There must be something going around. A few days ago I wrote about a lack of inspiration to blog here. Then yesterday I read Steven Den Beste’s post that he had given up blogging. Possibly forever. That saddened me enormously and I wrote about it.
Now a third of my favorite bloggers, Alice in Texas, has announced a possibly permanent blogging hiatus:
This may be because my own muse has vanished and Not Blogging is the only blog-relevant subject that can interest me right now: who knows. Also, I think I can fashion a passable Last Post from the subject (bear with me- it’s not as negative as it seems…) and I don’t know if a Last Post is what I should write for this place now.
There are two different sorts of reasons for doing things: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic reasons—Aquinas would have called them “accidents”, I believe—are reasons that have nothing to do with the activity itself. Examples would be doing something for pay, or for admiration, or to gain status. Intrinsic reasons for doing things—what might be called “essential reasons”—are reasons connected to the activity for its own sake.
The intrinsic reasons for the practice of medicine include doing good, building relationships with your patients, the opportunities for lifelong learning, and the sense of power and connection with the universe that comes from nurturing sick patients and coaxing nature along until they are healed. The intrinsic reasons for being a teacher include love of the subject matter itself, the relationships with your students, and, greatest of all, seeing the light that flashes on at the back of the eyes of your students that says “I understand”.
The intrinsic reasons for being a software developer include the opportunity (or necessity) for lifelong learning and the sense of power you receive by bending dumb matter to your will with the power of the Word.
I have an opinion that I fear is quite disreputable in this debased age. Once your basic needs are met—you have something to eat and shelter and companionship—the only worthwhile reasons to do anything are the intrinsic reasons.
The intrinsic reasons for blogging (like any art) include the solace of reflection, the learning that comes from self-examination, but, most of all, the writing itself. Creating something from nothing. It’s God-like. And the best and most sensible reason to stop blogging is that you just don’t care to write any more.
So Connie, Steve, Alice bon voyage and thank you. Follow your bliss. And if you decide that you want to write again, we’ll still be here.
