You wonder just how much this whole medium means anything, anything at all. Again, I wander around blogspace, and find that real dialog is absent. It's too easy to be catty, or snide, or impossibly obsure. Do real relationships form here, or, for that matter, anywhere else in the cybernetic ether?
It's hard enough to connect with another human being face to face. Ugh. Preaching is a case in point. I worry about whether I'm adequately conveying the message, bearing it over to folks so that they can both comprehend it and be moved by it. Not being utterly witless, I'm aware that my style verges on the academic, and my language is a bit--ooh--inaccessible at times. I think I've been self-correcting enough, but you can never be sure. I tend to--stupidly--just assume that people know what I know.
I've heard that folks are occasionally confused, or don't understand. If you don't understand--ask me! If it makes you struggle, ask. If you don't agree, challenge me! I won't mind! More importantly, I won't belittle. Our faith is made of important stuff, and it's not all easy. There's no shame in being confused. At least, I hope not. I often am.
Comments (1)
Thanks for your advice awhile ago... sorry I've taken so long to reply, although it seems that this is a good post to reply to... (did I just end that with a preposition? oh well...)
I think that there is some meaning out here, although one must sift through all of the meaninglessness to get to it... Personally I have had some very enlightening discussions online before, both on xanga and through chatting with people that I have met through it, a few of whom I consider good friends now (obviously they are, necessarily by that fact, not as close as people that I know in person; but then again I also use my blog to communicate with a lot of my 'real life' friends and reading each other's writing has brought us closer in a couple of intances, although a lot of the things I say to them probably qualify as the "impossibly obscure" that you mention above to anyone who doesn't know me personally). I understand what you mean when you say you worry about conveying what you want to say properly (although there is probably more pressure on you knowing that so many people will take everything you say to heart), I have the same problem sometimes... I feel like I must choose my words very carefully and be painstakingly precise or else my meaning will be misconstrued and twisted into something I did not mean...
Amen about being confused, I should definitely hope there is no shame in it! On that note, I do have a couple of questions for you; What denomination are you (just curious, I would like to know the perspective I'm hearing from)? and also, when you said that apathy was one of the stoic virtues, you meant it as a kind of going-with-the-flow-ness (for lack of a better non- made- up word to describe it), right? That sort of reminds me of Taoism a bit (which I have been studying lately) and its advice that one should never worry too much about things that will not change because of it..
~Tim