In a recent discussion here concerning the Etiquette of Blogroll Reciprocity, we wondered what gives a blog Magnitude, and today I will share my thoughts on the matter. There are two things you cannot beg or borrow or buy: Passion and Magnitude.

Passion and Magnitude are always bound together and must be offered and not taken. Successful blogs always offer Passion and Magnitude in every post and hope for the same in comments from the greater community. Blogging isn’t about life; blogging is the meaning of living in the shared moment.

All important blogs are, on some plane, a leveling of wishes against reality in order to define and give form to experience. How do you know if a blog has Passion and Magnitude? You feel it when you write it and you know it when you read it.

Too many bloggers run from the fact that what they do isn’t about human beings — it is, and has always been only about being human — and the difference between those two purposes is one of Passion and Magnitude.

41 Comments

  1. Ok, the Vader theme kicks butt. I like it a lot. Where did you find it?
    In regards to the post, you are right. Most of the blogs I frequent have that mixture of just what I like to read, which is passionate feelings about the subject or even just their life sprinkled with the witty humor I find so engaging.
    I’m still trying to find my voice, but that is part of the journey as well isn’t it?

  3. Hi Beltane! — Vader is bundled with K2 and it is included as an example of how you can skin your blog while keeping the K2 substructure intact. If you go to http://binarybonsai.com and download the K2 beta you can use Vader today! Thanks for your comment about my post! Yes, the struggle to achieve our best is how Passion and Magnitude are generated.
    Robin — I find your comment lacks Passion and Magnitude!
    :mrgreen:

  4. Yeah, I don’t have much of that this morning. Although I did write an email to a local radio station with a complaint 😆 I wanted to blog about it but it’s a subject I try to keep out of my blog. It’s too bad, it would have been interesting.

  6. Hey she actually responded to me but I don’t think I got very far with it. Who wants to listen to another “other woman”? 🙄

  8. Well I don’t want to take over your thread but I was annoyed how they kept referring to Angelina Jolie like a homewrecker when nobody knows the situation. I explained to her that things aren’t always as they seem from afar and that I believe you can’t breakup a happy marriage. Anyway, it’s dumb I guess but it’s something personal to me.

  10. Well if anyone were to blame it would be him but as I know from my boyfriend’s perspective just because you leave doesn’t mean you ended it. For him it was over years before that.

  11. Breaking up is always a rough situation. It’s best, though, to be out of the house and as disconnected as possible before hooking into another person. Brad should have done the right thing and completely ended everything with Jennifer before hunkering down with Angelina.

  12. You have a good point there. I think filing for divorce is the best way to start a new relationship. I think that makes it clear.

  13. I’m glad I’m not the only person who sides with Angelina on this one. I’m such a celeb fan, that I’ve known that Aniston didn’t want children at all, totally vetoed the idea and Brad didn’t like it.
    Well, he found someone who did. (Personally, I think they make a better match but that is just my opinion.)
    Anyway, back to the original subject, how are we to find our passion and magnitude when sometimes we feel that way about so many different things that it’s hard to narrow your focus. And, really, do we ultimately need to narrow our focus?
    I think that in the blogging world one does. But I continue to shirk custom and post all over the place. :p

  14. Did I miss the original topic? Are you saying we need to focus more on one subject? If so I’m failing miserably 😆

  15. Robin — Yes, divorce is the best way to get out of a marriage before heading into anything else. If you’re living together, living in separate places is the other good way of making clear the intent to dissolve.
    Beltane — Did Aniston not want children or was she unable to have children? I always found Aniston to be a little cold and harsh even when she was faking being human on “Friends.” She feels like a tough taskmaster! 🙂 I believe Passion and Magnitude can be found in many places and if a blog touches on all those different placing using Passion and Magnitude as a guide then something really special has been created.
    Robin2 — I think the only focus of a blog should be Passion and Magnitude in the attack of the post. The topics and subjects and thoughts on that mission can, and should, vary.

  20. Great post David, and your new theme is wicked (heh). Do you think you’ll stick with it or will it change again tomorrow?
    Passion and Magnitude! Well put!
    Magnitude is defined as:
    1. Greatness of rank or position.
    2. Greatness in size or extent.
    3. Greatness in significance or influence.
    (dictionary.com)
    I assume you are referring to greatness in significance or influence…?

  22. Excellent post, David! My writing is so much of me that I guess most of my blog comes across as being passionate. Some posts are more passionate than others I believe, but I always try to make mine entertaining. I think sometimes I succeed. 🙂

  23. Well, the rain won’t be making it as far north as Greenville, SC, we have had a lot of cloud cover this morning, and that has made it downright chilly — by southern standards anyway! 😀

  27. Love the sandwich story, Dave! Now, when you’re using regular sliced bread for a sandwich and you need to cut it in half, do you cut on the diagonal or do you just cut the sandwich in the middle? Is your first bite in the center or at a leading corner where you made the determined cut?

  28. “blogging is the meaning of living in the shared moment.”
    “a leveling of wishes against reality in order to define and give form to experience.”
    great lines. they look and sound particularly effective in the Vader theme today. I can imagine a dark and mysterious figure bellowing this in a raspy voice to a votary audience.
    yes, blogs need passions and magnitude… and lots of time, and hard work, and persistence, and some creativity, and some expericene, and some luck. Other than that, you are absolutely correct.
    I’m waiting for the first “autoblogaugraphy” to come out, the first tentative steps, the agony and frustration learning the ropes, the first exciting comment strings, up and down, learnng, testing, failing, and on to the top, or maybe a nice sunny spot in the middle of the mountain!!
    (how ’bout a spell checker for comments? I think there’s a plugin. I’ll go look)

  30. Hmm, passion and magnitude. There’s something to be said for the same in comments, too. I assume you agree. Great blog, anyway.

  31. David, I apologize for the snitty comment. But I noticed you said the same thing to another commenter above. Cheers to blogging and all the opene communitcation it fosters!

  33. David, I think you understood what I hinted at. But I wasn’t very clear even in my second comment. I was politely indirect, since I also don’t want to alienate other bloggers who might become blogger friends. However, your original response to my original comment was just the kind of “hi” comment you wish to delete in the future. It made no “passionate” attempt to respond with any “magnitude” to my comment at all. The teacher must follow his own rules.
    Other siggestions. Do you visit the blogs of your commenters? Do you attempt to comment on their blogs to show gratitude for their comments?
    We are all trying to imporve. Happy Blogging. Let’s change the world, one connection at a time.
    Sincerely,
    Garnet

  34. We are obviously having a communication problem, Garnet. I wish you no ill will and I’m sorry you feel my reply to your first comment was appropriate enough. I have no further interest in continuing this particular conversation with you.

  35. Ok I’m revisiting this after discussing magnitude with Erik (bf) last night for a bit. I believe I always blog with passion…I think I’ve always got plenty of passion…I’m obviously passionate about blogging. As far as magnitude…I think I do for the most part have magnitude…or at least I’d like to believe I do. Certain topics of mine I think have more magnitude than others.
    I didn’t sound like a moron with all of that did I? I really tried not to.

  36. Hi Robin —
    Thanks for lingering back here with a comment that has been simmering within you! I admire your great intellect and warmth and I think it all clearly arrives in your comments here and in your blog over there. 🙂

  38. Writing is hard work, Robin, and a quick blog post or a long comment all demand introspection and thought before going public. I admire all efforts to give form what did not previously exist.

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