Old Woman or Young Woman . . . . . . . . . . R-Rated or Uplifting

o Should you be picky about what to entertain yourself (and your family) with?

o Why worry about seeing or hearing anything objectionable - haven’t you seen or heard it all before?

o Aren't violence, sex, and crude language all just a part of real life?

§ ‘Ever seen that black and white drawing (often illustrated in psych 101 texts) that you’re sure is a picture of a beautiful young woman, until someone points out to you that, if you look at it another way, it looks like a picture of an old hag? It often comes with separate pictures of the young woman and the old hag, so you know what to look for. But it’s really the same picture; what you see usually depends on which secondary picture you’ve just looked at (i.e.: the young woman or the old hag). Similarly, we tend to see life a certain way, depending on what experiences have influenced us - where our focus is.

§ Some people like to point out, in an effort to justify the same in entertainment, that the scriptures contain many stories of violence and immorality. Victor L. Brown, Jr., in his book, Human Intimacy, responds to that thought. He points out that the difference between the movies and the Bible is that the Bible reveals the natural consequences of such actions, whereas Hollywood often portrays glamorous, unrealistic consequences (which are misleading).

o One last question: Are the scenarios left imprinted in your mind after you watch a movie, things that you want to remember because they have been an uplifting influence or . . . maybe not?

<<<<<<< >>>>>>>

It’s not what happened in my past, but how I handle it in the present, that affects my future.

It's not where I am, but the direction I'm going in, that matters most.

“You’ve Convinced Me That The God, That You Don’t Believe In, Doesn’t Exist”

Svoid, in his comment to ‘White-Out”, drew my attention to a very well written article, produced by a man who believes that God doesn’t exist. (There Is No God, by Penn Jillette.) I quite agree with a lot of what he wrote: he has totally convinced me that the God that he doesn’t believe in, doesn’t exist!

However, that’s not the God I believe in. I suspect that the God I believe in, actually shares a lot of Jillette’s concerns. Jillette suggests that if he believed in God, he wouldn’t have as much appreciation for life’s bounty because he’d only be looking forward to ‘heaven’ rather than enjoying the here and now, would tend to blame God for the world’s suffering rather than work to alleviate it, and wouldn’t have to try so hard to be nice, because he could just be forgiven by ‘believing’. I agree that all those things – and more – are often excused in the name of religion, but that is man’s error and not God’s.

If you consider yourself an Atheist, perhaps your current disbelief comes from your gut feeling that, what you think God is supposed to be, doesn’t make sense. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s not really God himself, that you’re fighting, but your erroneous understanding of Him. :)



[If you’re an Atheist and you’re really at peace with that, there’s no reason to go any further. However, if you consider yourself to be open-minded and you sincerely love truth and logic, I suggest you study the Bible and the Book of Mormon to find out more about who God really is. The whole truth (as opposed to parts of it, garnished with man’s imagination) will appeal to your sense of logic.]

(Non-trite) Thanksgiving Thoughts to Think About

• "GRATITUDE is the great equalizer of success." (It's hard to be grateful for your success and big-headed about it at the same time.)

• "GRATITUDE is the essence of happiness." (How can you not be happy when you're grateful for what you have?)

• "GRATITUDE is the foundation of charity." (How can you not want to share with others when you're truly grateful for what you have?)

A friend of mine was sharing some things he'd learned regarding GRATITUDE, last year during the Thanksgiving season. I almost tuned him out, sure that I'd heard it all before. However, I was surprised to find that what he had to say was anything but trite, and very profound.

Think About It

"It's our thinking about our circumstances - not the circumstances themselves - that determines how we feel."

Richard Carlson

White-Out for Life

One day, at work, I had made a mistake on something I had written by hand which had to be accurate, and asked a friend to pass me the White-Out. As I used it to cover up my mistake, I jokingly commented to my friend, "Too bad we don't have White-Out for life." But as soon as I said it, I stopped myself, and not so jokingly said, "Oh, I guess we do, don't we! The Savior and His Atonement."

Too often, like myself, we forget this, and waste time stressing over our mistakes as though they're fatal, and never move on - which, in a sense, makes them fatal!

Thought for the Day

Expecting too much of life leads to

DEPRESSION.

Expecting too much of one’s self leads to

DESPONDENCY.

"Wit"

I watched "Wit" (starring Emma Thompson) the other night. The main character, a middle aged English Professor, is diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, and takes the viewer along on her journey through treatment. It's really quite good, but very different. It left me with a really odd feeling - like I was going to die! Of course, I am - eventually. So maybe it's just that the movie brought to the forefront that knowledge which we usually choose to ignore until it hits us in the face - when 'our time is up'.

I'm curious how other people felt about the movie.

• Did I have this feeling only because the movie was so well done that I was 'sucked into' the story?
• Did it hit me like it did because a part of me really knows that 'my time' is about up?
• Did it make death seem so 'scary' only because it left out the element of the eternal nature of the spirit, returning to live with our Father in Heaven?
• Did I only buy into the fear of death, due to Emma's masterful performance of her character's fear?

The movie was not only well done, but very unique in the way it was done. It really helps you to understand what it might be like to be dying of cancer.

It also makes you think about what is really important in this life.

Borrowed Thought

Just heard a poem read on NPR this morning, a line of which I thought was worth sharing. (Sorry, I missed the name of the poem and author.) But one line went something like this:

"There are no unsacred places; only sacred places and desecrated places."

I haven't had time to think about it long enough to form a definite opinion, but off hand, it does seem like the most 'unsacred' things, are really made so by the fact that they are sacred things, misused. Which is probably why many of us are so easily deceived into thinking that 'evil'* is 'good'; our minds relate to the connection with the sacred, and overlook the fact that misusing such, desecrates.

*FYI: In my mind, the definition of 'evil' is anything which, in the long run, sets back our progression towards becoming who we really want to be. (Which to my understanding, is exactly why God gave us commandments to do, and not do, certain things; for the simple reason that he understands the long-term consequences of various choices.)

Just Testing

I'll just post a thought to test this out:

It is harder to have HOPE when you're older

and have seen that the things that you’ve hoped for

haven’t come to pass . . .

Unless you also have FAITH, and

TRUST that God knows where he is leading your life

. . . even if it’s not where you thought you wanted it to go.