Honesty

Every time you lie, you make the truth as a whole harder to find and understand.

Every time you cheat, you make the world more complicated and less trusting.

Every time you steal, you make the world less valuable and less willing to give.

Honesty isn't about making the world a better place. It's about keeping the world as good as it should be.

The Concept of God

I was reading a forum thread when I came upon a post that got me thinking. It was about the danger of anthropomorphizing God. My thought was this: If we aren't supposed to think of God as a human, how far out do we have to go in our quest to be objective?

We can start at the most obvious trait attributed to God: Power. Anything we choose to call God must fulfill some lower bound of power. The generally accepted lower limit is more power than everything else in the universe put together. Well, the simplest way to fulfill that is to just define God as the universe itself, that way there is nothing else to consider at all as a competitor. However, as the universe appears to have subsets that fight amongst themselves, and there is no immediately obvious purpose that the universe as a whole fulfills, it is conceivable that there are subsets of the universe with greater power than the entire universe as a whole. Of course, why limit ourselves to something in the universe? If the universe is best thought of as a simulation within a larger cosmic whole, then it would be the caretaker of the simulation that could be best identified as God. However, then we lose the original idea that God is more powerful than everything else combined, for if the universe is just a simulation, what's stopping there from being a much larger simulation next door, or our simulation being in another simulation, and so on ad infinitum. Then we are left right where we started with a big universe with difficult to identify power. Now who says we can even identify what God would be? If it is solely by power, what's to say that God would even be something identifiable to humans? What if the most powerful thing in the universe wouldn't even pass for a thing by human standards?

The only way to end this is by saying that God is such an ill defined concept that you might as well believe what you want, as we will probably just argue about it anyway.

Live Laugh Love

I don't claim to know a lot about happiness, but it seems to me that these three things greatly increase happiness.

Live

Life is nothing if you don't live it. Action is required for happiness and you can only expect sorrow if you refuse to act.

Laugh

Life is meant to be enjoyed. Whatever you do with your life make sure it is something you can enjoy.

Love

Life is about more than you. Reach out and bring more goodness into the world through your actions.

On Stating the Obvious

There is an odd trend for me having to do with obvious statements. It seems that the more obvious a statement is for me, the more profound that other people will find it. I suppose that it is to be expected, as statements that I consider to be obvious are the ones that make the most sense, and the ones that make the most sense have their grounding in either logic, experience, or inspiration.

In a similar vein, my funniest jokes tend to be observations of mundane things. Although, by pointing out the obvious, people notice the strange things we take for granted, and I get a laugh.

This seems to point to the fact that we are far less aware of our reality than we would like to think. The fact that the obvious is profound and the mundane is unexpected seems to say that we are putting our focus in the wrong places, or at the very least, the world is much bigger than we normally realize. Either interpretation is acceptable, as both encourage us to branch out and try new things, and the knowledge gained from such an adventure is invaluable.

Problem of Evil

There is a common fallacy among the worldly related to the problem of evil. Because the peoples currently considered wicked by today's spiritual leaders still exist, it is assumed that God isn't actually displeased with them or worse, that God does not exist. The first conclusion is what this post focuses on.

Presumably, the people who contend that God is not displeased with them believe that God instantly punishes those who disobey his laws. This is a naive and unfounded premise. Very rarely is a people punished for their sins in the moment that they commit them. We members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understand this concept as a time of probation. "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God," and we are not expected to live a perfect life in the process. In light of this fact, the observation that evil societies exist is no more surprising than receiving scripture from a God who wants to lead us.

The difference this time around is that society is changing at such a fast pace, that what would formerly happen in generations is now taking place in weeks. In light of this, it is not unexpected to assume that God would pick up the pace and smite those who turn away from him with increasing swiftness. However, as the length of a human life is about constant as is the time-scale of human reflection , I contend that the time-scale of God's punishment will remain about the same, and that those who violate His laws will receive their just deserts in the due time of the Lord. 

Do not misunderstand me. This is not to say that calamities will not accelerate as we approach the end times. The time-scale of God may be constant, but the punishments themselves tend to be clustered. Furthermore, I only contend that the rewards for our actions will follow at the same speed relatively independent of how fast we fall, but not necessarily independent of how high we fall from, "for of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation."

The heart of this error in judgement is a fundamental misunderstanding with regards to the nature of God. Somehow, despite all scriptural witness to the contrary, God is often viewed as a spiteful and vindictive judge, who loves nothing more than to torture those who step out of line for even the slightest moment, but nothing could be further from the truth. The predominant attribute of God is love, and it is because of His love that we are given a chance to turn away from our wickedness and be cleansed by the atoning power of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. As a God of justice and order, God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, but as our Father, He has prepared a way for us to return to Him

Description and Prescription, a Delicate Balance

The personal pursuit of knowledge is a wonderful thing, both for its own sake, and for the sake of its application. However, when taken to either extreme, or when handled incorrectly, this wonderful thing loses much of its worth. Care must be taken to avoid the extremes of disinterest with and coercion of others with this knowledge.


Focusing solely on description may be a good way to begin the pursuit of knowledge, but it becomes a selfish pursuit if consideration is never given to how it can help others. It's all too easy to become so enthralled with your studies that you don't notice where what you learned could be of use to others. Worse still is blatantly disregarding the interests of others when you continue in this pursuit. As social creatures, it is against our best nature to focus on the self. As a result of such a focus, one can only expect depression and a nihilistic outlook in the long-run.


Spending all your time prescribing what others should do is just as bad if not worse than the alternative. People do not like being told what to do, so focusing your efforts in that direction will not win you any friends. Even if it were for their good, spending all your resources exhorting and none studying will likely leave your advice lacking in relevance and accuracy.


The ideal is to find the balance between these two extremes. If your purpose is to help others, than expending all your resources to the pursuit of knowledge leaves you no time with which to actually help others. At the very least, you should record what you know, so future generations can benefit from your study. On the other hand, when you are giving advice, it is best to make sure it is as counsel and not as coercion. Even if it is binding, people tend to appreciate the ability to choose. Above all, consideration must be given to both your learning, and how to impart your learning to others.

Duty to Truth and Conscience

Among my beliefs, none are treated with more respect and centrality than duty to truth. I cannot abide the thought of serving a false god, nor serving none when one exists to be served. When combined with the fact of inherent human subjectivity, personal religious freedom naturally emerges. One cannot and should not coerce conscience because everyone perceives reality a little differently, and who's to say that your perception is the right one? This is not to say, however, that you should not endeavor to persuade others to your way of thinking, because who's to say that it's wrong? The bottom line is that truth will prevail in the end, and nothing can change that.

However, this should not be taken fatalistically, as just because the laws of the universe are constant, it doesn't mean that circumstance must be so as well. Just as much effort should go into making the world a better place, it is just that unless these efforts are based in true principles, there is no guarantee that your efforts will stay, and if they do, it will only be by coincidence.

It should be noted with equal fervor that just because truth will prevail, it doesn't necessarily follow that humanity will as well. The principles of truth can be used for destruction just as much as for growth. A history of technology can be consulted for examples. For this reason, evil should not be ignored. It should be fought with all energy of heart.

Another important note is that just because truth can be both used and abused, it doesn't mean that evil and good are of equal strength. By the nature of truth and current circumstance, evil may be more natural, but good is far more powerful. Good must triumph over evil in the end. The only way for it to be otherwise is for good to not put up a fight. Evil is self-defeating by nature. Good is self-enforcing. So again, good must triumph over evil. All it needs is truth.

And now for Something Completely Different

Just one true post in, and already I feel like this blog is a chore. Excessive use of fancy language and trying too hard to be logically complete and unbiased made this endeavor taxing and unrewarding. Therefore, from now on, this blog is going to be on what I want, when I want it. Perhaps I can get a bit more enjoyment out of this that way.

Topics you can expect to see posts on include: things I find interesting, things worth explaining or debating, and whatever I get a request for that seems worth entertaining.

Things you can expect me not to post include personally identifying information and things I find boring.

Regarding Creation

Nothing seems to draw more fiery rhetoric than the border between science and religion, and what within that realm could be more debated than the origin of the universe? Was the universe a planned conscious creation, or a spontaneous natural event? Both sides of the argument use the same facts to draw diametrically opposed views. Beauty, order, and life somehow seem to simultaneously say that the logic of a planned creation is impregnable and impossible.


To me, there is one obvious conclusion to draw from all of this. Reason alone can neither prove nor disprove creation. We were not around to witness the beginnings of the universe, neither do we have planned and unplanned universes to compare to see which option makes sense. Depending on how the universe actually works at the most fundamental level, it may not even be possible to test whether or not this universe is unique or part of a greater multiverse. It may even be impossible to have one type of universe or the other, but for all intents and purposes, the proposition is untestable.

For this reason, it is my opinion that the nature of existence outside of the universe is best left untouched by debate until further data is available. The argument is akin to debating atomism and holism in ancient Greece. Sure, one may have won out in the end, but choosing one over the other before such data was available would have been essentially flipping a coin to determine truth.

The Beginning

I have often found that when I am reading the opinions of various people that some statement of belief is expressed which defies all reason and experience. My instinctive response is to formulate a counterpoint to the expressly erroneous statement. However, up until now, I have not shared my conclusions and lines of reasoning publicly. For that purpose this blog has been created, to enlighten the understanding of those who do not take the time to think these things through.

Notwithstanding, as the tendency of human nature is one of hubris, I will refrain from referring to this as a work of perfection. It is merely the best work my limited capacities and resources allow me to achieve. The title of this blog reflects this. Contrary to what might be inferred by the first paragraph, the title refers to my own ineptitude, and not the failings of those I have read.

Also, it should be noted that this work will be written from the point of view of a Mormon. If you find that troublesome, I suggest you take your focus elsewhere.