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TUATHA DE BRIGHID ETHICS
Ethics is the glue that holds a community together, and is therefore an important part of our Tradition.
Tuatha De Brighid ethics is based on one very simple principle:
We believe that all things are of the Divine. Thus, we strive, to the best of our ability, to treat ourselves, and all with which we interact, accordingly.
How do we do this?
Traditional Druid ethics were and are centered on the concept of Honor. Honor has two aspects:
Integrity - the inner aspect of Honor, our personal "wholeness", the measure of how true we are to our own values, to our own understanding of Virtue.
Virtues are character traits that we value because they promote our individual and collective well-being. In the case of Tuatha De Brighid Virtues, they are meant to help us along the path of the Three Mysteries (Art, Truth and Kinship). Developing these character traits is what constitutes our Honor as Tuatha De Brighid Druids.
The definitions given below are only suggestions – each Tuatha De Brighid Druid is invited and encouraged to interpret these for himself or herself, and, more, to discern at least three more personal Virtues that guide his or her personal Druid Honor.
We hold these character traits as Virtues:
Awareness - conscious perception of our environment and the patterns within it. Creativity - ability to consciously participate in the process of emergence - to co-create newness. Courage - strength to act appropriately in the face of danger, and to act despite our fear when necessary. Honesty - inner and outer truthfulness, straightforwardness, and trustworthiness. Wisdom - deep insight, and ability to act upon that insight for optimal results. Justice - ability of discern true value of things, and to compare these values equitably. Reverence - attitude and action that affords honor and respect to the Divine in all things, and to the Kindred Spirits. Compassion - empathy and drive to be actively helpful. Loyalty - steadfastness in devotion to a cause or a person, attitude of perseverance in action and affection.
In addition, we consider these character traits as being contrary to our path and our very reason for existence:
Malevolence - attitude that holds harm as it's only or primary purpose. Dogmatism - attitude of a closed mind; drive to impose any one path as the one true path possible on another; willful stupidity. Bigotry - obstinate and irrational animosity based on prejudice.
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