My lack of writing since February… it reminds me of the spinning circle on a computer when waiting to transition to the next page. I can come up with a number of excuses, but I have to wonder if, really, it’s just that I didn’t quite know where I wanted this blog to go. It might be that all of that time… a whopping eight months… was necessary to make sense of it all. Given the newness of the blog, thankfully, my audience was more myself than a collection of followers that I left hanging.

So, really, why did I want to do this blog in the first place?

Like many writing projects, first, it’s about making sense of something for self.

Making sense of what, exactly?

How, after a decade of blogging about a narrow aspect of history (and then a lengthy lull before starting this blog), have I gone to writing about a collection of so many other interests? History remains at the core… genealogy being threaded together with that… followed by my study of DNA… and, eventually, this path propelled me into deeper subject matter… animistic-based spirituality. But it’s not now about spirituality alone, but the collective… history, genealogy, DNA, spirituality (animism being a large part of that) … and more (to include mythology). It doesn’t do justice to say it, but, in an effort to give a synopsis, it’s about exploring history so deeply as to go into pre-Christian beliefs via “blood ancestry” and “non-blood ancestry”. I’d like to get that on “paper” to make sense of it all… for starters, for myself.

Perhaps the more difficult part of the decision is the second part of “why”… why do I want to blog about it? Why do I want to put such deep, intimate thoughts in a format that opens up to a field of readers? Well, why do most writers write? I believe it’s both to share thoughts and the hope of encouraging others to think about a topic. Yet, in contemporary settings on the web, why would one really open the door to public commentary? I’m quite aware, after having blogged for years, that commentary can be fruitful engagement… and also cruel personal attacks, often simply over a difference of opinion. That is especially cutting when it comes to something so incredibly intimate, such as spirituality and faith.

Yet, I’ve written for an audience for over 35 years… in published books, articles, and blogs on the web. I’ve also made my rounds in  academic studies… history, writing, and rhetoric. So, I guess writing again is just part of all of that.

Then, too, I think there’s something else. I “hear the clock ticking”. Mortality. In my 50+ years, I’ve become very aware of how it becomes a struggle to look back upon the life of a person and realize how little you really know. I’d like to think I’m leaving (though the longevity of a blog post on the web is a discussion in itself) another morsel behind… greater than just memory… for my descendants. Sure, to some, I suspect they might not care less, but others… I hope it ignites a spark in them, for their own passion(s)… perhaps some of them… shared.