{"id":26368,"date":"2022-08-28T03:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T09:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=26368"},"modified":"2022-08-26T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T18:19:12","slug":"discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html","title":{"rendered":"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We\u2019re four weeks into a six week Under the Ancient Oaks online course on Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner<\/a>. The class is on-demand \u2013 if you missed the beginning you can start it any time. But that\u2019s not what this post is about.<\/p>\n

One of the core principles of monasticism \u2013 in any religious tradition \u2013 is discipline. It\u2019s having a rule, a routine, a practice, and then doing it when you said you were going to do it (or when your Gods told you to do it) every time. If you\u2019re trying to be a monk or a nun or a monastic or whatever term you prefer, you pray and meditate at your appointed times whether you feel like it or not, whether you\u2019re busy or not, whether you really want to do it or not.<\/p>\n

I find it ironic that I\u2019m examining discipline in such depth at a time when my blogging has become so undisciplined.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A very disciplined approach to blogging<\/h2>\n

I blogged three days a week \u2013 on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays \u2013 most weeks for 13 years. That\u2019s one of the reasons I built up the audience I did. In a post on tips for starting your own blog<\/a>, I emphasized \u201cpost regularly\u201d and \u201cpost at least weekly.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you do that? As Dorothy Parker once said, writing is the art of applying ass to seat (and fingers to keyboard). Discipline matters.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve taken great pride in my blogging output. I know every post isn\u2019t great, but they\u2019re all good \u2013 even the ones people don\u2019t read<\/a>. If I didn\u2019t think they were good I wouldn\u2019t post them. I have a file full of posts that were either finished but not posted or never finished, because they were poorly written or irrelevant or both.<\/p>\n

My approach to blogging changed earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The reasons are many, and for the purposes of this post, not particularly important. What\u2019s important is that after 13 years, I found myself unable to continue posting three times a week.<\/p>\n

You want to know what\u2019s harder than forming good, consistent, disciplined habits? Breaking those habits after years of doing them regularly and diligently. It feels wrong. Not wrong as in immoral or sinful but wrong like trying to throw with the non-dominant hand. \u201cWhy are you trying to do it this way? Do it the way you\u2019ve always done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authority of experience and the value of exploration<\/h2>\n

If my writing has any authority, it\u2019s the authority of experience. I write about what I do, what I experience, and how I interpret those experiences. If it works for me, maybe it will work for you. If it doesn\u2019t, that\u2019s fine. My way is one way \u2013 find the way that works for you.<\/p>\n

That approach carries over into my teaching. The UTAO class on Operative Magic<\/a> is magic as I\u2019ve practiced it for over 20 years. This is what I do, how I do it, and my theories on why it works. The Spiritual Practice<\/a> course is prayer, meditation, offerings, and other practices as I do them on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis.<\/p>\n

The Pagan Monasticism course is different.<\/p>\n

I am not a monk, Pagan or otherwise. But for the last year I\u2019ve been getting nudged to \u201cbuild the monastery.\u201d I\u2019m still not sure exactly what that means, but I started down this path anyway.<\/p>\n

The further I got, the more I found other people who were doing the same things. I read and reviewed Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters<\/a><\/em>. For the class, I brought in three of the writers from that book \u2013 Janet Munin, Syren Nagakyrie, and Kimberly Kirner \u2013 as guest speakers. I don\u2019t have a ton of experience with this topic, so I wanted to hear from other people who are doing it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m learning more about monasticism as I teach this class. Not in a \u201cstay one lesson ahead\u201d sense (which is a dangerous approach, even if sometimes it\u2019s necessary), but in the sense of leading an exploratory party deeper into an area of religious practice where Pagans have rarely gone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The necessity of discernment<\/h2>\n

When it comes to the principles of monasticism, discernment is just as important as discipline. You can be dedicated and diligent in your practice, but if you\u2019re dedicated and diligent about the wrong things you\u2019ll end up some place you don\u2019t want to be.<\/p>\n

In her essay in Polytheistic Monasticism<\/em>, Rebecca Korvo talked about \u201cthe seeking out and the turning away.\u201d We often think of monasticism as turning away from the ordinary world \u2013 going away to live in a monastery apart from the mainstream world, something that\u2019s very difficult for Pagans (and for anyone else without access to established religious institutions). But it\u2019s also the seeking out \u2013 responding to a call to deeper practice and deeper relationships with our Gods and spirits.<\/p>\n

Discernment is the process by which we determine what we should seek out \u2013 what\u2019s important and what\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

The primacy of spiritual practice<\/h2>\n

I think the primary reason I feel called to monasticism (at some level I haven\u2019t precisely ascertained yet) is the value I\u2019ve found in regular spiritual practice. It\u2019s always been important to me, but since the pandemic began it\u2019s been even more helpful. The constancy of practice was comforting<\/a> at a time when nothing was normal. Even more important were the sacred relationships that were continuously reaffirmed and taken deeper.<\/p>\n

I already knew that spiritual practice is important.<\/p>\n

I learned that spiritual practice is most important.<\/p>\n

Spiritual practice must be maintained even if the realities of life intrude. If my paying job gets too busy and too stressful, if I\u2019m occupied with family (of blood and of choice) health concerns, if I get overwhelmed by Tower Time, spiritual practice must be maintained.<\/p>\n

If blogging has to be reduced to insure there\u2019s enough time and energy for spiritual practice, so be it.<\/p>\n

And if blogging has to be reduced to insure there\u2019s enough time and energy for building the kind of future I want and need, so be that also.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Make decisions consciously<\/h2>\n

This post is not my most straightforward writing. It\u2019s personal and introspective. It could easily be interpreted as making excuses for not maintaining a blogging schedule that\u2019s really nobody\u2019s business but my own. I would be lying if I didn\u2019t admit there\u2019s a bit of explaining \/ rationalizing in it. Perhaps it really belongs in my private journal.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a point in all this, something that has wider relevance than whether I blog three times a week or three times a month or not at all.<\/p>\n

Discipline is important. Do what you say you\u2019re going to do and what you\u2019re called to do.<\/p>\n

Discernment is more important. Make sure you\u2019re spending your time on what really matters, and not just on what you\u2019re used to doing \u2013 even if what you\u2019re used to doing is good and helpful.<\/p>\n

Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions. Especially our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions.<\/p>\n

I will never stop blogging<\/h2>\n

I started blogging in 2008 because I had some religious issues I wanted to discuss. I had something I wanted to say and I needed a place to say it.<\/p>\n

Over the years I\u2019ve learned that blogging is good for talking about some things. Other things are better discussed in videos or classes or books or newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there will always be things I want to discuss and opinions I want to express that fit into the blog format. So I firmly expect to be blogging \u2013 somewhere, at some frequency \u2013 for as long as I\u2019m in this world.<\/p>\n

Even if I\u2019ve had to learn that some things are more important.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve learned some things this year. Discipline is important. Discernment is more important. Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":26374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1814,716,4,5,10],"class_list":["post-26368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practice","tag-discernment","tag-discipline","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-spiritual-practice"],"yoast_head":"\nDiscipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ve learned some things this year. Discipline is important. Discernment is more important. Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve learned some things this year. Discipline is important. Discernment is more important. Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-28T09:00:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-26T18:19:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/08\/road-through-woods-05.27.22-01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"764\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html\",\"name\":\"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-28T09:00:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-26T18:19:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"I\u2019ve learned some things this year. Discipline is important. Discernment is more important. Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules","description":"I\u2019ve learned some things this year. Discipline is important. Discernment is more important. Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules","og_description":"I\u2019ve learned some things this year. Discipline is important. Discernment is more important. Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html","og_site_name":"John Beckett","article_published_time":"2022-08-28T09:00:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-26T18:19:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":764,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/08\/road-through-woods-05.27.22-01.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Beckett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Beckett","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html","name":"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-08-28T09:00:37+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-26T18:19:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad"},"description":"I\u2019ve learned some things this year. Discipline is important. Discernment is more important. Spiritual practice is most important. It\u2019s the foundation of any good religion, including our contemporary Pagan and polytheist religions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/08\/discipline-discernment-and-blogging-schedules.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Discipline, Discernment, and Blogging Schedules"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/","name":"John Beckett","description":"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad","name":"John Beckett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Beckett"},"description":"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}