I have no idea why I have an entry with that title. For the past three days, every-time I’ve thought about my blog or writing a post, that phrase has immediately popped into my head. After trying to ignore it for three days, I’ve given up. Instead of ignoring it, I’ve decided to write a post about it instead. Hopefully writing about it will help me figure out why it’s coming into my head. At the very least, writing about it will perhaps make it go away. At worst, I’ll write out this puzzling entry, and still be haunted by the phrase every-time I think of blogging.
When I think of that phrase, the first thing that comes to me is Catholicism. However, I’m not Catholic; in fact, I’m not even Christian. I’ve never (ever) gone to confession, so it can’t be my mind playing with a phrase I’m used to uttering. I know I’ve heard the phrase many times on television, but how the phrase would jump from my television viewing to my blogging thoughts, I’ve no idea. The only really religious doings I’ve been up to lately is reading about Buddhism. The book I’m reading right now is Awakening the Buddha Within*; I suppose it would make some sense if the author of the book, Lama Surya Das, had been Catholic before becoming Buddhist, but he wasn’t. He was Jewish. My readings on Buddhism in general shouldn’t make me think of this phrase, or sin in general, because the concept of sin doesn’t really exist in Buddhism, at least not as it does in Christian religions.
Another thought I’ve had is that maybe my subconscious mind is trying to tell me I’ve “sinned” somehow, and that I should blog about it. There’s two problems with this though. One, I can’t think of anything I’ve done that’s a sin (see also above, about sin in Buddhism). Two, if I had sinned, I probably wouldn’t run and broadcast it on the internet. Not unless it was a really juicy, interesting sinful act, anyway, and even then, my wife would probably object. 
My final guess is that I’m thinking of this phrase when I think about blogging because, in a way, I’ve been doing poorly on writing here at System 13. (See my previous post; in a nutshell, I believe I’ve been suffering from what I’m quickly coming to think of as 9rules induced silence). I suppose my mind might think of this as sinning, but that’s quite a long shot. I don’t consciously think of struggling with my blog as a sin, and I certainly don’t think about heading to the nearest Catholic church to confess about it. I also know that, if I believed in sin, I wouldn’t view blogging as a sin in itself… so that can’t be it either.
After going through all of these rather implausible explanations, I feel as if I’m no closer to “getting it.” And, while I know it’s rather silly, it is bugging me. Me associating that phrase with blogging makes about as much sense as associating bus-driving with “snazzle frazzle ziff raff.” Anyone have any further ideas?
Hm, I can’t say I’ve encountered this before. I do sometimes think of great titles that I think would look great and attract tons of readers. Things like: Why You Shouldn’t Have Fun in Bed, or: My Mac is Speaking in Tongues. You, know catchy phrases that people just have to click, he he. The only problem with those is, of course, that I have no such post to go with them.
As for your phantom headline, I’d say it does come from its ubiquitous TV presence or, more generally, from the deep-rooted power with which a sentence like this resonates with us. It’s a super headline, I want to hear it and you want to tell it.
Only, of course, there’s nothing to tell. Except for this, be it strange but great post.
Btw, Snazzle Frazzle Ziff Raff, would have been a good contender.
Yeah, I can come up with all sorts of catchy post titles that would attract readers. Sadly, like you, I don’t have the posts to go with said titles.
You’re probably right: it’s probably just jumping around in my head from TV, or from the fact that it is indeed a powerful statement, Christian or not. Glad you liked the post, by the way.
I do, however, believe you’re (mostly) flying solo in thinking that Snazzle Frazzle Ziff Raff competes with “Forgive me father, for I have sinned”. While I find it catchy, and you may as well, I think it would scare most people away.