[This is another thought found among my writings on my computer.]
Very soon after birth we become experts in temporality
There are eternal things, affected by but not destroyed by time:
• each of us - eternal beings
• relationship - there is always a relationship between us – eternal beings
• matter - it is never destroyed, but changed over time. The condition of matter is viewed temporally
• truth - eternal concepts
• space, location - is eternal, changed by temporality
- June 16, 2018
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Non-conformity vs Individuality
[This was written many years ago and newly discovered among files on my computer. The thinking arose at the time from a reaction to a statement of one of my children, self-declared as a non-conformist.]
I see a non-conformist as being a person who overtly chooses to shape his actions to avoid conforming with society, authority, etc. This is an intentional process and could be a process of avoiding conformity merely for the sake of non-conformity.
I take the view of the individualist. I see an individualist as being a person that is not tied to conformity, but one who does not necessarily avoid it. If I choose to conform, it is a conscious choice and one taken because I see benefit in that action. I could just as well choose to not act in accordance with the norms of society. I feel that a non-conformist could easily become an abberant to society, possibly a hermit, a renegade, one who does not fit into society at all. I have strong feelings about loyalty, responsibility and service that would be very difficult, if not impossible to fulfill without some sort of conformity with society. To be able to support a family, to give service to others and to be loyal to family and friends, I must function within society. I feel that I can accept some conformity in order to be effective in using social interactions and structure to achieve my goals.
I feel that honoring my individualistic intentions is not easy. To radically reject society would be easy, as it would be to completely surrender myself to conformity. I must consciously choose when to conform and when not to. I must also be ready to accept any negative consequences of my choices, whether I consider them mistakes or not. Perhaps what I choose to do may eventually be less economical or productive in accomplishing a particular goal, but if I chose to act contrary to societal norms, I can accept myself even though I may receive ridicule from society.
I see a non-conformist as being a person who overtly chooses to shape his actions to avoid conforming with society, authority, etc. This is an intentional process and could be a process of avoiding conformity merely for the sake of non-conformity.
I take the view of the individualist. I see an individualist as being a person that is not tied to conformity, but one who does not necessarily avoid it. If I choose to conform, it is a conscious choice and one taken because I see benefit in that action. I could just as well choose to not act in accordance with the norms of society. I feel that a non-conformist could easily become an abberant to society, possibly a hermit, a renegade, one who does not fit into society at all. I have strong feelings about loyalty, responsibility and service that would be very difficult, if not impossible to fulfill without some sort of conformity with society. To be able to support a family, to give service to others and to be loyal to family and friends, I must function within society. I feel that I can accept some conformity in order to be effective in using social interactions and structure to achieve my goals.
I feel that honoring my individualistic intentions is not easy. To radically reject society would be easy, as it would be to completely surrender myself to conformity. I must consciously choose when to conform and when not to. I must also be ready to accept any negative consequences of my choices, whether I consider them mistakes or not. Perhaps what I choose to do may eventually be less economical or productive in accomplishing a particular goal, but if I chose to act contrary to societal norms, I can accept myself even though I may receive ridicule from society.
The House Without Doors
[This is a memory, written about 3 years ago during a visit to our daughter's family in New York]
It was probably between 6 and 6:30 AM when I heard the music drift through the house. Perhaps "drift" is not the proper descriptive word. The encouraging hymn was sung with love and vigor - "Shall the Youth of Zion Falter?" I lay awake for a while and then dropped back into sleep. It had not been a particularly good rest up to this point, having begun with laying in bed, listening to the wailing of little Elijah - too tired, yet stubbornly resistant to the much needed sleep. This was the only life he knew - the house without doors.
This morning, the frantic, yet productive currents of activity swirled around me at about the same time as the music of yesterday morning. All were about everywhere looking for that book or article of clothing - a determined whirlwind of little bodies and older children grabbing and assembling what they needed for their journey to join the family activities later in the day in Pennsylvania. Other than the few plaintive cries of little Elijah, the undercurrent of conversation and connections was permeated with a love characteristic of this courageous family. The swirl of activity spoke the one message: It matters not that we live in an unfinished house - the physical circumstances that envelope us is but the current abode where we, as a family love, share, learn and grow together - feeling the hand of God shaping each precious life.
October 2016
It was probably between 6 and 6:30 AM when I heard the music drift through the house. Perhaps "drift" is not the proper descriptive word. The encouraging hymn was sung with love and vigor - "Shall the Youth of Zion Falter?" I lay awake for a while and then dropped back into sleep. It had not been a particularly good rest up to this point, having begun with laying in bed, listening to the wailing of little Elijah - too tired, yet stubbornly resistant to the much needed sleep. This was the only life he knew - the house without doors.
This morning, the frantic, yet productive currents of activity swirled around me at about the same time as the music of yesterday morning. All were about everywhere looking for that book or article of clothing - a determined whirlwind of little bodies and older children grabbing and assembling what they needed for their journey to join the family activities later in the day in Pennsylvania. Other than the few plaintive cries of little Elijah, the undercurrent of conversation and connections was permeated with a love characteristic of this courageous family. The swirl of activity spoke the one message: It matters not that we live in an unfinished house - the physical circumstances that envelope us is but the current abode where we, as a family love, share, learn and grow together - feeling the hand of God shaping each precious life.
October 2016
Friday, August 30, 2019
A different mission
So, I have had a lot keeping my mind off writing a blog. It is finally slowing down a little.
Here is a FB post I did on July 10. More after that so keep reading:
I have not said much lately. Life has been very busy. It is like having been retired for 7 years and then suddenly being back to full time work in an office, including many overtime hours. Oh wait, that is really what it is... It has been exactly 7 years since I officially retired and now I am working in a very busy office, putting in many more than 40 hours each week. It is really quite interesting. From the photos in this collage, you see palm trees by the temple (the wonderful place that it is); managing a fleet of cars - having been last week expanded from about 55 to 87 - mainly driven by 18-19 year olds (see the damaged Corolla in the picture - miraculously no one was injured); attending many baptisms, including (as a sample shown) three in Chinese, two in Spanish, a number in English, one in a language of an Arabic speaking country (where the church is definitely not looked upon with fondness), a family from Portugal, etc.; running on at least 8 different programs and web sites to manage cars, drivers, driver safety, incidents (accidents), daily/monthly miles driven, keeping track of countless Pep Boys service receipts, gas credit cards for each of 87 cars (also used by 18 and 19 year olds), and a few other tasks that I cannot think of at the moment; visiting people in our ward here (and loving that); AND trying to keep track of our own finances, family issues at home and in New York, and the pace of life in Southern California . . . . . . . . . Wow, what an experience!
Two weeks ago, we had the blessing of returning home to Utah for the wedding ceremony for our grandson. It was a glorious experience.
Back in the mission, we have been busy with a lot of planned functions, but especially with those unplanned concerns. Last week we had our mission zone conferences and associated vehicle inspections. I was a crazy time. On Thursday we were in Escondido.
Now we are settling in to the routine, which includes the normal vehicle maintenance work, attending baptisms and now Shauna getting into gear for being the head secretary in the office. I am trying to see how we can get by with fewer cars — we are told that we need to scale back our fleet by 9 cars (already having sold 5) — some of those were either office or extra cars due to the mission combination, but now we are getting to where we need to have more missionaries use bicycles instead of cars, or to share cars. We will make it work.
One of our office couples is going home next Tuesday (hence Shauna's move to the main office).
The last couple of days, I actually was caught up enough to not have pressing issues and had some spare time on my hands, so I did some Danish research (which I really love). We just do not get to the temple enough to do the work for all the people I keep finding!
Well, life is good. We love it here and enjoy the people especially.
Here is a FB post I did on July 10. More after that so keep reading:
Two weeks ago, we had the blessing of returning home to Utah for the wedding ceremony for our grandson. It was a glorious experience.
Back in the mission, we have been busy with a lot of planned functions, but especially with those unplanned concerns. Last week we had our mission zone conferences and associated vehicle inspections. I was a crazy time. On Thursday we were in Escondido.
Now we are settling in to the routine, which includes the normal vehicle maintenance work, attending baptisms and now Shauna getting into gear for being the head secretary in the office. I am trying to see how we can get by with fewer cars — we are told that we need to scale back our fleet by 9 cars (already having sold 5) — some of those were either office or extra cars due to the mission combination, but now we are getting to where we need to have more missionaries use bicycles instead of cars, or to share cars. We will make it work.
One of our office couples is going home next Tuesday (hence Shauna's move to the main office).
The last couple of days, I actually was caught up enough to not have pressing issues and had some spare time on my hands, so I did some Danish research (which I really love). We just do not get to the temple enough to do the work for all the people I keep finding!
Well, life is good. We love it here and enjoy the people especially.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Serving in Southern California
Hello everyone,
We are now officially serving in our mission. We are called to the California Carlsbad Mission and began (at the MTC) on the 6th of May and are now in our place in Irvine, California. The Carlsbad and the Irvine missions are being combined on July 1st and they put us in an apartment near the Irvine mission home. As of July 1st, our missions (all of Irvine and a large portion of Carlsbad) will become the Newport Beach mission, named after the temple in our mission.
This is a picture Shauna took of the temple in one of our recent visits there (only about 10 minutes from our apartment).
We arrived in Carlsbad on the 19th.
This is a picture of the office door in Carlsbad (with my reflection in it).
A day or so later, we made it to the beach (in Oceanside).
This is a picture of us on the beach.
So far, we have been visiting both mission offices and learning from the office missionaries there. It appears that our main function, at least for now, is to get acquainted with the process of each office to be able to help our new mission president, President Reeves, and the offices get going as a combined concern as soon as possible in early July.
So far, we have been to lots of office processes, apartment visits (Shauna with Sister Van Aarle) and car inspections (me with Elder Van Aarle), etc. including me helping Elder Okine here in Irvine take in and pick up cars for maintenance issues.
It is interesting that we are in the church directory (CDOL) in the Irvine mission, but in the computer system (IMOS) in the Carlsbad mission, so we are pretty much dependent on accessing our tools through the two couples we are replacing. Even at that, it is not certain how we will end up in our duties. We are flexible and willing to do anything that comes up.
Also a great blessing is to get to know so many of the wonderful missionaries serving here in these two missions. One of the new sister missionaries is from Tahiti, so French is her native language and she misses hearing it. Shauna spoke briefly to her in French and the missionary was so excited to hear it (It also turns our the our president here, President Clark is fluent in French as well). Also, we have a Farsi Group of members (from Iran) and a very vibrant Chinese ward. We attended our first baptism here the night before last and it was all in Chinese, with an interpreter. It was wonderful.
This is a great work and we feel the hand of the Lord in everything.
We are now officially serving in our mission. We are called to the California Carlsbad Mission and began (at the MTC) on the 6th of May and are now in our place in Irvine, California. The Carlsbad and the Irvine missions are being combined on July 1st and they put us in an apartment near the Irvine mission home. As of July 1st, our missions (all of Irvine and a large portion of Carlsbad) will become the Newport Beach mission, named after the temple in our mission.
This is a picture Shauna took of the temple in one of our recent visits there (only about 10 minutes from our apartment).
We arrived in Carlsbad on the 19th.
This is a picture of the office door in Carlsbad (with my reflection in it).
A day or so later, we made it to the beach (in Oceanside).
This is a picture of us on the beach.
So far, we have been visiting both mission offices and learning from the office missionaries there. It appears that our main function, at least for now, is to get acquainted with the process of each office to be able to help our new mission president, President Reeves, and the offices get going as a combined concern as soon as possible in early July.
So far, we have been to lots of office processes, apartment visits (Shauna with Sister Van Aarle) and car inspections (me with Elder Van Aarle), etc. including me helping Elder Okine here in Irvine take in and pick up cars for maintenance issues.
It is interesting that we are in the church directory (CDOL) in the Irvine mission, but in the computer system (IMOS) in the Carlsbad mission, so we are pretty much dependent on accessing our tools through the two couples we are replacing. Even at that, it is not certain how we will end up in our duties. We are flexible and willing to do anything that comes up.
Also a great blessing is to get to know so many of the wonderful missionaries serving here in these two missions. One of the new sister missionaries is from Tahiti, so French is her native language and she misses hearing it. Shauna spoke briefly to her in French and the missionary was so excited to hear it (It also turns our the our president here, President Clark is fluent in French as well). Also, we have a Farsi Group of members (from Iran) and a very vibrant Chinese ward. We attended our first baptism here the night before last and it was all in Chinese, with an interpreter. It was wonderful.
This is a great work and we feel the hand of the Lord in everything.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
A Fun (and blessed) Meeting
My wife and I were in downtown Salt Lake City the other day, meeting with a young man, Andrew, from our mission in New York, along with his mother, who attended the Salt Lake Temple with us. That in itself was a wonderful experience and we loved being with them once more. Andrew is now in the MTC in preparation for his mission service (to the Utah Salt Lake City mission!).
As the proceedings began, one of the officiators in the session looked somewhat familiar to me and as I finally could see his name tag, it was confirmed that he was my high school German teacher, Mr. Vreeken. What a blessed "tender mercy"! I wondered, with the sacred nature of the whole experience, whether I would actually be able to speak with him. As we approached that final step in the process, I was overjoyed to have him be my guide through the last step. Still, it was a sacred experience and the solemn nature precluded my speaking with him, so I just smiled as he finished and I said a quiet, "danke schön" as I moved on.
In the next gathering area, I wondered whether he would be coming through that place as well. After visiting with our New York people for a time, I was excited to see my dear old teacher come through and I made my way to greet him. He was very happy to see me and wished to see my wife as well. We had a wonderful, yet brief, reunion (still in quiet tones befitting the sacred place). What wonderful "tender mercy" blessing!
I had not seen him since graduating from high school almost exactly fifty years ago. I loved seeing him again, especially in that wonderful place.
The Lord blesses us when we least expect it.
As the proceedings began, one of the officiators in the session looked somewhat familiar to me and as I finally could see his name tag, it was confirmed that he was my high school German teacher, Mr. Vreeken. What a blessed "tender mercy"! I wondered, with the sacred nature of the whole experience, whether I would actually be able to speak with him. As we approached that final step in the process, I was overjoyed to have him be my guide through the last step. Still, it was a sacred experience and the solemn nature precluded my speaking with him, so I just smiled as he finished and I said a quiet, "danke schön" as I moved on.
In the next gathering area, I wondered whether he would be coming through that place as well. After visiting with our New York people for a time, I was excited to see my dear old teacher come through and I made my way to greet him. He was very happy to see me and wished to see my wife as well. We had a wonderful, yet brief, reunion (still in quiet tones befitting the sacred place). What wonderful "tender mercy" blessing!
I had not seen him since graduating from high school almost exactly fifty years ago. I loved seeing him again, especially in that wonderful place.
The Lord blesses us when we least expect it.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Touch
Touch
I touch,
yet ripples move
beyond my grasp.
They are,
yet none
precede the flow.
Ere long
the sheen's
restored to glass.
Yet still
I rest
and think I know.
All changes:
Others come and go
and touch
and grow —
together on
we flow
and touch each other.
Until the end
when One
who can and loves,
will touch
to make a sea of glass.
- Joseph F. Buchanan, August 2008
[ up to this point unpublished ]
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