Before I started to write
this essay, vision as a virtue was somewhat baffling to me. Anybody can plan
ahead, and planning well isn’t something I’ve associated with a moral
requirement or an ethical necessity. But as I’ve entered a period of intense
study and reading, I can see how vision works as an obligation of the
Dumezilian first-function. The chieftain or priests of a people have an
obligation to take their people down the right road and to develop a strong
society. This requires a fair amount of preplanning and foresight, plus the
ability to imagine what the end result should be.
I think you can exemplify
that by looking at ADF itself. ADF was a vision of Isaac Bonewits, who saw ADF
as a public Neopagan Druidry with a focus on scholarship and reconstruction,
but also enough ties to Wicca and revivalist druidry to sit comfortably in
either tent. It wasn’t necessary for everything to turn out exactly as he
envisioned (some things have definitely changed in 26 years!) but the path has
largely been a true one.
Vision can be viewed as a
value neutral quality (foresight, advance planning, looking ahead) without
being a positive good (I could have a 10 year plan, but it could be a poorly
considered, selfish or dangerous one.) But I do believe there is a virtue associated
with vision. At risk of sounding hokey, I’d maybe call it something like “true
sight”. It is a virtue to look clearly at one’s situation, to evaluate it
without prejudice or elaboration. This leads into the forward thinking aspect
of vision. You cannot plan the path ahead if you can’t adequately see the
hazards. Having clear sight allows you to choose the best path forward, plan
ahead for what may be down the road, and be true to your values as you do it.
So, as a dyed in the wool
tabletop gaming nerd, for my purposes, vision is a virtue with two parts:
reconnaissance and pathfinding!
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| Photo by Thuroize, via Wikimedia Commons CC-Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 |
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