druidry encourages us to think positively.

In practical terms, even if we aren’t old enough to vote in state elections, or we decide not to do so or to invalidate our vote in protest, each and every one of us votes every day with the pennies in our wallet. Every time we buy a fastfood hamburger we are voting FOR an ethical code that allows industrial animal production, intensive farming, animal slaughter, deforestation, and so on. Every lipstick we buy from one of the major toiletries companies is a vote FOR animal testing.

On a magical level, understanding all we are to be spirit, flowing upon pathways of energy and intention, every thought and action we make affects the whole, shimmering the web of connection.

It seems that this is also about turning beliefs or ethics into personal action, and we could question the point of having ethical beliefs if we don’t act upon them. We don’t all need to be eco-warriors, getting arrested damaging fighter jets, but we can each make a difference.

 

7. Am I unethical if I eat meat?

The issue of beliefs and ethics is not entirely based on action, but on values and intention. What do you believe about eating meat? What is the understanding about the process that allows you to do it, or not to do it?

If you are avoiding looking into the animal industry, don’t like to remember that your steak used to be a living cow, and hate the idea of a slaughter house, then perhaps you need to question the ethics of what you do. If you are willing to look at the process that allows you the meat on your plate, and are happy that it is ethical, then those are your own beliefs.

If anyone has any doubts about whether or not to eat meat, my advice would be to inform yourself of the process of meat production. Visit a slaughter house.

My own ethics don’t allow me to eat meat, but nor do they allow me to buy non-organic grains. Any industrialized farm process, vast fields sprayed with toxins, is devastating to wildlife. To buy a loaf of non-organic bread, it might be said, is as dishonourable to nature as a whole as the unnecessary killing of an animal for food.

As is the case with putting any ethical idea into action, this issue is about awareness and integrity.

 

8. What are the ethics of magic? What about Black Magic and how is that different from White Magic? Is it ethical to cast a spell on someone? Is it ethical to cast a spell for someone?

Magic has different definitions, however I shall answer this questions using the idea that magic is change caused by the power of will, ie. we decide upon what we want and then make it happen. The difference between white and black magic is equally debatable, but I would define the black as the causing of change, by force of will, without due consideration of the web of connection. In other words, it doesn’t matter what we are actually doing; what makes it black or white is our intention and willingness to see the web.

In fact, I use the words white and black because they are in the question. It may be better to use words such as acceptable and unacceptable, or ethical or unethical. However, my feeling is that most magic is actually pretty dirty grey. For can we ever truly know the effects of our magic? Can we be sure that our own decisions are the best for all involved? No.

As for casting a spell upon or for someone, we would need to look at issues of consent. It may be said that it is not truly ethical to do anything to anyone without consent. Understanding the web from within ourselves is hard enough; understanding the web for someone else is even harder. Further, making magic for someone else can be disempowering for them. It is usually better to empower another to live their lives fully for themselves.

This is why magic is not a central part of Druidry. Instead of magic, the Druid quests inspiration. We know that we are fallible, that we are not going to have the wit or wisdom to know the best action, nor do we have the right to force our own vision of what is right on others. However, in seeking divine inspiration - the awen - we are opening ourselves to understand the flow of what can be done, in harmony with the web.

Awen isn’t a passive power, nor is it always easy or gentle. The energy that comes with the soul-fire of awen is extraordinary, giving us vision and power to achieve a solution. Often that solution is quite different from the one we would have forced into being without the quest.

 

9. Is it ethical to ask the Gods to help me achieve a personal dream? What about asking the ancestors?

Definitions of the gods need to be found for this questions to be answered in any way that would make sense. If we understand the gods to be powers of nature, then when we are asking the gods for guidance or help, we are finding ways in which our own human nature can be amplified by their divine nature. When we ask our ancestors, we are often doing the same, reaching into the flow of our human soul to find the answers.

We might find an energy of deity that is beyond what we ourselves can access, so be able to ask prayers of gods that are beyond our understanding. If we do this, we need to understand that there is always an exchange, whether we understand it or not.

We might be able to contact ancestral spirits as opposed to a vision of ancestral wisdom. But we must also understand that our limitations in this respect. It is hard to hear clearly what spirit says at times, and words or feelings are often confused with our own fears and projections.

The difference between asking the gods and the ancestors for help is that ancestors have a more human ethic, a code of behaviour which is closer to our own. The gods do not hold human ethics, nor a sense of mortality. As a result, their energy is not necessarily going to be within what we can understand, contain or use carefully.

However, let’s look again at the issue of magic. Are we asking the gods to intensify our own power in order to force into being what we think should happen, or are we asking for inspiration? That is a crucial difference.

 

10. What are the ethics of working with healing and other people? What about healing and the planet? Or healing and a single tree?

Druidry isn’t a tradition that is focused on healing so much as honouring of individuality, freedom and personal choice. Sometimes we are desperate to give someone or something healing, whether a person, a tree or an animal, but that desperation is about our own fear of pain and dying. That fear can blind us.

Healing the planet is not usually an issue that Druids focus on, for the planet works just fine without us. The focus of healing is on humanity not nature beyond it.

In Druidry, the ethical path is most often about questing inspiration about the situation we find ourselves in. With the power of awen, we can infuse ourselves or others with the energy of inspiration, beauty, inner brilliance of spirit, and with that power we can walk the paths of life with strength, ethically.