Overanalysing? There ain't no such thing!

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Some people read my writing and criticise saying that I overanalyse. They say that living in the moment is the right way to go.

For me it's like looking at a beautiful painting.

If you see it in a gallery, you look at it and the beauty washes over you and you can submerge yourself in that moment. This is awesome.

If you see it in a gallery and a guide explains the history of the artist and some of the features of the painting then the beauty still washes over you plus you come to appreciate the circumstances around the painting's existence and you value it even more.

If you see it in a gallery and you have an education in art, then when you see the painting its beauty washes over you like before, plus you look at it and see it not as a sole item but as part of a continuum of art history and as part of the evolution of the artist himself (or herself, of course). You also look at the detail of the execution, how it has been painted, the choice of colours, the mood the artist has managed to instill in the painting and you get even more out of it.

When you see a painting and you don't know these things you are compelled to see it only one way.

When you do have that education, that knowledge, that training, that experience, that awareness then you can still see the beauty, plus you have the choice of seeing a whole lot more.

I think this adds to the moment rather than takes away from it.

While I don't advocate that everyone study art history or that everyone explores principles, psychology and philosophy of BDSM to the extent I do, I think we need to recognise that there is a continuum of understanding. Some people are happy just with the immediate experience of BDSM, with doing a scene and then moving on to the next one. The depth in their life may lie somewhere else and so flitting from scene to scene, so to speak, is perfectly fine for them. For others, their life's journey may involve them immersing themselves completely. Learning, analysing, and even what others might call overanalysing is part of their own growth and it lets them squeeze the most out of their BDSM.

I think that anyone who is anywhere on this continuum has a place in BDSM. Regardless of where you lie on this continuum - at one end, the other, or somewhere in the middle - you are just as much a part of BDSM as anyone else.