The Human Experience

Where there is life, there is hope.

What causes people to hope as they had scarcely allowed themselves to do before? There is a lot of heartache in this worlds experience but hope and faith are what keep people holding on. The instinct to survive and to hope for a better tomorrow is something that everyone feels, something that everyone knows. It is the strength of belief.

I have been thinking a lot lately about human beings and what our experiences here on earth are all about. From a spiritual perspective, I have that figured out. I know that if I endure to the end and live worthily I will return to live with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again, but what about my experience here on earth will give it the most value, what will allow me to influence as many people as I can and allow them to influence me as well? What sorts of things do I need to understand that will allow me to help guide others to come unto Christ through my example? I guess I just want to utilize my time here on earth in the best way that I can.

I am big on documentaries. I love them. When I was at home about a month ago with my family we watched one called "The Human Experience". In this film, Jeffrey Azize wants to find answers to the question, "What does it mean to be human?". To do this he and his brother spend a week experiencing what it means to be homeless, sleeping on the streets and begging for food included, then they go to Peru and onto Ghana to visit my place, my people...naturally I loved this. They visited leper colonies and spent time with people with AIDS, visit a hospital full of abandoned children etc...while watching them experience these things my mind was racing and I was taking notes like crazy on my phone because it really made me think about life.

-FAMILY:

       Family is the project of the human being. What it is to be loved and where that dignity comes from begins in the home. Our families provide us with our first experiences. Hopefully home and family means a safe space where we rejuvenate and heal. Whether it has been that place of security or if its been a place of insecurity, you want to share your life with them. They are yours. Family is true happiness and a love that you cant explain.

-RELATIONSHIPS:

       What is the human relationship? We're talking true, meaningful relationships here. Now that does not mean that you have to know everything about one another, nor does it mean that you have really influenced one another's lives or even spent a significant amount of time together. Of course, those relationships tend to be the ones we value most in this life; but, I think it is much more than that. The human relationship is about acceptance. It is about loving someone not because of what they do, but because of who they are...thats not to say that people's actions aren't important because they make us who we are...what I mean by this is that really great relationships between human beings all have one thing in common: ACCEPTANCE. Acceptance simply because you are a human being, because you are real. Imperfect just like everybody else, but real.

-LIFE, the ability to choose:

      A human life is an unrepeatable, unprecedented adventure. Every human life. Not one single human being  that has lived and ever will live will experience life the same. We each have unique experiences that shape our worlds out of those experiences. Our lives are a result of the world that has created us yet at the same time the world we live in is one that we have created. When God created the earth he gave us more than enough to spare, it is what it is now because of what we have made of it. Similarly, He gave us life and all the resources we need to survive, but we choose how we use those resources in this life. We live on the earth but choose how we make our world. CHOOSE is the big word here. Over the last few months I have learned the gravity of that word. The power that I have to choose is so much bigger than I had ever realized before. I strongly believe that the Lord has a plan for me and that He will guide me down that path, yet I have the ability to choose to follow it, to follow Him. I was reading an article in the June or July 2013 Ensign about a week ago, I cant recall which one, which was talking about independence saying that "real freedom is best exhibited and experienced by always CHOOSING THE RIGHT. God has given you not only the right to choose between good and evil but also the power to choose good OVER evil." God has given us power to choose; And it is a powerful thing, a powerful choice even. The choices we make determine the lives we live but ultimately we choose. This power to choose places us above Satan and his hosts, we decide, not Satan. With that, there is no room for blame. The only people we can blame for our attitudes and our experiences are ourselves. Of course there are times and people and places who do not have the ability to choose because it has been taken from them through forms of slavery, addiction, imprisonment or whatever, but attitudes are completely our own. No one but you can decide how you feel and how you see a situation. Those choices about how you feel are huge. I have experienced both sides of this in choosing to be miserable and sad and choosing to be happy and let me tell you, happiness is the better choice. And it was as simple as CHOOSING to be happy. It sounds crazy but I really did choose how to feel and it made all the difference. At the same time I had to be making good choices in order to really truly feel that happiness but it works.

-FIND JOY

       I have spent a lot of time outdoors experiencing this beautiful earth and what it has to offer over the last few months and incredible sights are truly something to be experienced and it is hard not to love those things. But, I have made it a point to find joy in the ordinary, in the simplest things and that has made all the difference.

The Mormon feminist...

The Mormon feminist argument...what does it come down to?

I have been reading some discussions from Mormon feminists about Ordaining women to the Priesthood and women being able to wear pants to church and other things like that...I'm no expert but these are my thoughts. I feel like I am a pretty Orthodox member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints yet I have trained my mind to be open and subjective through my studies in anthropology. The root argument behind these things and others is for gender equality. I spent 3 months last summer in Ghana, West Africa studying gender roles and to these women who believe they are entitled to the priesthood, arguing that they want to exercise equal authority as worthy men, I say that without separate gender roles, our social structure would cease to exist (in the world, but also in the church). This issue is not about men and women being unequal, its about your role as a woman and his role as a man. We are separate but equal, and being separate, we must be willing to fulfill separate roles. Argue what you may but our role as women is beautiful and important yet ultimately so different from the role of a man, women are beautiful and strong and kind and nurturing and gentle, we can enjoy the blessings of the priesthood as men do but we must seek them out through worthy priesthood holders in our lives, having faith that we can receive. The Lord does not withhold blessings because we do not directly hold the priesthood authority. We receive the same promises that men receive when we are faithful, maybe I don't understand their argument clearly so I apologize for my ignorance in that regard, but I am a mouthpiece for the Lord just as men are and I am just as important to the Lord as they are, I can administer and teach just as they can. My faith is just as strong and I am just as important within the structure and the administration of the church. I know this because I know that the Lord keeps his promises. The Family: A Proclamation to the World clearly defines the roles of a man and woman saying:

 "The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."

 The greatest gift of all is eternal life D &C 14:7 and if I endure to the end I will be exalted on High with my husband and I can enjoy the blessings of his priesthood now and when we become like our Father, creating our own worlds. When you get married you become one with your spouse and one with God, by extension you are enjoying the priesthood just as readily as your husband is, or even outside of a marriage you can enjoy the priesthood through brothers, friends, fathers, grandfathers, bishops, home teachers...it all has a purpose. Christ's church is perfect. The people might not be, but the doctrine is. It is founded on principles and teachings that came straight from the Father, principles that have been the same since the beginning of time, principles that have been restored to us in the latter day through a prophet, Joseph Smith... principles that are sent to help us to return to live with Him again. He has a divine plan. We may not understand that plan now and we certainly won't understand it in a few days or even years, but He does have a plan and that plan is perfect. He made man and woman separate for a reason and He gave them separate responsibilities so as to provide the necessary balance needed for harmony in His kingdom. 

I agree that women have been marginalized for ages, and in many places around the world, they still are, even here in the United States. As we have been steadily fighting for rights throughout history we have often gotten them. Yes there is a ways to go, but true feelings of equality come in your own beliefs, in your own views of the divinity of women and our role here on earth. Men and women act as equal partners, but that does not mean that they hold the same responsibilities, they cannot if there is to be a balance in all things. To me it comes down to the doctrine and the principles of the Gospel. I believe that Jesus Christ is the head of this church and that Thomas S. Monson, his counselors, and the 12 Apostles are His special witnesses and they speak to us through Him. If there came a time when He wanted women to hold the priesthood keys so they could exercise the same authority that worthy men could, don't you think He would tell us through our prophet? I believe in modern day revelation, and I believe in our prophet. And if I am to believe those things, I believe that change in fundamental doctrines of the church will not come from lobbying. They will come directly from the mouthpiece of the Lord. 

At the end of the day I believe that our mission is greater than our roles, we all must work together to preach the Gospel to all nations and peoples, but we can't let things such as taking offense to things people say, or to the restrictions one may feel they are constrained by, get in the way of that mission. We must be advocates for truth. We must act in a way that will allow others to know Jesus Christ through us, we must believe in His church and in His leaders, we must KNOW Him, I mean really know Him so that we can better understand the roles He would have us play on this earth in order to further His kingdom on the earth and in heaven. He loves us, every single one of us, regardless of race, religion or gender. Believe in Him. That is all you need to do. If you do I promise you will one day know the reasons for the special organization of His church and I promise that you will find peace in your testimony because He will not leave you comfortless.