Over the years I have heard statements by various people expressing what they thought they had learned either from an experience in their life or from life itself. I, too, have learned a few things over my eighty five years on earth. The expectation is that as a person ages their experiences in life should…
Tag: Agency
On Creeds of Religion and the Meaning of “Father”
Father connotes a loving, protecting figure, kind and caring and one who is easily recognized by His children. But both the Father and His son Jesus Christ have gotten a little irritated with us from time to time. In Luke 9:44, The Lord rebuked his disciples for not exercising faith sufficient to cast out an…
On The Search for Freedom
Freedom can be looked at in many different ways but seldom as it is in Jean-Paul Sartre’s “The Flies”. He describes the tragedy of the human condition, and it is the paradox of freedom. A tragic situation arises between two different and often contradictory courses of action. A strong man is always free to choose,…
On A Purposeful Life
Life has a purpose, to be able to find and to understand that purpose is man’s greatest quest. Some will ask, “What is the supreme- all inclusive goal of life? Is it wealth, power, knowledge, overcoming evil, heaven?” Someone has said that the goal, or purpose, of life is to be found within life itself….
On The Social Magnets in Life That Pull on Us
My younger brother, Martin, was a poet and a philosopher of sorts. While he was serving in the U.S. Coast Guard we often exchanged thoughts via letters. His letters included poems and philosophies that were critical of the norm. He sometimes described things that he thought were wrong with families, society and life. In one…
On Being Good for Nothing
I remember reading the late Paul Harvey’s, “The Rest of the Story” when I was younger and how impressed I was with the stories of great people. One such story was about a young boy named ‘Guiseppe’. Guiseppe’s father was an Italian fisherman who came to America with his family, bought a fishing boat and…
On Indoctrination
Few people seem to have a clear definition of indoctrination, and thus call anything that another is teaching, indoctrination (e.g., “Leftists professors are indoctrinating their students,” “Those fundamentalist Christians are indoctrinating their kids,” or “Facebook, and, or, Twitter are indoctrinating their users.”). While indoctrination involves pushing a certain opinion, it is also much more. It…
On Spiritual Obedience
Matthew Cowley, a member of the Twelve Apostles, found a picture of a workhorse while serving a mission in New Zealand in 1918. The picture so impressed him that it hung in his office until a week before he died. Before he died he gave the picture to Elder Glen L Rudd. The following poem,…
On What is Sin and Why Is It A Contrary Thing?
We are heirs to the birthright of Adam’s descendants: mortality, with its immeasurable possibilities and its God-given freedom of action. From father Adam we have also inherited all the ills and successes to which flesh is heir; but such are necessarily incident to a knowledge of good and evil, by proper use of which knowledge,…
On Straight Paths
Straight lines are easier to draw than straight paths are to walk. When we are trying to walk straight there are always obstacles in the path that will cause us to slow down, stop and sometimes go around or jump over from time to time. A similar term frequently used in relation to The Church…