It at all seems impossible to think yet it remains.

As far as spiritual and secular matters go, I find myself on a thin line that seems the mend the two into a certain piece of clothing the would receive gasps and stares if I were to flaunt such attire in society's ever growing glare. "To each his own" is a motto to which I've grown more and more accustomed. To judge and ridiculous produces nothing but discord and hate. And what is hate? Nothing more than a waste of energy in my eyes. Growing up in a tolerant household taught me that joy comes not in distaste but in the form of understanding, from either side. Not to dive into a cliche christian statement of faith, but I do believe that Christ gave us the key principle in gaining some sort of happiness. Was he the only one? Of course not but he enveloped the idea in such a way that it could be grasped by all you have ears to hear. Or eyes to read for that matter. Love thy neighbor as thy self. Such a simple statement. Yet its depths rival and circumscribe any and all statements made my the wisest of teachers or gurus. Is there one truth? Yes. For truth ceases to be truth as soon turns upon itself. What is that truth? I could spend hours and pages explaining to you what I perceive as truth. But I won't due to the fact that you have your explanations and I have mine. Why do I call what I have truth? Because of experience. First hand real life experience. If I do this, then this will happen. Sound familiar? Most of us call it cause and effect. I would also bring it into the realm of science. A scientific law is "a concise verbal or mathematical statement of a relation that is always under the same conditions." Many conditions occur repeatably in my life. I seem to find myself in very similar situations. Though details maybe different, the overall conditions are congruent. In such a case one may find one's self with decisions to make. And one may also call upon experiences to weigh options to obtain a desired outcome. Sounds a bit like Chem 101 to me. Now, according to science, if I duplicate the experiment and receive the same answer then those findings must be law. Same conditions, same results. So if we transfer that into a religious experiment where I pray to God and receive those "blessings" in the same manner that I had one to before received them, then clearly the statement of "if I pray to God, he will bless me" must be scientific law. Well Troy let's not get hasty. What about variables? Very good class, I am so glad you brought that up. I have tried other ways of solving my problems, both secular and spiritual. And the results are only concurrent when God is brought into the picture. Using reason, what can be said? A lot. But many will contradict my findings and claim falsehoods and miscalculations and errors in the experiment of my faith. Despite all of those, to me what is the real answer? God is real. Should I force upon you this claim? Of course not. What would be the point. Do I leave it open for you to also experiment? Yes, what do you have to lose. Time, money, energy? Well you have wasted all those bashing my religion and beliefs. So why not put those towards a use of improve yourself and those around you. Mormonism may be out there as far as a standard "religion" goes and it may have holes I can't explain. Faith AND reason fills those holes. I am a mormon. I have do things that the mormons say I shouldn't do. When I did those things I was not happy. When I follow my own beliefs based on those teachings beliefs I found happiness. So to follow those beliefs would be the reasonable thing to do. And there is the underlying principle of what makes me smile. Live, love, learn.

Sometimes against the grain is actually going with it.

Thinking for yourself is something that I greatly admire. But the fact of the matter is that some have come to believe that if you think against the majority you are in fact thinking for yourself. This weekend I found myself amidst a situation filled with individuals who themselves have falling to the idea that just because its not accepted by all. That just because its edgy and new or non-tradition then its true. One of the main examples of this is the sad case of the The DaVinci Code. A very well written book that I would recommend to anyone. The problem came down to the masses who took it as a non-fiction account of the history of Jesus Christ. Even a short preface could not detour many from taking it as an actual matter of fact. Sure parts of the story could be true and parts invented to move or improve the story. Either way, the book was written as a fictitious story. Whether the author used it to spread historically inaccurate undertones is another story, the ignorant masses still managed to run with it. Why was it so popular? Because it was new. Because it was different. Because it was something that you could use to impress others during light conversation making you appear somewhat more intelligent. And this effect finds its way into every single "discovery" that "science" makes. As soon as "experts say" and "scientist have found" is uttered, it is gobbled up by those who are just itching for the next issue to start spreading. Those same experts and scientist are some of the same people sitting next to you in class who are barely scrapping by. Is this to say that all conventional ideas and thoughts are correct? Of course not. Are some? Yes. Are all new discoveries bullock and just a waste of time? No. Are some? Yes. How do you tell the difference? Read, study, watch, learn and apply. Find out for yourself whether something makes sense. See both sides. Its amazing what you find. An enlightened sense of understanding. Because there's nothing that is more annoying that someone who bases all their thoughts on "my professor said". Think, learn, love.