The Lower Light

In His Hands

9:22 PM
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Politics: We can (and do) always get what we want!

I think I disagree with the Rolling Stones. Although I love to sing, "You can't always get what you want" to my kids whenever they complain about not getting something, I think that, when it comes to politics today we can and in fact do always get what we want. And what we want is definitely not what we need.

Gadianton robbers

Recently I've been reading the Gadianton robbers chapters in the Book of Mormon. This group, whose mission statement seems to have been nothing but murder, theft, and extortion, spread among the Nephites and Laminates alike. However, in an interesting twist, the Lamanites used "every means in their power to destroy them off the face of the earth" (Helaman 6:20, 37) while the Nephites united with the robbers and entered into their "covenants and their oaths" (v. 21). I'm always surprised that the Nephites, who knew the wickedness that came with companionship with Gadianton's group, nonetheless accepted the robbers into their society and even into their government.

When the prophet Nephi returned from a mission he asked the same question I always ask, in essence, "How could you do this? Why are you letting these robbers govern your lives?" (See 7:16-20). This seems to be not only the question of that day in the Book of Mormon but the question of our day today. We look at the current political environment and wonder how on Earth we have a system filled with so much vitriol, backbiting, corruption, and hate. It seems like every other post on social media is a complaint about this candidate or the other. Indeed, our whole nation seems to be asking the similar questions to what Nephi asked: "How could did this happen?"

The answer is painful, poignant, and probably unexpected. When Nephi returned from a mission and called his people to repent he chastised them, not so much their actions, but their desires. He told them the reason the Gadianton Robbers had so infiltrated their society is because all the Nephites wanted was "to get gain, to be praised of men [and to] get gold and silver" (7:21). In other words, the Nephites were to blame for their own evil leadership. They wanted money and pride without work or accountability and the Gadianton robbers offered them the seeming path to all their desires. In short, the Nephites got what they wanted!

What we really want...

I submit that we, as a nation, stand guilty of the same problem. We love to complain about political candidates. We're frustrated because they don't represent our values or interests. And yet, we have to ask ourselves, are we getting what we want? Do we really want good, moral, peaceful leadership? Or are we more interested in a good show? Are we so addicted to the entertainment value provided by angry debates and social-media-name-calling that we have come to actually want that to be the public discourse? If, all-of-a-sudden, peace and kindness became the melody that replaced the cacophony of contention would we breathe a sigh of relief or a yawn of boredom wondering where we can go next for entertainment?

Is what we really want entertainment?

Consider this: if we were to judge desires based on the amount of time spent pursuing them, what would come out on top as the thing Americans want the most? Here are some shocking statistics:

The average American adult consumes over 5 hours of entertainment a day which makes it the second most time-consuming activity besides sleep.
Since the average American is awake for just under 16 hours a day this means we spend almost 1/3 of our waking hours consuming entertainment.
Total up those hours and you get 35 hours (more than a full day) a week, almost 2000 hours (more than 75 days) a year, and if those numbers were to hold steady over a lifetime, more than 15 YEARS in a lifetime!
As a nation we spend almost $3000 on entrainment a year which is more money than we spend on education, clothing, personal care, or charitable donations.
The average person checks their phone almost 50 times a day; as a nation that means we collectively check our phone more than 8 billion times a day.

In other words, we want (and in staggering amounts are getting) entertainment! And with the widespread availability of handheld access to media, social media, and games, we can get what we want pretty much whenever we want. Should it surprise us then that our political system has become more akin to reality television than to actual government? Should it surprise us that political drama is so often in the news? Should it surprise us that presidential debates between the current candidates are setting record high viewership numbers despite being filled with less substance than possibly ever before? Should it surprise us that so many people accuse candidates of being better entertainment stars than actual candidates for office?

Should any of that surprise us, or are we just getting more of what we want?

And that's just one example of something we want and are now getting (maybe to a degree which we didn't intend, but getting nonetheless). There could be multiple examples of things we spend our time and energy wanting that, in our current political environment, we are getting. Much of the media we consume is violent, sexist, and crude. Hence we have a political dialogue that is verbally violent, sexist, and crude. In other words, we can complain all we want but the biggest finger of blame might be pointing right back at us! We feed the monsters of our desire and now spend our time screaming at the damage they're doing.

If we try sometime we get what we need

So what do we do? Well, for starters, we stop feeding the monsters. We stop "wanting" what we don't need and start feeding the needs that have been starving behind our wants. Unplug, disconnect, power down, and reconnect to the things that bring real edification--family, friends, inspiring literature, and thoughtful discourse. The next time we hear or read anger or viscous spouting of personal attacks, whether in the political arena or elsewhere, just turn off the TV, close the browser, stop the stream, and go read a book to your child. Pull the video game controller out of their hands and talk to them about what true leadership is. Seek, in some small way, to add back to the American ideal the morality, integrity, honor, and virtue that have all been lazi-ed or politcally correct-ed away.

And maybe, just maybe, as the song goes, if we try sometime we can get what we need!

10:00 PM
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Be Careful Which Expert You Trust

So, It's been a while since I've written, and at the risk of sounding like a teenager begging for an absence excusal…I promise there's a good reason. At the end of last year I finished a master's degree and have just begun coursework for a Ph.D. I say this not to brag or boast my credentials; if fact, I want to do quite the opposite.

There seems to be an undue trust placed in expert opinion today. Whether in the political arena, the social arena, or the religious arena, when a person has a graduate degree of some kind often the perception of the "rightness" of their opinion skyrockets. We often treat them as if their word is fact because it comes from someone who "knows." In recent years this has become quite in vogue with critics of the Church; they attach their credentials to their name which, they implicitly argue, makes their view more truthful.

However, one thing I've learned quite intimately as I've gone through my graduate schooling is just what a graduate degree is, and just what it is not.

A graduate degree is a certification of broader thinking in a specific field of study with an emphasis in one small part of that field. In the beginning, coursework is generally designed to introduce to the student, as much as possible, to the entire spectrum of thought or opinion within the field.

A graduate degree is not, however, proof that the student is a certified master of each of these arenas of thought or opinion. Coursework covers breadth, not depth. The goal is for a student to survey the scenery within a field, and then pick from that landscape a specific direction in which she would like to travel with her research.

Further, once that specific direction is chosen, that's all the student focusses on. Where the beginning of the degree is aimed at learning a little about a lot, the thesis or dissertation work is aimed at researching a lot about a little. Thus the student does become master of something, but just of that one thing!

As an example, the coursework in my religious studies degree exposed me to some of the most important thinkers and writers in religious and, especially, Mormon history and thought. Unfortunately the depth of the field is such that for every one author I read I became aware of twenty others that had written or were writing about the same topic which I didn't read. In a sense, the more I got to know, the more I realized that I didn't know!

So I picked a direction which I had to narrow drastically. I started with the topic of Church business and finances, but that was too broad. I couldn't read everything that had been written and could not, in the time I had, become a "master" of the field. So I narrowed it down to tithing. Still too broad. How about tithing during the debt crisis of 1899? Too broad. Lorenzo Snow's administration during the debt crisis of 1899 as it pertained to tithing? Too broad. So I settled for becoming a master of Lorenzo Snow's tithing reemphasis trip to St. George in mid-1899 as seen through lens of contemporary reporters, diarists, and writers.

So this makes me an expert, right? Well sure, if we're talking specifically about what Lorenzo Snow said about one topic on his trek to and from St. George over 100 years ago. Getting a graduate degree doesn't mean you're an expert on everything; it means you are an expert on one, small, very narrow thing. And that expertise, as helpful as it may be in that one field, is not necessarily transferable to other areas within that field, let alone to other fields.

So what does all of that mean? It means, at least, this: be careful who your "expert" is. For all a graduate degree isn't, it is training in critical thinking and analysis. When I read a critical article about Church doctrine, policy, or especially history, I am always looking for who the writer quotes as his expert. If it's Wikipedia, that's an obvious no go. But what if it's a very literate, intelligent, socially charged activist with a Ph.D. in sociology or psychology, do I trust them? Well, would you trust a (hopefully someday) fully certified Ph.D.-in-educational-leadership me to represent you in court? Or would you trust a passed-the-bar, top-of-her-class lawyer to perform your bypass surgery? At the very least you might want to search for at least one other opinion before you hand over the scalpel.

Perhaps Jacob from the Book of Mormon said it best:

There is, however, an Expert with unlimited credentials and unending knowledge of the field. Although there are countless witnesses to His knowledge, ability, and power He allows anyone interested to meet with Him and experience His expertise for themselves. He made all things, knows all things, can do all things, and chooses to love us, and I like those credentials. I trust Him and I trust those witnesses.

10:35 PM
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Shaking Faith like Screwtape

I just finished reading about Sherem, the anti-Christ in the Book of Mormon, who is the first among many in the narrative to seek to stir up doubt, steer belief away from Christ and steal trust away from Christ's prophets. It's sometimes baffling that these ancient critics were often so successful in their efforts and I'm sure many today wonder why so many modern critics seem to be likewise successful at turning hearts away from belief, trust, and obedience. There must be some common tactics, phrases, or logical lines that have worked in the past and still work in the present.

In C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters Lewis gives voice to a fictional master devil training another apprentice devil about the fine art of temptation and deception. I am by no means a C. S. Lewis, but I do wonder what that genre of book would look like if written relative to the modern struggle between faith and doubt. Often the best tactic in battle is to know you enemy as well as you know yourself. So in an attempt to recreate, not Lewis's style, but his idea in the current environment, I propose here a few Screwtape-ish thoughts, written as if from a master doubt-inducer to an inexperienced apprentice.

Darken his mind and heart

My apprentice, yours is a difficult task. To wrestle a mind and heart from a faith that has so long been lodged there requires the utmost skill and deception. Quite unfortunately for our cause, it is almost impossible to darken a mind that spends its days basking in the sun. Indeed, a mind in light will hardly ever want to leave the light. Thus, the following steps can help cover the sun so that you may have occasion to lead your target away, for the farther back the experience with the light is, the more buried by "life" the memory of enlightenment is, the colder a life gets as it moves further from the warmth the easier it becomes to freeze a heart and chill a mind.

Tie him with flaxen cords

A strong and stubborn mind and heart will reject any attempt at control, especially if the tempter comes with strong cords in hand. Therefore, in whatever you do or say use small strings. Do not try to tempt him from regular Church attendance with complete inactivity; do not try to rip away his scriptures with complete rejection. Instead, get him to miss one hour of Church or one day of study. The target will think, "It's just a small thing, I can return to my standards tomorrow; I can break these strings easy enough" which is, of course, true. However, little by little, as you wrap the strings continually around the target you and he will find that, while escaping one small string is possible, escaping multiple strings is not.

Distract him with small things

An effective way to wrap the target with cords it to distract him while you are tying him up. These distractions need not be big or blazing; indeed, simple, good-but-not-great distractions often work the best. Point out how easy it would be to check the notifications on his phone before he reads scriptures. Remind him of the TV show, football game, or movie that he's been waiting to watch. Fill his mind with things that are good so that he has no time left for things that are essential. And to the degree which you can draw his eyes and heart downward and inward you can distract him from the call to look outward and upward.

Entangle him in large things

Once the smaller distractions work he will be more willing for larger, more time-consuming distractions. Again, these need not be completely evil but must simply be something other. Find for him something he can become passionate about that draws his heart away from God. We have done this successfully in almost every age of the world. The goal here is one of priority; you must get him to love and hold to something else so that learning and living from Heaven drops lower and lower down his priority list.

Compliment his reasoning

An empty cup can accept water, thus the other side speaks so repeatedly about humility and openness to revelation. To stop this process you need only compliment his own intellect and get him to spend more time inside his own mind than he does trying to commune with the minds on the other side. Fill his cup with philosophical, psychological, sociological, historical, or political answers to his questions and he will never hold his cup up high enough to answers from Heaven.

Speak to him of fairness

We both know that the other side operates on justice and mercy; you need to sway him towards the world fairness. Help him to belittle justice and to scoff at the idea of "right" and "wrong." Instead, speak to him of morally relative values and place the quest for equality and fairness at the tip of his priorities so that the quest for rightness and righteousness takes, at least, second place. Help him believe that the protection of "rights" and the pursuit of "fairness" for those who suffer consequences from disobedience is a far nobler calling than simply doing what's right and obeying the commandments issued by the other side.

Give him imitations

We have always utilized imitations, but our game now must be subtler than ever before. In the past a target could be tricked into coarse imitations--crude, molten idols and basic imitations. Today, the imitations must be so similar to the presentation from the other side that even some of the most cautious participants can be fooled. For example, trying to substitute lust for love might be too crude of an imitation for a savvy, modern target. However, that target may fall prey to the imitation of love-by-language instead of love-by-action. Similarly, you might be able to lessen him Sabbath worship by suggesting to him that he simply rest, rather than (as the other side commands) "rest from [his] labors" and be about the business of serving and sustaining.

Appeal to his independence

We welcome the ideal of independence. The other side stands willing to imbue the target with immeasurable power contingent upon the target's willingness to yield his will. This allows us to opportunity to champion the freedom of will and virtues of an independent, self-sustained life so that when the final day comes the target must nakedly face us with nothing but his own strength.

Strand him on an island

The mainland of the other side is filled with feasts that make it almost impossible for us to lure targets away. However, if you can entice the target to swim a short ways off the mainland to a closely-connected but unimportant island of historical inquiry or tertiary theology he will begin to forget the feast. For example, if you can pull him away from reading the prophets to an island where he reads about the prophets he will eventually forget what a prophet sounds like in the first place.

Paint in gray

Likewise, the other side paints its picture of life in black-and-white terms of righteousness and wickedness. This forces the target to pick a side. You must paint in gray so that the target can avoid the choice towards righteousness and sit comfortably in what he thinks it the middle. Never mind the actuality of the choices; if you can keep him from choosing, you can keep him choosing us.

Conceal yourself

In everything you do, conceal your own involvement. An amateur might make the mistake of trying to impress or intimidate the target into following our way. This may work on the weak-minded or the hard-hearted. However, your target is intelligent and mature and will not be interested. Do not give him someone to fight against, for he surely will. Instead, tie your teachings to someone or something else; cloak your comments in the myriad of voices available in the world. It might seem contrary to lie to him thus, but if he doesn't believe you exist than he will have no problem following you

9:46 PM
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First World Problems and Refugees

First world problems:

I want to eat my chips…but I can't hear the TV.
My laptop is dying…but the charger is in another room.
My shampoo and conditioner never run out at the same time.
I poured cereal into my bowl without checking to see if we still had milk…we didn't.
There are so may un-popped kernels in my microwave popcorn.
My diamond earrings keep scratching my i-phone.
My soda fizzed too much when I poured it into my glass that I had to wait for the fizz to go down before I continued pouring.

I remember the first time I heard a radio show joking about first world problems and I laughed right along with the hosts. I still laugh, but there is a sense of sad irony to the joke. The only reason these first world problems make us laugh is because we are aware of the greater world of real problems that afflict people in more desperate situations.

Just as there are physical first world problems, there are also spiritual first world problems. Isaiah wrote prophetically about a future day where those in prosperous situations would, because of their blessings and the forgetfulness that such blessings bring, reject God, his prophets, and ultimately his salvation:

How many of these sound familiar? People that "call evil good and good evil"? Individuals who are "wise in their own eyes"? People who "justify the wicked" because they earn a "reward" and subsequently seek to take "the righteousness of the righteous" away from humble people trying to do good? Hecklers who say to prophets and apostles, "see not . . . Prophesy not unto us right things, but prophesy unto us smooth things"? People who through their criticism and condemnations say to those who simply want to follow God, "Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us"?

We had some friends visit recently from Germany. We asked them what the response was in their country to all of the internet clamor criticizing Church leaders and their words and decisions. We asked what they thought about those angry voices arguing about women and the priesthood, the Church's support of traditional marriage, those who vocally oppose sustainings in conference, writers and bloggers who are fixated on Church history or supposedly troubling issues.

Their response was twofold ignorance of the topics and bewilderment that people actually get caught up in such trivial matters. They explained that in Europe, people struggle simply to find happiness in a world filled with cheap and depressing imitations. They seek to keep their standards amidst an overwhelmingly vulgar and debaucherous majority. They try to help their children have correct views of marriage and family in a place where pornography is openly displayed on billboards and newspapers. They want to stay close to God when their entire school or neighborhood or even city leans away from Him. And for them, the gospel as taught in scripture and expounded upon by modern prophets and apostles provides them practical answers to real problems. They looked at our first world Church problems in the same way someone in an economically disadvantaged country might look at our bag of un-popped popcorn kernels.

The point is this, despite what seems to be such a vocal opposition to the Church, these viewpoints are, as Jesus said in accusation of scribes and Pharisees, like "strain[ing] at a gnat" instead of focusing on "the weightier matters of the law" (Matt 23:23-24).

It's as if the whole world is a hospital with every person, to some degree or another, in need of some kind of help or healing. Because the doctors and nurses are outnumbered by the sick and injured this worldwide hospital uses a system of triage to discern who is most in need of help. This process divides those with paper cuts and headaches from those who need immediate and serious attention. However, and unfortunately, there is a small army of blustering voices who are running around the hospital causing greater hurt instead of helping with the healing. They stand next to those with minor injuries and yell at the doctors to cease their efforts in saving lives to address this woman's stubbed toe or that man's bruised shin. They criticize the doctors of the past, focusing on how the principles and practices used almost two hundred years, like using leeches to draw out diseases, seem so wrong today. Indeed, they seem so bent on stopping the work that they will look or any flaw, any miscue, any perceived injustice as proof that the whole hospital should be abandoned. They would have the men and women in critical condition get out of bed, rip off the monitoring equipment, and walk out of the hospital. They never suggest a better alternative, interestingly enough, which belies further the selfishness of their plans. It makes me wonder if they even want to help or if they just want attention.

To anyone seeking to sow doubt and distrust in the Church where the only goal is help and healing, I say with as much fervor as I can put into words, "knock it off!" Either you believe the claims of the Church or you do not, which means either you worship with us or you do not. But despite difference in our personal beliefs, can we not all use our time and our tactics, our questioning and questing to help solve real problems? Can we quit quibbling over the social or historical problems of the first world and help reach out to the serious and spiritual problems that really plague people's souls? And if anyone can't do that then can they at least quit bugging the doctors?

The most recent General Conference was filled with directions that, whether someone believes the Church's history or sympathizes with its stances, could be followed to the betterment of an individual and the healing of the world at large. For example, Church leaders have directed our attention to reaching out to refugees (see iwasastranger.lds.org) and called for everyone to help. Think of the power we could have if just a few, famous internet detractors used their resources and the followerships to help in this great cause. I fear their desire to be heard will overpower any desire to hear and help, but the invitation has come to all nonetheless.