Stumbling Forward

Although this is my third post, written on December 17th, this post appears in pole position at the top because it was the original Hello World post, auto-generated by the initialization of this site.  Rather than simply delete it, I left it in place so that I could go back, as I am now doing, and place here some kind of explanation (or at least an attempt at description) as to what I am trying to do here.

For as long as I can remember, I have been a devotee of Reason.  A rational approach to life, I have believed, is the best, most pragmatic and most successful approach one can use.  And even now, my commitment to Reason is unwavering and total.

But that is not what this blog type dealio is about.

You see, while the analytic and intellectual part of my nature has been served well by Reason, pragmatism, and a rational approach, there are other parts of my nature that Reason does not fulfill.  The spectrum of emotions I feel when listening to effective music – from deep sadness to boundless joy.  The sense of transcendence and revelation I experience from storytelling – whether that be from a book, movie, or TV show, or whether that be from a story constructed by myself and friends in a role-playing game session.  And of course, the fundamental human needs that most have for purpose, meaning, context.

Reason is absolutely the best tool for finding one’s way from where one is now, to where one wants to be.  But how do we choose where we want to be?  What tells us what we value and why?  From where does our context come for not just understanding the world but being a part of it?  And how do we embrace a path of self-evolution and becoming a better person – and what do we mean, really, by “better”?

All this is what I mean by Spirituality.  I don’t mean belief in the supernatural, or god(s), or crystals, or any of that stuff – not as a matter of factual truth, anyways.  Spirituality is not about what is factually and objectively true – that’s what science is for.  Spirituality is about what is subjectively true, personally true.  It’s about what we feel deep within us.  It’s about our experiences, individually and in the interhuman links between us.  Spirituality is the domain of love, not law; the domain of value, not facts; the domain of transcendence and profundity, not of measurement and proof.

Quite simply, spiritual truths are truths of feeling, not truths of being.

Now, if I sound at all like I have a handle on any of this, like I have a clue about what I’m saying, don’t be fooled.  I don’t.  I’m making it up as I go, trying to figure it out from within the storm of life.  It’s kind of like being in a dance hall and hearing some new piece of music.  I know I want to dance to it, but I haven’t quite yet got the rhythm down.  This site is for just that purpose.  I hope any who stumble upon it can find something of value here for themselves, be it a note of similar experience or even basic entertainment.  For me, this will be a nonlinear account of my journey as I try to figure out where I’m going.  I can hear the music – I just need to figure out how to dance.

Just wanted to note (for posterity?) that this entire website is a WIP – work in progress.

Specifically, that can (and will) mean any and all of the following:

• Parts of the site may be buggy or look wrong.  If anyone sees such a glitch, feel free to drop me a line at benn@4efix.com
• Likewise, some links may be non-functional – either because the content is “Coming Soon(tm)” or because the link itself is broken.
• Any page or post can be reworked and rewritten to better make it’s point.  For example, I will probably be writing and re-writing the main Reason and Spirituality pages on an ongoing basis – both to better put forth the desired thoughts, and to reflect a hopefully evolving understanding.
• As with many blogs, but especially with this one, the posts are in no specific order – I just post ideas as I think of them.  For orderly examinations, check out the pages in the top nav bar – the blog posts are far more stream of consciousness.
• This post itself represents (in quite a meta way) an evolving chunk of data – as I think of other things that belong here, I will go back and add them.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or constructive criticism, please don’t hesitate to email me at benn@4efix.com

I am making some more or less minor structural changes to the blog here, so if you see links that don’t work, or a few reposts, or other signs of work, know that it is likely just me prodding and poking at this blog site and that things should settle down soon.  Please bear with me and I’ll see you on the other side shortly.

OK, I’m obviously not promising not to have future alteration phases of this site, but I think I got most of the kinks out that I was looking to solve this time, so this site/blog should settle down a bit and I can go back to generating content – in other words, my current journey!

As always, if anyone sees anything amiss on this site – even just spelling or grammars errors (which I *know* still exist, unhappily) then please let me know via comments or via the Contact page.

Thanks.

Edit:  one quick PS, I do plan on reordering the pages somewhat by re-dating them, so be aware that that their URLs may change and any direct linking or bookmarking you do may stop functioning. https://benngrant.com will always work, however.