I've been doing a little thinking, or been meaning to do a little thinking, on what sort of things I want to talk about on Runicfire. I get the idea I already know what I want, it's just taking a while for the words to catch up.

One of the things that I haven't done until recently on Runicfire is discuss my creative process, which I did in my last post. Though my readership is small (some would say microscopic) I had a very positive reaction to the article, off-site. It touched me that I was able to write something that was personally relevant to another's situation. I often write here about my frustration with current events in the world, but in writing this little bit about my writer's block I had accomplished far more than in my other postings. It echoes a recommendation given to me by a dear friend: "Write about your journey, not so much about your conclusions."

I am reminded of this advice as I fear that I have been tending more towards dogmatism as of late. In particular on the subject of religion and atheism. In reading some recent books on atheism, listening to interviews, and becoming an active reader on the atheist blog scene, I have felt my previous neutrality slipping. One of the disturbing things about books such as The God Delusion is that they issue a call to all nonbelievers. The more I read the more atheists I hear who do their best to eliminate the middle ground I once inhabited. There are only atheists and religion-enablers, us and them, no safe harbor for deviant views. It is a breeding-ground for fanaticism.

So I am caught in between, but I don't want to be wishy-washy, so I am tempted to take up arms. I am reminded by Dawkins of all the things I dislike in religion, especially Christianity, and I wonder if the heart of the world's faiths are really so rotten as to be irredeemable. Yet I hear the venom of some atheists, and am reminded that bigotry comes on all sides. And then there is the clinging to the song of one Joseph Campbell, who saw so much in mythology, who held a worldview in which scepticism and spirituality could coincide. My anger, however, has been dominant as of late.

In all this turmoil it is easy to blare opinions without regard to where the pieces fall. I know I must be able to express my opinions, whatever they are, even if they do anger and disturb others. The search for truth cannot be muted. Yet when I speak of that search I capture far more attention than I would otherwise. How then, do I speak my mind, while mindful of the journey, with neither an excess or paucity of fairness?

After writing this the answer seems clear to me now, but how to express it I do not know. It is not an intellectual answer. It transcends the knotted logical conundrum I just expressed. It is that little voice that says: Just write!