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March 27, 2006

After a month of almost daily blogging, I ran into a wall.. in the form of a dissertation that needed to have a final round of revisions added. Somebody must have already coined a law in life stating that no matter how much time one has, a large project will come down to the last minute. Whatever that law's name, it applies now.

Blogging has been an organic addition to my life. In the past I have kept extensive journals, and there have been periods (such as last summer in Washington, see below) when I have written regularly in the form of letters or reports. So this kind of forum fits me like a glove.

I have long thought that the most important moral compass for me is the word "exploration." I remember writing about this subject when I was 23, sending out a series of letters on pet topics. Exploration may not appear to be a promising moral compass.. but let me explain..

Exploration is to get to know this worldly life as deeply as possible.. its people and its places. It means to continue to open new doors in the world of knowledge. It means to enjoy all of life's successive stages as they come to me.

The danger some might see in this word is the inherent lack of responsibility to others, along with a tendency to pass too quickly over difficult topics. It seems at odds with altruism. But I don't think this is necessarily so. Any form of xenophobia (in which category I would include homophobia) stems from a failure of exploration with respect to those around one. It is to be so frightened for one's own point of view, that the point of view of someone else is denied or denigrated. And exploration would be misapplied if it meant a life endlessly chasing women (or men), which would mean to turn away from the full exploration of life and all its stages.. not to mention the deep knowledge of another person that comes with time.

Although blogging means a lot of things to a lot of people, to my mind it answers to the need for a reflection of this life of exploration. The older blogs now go back a handful of years, but what an accomplishment it will be to get 20 or 30 years of life down in this kind of forum.