Energy...

Let's list some different types of energy to see if we can pinpoint which kind I'm experiencing:

Nervous Energy - Could be--I have removed myself from the "groove" that I was in before and also have a new job: my internal clock has been reset to another schedule!

Cosmic Energy - You never know... The universe might have made plans for me to do something that I haven't done before and will shortly be "throwing me into a new situation"!

Solar Energy/Thermal Energy - Could be--I was just waiting for the bus outside and was getting awfully hot!

Carbine Energy - Don't think so... I sit almost all-day-long on a chair, answering questions...

Atomic Energy - I somehow don't think that any atoms are being split inside of me (I'm pretty sure that we all would know immediately about that!)!

Nuclear Energy - See reasoning similar to Atomic Energy for why I do not think I am experiencing Nuclear Energy...

Psychological Energy - Is my brain just producing some biological energy that I'm not aware of? Why can't I just turn it off and turn it on at will?

Coal Energy - I don't think so...

Hydraulic Energy - Are you saying I'm wet-behind-the-ears? That just may be, but I'm NOT producing hydraulic energy...

Kinetic Energy - The only thing that's really moving right now is my heart, my restless legs, and my typing fingers! I am not sure that I could point my finger at kinetic energy for what I'm experiencing...

Sexual Energy - Nope! That includes the lack-of sex that can build-up in a person until they feel like they will explode... Nope!

No! Ok... I think I've narrowed it down to... Potential Energy!!! Potential to experience each and every one of the different types of energy (that is, with the exception of maybe hydraulic and carbine energy...)!

JPS

Testimony

No, this post is not titled the way it is because I AM going to bear my testimony... I think I do that already in most things that I write!

Instead, I want to talk about others bearing their testimonies (whether they know it or not...).

Every night and every day I pray that Addison will "be able to glean from the words-that-others-use-around-him the TRUTHS that are being expressed and that, even though I'm hundreds of miles away, he will learn all of the things that I would teach him if I were there." I know that he isn't going to be punished for being far-away from the TRUTH a I would teach him but that he will be strengthened in learning those same TRUTHS from others around him and have a stronger foundation for his testimony because of it...

All TRUTH, though, isn't pointed to a man or to a woman, but ALL TRUTH points back to Christ. It is he that is the light and the life of the world and in Doctrine & Covenants 88:6-7 we learn that,

He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.

Testimony is one of the most powerful things that we can have in this world... In verse 66 of that same chapter, we read:

Behold, that which you hear is as the voice of one crying in the wilderness—in the wilderness, because you cannot see him—my voice, because my voice is Spirit; my Spirit is truth; truth abideth and hath no end; and if it be in you it shall abound.

The funny and great part of it all is: We all can bear it. We all can bear our own testimonies and we can "tap into" that power that is being shared with us!!!

JPS

How do all things typify Christ?

In 2 Nephi 11:4, we read:

"Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him."

Let's take a moment to think of the different ways that things "typify" our Lord and Savior:

Astrological-He is the creator of this world and millions of others and is the savior for each one that He has made. All things point to Him as a God!
Universal-Likewise, He is through all things and in all things, He is the originator of all truth and is ever-expanding. His works have no end (worlds without end!)...
Biological-Think of the seasons: the plants die in the fall and then winter, only to be re-born in the spring and then thrive in the summer!
Philosophical-He is the WORD (see The Gospel of John 1:1). All true ideas come from him. Don't think that you just thought-up a new idea that didn't originate in the mind of God!!!
Historical-He is Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end...
Scientific-He not only created this planet but also filled it with all manner of animal life (beasts, fowls of the air [in all their varieties], fishes, insectas, creeping things, etc.). The seasons are under His POWER as well as all things that fall outside of the use of OUR agency!!!
Love-God is love (1 John 4:7-Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God...; 1 John 4:16-... God is LOVE...; 1 John 3:16-... he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren)...
Mathmatical-He is without beginning of days or end of years; is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent; He is, as the Ancient Greek philosophers would have called him, The One...
Spiritual-He is the content of and the end of my religion and everything that it contains...
Faithful-He is my example in all things. Indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—"... We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to gendure all things (see Articles of Faith 1:13)"...

JPS

A Found Poem (box of Mukki italian Panna di Cucina)

Freschezza per tutti
Sinonimo di qualita'
Dare gusto ad ogni tua ricetta
Pronto per l'uso in cucina!

JPS

Double Irony...

Not since my days of reading Søren Kierkegaard in college have I thought up another doubly ironic situation as it comes to Jesus Christ (not like I "dreamed it up" as this idea was already there, waiting for someone to point out!)...

I was reading 2 Nephi 25: 12-13, which states-

12- ... when the day cometh that the Only Begotten of the Father, yea, even the Father of heaven and of earth, shall manifest himself unto them in the flesh, behold, they will reject him, because of their iniquities, and the hardness of their hearts, and the stiffness of their necks.

13- Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God...

Now, Christ came to this earth to redeem all of those children of our Heavenly Father who would accept his atonement and follow his commandments, plus all who are born here will automatically be resurrected once they've passed-on from this life. Yet, the Jews are so wicked that they have crucified their God. Now, nobody but the Jews were so acquainted with their God, Jehovah, and yet they took offense to Him and His teachings and His example enough to murder him in the most cruel manner ever thought of!

Now, as if that wasn't ironic enough, this was all part of the plan from the beginning. Christ knew very well, perfectly well, what price he would have to pay to fulfill his mission here on earth; he knew that he would have to make a blood atonement for all mankind and he knew that it would be the very same people that he came-to, lived with, ate dinner with, taught, was friends with--think of your neighbor, your bishop, your best friend's dad--and those people were going to be the ones to take offense and be angered enough to murder him! The double irony comes to when you realize that those people were the only people born of our Heavenly Father who would kill their God!

In 2nd Nephi, chapter 10, verse 3, we read:

Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ—for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name—should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him—for thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth.

And, to add irony to double irony, the reason that we are told they crucified their God was:

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5: 18)

JPS

Jack Napier (played by Jack Nicholson) v. The Joker (played by Heath Ledger)

Which is your favorite Jaker? Which do you think of when you say, "The Joker from the Batman movies"? If there were a "real" Joker, which way would you think that he would act like?

Let's discuss each of them and then we may have a clearer idea of them both when we answer those questions:

Jack Nicholson's Joker--This character actually had another persona that you can also look to: Jack Napier, the-right-arm-man for Carl Grissom, the Mob Boss. You couldn't help but understand that this deformed and scarred and multi-colored being was also the same person as Jack. I suppose this could make you either less scared of him--because you knew that deep-down you had seen him as a "real" person, OR this could also make you more scarred of him because you could understand what sort of damage the vat of toxic sludge had done to this once almost-normal-though-still-frightening man... So, when you see him act completely illogically and unmercifully you are still left wondering if this is old-Jack or is it "the new-and-improved-Joker"...

Heath Ledger's Joker--For this character, you actually have no another persona that you can also look to: he is introduced only as The Joker (in fact, remember that Det. Gordon says about him, "No name, no other alias, clothing is custom..." He is THE JOKER. Heath Ledger's Joker, in opposition to Nicholson's, appears with absolutely no explanation as to how his coloring (his skin and his hair) has been changed. Again, I suppose this could make you either less scared of him--because you could understand that this man (monster?) has no story (except for the unbelievable, yet repeated story of what his ex-wife or mother did to him) that explains why he is this way, OR he may be even MORE frightening for exactly the same reasons...

Personally, I couldn't understand how the Nicholson's Joker could be more scary than Heath Ledger's... After all of the breakdown and analysis, I am left with the one outstanding trait that is disturbing than the rest: unpredictability. Heath Ledger's Joker seems to not follow any pattern of thought or carry out plans, but (and this is how I believe the comic book character was intended to portray) he does wicked and evil things for no apparent reason (other than the fact that HE can...). Nicholson's Joker is at least somewhat calculating and semi-predictable, but Ledger's acts only out of desire to do things (and who CAN predict that?) in his convincingly crazy mind...

My assessment over-all is that Ledger's Joker is much, much, MUCH more terrifying!!!

What all do you think?

JPS

Left-brained vs. Left-handed

What is the difference?

Funny you should ask...

I am training right now with Jake at my new work, for Apple refunds, and I thought-- that I was positive, in fact--that I would say that I was without-a-doubt correct that he was left-handed... Turns out, though, that he is, in fact, right-handed, but that he was adopted into a family of ALL left-handed people!

Interesting situation, but, was that all it was?

If I were to tell you which person Jake reminds me of and that has the same mannerisms, way of speaking, etc., I would tell you that my brother, Garrett, was almost exactly the same... In almost every single way!

Remember what I had just said/written (if you can't, then you can take a moment to re-read the above paragraph!)--Jake was born and then immediately adopted by a famil; it turns out that this adopting family is composed of left-handed people... They are a entire-left-handed-family!!!

Why does this interest me? I have been "learning things" from knowing whether or not a pesrson is left-handed... My grandfather, Ben, was completely a right-handed man, for example. And I mean MAN!!! He was born in 1920 on a farm and there was nothing for him to have been taught to him to be left-handed (like a left-handed child that goes to school and is basically FORCED, by the teacher/faculty/parents/piers/etc. to be right-handed... Could this have happened to him?). But, the fact and truth is that he was right-handed. From knowing him, from knowing in part, the way he thought, I also would have assumed and thought that I knew that HE was left-handed!

If he were born now, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have been left-handed. Since he was born in an age and cultur where people/teachers/parents only assumed that every male child was right-handed, he became a carpenter (so, not a painter). He could have, though, easily been able to have become whatever he wanted in life (given a larger variety of choices and opportunities!) including a painter or a sculpter or anything that would have used more of the right-brain than what he was trained to use...

What leads me to that conclusion? Years and years of studying the right-brain/left-side-dominant lifestyle and ways of thinking...

I, on the other hand, am all right-handed and right brain thinking!

I will talk more about any and all of this as I arrive at more firm conclusions and as people respond/ask me questions that spark other aspects to talk about... For some reason, I am COMPLETELY FASCINATED with this idea and would love to integrate this into a solid study/philosophy sometime!

JPS

Natural Man

I can see you clearly
I know what you are
You are but a rebel,
          and must lay down your arms
We're not simply creatures,
          needing to improve
Surrender yourself to the light,
          that he is offering you...

      From the garden
      I know what you are
      From the garden

I can see you clearly
You're fallen from the stars
Some passions are temptations,
          and you give in to all
We can't simply falter,
          when we begin to urge
You cannot deny the light,
          if you are to return...

      To the garden
      He knows what you are
      From the garden

What you give is what you get
And every time that you forget,
          you'll deny it
The world has made us all confused
With all the truths that it's abused
Don't deny it

      From the garden
      You know what you are
      From the garden
      Don't deny it!

JPS '99, '08

The price we all must pay...

It would be "easier" to just sit back, relax, and watch the world pass us by... But, we can't just take a back-seat to all that's going on around us!

Let me speak directly to all of the women-folk that are going to read this blog (and then, after you all have read it, force your husbands to read it and then make sure they really understand it!). Eliza R. Snow once once addressed the women of the Relief Society and said that:

Instead of depending entirely on our husbands for salvation and position, we have to work them out ourselves. The responsibility and labor that devolve upon women are becoming more important... God has put the means into your hands to become queens and priestesses in this kingdom, if you only live for it!

Now, unless you may be inclined to misunderstand what she said about "position", let me refer you back to the quote and point-out that it's referring to eternal or church position and not earthly position and that Karl G. Maeser, the first principle of BYU and the co-founder of the education guidelines for the school, also once said:

Eagerness to earn bread and butter has overshadowed many a golden opportunity.

So let's not 1- go after worldly positions ourselves nor 2- encourage our husbands, although I am positive that it would be subtly, to "earn [more] bread and butter"!

Remember, remember that prize is waiting for us both if we, indeed, remain faithful:

... they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19).

Looking at it this way... Can we even call it a "price"? Because it seems that it's all just given to us (after all that we can do...)!

JPS

Fruitcake that I bury in my backyard each January, Part II

It grows.
Higher.
Taller.

It reaches.
Red
Green
Even blue.

"What a beautiful tree you have."
Right...
Branches
Flowers
Bloom!

I'll chop it down in the fall.
Good for firewood.
Good for heat.
Not food.

I bought a tracter
To plow my orchard
Of fruit cakes.
I irrigate in spring.
They grow.
higher.
Taller.
They reach.
Red
Green
Blue.

"What a beautiful tree you have."
Right...

JPS '99

Ways to judge whether on not to see a movie (only 5...):

The way that I see it, there are several reasons why one would choose, difinitively, to see a particular movie:

1) The actor or actress playing the lead (or potentially even a minor/supporting role...), you have fallen in-love with (whether or not you are the same sex as this actor),

2) The theme or plot of the movie is more than just interesting to you,

3) You may be enchanted with whomever has directed or written the movie and you feel as though you can't get enough of his or her movies...

4) The fact that you've been drawn into the oh-so-clever-ploy of watching the prequil or prequils that will make this movie all the more appealing and understandable (and now you feel a moral obligation to finish watching the movies in said series; regardless!),

or 5) The time of the playing of the movie or the location of the movie or possibly even the fact that you are being rushed to quickly choose a rental movie and then get out of the store!

Do you have more reasons? What are they? (I suppose you could include a reason like--Your loved one chose it and you WILL watch it with them [whether you would have chosen this particular movie or not]...)

JPS