Blogs allow you to change their "skin." It reminded me of when a woman I know told me, "Hubby doesn't like using condoms. He says they detract from the richness of sex." So, he preferred using his own skin as opposed to the false "skin" of the rubber.
There's a parable in that anecdote: modern life, with all the fancy-shmancy technology (no, I'm not a Luddite, I'm using a computer, am I not?) tends to have the same effect on the mind and soul as a condom*; the richness and immediacy of real life are coated over with an asphyxiating membrane----which would perhaps partly account for the many cases of alcoholism, drug abuse, self-mutilation, etc. Life in its undiluted form teems with fascinating and intriguing things to experience, learn and practice.
Even with all the painful aspects. It's like what a client told me about his Paxil use (for Social Anxiety Disorder): "With Paxil, I don't feel any emotions at all [he was also prone to severe bouts of anger], and have no libido." I told him that as much as I loathe feeling angry or sad, I'd rather endure the whole range of emotions, because it is a vital part of my humanity. "Why would I want to stunt such a huge chunk of my very essence?"
*Which, as an aside, is one of the reasons I think youngsters should have only very limited access to computers, ipods, etc: they should instead use their own bodies and imaginations to explore and experience the world: marvel at the moon and the stars and the clouds; build go-carts and treehouses; spy on birds and coons and possums; hurtle from the tree-rope into the waterhole below.
