Random Thought #34

I've been holding this thought for a long time because I haven't really been able to find a good way of fully expressing what's in my head and I probably won't do it justice here but I have to clear out some space in my head so I need to write this down.

I've been thinking how we are naturally drawn to equality in all things and yet we fail in this area when it matters most. Let me try to explain *deep breath*. The first thing that came to my mind that made me think of this is a dream I had where I had won a $50 gas card for submitting the winning safety suggestion. We actually have that at work (funny how reality feeds our dreams...but that's another topic for another time). The very first thought that came to my mind was "Oh good, $25 for each car" See?, equality!! The odd part is that my cars have different size tanks, gas prices fluctuate, etc. There are a number of things that could be considered as far as inequality, but the first thing that came to my head was equally splitting it between the cars.

Interesting. As I thought about this more and more, I began to think of symmetry. Many of us understand symmetry as two sides of an item when split in two as being exactly the same. I used to think this too until I saw a lecture from Prof. Richard Feynman who explains in physics what the law of symmetry really means. Its expressed in the law of the conservation of symmetry. See...things can be symmetrical across more than just an item, they can be symmetrical across time, space, and a number of other mediums. I won't get into more detail as I'm not a physicist, but essentially Prof. Feyman's point was that symmetry can better be defined as taking something that is initially symmetrical and then altering the medium (time, space, whatever) and the item is still symmetrical. The symmetry is conserved. Its really a much more interesting topic. Check it out on the internet.

Anyways, as I saw more and more examples of equal portions for all (I forget many of them now...I've had this thought in my head for over a month now), I began to apply the gospel to it. God is no respecter of persons. We are all equal in his sight. There is no hierarchy. This is a major theme in the temple. We all dress the same, we are all equal. The law of conservations keeps things that way. All contribute and all is re-distributed so that we all have according to our needs. Some may have more than others, but we all have sufficient for our needs. Sound familiar? The church is a great institution, but we are obviously not living by a celestial law here. There is inequality and God said that there will always be poor among us to test us. Why is it that we are drawn to equality? Perhaps we remember what it used to be like (to a small extent) we have reminders of our previous life.

In accounting, we always have to have everything balance. It all has to be equal. Why do couples exist? Why does the 3rd wheel always feel so awkward? Where does Yin and Yang come from? Why is there opposition in all things? Equal just feels right. If I give you one chip and you give me one chip and I give you one more chip, and then I talk about something else completely, aren't you frustrated because you didn't give me one more chip? The law of mercy and the law of justice must balance. (mercy + punishment = judgement) An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. There are so many examples, and yet when it comes to money or possessions or power or anything that Satan offers, we couldn't be further from equality. Why is it so hard? D&C 14:7 provides the answer.

The last thing that made me finally sit down and write this post was an article a friend of mine in the church told me about today. Its an article from Elder Nelson about God's love being conditional. It didn't seem quite right. Don't go bonkers and call me a heretic yet, but to me, it seems that God's love is unconditional, but that our rewards/consequences are. I feel like Elder Nelson combines and sometimes blurs the two making me uncomfortable about this article but getting back to this topic of this post, it would seem to me that God loves all equally and unconditionally. Love can mean many things but it seems that equality is something that is a celestial principle as is love and therefore, I have a hard time with this article. I challenge all of my readers to read the article and let me know what you think via the comments and also of other areas where you see equality represented.

Link to talk: lds.org/liahona/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng

Random Thought #33

So I learned a valuable lesson today. I went out and bought little clementine oranges. We all love to eat them because they are healthy and easy to peel and eat. We usually buy a particular brand and so when I went to look for them today at the grocery store, I saw two brands. One was a 3lb bag of the brand we like and the other was a 5lb box of a brand I haven't heard of. Typically, the smaller the oranges, the sweeter they are and the more we like them. The 3lb bag was cheaper but the oranges were larger than normal. The 5lb box had smaller oranges but we don't like getting the box because its awkward in our fridge and it was a brand we didn't know. Well, turns out the larger oranges for a cheaper price from the brand we knew and liked weren't that great. Although judging a book by its cover is never recommended by itself, it may be indicative of what lies beneath. I guess I can't really complete my comparison since I never tried the other brand. Perhaps I should have listened to myself and got the smaller oranges. I was somehow deceived. I'm sure you can draw your own parallels from my "parable of the clementines" :)

Random Thought #32

I think expiration dates are only meant for women. Men tend to ignore them anyways, except milk. You should definitely pay attention to that one. Trust me, I know from experience...UGH!!

Random Thought #31

I've always wondered how dreams come into being. It must start from thoughts or feelings that exist in our sub-conscious so, in a way, I think our dreams are related to our thoughts and feelings. I don't believe in dream interpreters or anything (unless they have mad skills and some revelatory help...like Daniel; check out Daniel Ch.4) but I do think they are related to what is on our mind. I think they are representations of our thoughts/desires and we should consider what they mean. I'm reading a document now that explains what the various pieces of the Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham really mean or what they represent and it makes much more sense. This is where modern science and in this specific case, Egyptologists, get it wrong. We cannot take things at face value. We must understand things from the perspective of the ones who authored the content and also their surroundings. We must literally put ourselves in that person's position, not just in terms of perspective, but in terms of environment, time, cultural normals, etc. One thing that dreams and ancient documents have in common are the fact that we can't ever really reproduce them in their original state, but we do have them in some form or fashion and they are for our benefit. We would be wise to understand their content.

Random Thought #30

So several of my regular readers have noticed that its been awhile since my last post. This is how I know that my thoughts are true inspiration :P First of all, if I have bad or negative thoughts, I get nothing, nothing worthy of this blog anyways. Apparently I haven't been too worthy or good random thoughts lately. Sorry about that. Good news though. I most have thoroughly repented though because I got a flood of them today. Hope you enjoy the new ones.