The Moral Principle of The Fianna

Celtic culture was nominally divided into classes, of which the Druids were but one. The other important class is the warrior aristocracy, from which the rulers and kings would come. It is possible that this class had a separate ethical paradigm, related to the Druidic paradigm but designed to better accomodate the role that the warriors played in the society. Of particular interest, however, is the out-caste warriors, called the Fianna. Individuals entering adolescence had the option of renouncing their position, family, and clan, and becoming a Fianna, a kind of wild-loving warrior living on the boundry of civilization and barbarism. Becoming a Fianna was an acceptable stage in the process of individual maturity, giving the growing man or woman the space and time needed to accomplish developmental tasks and be established as an adult. It is somewhat related to the Hindu out-caste Sadus, though it is not nessisarily a religious undertaking. Fianna stories abound with fantastic adventures, magical hunting prey, shapeshifters, mystical poets, places where, as the poet Yeats put it, "one could not know from one place what the next will be like". It is allegorical, in a way, of being on the edge of civilization and savagery, of consiousness and unconsiousness. One may recall that poets often live at seashores, that is, on the edge of the land and the sea.

Even amid this vision-quest existance, Fianna warriors probably understood that they had moral obligations. Fionn MacCumhall gave this delivery on what they were:

"If you have a mind to be a champion, be quiet in a great man's house; be surely in the narrow pass. Do not beat your hound without cause; do not bring a charge against your wife without having knowledge of her guilt; do not hurt a fool in fighting, for he is without his wits. Do not find fault with high-up persons; do not stand up to take part in a quarrel; have no dealings with a bad man or a foolish man. Let two-thirds of your gentleness be shown to women, and to little children that are creeping on the floor, and to men of learning that make the poems, and do not be rough with the common people. Do not give your reverence to all; do not be ready to have one bed with your companions. Do not threaten or speak big words, for it is a shameful thing to speak stiffly unless you can carry it out afterwards. Do not forsake your lord so long as you live; do not give up any man that puts himself under your protection for all the treasures of the world. Do not speak against others to their lord, that is not work for a good man. Do not be a bearer of lying stories, or a tale-bearer that is always chattering. Do not be talking too much; do not find fault hastily; however brave you may be do not rise factions against you. Do not be going into drinking-houses, or finding fault with old men; do not meddle with low people; this is right conduct I am telling you. Do not refuse to share your meat; do not have a niggard [i.e. a fool] for a friend; do not force yourself on a great man or give him occasion to speak against you. Hold fast to your arms till the last fight is well ended. Do not give up your opportunety, but with that follow after gentleness."

Some of the implications of this may require some interpretation. Fionn is delivering a code of honour, rather like the Bushido code of Samurai warriors in Japan. His FMP, it would seem, is this: we should always preserve the honour and dignity of all beings.

It is probably that the Fianna ethic includes not just other beings, but groups of beings, such as entire species or ecosystems. The ethic does not discriminate between sentient beings and non-sentient beings (i.e. animals and plants). By citing honour and dignity as our moral obligation to all beings, they are identified as posessing intrinsic value, being valuable in themselves, and though other beings may also be instrumentally valuable to other beings it is the intrinsic value that carries moral force.

Fionn has a concern for justice, and to protect against abuse, even against women and animals; issues that have become very important in our society in the past few decades. He says "two-thirds of your gentleness" to women, children, and poets, not to say we should withhold one-third, but to single-out these people as having special status and deserving of respect.

Fionn also recognises that we have moral obligations to ourselves, and not just to others, because it is our own process of maturation that is the concern of the Fianna ethic. In a way, Fionn expresses our moral obligation to ourselves when he is asked to join the Sidhe in the Isles of the Blest, in a declaration that became a rally-cry of the Irish Republicans during the Rising:

We would not give up our country [Ireland] if we were to get the world as an estate, and the Country of the Young with it.

Fionn is declaring a committment to ideals that are greater than himself, and yet are a part of himself. He becomes his ideal, which is, after all, what a hero does. The Fianna are heroes, not mere fighters. It is a transformation of themselves from the human to the superhuman that they aspire. By declaring his committment to his country, he not only re-affirms the intrinsic value of his country, but also his committment to the process of maturity, which is a process of discovery. He is passing up a chance at paradise to achieve it--that is how important it is!

Fionn wants his warriors to be viligant and self-reliant, modest, reliable, trustworthy, loyal, and generous. He wants his warriors to protect themselves from satire and from being a nuisance to others. He wants his warriors to earn the respect due to them by their station, to know what you are fighting for, to be worthy of the title of Fianna. These are the lessons that must be resolved during adolescence, for the wisdom they seek to gain is the mark of a mature adult.

The Moral Principle of the Fili

When Oisin speaks of "truth in our hearts, strength in our arms, fulfillment in our tounges", he may be speaking allegorically of three professional castes in Celtic society: Druids, Warriors, and Fili (Poets), respectively. "Fulfillment in our tounges" is like a discription of a poem being delivered out of the mouth of a professional diviner. For poetry, in Irish myth, is the very foundation of magic. The Fili is using her particular artistic ability to engage in the same pursuit of knowledge that the Druids also undertake, for many of the greatest Druids were also poets. The Truth in a fili's poetry could change weather conditions, cause horrible blotches to appear on someone's skin, or bestow curses on an assembly.

The poet may also have placed a very high value on aesthetics, not only in the format of her poetry, but also in the things and people around her: many Irish myths go to great lengths to describe the regal charisma of kings like Conchobar Mac Nessa, or the radient grace of women like Deirdre of the Sorrows. Kings must be without physical blemish in order to maintain the favour of the Goddess to whom they were ritually married, and the fertility of the land depended on the health and vitality of the King likewise. Warriors could be punished for obesity, though that was probably for atheletic rather than aesthetic purposes. But the emphasis is not on personal beauty, but it it is on the connection to the Land that the King has. Sympathetic to the King, the land is fertile or fallow when the King is healthy or ill. It is the spirit of the connection where the real beauty is.

Many of the Fianna, including Fionn himself, were also gifted poets, for example. Poetics must have been included in the 20 years of training that Caesar observed for Druids, and it may have been that same koan-like poetry that Diogenes referrs to as "riddles and dark sayings". Irish Druids in particular used poetry to construct magical spells, and the myths record some of the most famous poetic deliveries of the greatest Druids. Irish Druids used few material props to work magic, needing only their voices and their inspiration, (Tuathail, pg.1) which is the magical "fire in the head" that Amergin speaks of.

The Influence of Mysticism

The magical quality of Celtic poetics is very revealing from a spiritual point of view, less so from an ethical one. But it is important to understand the spirituality which gives rise to the ethic. The Celts appeared to view the world in a triadic form. Triads were often the form of poetry in which laws and mysteries were remembered, such as "Oisin's Answer", given above.

In Triads, there are three elements which seem to turn around, or lean upon, each other. The Three Realms, for example, are the Land, Sea and Sky; these Realms were the foundation of the physical world and often the gurantor of oaths. Triads are not a mere variation of dualism, where all things are catagorized into corresponding opposites. Western religion is particularly good at doing Dualism, and particularly Christianity: good/evil, God/Devil, Man/Woman are emphasized in particular, often with the implication that one is more desirable than the other. But it is important not to impose on the ancient Celts our modern cultural heritage, which they probably did not share. So a Celtic ethic would probably not divide the universe neatly into good and evil.

For example, in cosmology, precieving the universe dualistically usually implies that it has a beginning and an end. A triadic continuum like the one I have been supporting does not need a beginning nor end, but is actually eternal. Numerous authors have commented on the eternal element of Celtic mysticism.

• Strabo: [The Druids teach that] men's souls and the universe are indestructible, though at time fire and water may prevail.
• Lucan: But you assure us, no ghosts seek the silent kingdom of Erebus, nor the pallid depths of Dis' realm, but with a new body the spirit reigns in another world -- if we understand your hymns [i.e. poems] death's halfway through a long life.
• Mela: Souls are eternal and there is another life in the infernal regions.

And in more contemporary Celtic poetry, the great writer Yeats noted:

In Ireland this world and the world we go to after death are not far apart.

and,

What else can death be but the beginning of wisdom and power and beauty?

James Joyce also expressed this in his cryptic, cyclical title "Finnegan's Wake", or "Finn Again Wakes". His character Anna Livia Plurabelle becomes the catalyst for this expression with her name: Anna (for the river Goddess Dana or Ana) Livia (for the river that flows through Dublin) Plurabelle (or, "all-women").

The Druidic mysticism surrounding sacrifice also supports this. A ritual death in the myths is never without its accompanying rebirth, either in this world (in the form of fertile crops, restored health to a sick person, etc.) or in the next (rebirth/reincarnation, or perhaps some form of enlightenment). Life energies are continually in motion, continually flowing among all realms, continually recycling all things in the universe, and Death is a magical transition stage between. Its the movement of things, not its form or location, that is important.

Our own Sun will go nova one day; if that isn't recycling on a cosmic level, at least it will put an end to our questions.

The Poet goes between the elements of things to seek inspiration. But the "point of demarcation", or "place between", is not actually an additional thing. In fact it is not a "thing" at all: it is an event. A phenominon. It happens. It is a state of mind, a kind of awareness. In the physical world poets can seek out places that are physically "between", like seashores, doorways, and sunsets; these are setting the mood, so to speak, preparing the psyche for mystical things, preparing it to accept information it would otherwise be unable to comprehend. What the poet is really doing is momentarily moving out of the perpetually-turning cycle to observe it more clearly from afar. That, after all, is where the Gods live. That is the magical third realm, the elusive Truth that is the Druid's moral concern, where distinctions between opposites dissapear and illumination is possible.

The implication for Druidic ethics is that the Druids are not adhering to rules and authorities for proper ethical conduct. Rather, they are striving to become a certain kind of person. They seek not a lifestyle. Morality should come as naturally as breathing. Like the Sacred King, married to the Goddess, the moral person is connected to her morals in a spiritual way.

So it is rather redundant for me to figure out the logical ethical system the Druids may have used, no?

Questions for further inquiry

To what extent does the Fianna's code of honour exemplefy or contradict the moral obligation to Truth? Civil disobedience, like chaining yourself to old-growth trees as loggers cut them down, might be construed as devotion to the Truth in nature, or an imperative demanded by the connection to Nature, but it certainly isn't honourable loyalty to your lord, or to the often-innocent loggers who are just doing a job.

Does Knowledge in itself have a higher moral standing than other human beings? This would enable you to sentence a murderer to a well-deserved life in prison, if you had judicial power. But it clearly conflicts with the duties of honour. To what extent could you search for knowledge at the expense of the suffering of other beings, such as in animal experiments? Could this justify torture when interrogating criminals and spies?

Perhaps the Druids had another FMP: to always uphold a balance between Life and Death. Their belief in the immortality of the soul would seem to verify that, as would the presence of the Otherworld, the connection to the land, and the construction of some Druidic monuments. Newgrange, though pre-celtic, is like a rebirth chamber for the Midwinter sun. Or is this balance the religious dimention of the divinity of knowledge?

Is there a connection between Druidism and Buddhism? History tells us the two cultures never contacted each other. But Druids may have used their complex knotwork and spiral art as mandalas, the "Lotus" position or the "Crane-magic" stance as mudras, and poetry as mantras.