Nothingness, Infinite Worth, Equality, and more

Wow, this post turned out long and kind of rambly. I've not re-read it yet to fix typos, make sentences more clear, fix logical fallacies, and check that I actually agree with everything I wrote. When I do, I'll fix this.

Aaron was a missionary amongst a very hardened people. When teaching this people of Christ, one man challenged him saying:  "Hast thou seen an angel? Why do not angels appear unto us? Behold are not this people as good as thy people?" (Alma 21:5)

Letting this challenger represent the people as a whole, this is a people that believes in God while believing that whatever they do doesn't matter because "God will save all men." (Alma 21:6)

I wonder what they were using, if anything, for scripture. At any rate, the scriptures refute this idea plentifully as the core, fallible message of any anti-Christ.

What stood out to me here, though, is the belief that we are all entitled to the exact same blessings from God no matter our thoughts, actions, or intents. It is a logically sound conclusion given the false premise.

Our world today is not lacking in entitlement mentality. I think much of it stems from this same sense of "I'm just as good if not better than <person-who-has-what-I-covet>, why shouldn't I get <that-which-I-covet>."

I know I'm guilty of this regularly. If you've not read The Anatomy of Peace, then might I recommend it -- it'll tell you all about the how and why of my entitlements. Essentially it comes down to not doing what I feel like I ought to -- not honoring my impressions, intuitions, and conscience. When I disregard such, I then want all the wonderful results that honoring myself could have brought without having to do the work for it. I'm annoyed that I should have to do such a task, especially considering how much I've already done. I shouldn't have to do anymore -- I'm good enough. I justify all night long about why I'm good enough, nay, better than enough, even overly-deserving of my desired result! Most certainly I'm more deserving than my neighbor!! I've done sufficient, I tell myself, and I'm quick to find people who will be my allies, people who will defend my smallness by saying "yeah, you've done plenty, you deserve it!"

Oh why do we determine our self worth on what we can see alone?! We are all of infinite and equal worth!! We are all God's children! Our circumstances, actions and the consequences of these are not evidence of our worth!

The circumstances of the human race vary vastly. Elder Holland recently stated "I do not know all the reasons why the circumstances of birth, health, education, and economic opportunities vary so widely here in mortality, but when I see the want among so many, I do know that 'there but for the grace of God go I.'" Yes, "all men are created equal," an eternal truth written in the Declaration of Independence, but this does not mean all are born into the same circumstances or with equally good health, etc.

There is no room to boast of ourselves when we see with this perspective. It is as though we are looking through a slightly clearer spot as we "see through a glass, darkly," and we recognize that we are nothing.

Yes, we are nothing. We have no power over the circumstances into which we were born nor the earthly heritage we've been given. Our life on earth is but a brief sojourn. Nothing but warped philosophies of man and devil set us apart from any other spiritual sibling, though we adopt many such philosophies due to the circumstances and heritage to which we were born.

"O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth!
"For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God!"
(Helaman 12:7-8 exclamation marks added)

God can sever us from his presence eternally by the mere word of His mouth. Of what have we to boast?! Nothing!

And by understanding that we are nothing with sufficient depth that it leads to feeling -- not a feeling of depression, but of gratitude and love -- we are then aligned, we are in harmony, with the truth that we are each and every one of us of infinite worth. There is no room for hate or discord, oppression or fear.

So what of our mortal plight wherein "circumstances of birth, health, education, and economic opportunities vary so widely?"

I shall not pretend to profess knowledge of such reasons, though I do profess an opinion I will share. (That's kind of what this blog is all about, eh? Exploring my own opinions and musings.) However, it is with confidence that I state it is in no way dependent on our individual worth, for in this we are all equal.

It seems to me that the causal condition for these variances is that man forgets these two aforementioned principles:

1. We are all nothing
2. We are all of infinite worth

And in forgetting them, man grows in pride and sin, and ceases to see others as people of equal worth. Man ceases to honor the individual sovereignty and humanity of each and every other human being. In other words, the inequality of the human race is caused by sin.

"For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.
"It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." (D&C 49:19-20)

These are intriguing verses to me. It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another? What does this mean? Well, that may be for another time and another post. This one is already pretty long and I haven't even broached the initial pondering yet!

So let's take this all back to that Amalekite (I think I'll call him Amale) who challenged Aaron. Said he: "Hast thou seen an angel? Why do not angels appear unto us? Behold are not this people as good as thy people?"

Well, are both peoples equally good? After all, they are both part of the human race, and we are all equally nothing and we are all of equally infinite worth. In fact "It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another!" So Amale has a point, right?

Well, not really. You see Amale, our equal worth is not what determines consequences on this earth, or anywhere else really. Consequences are determined by thoughts and actions. Sure, each individual in both groups of people are of equal worth, but they have not made the same choices, and thus they face different consequences.

In fact, Amale, even though you believe that "God will save all men," it is clear throughout scripture that this simply is not True. You have used that faulty premise thence to essentially justify any behavior while being entitled to any and every blessing anyone else is. Behavior doesn't matter, thoughts don't matter, intents of the heart don't matter, we're all just entitled.

So when you ask Aaron "How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people?" (Alma 21:6), well, you've kind of made it obvious already. Heavens, from your definition, what does righteous even mean?! Is it possible to be unrighteous with your belief system? It certainly doesn't seem like it!

Part of the purpose of our existence on this earth is to learn through experience. If there were not unequal consequences of choice, what learning could such experience provide? It could not.

So coming back to our day, "it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." This is certainly accurate. And then again, perhaps the converse also holds true? "The world lieth in sin, wherefore, a man possesses that which is above another, which is not given."

In an effort of clarity, I am not here seeking to preach that "poor people must be sinners." Actually no, or rather yes. I mean, they are sinners, because we're all sinners, but being poor does not make one a sinner any more than does being rich. Just as a rich person will be exposed to temptations that a poor person will not, so a poor person will be exposed to temptations that a rich person will not. It is our actions, not our circumstances, that determine individual righteousness.

Righteousness leads to an equality of substance* based in abundance. This is what we see in 4 Nephi. Wickedness leads to an inequality of substance based in scarcity. While I don't know my history well enough to point out some clear examples, the book 1984 comes to mind. Interestingly though, in 1984, there was an equality of poverty among the masses.

Circumstances are simply consequences. The circumstances into which we are born are the consequences of the choices of thousands who have gone before. That recipe is then mixed with the choices of others as well as our own to lead us to our circumstances today.

The only choices we can righteously control are our own. Thus, the only way to seek an equality of abundant substance is to seek that abundance ourselves, and also seek to help others who seek the same.

Always though, we must be honoring individual sovereignty. There is no room for coercion in righteousness. "Power or influence can [and] ought to be maintained. . .only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile." (D&C 121:41-42)


* A friend recently posted this: substance and understanding. sub [under] stance [stand]. I thought it was an interesting relationship to consider, particularly in the above context.

Accumulation vs Cashflow in Housework... Say What?!

Last night my wife and I had a very interesting conversation. Before I dive in, however, it would be most helpful to offer a little context.

The work I do in the financial sector includes focusing on one big mindset shift: accumulation to cash flow. We in America have been cultivated to have an accumulation mindset. For example: save money in a 401k for 40 years so you can have a big pile of money when you retire and you can live off the interest!

If you're willing, do a little thought experiment with me that I learned from Chris Miles. Close your eyes... eh, actually, no, that won't work. :) Pretend you're closing your eyes! Think about how much you make each month -- what is your monthly take home income? Envision that for a moment. Doing some quick, doesn't-need-to-be-exact mental math, divide it by two and how much is that?

Imagine now, that that amount, half your income, was taken away. For whatever purpose, you were forced to work part time or who knows... but you now have only half your income. How do you feel? What is coming up for you?

Okay, no need to dwell there very long! Let's come back to what you make currently. Take a breath... whew! Now consider this -- that amount that is half your income, imagine that amount being added again to what you currently make. So if you currently make 3,000 per month, imagine if you were making 4,500 a month. How do you feel? What is coming up for you?

Notice that I never said "you have a million dollars in the bank!" The amount of money you have accumulated  matters little*. It's because cash flow is more important than accumulation. If that cash flow is passive, it can be duly called retirement.

*Please note, I'm not saying that having some savings is bad; putting money aside for a rainy day is a crucial principle of good financial management. What I'm saying is that cash flow is a similarly crucial principle that is too often overlooked, as I will explain next.

There are significant flaws in our "save in a 401k for 40 years" system as most any baby boomer will tell you. If you do the numbers, especially if you include inflation in the works, you will have to take a significant financial hit when you're ready to retire. In 2010, two out of three 65 year olds were relying on Social Security for half their income! Two Thirds!! And what's worse, one third of 65 year olds were relying on it for 90% of their income! I call this a retirement into poverty. ...it's that or Walmart! (Note: these stats are from the 2010 census.)

Now imagine if, instead of a large sum of cash that you hope you don't outlive, you had a passive income of seven or eight thousand dollars coming in each month like clock work. See a difference?

We seem to think that accumulation creates cash flow which allows us to live the life we want. In reality, that's backwards. By focusing on developing ourselves and building our cash flow, be it through business and/or investments, accumulation becomes the natural side effect.

Okay, great... so what on earth does this have to do with housework???

Well, Bonnie was sharing with me last night about how she's been making changes in her mindset about housework. It's been a source of constant pain -- no matter what she cleans, it is quickly undone. When a room does get clean, she sometime goes all Nazi on anyone who tries to set one thing down in it! You can imagine how well that works having 5 kids (4 littles and one... husband).

She often feels frustrated because the house will never get completely clean all at the same moment ever. And if by some miracle it does, then the moment kids wake up, it's all over. It just won't last.

She's been working hard on improving her mindset about these things because, quite frankly, that's not a fun world to live in! She doesn't want it! Who would?!

In doing so, she's becoming more and more healthy about housecleaning and lately it's actually not been getting as dirty. She's doing quite an impressive job. As she was telling me about this last night, the relationship with my comments above occurred to me. I told her: "Bonnie, it seems like with housecleaning, you've been having an accumulation mindset rather than a cash flow mindset."

She made a face, it's true, but not one of "what the what?" It was more one of "Oooh, interesting!" We explored it a little more and here's what that basically means.

She was trying to get the house all, 100%, completely clean, all at the same moment. Why? For the sake of calling it done! Well, that's a bit like accumulation -- you want to hit some magic number so you can be done working! Money doesn't quite work like that as mentioned above. Neither does housework.

It's not an issue of accumulation, it's an issue of flow. In a family of six and growing (no, that's not an announcement), it is unrealistic to think you can stop entropy from happening! However, what Bonnie realized is that, the shorter the period between cleaning a given room, the less work it is to clean. Again, it's an issue of flow.

As we improve our ability to create an organized and deliberate flow of house cleaning, the cleaner the house will be overall, and it doesn't matter if the whole house is clean or not, because that's not the goal anyway. The goal is a better flow.

The best flow, of course, is for everyone to continually pick up after him/her-self. That's a great ideal, but sometimes it's tricky to be good at as adults, let alone our children! Still, little by little we can at least improve.

Thinking of housecleaning from a perspective of flow rather than accumulation is much, much more kind to our mental health, just as thinking of retirement from a perspective of passive cash flow is much more kind to our financial health.

Rest Comes from Labor

"Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls." (Alma 37:34)

Rest for a soul comes from labor; idleness leads to a restless soul. Can a soul find comfort in idleness? It appears not. Even if considerably defeated by poor habit, a soul will wish or yearn for something different.

I believe this is because we are spirit children of God. God is a creator and our spiritual DNA, so to speak, is wired to create as well. Idleness is a poison to our souls.

This says nothing ill about physical, mental, or spiritual rest and rejuvenation. If our spirit, mind and heart is seeking to live to our greatest potential, to live for a purpose greater than ourselves, then rest and rejuvenation will be a very fulfilling part of our journey.

When we obtain our errand of the Lord, we are driven by our faith in Him to overcome the temptations of idleness, distraction, and discouragement that inevitably come.

In the words of  David O. McKay "Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best." What is yours? In what good works will you engage to find rest?

Strict Commandments

"O remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict are the commandments of God." (Alma 37:13)

Upon reading this scripture I wondered, what does strict actually mean? I have a sense of what it means to me, but putting it in words isn't obvious for me and, what about in Joseph Smith's time, circa 1828? What did it mean then?

Well it turns out there are a few definitions, some of which I expected, and some that reached a little beyond that expectation.

Some of the definitions included:

• Governed or governing by exact rules; observing exact rules;
• Confined; limited; not with latitude;

These are largely what I thought. So the commandments of God are not wishy washy or ambiguous, they are set forth limited and concise.

Another definition included "Rigorous; not mild or indulgent." Rigorous? Not what I would have thought with strict, so I looked up Rigorous which included these definitions:

• Allowing no abatement or mitigation;
• Without abatement or relaxation;
• Scrupulously accurate;

Indeed, the commandments of God are rigorous. They do not go away when we want to have fun. In the words of Jeffrey R. Holland:
"You never ‘check your religion at the door.’ Not ever. My young friends, that kind of discipleship cannot be—it is not discipleship at all.
...
"My young brothers and sisters, this Church can never “dumb down” its doctrine in response to social goodwill or political expediency or any other reason. It is only the high ground of revealed truth that gives us any footing on which to lift another who may feel troubled or forsaken."

There is no moment in time in which the commandments suddenly are unimportant. No, they continue without abatement, mitigation, or relaxation!

They are scrupulously accurate! That is, they are designed so perfectly that obeying them will lead us toward Him and to becoming as He is. He lives His commandments and offers them to us as His secrets for becoming like Him!

People pay thousands of dollars, and indeed I have paid thousands of dollars, for mentorship and training to help me have, do, and be more of what I want. God's laws are free! The gospel has no financial cost!

"Wherefore, [the Lord God] commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.
"Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.
"Behold, hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.
"Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance."
(2 Nephi 26:24-27)

How grateful I am for strict commandments! Yes, I fall short of them ALL. THE. TIME. Because I am not yet strict; I am not yet rigorous; I am not yet unconditional, and yet the commandments are all those things. I am grateful for these strict commandments because they help me see clearly! If they were not strict, how confused would I be?! How difficult would it be to know how I ought to act and be?!

And oh how grateful I am for repentance! Without the chance of repentance through the atonement of Christ, I would be stuck seeing how I fall short and never able to change it. No hope of improvement, no hope of forgiveness, no hope of life. What a blessing repentance is! What an immeasurable gift is the atonement!

Harmony Between Natural Law and Divine Mandates

"Inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land." How many times is this quoted  in the Book of Mormon? I don't know, but it's plenty more than two. And given the various contexts it is stated in, this definitely includes (but is not at all limited to) economic prosperity.

Interestingly, it also just happens that:
"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
"And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." D&C 130:20-21

Could it be that keeping the commandments of God harmonizes with the natural laws of prosperity? That as we learn and follow said laws that bring us prosperity, we will be more greatly enabled to keep God's commandments?

I believe yes. I'm also very tired, so that's about all I'm writing on the topic. :)

Whatsoever Ye Do

A scripture I have come to love is found in Colossians 3:23: "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." In Spanish it says "hacedlo de corazón", that is "do it from your heart."

I think about this verse often; what does it mean to "do [something] heartily, as to the Lord?" And does it really mean we do everything we do that way?

Well, I believe "[doing something] heartily, as to the Lord," means you are inspired by a cause, a.k.a a why, that 1) resonates deeply in your heart and 2) is directly associated with building the kingdom of God.

This doesn't mean an individual task must resonate deeply in our heart to be worth doing. To hope that every necessary task we undertake will do so may be unrealistic; I say may because it seems unrealistic to me currently, but perhaps we can reach such a place -- I don't know. At any rate, what it does mean is that the cause for which you are doing the task resonates deeply in your heart.

That same principle applies to building the kingdom of God. Sometimes tasks we know are good and important certainly don't feel like building the kingdom of God. Changing a poopy blow-out comes to mind! And yet the tasks of maintaining and running a positive family are some of the most important tasks we can do in building His kingdom.

I bring this all up because I recently read these verses:
"Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.
"And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God;"
(Alma 43:45-46)

The Nephites were at war. We read that Moroni was not a blood-thirsty man; the task of war was woeful and undesirable. The cause, however, ran deep.

On our path through life we will reach roadblocks. We will have tests and trials; we will run into traps. As we do, remembering our cause will be the powerful boost we need to endure and overcome. This is why our why must both resonate deeply with us and be directly associated with building God's kingdom.

"When we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help" said President Monson. But to be on the Lord's errand, we must first obtain His blessing.

And so, with a Heaven endorsed cause resonating deeply in our hearts, we can perform every task "heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." Our focus becomes that divine cause, not the challenging task. The approval or disapproval of men becomes irrelevant, for we "lift up [our] eyes" toward the kingdom of God.

This is not to say that such a cause may not benefit us as well! After all, President Joseph F. Smith said "that a religion which has not the power to save people temporally and make them prosperous and happy here, cannot be depended upon to save them spiritually, to exalt them in the life to come." (As quoted by Joseph B. Wirthlin.)

All of the resources necessary for us to provide for ourselves and our families, as well as to perform our mission or errand from Heaven, will be provided to us. There may be are tests, trials, and traps along the way, and not insignificant ones! We are talking about a life mission here! They are hard, they are mean, they chew us up! They test our metal and our character. Yet is this not what 1 Nephi 3:7, 1 Nephi 4:6, and 2 Nephi 2:11 are all about?

Thomas Payne illustrates a principle that is applicable here: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." While our context may be different, does the same principle not apply?

Moroni's people were given the boost they needed as they were inspired to "lift up [their] eyes," to refocus on their cause and thus on their reliance on God.

"When the men of Moroni saw the fierceness and the anger of the Lamanites, they were about to shrink and flee from them. And Moroni, perceiving their intent, sent forth and inspired their hearts with these thoughts—yea, the thoughts of their lands, their liberty, yea, their freedom from bondage.
"And it came to pass that they turned upon the Lamanites, and they cried with one voice unto the Lord their God, for their liberty and their freedom from bondage.
"And they began to stand against the Lamanites with power;"
(Alma 43:48-50)

Thanks to the powerful cause with which they were inspired, the Nephites turned to their task with the definiteness of purpose spoken of by Napolean Hill. They were thence aided by God and their success was assured.

"In that selfsame hour that they cried unto the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them; and they fled even to the waters of Sidon.
...
"Therefore the armies of Moroni encircled them about, yea, even on both sides of the river, for behold, on the east were the men of Lehi.
"[and the Lamanites] were struck with terror."
(Alma 43:50, 52, 53)

The Nephites were "three feet from gold" when they were "about to shrink and flee." In that moment so nigh unto victory and so close to giving up, they were able to perform their task "heartily, as to the Lord." How? By clinging with definiteness of purpose to their cause and their God. I do not believe this would have been possible had their cause not resonated deeply within them or had they doubted they were on the errand of God.

I've heard it said, "if your why doesn't make you cry, it's not strong enough." So what is your cause? What is your dream? What is your quest?

Buddha has been oft quoted as saying "Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it." In David O McKay's words, "Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best." And as President Monson just quoted Thomas Carlyle, "the man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder."

I invite you to seek out a cause to which you can give your whole heart and soul -- one that can be a rudder for your life's work. And by the way, your cause is not yours alone when you invite God to be at the helm. Seek Heaven's help to find it, and thence "whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."