Walking In The Light

Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterward.

There's something really cool about learning by experience. There are some truths we simply cannot know if we do not live them, first.

I've experienced this...for my entire life. It is truth. There are more than just a few things that fall into this category. Everything we do gives us experience.

But a word of caution to the free spirited mind: there is power in obedience to wise counsel. There are some things that we are asked to do that we reason are not necessary and may even prohibit us from doing things we enjoy. We are asked not to use foul language. We are asked to be chaste outside of marriage, and have complete fidelity in marriage. These are some more universal requests. Do they seem to some as though they might limit our chance to be happy.

These are things to which the words above apply: we cannot know how they will bless and enlighten our lives if we do not live them. If you haven't consistently tried to live in the manner of such things, you cannot know the blessings of them because you have not seen them. The same applies to a faith in God: a Hopi indian proverb states: you have to believe in gods to see them. And it is true. There are many things in this life we must experience in order to understand.

So try it. Do what your parents tell you to do. Do what your heart tells you to do. Those things way down deep that your mind has repeatedly pushed away--they might have value. But you have to consistently, truthfully live them in order to know.

And you don't know it now, but you need to know.

If there is happiness greater than what you have, you would want it right? In theory, you would be willing to give up any happiness you might have now if you knew that you could have indefinite, greater happiness. Well, I know that you can. I can testify of it. Happiness comes with obedience to those things you know, intrinsically, that you should do. Cast aside pride, and fear, and weakness, and charge ahead into a glorious morning that will come from living your live in harmony with the feelings of your heart.

Guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body. From studies in psychology we know what much of what we do in life is focused on a desire to achieve happiness and avoid pain.

Our spirits also seek peace from guilt, shame, and deprivations of the soul. To feel the greatest happiness, both our bodies and our spirits must recieve that which puts them at ease.

So just as you have listened to your minds desires to eat better even though it's not as tasty, to exersize even though it may not be fun, or to refrain from substances that would control your impulses, learn to listen to the spirit when it directs you to seek knowledge, light, and rest from it's pains. Your spirit speaks to you. It wants to be happy. Sometimes we forget that it's just as important that we heed our spirits as anything else in life.

You have instincts for a reason. You may have had experiences in your life that have told you to run, and so you ran. And it may have saved your life.

Listen to the soft promptings of your heart. It knows what it needs better than you do.

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I have experienced in my life the blessings that come from having faith in things I cannot see, from avoiding addictive substances like caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco, from living a chaste life, and from obeying the voice of my heart. These are things I would not have any correct concept of if I hadn't tried them. Learn to obey a commandment to find out if it really works. It's the only way to really know.

So Great A Cause

A great leader never sets himself above his followers, except in carrying responsibilities.

Is your cause worth something to you? It ought to be. If you aren't doing something meaningful with your free time, start doing it. There are SO MANY worthwhile things in this world. Teaching is a huge one. People need to be taught. Donate time, services, talents to even a single person--it may mean the world to them. There are so many lonely hearts that really just need someone to listen to them.

If you find yourself thinking that you ARE one of the lonely hearts, and you have the power to get out of bed everyday, there is a fault that is yours in there. It may not all be your fault, but by going out and caring about others, you will find yourself being cared for in return.

The reward for loving others is being loved yourself. It's true. The most selfless people in the world are the most happy.

Fulfillment of your most central desires comes be trying to help others fulfill their desires, when they can't do it themselves. This is when miracles occur.

There is work to be done, all across the world. Let us forget the luxury lives that we live without pain but also without joy. Opposition brings blessings. Doing things that seem hard are so much more worth it than doing things that are easy, simply because they are easy.

Lift up your heart and rejoice. There is hope yet. The hope is in you. In many ways, you are the hope of the world. Only by your doing something will the world get better, rather than worse.

Live like it's all up to you. Be a hero.

Courage is doing in private what one might be able to do before all the world.

Someone has to wage this war. Let it be you. You are here for a reason.

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Do it.