I started this blog 11 years ago. The aim was to stimulate thought, discussion and engagement with other perspectives and other folk's ways of looking at the world. My own perspective is Christian, with every attempt at being open, respectful and helpful through my writing.
Over the years the blog platform has become much less popular as social media has moved on to formats that are more immediate, integrated and demand shorter time to write, read and respond to. The down side of that is the move away from longer more considered pieces, impatience with carefully constructed argument, and habituation to the transient immediacy of alternative smartphone friendly social media.
All of which raises the obvious question of whether a blog is worth the bother. Who reads it anyway? Why write when the number of hits on a given day is now low enough to force the questions of why bother, who reads it anyway, and is there a better use of my time? I'm not the only person asking these questions. I have a number of blogging friends whose blogs are now all but dormant and who have moved on to other things. Maybe blogs have had their day.
But. Writing is for me an enriched form of thinking. It is an act of self discovery as much as self expression. I write to think, and to think through, and to think again. More deeply still, to write can move from thought to reflection, and now and then to enter that stream of meditative movement towards understanding, which moves towards wisdom, and the eventual and occasional joy of discovering what you did not think you knew, and wouldn't have known you knew if you hadn't sat down, started writing and thus started looking!
I write as a theologian, as a Christian minister, but also, and just as importantly, as someone whose values and life passions are deeply rooted in whatever enables human life to flourish. In that sense I am a humanist, whose educational focus both in learning and in teaching, has been the humanities, and who since I read the words as a boy, has tried to "look humanely forth on human life".
This post is not to announce the end of Living Wittily. But it is to reiterate the "end" of Living Wittily, that is, its goal, purpose, and what makes it worth my while doing the writing, thinking and sharing. Eleven years ago I wrote my rationale for keeping this blog and doing the work to maintain it with fresh writing and thought. You can read it over here. I don't see the need to change any of that, but it does remind me of the possibilities and opportunities of having a place to think, write and seek the fellowship of other readers.
To those who do happen by this blog, regularly or occasionally, thank you for the time and interest, and feel free to leave a comment. Shalom, and may peace grace your life and your living.
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