Thoughts on Guilt vs. Shame

(This is a comment I threw together in response to a video from Cwic Media:)

The Church's Emotional Resilience class has a wonderful diagram on page 32 - illustrating the difference between "Worth" and "Worthiness". Our worth to God never changes, but our worthiness fluctuates.

I believe guilt and shame both point at the two different things.  As mentioned by the quote from Elder Bednar, guilt has to do with when we feel our worthiness has been set back or we have been distanced from the Lord.

But, as C.S. Lewis and Elder Bednar wonderfully taught, we are dual natured creatures - both spirits with a seed of divinity but also inhabiting the bodies of creatures made of fallen material.  These creatures have instincts that help it survive and spread it's offspring, through things like being aware of the social hierarchy and therefore being able to have a sense of if actions help us be higher or lower in the social order, but also a failsafe that will encourage an individual near the bottom of the social ladder (or is in very poor health) to isolate or even self-sacrifice for the good of the species or the "tribe".

Although our eternal worth is fixed, our biology evaluates our "worth" in terms of social hierarchy, which fluctuates based on comparison to other creatures in the "tribe" / culture.  And anytime we experience that intuition of feeling that our biological worth is threatened or lowered compared to the proximal creatures our biology is exposed to around us, we experience the sensation of "shame".

Now, in religious cultures, the two can often overlap - things that could impact our spiritual worthiness also could threaten our social status, so we could experience both guilt and shame.

Shame can be a tool of the adversary or our vain ambitions to get us to run and hide or avoid confessing our sins because we don't want word to get out, (or how we want to feel about ourselves - i.e. the cancer of pride).

Statistically, women experience a high degree of baseline negative emotion, (i.e. "trait neuroticism" in the "Big 5 Model").  There is a high correlation between those who are high in trait neuroticism and those who have a much greater predisposition to shame, (usually because their biology has a survival strategy much more dependent on relying on others and thus hypersensitive to where their position is in the social hierarchy or anything that might threaten it).  Unfortunately, I believe that many are so hypersensitive and predisposed to shame that they throw the "baby out with the bathwater" and try to attack any standard of worthiness that might trigger feelings of guilt that slip into shame.  (Often, these people also identify themselves as "empathetic", "allies", or "woke" and seek after a type of Jesus that is all love and no standards, i.e. "Teddy Bear Jesus").

I believe this is kind of what Elder Bendar talked about learning to be agents instead of objects, and Elder Oaks talks about how the atonement is there to help free us from all forms of emotional bondage and how our "strengths can be our downfalls").

What Gottman Left Out

 I've been introduced to many "relationship" and "marriage" experts who claim to have the secret to fool-proof relationships.

They have all sorts of "research" and "statistics" to back up their claims that their system is the magic bullet to lasting relationship bliss.

But ... there has always been something missing.  Something always seemed to be not quite right.

I'm not saying that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater; they often touch on principles that are quite useful and do have a kernel of truth.

It's always bugged me when people will point to these works when someone is having relationship issues, and will be quick to quote a magic bullet-point or two about what will solve the issue, (but seem to be at the same time ignoring the elephant in the room as it were).

I haven't been able to put my finger on it -- until I ran into this gem.

Eureka!

What's missing is all these "relationship" experts are harping on #1 all day long, but seem to completely ignore #2 and #3.

I love Lewis' analogy of a fleet of ships.

You can go on and on all day long about how boats in the fleet shouldn't collide with one another, but until you go in and make sure the "control systems" of the boats are intact then you're just whistlin' Dixie.

So, before you go running to John Gottman's latest work to solve your relationship woe's - make sure your own engine is working properly, your helm is securely attached to the rudder, and you have your destination set.

Wherever You Go ... There You Are

"Self-Acceptance" is another one of those phrases that has been corrupted and isolated from its adjacent and complementary truths.

Self-acceptance isn't about blithely saying "this-is-who-I-am-and-it's-the-way-I'm-always-going-to-be", (looks like you got that one wrong, Popeye...). It isn't about self-identifying with our weaknesses and shortcomings, or giving up on ever being able to change; it certainly isn't about defending our personal "foibles" and "protrusions of self".

Natural Man 101: Oute"r" Darkness vs "K"olob

It takes a bit of a investment in time, and he goes about it from a bit of a more secular / morally relativistic perspective, but prepare to have your Natural Man take center stage...


Part 1: (Lays the ground work)





Part 2: (It gets a little foreboding around the 45 minute mark)



Part 3: The nitty-gritty of the mindsets and how these express themselves in our modern day




Pop Quiz: Lucifer is and wants us to be type "___ selective".

The Devil is a Liberal Progressive

The Devil is a liberal progressive, (read "socialist"). Think about it...

- Promises a "perfect" utopian society
- Promises equality of experience and outcome across all genders ("identified" or otherwise), ages, races, and sexual orientations
- Guarantees there will be no possibility of failure for the individual or the party
- Promises to get rid of all pain, suffering, and unpleasant emotions
- Believes you have the right to feel good, do whatever you like, and be happy right now without anything or anyone getting in your way
- Promises free stuff without having to pay for it or without any accountability or consequences
- Wants to do away with individual ownership of property or means of production
- Proposes bigger government controls to make people do the "right thing"
- Wants to do away with the unbalanced messiness of a Free (Agency) Market; everyone is guaranteed their "fair share" and there will be no "injustice"
- Wants to create a government run (Spiritual) Healthcare System, (see his proposed "Tower of Babel" solution)
- Everyone will have the same opportunity to be educated (by his party's specially selected "curriculum")
- Wants his plan to be put in place by a democratic process (which, ironically, removes all individual voting power soon after you join his "party")
- Tells us our "rights" are not universal, fixed, or bestowed from on high;  they are an ever expanding list of things we "deserve" based on our circumstances, our "passions", our desires, our moods, our feelings, our positions of prominence, our list of letters and periods following our name on our business cards, our "good ideas", someone else's "good ideas", what someone else has, what someone else did to us, what someone else promises us (to get elected), what someone did to someone else a long long time ago, or what the latest behavioral "expert" / scientific theory / pseudo-scientific urban legend / best selling book / magazine article / blogger says we "need" to be happy
- Only asks a small allowance be given to him to run and administer his plan (I.e. all the power and glory be his)
- His plan will only work if everyone joins it, so he and his followers are still actively trying to recruit everyone through literature, debate, social media, advertisements, flyers, rallies, word-of-mouth, and even sometimes face-to-face meetings with influential individuals who may be "on the fence"; he won't stop until everyone is "part of the system"

 (And how's that working out for him or those who choose to go along with it?)

"The Gods of Wisdom And Virtue" (Kipling / Whittle)

"The Gods of Wisdom And Virtue" (an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" by Bill Whittle):

As I pass through my reincarnations, in every age I vow
To make my proper prostrations to the gods of the here and the now.
Peering through reverent fingers, I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue I notice always outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us, they showed us each in turn
That water will certainly wet us, as fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in uplift, vision, and breadth of mind,
So we left them to teach the gorillas, while we followed the march of mankind. 

We moved as their Spirits listed, we never knew why or how, 
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Here and the Now;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out to sea,
They denied that wealth could be printed, they denied that lunches were free; 
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Here and the Now who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed, they sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Jurastic Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue said: "If you don't work, you die."

Then the Gods of the Here and Now tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two plus Two make Four
And the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,

And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And after all this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of Wisdom and Virtue with terror and slaughter return!

(Mr. Whittle continues:)

"You know, America was home to the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue for most of its existence. If we abandon them further, they will return with terror and slaughter, and yet they’re not cruel Gods, they’re simply Gods of Justice. They are in fact, the Gods of cause and effect. By following their example, the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue have given all of this, all this wealth, all this security, and all this luxury. All they ask of us was a little wisdom, and a little virtue, a little common sense here, a little good behavior over there. But, we’ve been crashing on their couches, and bumming rides from these Gods for a long, long time now, and I really am afraid that the Gods of Wisdom and Virtue have had enough, and now, they want their stuff back."

Socialism Doesn't Care (About Us)

You know what bugs me about socialism (communist, welfare state, "democratic", or otherwise)?

It's very simple. Socialism forces me to provide for every other person and family as if they are as important as my family, (and does it by gunpoint and in a way that is contrary to the very laws that built this world).

News flash, (and some people may think I'm heartless for saying this...) -- they're not.

As a provider, not every person or other family is as important as my family is to me. It doesn't matter how much they may be in need, how much more I may or may not have than them, how much of a difference I can make in their life, how bad of a hand they've been dealt in this life, how much they (or their ancestors many generations ago) have been abused / repressed / taken advantage of by the misuse of other's agency, how much they think they "deserve" my help, how much God values them, or how great the worth of their soul is, they don't rank at the top of the people I am to provide for. Plain as that. (Now, on the flip side, your family is more important to you than my family is, as it should be).

Now don't get me wrong, I am my brother's keeper, I am to love my neighbor as myself, and I do have a moral obligation to heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. BUT, no where does our Lord say that I have to clothe / heal / feed / mourn / comfort _EVERY_ person on the planet (or even in the States) at the same time, let alone without my consent.

The Lord command us to give, but He also sets limits. He has told us that we have limited time, money, and other resources, and that we must serve in "wisdom and order", or else we run the risk of neglecting that which is most important in our lives -- the hungry / naked / mourning / uncomfortable within the walls of our own home. The Lord has told us that those are the ones first and foremost that we are to serve. If we have additional resources after attending to their needs and (reasonable) wants, then the Lord expects us to give to those who are in need (in order by proximity - first to extended family, church members, those the community, world, etc.). He allows me to use my judgment and agency to a determine the needs of my family vs everyone else.

This is where socialism (welfare state / communism / etc) falls flat. No matter what you may hear, it doesn't care about my family. It claims to care about my family as part of a larger "utopian society", but doesn't care about them individually. It doesn't see them as individuals with individual needs, wants, and abilities. It wants to treat them all the same. It wants to guarantee them an equal outcome with everyone else (regardless of personal industry and agency), if we will just go along with their master plan, (where have I heard that before? *cough* *cough* SATAN *cough* ).

How can we attempt to build the foundation of a Heaven on earth if we do so using materials made of lies and disobedience to His basic laws and commandments?  Remember the old song from primary - "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man"?  Any society built upon unrightousness, (no matter how noble the intent) will be washed away.  Ezra Taft Benson destroys the whole premise of socialism with one argument:

Suppose pioneer "A" wants another horse for his wagon, He doesn’t have the money to buy one, but since pioneer "B" has an extra horse, he decides that he is entitled to share in his neighbor’s good fortune, Is he entitled to take his neighbor’s horse? Obviously not! If his neighbor wishes to give it or lend it, that is another question. But so long as pioneer "B" wishes to keep his property, pioneer "A" has no just claim to it.

If "A" has no proper power to take "B’s" property, can he delegate any such power to the sheriff? No. Even if everyone in the community desires that "B" give his extra horse to "A", they have no right individually or collectively to force him to do it. They cannot delegate a power they themselves do not have. This important principle was clearly understood and explained by John Locke nearly 300 years ago:

“For nobody can transfer to another more power than he has in himself, and nobody has an absolute arbitrary power over himself, or over any other, to destroy his own life, or take away the life of property of another.” (Two Treatises of Civil Government, II, 135; P.P.N.S. p. 93)

And what about "Democratic Socialism" (i.e. the "New Deal" and the like) that everyone in American History class was taught to believe was the only way America could recooperated from the financial woes in the early part of the 19th century? We often hear of the many programs and initiatives that gave us the backbone of industry and infrastructure that allowed our country and economy to become the powerhouse that made it famous.  There is an old adage says "the best place to hide a lie is between two truths".  There are definitely many good things that were brought about by those who call themselves "Democratic socialists", any many of them fall in line with the ideas the founding father's had for proper role of government and the appropriate use of taxes and public funds, but maybe the "payload" of some these destructive philosophies and ideas are finally showing themselves today. Maybe this "poisoning by degrees" was part of the plan all along:

"You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won’t have to fight you. We’ll so weaken your economy until you’ll fall like overripe fruit into our hands." -- Nikita Khrushchev

There are some that say it really isn't socialism if the programs and laws are put in place by a democratic process or by elected government leaders.

Penn Jillette, (of Penn & Teller fame), puts it this way:

It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.

People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered, and if we’re compassionate we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.

P.J. O'Rourqe adds:

"There is no virtue in compulsory government charity. And no virtue in advocating it. A politician who commends himself as “caring” and “sensitive” because he wants to expand the government’s charitable programs is merely saying that he’s willing to try to do good with other people’s money. Who isn’t? A voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he’ll do good with his own money—if a gun is held to his head.”

Another thing socialism gets rid of is the business of mercy, meekness, humility, justice, and gratitude. Gone are the lessons learned of a salvational figure who comes to the aid of those who cannot meet the necessities of life on their own, and require a mediator to relinquish actual pain and suffering. Gone are the feelings of gratitude towards someone who has brought over a box of their own food, or written a check from their own back account that is the fruit of their own personal labor, or their own time and talents to work or repair or administer in ways that the needy themselves couldn't accomplish. Gone is the meekness and humility needed to go to meet with individuals, hat in hand, month after month, to plead for help to provide when they themselves are unable, replaced with forms to fill out, lines to stand in, and meeting with government workers who have no personal "skin in the game" because they themselves will not be giving of their own personal time/funds. Gone is the knowledge that if you don't earn it yourself then there is no guarantee that you're going to get it.

Now, there are some that easily fall for this line:

• You've got your politicians, who like to promise a "chicken in every pot", healthcare insurance available to all (without fixing the real problem), or any other promise they can make with other people's money to get elected and force their ideology on everyone.
• You've got your uninformed masses that think it looks good on paper, (or that don't even think it's something that's a problem in this country...), but haven't learned from the past, haven't opened their eyes to what is going on around them, or haven't taken the time to look at the "big picture" and are doomed to repeat the mistakes that toppled massive civilizations like the Roman empire.
• You've got those who never have enough or who aren't satisfied living within their means and rather than developing meekness and gratitude are always looking for a way to get more for less effort.
• You've got the actual sick, hungry, naked, and poor who live in a nation that has a long tradition of destabilizing the family, (that used to teach individual citizens good morals and ethics in the home who would grow up to give and administer to those in need of their own volition), and now rely more and more heavily on the elected officials mentioned above taking from the American populous by gunpoint to meet their basic needs, (and at this point don't know of any other system by which they can survive, and so are "locked in").
• You've got those who are a slave to fear (who either freeze in anxiety / panic or over-mobilize and go all "control freak"), that rather than repress it with faith they turn to empty promises from the "arm of the flesh".
• You've got those who's great-grandfather almost lost the farm, or the family who couldn't have survived without government assistance, (and didn't see any other way out), so they are blind to the big picture.
• Lastly, there are those whose sense of compassion and awareness of suffering (or lack of emotional separation/control) is so heavy to bear that the only relief they can find is by championing social causes or devoting their own personal resources to relieve every burden they notice, (while more that likely neglecting their own lives, spiritual progression and families).

So, when we have a choice to use our voice and our vote, it's time to undo the slippery road we find ourselves on as a nation. There will be a lot of foolish traditions that need to be to toppled that have been gradually built up and erected over the years to slowly rob us of our liberties, and great burdens to bear to care for those who have depended on an unsustainable and unlawful system for their support that was always in a state of eventual collapse, but there is no other way.

My family is more important than yours, (and visa versa), and the only way I can care for it the way God intended is to root out any system that does not abide by the same eternal laws the universe itself was built on.

See Also:

• The Proper Role of Government by Ezra Taft Benson ("Official" version given in General Conference Oct 1968)
• Socialism and the United Order Compared by Marion G. Romney, General Conference, April 1966
• The Law of the Harvest by Howard W. Hunter, BYU Devotional, March 1966 (parts of which can also be found in his book "Teachings of Howard W. Hunter")
• Watchman, Warn the Wicked by Ezra Taft Benson, General Conference, April 1973

On "Getting" and "Giving"

Every now and then, something comes out that acts as a pretty decisive litmus test and causes a divide amongst followers of Christ.  A lot of emotions are stirred, a lot of augments are made, feelings are expressed, and more of the "gospel-according-to-the-interwebs" is exposed.

The most recent was from an article in the December 2015 New Era.  There were blog posts talking about how this was going to be damaging to the psyche of many a young woman because of impossible standards, how the implied message of the image was negative towards the "confident, modern young woman on the left", and other such non-sense.

The biggest message that came out was that people can be "both getter and a giver".  And as soon as I read those words I knew they missed the whole point.

We Can Serve Anyone ...

I do a good bit of studying about time management techniques.  Time is one of those things that we have an unknown, fixed allotment of.  We either use it wisely, or watch it slip through our fingers and wonder where it all disappeared to.

One of my favorite books on the subject is "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.  He brings up some pretty interesting points about the concept of "managing time".  First and foremost, there is no such thing.  Doesn't exist.  You can't really "manage time".  No matter how hard you try, "You don't manage five minutes and wind up with six".

What you can manage is actions.  Choices on where to spend your time.

That makes a lot of sense.  It's all about priorities, and wisely choosing how to spend the allotment of time we do have on the things that matter most.

Another gem of wisdom goes like this:

"You can do anything, but not everything."

There is a lot of anxiety and "beyond-the-mark"-ers that could be curbed by those words.

This got me thinking of how this can apply to things besides just your to-do list.

"Can't Pour From an Empty Bucket", But What Are You Filling Up On?

There is an oft repeated saying that "You can't pour from an empty bucket" -- you can't serve if you don't have your own spiritual reserves full enough to be able to give.  Like Mosiah said:

"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order" (Mosiah 4:27).

But . . . Just like Joseph Campbell's saying "Follow your bliss", (which he later lamented should have been "follow your blisters"), this could be misconstrued to excuse selfishness and justify lukewarmness in the laws of sacrifice and consecration.

I remembered what Jesus taught at the Sermon on the Mount about inputs and outputs:

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

 ...

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

A bucket is really only as good as its contents.  What you fill it with is just as important as how full it is; contents matter just as much as volume.

How can you give your somone bread if you fill up with stones?  How can you give them fish if you fill up with serpents?  Grapes if filled up with thorns?  Figs if filled up with thistles? Good fruit if filled off a corrupt tree?

You can't give something from your bucket that you didn't fill it up with. . .

You Are Enough (But "Enough" for What?)

(From LDSSmile): 

You Are Enough! Who you are right now is enough, flaws and all. Not only are you enough, Heavenly Father loves you exactly as you are.  No conditions, no arbitrary boundaries.  He loves you exactly as you are today, but He will refuse to leave you that way to paraphrase Max Lucado.

Chieko N. Okazaki has said: “You are enough... What you have to give is enough... Your best is sufficient to the Lord.”

However lovely this saying may be, there is a whole different side of  being "enough" that isn't talked about much in our overly-romanticized culture...

What the "Law of the Harvest" Isn't

The "Law of the Harvest" in the Bible isn't a formula for guaranteed success or return on our investment -- it's more of a list of what we don't get.

Didn't sow? Then we don't get to reap.

Didn't plant fig trees? Doesn't matter how much of a green thumb we have - we don't get to harvest figs.

Didn't think far enough ahead and sow early enough? We don't get to harvest in the same season as the sowing and we have to wait to see the real results of our labors, (and sometimes by then it's too late...).

Didn't put in enough time tending to the vineyard? Our reaping is proportional to the sowing -- we don't get to reap as much as if we had spent more time sowing and laboring, and sometimes we don't get the fruit from the "good" olive tree and have to settle for the fruit from the wild one.

What if we want to give to others who have less but haven't sowed/reaped ourselves? We can't give something that we don't have or isn't ours to give, no matter how deeply we feel or how dire the need.

And like all other eternal laws, this one is immutable, so we don't get any exceptions for any reason. Even if we can't do any of these and "would if we could" we still don't get to reap -- we have to depend on the mercy of others who have, and thus no longer have the same lifestyle choices or personal liberties that bringing in a harvest ourselves would bring and are dependent on the free will of others, (hence "beggars can't be choosers").

See Also:

The Law of the Harvest by Howard W. Hunter

Seven Laws of the Harvets @ Bible.org 

The Proper Role of Government by Ezra Taft Benson

Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall by Dallin H. Oaks

Marriage and the Law of the Harvest @ LDS.ORG

The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Kids / Marriage / Career / Health / Happiness Is ...

Stop thinking there is a single most important thing you can do for them.

Right now.

No matter what any scientific study, best-selling book, website, or "expert" says, there is no one single thing that will make all the difference in any area of our lives.  This mentality tends to lead to an oversimplification of the many aspects and facets of life, can justify excluding many of the essential principles needed for human happiness, and generally makes things pretty bad in the long run.

How so?

Dopamine IS NOT Joy

We cannot follow Christ and love dopamine at the same time. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and [dopamine]." Just like money isn't inherently evil but the love of money is a sin, experiencing the effects of neurotransmitters isn't a sin but putting God aside to chase after "dopamine liberating" events puts us outside the "strait and narrow path".


Let's set one thing straight - joy and dopamine are not the same thing.  Many times experiencing joy has the secondary effect of producing dopamine, but it is a mortal chemical and we can produce it without the joy that comes from God.

And don't even get me started at how well our fallen mortal frames are adept at self-deception and altering our perception in order to protect those events or sensations that produce dopamine. (Why else would Jacob admonish so strongly the need to "see things as they really are"?).  The body will try to find whatever neural sensations and experiences will produce the most reward for our mortal hard-wiring and situation, while at the same time avoiding the land-mines of cultural taboo and things that our "conscience" feel are not right (which can be altered by giving into these experiences and making them our automatic focus).

I ran across an article highlighting the interaction between discipleship and this drug that I think shed a lot of light on the interplay and interaction between our spirits and the Natural Man:

Diversion = Slavery. Simple as that.

"There’s a lot of talk currently in America about empowerment. Certainly economic and political slavery should concern us, and rightly so, but what of being in bondage in other ways? What of emancipation from the enslavement resulting from so many subtle forms of servitude? Listen to these words of Peter: “For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Peter 2:19). So many different things can overcome and capture us.

"The fundamental fact is that if we do not deny ourselves, we are diverted. Even if not wholly consumed with the things of the world, we are still diverted sufficiently to make serious discipleship impossible. As a consequence, all the gifts and talents God has given us are not put meekly on the altar to serve others and to please God. Instead, we withhold to please ourselves. Diversion, therefore, is not necessarily gross transgression, but it is a genuine deprivation—especially if we consider what we might have become and what more we might have done to bless and to help others.

"Ironically, brothers and sisters, the natural man who is so very selfish in so many ordinary ways is strangely unselfish in that he reaches for too few of the things that bring real joy. He settles for a mess of pottage instead of eternal joy.

"By denying the desires of the natural man (to the degree that these exist in each of us), we avoid this diversion, making it easier for us to take up the cross of discipleship. Of course, when it occurs in our lives, emancipation from various forms of bondage brings no celebrating parades, nor does it make the evening news. But it is big news because we come off conqueror!"

~ Neal A. Maxwell, "Called To Serve" BYU Devotional

Personality Profiles - The "Mall Map" of Secular Psychology

The shopping mall.  Those bastions of retail commerce and chain franchises.  Consumerist wonderlands that dotting the country from Los Angeles to New York.

Although I don't make it a habit to frequent such bastions of retail commerce and chain franchises, I've been in a few here and there.  I've been to some of the smaller ones growing up in my home town, I've visited them here and there as the need arose living wherever we were, and I've even been in some of the larger ones in the United States while travelling on business. 

I am by no means a "Mall Expert", but I have noticed a few things that are common to all of them.

One feature they all share are both unavoidable and ubiquitous. Sometimes a simple sheet of plastic, sometimes a lighted kiosk, and sometimes a full-blown interactive multimedia experience.

The map. Those indispensable visual vanguards that lay out every store, restraint, exit, stairwell, restroom, and every other highlight or point of interest contained in those gilded walls.  (And, if you find a really good one, they may even give you the infinitely helpful "You are here" marker).  They can be immensely helpful to determine your position in relation to landmarks and shops; they show you where you can go, but lack one very important piece of information, (but we'll get to that later...)

I've recently completed a class on an introduction to psychology.  It was quite interesting to hear many of the theories of behavior and the people and historical events and popular ideas that influenced them.  (It was really interesting to compare and contrast what was being taught to the teachings of the Gospel, especially Elder Maxwell's thoughts on the Gospel and behavioral sciences).

One of the topics that was covered was the study of personality and personality development.  The class  reviewed the different theories and aspects of personalities and personality development, as well as talking about the authors of the different approaches and the historical and academic background that may have influenced them and their ideas. 

One of the last sections was talking about the methods and tests that have been developed to assess
and categorize personality and personality traits.  We covered shallow but broad overview of the major types of personality tests and their pluses / minuses from Rorschach inkblots to Myers-Briggs  Inventories.  There are many more that I've seen or heard about dealing with colors, or seasons, or "Which Disney movie are you" or other such things that pop-up on Facebook here and there. I've taken a few of these before, some as part of corporate team-building exercises, some as related to different activities in academic circles, some as part of career counseling and job searches, and some just out of curiosity.  They all seem to be somewhat accurate and highlight traits that I have noticed in myself, or patterns of behaviors that I have seen in myself, (although didn't always tell the whole story).  It has also been interesting to compare with others that I took the same test with and see how accurate theirs was compared to things I have seen in them.

Some of the tests included not just traits, but suggestions for what activities or interests someone with that personality may find an interest it, or situations that the personality profile may succeed in or find difficulty with.  The information was interesting, and in some instances aligned with what I had noticed as common to people with the identified personality types.  Something, however, was missing, and although I haven't done a totally exhaustive search of all these different tests and assessments, didn't seem to be common among them.

Link: Over-acceptance is NOT Christ-like

Couldn't have said it better myself...

From Greg Trumble's blog:

Too many people are neglecting what is in the scriptures and trying to “customize Christ”. You can’t do that…seriously.

Too often we read a few scriptures that make us feel good and then omit everything else that we know about Jesus that might make us feel bad. Some have bowed down to modern trends and allowed themselves to be manipulated by the media and false teachers. Too many people are looking for a religion that is easy. In the world, we are offered instant salvation and taught about a Christ that accepts everyone just the way they are. There is no difference between our day and Isaiah’s time when the people asked him to “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things” (Isaiah 30:10) Instead of looking for a Church that teaches truth, many are on a quest to find a church that can satisfy their innate desire to worship God, and yet at the same time, live the lifestyle that they want to live regardless of how ungodly it really is. Some consider it a great feat to find a church that allows them to live how they want to live, and still feel like they are worshipping God.

Read the rest here...

Radical Feminism / Peter Pans / Sexism = Imbalance and Madness‏

(This was an e-mail I sent to the author of this post: "Mormonism, Feminism, and being snarky."  Thought it was long enough that I might as well throw it up here...)

Ginger -

I appreciated your bold words on your post of Feminism and Mormonism. I, too, have been thinking much on this topic, and thought I'd share some of the relevant thoughts on this topic from various (mainly Church centered) sources.

Fear is Selfish and Lazy

Fear is inherently selfish and lazy. There is no effort, work, or knowledge required – it simply takes giving into our default behavior. Faith in Christ, on the other hand, is a principle of action and power; it is the result of hard work and demands personal sacrifice. It takes a great deal of sustained effort and energy, giving up our "comfort zone", putting aside what we think we know, seeking out salvational truths, and applying them consistently in our lives no matter the immediate or apparent outcome. Faith and fear cannot co-exist because one cannot be both lazy and industrious or charitable and self-centered at the same time, just like something cannot be both wet/dry, high/low, or on/off at once.

The Mechanics (And Pitfalls) Of Learning "Line-Upon-Line"

I came across this talk from Elder Henry B. Eyring explaining a little about the mechanics of learning line-upon-line, precept upon precept that I had never heard before.  It helped me to understand a little better about how I can receive the next "line", and what to do if I get stuck.

"A Life Founded In Light And Truth", Elder Henry B. Eyring, BYU Devotional, 15 Aug 2000.

Obedience to commandments is the way we build a foundation of truth. Here is the way that works, in words so simple that a child could understand: The truth of most worth is to know God our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and Their plan for us to have eternal life with Them in families. When God communicates that priceless truth to us, He does it by the Spirit of Truth. We have to ask for it in prayer. Then He sends us a small part of that truth by the Spirit. It comes to our hearts and minds. It feels good, like the light from the sun shining through the clouds on a dark day. He sends truth line upon line, like the lines on the page of a book. Each time a line of truth comes to us, we get to choose what we will do about it. If we try hard to do what that truth requires of us, God will send more light and more truth. It will go on, line after line, as long as we choose to obey the truth. That is why the Savior said that the man who obeyed His commandments built on a rock so solid that no storm or flood could hurt his house.

Did you catch that part that not a lot of people seem to understand?