Review of 2023:
From my perspective now, looking back, 2023 was a year of wrapping things up and closing out accounts. In terms of the major things that I did, the only thing that doesn't fit neatly in that category is the release of Wordless Prayers and some glockenspiel music. Everything else (releasing Waiting for Margot, releasing Reality, re-reading New Wine for the End Times, re-reading this blog and making various related posts) fit into the category of "finishing up a particular writing project I've worked on since 2013".
In what sense is the project really finished? I do see myself moving away from writing that pursues secular well-being (more or less, the "how can we love?" and "exilic/familial" categories) toward more theistic / religious, etc. So maybe the "highwater mark" for my writing about some of the secular categories was reached in the blog already. I think the blog could be a sketch of my whole project, and from now on I could be filling in details.
I did not discover any major new intellectual scenes or interests in 2023. (Unlike getting more into effective altruism in 2020, discovering the "Christian humanists" in 2021, or getting into Indonesia in 2022.) At least, none that stand out in my memory. Relatively minor interests in some YouTube channels and in movie-watching. (I did keep up with the EAs and "Christian humanists" some in 2023.)
I did delete my Twitter account finally. (That's another "closing-up of accounts".)
Comparison of expectations with reality
Last year's predictions were mixed in quality. I did release an old book (Waiting for Margot) and a demo of an album (Reality). I didn't do much with poetry. I wrote blog posts. But I missed the whole "summing up" theme, which seems to me to be the most interesting aspect of 2023.
Preview of 2024:
I feel like Wordless Prayers and my glockenspiel music are OK, but seem to me like they have limited potential. My songwriting, I think, is more interesting to me and seems like it has more potential, but I feel like I probably won't pursue it a lot in the coming year. [On further thought, I'm not as sure I won't pursue it.]
I plan to start reading (and maybe writing) philosophy again this fall. I want to see if I can get MSL to a state where it is fleshed-out and persuasive. Also to improve on the articulation of MSL with people like Rawlette, Moynihan, and the EAs. This could take multiple years and give me plenty to do.
I think my main focus until the fall is to read books that may not fall directly in the path of my writing project. I want to fill in gaps in my general education and also make a list of books worth recommending. A similar project I have going is to update my subreddit.
I don't think I will use the blog much for a while, but if I do and it's really important, I will post about it on the subreddit.
