Relocation

I'm moving this blog. You may now read it HERE.

Enjoy

Jacob, Elder Maxwell, and The Problem of Being Sidelined

The time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren.

Jacob 7:26

Jacob has always fascinated me. Well, I should qualify that, ever since I began to really seriously read and consider the texts of the Book of Mormon, Jacob has fascinated me. His personality is strikingly different from that of his older brother, Nephi. Both are unfaltering in their dedication to the doctrine of Christ and the building of a righteous nation, their attitudes about their situation in the land of promise differ a lot. Contrast the above with Nephi's claim that after settling into the land of promise and separating themselves from the Lamanites who were to be a scourge unto them that:

we lived after the manner of happiness.

2 Nephi 5:27

What to do with the paradox of mournful happiness painted by these brothers?

Maybe I've been coming close to the answer for a while now, but haven't really seen it. Without any particular research into the subject I have sensed that Elder Neal A. Maxwell had an affinity for the writings of Jacob. That sense expanded to the idea that Elder Maxwell and Jacob shared some traits in their teachings.

A favorite passage of Elder Maxwell's comes from Jacob 4:13:

the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be.

More on the relationship between Jacob's attitudes and Elder Maxwell's after a few more words about Jacob as an individual.

Jacob was an intense person. He took his responsibilities to teach the people very seriously (see Jacob 1:19). His understanding of judgment was starkly black and white (see Jacob 6:5-10). Could I say that he was prone to hyperbole, or was it really just intensity (see 2 Nephi 9:44-49)? The picture I get of Jacob is that he struggled in mortality. His view was very much centered on the future state of happiness (or misery if you are wicked) that follows mortality. Even his son emphasized this aspect of his teachings (see Enos 1:3).

Jacob suffered from a strong case of what Elder Maxwell called "divine discontent" (I felt a sense of vindication in the claim that Elder Maxwell used this phrase when I did a search of Ensign past issues for the phrase and on the first page every talk/article was either written by Elder Maxwell, or the author was quoting him.). It seems that Jacob couldn't wait to get "on the other side" and to associate with those who had similar dedication to the word of the Lord. He just didn't fit in the temporal sphere very well. Having had very distinct experiences with the Divine (see 2 Nephi 2:3; 10:3) he had little patience for the hard-heartedness and stiff-neckedness of his generation. I wonder if he mourned out his days simply because he was tired of the superficial nature of mortality. He was anxious to do more for the Lord than call his people to repentance for things that caused him "to shrink with shame before the presence of [his] Maker" (Jacob 2:6).

I don't know how long Jacob lived after his older brother, Nephi, died, but it is almost as if he feels like he is sidelined with the futile responsibility of trying to lead a group of prideful people to repentance while Nephi gets to really be in the game.

I pull this analogy again from Elder Maxwell. In the biography written by Bruce C. Hafen about Elder Maxwell, he describes Elder Maxwell's attitude while suffering from cancer and unable to get out of a hospital bed as feeling like he was sidelined in the game of the work of the Lord. He wanted terribly to get in the game, whether on the one side of the veil or the other, it didn't matter, so long as he could contribute somehow.

Elder Maxwell was certainly one to be anxiously engaged in the good cause of moving the work of the Lord forth. So was Jacob. Though they may have been separated by time and space in many ways, yet they shared this anxiety, and both recognized the fleetingness of mortality and things that are considered of value in mortality. They both sought to understand things as they really are, and struggled through this life haunted by divine discontent.

Nephi maybe just felt happier than Jacob because he finally was free of the torments of his older brothers...

Or maybe that specific question about their attitudes is a topic for another day.

Home Teaching March 2008

The Book Thief 8

The power of words, for good or for evil, that message came from the pages of The Book Thief loud and clear. Leisel loved and hated words. They brought her so much joy, the ability to read and thus bring gifts to others... and yet it was with words that Hitler rallied so many in the destruction of so much life.

Words.

The Book Thief 7

"Silence was not quiet or calm, and it was not peace."

When there's nothing to say; no words to convey any type of comfort, consolation, or calm...

The Book Thief 6

"For a few minutes, they all forgot. There was no more yelling or calling out, but they could not contain the small snatches of laughter. They were only humans, playing in the snow, in a house."

Forgetting, if just for a moment or two, sorrows is one of the greatest gifts we possess. There are means provided for us to do this. Mostly they have to do with those we love.

Even though our sorrows may well be because of those we love.

The Book Thief 5

"I could go on, but I've decided for now that three examples will suffice. Three examples, if nothing else, will give you the ashen taste in your mouth that defined my existence during that year.
"So many humans.
"So many colors."

The work of death commenced, to paraphrase the Book of Mormon. I personally have never seen Death. I've been to funerals. I've seen some photos and films, but I've never been there at Death's hour. I'm wondering, reading this book, if I will notice the colors if I am ever there...

The Book Thief 4

"Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness."

Think about the most miserable times in your life; how was a period of happiness connected? Are the feelings related? products of each other?

Okay, now stop thinking about the most miserable times in your life...

The Book Thief 3

"It was a frosty morning but bright with sun. Children scrunched their eyes. A halo surrounded the grim reaper nun, Sister Maria. (By the way--I like this human idea of the grim reaper. I like the scythe. It amuses me.)"

The idea of a true character of Death and his perception of our perception of the personification of him... it begs the question: why have we, and do we still in so many ways, perceive death as a dark, hooded, Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come-type figure?

Abinadi says, "Yea, even so he [Jesus] shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father."
With this parallelism, he seems to be equating death with the will of the Father. Death is a release...

Do we still personify Death? Should we see him as anything other than our God? our Father? Death in this book cradles souls of the departed and they warm against him; he then sends them on their way.

Why do I assume Death is male?

The Book Thief 2

"Insane or not, Rudy was always destined to be Liesel's best friend. A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship."

Most writing courses warn you against use of the passive verb ("to be" in all its forms). But Zusak uses it masterfully. It fits the whole feel of the book and the story. The narrator, Death, observes the life of humans in general, and Liesel in particular, in a very passive way.

The Book Thief 1

This particular book will serve as inspiration for many musings, I'm sure. Each line, the way that it is type set, could readily be stopped on and considered. But I'll begin with this one:

"A pair of train guards.

A pair of grave diggers.

When it came down to it, one of them called the shots.

The other did what he was told.

The question is, what if the other is a lot more than one?"

For a book about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, it seems that this question is addressing one of the central concerns of that period in history. That question has to do with how it is possible that hundreds of thousands of Germans, arguably the most educated and advanced people of their time, could fall into step behind one man who called the shots. Wouldn't they be independently minded? free thinkers? Couldn't they see that the shots thus called were wicked? Didn't they have a sense of the abomination of genocide? Could they really be convinced that they were superior and somehow this justified acts of evil?

Or was it even that? Did it maybe have to do with fear of what would happen to them if they didn't comply? Did they intentionally ignore conscience?

What if the other includes you and me?

Home Teaching Feb 08

I wouldn't be a true home teacher if I didn't slack off once in a while, would I?

So here it is March 1st, and I'm doing my February home teaching, and not even in video format... you can imagine my penitent state.

Nevertheless, I hope that all is well with you and yours, and without any further ado, let us proceed to the lesson.

President Eyring wrote of ministering to those who need ministering to. He included things I would expect (and hope) President Eyring would include, such as encouraging us to go the Lord in prayer and ponder the scriptures, and then He will guide us in what we should say. He said something to the effect of, "I will tell you something you can do that is so easy, a child could do it." That's a wonderful theme of his: Childlikeness.

I certainly know that we can all be instruments in the Lord's hands if we will put our trust in Him and seek His will in prayer.

The Pilgrim's Regress 2

I failed to mention this in my last post: Christ unites the two parts of the man by having them each defeat the evil representation of the opposing side. When John defeated the evil of intellectual stoicism, he received the strength of will and determination to make him "hard." When Vertue defeated the evil of sensuality, he caught fire and finally understood what it meant to desire, to want, to have a passion and feeling for something.
I think that's rather profound.

The Pilgrim's Regress (another CS Lewis)

I've never read Bunyan, though I think I probably should. Yet I understood much of this story because of experiences (mostly intellectual I admit) from school. Many of the philosophies that John is exposed to I have studied to some extent and was therefore had a grounding intellectually for the story.
I didn't write periodic impressions because, honestly, I didn't feel like it. Unlike The Screwtape Letters, the chapters flowed into each other with the moving of the story, and though I could have stopped and mused, I chose instead to get the whole thing down and then comment once and for all.
With this partially autobiographic tale, Lewis paints a very vivid picture of the dualism of man. On the one hand there was John, the "natural man," given to impulse and desire, seeking for fulfillment, but discovering that every time he thinks he has found the object of his desire, it is in fact a diabolical counterfeit. The submitting of his will to the demands of these objects would only deaden the actual desire. On the other hand there was Vertue, or John's conscience personified as another character. Lewis characterized Vertue as "traditional morality," that sense within each of us to live by rigidity and obedience for the sake of obedience. The mere thought that any reward or punishment may be in the end of the journey was abominable to Vertue--that took away the purity of choice for choice's sake.
In the end Christ united the two halves, as He does in each of our lives. I like Lewis's idea of the Desire being the end in itself, that there is a "divine discontent" in each of us (as Elder Maxwell would say). A celestial homesickness as it were. If this drives us, and not to any worldly object (read idol) in particular, but instead to the Source of the Desire, we will find ourselves within the outstretched arms of the Savior.

Musings on Screwtape 5

You have let a soul slip through your fingers. The howl of sharpened famine for that loss re-echoes at this moment through all the levels of the Kingdom of Noise down to the very Throne itself.

In an earlier letter, Screwtape calls hell the Kingdom of Noise and revels in the wonder of noise. It is this that sparks a memory of a talk I once heard at the MTC. Henry B. Eyring spoke of the "gift of quiet," and his sentiments struck a chord with me. He said something to the effect of, "You will know, someday, why it is that your parents asked you to turn your stereo down." I know that now! There is something about quiet that enables us to see more clearly; we are faced with reality which often, for me, brings a sense of what I need to repent of. It may be uncomfortable at first, but when acted upon brings that other antonym of noise: Peace.

Musings on Screwtape 4

It is the business of these great masters to produce in every age a general misdirection of what may be called sexual 'taste'. This they do by working through the small circle of popular artists, dressmakers, actresses and advertisers who determine the fashionable type. The aim is to guide each sex away from those members of the other with whom spiritually helpful, happy, and fertile marriages are most likely.

"In every age" is so absolutely true. What was fashionable in 1941 when this was written is certainly different from now, but those principles remain. And how many young people do we see who are infatuated with the images of those on television or in fashion or gossip magazines and who ignore their peers who would indeed aid them spiritually in a very happy marriage?

As a result we are more and more directing the desires of men to something which does not exist--making the role of the eye in sexuality more and more important and at the same time making its demands more and more impossible. What follows you can easily forecast!

In our age of photoshop and digital imaging, this has never been more true. These impossible demands can only lead to disappointment in lust. What a terrible place to be.

The Continual Evolution of this Blog

I've been out on the blogosphere a lot lately and have found that the availability of blogs having to do with Mormonism is rather large. My contributions there are likely best served in the comment threads. As for this blog, I think I have found my niche, it will benefit me inasmuch as it should keep me reading and thinking. And it may just be the source of thoughtfulness in others. If so, wonderful.

So the format will be simple now. I will offer thoughts on passages from books I am reading and record monthly home teaching videos.

That's it.

I like it. It feels good.

Musings on Screwtape 3

Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact?

Pride in humility, one of Satan's most beloved tactics I'm sure. I'm deeply impressed with the description of real humility in this chapter, though. Humility has everything to do with looking outside of oneself to God and to neighbor. Humility can be glad because of accomplishment, but not any more glad than if another had done what was done. Humility is a recognition of talents and a grateful use of those talents. Humility is never self-absorbed, it does not focus the attention on the imperfections of the individual, whether real or supposed, but instead focuses on the service that can be rendered to others. Humility is in very deed blessedness.

Musings on Screwtape 2

Two from chapter 9

Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy's ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.

This has certainly been the case from the beginning, and yet with media as it is today I wonder if it feels more widespread than in past generations. The accessibility of pornography, just to cite one example, is immediate and varied in its forms. One can experience this "ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure" in record time these days, going from one website to another and never feeling quite satisfied; in fact feeling less and less satisfied with each encounter, and yet desiring more and more. This is the deadening influence over the spirit that Satan loves--desensitization coupled with insatiable lust. Addiction feeds on dead senses, whereas true enjoyment of pleasures ordained of God actually satisfies without consuming the mind, heart, and life of the individual.

A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all--and more amusing.

I don't doubt that hypocrisy thrills the adversary much more than outright rejection of all that is good and holy.

Musings on Screwtape 1

I began reading The Screwtape Letters this morning, and the book will serve as a catalyst for many thoughts. This is the first of these.

Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient's soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary. there is no good at all in inflaming his hatred of Germans if, at the same time, a pernicious habit of charity is growing up between him and his mother, his employer, and the man he meets in the train. Think of your man as a series of concentric circles, his will being the innermost, his intellect coming next, and finally his fantasy. You can hardly hope, at once, to exclude from all the circles everything that smells of the Enemy: but you must keep on shoving all the virtues outward till they are finally located in the circle of fantasy, and all the desirable qualities inward to the Will.

This reminds me of a lecture Richard Holzapfel gave (and is available in audio on a CD published by Deseret Book) on "Jesus and the Gospel of Love." He discussed the idea of having charity for all people. His thesis was that this general, good-feeling type of charity is really easy to feel. It's easy to say that you love everyone in the world. It's easy to feel a kind-of-a love for humanity in general. He said, in effect, that this is not the kind of love Jesus is talking about when He says we should love our neighbors as ourselves. And then Holzapfel makes it personal and says that what Jesus means is that we need to have charity for our spouses, siblings, next-door neighbors, those who cut us off on the highway, the slow waiter, the bishop who offends us, etc.
Lewis' "series of concentric circles" works the very same way. It is those who are within the reach of our Will everyday that we need to love. As John wrote that "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar," so we may also infer that If a man say, 'I love everybody in the whole world' and flippeth off another driver, he is a liar.