Nine Virtues: Vision

Vision: the ability to broaden one's perspectives to have a greater understanding of our place/role in the cosmos relating to the past, present and future. (ADF, 13)

It seemed somehow fitting that I pull an ogham regarding vision.   I pondered the meaning of what meaning nGẻadal would have in regards to vision.  NGẻadal   means harmony and health (xxx), and others describe it to mean working and tools (Ellison, 37).    Psychologists and psychiatrists might argue that not living up to one's values causes imbalance which results in anger and shame which them results in depression and lack of self esteem.  Vision is the ability to recognize one's own place in the world, and to recognize where we come from, where we are currently, and where we want to go.     It is also the foresight to be able to change those paths, and thus live in harmony and health.   Vision is the ability to set dreams and goals., and gives us the ability to see the tools that are needed for those goals. 

Vision is not always cut and dried.   The virtue of vision asks us to stretch our minds outside of the box, and to think about the effects of our actions and lifestyles in accordance with the other virtues.  In this way, vision goes hand in hand with other virtues.  In this way, vision is a tool.   Perseverance without a goal is meaningless.  Vision fuels creativity.   If one does not have an understanding of one's self, how can one have integrity, and sometimes wisdom is vision in disguise.   Seers use their vision to understand the omens, and bards and artists use their vision in creative pursuits, whether it is a piece of artwork, or a deliciously bold tale.    Vision, too, lets scholars be flexible, and see other points of view in the same way that broom and reed are flexible and resilient.  

Bibliography

Ellison, Rev. Robert Lee "Skip". Ogham: The Secret Language of the Druids. Tuscon: ADF Publishing, 2007.

Publishing, ADF. Our Own Druidry. Tuscon: ADF Publishing, 2009.