The Song and the Flame

And I really ought to read my own blog before posting something like that, because guess what? The very last entry I put up was about that thread and the suggestions I’d recieved there. Lord.

*thwack*

I can’t even say “I hate it when that happens”, because… I don’t. Not completely. The insight, I totally like. The sneaking up on me part I can take or leave. It’s the part where my own words rise up against me that unnerves me.

At the Cauldron, responding to something about how it’s good to read books and not just Web pages to get a good solid grounding in history and all that, I said:

Also, remember that reading up on the history and the religion doesn’t mean you have to read everything ever written on the subject. You don’t have to become an expert by any means, either. But reading some well-regarded scholarly works and/or primary sources to at least get a good basic grounding in things is a good idea before starting to construct (and especially present to others) theories that are based on actual history or the actual historical beliefs of a people (as opposed to UPG). There is, I think, a balance to be found between trying to devour and digest every written work in sight and not reading any books at all.

And I got that tingly sensation on the back of my neck that says, “PAY ATTENTION.” At first I thought it was because there for a little bit I had been kind of worried that I wasn’t doing enough in the way of research, and I was getting tired of being such a n00b with the whole semi-maybe-recon thing. But that hasn’t been bugging me as much lately, honestly. The more I looked at it, the more I thought there might be something else there.

And then Caroline came along and summed it up for me: “Moderation in all things. ” And somehow that tripped a switch in my brain. Moderation. Not an overwhelming amount of stuff, but also not a complete lack. A complete lack being what I’ve had lately as far as reading and research.

I mean, right now I feel like I do have a good excuse. Babies tend to disrupt stuff. But I’ve maybe been letting things slide more than I strictly need to. I got some good ideas from the thread I started at TC, and then I didn’t follow through on them. I’ve been getting lazy about my practice, too. I haven’t really even been trying to find that moderation, that balance point.

So what am I going to do about it? Well, as for the reading, I’d already planned on making my next audiobook the Iliad (trans. Butler). I’ll go ahead with that. And I’ll dig up that thread and find out what it was I thought was a good idea there. And once I get my tail in gear again I’ll remember that I don’t have to do everything all right away!