What I’ve Learned Blogging This Year

Last updated on: April 14, 2016 at 6:00 am by John Beckett

What I’ve Learned Blogging This Year 2016-04-09T10:42:43-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m rapidly approaching my 8th blogging anniversary. I started out writing short posts on a free blogger site, demonstrating the truth of Ray Bradbury’s statement that the first million words every writer writes are crap. I got better and built a small audience, then in January 2013 I moved to Patheos. Under the Ancient Oaks readership is now 5x what it was three years ago, and I’ve leveraged that into a book that’s tentatively scheduled for publication early next year.

But every time I start to think I know what I’m doing I’m reminded that I still have a lot to learn.

The Pagan internet – which is always ripe for a controversy – has been particularly rough this year. I’ve been in the middle of a lot of it. This is a good time for me to step back and take a hard look at what I wrote, why I wrote it, and what reactions that writing generated. This is what I’ve learned this year.

If you take a position on a controversial issue, people will get mad at you. Sometimes they get mad because you didn’t take their side. Sometimes they get mad because you expressed a strong opinion on something they think is unimportant, or that they’re tired of hearing about. And sometimes they get mad because you dared to draw a line and say “this is unacceptable.” My goal is to always exercise good judgment, but some issues demand you take a stand.
I don’t like people being mad at me, for any reason. I like my Gods and ancestors being mad at me a lot less. And I like being mad at myself because I wasn’t true to my conscience even less than that. So it’s not that I don’t value your opinion, it’s just that there are other opinions I value more.
I don’t always get it right the first time. Or the second time. I do my best to listen to critics, particularly those who engage with the content of a post – if I’m wrong, I want to get it right. But by the third time you’re telling me I’m wrong, it’s safe to assume we simply aren’t going to agree about the matter in question.
Being passionate about something is awesome. Caring about only one thing often makes you a jerk. If you dismiss other peoples’ concerns (even “first world problems”) because they’re just not as important as the life-changing, world-upending concerns you have, or if you constantly steer the conversation back to your Number One Concern, you may be turning off potential allies. And being a jerk.
Even intelligent, mature people often have trouble separating issues from personalities – and that includes me. This is particularly difficult when a contentious person is involved (see the item above). But working through difficult issues demands that we focus on the problem, not on the messenger. Even Trump supporters have legitimate complaints.
It’s easy to mistake passion for dogmatism. This is my greatest personal regret in this year’s blogging. I’ve been unable to clearly communicate that while yes, I think my beliefs and practices are right, and yes, I’m going to continue to advocate for them, that doesn’t mean I think less of you and your beliefs and practices. Not only is it possible to act as though your beliefs are absolutely true while understanding that they might be absolutely wrong, I can do nothing else if I’m going to both practice deeply and respect the practices of others.
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. There are too many Pagans who think they’re courtroom lawyers and their mission is to find the least little inconsistency and then hammer away at it, while ignoring the theme and major points of the post. I do my best to ignore them – I’m not always successful.
Pagans aren’t as passionate about politics as we like to think we are. My political posts have been some of my most poorly read posts all year. Either I’m a lousy political commentator (which is a distinct possibility) or you folks just don’t like reading about politics nearly as much as you let on.
Boundaries make us uncomfortable. I like to think of religious boundaries as brightly painted curbs – they’re easy to step over, but they tell you when you’re moving from one tradition or concept to another. In reality, though, religious boundaries are more like beaches, the boundaries between the Land and the Sea – they’re indeterminate and they shift all the time.
Your real friends will tell you they think you’re wrong and remain your friend.

I’m going back…

Later today, I’m leaving for just short of two weeks in Ireland, Scotland, and England. I’ve been to Ireland once and England twice – this will be my first trip to Scotland. We have a traveling party of six: one Methodist and five Pagans… and our Methodist is a history nerd. We’ll be visiting a lot of ancient sites, and I finally get to see the Gundestrup Cauldron. I’ll have lots to write about (and lots of pictures) when I get back.

The blog will go on as usual. I’ve been busy and I have new posts scheduled for each of my regular posting days (Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays) – no recycled material this time. I won’t be online much so I probably won’t respond to comments, and I won’t be on Facebook much at all. But the “delete” button is really easy to use on an iPhone, so play nice (which most of you do almost all the time anyway).

If you usually find my new posts on my Facebook page, consider subscribing to e-mail updates using the widget on the right side of the screen. Or just check my main page at the usual posting times.

I’d be lying if I said all the arguments – and the issues behind them – haven’t bothered me. They have. This trip is the perfect opportunity for me to get away, forget about the discord, reconnect to the core of my religious practice, and reset my priorities for my personal practice, my group practice, and my writing.

Enjoy the posts I have queued up over the next two weeks. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about when I get back.

Previous Post

April 12, 2016

The Intersection of Religion and Politics

Next Post

April 17, 2016 The Bakery of the Gods

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Ruth's first husband?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Mahlon Boaz Chilion Elimelech