What is a Naturalist Druid?’

What’s a Naturalistic Pagan?  Last time, we met some of today’s most publicly visible naturalists. Now, let’s get down to brass tacks. Exactly what does it mean to be a naturalist, and what do naturalists have in common with other Pagans?“

Naturalist” not “Naturist.” Easily confused, but often with hilarious results. There was an episode of the BBC America series, “Monarch of the Glen,” that dealt with this confusion. A riot! I just had to point that out, but I do think it’s true that the various varieties of Reformed Druids tend toward being Naturalists, often without even knowing it. Ok, so I went and read the website. RDG teaches exactly that. “Naturalistic” fits RDG to the “T,” but we do tend to be more panentheistic (which is an extension of pantheism) in that we view the Earth (even the Universe) as one sentient being that we just happen to be an integral (rather than separate) part of.

One guy I know said we were attempting to be polytheistic and monotheistic simultaneously, like taking a complex calculus equation and reducing down to “1”.  And, frankly, he’s kinda right, but it’s a philosophical exercise, not a religious one, so fits in well with the Naturalistic view. And I can sense the RDNA/NRDNA folks scratching their heads, so I’ll boil it down: “Nature is Good,” = “Nature is God.” Human beings are an integral part of Nature, so “Thou art God.” In OMS we always said that that was a 3rd tenet, but in fact it is not, since saying “Thou art God,” and “Nature is Good,” is really saying the same thing. Now traditionally, the RDNA has always stated that there are two tenets, but rationally, there really is only one, since both tenets are saying exactly the same thing, just using different words. Now my Christian relatives (Hi Josh) would say, “Oh, you worship the creation instead of the Creator.” But this is a false interpretation. We do in fact worship both, because we are in fact both. Actually, the Jewish Bible tells it all, in the first chapter and the first verse (in the original Hebrew) “In the beginning, God (Elohim) (which Jews dance around and try to explain why “it ain’t so”, but then along comes Kabbalah which proves OUR point) created the heavens and the earth.” Elohim is plural. Elohim is the collective God or rather, God in collective form. WE are Elohim; Elohim is us. And the beginning? That was the Big Bang: