An oldie, but goodie, which I was reminded of today.

The punch line is, as always, at the end.

Four years ago when internet streaming of the general priesthood meeting was announced, I wrote a short post with the title “The Singing Won’t be the Same.” It looks like it wasn’t. The latest turn for that meeting leaves me feeling defeated. Reduce and simplify the demands on members and leaders, because we just aren’t up to gathering twice a year anymore. It’s too much for us and of too little value.

G’s post on Natural Prayer, or what might be termed  “prayer by action,” led me to these thoughts. 

Lessons and talks in church tend to focus on the burning-in-the-bosom vs stupor-of-thought type of answers in regards to petitioning with yes/no propositions as described in DC 9:8-9. That, along with the good thing/bad thing judgement in Moroni 7:12-17, might be descibed as “Revelation 101” or “Holy Ghost 101”.  It is the starting point when we initiate a petition or seek to know the Lord’s will.

But if ideas, pictures and words can come to us via unbidden promptings and whisperings of the Spirit, could they not come to us during prayer? (more…)

Following on from a previous post by G and Vader’s discussions of freedom, and from the passage in Moses on God’s choice between Jesus and Lucifer (in The Pearl of Great Price); it strikes me that this event may be about the nature of virtue – that is, about the definition of what it is to be Good.

When Lucifer asked to become The Christ, he promised to ‘redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost’. Since agency (free will) is intrinsic to Men, and could not be removed by Lucifer – this amounts to a redefinition of what it is to be Good and what is necessary to be saved. Only by such a redefinition of what is needed for salvation could Lucifer deliver on his promise.

In short, I think Lucifer is proposing that a Man’s virtue should (in future) be judged by actions, and not by motivation. Because actions can, in principle, be controlled (by a sufficiently effective totalitarian regime) then Life could be engineered such that all Men are (by this definition) Good, hence all Men could be saved.

By contrast, my understanding of the Gospels is that Jesus emphasises motivations as being primary; indeed repentance is based upon this. While actions are also important, ultimately motivations carry-the-day – and Jesus’s repeated fulminations against Pharisees and the like make clear that actions regarded as intrinsically-good without proper motivations are abhorrent.

Perhaps this, then, was the beginning and basis of the spiritual warfare which still continues?

Because, in this world, and since Jesus – there has been dispute between the party of Jesus who regard motivation as primary and stress repentance as the essence of Christianity; and the party of Lucifer (quite often active within Christian Churches, but absolutely dominant in mainstream modern secularism) who measure goodness essetially in terms of ‘good’-actions; and are happy to use ‘whatever means necessary’ to ensure that people always do what is defined as good (and only do what is defined as good).

Cigarette smoke, (more…)

Perfectly summarized in a single graphic.

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God’s garden by William Arkle

I have edited the following italicised section from William Arkle’s A Geography of Consciousness pp. 123-4:

Mortal Man’s right to, and experience of, autonomy is a very destructive and dangerous process in that it is paved with ugly and inharmonious desires and ideas. If the Angelic stage of evolution was also open to this reactive phase, the result would be total destruction and collapse of the necessary field of earthly experience.

So, while we Humans make the great sacrifice of suffering and pain to achieve an autonomous and individual divine nature, so the Angels make the great sacrifice which is to create and maintain the necessary ground for our Human experience; and they clean up the mess we make in the course of this experience. This work requires them to remain always in harmony with the divine purpose and aspiration, and consequently does not properly allow them the experience of objective valuation which ultimate understanding requires.

Such is the interpretation given to the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Prodigal is the Human who is bound to sin for a reason he does not understand, but which – in the end – gives him knowledge of very great value.

But his Brother, who does not sin and who does not venture off into the wilds of poverty and hunger, does not experience the pain and misery of this hunger; and therefore does not value that which is hungered-for in quite the same way. The Brother [like the Angels] is never lost and never has cause to be rejoiced-over; for he never returns of his own accord with this priceless treasure, and his Father in Heaven never has anxiety about him.

I understand the above from the Mormon perspective that these Angels are pre-mortal spirit Children of God – whose ‘job’ includes creating and maintaining the earth and creation for incarnate mortal Men to inhabit; and where we may experience the consequences of our agency and sin; such that we may ultimately repent, return, and bring-home the precious treasures won from our suffering, and our death.

That is the sacrifice of mortals.

The premortal Men/ Angels vital role is to help mortal Men, and to ‘clean-up the mess’ created by mortal Men so that mortal life does not rapidly self-destroy and collapse. Such a job entails absolute concordance with the divine will and purpose; therefore the Angels must have limited agency and, consequently, delayed spiritual progression. They must patiently wait their turn for incarnation.

And that is the sacrifice of the Angels.

Isaiah 52:7. Explained by Abinadi in Mosiah ch. 15 to the priests of Noah who were too lazy to understand it. Partially repeated in Nahum 1:15. Cited by Jesus in 3rd Nephi 20:40. And Paul in Romans 10:15. Also Doctrine and Covenants 128:19.

They’re done.

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Diagramming sentences teaches you a good deal about language.  It also makes you realize some odd things about it that you had taken for granted before.  Grammar is not the Platonic form of language.  What it is is a good tool.

The West doesn’t think much about virtue.  We do have a rich and neglected treasury of practical experience out there, and a decent amount of engineering knowledge, for those who look for it.  We also have thinkers who address first principles and meta-ethical questions.  What is the nature of the good? and so on.  What we don’t have is anything in between.  It is as if the study of biology knew evolution (along side stockbreeders who knew practical things) but had never invented anything like taxonomy.

A while back I accidentally invented a sophisticated tool for investigating virtue.

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Ok, I made up the 1,746, because I’ve lost track of the number of times.

There are five ways I am aware of to know if an idea that pops into your head is really a whispering of the Spirit, versus another source or your own imagination. (more…)

Looking back at sunsets on the eastside
We lost track of the time
—“Smile Like You Mean It” from the Killers 2004 Hot Fuss album

The photo above was taken from the east side of the Las Vegas Valley. It was sent yesterday by an LDS missionary of my acquaintance who is serving in my hometown. As Brandon Flowers once told a Times reporter, “Have you been to Los Angeles? Well, our sunsets are better!” The large buildings below the mountain silhouette are hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. (more…)

The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers by Adam Lankford. (At Amazon.)

If you don’t want to buy/read the whole book, you can listen to John Batchelor’s interview with the author at AudioBoom, or on Batchelor’s podcast on itunes: (more…)

I am about to continue some research I began a few years ago on the psychological causes of fertility decisions among Mormon – that is, why do Mormons (both in general, and as individuals) decide to have the specific number of children that they do.

This research, and its background is summarised here.

The intention is to explore this by interviews with individual English Mormons, discussing fertility plans and intentions among younger people, and reasons for past fertility decisions among those whose families are ‘completed’.

Before we finalise the areas we want to explore, and so that we do not accidentally miss out on asking something important; I would be very interested to hear from any Mormons about their own experiences in this area – either in the comments, or by e-mailing me directly at: bruce.charlton@outlook.com .

Thank you!