I had two blogs at Today.com, but they can suck it because they never want to pay people and I will only do so much work for free. You’ll be seeing reposts of the content from there showing up here, eventually.

Kaleidoscopy at Absynthe Spectrum is one I am keeping: I use it to aggregate updates from JISE, Absynthe Spectrum, ASAP, and related content.

I have an LJ I don’t use much any more, but I am keeping it because of the connections there and it’s a good place for networking.

And the maybe-fourth is a co-written blog about weird things in Illinois. Haven’t been to that lately but I suppose as I get caught up with other stuff I can contribute to it again, and possibly add it to the Kaleidoscopy aggregate.

I had the thought that mental illnesses and other concerns – depression, bipolar disorder, and so forth – are very much like icebergs. The part that can be seen is only a minor feature of the condition, what is “visible above the waves.”

What is hidden beneath can be massive and do damage that can sink the mightiest ship.

Then I thought about where icebergs happen …

Just as most people may never have to experience an adverse mental state that affects them significantly, most of the planet’s oceans are ice-free.

Also, many ships pass through the northern seas – where icebergs can be found – without ever coming near the danger.

So it seems to me that some people have a southern sea mentality – no icebergs in sight.

Some have a northern sea, and strike an iceberg, or more than one.

And some who have northern seas manage to sail their whole lives without ever encountering the troubles that can lurk just beneath the surface.

I’ve done some studying myself, and although it’s clear that Satan’s supposed to be the bad guy, I can’t help but wonder. In some versions of the old stories, it was the bad guy that insisted Man be given free will, to choose to love God or not, unlike the angels which had no choice.

My favorite story (rarely found nowadays) is that the bad guy insisted Man not be left lonely in Paradise, but given a mate to love and be loved by, to cherish and be cherished by, and yes, to be challenged by. God wouldn’t do it, so the bad guy did: Lilith, Adam’s first wife. And she wouldn’t kowtow to Adam, but insisted on being treated as his equal. And Adam threw a fit when she wanted to be on top for sex, and beseeched God to rid him of her. And God did, driving her from Eden; but she turned to that fan of man, Satan, and he gave her the strength and wisdom to find her fortune alone.

Of course, God gets all the good PR, and Satan and Lilith are cast as evil enemies of humanity. But I wonder. Wisdom carries its own painful price for those who dare seek it – how rational is it to think we should be punished further for daring to use these amazing brains supposedly given to us by a beneficent God?