the reluctant believer

The Reluctant Believer

The Reluctant Believer is a self-reflective blog of Dan Everton as he journeys through a new phase of life by becoming a minister and ritual worker.

Pillars of Belief

We are all responsible for our own physical, mental, sexual, and spiritual wellbeing.

While we are autonomous beings, we are also a species that relies on one another. Responsible behavior is asking for help when help is needed to meet those needs. I take accountability seriously, and you will hear me paraphrase this ethos frequently.

This is technically a rephrasing of a piece of policy from the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Adult Code of Conduct. I state this to demonstrate my roots in Unitarian Universalism in my spiritual development, and to credit where credit is due.

For our ourselves, the community, and Earth.

Care is a foundational pillar of my ministry. The act of care is a human instinct that is often suppressed, and we are often left to neglect ourselves.

I believe in fostering a culture of care that is actively anti-racist, anti-oppression, and honors the Earth and its precious resources.

The acknowledgement that we are all kin and to act as good descendents.

Similar to interdependence, I acknowledge my kinship to you, to others, and our non-human relations. This is a foundational philosophy and belief rooted from Indigenous knowledge and teaching ways from leaders/elders such as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Patty Krawec, and Winona LaDuke. I do not claim indigenaity, only that I believe the true path of decolonization includes unforgetting settler colonialism and what we were before buying into whiteness.

A more specific description of my own cosmos would be that I primarily believe in animism and astrology, with the acknowledgement of deities and spirits greater than I. I also incorporate ancestral veneration and spirit work in my personal practice.