Eyre Lines

Most of my activity connected with this blog seems to be trashing inappropriate comments, virtually all of which seem to come from automatic mailings. So, OK, I know that this is likely to fall on deaf ears, or more accurately uncomprehending search engines, but look:-

Those few reading this blog for it’s real content are really very unlikely to want to rent property in Richmond, Virginia. I suppose very marginally more might be interested in slightly exotic personal services, and of those very few, maybe someone also is looking for “performance enhancing” drugs. Probably none, however. Similar microscopic numbers ( likely smaller than one actual person) might, I suppose, be drawn to camera equipment, or ski lodges in Vanuatu (OK, I made that one up by eliding two genuine ones). Criminal defence attorneys in Chicago? Apartments in Gurgaon, wherever that is? No, even if my readers did actually see these robotically produced posts (and no, it does not help you if the content looks vaguely OK but the title line or address are clearly advertising), you would probably get no custom.

However, all replies to this blog are mediated, so the only reader who is ever going to see any of this tripe is me – and if I actually register anything about it at all, it will be to ensure that I never ever have anything to do with the sender. Be reassured on this; although I currently have to get rid of two or three of them a day, no, I will not be finding out where you live and sending Luigi and the Boys (not even the electrical contractor in London, who is actually conceivably within reach), nor will I be getting a friend to hack your account and demolish your hard drive, much as I might wish to. All you are doing, therefore, is to annoy me without fear of comeback.

I write this pretty much serene in the knowledge that those who should be reading it won’t be, and if they did, they would ignore it. But then, I pray on a regular basis too, and I do not expect mountains to move or the government to see sense, nor for friends or relations to be healed or (at a minimum) stop dying for a while. The panentheist conception of God really doesn’t allow for a seriously interventionist deity, save in the arguably small way of influence on hearts and minds, and search bots, like mountains, diseases and (for the most part) governments do not have hearts or minds. Even if it did, by asking something which would otherwise not happen, I would be setting myself above the wisdom of the deity, and even if what I asked for were of itself entirely benevolent, I do not know and cannot know enough to be confident that unintended consequences would not outweigh any good result. However, having expressed my wish, I can more easily go on to say “not my will but thine be done, O Lord” and take a small step towards accepting a thing which I cannot change. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change” – ah well, serenity in accepting is more than just a small step, but I can hope and pray for it, and hope for that arguably small influence.