Blog for Blog's Sake

Writing, like anything else well done in life, is a craft and an art.

For those who like to write, posts on a blog can become a personal expression of thoughts. Ideas or inspirations come and I get in the mood. I play with the ideas, thinking about what and how I want to express, and then the words flow out with a pattern of their own.

The work takes on a life of its own. More ideas come: metaphors, examples and tangents; symbols within symbols.

My favorite part, perhaps the most important, is the editing. The best editing is to take out the extraneous. Ideas become clear and a gift is made to the patient reader.

Readers may be few. Still, the satisfaction remains of writing; hopefully well. We garden, sing, cook, sew, play and paint with the slightly selfish hope that others may admire. But if others' admiration is the reason for what we do, we surely will be disappointed. I think it's good to have some consideration for how others might take in what we have done. The quality of our work is raised. But I think the practical and the ultimate realities are that we work for work's own sake.

Recently two good friends have been inspired to blog, and they in turn have inspired me. So let's all blog for blog's sake.

A fundamental tenet in most spiritual traditions is the attitude memorialized in MGM's lion-roaring motto: Ars Gratia Artis (Art for the Sake of Art). Therefore, bloggers who craft their posts can honestly consider themselves performing a religious duty.