The Constitution

"We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."
John Adams

Commandments can hurt?

In a recent post titled "Is It Right to Force?," I wrote some things that I would like to further comment on.

I want to begin by clarifying the meaning of the word commandment. The Hebrew word for 'commandment' is 'decalogue' or 'statement' and a statement is used to inspire and lend confidence.

In the previous post I commented that, "obeying the commandments could never hurt you." Since then I have had some suggestions indicating that is not necessarily true.

We do hear of and know of people who are persecuted, tortured and even martyred because of their beliefs. These are good and righteous people who obeyed the commandments but they were hurt in the worst kind of ways, so how can I say that obeying the commandments could never hurt you?

I was referring to spiritual matters. We cannot determine what others will do with their free will. Their choices may result in us being hurt physically. However this is not often the case and more often we are protected physically through obeying the commandments, but more important we are always blessed spiritually and mentally through obeying the commandments.

A Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, was often tortured and physically abused for his beliefs. One night after a severe beating he sought refuge at an elderly mans house. As the man was helping to clean Joseph up and dress his wounds he said, "You would think if you were a prophet of God that He would take better care of you." Joseph's response was, "I have been blessed more than you can ever know." There are not words to explain the kind of blessings and care Joseph received from God.

When we obey the commandments we gain a level of knowledge, intelligence and spiritual growth that cannot be gained otherwise. When I wrote "it cannot hurt you" I did not intend for it to be taken literally, what I meant is that you stand to benefit more by obeying than not. There is no balance to the scale, obeying far outweighs disobeying.

The way for you to really know and understand this is to just do it.

Porkchops?

Kensley (my 11 year old) enters the room, speaking in a dramatic southern drawl:

Kensley: "Do you know what inspires me?"

Me: "No, what?"

Kensley: "An elephant on a tightrope!"

Me: "Wow, that is inspiring."

Kensley: "Yes, whenever I see it struggling to get to the other side, it just makes me cry."

EJ: (my 9 year old) "Do you know what inspires me?"

Kensley: "Porkchops!" And she exits.

Where does she come from?

Is it Right to Force...?

I had an awesome talk this morning with my eleven year old daughter about a paper she wrote. The thesis was "is it right to force someone to do something they do not want to do?"

From her paper it was hard for me to discern what she really believed. She gave arguments for both sides and her final sentence was, "you usually shouldn't force someone to do something."

One example she gave was; if a manager of a business felt he was being forced to go to work at a certain time, he may rebel by coming in late and leaving early and that would cause problems within the business. My daughter felt forcing the manager in that situation was necessary.

In the other example she explained how during the American Revolution the British army would kidnap young sailors and force them to fight in their army. It was obvious she felt this was very wrong.

We started our discussion by asking if both situations are really using force? This led us to look up the definition of force - to compel; to constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible.

This did not fit the first situation of the manager because the power was resistible - he could resist by quitting his job or doing things that would lead to him being fired. It is a choice. Yes there is a consequence attached to that choice, but he is not being forced.

From this we realized a better term for that situation is "required." The manager is required to be to work at a certain time. When you require there is always a choice to accept the requirement and with every choice is a consequence. The manager is required to be at work from 9 to 5. He has a choice whether he will actually be there from 9 to 5 or not. If he is, then he has a consequence of keeping his job and getting paid so that he can provide for the things he needs and wants in life. If he choses not to be to work from 9 to 5 he has the consequence of losing his job and having to find another means of providing for his needs and wants.

There are many times that we are required to do things in life. It is alright to require but it would be even better to inspire, for example; if you wanted your employees to be on time and work certain hours then you as the owner could put in similar hours and be sure to be on time.

You could require your child to do math but it would be better to "inspire". You would do this by studying math or finding an older mentor who studies math to work beside your child. If math should be important to them, then why would it not be important to you? Is there any reason why math should no longer be studied just because you have graduated from school? Perhaps it is a situation where math won't be important to them once they graduate but in the meantime they need to get a good grade in order to get a scholarship or graduate. If that is the case then you could look to improve something in your employment. If you want to get a promotion at your job you need to improve a certain area of skills and these skills require time and effort to learn and improve. Then show your child what you are doing and discuss it with them as being a part of the system for doing well in your employment just as math is a part of the public educational system. Bottom line is to inspire by doing.

All other derivatives of the word force used the term "impelled by violence," which not only helped us to separate a situation of being required vs being forced, it also led us to the conclusion that it is never right to force. It is alright to require, it is better to inspire but it is never right to force.

Many people will confuse a requirement with force throughout their lives and this discussion with my daughter not only helped her to be more certain on what she believed but it helped to clear up things in my mind.

Many times people resist the commandments of God because they look at them as a form of force (maybe this misunderstanding comes from the word 'commandment' itself). The fact that we have a choice helps us to see that we are being required not forced and if we take it a step further we see that we are inspired to obey the commandments.

You could never be hurt by following the commandments whereas disobeying the commandments always, eventually results in some form of pain and suffering, either physically or spiritually. The commandments are divinely given principles that are loving instructions for our happiness. If we can let go of our misconceptions we would experience for ourself knowledge, intelligence and spiritual growth through obedience and diligence to divinely given principles.

God is a God of order and we as individuals are a part of the whole human race, where order provides a system of harmony that hinges on obedience to these principles. Do you see? It is a choice for everyone, but the consequence has been evident throughout history; the more obedience we have to these principles the more harmony we have among the human race. This inspires me.

Optimist vs. Pessimist

Why does a pessimist view the glass as half empty while the optimist views it as half full?

It is because the pessimist is emptying the glass while the optimist is filling it up. The pessimist is most often looking at what they can take or get from life. They are concerned with what life will give them, thus they are emptying the glass. On the other hand the optimist is looking at what they can give back to life. They are concerned with how they will contribute to the world and thus they are filling up the glass.

Again, I feel that one of the best things you can give to the world is to be the change you wish to see. This is best done through a consistent effort in self improvement of knowledge and character.

The great men and women of history have spent a great deal in studying, reading, writing and discussing history and classics. We can become great through doing the same.

The Tytler Cycle

A democracy is always temporary in nature. It simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.

Alexander Tytler a Scottish history professor in 1787 said, "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. The result is that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.

Alexander Tytler also said, "the average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following cycles:

From bondage to spiritual faith. From spiritual faith to great courage. From courage to liberty. From liberty to abundance. From abundance to complacency. From complacency to apathy. From apathy to dependence. From dependence back into bondage." Just draw a circle and place these around the circle to have a visual of the cycle.

In studying American history we can see that most of the Americans who settled our nation moved from bondage to spiritual faith to courage (those without courage do not attack the greatest army of the 18th century). We progressed from their courage to liberty and from that liberty came abundance.

It was the complacency of citizens that trusted their government too much that allowed it to grow to serve itself rather than the people who pay for it.

The number of people who do not vote or just do not want to be bothered with the process of choosing candidates who serve the people rather than their party is evidence of the move from complacency to apathy. Too, people become apathetic when they experience changes they do not want imposed by a government they cannot control.

We only need to look at government-controlled programs and the number of people dependent upon them - Social Security, welfare, medicare, national health care a government school system - to know we are dependent on government for our daily existence. I do not demean the programs only the dependence we have on them. As we evaluate these programs from where they started out to what they are today we can see that they have been used as platforms to promise benefits and that through complacency and our dependency on them they have become what they are today, instead of serving the people the way they were initially intended to do.

The next step in the cycle explained by Tytler would be bondage. Some people think we are already there. It appears that in our 227 year old democracy we have traveled through the cycles.

There are two ways to look at this cycle - where are we as individuals and where are we as a nation on this cycle. If we don't like where we are or where we are headed as a nation it is up to us as individuals to make the change.

How do we stay on the cycle of spiritual faith, courage, liberty, and abundance, while avoiding complacency, apathy, dependence and bondage.

I believe the answer lies in what we allow into our minds, hearts and environment. Too often we let the world dictate what is popular and cool and we waste too much time with things like, video games, internet, cell phones, ipods, senseless literature, entertainment etc. when more of that time could be spent in worthwhile activities such as reading, studying, writing and discussing the classics.

Liberty, prosperity and good government worldwide are a natural result of a world where people read, write, study, discuss and apply history and the classics. Have you read a classic lately?