DIVING INTO BLOGDOM

Starting a blog begs the question, "what is the nature of this beast?" What propels me forth and toward? It's akin to what we all do, day by day: we invent and re-invent ourselves, honing and polishing, refining our identities and notions of "self" through narration. We tell ourselves stories about who we are, who we were, and who we want to be . . . through some intersection of these three, in a way that's palatable, we sift and sit with our inner narrative. Constantly wrestling with the 'Great divide,' conflicting pulls this way and that . . . we seek symphony within, when notes discordant splatter.

Blogs populate and hijack cyberspace because we cannot let things alone: not things within and not things without. This is the beauty of our species: striving for deeper, longer, higher--attain the elusive peak: as my 5 year nephew says in Toys R Us, circling the aisles for the umpteenth time, "I want something more better!" The relentless quest to grow is our claim to fame.

Blogging abounds and surges because it's anything but solitary. Built in is reciprocity and feedback cycle: it satisfies our need to share and be gazed at with responsiveness. In a nutshell, this is the infant/toddler/child-parent dynamic--the basis for self-esteem and interpersonal connectedness--the stuff of human relations :-) The computer screen serves as portal for our need to be mirrored:  blogs begs for human commentary, and when we're granted such, we sigh in being "met," full circle, replicating the first flush of baby swoon, gurgling in delight, rapture at being seen.

This is the eternal dance, spiraling over and over, no matter context nor content: clubs, bars, classrooms, parties, therapist-client office, families, lunches, brunches and every meal besides--eyes lock in recognition and familiarity, understanding clicks, feelings and thoughts meld as one, connections formed as disparate threads align. Hello, Cyberspace! The widest web world-wide--universal forum for human connectedness; what could be more compelling or more ambitious? What else could summon the power exhorting people to post so vigorously?

This the first time in history, to connect, we have no boundaries,  of the external world: with a stroke of the key and hit send, boom--in an instant, we've made contact, clear across the planet. Our only limit is our internal world--our inscape. When we run smack into  our inhibitions and self-consciousness, anxieties, fears of repercussions, and the like. Ever the optimist, I dream that we'll be forced to confront what we've avoided. With the external restraints of physical space shaved off, we can sharpen our blunted curves, smooth our jagged edges.

Blogging arcs the circle of the planet, lone person at a time, drop by drop, coalescing to a pool that all of us tendrils wade into en masse, as humanity is rendered luminous, no matter dark or light.