Give me a slow Country Road thank you very much

All the great Holy teachers have taught us that the road to enlightenment is a narrow and twisting one. To me it’s a nice little country road like the one my friend and fellow Druidess used in her blog. We found that road because we looked for the signs (labels). New Agers want one big super highway so everyone can rush to enlightenment together. With all of these speeding people there is bound to be a lot of accidents along the way, and most are going too fast to pay proper attention to the signs (labels and rules) that tell you where you are, where the exits are and not to mention the rules of the road which most ignore. How many times have you heard people say, “Oh I missed my exit, I wasn’t paying attention.” or “The other driver wouldn’t let me over to get off.” They also miss all the scenery. They see it but it goes rushing by too fast in the window to truly enjoy it.

I walk slowly enough to be able to read the signs and because of that I’m also able to enjoy the beautiful scenery along my journey. My actual feet touch upon Mother Earth, unlike New Agers whose heads are usually lost in La la land in the clouds. Occasionally an animal runs out in the middle of my path, but I’m walking slow enough to stop and enjoy its company for a few minutes and not run it over. I’m also walking slow enough to have conversations with everyone else who is following the same road (Tradition) as I. New Agers are all trying to rush to enlightenment on the superhighway and the only connection they have with one another is the super highway itself. They all drive in their own vehicles (non-structure systems). Some race on in BMWs, others in Pontiacs and still others putt putt along in VWs. They may wave at each other through the windows but that’s the closest they come to connecting to one another. Some will travel together on cramped and stuffy buses or RVs. Others will travel on rumbling motorcycles. But they are so busy focusing on their driving that they can’t actually enjoy the journey. Pulling over and stopping to check something out, or whatnot, is a chore for them so they have little impersonal stations that fill up their cars with gas (spiritual energy) and fast food restaurants with drive-thrus so they can rush through eating garbage as they race along to their intended destination. How many times have you heard people say when they get home from a trip, “I’m so glad I’m home.”They are burnt out by the bloody journey.

Myself, I can carry a little lunch on me and the traffic on the country road won’t hinder getting to the side of the road to sit under some shady tree and enjoy the food along with the fresh air and scenery. I wave at other travelers as they wander by, occasionally one stops to talk or join me for lunch, not to mention all the great little Country Inns along the way where one can sit by a warm fire and enjoy a home cooked meal and maybe a tankard or two of good ale. Maybe a Bard back in the corner playing his Lute or telling a story or sharing stories with my fellow travelers around the Inns' hearth. Someone just came over the Pass and is telling us that the pass is snowed in. We all nod are heads and discuss alternative routes around it etc... We get news of the towns and villages we have not yet visited and tell our stories of the places we come from.

All of us are walking our own spiritual path, following the wisdom and rules given to us by more experienced travelers (Our spiritual Elders/teachers). These wise words and rules shared with us become our Traditions (for me Druidry). We walk the path worn down by others. We get to know each bend and corner, each hill and pass, each tree and stone, each village and town. These are the mysteries I get to know well, I believe someone called my getting to know them as "placing them under a microscope". We don’t just rush by them accepting that they are there and exist like the New Agers. We stop and get to know them intimately until they are no longer mysteries and become a part of us because we now KNOW them. This is why Druids call their path, The Path of Knowledge.

/|\ Seosamh the Hedge Druid /|\