Setting My (Bloggish) Intentions
I've started this blog for two reasons:
Reason 1. I'm simply fascinated at the phenomenon of blogging itself.
As most wannabe bloggers must have done, I have read the blogs of others, sometimes amused, sometimes bored out of my skull, sometimes incensed, sometimes rolling my eyes until my sockets cannot bear another moment of aerobic exercise. I've considered starting a blog since they first hit the scene, but the following thoughts seemed to emerge every time I actually moved into action:
A. "So what! So I believe I have another thought to publish on the web! I highly doubt that it could possibly be unique or original.", followed by:
B. "Fuck, that seems like a huge responsibility! I mean, if I start one, I'll have to post to it, and if I don't post to it, every one who reads it will know exactly how many hours, days, weeks, or months it has been since I got around to the very important task of disseminating my very important thoughts to the world wide web." (Which, of course, always cycled me back to thought A., by way of a personal ego-chastisement.)
Despite this hamster-wheel process of consideration, I continued to spot-check certain of my favorite blogs, and have found (along with the dreck) a great deal of insightful and funny (my favorite part) ramblings from amateurs and professionals alike.
And as I said, I find the phenomenon itself fascinating -- potentially revolutionary for our species, and spiritually fitting for me at a personal level -- because, try as I have to adopt some kind of crusty, toughened view of my fellow humans -- I actually still do believe in the innate value of all beings.
It's my belief that the beauty of the universe is fueled directly by the amazing diversity within it -- and if that belief is founded in reality, I must also accept the innate value of what occurs inside of, and emerges from, every one of those diverse beings.
Sure, this is one of those "Easy-to-Say/Hard-to-Do" spiritual assignments (holding everything as innately valuable). Like "unconditional love" (which I'm not sure I believe in -- but more on that in another post, maybe).
However, on the whole, in my blog-reading experience, I actually have more often been uplifted and enhanced than bummed-out and deflated. Which supports my personal theory that this Universe was designed for, and is intent upon, expansion, and that the net cumulative effect of any number of seemingly random acts tends to be ultimately additive rather than detractive.
That's my fascination with the phenomenon of blogging and its potential as a human connectivity tool (Reason #1, remember? -- I know, I know, that was many, many lines ago.).
Reason #2: I recently received an email from someone who was starting a blog, and it led me to a whole new commitment to using this format responsibly.
I happen to personally hold this person in high regard -- okay now, I mean HIGH REGARD, (All Bold Caps and if I could underline it, I would do that, too) -- in terms of their eloquence, writing skills, sheer intellectual force, and perspicacity. When I visited their blog, I was saddened to find that this individual seemed to be very wrapped up in the doom-and-gloom news of the day.
I found that all the same factors that lead me to hold this person at a high level of respect and admiration -- now posed somewhat of a challenge for me.
Let me explain:
When someone like Peter Jennings yammers away about something doom-and-gloomish on TV, I find that I have somehow created a great little counter-voice in my head that keeps up a nice, but subtle, little pep-talk running neatly alongside the media schpilkis: "Now remember that he's really an actor. All of this is engineered. The footage you are watching may, or may not, be of the actual event being reported. The film may, or may not, have been digitally altered . . . etc., etc." (Just like my old gymanstics coach who used to chant softly in a calm, soothing voice from the edge of the mat, barely audible over the music of my floor-ex routine " . . . . and prepare, and prepare, and round-off into the back-handspring . . . ").
So, I think I've got the media-immunity thing down.
I can read/hear/see mass media, while effortlessly and simultaneously experiencing the sting of the huge grains of salt I'm taking along with it, and I neither plummet into despair nor discount it in its entirety. I don't necessarily respect the reporters, the writers, or the agencies providing the "news" (And as I use that word, "news", I meet my first true blogging dillema --I don't know how, yet, to create a print format technique which indicates massive, over-the-top, dripping sarcasm -- couldn't someone invent an emoticon for this?). But, I digress . . . .
As I was reading the blogged thoughts of someone who I perceive as on-the-ball, self-aware, good-humored, and well-balanced, I became aware of just how dangerous a potent mind and facile pen might be -- the sheer force of their skill in articulating their thoughts, coupled with my existing respect for them and their choice to express a viewpoint that I basically perceived as "everything pretty much sucks", seemed to conjure up an internal questioning I had not faced in a long while.
I found myself wondering: " Gee, Is the world really going to shit? Is my optimism about the evolution and transformation of the human race simply a form of advanced lunacy?!"
I turned off my computer late that night, feeling a bit shakey, but still, somehow certain at my core that "Seemingly-Unreasonable-Hopefulness (Sans-Pollyannishness)" is not, in fact, a sign of intellectual decay.
After all, in my nearly fifty years holding a profound belief in the existence of God, I have, on the rare occasion, had one of those terrifying moments where this nasty little nano-thought flashed through my head, "What if I'm wrong? What if my existence is just a random blip and means nothing?"
On those occasions, I had generally just taken a deep breath, looked around at the amazing organization/order/beauty of the Universe and simply said: "Naaaah".
However, on this occasion of momentary doubt about the goodness and beauty of it all, I found myself moved to action.
In the case of God's existence or lack therof, there really isn't much I can do.
On the other hand, in the matter of a potent communication form (a blog which could possibly be read by hundreds of thousands of human beings worldwide) and whether it will be used to carp about how awful things are vs. how amazing things are, there is something I can do -- which leads me to:
My Initial Intentions for this Blog
- I will strive be an antidote to the poisoning of pessimism, hopelessness, and despair.