This blog is approaching its fourth anniversary (17th January). Subject matter has changed considerably from a somewhat romanticised view of “Northern Catholicism” through the Use of Sarum and finally to a study of some Gnostic themes which can enhance and enrich the Christian way.
I have had to learn many things over that time. The beginning of this blog overlapped with the excroissance and demise of the English Catholic. Some rescued material – The TAC Archive. I have occasionally given in to temptations to discuss polemical topics and that has always caused trouble. It is essential to be personal on a blog. It might seem to be introspective, navel-gazing and narcissistic, but is really a way one person (me) relates to certain things – whether or not they interest other people. It is vital to be oneself, and not to try to please others or do what attracts more views in the statistics page or comments.
I often go through this in the winter. January in the northern hemisphere is particularly gruelling, and I am reminded of six months I spent as a working guest in a Benedictine abbey from just after Christmas 1996 until mid July of 1997. It was there when I encountered the exorcism situation and kept my distance from it. I don’t have a very strong character! The experience of doing a blog is also something that makes its mark.
Each year, I have to make the resolution to work on the quality of this blog, making it a service for others as well as a sounding board for myself. If I try to educate, it is in the manner of a university, not a seminary or a guru’s cult. I don’t mind different opinions or being disagreed with. I have never sanctioned a commenter for that reason.
There are things remaining to be studied and thought out. I am still concerned for working out something of the Gnostic mythology of God and creation, and homing in from the “wilder” versions of Gnosticism to the Alexandrian school and some of the leading lights in Eastern Orthodoxy and how they relate to spiritual currents in Anglicanism. It’s a big undertaking…
