An Apostle’s Easter Message

I realize this is a day late, but this was a high point of the meeting we Mormons have biannually to hear from the worldwide Church leadership, whom we honor as prophets and apostles.

When I heard this, I determined that Elder Holland had either been reading my blog post on the Tortured Soul and getting his ideas from it, (I can dream, can’t I) , or perhaps we get our ideas from our common faith and scriptures, or God, himself.  Regardless, it is a powerful oratory full of truth which I offer to anyone who cares to listen.

The Tortured Soul

    My last edifying voyage into the world of podcasts while working away in my monastic resident existence at the hospital this past month was a rebroadcast of the fantastic Speaking of Faith episode on Depression and the Soul.  It really hammered home my own experience in a jarring and powerful way. 

Points of Interest, vol. 2 #4

In an effort to return to a regular weekend schedule, I present the creme de la creme of my web browsing put together in a mere five days time, and still overflowing with thoughtful, touching, funny and poignant goodness.  Today I have peer support, intuition, schizophrenia, salience, religiosity, spirituality, diet soda, cotton candy, and a bunch of other vaguely defined subjects.  So pull up a chair, sit down and dig in to the absolute best I could find on the internet-

From the Archives: Man as an Island

One of the features of humankind that has long been thought to be unique to us is the theory of mind.  This is our ability to deduce what another might be thinking, a critical base for such behaviors as for empathy, socialization, even battle and strategy.  It is so prevalent and so innate that we often do it without realizing it, anthropomorphizing machines, televisions, the computer, animals, even the clouds and the waves.  Imagine a world where no one did this.  Imagine for a minute not even realizing that the people you interact with daily have their own minds inner workings and dealings.  This is the world of Asperger Syndrome.

 

  

Denial in an unjust world

   The blogosphere is one place where you will never find any shortage of opinions and punditry.  The recent election has been rife with partisan bickering and and all or nothing thinking.  The healthcare debate online suffers from much of the same problem.  It is fascinating to me how perceptions can vary from one person to another regarding the same reality.  

     Through it all, I cling to the idea that the vast majority of people are basically good.  At the same time, a look at history or the news makes quite clear that even good people are capable of doing some pretty horrible things.  Jonah Lehrer at Frontal Cortex recently shared a personal experience with one way that people with good intentions can make the world worse, the Just World Phenomenon.

Minority vs. Majority

    ” We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.”

            Doctrine & Covenants 121:39

      Few things in life distort the relationship of communities and society more than power and politics.  The American revolution and the revolution in France introduced democracy to both America and Europe in roughly the same time period.  The French revolution ended up much more violent and tumultuous than the former, described by Charles Dickens as “the best of times” and “the worst of times” simultaneously.  The French revolution was an extremely violent and intolerant uprising.  It led to mass beheading and guillotining of the aristocracy.  It led to the rise of the first of the modern despots in Napoleon, who enthralled the recently empowered majority, was voted into power which he refused to release and unleashed upon the rest of Europe, as the revolution ran off its rails.

The Storming of the Bastille in 1789

 

Points of Interest #24

Well, another week gone by and as always, I’ve mined my favorite nuggets from the internet I have surfed across, especially for you, the reader.  So without further delay, I present the very best of the internet-

Man as an Island

 

One of the features of humankind that has long been thought to be unique to us is the theory of mind.  This is our ability to deduce what another might be thinking, a critical base for such behaviors as for empathy, socialization, even battle and strategy.  It is so prevalent and so innate that we often do it without realizing it, anthropomorphizing machines, televisions, the computer, animals, even the clouds and the waves.  Imagine a world where no one did this.  Imagine for a minute not even realizing that the people you interact with daily have their own minds inner workings and dealings.  This is the world of Asperger Syndrome.