Monday, April 28, 2008

"Plato's Allegory of the Cave"

Philosophy is very interesting, but it is also very insignificant.
All Philosophers do is break down questions and arguments resulting only in confusion. A point is trying to be made but then questions are asked, definitions are skewed and nothing is ever concluded. The end conclusion of why Justice or Faith or the Priesthood is real is because it is "good". But what is Good?

Plato came up with a very interesting allegory. The Allegory of the Cave.
Inside a cave are people. They are chained to the ground and it has been this way their entire lives. Behind these people is a high rock wall. The chained people cannot turn their heads to see what is behind them, so their only vision is towards the stone wall in front of them.
On the other side of this stone wall is more people. These people walk back and forth holding statues that reach up over the wall, casting their shadows upon the wall that the chained people can see. The chained people's reality is based upon these shadows and the voices they hear as the shadows pass. As far as they know, this is what's real. The voices and sounds they hear as the people pass come from the shadows.
Beyond the statues is a fire which casts the light to cause the shadows.
Beyond this fire there is a staircase which leads to the outside world. Outside is the sun, the real horses and real trees, etc., etc.

We are in the cave chained to the floor. Our vision is limited to the shadows we see on the wall. The statues (what is in the world) make up these images of what we perceive as real. The fire is the sun.

Take a horse for instance. The shadow of a horse is what our minds have decided a horse is. We see pictures, watch movies, and read books about these animals and make up a reality in our minds about what these animals really are. The statue of the horse behind us is the reality of the horse on this world. The reality being experienced by those who own the horses, they know all the labor and hard work that goes into raising and training horses. They know what the animal is really like.

Beyond our world, though, is a much greater world. We only see shadows and statues, only mere representatives of what truly is. Like C.S. Lewis has said, "Christianity is a world that is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going around the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life."
Moses 3:5 says, "...For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth..."

So, yes, it is true. Plato is correct. There is something much greater, something beyond our comprehension, that is taking place. We are given only glimpses of what reality truly is.

So, we have these theories. We have these explanations of what the world is and why people do what they do. People need this. They need answers. People need to think and come to conclusions for themselves, not just give in to the world around them and base their beliefs upon their immediate surroundings. Each of us are so limited in this aspect. We need to experience, learn, and reason our way to belief.

But why is Philosophy, this concept of reality and wisdom, such an important subject? I understand that people need answers, but what is the purpose when you already know the answers to these philosophical questions? It all parallels almost perfectly with the gospel, but then the gospel takes it a few more steps. So why do we waste our time questioning and reasoning with things we already know? Isn't there something of much greater importance to ponder and to learn?
So many questions of man are answered in the doctrines and teachings of the gospel, so why would we waste our time reading about what man thinks of the issue when we could go straight to the source?
Other aspects of learning, like biology, chemistry, math, and english aren't doctrine and are important to learn. I'm not interested in many of those things, though. I like learning about philosophy and sociology, but a great majority of its content seems pointless.

I'm still sticking to it, though. I like the ideas and maybe if I dig deeper I'll discover things I didn't know before.

Or I'll just write my own theories.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Dungeons and Dragons

Best FHE ever.

We walk in. Lance is sitting on the couch watching TV.

"You guys can have some chips if you want," he says, pointing to an open bag of tortilla chips and a tablespoon of salsa in a gallon sized bowl.

He turns off the TV. We sit down.

Red headed James walks in with his bluetooth earpiece perched comfortably on his right ear. He was wearing it at church on sunday too, except when he blessed the sacrament.

"Whats up, dude?" I say, trying to play it cool. "We brought some cookies."

I throw them on the livingroom table.

"What're we going to do tonight?" Janiece said.

Silence.

I decided to take the reigns.

"Janiece, say the prayer."
She says it.

Aram walks in. He's Mexican. A big one. "Hey guys!" He says on his way to his room.
He walks back out with a recorder and proceeds to entertain us with latin songs. We requested "Green Sleaves". He played that, too.

Mike walks in. He looks young. He is young.
"Hey Mike," we say.
"Hey everyone," he says.

We sit around for a few more minutes listening to Aram's Latin serenade.

Natalie comes up with an idea. "Let's play two lies and one truth!"

Perfect.

We go around the group, each taking a turn telling two lies about ourselves and one truth. The rest of the group would then pick what they thought was the truth.

It's Aram's turn.
"I'm an illegal allien and jumped over the boarder and swam to get here. My car was stolen in high school along with my aunt's ashes which were in the trunk. I wet the bed 'till I was twelve."

His car was stolen with his aunt's ashes.

Lance went next.
"Both my parents are canadian. I broke my arm 3 times in grade school. One time, when I was twelve, my mom put the cat in the washing machine."

All of Lance's were lies.

Mike went after that.
"I have 13 gaming systems. I've been to Alaska twice. I've lived in six different apartments."

He'd only been to Alaska once and he has 12 gaming systems, not 13.

The other Mike came out at this point. "Sorry guys, I was asleep." He took a seat.

We continued playing the game untill everyone had a turn. We got to know eachother pretty well in that 20 minutes.

"Well, what should we do next week?" Natalie asked at the end of the game.

Everyone thought for a moment, then Lance came up with an idea. "I know," He said, "let's all wrap tin foil around papertowl tubes and go to the park. We can have a war; warlocks against the knights. We can sword fight in the park and someone can be the princess we can save. But there has to be rules. If you hit someone in the arm its 5 points and if you hit someone...."

I caught Natalie's eye. Her face turned scarlet red. I couldn't hold it in anymore. This guy was serious, dead serious.

Laughter erupted from Natalie's sweet mouth and I followed immediately with no shame.

He stopped talking and looked down at the table of cookies and salsa.

We kept laughing.

After a good 5 minutes of laughter and shame things finally started to settled down.

It got quiet, but Natalie and I still had huge grins on our faces. "Or..." I said, "we could do something else. No swords."

James took that as his que. He went back into his room returning seconds later with 2 huge swords. Real swords. Metal, sharp swords.

I spent the rest of the night stabbing a kleenex box.

58 minutes after we arrived I recieved a text message from Natalie who was on the other couch.

"Let's go," it said.

2 minutes later we left.

Next monday, 7, Porter Park. We'll all be in dresses waiting for our knights to save us from the evil warlocks.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

discovery

I figured it out.
Attempting to block out certain experiences in my life has caused me to forget pretty much everything.

weird.

I guess that happens to people sometimes.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

"She says Idaho is calling you home"

-The New Amsterdams

Wednesday. That is when I begin my trek back to Idaho.

Before Idaho I'll be going to Portland for Paul & Brenda's wedding.
Friends + Beach + Marriage = AWESOME.

Afterwards we'll be road tripping it back to little Rexburg, Idaho for the summer semester. This semester will probably be the best one yet. I've got alot of goals. It'll probably be my last summer before I head out on a mission for the LDS church.

I've been looking forward to this since I was 12.

This semester will be full of bike rides, flashmobs, bridge jumping, road trips, running, temples, learning, late nights & early mornings, NO caffiene, singing, dancing, etc., etc...

I still have a lot to do before I go. I'm super excited to leave, but I do wish time would decelerate a bit.

Wednesday. Thats when I go, but the adventures start now.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

GUM

This morning I decided to educate myself in the medical field.
I began researching "problems" closely related to malfunctions in my own body and found it very interesting. Slowly, however, interest turned to disgust and fatigue.
The more I read, the more nauseous I became.

I had to get up and walk around for a while. Lamorris (the awesome black lady I work with) was looking at me all crazy like.
I decided I'd better sit down.

Absentmindedly I reached into my purse and pulled out a piece of gum. Not a second after my jaw first clenched together did a surge of melony mint relief permeate through my entire body.

"victory" my body seemed to exclaim.

What was this sweet goodness that saturated my body? What was this liberation? What is this stimulant we call gum?

I. Don't. Know.
But neither does anyone else.

Benefits from chewing gum are known, but most of the causes behind those benefits are not.

The U.S. Armed Forces has supplied soldiers with gum since World War I because it helps improve concentration and relieves stress and tension.
Recent studies have also shown that chewing gum can improve one's mood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum
Gum is clinically proven to prevent acid reflux and heartburn.
http://www.howard-winn.k12.ia.us/projects/ind_study/ac8ind/gumtoo/benefits.html
Gum also has been proven to enhance memory.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2039

wow.

I haven't come across any articles relating exactly to my own experience with gum, but it is definately a note worthy occurance.
Gum is a gift from the gods and I encourage all of you to better incorporate its benefits in your lives. You will be less stressed, your concentration will be improved, and your memory will greatly be enhanced.

Amen.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

So It Begins

A few people told me I should start a blog. I didn't/don't want to, but since I sit at a computer for 8 hours a day with almost nothing to do, I figured it wouldn't hurt.

So what do people write about on these things? And who actually reads them? Not many people care what you say or think in real life so why would they care on the internet?

Yeah, people are faggots. ...Just kidding. I say things sometimes that I don't mean. And by sometimes I mean alot of times. Well, I usually mean things when I say it, I just change my mind every 10 seconds.

Yup. Well, that was exciting.