Religious Ramble Part two....
The second scripture that carries me through the day, that encourages and inspires me is in Moses. For those of you who aren't Mormon and wonder where to find the book of Abraham, click through. The book of Mormon is in two parts, the titular publication is a translation of the plates recovered by Joseph Smith which record of an American society descended from ancient hebrews. (Turns out the Vikings weren't the only ones to precede Columbus.) The second part of the book is a collection of divine revelations and inspired declarations given for the Kingdom of God on earth. Two of these involved divine revelation of books and works left out of the Old Testament and given to Joseph Smith verbatim. This is no Book of Judas, which may or may not be the truth of the events we'll never know. This is divine revelation from a man who spoke with Jesus Christ himself. In Abraham 3:22 it says:
Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many noble and great ones;
And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou was chosen before thou was born.
The first time I read this I imagined that I would one day become a ruler and show myself to be one of the noble and great ones. A fourteen year-old pipedream. A rereading helped me see that the people who rule us are not our rulers by chance. They are given the difficult roles of leadership because they are innately noble and great and the only way for their time in this world to be as challenging as ours is if the stakes they play for are ever so much higher than ours. I am content not to play for those stakes. I no longer strive to be a leader. But that doesn't mean I do not strive.
You see, if we accept that though we are all equal before the law, we are -not- all equal in ability then it only makes sense that along with the noble and great ones there were a few pretty noble ones and pretty great ones. And a few not so common, and not really average ones. This means that if I do not strive to be a leader, to set an example and to live my life the best that I know how, I will not be living up to my potential. And the more difficult it is for me to succeed, the greater and more noble my person, and the more obligated I am to strive.
This is why I do not regret the mistakes of my past. This is why I forgive those that transgressed against me, and this is why I will beat myself up more for being rude to a stranger than for getting a parking ticket. I know I can be a better person, anytime I am not, I am proving to be a little less great and noble than those around me. On the other hand, I can't do anything about the parking ticket except pay it and try not to get another one. And every parking ticket, speedbump and obstacle I encounter is a sure sign that I am destined to be more than I am today. As long as life is difficult, I have room for improvement.
Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many noble and great ones;
And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou was chosen before thou was born.
The first time I read this I imagined that I would one day become a ruler and show myself to be one of the noble and great ones. A fourteen year-old pipedream. A rereading helped me see that the people who rule us are not our rulers by chance. They are given the difficult roles of leadership because they are innately noble and great and the only way for their time in this world to be as challenging as ours is if the stakes they play for are ever so much higher than ours. I am content not to play for those stakes. I no longer strive to be a leader. But that doesn't mean I do not strive.
You see, if we accept that though we are all equal before the law, we are -not- all equal in ability then it only makes sense that along with the noble and great ones there were a few pretty noble ones and pretty great ones. And a few not so common, and not really average ones. This means that if I do not strive to be a leader, to set an example and to live my life the best that I know how, I will not be living up to my potential. And the more difficult it is for me to succeed, the greater and more noble my person, and the more obligated I am to strive.
This is why I do not regret the mistakes of my past. This is why I forgive those that transgressed against me, and this is why I will beat myself up more for being rude to a stranger than for getting a parking ticket. I know I can be a better person, anytime I am not, I am proving to be a little less great and noble than those around me. On the other hand, I can't do anything about the parking ticket except pay it and try not to get another one. And every parking ticket, speedbump and obstacle I encounter is a sure sign that I am destined to be more than I am today. As long as life is difficult, I have room for improvement.