Here's one from the better late than never files:

Holier-Than-Thouness & Narcissistic Blogging, Part I of a Possible Two parts

In these dire times I am as deeply distressed by introspective, narcissistic "blogs" as I am by the solitary driver in an SUV on the way to score (whatever) who pointedly ignores the hitch-hiker. Both move on without care for the wider consequences of wasted energy and opportunities for interaction and understanding.

- tony @ abuddhas memes. . .


The above quote, snipped from an August 17, 2003 post by Tony of abbudhas memes appeared in this very space previously on Friday, September 26, 2003 and spawned the following exchange in my comment box:

Sep 28 2003, 02:14 am

Richard, while I commend your desire to engage in some politically relevant blogging, and to not turn your attention away from the outrages that have been thrust upon us; at the same time, I must say that I find Tony's remarks about personal, introspective blogging not only offensive, but a smart-ass, holier-than-thou attitude. I'm rather surprised that you, as a poet and person who makes a worthy contribution to the cleansing art of introspection, gives any credence to this self-appointed arbiter of morality.

- Tom Shugart -


Sep 28 2003, 09:34 pm


Tom,

Thanks for your thoughts re. Tony's perceived "Holier-than-thouness" and my lending of creedence to such a state. Ouch!You have hit a nerve but who's to say that is a bad thing. Pain serves a purpose, after all.

I need to absorb your assessment, consider more deeply the label of a "narcissistic blog", roll these things over and mull them awhile before I can even attempt a proper response.

That response will probably be in e-mail or, perhaps, blog post form, when it comes.

In the meantime, thanks again for commenting.

- me -


Sep 29 2003, 11:53 am

You're welcome, Richard. My question is, is your blog to be condemned as narcissistic because you engage in introspection? Those who would do so betray an inner fright--a sense of inadequacy masked as a smug sense of superiority. Does not your introspection create value for others beside yourself? Isn't the quality of the introspection which you project in your blogging and poetry---isn't this your special gift, and doesn't it deserve to be shared? You're supposed to put that under a bushel for the sake of being politically correct?

I'm sorry, but it reminds me of the negativist ultra-radicals of the 60's who pontificated that if you weren't willing to destroy and steal property and crack some skulls, you were just a self-indulgent bourgeois traitor.

- Tom Shugart -

Here we are now, some two months after the above exchange and I am sorry to say, Tom, that I am still unprepared to offer you a well considered reply. I will, none the less, attempt to articulate a point or two your words raised in my mind.

First, the holier than thou accusation. Yes, I think it would be fairly stated to say that Tony's comment above, isolated as it is or even in the larger context of the 8/17/03 post from which it was plucked, might be fairly said to betray a certain sense of superiority. I cannot agree, however, that Tony is a smart ass motivated by fears of inadequacy. I think there is a fear motivating Tony - the fear of seeing the human race wipe itself out under the Dominator cultural mode, perhaps. I think hope, that we might just get things right, is also a strong influence on Tony. But I'm probably projecting.

If Tony is guilty of smugness, holier-than-thouness, he is not alone in that fault. It is an easy trap for any seeker on the path of Truth to fall into and, funnily enough, an ego trap that I was just reading about in chapter V. of Alan Watts' The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are , when Tom left the words above in my comment box back in September.

The Taoist philosopher Chuang-Tzu described such efforts to be ego-less as "beating a drum in search of a fugitive," or, as we would put it, driving to a police raid with sirens on. Or, as the Hindus say, it is like trying not to think of a monkey while taking medicine, on the basis of the popular superstition that thinking of a monkey will make the medicine ineffective. All that such efforts can teach us is that they do not work, for the more we try to behave without greed or fear, the more we realize that we are doing this for greedy or fearful reasons. Saints have always declared themselves as abject sinners - through recognition that their aspiration to be saintly is motivated by the worst of all sins, spiritual pride, the desire to admire oneself as a supreme success in the art of love and unselfishness. And beneath this lies a bottomless pit of vicious circles: the game, "I am more penitent than you" or "My pride in my humility is worse than yours." Is there any way not to be involved in some kind of one-upmanship? "I am less of a one-upman than you." "I realize more clearly than you that everything we do is one-upmanship." The ego-trick seems to reaffirm itself endlessly in posture after posture.

- from The Book:On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, Chapter V., So What?, Alan Watts, 1966 -

This, if anything, is Tony's only failing, I think, and one that has troubled great and fine minds.

As for the question of relevant vs. narcissistic blogging which Tony raised and Tom took such umbrage with. . . The central point of relevance for Tony, as stated in the text from which I originally quoted is, in his words, one of addition:

The real, valid reason for publishing on this incredible globally available medium is to add (wealth of understanding independant of wealth); this can be done in as simple a fashion as abuddhas memes, which merely gives a personal context to the eminently haphazard translation of my set, setting, and interest-of-the-mo', or as source-fully convicted and responsible as Alternet.

- tony @ abuddhas memes, 8/17/03 -

Here again Tom might find a whiff of that superior attitude in the assertion that there is but a single real and valid reason for blogging. I think, though, that Tony's idea of a relevant blog must be fairly broad. He was, for instance, one of the first to link to me, a largely personal blogger, a year or so back - implying a value placed on this particular personal blog at least.

But where does the personal end and the universal begin?

This is the question at the bottom of this entire issue. I suspect Tony would agree with me that each of us is a microcosm, a perfect holographic integer containing and reflecting the entire mind and matter of The Universe. Taking such a notion for granted, as I do, it would follow naturally that the idea of a narcissistic blog is a moot issue, a trick question, in the long run at least. There is no part that is separate from the whole no matter how scattered we seem. I believe this.

But this is so grand and abstract a scale. In the microcosm of our daily lives does it matter if a a blog doesn't matter? And, if so, who is to say what in the vastness of time and ever expanding space matters and what does not?

Does a poem posted in this space have more or less value than a politically oriented post? These are questions without definite answers as each post will bring its own value to each reader.

The extent to which that value does or does not exert influence on the larger Mob Mind via the medium of the individual reader is a question to be considered, and one which might lend some weight to the overall value of blogging as a medium of still largely untapped potential.

End Part I

Part II, Is the Narcissistic Blog a Myth and the Dangers of Lazy Blogging, may or may not follow

Our recent Big Sur retreat produced some interesting photos - a few of them almost begin to capture a sense of the superfluous beauty which haunts this stretch of California coast.



- Sun kissed Oak above Deetjen's -




- Sarah and the cat who came to lunch at The Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant -





- Sarah pointing to the light at the end of the tunnel, Partington Cove -





- a view from Partington Cove -




- Aggregated ladybugs along The Tanbark Trail, Partington Canyon. There are a lot of ladybugs in this picture - multiply an approximation of their number by a few million or so to imagine the ladybug jamboree we stumbled upon as we set out on this trail. -




- Angel atop Nepenthe -





- light and shadow along the Tanbark Trail -

If I had the time and energy, I would tell you why Alan Moore is not only one of my favorite writers but, through the medium of his words and recordings, something of a personal guru (follow this link if you care to read, or re-read, one of my past ramblings about Moore and his work).

As it is, however, I have just enough time and energy at the moment to wish Mr. Moore a happy 50th birthday this November 18 and, in fine blog tradition, to provide a few links:

In the week of Alan Moore's 50th birthday and his intended retirement from mainstream comics, Ninth Art presents a look back at its coverage of the industry's greatest innovator, including our interview with the man himself. Ninth Art knows the score.

- The Alan Moore Index, via The Ninth Art, 17 November 2003 -

Also from The Ninth Art and previously linked in this space but well worth another read:

He's the most respected name in comics, but he's leaving it all behind to focus on multimedia performance and magic. To mark our 100th week, Ninth Art talks to Alan Moore about sorcery, opera, and psycho-geography.

- Snake Charmer: An Interview with Alan Moore, Frank Beaton, 31 March 2003 -

And, just a few of my favorites from the man in no particular order:

The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels - a magickal working caught on tape!

Promethea - Bringing fire to the human race!

From Hell - Jack the Ripper reconsidered!

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - A disparate group of literary characters unite for Queen and country. The 19th Century was never so much fun!

Back from Big Sur and suffering some kind of miserable urban shock as I move from breathing the earthy air of Redwood trees and sea breeze from the big blue Pacific (swelling out from the sharp teeth of the coast like a vast blue bowl upended) to the streets of San Francisco grimy and littered with debris commercial, literal and, most oppressively, spiritual. San Francisco is a great city, as cities go; but it suffers none the less from the sickness that lies at the heart of most urban developments these days. What is that sickness precisely? Ask me another day. . .

A not inconsiderable portion of fun during our retreats to Deetjen's (Big Sur Inn) over the years has been provided by the guest journals in each of the Inn's unique rooms. The books, filled with the mad scrawlings, poetry difficult and sublime, tender words, strange confessions, fantasies, aspirations and general wisdom and stupidity of decades of guests at the Inn (yours truly included), are a joy to peruse. Here's what I wrote this trip (annotations and photos may or may not follow shortly):

11/4/03

Big Sur - Top Antique @ Deetjen's

Note to self:
You don't exist.

A few things that are real:

- These Redwoods dipping their roots in Castro Creek, reaching for the sun and not far short. . .

- Crows punctuating the wide blue sky above Cafe Kevah @ Nepenthe, sudden black dashes alighting to loiter near tables in search of food. . .

- Ladybugs thick upon the Tanbark Trail, so many uncountable millions that soon as the eye perceives their numbers covering the Redwood Sorrel, the fallen trunks of trees, stalks and leaves of all the flora, it seems a single shiny set of red carapace wings is moving there among the Wood. . .

- The jade pool swirling in sea foam @ Partington Cove. . .

- The gentle Green Faerie of Big Sur, even now growing up and under the eaves of Top Antique. . .

- The westering sun, touching a wind shaped Oak with fleeting gold. . .

- The light in my Sarah's eyes and Love above all.

But you knew that already!