General Conference Sunday Afternoon Session 2015

D. Todd Christofferson

"Idiot-cyncracies"

What is the purpose of a church? To carry out the Lord's purpose to help us progress. To crate a community of saints to sustain each other. The Church is true because it takes us where we want to go.
It is deliberately full of people who can help us in our journey.
Also to pool our efforts and resources to accomplish what we can't do alone. i.e. aliviate poverty, do missionary work, build temples

Devin G. Durrant
"Ponderize. Shakespeare made up words, so can I."

Ponderize a scripture each week 80% pondering 20% memorize. Ponderizing sounds like making a select scripture a mantra. A phrase or saying used to draw your focus and be a topic of meditation. It's also blowing up all over the internet.

Von Keetch
"Everybody's gone Surfing"

Standards and rules have a good reason for being there. The 'barriers' are there to protect us and guide us in how to grow "“God wants us to have joy, He wants us to have peace. He wants us to succeed." The rules are there to help us out.

Sister Carole M Stephens
"Bribe Toddlers"

God's laws are a manifestation of His love for us. See above. God doesn't give us these rules because he likes to take away our freedom. These rules and commandments increase our freedom.

Haynie
"Sometimes boys dig holes"

Sometimes we get messy and need to be cleaned off. The atonement allows for that.

Kim B. Clark
*Bias from current BYU-I Student towards former BYU-I president ahead*

See things as they really are. Though the Holy Ghost we can see more clearly. See others clearly as they really are. Namaste means 'the divine in me recognizes the divine in you'. 

General Conferance Sunday Morning 2015

Sunday Morning Session thoughts. Heeeeerrrrrreeeeeeee we go!

President Monson

"Let your light so shine"

Be an example. Live you life in to the best of your abilities. This doesn't mean to be perfect just to follow Christ.
"Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other." You cannot serve two masters. Usually we understand that to mean that you cannot serve God and Greed, but it has many other applications. You cannot seek happiness and misery. Faith is light and doubt is darkness. in order for one to exist, the other must be removed.
Stand out, be different, receive light.

Rasband
"Love, Love, Love l-l-love, makes the world go 'round"

"The Lord has said ‘love one another as I have loved you’. I am confident there is no mistake you could make…that would cause him to stop loving you."  Christ's love is unattached love. It is not dependent on our actions. It's like the Sunshine. Though we can hide from it we cannot ever extinguish it. It contiunes reaching for us intently and purposfully.

"We are to reach out to our fellowman in love to invite, persuade, serve, and to rescue. … Jesus Christ looked past people’s rank, ethnicity and circumstances in order to teach them profound truth." Our love for others should relfect the unattached love of Christ. Love without stings attached.

Stevenson

"Anchor"

"Anchor yourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ" Once again, we need some sort of grounding or center which we can use to find balance in life. Balance will facilitate our happiness.

Dale G. Renlund
"What's up, doc?"

Avoid emotional distance. We are here to feel. Feelings are meant to be felt, don't suppress or ignore them. they are part of you as much as you hands and feet (apologies to any readers without those). Love others and be filled with the pure love of Christ. "We cannot mourn with those that mourn or comfort those that stand in need of comfort unless we see them through Heavenly Father’s eyes."

Russle M. Nelson
"All the Mormon Ladies, All the Mormon Ladies"

The women of the church are needed to help build up the church. Men and women are different in many important and necessary ways. Women are necessary to the church

Gregory A. Schwitzer
"Play us a song Piano man"

True disciples don't make excuses for the gospel. They testify and stand by it. It is often not convenient or comfortable to stand up for Christ.
"One man or woman who is willing to testify when the world is going in the opposite direction can make a difference."

Claudio R. M. Costa
"There's always that one that makes getting a clever quote and picture difficult."

"The sacrament is a time for our Heavenly Father to teach us about the Atonement of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and for us to receive revelation about it." Meditate on the sacrament prayer. It is not repeated each week just for kicks and giggles. It is something we need to think about each week. Meditate during sacrament. Be mindful during the Sabbath.

Henry B. Eyering
"Just DO IT!"

Having the spirit to be with us always lets us recognize truth. Act on promptings. “When you demonstrate your willingness to obey, the Spirit will send you more impressions of what God would have you do.”

General Conference Priesthood Session

Preisthood Session on a Mobile Device, baby. Because if I don't I'll sleep all through it.


Neil L. Andersen 😀
Faith is a real thing that is always in action either increasing or decreasing. Which it does is a choice. Faith is no accident. Again, "Know what leads you forward and what leads you back."
Father is action. Not intellectual.
Read the Book of Mormon to increase faith. Righteous actions increase faith and give it solid grounding.
Also again, we are meant to act, not be acted upon.


Randel K. Bennett 😺
1. Do what we did as children. Move towards our ( heavenly) parents.
2. God makes sure that we get out what we put in. The Sabbath is the Lord's gift to us.
3. Don't give up or be lazy. Faithful action leads to divine assistance. You were created that you might have joy.


Dieter F. Uchtdorf 🔥
Stay true to your faith. Even if you get 'flamed', it probably won't be as bad as Daniel in Babylon. Remain faithful and in your time of need God will protect you. All faith has to start somewhere. Since faith is a principal of action, it requires consistent action to work. Don't be a 'Sunday Christian'. Daily practice the gospel. We believe in God based on what we know rather that what we doubt.
Cynicism and doubting is not cool or fun. Anyone can choose to believe. They just need to be patient and work for it.
Just because you choose not to see the light doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Scepticism is easy. Faith is worthwhile.
Be not afraid only believe.


Henry B. Eyering 👓
When you do your part the Lord adds His power to your efforts. All priesthood holders need reassurance in their callings. Know the importance of your calling.


President Monson 🙌
Keep the commandments. They aren't there just to make your life hard. They are there to allow us to receive blessing from being obedient and lead us to happiness.
The devil seeks to destroy us. Be strong and alert to anything that would threaten your eternal goals. The commandments were God given and cannot be changed. The effects of obeying or disobeying them also cannon be changed.
If you have stumbled and fallen, repentance is possible. It can be a slow and painful process but it is worth it.
Live worthy to carry the priesthood.



Whew! Made it! Now to waste time on reddit go home and sleep. 😪

General Conference Saturday Afternoon Oct 2015

Second sesh.
Let's do this.

Hales
"Hey Dieter, let's switch talks"

Remember that we live in the real world. Look out for debt. Apply gospel principles practically. Have a plan and be in control. We are meant to act rather than be acted upon. "You’re a pilot, and you’re in charge."

"If you want more than what you now have, reach up, not across." Though we are meant to help each other, true help can only come from above.

Holland
"Mama! OoooOOOooohh!"

The Divinity and importance of Mothers. It seems to be given to the entire church (rather than just to the women) to combat the worldly view of mothers as essentially the same as men with minor differences in plumbing. Motherhood is a creative act and is close to Godhood.

Bradly Foster
"Preaching to the (children's) choir"

So, he said he was speaking to the children but he seems to be speaking to their parents. “Our children learn when they’re ready to learn, not when we're ready to teach them.” Children are smarter than we tend to think they are.

Hugo Montoya
"Smile, smile, smile"

"Please smile, your smile will help others." We're in this life together, we can believe that we should share each other's burdens but what about sharing each other's joys?
Meditate on the great and wonderful love of the Redeemer. Meditate on the sacrament weekly. It's a structured opportunity to meditate for a set time and with a set purpose

Vern Stanfill

"I want to ride my bicycle"

We can't avoid all the darkness of the world but we can move towards the light of the Gospel and trust in the light of others.

James B. Martino
"I can't think of a clever quote so have a dog meme"

God does not answer prayers merely to satiate curiosity. You get out what you put in. This is the law of the harvest. The sons of Mosiah had similar experience to Laman and Lemuel but those good ol' Mosiah boys invested more into their faith and as a result, got more out of it. "Work without faith is dead."

Dallin H. Oaks
"We're all going to die and that's okay."

"The Savior experienced the pains, sicknesses, and infirmities of His people." Christ knows our pains because he bore them. Sometimes infirmities are removed other times we are strengthened to withstand them. "Sometimes [Christ] succors, or helps, by giving us the strength to endure our infirmities."

General Conference Saturday Morning Oct 2015

For what it's worth here's some of my thoughts and impressions on the talks in the first session of Conference. You should know, though, I worked the night shift last night so I'm running on maybe four hours of sleep. 

Uchtdorft

"Simplify."

The path to happiness is to simplify. This goes with the idea of being unattached or un-shenpa'd. While there a lot of good things in the Church and in the world that can benefit one's spirituality and place you on the path to happiness remember that they are only sign posts, to the destination, not the destination itself.

Ballard

"On the Good Ship Lollipop Zion"

I liked how he referred to the church as a vessel, a ship, a vehicle. I often hear people say that the church is not true because they espoused doctrine X or theory Y. This, in my opinion comes from a misunderstanding of what the phrase "The Church is true" means. I take the word 'true' here to be used in the same way that one could say that a compass and map are true. They are true because they will get you where you want to go. A map does not need to have every rock and funny looking tree marked nor does it need to be exactly to scale, provided that it will get you where you want to go. As long as it does that, all else is unimportant.

Richard J. Maynes

"Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns"

We must have something to ground ourselves on, a Center. "Once you find your center/ you are sure to win"
Our core, the center of our lives, must be Jesus Christ and His gospel. To do this is to live after the manner of happiness.

Neill F. Marriott

"I'm from the deep south"

"When we are yeilded and still our minds can be directed to where we need to change." That may not be an exact quote but it is important to know what leads you forward and what leads you back ”Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.” – Buddha
When we offer our broken heart to Christ He ACCEPTS our offering.
Your resentment diminishes your progress and damages your ability to have healthy relationships.

Larry R. Lawrence

"Forgive me Father for I have sped"

The Holy Ghost eternally challenges us to be better and strive higher.
"What is keeping me from progressing? In other words, “what lack I yet?”" Once again "Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom."

Francisco J. Viñas

"I can't think of a clever quote."

To re-quote and misquote Buddha again, "Repentance leads to happiness, Lack of repentance leads to lack of happiness."
"Repentance is a process, and not something that happens in one particular moment."
"Having the companionship of the Spirit will make us better people. It will whisper peace and joy to our souls."
"The pleasing word of God … brings comfort and hope."

Know where happiness come from and go there.

Quentin L Cook

"#spirituallyswole"

"We must determine to be temple worthy regardless of what befalls us." Do not let your worthiness be worthiness with stings attached
Self control is like a muscle. If you work out you get ripped Bro. Like,  Nephi ripped....Bro.

Seer Stones, Fan Fiction, and Zen

Hey, remember when I had a semi-predicable update schedule for this blog? Those were the days, huh?
So, what has roused my digital slumber? 
Like the fabled princess, 'twas a pea.
Except I'm not a princess.
And it wasn't a pea.
It was a rock.

 I got a rock

You sure? This feels right to me.

If you've seen him please let me know. He answers to the name "Balboa"

I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry.

If you didn't click any of those links I'll give you the skinny slim of it all: As part of the Joseph Smith Papers Project the Church has released photographs of what is currently believed to be one of the 'seer stones' which Joseph occasionally used during the translation of the Book of Mormon.

"Can you smell what the rock is prophesying?"

The rock in question has long been a source of, shall we say, discomfort for some members of the Church. Mainly because it's generally not talked about and even kind of swept under the rug, with the narrative focusing more on the Urim and Thummim. So when they find out about it, usually through sources outside the Church it can be a little jarring to their faith.
But it doesn't have to be.

The reason Joseph's Seer Stone concerns both members and non-members alike is because it doesn't seem to fit the mold of what we expect from a prophet. Basically people have developed a mental image of what a prophet is supposed to look like, act like, sound like, etc. regardless of whether or not it is realistic. This is not a new problem. In the New Testament those who rejected Christ did so because they had a preconceived notion of what the Messiah would be like and refused to accept that their idea might not be wrong. Case in point, the Pharisees often went after Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. They had decided that the Messiah would definitely not do that, so when blind guys stopped being blind on the wrong day of the week they passed up one of the greatest chances in human history.

Sometimes we 'write fan fiction about life and the gospel. We decide (either arbitrarily or studiously) that things must be or not be a certain way. In the case of the Seer Stone, people have decided that a prophet shouldn't need any sort of tool to receive revelation (unless that tool has an impressive sounding name like the Urim and Thummim, the Burning Bush, the Arc of the Covenant, etc). But this leads to us missing the forest for the trees.

That's were Zen comes in. Zen is, as I understand it, accepting things as they are, without judgement. This means that when something appears that seems to contradict your preconceived beliefs you don't panic but rather accept it an try to understand it, while possibly altering your beliefs as needed. With this mindset you begin to realize that how the message is received is not as important as the message, be it a rock in a hat or visions of angels. Who the messenger is is mostly trivial. The day of the week the miracle happens if completely arbitrary, especially compared to the miracle itself. What matters most is the message.

That message is that Christ's church is here again, and He is preparing to return. The Message is that we can receive limitless joy and peace if we desire it. It doesn't matter if that message came from a rock, a bush, or a talking donkey.


Namaste y'all
Michael

In which I come out as...

Can I make a confession here?
It's just, given certain news stories recently I have come to a realization about myself. There is a part of me that I'm afraid I have denied for far too long. A part that drives much of what I do and how I do it.
I am...a zealot.
Or perhaps that's not the right word. Perhaps fanatic? No. 'Fanatic' suggests that I'm easily excitable. I'm one of those who has to feign surprise and joy every Christmas to avoid offending others.
I've got it; 'Fringe Element' I am, and have been for a long time a 'Fringe Element'.
I realized this after the SCOTUS ruling appeared to have made everyone who supports traditional marriage (like myself) the minority. Don't worry, dear reader I shan't spill another pixel of digital ink on the ruling, enough has been and is still being said about that by persons far more qualified to speak on that subject than I.

Rather, I would like to talk about exactly what makes me a "Fringe Element" even among Mormons (Who are a fringe element in their own right). Let's call me a Fringer, Just to save pixels.

1. I use the Deseret Alphabet. Like, a lot. I take notes in it, partially because it's faster (I don't have to worry about spelling) and partially because I'm paranoid about people looking over my shoulder and reading what I write. Which is ironic because people keep looking over my shoulder anyways and asking me what language that it. Mostly, however, I prefer it over the standard Latin alphabet because read rhymes with lead and read rhymes with lead, but read doesn't rhyme with lead and read doesn't rhyme with lead.

2. I think maybe polygamy is not such a bad idea. If I was a drinking man I could make a drinking game out of Mormon discussions about polygamy. Drink a shot each time they say "But I wouldn't want to practice it". That phrase or some variation thereof pops up so often in regards to plural wives that I begin to feel that everyone is reading from a script that I didn't get. Honestly, if a revelation was received saying the Lord had reestablished polygamy I wouldn't have a huge moral hurdle to overcome. (Granted, It would be nearly impossible for me to find a second woman to marry me, I'm having a devil's time finding wife number 1!)
Don't get me wrong, I really do support marriage between a man and a woman. But my support on that is based on the fact that children are more well adjusted when they have access to both their biological mother and father. That to try and remove either of those from the equation only hurts the child. I don't see polygamy as being any great hindrance to that, if practiced responsibly. True, certain groups have used polygamy to oppress and control others, but, then again, similar groups have used religion, philosophy, and even food and water to oppress and control others. If practiced in righteousness I think polygamy could end up doing a lot of good.

3. I think we should give the United Order another shot. And I take another shot as I hear someone say "But I wouldn't want to practice it". The United Order, for those unaware was a group in the early church that was intended to fully implement the law of concentration. The Order and a number of groups like it eventually failed for various reasons. I just think maybe we can learn from all those mistakes and from break off Mormon groups who still practice forms of the Order and give the whole thing another go. Even though I'm a notorious hermit (It is only my addiction to wi-fi and indoor plumbing which bars me from living in a hut in the mountains) I find something very attractive about working together in a small community where each person knows that the work they do helps make life better for their neighbor.

4. I consider myself a Zen Buddhist Mormon. And No, I'm not like that one guy in Sons of Provo. Also, I've seen Sons of Provo and kind of liked it. Not sure which of those things makes me weirder. By 'Zen Buddhist Mormon' I mean I incorporate certain Zen philosophies into my personal worship. I feel weird for doing that, even though I believe I'm doctrinally supported in so doing. I guess it's because Mormon worship (in my experience) tends to be very particular about things. Or, rather, the culture surrounding Mormon Worship is particular. We as Mormons have the greatest concentration of divine truth in the world, but that doesn't mean that we have all the truth. I think of it like this; God could either give one group of people all the truth and have them jealously guard said truth from being corrupted by outsiders, or He could spread His truth throughout multiple groups forcing them to work together in brotherhood to obtain it. Which sounds more like God to you?

5. I believe in aliens, ghosts, and spirits, but not most conspiracies. I think these things are highly comparable with Mormon doctrine. Aliens fall into that whole 'Worlds without end' thing, ghosts are explained through the spirit world, and everything was created spiritually before it was created physically so it makes sense to me that a rock or tree could have a spirit. As for the conspiracy theories, I do believe that we are living in the Last Days and there are secret combinations in the land, but is seems a little far fetched for me to believe that there is only one group seeking to rule. I would think there would be many groups all kind of  getting in each other's way, like the Three Stooges, but with the Illuminati. I also believe that while people are capable of terrible things they tend to do good things. I guess at the end of the day I believe people are good more often than evil.



I'm weird. Or maybe a fundamentalist. Or maybe a Fringer, I get it. Just thought y'all deserved to know how weird I really am.

Nameste Y'all,
Michael

Inclusion

Now we will be having a special musical number guest post by Brother Brent (who happens to be my actual brother, like we have the same parents and everything).

Inclusion

Inclusion. What does it mean to be included? I'm not talking about the definition, I'm talking about what it means as a person to be included. Why do we, as humans, have a need to be part of a group, part of something? And how do we affect others when we don't include them? I've been thinking about this concept a lot lately, since my brother asked me to write a guest column for his blog. He suggested a response to this article and after reading it I've seen so many ways the principles in the article are shown in the things I see every day.

First of all, let's start with the article itself. I'm not gonna give you a full synopsis on the article, it isn't long and if you're reading this you can definitely read the article. But I will talk about a few of the parts that hit me. Namely, how we in the church handle people with different views or opinions than us. It is easy, not just in the church but as people, to see someone that we disagree with as unintelligent, uninspired, or even dangerous. It's a knee-jerk reaction. It's something that we just do. And that's the main problem with it. Like is says in Mosiah, “the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever.” If our natural reaction to a different viewpoint is to treat the holder of that viewpoint as dangerous, is that what we want?

I tend to tell stories, so I'm gonna do that now. About a week ago, I was sitting at home, watching my stories, and someone knocked on my door. I opened it and it was two older men from the Jehovah's Witnesses. I let them give their spiel and then informed them that I was LDS and that I had a different view on some things from them, but then I mentioned that I had read some of their literature and that I felt that we both agreed with each other more than we disagreed. The conversation turned to other topics (my time on the Indian Reservations on my mission, if you're curious) and we were having a pleasant time. Then I heard someone else talking to the other JW. After a few minutes I found out who this other person was, mostly because he walked up my steps, stepped into my house, and started taking over the conversation. This fella was a large guy, seemed clean cut, normal as far as I could tell. I thought it was a little odd that he, a complete stranger to me, decided it was just okay to step into my house. Anyway, then he started taking over. From the way he was talking, I got the feeling that he felt he was “protecting” me from the Jehovah's Witnesses. He attempted to use scripture passages to “prove them wrong,” however, the swig of vodka he took from a bottle in his backpack probably didn't help him put the pieces together too well. In any case, he a fairly nice individual who seemed to simply want to help someone. Luckily this guy never became hostile and eventually left, but I could tell that the Jehovah's Witnesses were not very pleased with the guy.

Why is is important for some people to “protect” others from a different viewpoint? In that story, what convinced this guy that he needed to protect me from someone I was having a pleasant conversation with? I think it's that knee-jerk reaction again, that desire to see ourselves as being perfectly right all the time. And that's dangerous, the decision to exclude someone because of what they think or who they are.

A lot of the time, I worry about the way the world is going. Not because people are sinning more, but because people are excluding each other. Another story from my life. I have a good friend who is a teacher at an elementary school. She moved here from Michigan to teach because, as she says, it was her dream job. This friend of mine identifies religiously as a Pagan, and practices that. However, since living in Utah, she hasn't felt comfortable being her full self, and in a little less than two months, she will be moving back to Michigan. While hanging out with her recently she mentioned that it is unfortunate that it took her two years in Utah before she met anyone that she felt comfortable enough around to talk about the things that were important to her, and by then it was too late. By then she had made plans to leave.

Why is it that we as people are so quick to assume so much about someone based on what they say about who they are? We see it, not just in religion, but in so many other aspects of life, even insignificant ones. Democrats vs. Republicans, police vs. citizens, Playstation vs. Xbox vs. Nintendo vs. PC, cats vs. dogs. It's dangerous to see the world as black and white, and to assume that because I'm on one side and you're on the other makes us enemies.

It baffles me that members of the church can be some of those that exclude others. Our history is full of examples of our own people being pushed out of their homes because they had beliefs that other people disagreed with. Sure, in the church we don't physically push people out of their homes (at least I hope not), but we exclude, we give awkward glances, we gossip, we – in short – treat people differently because they have different views. And that is sad. Why should we push nice people who are causing us no harm off our doorstep? Why should we make people feel like they have to hide who they are because we disapprove? In short, why can't we all just get along? I think if we worked hard to listen to people with different views we would broaden our understanding of others, we would know how to best help them, we would be able to care for our fellow man. In my opinion it's more important to love each other than to convince people that we're right and they're wrong. Although, if you disagree, I got no problem, that's your choice.

Meditations on the Church's Easter Message

I would like to apologize right now for not keeping up the blog content. The truth is I've just had trouble thinking of something interesting to write about. I'll be honest, I couldn't think of anything.





So, um...yeah, I guess that's it, you can all go home now.






Or I could give you my thoughts on the Church's Easter video this year.
Yeah, that second one. Let's do the second one. Let's do that thing.

For those of you who haven't seen it here's a link and another one to the Youtube version.
I'll be honest with you (again), this thing had me bawling worse then when Zayn left One Direction

"Too soon?"

Okay, I'll be serious now, because there was some really good stuff in this thing.
It starts out like you'd expect it to, nice music, talking about Jesus, all good stuff. But what turned the faucets on for me was around the 1:22 mark. It says "He is here/ During the good/ the bad/ the in-between" What really got me was that 'in-between bit where it shows a woman causally eating ice cream straight from the carton. 

"I can relate to this."

But I found it very insightful. Much of life is neither good or bad. It is very much in-between. Yes, Christ is there in the dark moments when we need him the most and he is with us in the high moments of our lives, but we don't really talk about him being with us in the rest of our lives. The times when you're just siting improperly in a chair in a dimly lit room eating ice cream straight from the carton because it's just been that kind of day. You know those moments, when everything is just...blah. It's in those moments that I think it's hardest for us to accept Christ. When we're not on some spiritual high, but far from our darkest most desperate moments. He cares about us even in those moments. That is a beautiful thought to me.

My second rain of tears (note to self: copyright "Rain of Tears" for band name/video game/special finishing move) came around the 1:34 mark. "He is here/ no matter who you are/ or who you were/ no exceptions/ no lost causes"
This got me thinking about outer darkness. I've always understood that in order to be sent to outer darkness a person needs to have a perfect testimony of Christ and then completely deny him. Because of the veil most of us will never reach the level of having a perfect testimony of Christ. I also believe that a huge majority of humanity will make it into the Celestial Kingdom. Christ does not give up on people. He is not a quitter. Think about it, He walked on water because his friends were about to give up. He toughed out basic laws of physics, just because His buddies were having a hard time. He will give us every chance possible to make it back home with God. He puts a lot of work into each and every one of us and He is not about to let that go to waste.

The video ends with #BecauseHeLives and encourages us to share. So here's my thing.
#BecauseHeLives a little weirdo like me who is chronically sarcastic can find peace and beauty in the mundane monotony of everyday life and function as a semi-normal human.

Namaste y'all
Michael

Why I blog on this dog-gone blog

Lest I ever be accused of having my act together I would like to be perfectly frank:

At least with life in general. With this blog, however, I can confidently say:

So, What am I doing? Why did I start this blog? Where did it come from? What is it doing here? Where is it going?

But seriously though, I made this blog for more than just sharing my awesome dog-themed humor, and that's what I wanted to talk about in this post.

First I guess I should explain why I decided to start a blog in the first place. Honestly though, I don't really know how the idea got in my head. It just crawled in there and decided to stay until I started typing. I suppose I also wanted to have a forum where I could comfortably discuss my occasionally weird thoughts and ideas.

Now, after I decided, for what ever mad reason, to start a blog I had to decide what kind of blog it would be. I felt like it should be gospel oriented. But in looking at the other blogs out there none of them really felt my style. Sure I like to keep up to date on Church news, but there are other blogs that do that far better than I ever could. I also like to occasionally delve into the jots and tittles of the scriptures, but I don't feel like I'm smart enough for that. I finally thought that meditation was the way to go. I'm no expert, mind you, but I do know a thing or two about a thing or two in regards to meditation. But mostly I felt like it was important to encourage meditative practices in the church.

Now we're at the part I wanted to get to; 

Why I Feel This Blog Is Important.

A simple search on lds.org will show you that meditation is part of the gospel and important to our growth as disciples and human beings. The voices of prophets and apostles both modern and ancient are loud and clear on the importance of meditation. But I don't think Mormons, as a group, really know how to meditate.

The problem as I see it is not that we don't meditate, many members do. The problem is that we never talk about it. We rarely meditate in front one another. Currently the way us Mormons learn to meditate is from our Sunday school teachers telling us to think about stuff and figure it out on your own. While this does lead to a uniquely personalized meditation style for the user, I think it leaves us at a terrible disadvantage.

We can learn so much from each other. I can learn so much from you, from this blog. I'm not crazy or stupid enough to think that this little blog could change the world (full disclosure, I'm almost that crazy and/or stupid) but I still feel that this is important to talk about.

Now another part I wanted to get to;

The Part Where I Start Hounding My Readers

See what I did there? Hound? Dog? Call? COMEDY GOLD!

Now, I'm a little self conscious about, well, everything. So whenever I think of trying to plug this blog on other sites I think, "But then what would those strangers who I've never met before and never will meet think of me? Will they hate me? Yes. They'll probably hate me. I'd better not."

So, I'm enlisting my readership to do what I am pathologically incapable of doing. Please, share at least one of my posts with a friend, neighbor, acquaintance, stranger, mortal enemy (I'll allow you to dip the post in poison for that one), etc.. If none of my current posts seem to be something that you want to associate with (perfectly understandable response), send an idea for a better topic to segolotus@gmail.com and I'll whip you up a special post.

If you do that, I'll make a real effort to stop my neurotic self-doubt and share my blog with the world. 

Or at least share my blog with a dog.

Nameste y'all,

Michael

Love-dovey

I've been thinking a lot about what to write about this week. I wondered if I should write about current events in the Mormon world, but I figured that I don't have enough followers who are worried about Brother Dehlin to justify that. I also thought about geeking out about the meditative prowess of Enos, but I figured I would save that for later.
Finally I decided to talk a little about a certain holiday coming up real soon...that's right, National Flag Day (Canada)!  Valentines Day!
Or rather, I want to talk on the theme of love..kind of...just bear with me for a while.

Yep, I went there. I'm sorry I'm not sorry.

Now, I'm kind of a quiet, reserved person. Actually I'm a very quiet and reserved person. And I can definitely support what they say, it's always the quiet one you need to worry about. But not because we'll go postal on everyone. It's because quiet people tend to notice a lot more than you think.
So, here's a few things I've noticed.
1. Nobody sits quietly and listens to the prelude music at sacrament meeting. Everyone talks during the prelude music. That's just sad to me. Especially in my current ward, we have some extremely talented people who play glorious and uplifting music before the meeting. It's tragic to me to think that while they could be cleansing their minds and souls in preparation to commune with their Savior they instead choose to talk about the latest episode of The Bachelor. Don't get me wrong, though, I get it. People are social and like to talk with each other. It's entirely healthy and normal. There are also quite a few conversations at that time that are important and entirely appropriate. But far too often the chatter becomes a noisy din of gibberish that becomes so loud on can't even hear themselves think. I'm sure everyone would agree with me when I say that nobody should ever be denied the the ability to think, especially in a church. I get a little upset with this not only because of how important it is that we sit and meditate before the sacrament, but also because this is such an easy problem to fix. If you want to talk with friends, arrive a few minutes earlier and talk in the foyer, or hold off on talking to them for an hour, or perhaps just lower your voice to a whisper. Watch yourself and what you do in the minutes leading up to sacrament meeting and you will see who you love more, the Savior or your friends.
2. People don't talk to people they don't really know. I often hear stories about how friendly our churches are. How everyone is so warm and friendly. I honestly can't say that I ever experienced that. I suppose it's because people see me and, knowing that I tend to keep to myself, assume that I prefer it that way and leave me alone. At times I do want to just be with my thoughts, but other times I desperately want somebody to just talk to me. I would just like to point out to anybody reading this that the people who need to see kindness the most will never say so. Speaking for myself, I've worked though many problems on my own and often approach my problems with the mentality that this is something I will have to deal with on my own. I wish I didn't have to think like that, I wish there was another option, I wish that some outgoing soul who can hear the Spirit's voice would just give me a little encouragement. I don't know how many others find themselves in a similar situation and I shudder to think how many of those have had their faith and hope crushed under burdens that could have been lightened. Being alone has made me stronger and taught me to rely on Christ and the Spirit for support, but still, I wish that just one person who is willing to cheer me on.

I think the main problem is that we don't really think about why we do or don't do the things we do. But we really need to. God filled our heads with think meat for us to use it. So I would encourage you to take the time in your meditations to think about how you show your love and who you show your love to.

Now, if you made it all the way to the bottom of the post here, congratulations! You're reward is...a small sense of accomplishment. Also you get to read about the site's new E-mail address segolotus@gmail.com. If you have any questions, concerns, ideas for future topics, fiery rebukes, watery rebukes, etc. send them there. or use the new thing-a-majig on the side of the page.
Namaste y'all
Michael

Put on the Chakras of God

Recently I tried a chakra meditation. Chakras, for those of you not in the know are positions on the body where, according to certain ancient meditative practices, energy pools and converges. Each school has a different idea of where these chakras are and what the represent. The guided meditation I used seemed to agree with this school. The meditation was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but there were a few things that I didn't like. Namely, it wasn't Mormon enough.

Close, but not really.

So, I thought I'd restructure the chakras into something use Mormons are familiar with. The closest parallel I could find was the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17). So, here's my restructuring.

First there are about 7 chakras.

1. Crown. Located on the top of the head and deals with understanding.
2. Third eye. Located between the eyes. Deals with perception and intuition.
3. Throat. (Gee I wonder were that one is). Associated with communication.
4. Heart. Located in the center of the chest. Focuses on love and compassion.
5. Solar Plexus. Located behind the belly button. deals with power and will.
6. Sacral. located in the middle of the hips. Focuses on sexual desire, pleasure, and procreation.
7. Root. Located at the tip of the tailbone. Deals with basic survival desires (food, shelter, security).

With the Armor of God there are six parts.

1. Helmet of Salvation
2. Breastplate of Righteousness
3. Sword of Truth
4. Shield of Faith
5. Belt of Truth (loins girded)
6. Feet shod with Peace

Now to compile the two. 

• The Helmet of Salvation absorbs the Crown and 3rd eye chakras and encompasses the entire head. It focuses on what we think and know and our perceptions of the world. We should make sure that our thoughts and perceptions are in harmony with the concept of salvation. Not only knowing what needs to be done to achieve salvation, but also to see the world around you as something worth saving.
• The Breastplate of Righteousness replaces the Solar Plexus chakra and covers the torso down to the hips. While the Solar Plexus chakra focuses on merely acting and doing, the Breastplate focuses on acting and doing righteously. 
• The Sword of Truth takes the place of the throat chakra and is moves to your dominant hand (if you're ambidextrous just pick one and stick with it). The sword is the only thing here that is intended to extend, just as our words extend to others. We must speak truth and dispel lies. 
• The Shield of Faith takes the place of the Heart chakra and is placed in the unused hand. Faith is at times, the only defense we have against certain attacks. This is essentially our testimony. What we know through the spirit. 
• The Belt of Truth replaces the Sacral chakra. It covers the hips and groin area. It still focuses on sexual desire, pleasure, and procreation but with a noticeable change; it focuses on the truth about sexual desire and the like. Satan has spared no expesnse at confusing and spreading lies about sex and desire. The best defence for this is to learn the truth about those things and to use the power and engery of those desires responsibly and properly. 
• Finally the Boots of Gospel Peace. This replaces the Root chakra and is located in the feet and lower leg. The feet are our foundation and represent our most basic goals. This is like the rock the wise man built on. We must focus our goals and foundation on the Gospel.

Here's a suggested cleansing meditation using the Armors.

As always, find a comfortable place to sit or lie down where you can be undisturbed and you won't fall asleep. Close your eyes (if you want) and start breathing.

First get into a meditative state with a few deep, relaxing breaths. As you breath imagine that you are breathing in clean, pure air and breathing out any negativity and uncleanliness. In breaths are accepting the Atonement into your life and out breaths are Christ pulling impurities from you.

Next pick any of the six Armors to start with. You can start with where you need the most help or where you need the least help. You can also just start at the top and go to the bottom or vise-versa. It's up to you. Once you know which Armor you will start with focus on that area. As you breath, think about why you need that armor and how you have used it in the past. Imagine that the pure cleansing air you breath in goes straight to that area and as you breath out any flaws or dents or scuffs on your armor are pulled away and bit by bit the armor becomes stronger and more polished. 

Continue polishing your armor until you are satisfied and then move on to the next one. Once you have gone though all the Armors take a few more deep cleansing breaths, imagining that the purity travels throughout your whole body and breath out any negativity and uncleanliness. Gently open you eyes  and come out of the meditative state.

So, there's my thoughts for the day. But I still don't know what to call this thing, maybe the Armors meditations? Any suggestions?

Namaste, y'all,
Michael