Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 2:02am
'Spiritual Psychology' is going blog
Column: Spiritual Psychology
This column, "Spiritual Psychology," will be ending soon, but it will not die — a metamorphosis is about to take place: The column will reawaken as a "blog." Yes, blogging is in, and "Religion and Spirituality" will be right there with the trend.
But what is a blog? Good question. The term is tossed around freely — everyone seems to have a blog. It's a common subject of conversation, and people act as if they know what it is. But when you examine the scope of the blogosphere, there's no single description that defines them.
According to Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, a blog is
"an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log." Webster's adds that a blog is "typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author."The American Heritage Dictionary defines blogging more generally: "To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog." Check out the range of blogs, and you'll find that they often defy these simple definitions. Some blogs are all about "me," a person's preferred movies, body types (in people and cars), sexual experiences, what they ate for breakfast, and the regularity of their bowel movements. Many blogs even give you "my" random thoughts about politics, the economy, and solutions to world problems, usually without the pesky intrusion of facts or trustworthy knowledge. Blogs represent the ultimate in democracy — not only equality before God and the law but freedom and equality to spew out anything that comes to mind. The growing number of blogs suggests that soon almost everyone may be a blogger. According to the Blog Herald, by 2005 there were already more than 50 million blogs worldwide.In contrast to the casual, off-the-top-of-the-head blogs, there are sponsored ones that are managed professionally by sound businesses and organizations. There are even blogs that resemble comprehensive newspapers, such as Arianna Huffington's Arianna Post, which began in 2005 and features news, her insights and commentaries and a host of reports from other journalists offering information and spin on a variety of subjects and domains. Blogs can even be a road to prosperity. According to a New York Times story on March 31, Arianna Huffington's blog received 3.7 million hits in February alone, and because of its popularity it could be put on the selling block for as much as $200 million. With newspapers losing readership and advertising revenues, will blogs be waiting in the wings to pick up the slack? Getting back to the question of what a blog is, apparently the best answer is: Whatever you want it to be.That isn't how blogs began, though. One of the first popular blogs was The Drudge Report, created by Matt Drudge in 1994. It gained fame with its exposes of hanky-panky among politicians and high-profile businesspeople and celebrities. His blog became synonymous with investigative muckraking. If your name appeared in The Drudge Report, it meant you were probably heading for the hot seat, or a quick exit from town.Critics said that his stories were based on unreliable or seamy sources. Nevertheless, Drudge broke numerous stories before they hit the mainstream press. He was first to inform us about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in 1998.Today The Drudge Report has news and headlines with links to mainstream media throughout the world, as well as links to top-notch commentary pieces from first-rate publications. Nevertheless, his lead stories frequently have an edge that includes or suggests some dirt in the pile of news and information — no dropping will be ignored. After the success of The Drudge Report, copycat expose blogs appeared. For the man or woman on the street, "blog," for a period of time, meant an expose from "secret" sources. These blogs varied in accuracy, reliability and source citations, if any. Rumor and gossip were their main diet.As more and more blogs appeared, the definition got fuzzier and fuzzier. Now the word "blog" has been stripped of any particular meaning.Today there are even blogs that blog about other blogs. For example, drudgeblog.com offers different takes on The Drudge Report blog. It's a case of blogging begetting blogging. So what will the "Spiritual Psychology" blog look like? I hope it will be much like my Column — grounded information and commentary on spiritual themes and issues vital to personal transformation and the evolution of consciousness.
t
But then, who knows for sure? It's a blog. Stay tuned!
(My recently published book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is now available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and other major book outlets.)
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches "Spirituality in Film" and leads "The Spiritual Forum" at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the president of the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy and is the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is published by Rowman & Littlefield. He can be reached at: {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Bernard Starr.
But what is a blog? Good question. The term is tossed around freely — everyone seems to have a blog. It's a common subject of conversation, and people act as if they know what it is. But when you examine the scope of the blogosphere, there's no single description that defines them.
According to Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, a blog is
"an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log." Webster's adds that a blog is "typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author."The American Heritage Dictionary defines blogging more generally: "To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog." Check out the range of blogs, and you'll find that they often defy these simple definitions. Some blogs are all about "me," a person's preferred movies, body types (in people and cars), sexual experiences, what they ate for breakfast, and the regularity of their bowel movements. Many blogs even give you "my" random thoughts about politics, the economy, and solutions to world problems, usually without the pesky intrusion of facts or trustworthy knowledge. Blogs represent the ultimate in democracy — not only equality before God and the law but freedom and equality to spew out anything that comes to mind. The growing number of blogs suggests that soon almost everyone may be a blogger. According to the Blog Herald, by 2005 there were already more than 50 million blogs worldwide.In contrast to the casual, off-the-top-of-the-head blogs, there are sponsored ones that are managed professionally by sound businesses and organizations. There are even blogs that resemble comprehensive newspapers, such as Arianna Huffington's Arianna Post, which began in 2005 and features news, her insights and commentaries and a host of reports from other journalists offering information and spin on a variety of subjects and domains. Blogs can even be a road to prosperity. According to a New York Times story on March 31, Arianna Huffington's blog received 3.7 million hits in February alone, and because of its popularity it could be put on the selling block for as much as $200 million. With newspapers losing readership and advertising revenues, will blogs be waiting in the wings to pick up the slack? Getting back to the question of what a blog is, apparently the best answer is: Whatever you want it to be.That isn't how blogs began, though. One of the first popular blogs was The Drudge Report, created by Matt Drudge in 1994. It gained fame with its exposes of hanky-panky among politicians and high-profile businesspeople and celebrities. His blog became synonymous with investigative muckraking. If your name appeared in The Drudge Report, it meant you were probably heading for the hot seat, or a quick exit from town.Critics said that his stories were based on unreliable or seamy sources. Nevertheless, Drudge broke numerous stories before they hit the mainstream press. He was first to inform us about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in 1998.Today The Drudge Report has news and headlines with links to mainstream media throughout the world, as well as links to top-notch commentary pieces from first-rate publications. Nevertheless, his lead stories frequently have an edge that includes or suggests some dirt in the pile of news and information — no dropping will be ignored. After the success of The Drudge Report, copycat expose blogs appeared. For the man or woman on the street, "blog," for a period of time, meant an expose from "secret" sources. These blogs varied in accuracy, reliability and source citations, if any. Rumor and gossip were their main diet.As more and more blogs appeared, the definition got fuzzier and fuzzier. Now the word "blog" has been stripped of any particular meaning.Today there are even blogs that blog about other blogs. For example, drudgeblog.com offers different takes on The Drudge Report blog. It's a case of blogging begetting blogging. So what will the "Spiritual Psychology" blog look like? I hope it will be much like my Column — grounded information and commentary on spiritual themes and issues vital to personal transformation and the evolution of consciousness.
t
But then, who knows for sure? It's a blog. Stay tuned!
(My recently published book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is now available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and other major book outlets.)
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches "Spirituality in Film" and leads "The Spiritual Forum" at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the president of the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy and is the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is published by Rowman & Littlefield. He can be reached at: {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Bernard Starr.