by Chuq Von Rospach
Chuq Von Rospach ([email protected], "Cheshire Chuqui") was a software engineer based in Santa Clara, California, a regular voice on net.religion, and the moderator of early Usenet communities. In December 1984, after months of spirited discussions — including sharp exchanges with Christian posters about the nature of faith — he shared a private letter he had written to a friend explaining his personal spiritual path. He called it "Zen Druidism": a syncretistic weaving of Buddhist non-attachment, Celtic reverence for nature, and elements of Taoism and the teachings of Jesus. He posted it, he wrote, "in a spirit of brotherhood and love — not as an attempt to preach but as an attempt to open the communications that will allow us to understand each other better."
The letter is one of the earliest documents of what would come to be called the New Age or Neo-Pagan spiritual movement on the internet. It predates alt.pagan by several years. Chuq does not claim to have discovered anything ancient — he cheerfully admits that "Zen Druidism is an ancient and religious philosophy that I invented recently." What he offers instead is a first-person account of how a thinking person in 1984 assembled a working spiritual life from materials that no single tradition had given him, and why that life proved more satisfying than the paths he had tried to force himself into before.
I was mucking out my account and this popped back in. I think it gives a good perspective on why I stopped being a Christian without being quite so, uh, anti-Christian as Tim Maroney's article (hopefully this is because I'm not anti-christian...)
This was a private letter I sent out a while back in response to what a Zen druid is. The more I think about it, the more I think it gives a perspective on religion (and faith — not neccessarily the same thing) in general.
In this time where we are fast approaching the holidays many people, myself included, tend to sit down and evaluate themselves and their faiths. I'm sending this out in a spirit of brotherhood and love — not as an attempt to preach but as an attempt to open the communications that will allow us to understand each other better. My hope is not to turn you away from your religion, but to help you understand my faith so that we can all explore together as brothers instead of bickering as enemies.
Zen Druidism is an ancient and religious philosophy that I invented recently to answer the age old question "What religion are you?" Since that is one of the more complicated questions of the universe I usually find some way of disarming it in a humorous way (I tend to use humor as a defense/shield against many things — If you insult people in a funny way they don't seem to mind as much). The real answer to the question is that I follow no God (I call no one God my Saviour) and I follow many (because I have adapted the teachings of many philosophies into my life as I have found them to work). This is all complicated by the fact that I am fascinated by a lot of religious symbolism (The main picture in my apartment at this time is Dali's "Crucifixion", I keep Bibles (plural) in my house, enjoy works such as "Jesus Christ, Superstar" and Beckett and I love cathedral architecture — in fact I'm currently planning a trip to Europe just to play in cathedrals and art galleries) and so many people make the assumption that I'm Christian because of the Christian symbols in my life.
I think this is all getting off the main subject, but I thought a bit of background might help you understand why I threw those two philosophies together. I have in my ancient history Celtic/Druid blood on my mothers side and I am a firm believer that man should be working with the works of Nature rather than fighting them as they do. I prefer lightly populated relatively natural areas to highly populated areas such as cities. Too many people/buildings/civilization makes me very claustrophobic. Why am I living in Santa Clara? It is Very close to work. You should see my apartment, by the way. They aren't kidding when they talk about ducks and things on Walden puddle out there. I have found a place in the midst of a major metropolitan area where I can walk in the front door, walk out the back and forget that there are hundreds of thousands of people around me. It means a lot to what is left of my sanity... I'm off the subject again. The basic druidic philosophy tends to be that Nature, like all of God's miracles, should be marveled at, not destroyed (this is also very much like many of the indian tribes such as Navajo). There is nothing quite so miraculous to me as a healthy tree. So much for druids (no, I haven't taken up sacrifices to Oak trees, but I DID consider it...).
The Zen part is (I hope!) a lot easier to explain. It does come from the teachings of Buddah (among others — lao Tze and the Tao are in there somewhere along with the teachings of Jesus and John the Baptist). For many years I tried (like most people) to take my life in directions that I thought I wanted. By trying to force my life into directions that it didn't naturally want to go I went places, but I certainly wasn't happy when I got there. I got married like a good society person should (I'm now divorced like a good society person should), I got into jobs I couldn't handle for the sake of the rat race, I burned out in those jobs from trying to do them anyway. I forgot what it meant to live and, more important, how to be happy. Right around the beginning of the year I decided it was time to get my act together and I restructured my life in such a way that I stopped forcing it places (or at least trying to). The basic philosophy of Zen is that you don't make things happen, you just accept/enjoy them when they do. You don't create opportunities, you just take advantage of them when they arrive. Since that time, although I haven't tried to go out and meet people I've found a larger group of really nice friends (and friend is a very important word to me) than I've ever had before. I stopped trying to put my life anywhere, and it is finding a level that is satisfying and healthy and basically what I was looking for even though there are things in it I never would have thought to look for (If you really want something I don't believe you will ever find it by looking. It will find you when the time is right). I stopped trying to be happy and instead became happy (well, mostly... I do have my days, just like anyone else).
May you and your God go as far together as you wish to go...
Colophon
Written by Chuq Von Rospach ([email protected], "Cheshire Chuqui"), working from Santa Clara, California. Posted to net.religion on 5 December 1984. Original Message-ID: [email protected].
Chuq Von Rospach was a software engineer and early Usenet community organizer who later helped shape the culture of internet moderation. His syncretistic "Zen Druidism" — assembled from Zen Buddhism, Celtic Druidism, Taoism, and elements of Christian teaching — is one of the earliest examples of spiritual eclecticism documented on the internet. He was one of the first people to use the term "Zen Druid" in public writing. The path he describes — letting go of striving, finding community through non-grasping, revering nature without rigid doctrine — anticipates what would become a defining feature of late twentieth-century Western spiritual life.
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: [email protected].
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