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.
***
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.
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