A French movie, the Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir, was apparently panned by moviegoers and critics alike when it first came out. Since then it has acquired a reputation of being one of the best movies ever made.
It is terrible. The moviegoers and critics absolutely had the right of it. (more…)
I highly recommend these books (in translation) and these movies (with subtitles on). By Marcel Pagnol about his childhood in Provence. Very warm and family-focused and even stylish.
The books in particular are good enough to become part of our read-aloud rotation.
Age wise, your family’s average age needs to be at least a few years older than for, say, Laura Ingalls Wilder.
God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now;
. . . Nothing shall be withheld. Whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest.
All thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
-thus D&C 121
What is your heroic narrative? For you surely have one, whether you know it or not.
The problem with delusions of grandeur is the delusions, not the grandeur.
Most heroic narratives fail by being insufficiently heroic. Yours should be broader in scope, further in time, higher in height, than you dare to imagine.
Elder Bednar — repentance isn’t a way of getting back on the plan. Repentance is the plan.
Repentance is the plan.
Repentance is the way.
Repentance is the Way?
Christ was made perfect through suffering. He repented more than anyone. In the Atonement, He took on our sins, all of them, and repented of all of them. Call it the Great Repentance. “Perfect” can mean both flawless or complete/completed. Christ was made perfect in both senses.
The people of the 1940s were apparently stark mad. We just watched a movie from then called the Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. The first half is slow and trying to be comic about something that doesn’t really seem comic: the distaff-half of a pair of quasi-sweethearts from a small town gets in trouble (pregnant) and is also probably married to a soldier but she doesn’t know who and has no proof. T here is an obvious romcom direction for the plot to go but it doesn’t, hoo boy, it doesn’t, and the second half of the movie just rips the top off and goes wild, one insanity piling on top of insanity until the big insane denouement. You end up laughing a ton mostly because it is pretty funny but also partly from hysteria.
With my fatherly hat on, I Do Not Approve of the film for what its worth. Golly, what a thing.
Via Bruce Charlton, a real find: FadedPage.com, which has a number of excellent digital downloads of 50-year old works.
Unfortunately, only available for our Canadian or unscrupulous reader contingents. We love our Canadian and unscrupulous readers, don’t we, folks?
Someone smarter than me can tell me if this is a poem or what.
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliver;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
The horn of my salvation.
The horn of rescue.
The horn of the infantry are here.
The bugle of the cavalry coming over the hill.
Roland winding his horn and hearing, o blessedly near! the answering clarion.
The bell of the boxer’s round is done.
The church bell, the evening bell, the day is over.
The last trump.
Your surprised laugh when you find it all worked out in the end.
Your home greeting–Daddy!–at the end of the day.
Inspiration works in curious ways. I don’t feel like I get inspiration. Whenever I ask about some serious real world decision I invariably get an answer that is something like, “Yep, you are right that there are pros and cons and risks. What do you want to do?” So it wasn’t with much expectation that I prayed for some guidance on what approach to take to the Book of Mormon this year. I didn’t get any answers other than that maybe I should ask. I asked some friends, got a few ideas, and then a day or so later got a clear out the blue bona fide inspiration. Its funny and typical that the inspiration had nothing to do with anyone’s suggestion but didn’t come until I got the suggestions.
Anyhow, the inspiration came, I don’t know why, since I have all of 5 readers here, but those are the only sorts of inspiration I seem to get sometimes, gospel insights that no one cares about, the Saints seem to prefer either pablum or scholarship or official sources and good for them, none of which I am.
Oh well. The Lord knows what He’s doing I suppose.
Anyhow, the inspiration was to look at the entire Book of Mormon through the lens of Lehi’s Dream. That’s what I am going to be trying to do this year.
Here’s the first fruits of that effort.
The people who taste the fruit of the tree of life and stay have 4 differences from those who don’t stay
In 1 Nephi 11, Nephi has an extended vision in response to his question about what the tree means.
Here’s one bit (v. 24)
I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.
I dreamed that I was pursued into a great hall by enemies. It was a lovely hall, all brass and wood and high windows and a great roaring fire. Comfortable elegant furniture all over. Highly polished. I started to climb up the walls to get away from them. They tried to throw things at me. One of them climbed after me and when I pondered what to do I was reminded that I was a prince of Amber. So I put points into climbing and acrobatics (I guess I was an RPG sort of prince of Amber), quickly scaled the wall, grabbed an enormous tasseled cord and swung across the wall, and willed that there be a secret entrance there and then through the entrance a roof exit there . . . a scaffolding . . . a rocky outcropping . . . a sheer granite cliff strung with vines . . .
It was fun.
Yesterday we mentioned that the interior of the building is hidden while the tree is open to view.
Today let’s talk about another difference. The building experience is superficial–literally superficial, it happens on the superficie of the building–and relies on the non-building world to be meaningful.
When the building first comes to our attention, its because of all the people on balconies or windows in it mocking and pointing.
And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.
27 And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.
When people go into the building, they quickly appear on the exterior mocking and pointing too.
And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also;
Whatever secrets are in the interior of the building, they are apparently too boring and meaningless to occupy anyone for long. There is nothing to do there other than to point fingers at people who aren’t. What is hidden inside the building is almost literally nothing. The physical building is founded on little to nothing. The building experience is also founded on little to nothing. There is no there there.
Let’s think about the basic symbolic differences between a fruit-bearing tree in a field and big building in a field.
There’s a whole lot to say, so lets focus for now on the different view when you are standing outside.
The tree is open to view. Whatever is going on at the tree you can see from pretty far away. There may be problems with your visions–there may be fogs or obstacles–but none of them are intrinsic to the tree. It is open to view.
The building, however, is concealed on the inside. The outside observer does not know what is going on in there and that’s the nature of a building. A building’s basic functions of protection from elements and defense against outsiders mean that it also offers concealment.
In Lehi’s dream, both concealing mists and the building are associated with evil. Hidden works, concealment, secrets, and cover ups are key to their work. Whereas the tree is open.
But you can’t know everything about the tree until you go there yourself. You can see that there is fruit. You can see that the people who eat it really like it. But you can’t know the taste until you taste.
The building is secret. The tree is sacred.
The people of the Church of Jesus Christ usually interpret the Great and Spacious Building as having no foundation. Me too. The scripture we rely on implies that but doesn’t state it out right.
And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.
-thus Lehi’s dream, 1 Ne. 8:26. later verses saying that the building falls and that it represents “vain imagination” help complete the picture of a building without foundation.
The alternate explanation is that it has a foundation, it just looks like its in the air because of how tall it is. This interpretation implies that the building is toplofty, i.e., that it has an inadequate foundation. For interpretive purposes, having no foundation and having an inadequate foundation are not much different.
Let me suggest a 3rd explanation.
