Section 50

V. 2-3.  False spirits and Satan listed as separate groups.  Interesting.  Is his kingdom uncontrolled?

V. 12.  No universal logic? Logic, like math, has always seemed to me to be at the very heart of things.  Here God seems to say that our logic is play logic.

V.31.  If God does not help you know the spirit, it is not of God.  Sounds simple, but what that actually means in practice is worth some thought.

V. 43.  Compare with v. 22.  Seems to be saying that the sort of mutual understanding we achieve when teaching under the influence of the spirit is the oneness that the Godhead has which they invite us to join.

V. 33.  Also compare with v.22.  Rejoicing is essentially a communal emotion that opens you up?

Section 51

v. 17. Act as if you were going to live here many years.

John C Wright on the state of his own church.

Many big publicity results in psychology do not add up. Many many.

the Father of lights—the veil shall be rent and you shall see me not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual—no man has seen God  except quickened—Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now….

Doctrine and Covenants 67

There are these hints throughout the restoration of a spiritual physics.  (more…)

If you are interested in virtue sets, you owe it to yourself to read WJT’s essay on Satan Divided Against Himself.

It’s full of insights.  (In the following passage, “Ahriman”=Satan, the evils of fear and excessive prudence and risk avoidance)

Those who serve Ahriman may seek to be in control themselves, but more often their goal may simply be that everything be under control. Hierarchy is of Ahriman, because even those who are far from the top have no objection to it. Even an Ahrimanist who has the ability to control things personally will generally defer these personal decisions to a system or algorithm, personal responsibility being unpleasantly risky.

Even the casual asides are good.  Here he is describing how the two fundamental good impulses (seek goods, avoid evils) can be turned to evil

• Sacrifice the avoidance of evil in order to pursue good (e.g. to seek pleasure)

• Sacrifice the pursuit of good in order to avoid evil (e.g. to be “safe”)

When Joseph Smith and the guys decided to publish his revelations, a number of the guys got to talking about how Joseph Smith wrote them pretty rough and jumbled and maybe they could do better.

In D&C 67, the Lord says, in effect, “you know Joseph Smith and you know he hasn’t really hit his stride as a writer yet.  Pick your best guy and have him try to write a revelation.  If he does better than Joseph Smith, then you can say he’s just making it up.  If not then either you bear testimony of the revelations or you are condemned.”

Interesting stuff.  As it turns out, I think the early revelations were rough and jumbled and I think I’m a better writer than Joseph Smith was at that point in his life*  and I think I could do a better job.   So what if I were one of the gang and they decided I was the wisest?  Well, first, I’m probably wise enough to turn down the opportunity.  Getting crosswise with the Lord and his prophet is no way to carry on.  But supposing I decided to because I thought the Lord was really ok with it, he really did want the testimony that the revelations were from him.  What would happen?  I will tell you what would happen.  The Lord would cheat.  The Lord would withdraw the Holy Ghost in whatever measure would be needed so that I would completely fall apart as a writer.  I would write like shambles.

*Some of his stuff later on, D&C 121 and 122, pure poetry.

I had a great time preparing and executing today’s lesson for the 13 year olds. (more…)

D&C 49
D&C 49:8 It is my will that all men repent. Properly understood, this is formally the same as his work and glory being to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

49:8 “Holy men ye know not of.” Extremely intriguing. Who or what are these people?

49:16 “One flesh”=sex. This and the immediate verses are one spouse => sex => “fulfill measure (i.e. children)
(more…)

The reason we do not forgive only the deserving is that until we forgive we are unable to tell rightly who is deserving.

(Inspired by reading doctrine and covenants section 64)

The highest and best use of manhood is making and protecting his family.

The highest and best use of womanhood is bearing and caring for her family.

“Beachcombing” sung by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris, opening track from their album All the Roadrunning

And speaking of time to head on home, try this bootleg YouTube video from the 5m20s mark to 16m13s. Warning: if going ten minutes without checking something on your phone is difficult, don’t bother with this video. It probably isn’t for most others either.

Traveling. The AC unit in our hotel was a sound engineer’s dream. It grunted, it howled, muttered, moaned, gibbered, giggled, cussed … (more…)

Michel Houellebecq essay at Unherd, beginning:

“I look on every side and all I see is darkness.”

I use that quote from Pascal (Pensées, 229) because I am not setting out to assert positive truths nor to defend opinions. I see a situation which — as Pascal writes in his next sentence — “offers nothing but cause for doubt and anxiety”.

In asking me to give an opinion on the now celebrated “Letter of the Generals,” UnHerd‘s Will Lloyd rightly notes: “What seems most extraordinary about the furore that followed is that so few people questioned the premise of the letter — that France is on the point of collapse.”

The two ways to experience a landscape are just to see it in the passing moment.  Cherry blossom beauty not meant to stay.

Or to own it for generations, secure that it will always be yours and knowing you are rooted there, will always live there.

I don’t think this second kind of beauty is available to us moderns.  We aren’t secure enough in what we own, and we aren’t tied enough to what we own.

The two kinds of landscapes that call to me are alpine and placid rivers.  I don’t think the two are to be found together anywhere.

Can anyone expound for me the logic of the following sentence from yesterday’s announcement? “This change [ending priesthood and women’s sessions of General Conference] is being made because all sessions of general conference are now available to anyone who desires to watch or listen.”

What would a dwindling, a withdrawal of priesthood from the world and the church look like that is different from the ministry of Russell Nelson as president of the church? A sad, inglorious task to be given, but in sad, inglorious times some obedient son oversees the withdrawal of gifts.

Eight years ago: “The Singing Won’t be the Same”
Four years ago: The Singing Wasn’t the Same”