On my trip home from camping (long drive at night) I was forced to dig deep into the recesses of my music collection (really not that big) and came up with Alanis Morissette. It was like finally having coffee with a friend who has been out of town for far too long.

It's strange, the relationship I have with Alanis Morissette.... to be clear, I'm not particularly fond of her voice, and not overly impressed with her lyricism, and the music really isn't my type. I was thinking about that while driving, wondering why it is that despite these things, I love listening to my three alanis cd's.

I think it's the peculiar combination of angst and growth. The words may not be poetic, but they are painfully honest, and completely frank, and if you start with that jagged little pill and work your way to under rug swept, it's like you can watch a human morphing before your eyes, growing into a healthier, more settled person.

I've realized lately that I've been doing what I always do, that is, spreading my attention too thin. I think it would be helpful for me to immerse myself for a while in one frame of thought before moving on to the next, take the time to interact with it and see the world through that filter. I think this will help me to feel less scattered. It's true that I find so many different spiritualities fascinating, but I really have very little grasp of any of them, and gaining knowledge about them is different than understanding them.

I would like to focus on taoism for a while but alas, I don't have a copy of the tao te ching on me, so I will study for a while the gnostic gospels and possible some writings from the Nag Hammadi. Some of you will be getting emails from me, I suspect, as I try to understand how these writings are understood by the gnostic community.

As for Alanis, I'm hooked for the time being. Maybe I'll pick up a new album one of these days. Recommend one to me. Unless you're too cool for alanis. Then recommend something else.