Swansong.

The comments on my last post have brought me to a conclusion regarding a question I’ve been pondering for a while: how suitable is the blog format for addressing deeper issues?

I referred in The Summer of Our Discontent to ‘simple cultures.’ Maria asked what I meant by the term and then went on to defend its corollary, ‘non-simple’ cultures. I could have written a long comment back, defining the term and clarifying the argument in favour of the proposition. But I thought about it for a while and went beyond the simple matter of defence. There’s the bigger issue involved: the question I’ve already posed.

‘Simple cultures’ is, I agree, an ambiguous term; and that’s the problem with all propositions of a complex nature. They’re full of ambiguous terms, and those ambiguities must be removed if the argument is to have any weight. That’s why the blog format, with its short sound byte ethos, is unsuitable for this kind of exercise. To adequately address the reasons why people of a certain type of culture are happier, and generally healthier, than people of another would require at least a major essay if not a whole book. This is what gives me a problem.

There was a reason why I started blogging in the first place. I have spent several decades observing that big, nebulous subject we call the human condition. I have moved in a variety of environments during my life - from the public school atmosphere of Dartmouth College, to the hidebound mentality of the Civil Service, to the high pressure world of corporate sales, to the relatively low pressure world of retail management, to the underbelly of deprived inner city life working for a multi-racial charity, to the free-living life of a landscape photographer. I’ve worked in shops, factories, offices, prisons, warehouses, out of a company car, and from my own home. And all the time I was observing people: their attitudes and behaviour, their preconceptions and prejudices. I tried to think outside the box, and I tried to look beyond the conditioning impressed into us by the culture. And I can assure you: once you step outside the tramlines and look back in, the world looks very different. What’s more, once you’ve seen things differently, there’s no going back.

And along with this I’ve tried to make sense of the biggest question of all: what is this thing called ‘being?’ To put it simply: What’s it all about? What is existence? Why am I here? What does ‘I’ mean? I’ve delved into many traditional wisdoms, and one thing has become clear: compared with this question, the complexities of the human condition seem trivial.

And so I reached a point in my life where I became largely alienated from my fellow beings, because I’m the sort who always has to be moving on. Most people aren’t. Most people want to settle between the tramlines, and I can’t stay there with them. That’s OK, apart from one thing. How do I find an outlet for the conveyance of my observations if there’s nobody to talk to? I found the pressure was building, and I wanted some way of releasing that pressure by sending everything out into the ether where it might be picked up and pondered on. So that’s why I started blogging.

Frankly, the blog format isn’t up to the job. It isn’t giving me what I want. It’s generating as much frustration as it is providing an outlet. I can break it up with a few anecdotes, jokes and silly ditties, but the primary purpose isn’t being served, And that’s why I’m packing it in.

Thank you so much to all those people who have bothered to press the Follow button, and to those who have commented on my posts. It gave me a lot of pleasure to see you here. And those few people who have my e-mail address should know full well that further missives will be very welcome. I also intend to continue following a few blogs, and making the odd comment. And I will continue to post stories at A Handful of Stories as promised, unless it becomes evident that nobody is reading them.