Sleep, glorious sleep

I remember when I took my very first philosophy class at BYU, there was a foreign student that entitled one of his creative philosophical writings, "Sleep, oh you pieces of death."  Turns out that it is a plagiarism of an Edgar Allen Poe poem, "Sleep, those little slices of death; oh how I loath them."  Whether or not this foreign philosophy student got the title correct, he caught the meaning: if man (or woman) didn't have to sleep, we could get so much more done!  He went on, in his writing, to talk about all the things that you could accomplish if you didn't need to sleep.  Poe, and presumably that student, were a little bit crazy--as in there was something neurologically wrong with them!

Sleep, in truth, is a little gift to man (and woman).

I, personally, experienced what happens to a body (my body) when it's deprived of sleep--a small bout of the psychological illness called mania.  If I didn't sleep, if a human being doesn't sleep, they will die!  After my coma (how many of you can begin a sentence like that--"After my coma..."), when my son and his mother left me alone at home to go to California, I spent two weeks with little or no sleep.  I was manic.

During that period of no sleep, I did experience grandiose ideas (ideas that are magnificent and seem like a good idea to the temporarily insane, but to a rational mind they are simply delusions or delusional), although mine were not on a scale anywhere near what some documented cases have been written about by psychologists: "Since real estate is so expensive on Manhattan Island, it would be a great idea to make a huge profit by buying 100 square inch pieces of land right on the corner of Fifth Avenue or Park Avenue, that go up, vertically, above the street.  Then sell them when the cost increases!"  Imagine, a column of real estate that increases in value as time goes on, and that you can sell once the price is right to make a windfall profit!

Sleep, however, is the antidote to most illnesses.  Sleep can be the elixir that anyone and everyone needs for that which ales them!  As I went through my Abnormal Psychology class at UVSC (that eventually became UVU), I was amazed at the number of illnesses or disorders that had the root cause or a contributing factor being lack of sleep!  I imagined doing a Thesis for my Master's Degree on the effects of not getting enough sleep and the pathologies that stem from it.

Sleep, glorious sleep.  I know that all I needed to do to not have another manic episode was to get enough sleep.  I taught myself to be able to sleep under any condition (given that it was a time to sleep and not the middle of the day or the middle of an event that I was doing...), and that has been an answer to any sleeping trouble that I may or do have!  Sleep, glorious sleep.

Everyone knows that one of the things that your (that's right, even YOU!) body needs to stay alive and well is a certain amount of R.E.M. sleep.  You didn't know that?  It makes sense though, and you think you might have heard something about that before, right?  Dreams are your body's and your brain's natural method of "decompressing" or "processing" the events that go on during the hours that you are awake and keep your brain healthy and active and healthy.  Everyone needs to decompress and everyone needs to process.  Your brain does too...

JPS

The Lord's conservation of energy

We all know what conservation of energy is, right?

"In physics, the law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system cannot change—it is said to be conserved over time. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can change form; for instance, chemical energy can be converted to kinetic energy."  -- Wikipedia ("conservation of energy")

So, what is the Lord's conservation of energy?  Well, it parallel's man's physical law in more ways than one, but I want to talk about one aspect: The Lord conserves His spiritual power in not duplicating things that He has already done before (i.e. He doesn't reveal the same scripture for the first time, over and over, but simply has it kept safe or conserved and then revealed or translated).

For example, in the Book of Mormon, in the Book of 1 Nephi, chapter four, verses 14 and 15 and 16, we read about how Nephi was commanded to return with his brothers to the land of Jerusalem and to retrieve the Brass Plates.  We read:

"14 And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.

15 Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law.

16 And I also knew that the law was engraven upon the plates of brass."

And so, instead of re-revealing the same Law of Moses to Lehi and his family, the Lord conserves His power and they retrieve the plates from Laban, thus conserving God's energy.  It's not that God is afraid that He'll run out or run low of His power, because He can't.  He won't.  Don't be silly!  God, though, is perfect.  He also is perfectly efficient and effective in the way that He does things.

Another case-in-point, instead of re-revealing the words and revelations of the Brother of Jared (Mahonri Moriancumer), the Lord simply had Mosiah translate the engravings from Adamic--the pure language of God that all the world spoke before the confusing of the languages at the Tower of Babel-- the original language, into reformed Egyptian and from there, had Moroni add them to the end of his record before his few final words (see Mosiah 28:12).

So, I could go on and on just about the Book of Mormon and God's Conservation of Power.  Need I remind you of Martin Harris and the lost Book of Lehi and that Nephi's writing already covered the more spiritual parts in that Book?

God's power and energy is conserved and we have the proof of that in His scriptures.

JPS

Spiritual Event Horizon

What is an event horizon?

From what I understand (and this is without referring to any notes or websites, because I'm positive that I could google "event horizon" and have a plethora of scholarly and otherwise sites pull-up giving me a definition), an event horizon is:

the shadow of the pull of gravity of a black hole that once breached or entered into, an object can no longer escape the black hole but is doomed to collapse or enter into the center of a black hole.

Now, what does spirituality have to do with black holes?  What is, exactly, a black hole anyway?

Once again, I will give you my layman understanding with no reference to websites or notes:

a black hole is a phenomenon where gravity becomes so strong or forceful that it will "suck-in" or pull everything to the point that nothing can escape that pull--even light cannot escape--and everything is crushed into that one point (however large it is).  That point (however large or small it may be) is what is known as a BLACK HOLE.

So, what I mean by spiritual event horizon is:

the amount of faith, the number of prayers offered, the amount of righteousness inspired by, the number of good deeds solicited from, the lessons learned, and the patience suffered by a person or people who are asking for a certain blessing from their Heavenly Father before their righteous desires are granted and that prayer answered.

There can be no granting of that blessing without it being the will of God, but as the President and prophet Spencer W. Kimball has taught me: we can change the mind of God or better put, we can change our mind to match the mind and will of God--for God's mind is immovable and faithful--and He has seen the end from the beginning.  Remember how President Kimball spoke about hastening-on the Second Coming with our righteous desires and works?  He taught that we could make it happen sooner (or not and later) by our own choices.

What?  How is that?

Let's say that the entire world and the even smaller, entire church, wanted to speed up the process or have Jesus return again to the Earth in His glory.  Now, let's use our event horizon premise:

the amount of faith, the number of prayers offered, the amount of righteousness inspired by, the number of good deeds solicited from, the lessons learned, and the patience suffered by a person or people who are asking for a certain blessing from their Heavenly Father before their righteous desires are granted and that prayer answered with regards to Christ's return to the Earth transpires.

Once there has been offered and exists a sufficient amount of faith, once a sufficient amount of prayers have been offered, once a sufficient amount of righteousness has been inspired and good deeds contributed, the lessons learned (both collectively and individually), the patience learned and or suffered gained, then Christ will have His triumphant return and not before then.

That would be a "spiritual event horizon" but you could apply that principle to anything or everything.

Don't push this adaptation of what I've explained to a literalness of concepts and remember that I've not researched anything about either concepts of black hole or event horizon, so stop holding both of these phases and my concept up to the light of your scientific understanding or spiritual one--this discourse will immediately fall apart and you will have entered too far into and past the shadow of the event horizon and would be crushed, destroyed, obliterated, squished, and demolished.  So, don't!

Two things make these blessings contingent, however: God must be willing to grant that blessing and we must have asked Him for that blessing.

JPS

The chicken or the egg both existed first because of the farm?

D&C 88:6 "He that ascended up on high, as well as descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;"

We know that God sees things in one eternal round, but does that mean that Jesus was and eminated the light of Christ before He ever successfully accomplished and drank the bitter cup at the end of His Earthly life?

Please respond and help give me insight into this conundrum,

JPS

Understanding the Depths of Mortality

Shouldn't we try our hardest to understand Jesus Christ, His character, His perfections, as well as understand the depths of mortality that He submitted Himself to in His atoning sacrifice?

Why would we?  What good would it do for us?  Why should we try to know and understand the gift that has been given to us?  Shouldn't we try?

The answer is: YES!

Now, comes the hard part--how do we?  How can we?  Where should we start?

I think that we have the right idea when we start by praying, when we are sacrificing, when we are fasting, when we are studying and learning, and when we try imitating His charity.

Now, none of us is a god and none of us have accomplished the eternal and infinite atonement--but even though none of will ever experience the fullness of that suffering and borne the griefs of world without end, carried the children of God's sorrows, be wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities.  Yet, if we are trying to be like Him and trying to become more like Him, then, I submit that we need to try our very hardest to the utmost (try like we've never tried before with and for anything or for anyone else...) to understand Him almost as He understands us.

Next, there must be an element of pain.  I'm not exactly sure where it fits in to the model of becoming like Jesus Christ, but I know that it's in there somewhere--how much, I don't know; I suppose it depends on the person.

Pain, though, is a necessary element to bring yourself closer to the level of humility required in order for you to make the changes that you need to make and to become what it is that Christ would have you become.  (I am intentionally not using the third person singular, "one," as this discussion must be very personal and I don't want to run the risk of intellectualizing the topic!)

You will can and will need to, however, to experience pain--either the pain that comes from sincere repentance or the pain that comes with authentic empathy for others in charity or a combination of both.

What do you think?  How can we best understand the depths of mortality and become more like Christ?

JPS

Second-hand knowledge

Why is that Christ teaches it that second-hand knowledge is given deference to even seeing and hearing for yourself?

Why are you more blessed if you believe on those who have seen and have witnessed, other than yourself?

I guess it takes more faith than if you have seen with your own eyes--you don't have to believe or trust or have faith in anyone but yourself and your own senses, and it's easy to believe yourself--to believe just on a word or a testimony.  Even the self-betrayers of the world--and that basically includes all humans--are experts at believing themselves--regardless of how wrong they are.  But, the edicts about belief without seeing aren't only talking to sinners, they apply to all.

Plus, when you open yourself-up to believing and having faith in others, now, all of the sudden, you can have the law of witnesses working for you (where you might not if you are only believing yourself...unless you think that God is telling you and the Holy Ghost is three...).

Others, those that have testified to you, have more authority when it's not just one person.  Then, you can have yourself and the Spirit testifying and all those who are testifying are witnesses of the same fact--the same truth!

Some additional scriptures that support this doctrinal fact are too numerous to cite or quote, but think about all the times that disciples or even contemporaries of prophets or those written about in the scriptures are asked to believe or have faith, with nothing but the Lord's words or a prophets words before they get the "proof" of what they are asking for.  Remember in the Book of Mormon, in the Book of Ether, chapter 12, verse six:

And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

Ye receive no witness UNTIL after the trial of your faith.  

Also, don't forget what Alma teaches us also in his 32nd chapter.  In fact, that's just an excellent chapter on faith and you should just read the whole chapter--I'll just point out a few verses: verse 32:21 & 32:28

32:21--And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

32:28--Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

JPS

None else...

Let's take as our text, the Doctrine and Covenants section 42, verse 22 (42:22).  

"Thou shalt ^alove thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt ^bcleaveunto her and none else."

President Kimball explained that "none else" was not only referring to no-other-person but also refers to not-another-person-or-thing.  In other words, nothing else should supersede your love for your husband or wife.  You don't love your racquet, sports, cars, job, race cars, chess pieces, computer games, books or magazines, parents, even your own children more or even as much as your wife...  

Does that mean even God?  Well, I don't think you can even love at all without first being anchored to God in a relationship of LOVE.  I can imagine going overboard with that love though...  For example, you break this commandment if you abandon your loved one to go to the temple all day or to do genealogy work every waking moment.  Don't confuse that fervor with which you are immersing yourself with loving God--cause you're not.  If you want to show God that you love Him; do what He asks of you--namely, love your wife with all of your heart and cleave unto her and none else!

P.S. Jesus the Christ, in the New Testament said, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?"  It was that same perfect being who spoke both of those verities/commandments.  In the first case, though, the words were given from an already resurrected and perfected God.  One flesh?  How can that be?  I think that in a similar way to Christ and the Father and the Holy Ghost being one, but for a husband and wife, we have added one "flesh" because when we become one like the Father and the Son we also are married in the temple and literally are one.

JPS

Whenever I feel guilt, is it because of sin?

Or, is feeling guilty, always, to some degree, a measure of guilt from sin?

The words to a hymn written by Eliza R. Snow's (How Great the Wisdom and the Love,” Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no. 195) has me thinking about this question:

His precious blood he freely spilt;
His life he freely gave,
A sinless sacrifice for guilt,
A dying world to save.

In the second verse (quoted above) we read the line, "A sinless sacrifice for guilt," talking about Jesus Christ's atonement and one purpose that He gave His life: to spare us guilt or make it possible that we need not feel guilt because of any sin we have committed.

We have all experienced guilt.  "Do you feel guilty?" We might be asked if, for example, we have stollen a candy bar from the local supermarket.  My question, however, is: do we always feel guilt, only, because we have sinned?  We all know that it is wrong to steel.  We all know that intentionally making a choice that we know is wrong and that we should not do, is sin (we can talk about the legality of things some other time, but to do so now would only confuse the issue...  Regardless, the fact remains that being against the law does not necessarily factor into one's morality...  We can address that at some other time--now stop confusing the issue; I told you that would happen...).

Let's think of times that you might feel "guilt" but you didn't sin.  Let's say that you embarrassed your friend and she started crying...you feel guilty about it, but did you sin?  I am afraid that this may sound judgmental because all that we have to look at is my description of the facts at hand, but, yes, the reason you feel guilt about making your friend feel embarrassed and cry is because you have sinned.  If you start to justify yourself when we're only talking about the scenario that I've written, then I suggest that maybe you (you that are feeling guilty!) need to revisit something in your own past and ask forgiveness of someone...

Let's say that you feel guilt over stubbing your toe on the sidewalk some morning.  Well...stop it!  There is no reason to feel guilty over stubbing your own toe.  In fact, I am going to tell you something else: you aren't feeling "guilt."  You maybe feel embarrassed.  Maybe feel like you shouldn't have done that, but don't say you feel guilt.  You feel something and you know that feeling guilt makes you, at least, feel uncomfortable, but that's not what you feel when you simply stub your toe.  Let's reserve that word, "guilt," for times that one (possibly you or possibly someone else...) has sinned and not for silly acts of embarrassment.  The answer that I've just given to my own question is: No, you don't feel guilt for a reason other that for sin (but, didn't you just give an answer to your own question by just restating the original question in a statement form where the question is ruled out and one is left with just the answer to the question itself?  Well, that is what one does when it's a single-person-dialogue, otherwise known as a monologue, and the actor asks himself a question: he or she simply answers her/himself.  Not satisfying enough?  Take the question and start your own dialogue with somebody that you trust enough to help you discover the answer to your own question--be warned though, my answer simply came about by changing the question (I could just reword the question to make it not even need to be answered: If I only ever feel actual guilt because of sin, what is it called when I act in such a way that I think I am experiencing built, but, in fact am not?).

Now we can get at the meat of the issue: Why do we feel guilt because of sin?

I was told last Sunday what one person believed and it coincided with my thoughts and feelings as to the reason we feel guilt...  It is because...

Why do you think?

Let your answers come flooding in.  Take down that blogspot server because of too many people trying to post at the same time!

JPS

Self-Analysis II

Remember what I first wrote about here, in Self-Analysis; where I talked about self analysis and I wondered if we shouldn't take time, weekly at least, to analyze ourselves and see what there is, if anything, to change.  Actually, I didn't wonder, but emphatically said that we should take time weekly to see if we're doing the things that we've decided to do in the past.




You see, all of us, every single one of us, lives our life from moment to moment and the moment we're living currently was decided by the moment we've just lived.  In other words, we are a synthesis of our past, where we have been acting/deciding, our present--where our future dreams, hopes, worries, fears, knowledge, and beliefs, are in the present moment and where our decisions take place and our actions turn into doing and not just thinking/sitting/laying/falling/wondering, and our future--what our actions will be, what our beliefs will be, and what our knowledge and beliefs will be after our present choice is made.

Almost all of us live our lives on autopilot and are making decisions only based on what would feel good to us, or sometimes based on what we've already chosen in the past, and this is good and necessary.  We can't be making brand new choices every second of every day or we would become exhausted at the very thought of acting.  Make decisions based on the past decisions that have gone well.  Only by doing that can we have the energy to move forward.  Only when we know what is the best way to move, and we move that direction, can we know that we are going in the right direction.

As I said before in Self-Analysis I, as a counselor, I have learned that in order to counsel with someone we should be in a state of relative congruence. That means that I shouldn't be acting in a way that's contrary to the things that I know to be right and good. Shouldn't all of us be living in such a state? Shouldn't all of us be living according to that which we know and believe to be right and good and true?

JPS

School Counseling memoirs

There are just so many fun stories, that I feel obligated to record a few of them for you (of course, though, the names and the places where these stories originated have been kept confidential...).  And, of course I will need to be hired and working with students first...  Until then I'll leave you with a little self-contradiction or enigma:

When it gets to be the end of the school year and we are about to leave for summer-break, we feel excited to have three months (Ok, two, maybe two and one half months...) away from our job and away from working with students.  Yet, we also, simultaneously feel bad about leaving--just never so bad that we end-up forgoing our vacation and stay at school.  Why is that?  One, it's the student's vacation too and we would never want to deprive them of their precious vacation, and two, part of our job includes a summer break, just like it includes all of the holidays throughout the year...  It's as much our vacation as it is the students!  But really, Marco, it isn't ours as much as the students because we wouldn't even have a job without them...  We wouldn't work in a school, where the whole school takes a vacation, without the students.  So get over yourself!

And what about year-round-schoool?  If that's your answer or your question, then write your own blog!  Go ahead, start it and write that as one of your first posts, because that's just silly!

JPS