Today I turned in my application to study at the BYU Jerusalem Center. I got it in at the very last minute (in fact after the last minute, thanks to some kind and understanding office secretaries), not because I purposefully procrastinated (I had my application printed out and was thinking about my essays months ago) but because these last two weeks have been CRAZY! Here are my application essays. Many thanks to Rosalynde and Mama for their help in editing and finalizing them.
Jerusalem Center Application for Admission
Part Four: Student Essays
1.What additional information regarding your qualifications would you like the Jerusalem Center Admissions Committee to consider?
There are three qualifications I wish to emphasize.
First, I am an Ancient Near Eastern Studies (ANES) major.My desire to study in Jerusalem is fueled not only by the unique and life-enriching opportunity it presents, but also by the academic advantages it would provide.My experience in Jerusalem would be a lens to add color and focus to all of my collegiate studies and beyond.If accepted, I know my ability to comprehend and generate ideas so key to ANES would be greatly enhanced.
Second, I love languages.I have studied French for six years and have placed in national competitions. I have begun informal studies in Spanish and German, and I intend to study Danish and Finnish, additionally.I am confident that I would succeed in Hebrew and Arabic. I look forward to the chance to expand my linguistic capacities.
Third, being the ninth of eleven children, I know how to adapt to life in a large group and deal with the stress of living in such an environment. I can’t wait for the opportunity to be part of the Jerusalem “family.”
I hope that these qualifications, among others not discussed here, merit acceptance to the Jerusalem Center.
2.Describe a significant experience in your life that has strengthened your character.
For the last two years of high school, I was sure I would major in Music Dance Theatre.
Being a life-long performer, I could not imagine any other career but show business. I was passionate about Musical Theatre and had many friends in the major, so auditioning seemed only natural. Furthermore, after praying I felt certain it was right. So at the start of my senior year, I prepared for the most important audition of my life. I searched for the perfect songs and monologues, sought advice from MDT friends, rehearsed diligently; and when it finally came, I felt ready. Although nervous, I performed well and was excited about my prospects. I waited with anticipation for my letter of congratulations, but to my profound dismay, I was rejected. It was a deep wound and it took a long time to heal. I questioned everything I had ever thought about my future, my talent, my ability to receive revelation, even God’s love for me. But now I’m grateful for God’s personal intervention. I learned humility, and I gained strength. I learned to trust completely in the Lord and rediscovered buried talents, and that is worth all the rejections in the world.
3.Tell us why you want to go to the Holy Land and the spiritual and educational benefits you hope to gain.
This past conference, I found myself sitting in one of the Temple Square visitor centers examining a row of paintings of Christ, each by a different artist.In a strange moment of epiphany, I realized that we have no idea what Jesus looked like.Continuing in this line of thought, I realized that we know so little about His personality, the dynamic of His relationships, His favorite color, favorite food, and so many other qualities that together define who someone is.
We know so little about our Savior, and yet we are commanded to come unto him and nurture a personal relationship with Him.How can we have this close relationship with Him, when all we have is a loose outline of his life, a list of people he associated with, and fairly small collection of his words?
My principle goal in studying in Jerusalem is to come closer to Christ.I want to get to know Him by learning the language He spoke, walking the roads that He walked, and living in the land He inhabited.I want to experience the sights, sounds, and smells He experienced.I want to understand His life so that He can change mine.
What do you all think?
For your listening and watching pleasure, I have a clip from a Bollywood film Taal, introduced to me by Caitlin Clive. I've been in a Bollywood mood lately, thanks to one of the numbers in Christmas Around the World, and this is one of my favorite songs.
I just finished my first Honors Great Works response. At the beginning of the semester I saw Theatre Mitu's production of Death of a Salesman in the Pardoe Theatre, and I've just spend the last several hours writing about it. It was a great production, and I wish I'd had more than three pages available to write about it (as you'll see, I spent most of my available text discussing Miller's intentions in the play rather than the implications of this very interesting production). Let me know what you think:
Great Works Response: Death of a Salesman
By the age of thirty, Arthur Miller had lived through two world wars.He was born 17 October 1915 and grew up during that strange period between the two world wars.His parents, Isadore and Augusta Miller, were Polish Jews who had immigrated to the United States.Though his father was illiterate, he was a very successful businessman and so young Arthur and his sister Joan grew up in a comfortable up-town situation in Manhattan. His father’s clothing store suffered major losses when the stock market crashed and the Miller family was forced to move to Brooklyn.Then a teenager, Miller worked as a bread delivery-boy to contribute to his family’s finances and, after graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School, took menial jobs to pay for his education.This particular period of his life was very influential later on, especially in the writing of his classic Death of a Salesman.The events of his young life—quickly descending from a well-to-do socioeconomic position to a poor one and so drastically changing his lifestyle to deal with this change—are clearly reflected in his discussions on the definition of success and the nature of the American dream as expressed through his play.
It was at the University of Michigan when he first began writing plays, earning awards for his collegiate work. After earning his BA, he fluttered around working for various theatre companies.He was exempted from military service during World War II because of a high school football injury, and during this time he married and had children.In 1948, he settled in Roxbury, Connecticut and quickly wrote Death of a Salesman, his first masterpiece. His play opened on Broadway 10 February 1949 to much success.He won the Tony Award for best author, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. (Historical information courtesy of Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller>)
This particular production of Theatre Mitu finds itself in a context that is historically similar to the play’s original production and the events in Miller’s life that influenced its writing.The play was originally created soon after a major war.This production was begun in the middle of a major war.The effects of the Great Depression heavily influenced Miller’s writing.The current economic recession turned serious during this production’s rehearsal process, and many real American families are dealing with the same challenges that Miller faced in his youth and that the Loman family faces in the play.Given the globalized nature of today’s world, Theatre Mitu’s choice to use world theatre traditions to tell this story is very appropriate.
Death of a Salesman tells the two intertwined stories of Willy Loman and his son Biff.Through the story of Willy’s death and Biff’s self-discovery, Miller both celebrates the American Dream and mourns its death.In a way, he redefines the American dream and questions a typical American view of success.Half the story is shown in the real-life interactions of the Loman family in and around their New York home, and half of the story is shown in the hallucinations and recollections of the aging Willy Loman.These two means of story-telling reveal the vast distance between the way Willy Loman perceives himself (and those around him) and the way the world sees him.It is through this dichotomy that Miller begins to questions typical definitions of success. The title of the tragedy gives away the ending—Willy Loman dies. But it is not his death that makes this play a tragedy—it is the sympathy that we, the audience/readers, have for this poor old man.Yes, he made mistakes.Yes, he was very delusional by the end of his life.And yet he worked hard every day of his life, he always did what he thought was best for his family, and he was determined to live and provide a good life for himself and his wife and children.We want him to have been successful, and it is fair to say that he was more successful than his colleagues would say.
But it doesn’t stop here.It is through the character of Biff Loman that Miller expresses the new definition of success, or at least the promise of it.Biff’s journey is one of self-discovery and honesty.He was born with his father’s tendency to deceive himself, and throughout the course of the play he learns to overcome this vice.He musters up the strength of character to look at his life realistically and accomplishes a feat that his father never did—he admits that he hasn’t been successful and he accepts responsibility for it.And here is the key to Miller’s message—Biff doesn’t move forward from this point by pursuing the success his father sought—a cushy job making telephone calls to thirty-one states while sitting at home in green slippers.He seeks to create his own success through hard work.And this, to me, is Miller’s message—that success and the American dream are not defined by the ease of life that one can achieve, but what one accomplishes through hard work and internally motivated ambition.
My pre-college life bears many similarities to Biff Loman’s progression as a character in Death of a Salesman.I am the ninth of eleven children, and each older sibling has been very successful in many aspects of life.As a child I was very precocious—full of promise, as was Biff.There came a point, however as I began to mature, that I learned how to be lazy.I became too reliant on my identity as a Frandsen.I was a Frandsen, and Frandsens are successful no matter what.This I knew. What I forgot was that Frandsens are successful because they work hard. Unfortunately, I was not a hard worker, and I quickly fell off of the pedestal of success in my high school years, but I refused to admit it.Though I was not living up to the standards of my older siblings, nor to my own potential, I refused to admit that my performance was lacking, until I couldn’t possibly deny it any more.As I have come to BYU, I have learned, like Biff learns in Death of a Salesman that success comes through hard work and not through the privilege of identity.There certainly have been difficulties, relapses, and obstacles to overcome, as I’m sure Biff faced as his life as a character continued after the end of the play.What matters is that I, like Biff, am much more honest with myself.I’ve developed the humility to work hard and I am committed to stick to it.In my mind, this is success.
Here are some wonderful videos I watched last night. I think the humor is brilliant. Enjoy!
I personally mark the start of the Christmas season as the moment the thanksgiving feast is over (whether that means post-turkey or post-pies is debateable) but I know there are some of you who prefer to wait to begin feeling the Christmas Spirit. Well, it's the first of December and there are no more excuses. I hope you all have your advent Calendars out and are starting to decorate your houses.
I don't have time at the moment to compose something philosophical about the Christmas Spirit/Season, but in the spirit of giving (and because I was in a super-Christmasy mood last night after seeing my friend Julia in A Christmas Carol at Hale Centre Theatre and I had to youtube some favorites), I have some videos to help you all get in the Christmas Spirit, too.
This first set is from the movie White Christmas, which is one of my very favorites ever. These are some musical highlights, but everyone should watch it in full because the story is so great (I can't say the same about some other movie musicals of the time, when you get everything there is to get just from watching the numbers). I wish I could sing like Bing Crosby...
Here's the opening scene, but the most important part is the title song, about one minute and fifty seconds:
Here are two renditions of the same song. I don't think any more explanation is necessary :-)
This is one of my favorite songs in the movie. It has such gorgeous harmonies.
Here's a pretty awesome dance number:
And another:
And yet another (this one's the best):
Here's a ballad:
And another (the second-most famous song in the movie):
And of course, here's the finale. Enjoy!
And here are a couple more videos that I love.
This one is so over the top, and yet brilliant. It makes me smile every time. You'll have to click on the link, because the embedding capability was disabled on this video.
And to finish things off, here's one of my favorite Christmas pop songs, sung by Vocal Point:
I hope that these videos won't just waste your time, but will help start off your Christmas season right.
I love you all, and I can't wait to see some of you in just a couple weeks.
Here is a quick little writeup I did for the latest lecture in my Honors Seminar. The lecture was a preparatory explanation of Mahler's Second Symphony ("The Resurrection") as a prelude for those who were to see it performed by Utah Symphony on Saturday the Twenty-first. My Civilization Professor gave the lecture, and it was fun to hear him speak about a piece that truly excited his passion. I can't wait for next semester when the majority of classes will be devoted to discussing some of his favorite pieces.
The writeup is short (it must be between two hundred fifty and five hundred words) and dwells more on my thoughts of Orchestral music than Mahler himself, but hopefully it will be fun to read. I would love to write an essay on Orchestral Music by itself, expanding upon the things I wrote here. Let me know what you think:
Understanding Mahler
When I think about music, especially instrumental music, I always laugh.I am a life-long musician and music-lover; nevertheless, I find the very prospect of orchestral music laughable.It is the least practical of all arts because it cannot communicate any specific information to an untrained listener.Specific music that has information coded into it (many of Bach’s works contain his musical signature and other symbols communicated by the mathematical and ordered nature of his work) are often characterized by musicians and non-musicians alike to be devoid of emotion and thus meaningless (as a Bach enthusiast, I immediately distrust the qualifications of a musician who feels that way about Bach’s music).Despite this, instrumental music (and music in general) continues to attract many disciples who dedicate their entire lives to its study and creation.
Think how silly it is!Men spend years learning the proper technique to wave their arms around.Students stew and stress over the proper way to breathe—the most intrinsic of human reflexes after the heartbeat.Short tubes of metal and hollow pieces of wood sell for many thousands of dollars.Add about a hundred years of age and some famous fingerprints and those thousands become millions.
Despite the humor and abstraction of it all, it is an undeniable truth that music does have meaning.The physiological effects on the listener alone—increased heart-rate and breathing, release of endorphins, goosebumps, and emotional stimulus, often to the point of tears—are proof of this fact.It is a skilled composer who can choose a subject, determine the meaning of the subject, and then create a sequence of sounds that emotionally communicate that meaning.By this definition, Gustav Mahler was certainly a skilled composer.It was fascinating to listen to Doctor Johnson share Mahler’s own words on the intent of his piece and explain Mahler’s compositional technique in fulfilling this intent.Merely listening to a piece only provides one layer of the work.Background and explanation provide additional layers and deepen the listeners understanding.
Thursday evening, after stewing over the lecture the entire afternoon, I made a trip up to the Music and Dance section of the HBLL and checked out the Deutsche-Gramophon Recording of Mahler’s second symphony.I am excited to listen to it over Thanksgiving break so I can put my new knowledge to fulfilling, if impractical, use.
Here's a video of my good friend Emily Brown performing at "BYU's Got Talent." She got to go up to the Symphony on Saturday night and see it performed, though the story of her adventure up to Salt Lake to see it is comically disappointing (if you're interested, ask me). I met her at Late Summer Honors and was completely amazed the first time I heard her perform. I still can't believe how talented she is, in addition to being very smart and interesting. Plus she likes Finland. For those of you who really like this song (probably Rachel, and hopefully others) she is working on an album to be released on iTunes in the (hopefully) near future. I'll certainly keep you informed. She did some amateur recording (meaning a basic microphone and laptop setup in the basement of Stover Hall on one of the old uprights down there) with my guitarist friend Mike and it was incredible how professional and radio-ready they sounded together despite the shoddy studio setup. I can't wait to hear how she sounds with some more sophisticated recording and mixing. Anyway, happy listening
I'm just on fire tonight with TWO POSTS! I've been giving you lots of my writing for Book of Mormon, so I figured I'd give some writing for Civ. Keep in mind that this is Music Civ, so this writing assignment is fairly informal. Literature is not the focus of this course.
Here are my responses to a couple of questions on Hamlet, which asked me to relate Hamlet to Castiglione's The Courtier and to compare three pairs of characters in roughly the same line of thought. It was interesting to write about. Unfortunately we were limited to one page, ten-point font with permissible but discouraged overflow onto a second page. It was also supposed to be double-spaced, but I single-spaced it because I had so much to say (and yet I feel I've barely made a dent in what I could say on the subject). If I get in trouble for single spacing I'll plead innocent by saying it wasn't on the syllabus (and it's true, it never says anything about spacing on the syllabus). Anyway, if you expand it to twelve point font, double spaced, it's four pages of text, which is pretty hefty for an "informal writing assignment." The writing gets progressively worse as I go along because I was, one, getting tired and, two, running out of space. Still, I think I was able to say some interesting things. Let me know what you think.
Hamlet Discussion Notes
1.Upon commencing our study of Hamlet in my senior literature class, my teacher introduced the seven deadly sins and the great chain of being, two sets of theology and philosophy that greatly affected the ethics and morals of Elizabethan England.She explained that in Hamlet, all seven deadly sins had been violated by the climax in act three, and the mishaps in and out of the court could be explained by the imbalances in the great chain of being that came as a result of these violations.Though she never introduced the influence of Castiglione’s The Courtier on the construction of Hamlet, it certainly fits into this same line of thought. Shakespeare so brilliantly took a well-known set of ideals and deliberately twisted it to illustrate the ill effects of the perversion of what’s right.
The ideal of platonic love is a perfect example of a virtue that is perverted in the course of the play.Platonic or courtly love of course means the chaste devotion that a courtier would show to his lady love, which was often the queen, but could include any lady of the court.Though sexual relationships obviously existed within an ideal court for the purposes of procreation, the generally pious society of medieval and Renaissance Europe typically saw overt expressions of sexual desire or overt manifestations of sexual sins (i.e. incest) to be inappropriate and contrary to the code of a good courtier.The marriage of Claudius and Gertrude is an overt violation of this code.Hamlet complains of his mother’s “most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets” and was correct to declare that “it is not, nor it cannot come to good” (I, ii, 156-158).Despite the blind eye that the court and the subjects typically pay to the indiscretions of royalty, the marriage of Claudius and Gertrude was definitively incestuous.Additionally, the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia certainly crept over the line of courtly devotion.Though it is never stated outright, several passages indicate a sexual relationship between the two.In Act II, scene ii, Polonius confronts Hamlet in an attempt to comprehend the beginnings of his feigned madness.In a series of loaded insults, Hamlet indicates that Ophelia might be pregnant.Much later, in Act IV, scene v, Ophelia recites sexually loaded rhymes in a fit of pre-suicidal madness brought on by Hamlet’s rejection and her Father’s death.It is no coincidence that, in her mad state, her sexual relationship with Hamlet is the source of much ofher distress.She cries out, “ ‘Before you tumbled me, You promised me to wed,” which promise was obviously broken (IV, v, 62-63).This, too, is a clear violation of one of Castiglione’s ideals.
The violation of courtly love is just one of many ideals that are broken in Hamlet. Shakespeare’s purpose in these perversions is clear; by so overtly demonstrating the violation of well-known social codes, Shakespeare is able to communicate the consequences of such actions.The use of ideas from Castiglione’s The Courtier is one of many means by which Shakespeare made a story set in Medieval Denmark accessible and poignant to millions of English speakers in his time and ours.
2.Hamlet and Claudius make an interesting pair to analyze because each possesses certain qualities which were praised by Castiglione while hiding vices that would be publically criticized.Furthermore, the virtues of one are lacked by the other.Were the characters to be somehow spliced together, an ideal courtier might well emerge.Two of Hamlet’s virtues are his education and his sense of justice.In Act I, scene ii, when he is first introduced, we learn that he recently returned to Elsinore from his studies at the University of Wittenberg, a well-respected medieval university.His education is proved with a heavy injection of word-play and cleverness in his conversation with Gertrude and Polonius.His command of language and use of logic transform his aggressive banter from feisty to formidable.Hamlet’s sense of justice is another admirable quality (after the Castiglione model).Though frightened by the task, he readily accepts his father’s ghost’s charge to exact revenge upon Claudius because he believes it is just.Though often excruciating, his hesitation to perform the deed is justified by his insistence on exacting revenge in a way that will adequately satisfy the demands of justice.For example, in Act III, scene iii, Hamlet gives up a perfect opportunity to take his uncles life because he finds him praying.Hamlet, knowing that death-while-praying sends a soul straight to heaven, hesitates yet again to insure that Claudius not only suffers death, but also eternal damnation as payment for his crime.One of Hamlet’s vices is his caution to the point of cowardice.A good courtier needed to be bold, direct, and competent.Hamlet philosophized his way out of action one too many times to merit those compliments. By contrast, Claudius is very direct and forthcoming.In his outward behavior (with the exception of the whole murderer thing), he is the perfect politician.He is well-spoken, charming, socially connected, and persuasive.He is a generous host (he invites and welcomes Horatio, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern) and even a patron of the arts (he readily opens his doors to the traveling theatre troupe in Act III).On the other hand, he has no sense of right and wrong and ruthlessly pursues the object of his greed (hence fratricide and incest for the sake of the crown).The unusual way in which Hamlet and Claudius complement each other makes the warlike dynamic of their relationship all the more powerful.
The contrast between Horatio and Polonius is also very telling of the perversion within Claudius’ court at Elsinore.Though the two are basically equal in rank and social standing, Polonius is somehow much more respected despite his utter lack of merit.The only viable reason for his comparatively respected position is his age.Horatio is perhaps the most honorable character in the play.He is educated, he is competent, he is considerate, he is humble, and he is committed to what is right.He’s even patriotic, traveling hundreds of miles from Wittenberg to Elsinore just to pay proper respects to the late Old King Hamlet.Polonius, on the other hand, is just a bumbling old man who has found himself in a position of decent authority.He is controlling, selfish, and incompetent.There is nothing charismatic or redeeming about him.Shakespeare came along just several decades after the glory days of Pico della Mirandola, who received great respect and admiration in his youth because of his achievement and merit.Being familiar with Humanist super-stars like Pico, Shakespeare was certainly developing the perverted model of a court by giving meritless Polonius precedence over the honorable and admirable Horatio.
In examining Gertrude and Ophelia, many parallels emerge.Both are guilty of sexual sin (Gertrude committed incest by marrying Claudius and Ophelia committed fornication by sleeping with Hamlet), both are used as political pawns (Claudius uses Gertrude to obtain the crown and Claudius and Polonius both use Ophelia to bait Hamlet as they try to bring him down), and both are torn by conflicting loyalties to significant men in their lives (Gertrude is torn by her maternal relation to Hamlet and her marital relation to Claudius and Ophelia is torn by her filial relation to Polonius and her romantic relation to Hamlet).The internal struggle caused by these conflicting loyalties was traumatic to both, and yet neither could ever take a side, despite the intense hatred the men bore for each other.The combination of Hamlet’s rejection and her father’s death drove Ophelia to insanity and suicide in Act IV, and in her ravings, the anguish associated with both crises was manifest.Gertrude reacted to this dilemma by turning a blind eye to the flaws of both men and ignored the dangerous tension between them up until the moment of their mutual murder.The result of this conflict was common to both women: death.
The unique dynamic of each of these three pairs is indicative of Shakespeare’s intent to compare the ideal with the perverse in Hamlet.
My T.A.'s have been scolding me for not adequately supporting my ideas, so I tried to give more evidence here. Do you think I did a good job of giving textual evidence? I know there are only three quotes, but the rest of it is chock full of references to plot, often giving citation to act and scene. It's hard to give meaningful quotes when the questions are so general and the space to write so limited. Plus Hamlet is a play and it's hard to find meaningful quotes (for relationship analysis) when the entire text is dialogue. Tell me what you think.
As long as we're in the line of Shakespeare, here are some fun videos:
This is a video of Bob Fosse and Carol Haney dancing in the film, Kiss me Kate. This is some of Fosse's earliest recorded choreography, and even in his youth, his choreography was pretty revolutionary. I wish Youtube had the full number so you could see the contrast between this segment, which was Fosse's choreography, and the rest of the dance, which was choreographed by Hermes Pan. The difference is amazing (though Pan's choreography is charming and enjoyable, it was certainly not revolutionary). I really recommend checking out Kiss me Kate from your local library. It's a fun one. "From this Moment On" :
Here's another number from Kiss me Kate, this time from the West End production of the 1999 (don't quote me on that date) Broadway revival of the show (meaning the show was revived in New York, and then a production with the same sets, costumes, orchestrations, choreography, lighting, a few New York cast members, et cetera opened in London a year or so later) which was professionally taped and televised. The song goes from the end of the first video to the beginning of the second video. There's a funny scene before the song for those who are interested and/or have the time, but for those who don't, the song begins roundabout two minutes and fifteen seconds. "Always True to You in my Fashion" :
The music and lyrics are by Cole Porter. Don't you think he does a good job emulating Shakespeare in his wordplay and content? I think so.
Lots of Love, --Christian
P.S. Don't forget to read the post from earlier tonight! Just scroll down a little more. It contains my latest insight paper.
Hey Readers, I'm sorry for the long absence. Life is busy; here's an insight paper:
Insight Paper the Fifth
Mosiah 28: 3-4:
3Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.
4And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them; nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities, suffering much and fearing that they should be cast of forever.
Because I am a very young freshman (I’m still seventeen), my mission is more than a year away.And yet, seeing many of my friends receive their calls and paying more attention to the letters that my older brother writes from his mission in Switzerland, my mission feels very close upon me.Each time I think about it, the magnitude of responsibility born by a missionary becomes increasing apparent.Though I have faith that I will be able to magnify that responsibility when the time comes, I feel sufficiently inadequate that I’ve stepped up my preparation.I’m trying to improve in all aspects of my life so that I am well prepared to serve an honorable two years.
One such aspect is the ability to maintain the right attitudetowards everything, keeping an eye single to the glory of God.It saddens me to hear about missionaries who lose perspective and go about the work with the wrong attitude, refusing to work hard, seeking their own glory and recognition, or adopting any other prideful attitude.They forget the Lord’s reasons for missionary work.
The sons of Mosiah are great examples of missionaries who kept the right attitude and proper perspective in their service.I am inspired by the fervent love they bear for their fellow men and the complete gratitude they give to the Lord for his mercy and forgiveness.Their motives are so pure and righteous.Having suffered the misery of sin themselves and experienced the joy of the atonement so acutely in their own lives, their compassion is such that they are willing to give fully of their own time and talents to help others avoid the pain they felt.Their Christ-like love is amazing.I am trying to learn such charity myself.
Most importantly, they are humble.Pride seems to be the cause of most maladjusted attitudes among missionaries, but the sons of Mosiah have stripped themselves of pride.They are constantly aware of the mercy that has been shown them and they never forget the gravity of their past sins.They understand the power of the atonement and have humbled themselves before the Lord.Because of their humility, the Spirit was able to “work upon them,” communicating to them the sweetness of forgiveness and increasing their abilities.The presence and power of the Spirit was the source of their enormous success. The Spirit only came through their righteous and humble attitudes.In the coming thirteen and a half months, I pray that my efforts to prepare will help me to become like the sons of Mosiah, and more importantly, like my Savior Jesus Christ, full of love and humility.
I'm going to try to do a better job of posting. You ought to get some good morsels during Thanksgiving break, which is coming up! I can't believe how quickly time is going by.
Here's a song that I really really really like. The music video is interesting. The beat and chorus are amazing:
This is my second insight paper for Book of Mormon. I had a lot of fun writing it and I had more to say, but I'm not supposed to exceed two pages (I did bleed a little on to a third...don't tell Brother Merrill). Maybe we can get a comment thread started to discuss the further implications of the passage. Enjoy!
Insight Paper the Second
Alma 5: 59-60:
59 For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out? Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy them.
60And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.
I loved the two consecutive conference addresses on the changing and the softening of the heart. I have often thought about those talks over the past two days. I was not surprised to find myself reading through the fifth chapter of Alma in search of a passage for this paper. I was, however, quite surprised to notice these verses, which had never seemed as significant as those earlier in the chapter which deal more explicitly with the topic of a changed heart. Nevertheless, I read these verses, reread them, and put down my Book of Mormon, intrigued but puzzled by these verses that seemed so unrelated to the original theme of Alma’s discourse.
The cause of my confusion was the role of the “ravenous wolf” that Alma speaks of in these verses. My initial interpretation was that the wolves were wicked men in various degrees of disguise (who can read these verses without thinking of the fable of the wolf in sheep’s clothing?) who enter in among the children of God and attack them spiritually, drawing them away from the safety of the flock. The charge drive these wolves out of the flock, indeed destroy them if possible, disturbed me. After all, the majority of wolves under this definition are people outside the church who are usually very nice and often full of good intentions. They can certainly be dangerous, but they are dangerous only in their ignorance. They don’t know the truth, they are only acting on what they believe to be right.
Can you understand my confusion? Aren’t we supposed to treat these “wolves” with love? Haven’t we also been commanded of the Lord to reach out to them and invite them into the fold? Driving them out and destroying them hardly seemed to me a act of charity, and why would Alma, in his discourse on a mightily changed heart, include two verses about sheep and wolves? Furthermore, if we are the sheep according to the metaphor, how is that we are to drive out the wolves?
In my efforts to understand, I thought and I prayed and I thought some more and I was on the verge of calling my Seminary-Teacher-Mother when I had an epiphany. The wolves in these verses are not people at all, but temptations! These ravenous wolves are the sometimes subtle and sometimes blatant influences of Satan that stealthily creep into the hearts of the children of God. They are unclean thoughts, addictions, jealousies, grudges, and all other manner of temptations that, if acted upon, consume even the most valiant spirits. This new interpretation of one word brought order to the whole scripture. The well-intended but misinformed people whom I initially thought were the wolves of the story are only other sheep who have already been carried off by the wolves. God is no respecter of persons—he would not designate some of his children as sheep and others as wolves.
Furthermore, the question of why we as sheep are commanded in verse sixty to “suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among [us],” is clearly answered by this new interpretation. If the wolves are temptations, then it is a matter of agency to drive them out. In choosing to act upon the enticings of the spirit over the temptations of Satan, we drive out the wolves. The Lord cannot do this for us because he will not take away our agency. And how do we destroy the wolves? By undergoing a mighty change of heart so that we have no more disposition to do evil! Alma was not straying from his theme, he was explaining another facet of it and connecting it to other gospel principles by way of a common metaphor, reaffirming the unity of the gospel and strengthening our protection from the ravenous wolves that seek to destroy us.
Again, it will likely be a while before I can post again. I'm rather busy, but I will try to make more time for blogging.
Here are two videos. The first is a song from Myths and Hymns, a song cycle by Adam Guettel that I recently listened to (I mentioned this in my family letter). Brilliant to say the least. The second Billy Porter's rendition of Beauty School Dropout from the 1994 revival of Grease. Billy Porter has one of the most incredible instruments I have ever heard (and he was the original singer of the song in the first video, which is why I'm including him) so enjoy it :-)
Dear Readers, The title of this post means that I'll be disappearing back into blogger obscurity for a while after posting this, but because I have been absent for so long, here is the first insight paper I wrote for my Book of Mormon Class. Enjoy!
Insight Paper the First
2 Nephi 31:19-20:
19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
If I were to bear record of my sensory experience of these past two days with a list of adjectives, such a list would include “sluggish,” “sedentary,” “foggy,” “lazy,” “heavy,” et cetera. The weather has been gorgeous, and I am aware of that, my classes have been interesting and I am aware of that, and I have been working steadily, but for whatever reason I have felt mentally motionless since Monday morning. I feel like I have lost momentum in my studies and that some sort of weighty haze has descended upon my mind. While leafing through my Book of Mormon in search of a passage to discuss in this paper, these two verses, marked in red, likely brought to my attention years ago in a fireside or on an early morning in seminary, took on especial significance for this moment in my life.
Two words, a verb and an adverb, found great relevance in the context of these recent days: “press forward.”I liked “press” because it indicates some sort of resistance. To press something requires some sort of force. It requires difficulty. It requires something to press into or through. “Press” is an active verb, and active is just what I need to be right now to “press” through this mental fog. I liked “forward” because it indicates motion and direction. I want to move forward in my life, but for the past two days, the natural man in me has wanted just the opposite—to stay put. But in this gospel, and in life in general, one can’t just stay put. Putting these words in context, the strait and narrow path is not straight, nor is it flat. It’s an overgrown, slippery mountain trail. Staying put really means sliding backwards. To progress, one must hold tight to the rod, and climb with great effort, pressing away through the overgrowth. In my experience, the path of righteous living isn’t easy. Those occasions when I think it is easy are usually those occasions when I need to work harder.
So how does one press forward, despite the obstacles (in my current case, this mental fog and inertia that has been with me these two days) without giving into discouragement (as I have oft been tempted to do these past two days—thankfully I haven’t given in yet and don’t plan to in the future)? The answer is in the verse. We aren’t commanded to simply “press forward,” we are commanded to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men…feasting upon the word of Christ, and [enduring] to the end.” What we must never forget, and what I (thankfully) haven’t forgotten over the last two days, is to enjoy the journey in its difficulty. Though the trail is steep and strenuous, it is beautiful (when we can see it). As long as we continue to press forward, the light of Christ will illuminate wonderful things along the path (much prettier than any primroses we could see on another, easier path). I’m so glad I rediscovered this verse. It is the perfect piece of advice for this time in my life and any time in my life.
Here is something I LOVED when I was young:
I want to watch this movie at Thanksgiving or Christmastime. Listen to the last phrase and the last note--the technique is perfect and the performance exhilarating.
--Christian
P.S. I was cast as Nephi in Savior of the World (A major annual production in the Conference Center) but I had to turn it down. It was so hard to say no. Hopefully I'll be just as favorably cast when I audition in the future.
Hey Everyone, It's been a while since I've posted! I'll get better, I promise, but this past week was rather busy. Here's a little piece I wrote for my Music 161 (group voice) class, in response to a Brigham Young passage. I'll type out the passage first, and then my response:
"Strengthen the Hands of Your Fellow Beings" Brigham Young
If you feel evil, keep it to yourselves until you overcome that evil principle. This is what I call resisting the devil, and he flees from me...When you are influenced by the Spirit of holiness and purity, let your light shine; but if you are tried and tempted and buffeted by Satan, keep your thoughts to yourselves--keep your mouths closed; for speaking produces fruit, either of a good or evil character...You frequently hear brethren and sisters say that they feel so tried and tempted, and have so many cares, and are so buffeted, that they must give vent to their feelings; and they yield to the temptation, and deal out their unpleasant sensations to their families and neighbors. Make up your minds thoroughly, once for all, that if we have trials, the Lord has suffered them to be brought upon us, and he will give us grace to bear them...But if we have light or intelligence--that which will do good, we will impart it...Let that be the determination of individual, for spirit begets spirit-likeness; feelings beget their likeness...If then we give vent to all our bad feelings [and] disagreeable sensations, how quickly we beget the same in others, and load each other down with our troubles, and become sunk in darkness and despair! ...In all your social communications...let all the dark, discontented, murmuring, unhappy, miserable feelings--all the evil fruit of the mind, fall from the tree in silence and unnoticed; and so let it perish, without taking it up to present to your neighbors. But when you have joy and happiness, light and intelligence, truth and virtue, offer that fruit abundantly to your neighbors, and it will do them good, and so strengthen the hands of your fellow beings.
Journal of Discourses, 5: 351-352
And now my response:
Good Fruit
This is one of my favorite quotes from Brigham Young. When Randy introduced it to me at YASE camp 2008, it completely changed my perspective on the healthy expression of feelings. While I cannot truthfully say that I have fully incorporated the principle of “no bad fruit” in my life, my efforts towards more fully living by it have made me much more positive and much happier. Especially in an environment of performance and scrutiny, which will be the context of this course, this principle transforms the vocal workshop from threatening to supportive. With the added comfort of knowing that one’s fellows are hoping and wanting the best for you comes an increased ability to perform to potential. The spirit can be present and will sharpen our faculties and help us to learn more effectively and permanently. Our voices will grow in their ability to sing praises unto our Father in Heaven.
Furthermore, it acts as a guideline for the kinds of choices we ought to make as performers. We must choose to take part in performances that are good and not evil. We must use our gifts to edify and enlighten others and in so doing we will edify ourselves. If we choose to lend our talents to unworthy performances, then we will be spiritually damaged and those for whom we perform will suffer as well. If we, as performers, truly wish to make the world a better place, we must be very careful the the fruits of our talents are not evil, but good.
Konichiwa, No. The title does not bespeak a post on the cultures of the Asian continent. And it's purely coincidence that I chose to greet you in japanese. The subject of this post is New Student Orientation, or in the the proper BYU acronym, NSO. It has differed from my expectations, and is just not as great as LSH, but has only augmented my excitement to be at BYU. My favorite NSO experiences have been the Convocation, the Tradition of Honor (such a fun performance by YA's and friends about the honor code), The "Education in Zion" exhibit and shirt, and of course all the free food that they have--my Dining plus balance is growing. I missed the devotional this morning because I slept in, but that has been the only real disappointment. Though the Y-serve fair and the information booths were a bit overwhelming when it came to free stuff. I came back to my dorm with more stuff than I wanted and NO COTTON CANDY!!! There was one booth that was giving away free cotton candy, but they ran out of paper sticks just as I reached the front of the line. Plenty of sugar to spin, but nothing to spin it on. By the time I got out a piece of useless paper and rolled it up, they had put the machine away.
Oh but I'm forgetting one thing. The real highlight of NSO has been the moments when I've broken from my Y-group and spent time with my LSH class. I completely proved myself wrong. I thought I wouldn't find my best friends at LSH and I definitely did.
Okay, I'm very tired and I need to be getting to sleep earlier, so I'll close.
Here's a video of a great guitarist I discovered thanks to one of my new friends. It makes me really emotional, especially the beginning:
Hey Readers, This is my third journal entry for my environmental humanities class. I hope these aren't getting boring for you--I just don't have time at the moment to create new posts, but I want to keep you updated and I figure that publishing my work is a good way to do that. As a disclaimer, I'm aware that many of these sentences are far too long and that this whole piece is very self-indulgent.
Nature is full of profundity. Anyone even basically familiar with biology knows that the amazing intricacy and variety that we see in the plants and animals around us are just the decorative wrappings on a box full of wonder. Vital processes occur every second on scales much larger and much smaller than our mortal minds and especially our naked eyes could ever fully comprehend. Snatches of eternity are everywhere, though by seeking to snatch them, we often cause them to lose their meaning. Just as we can't force God to give us the very answer we want at the very instant we ask for it, we cannot coerce Nature into opening its windows to infinity. By luck, serendipity, or the grace of God (I'd put my faith in the last one), we are blessed every once in a while with an opportunity to gaze through those windows. Sometimes we are allowed to peer through for many minutes, but all too often we are only granted a fleeting glance.
It took me much longer than an introductory paragraph to identify just such an experience, but after sorting through my memories of panoramic mountain vistas, majestic and dizzying cliffs, and picturesque sylvan springs, I settled on a moment I enjoyed a couple of years ago while running. It was a bright twilight. The sun was setting or barely set, but the moon was well-risen. The sky hadn't a single cloud to catch the orange light of the setting sun and the full moon painted the sky a blue that was shockingly bright for that hour of the evening. The temperature could only be described as perfect and a brisk yet gentle breeze cooled my burning muscles. An almost electric energy coursed through the air and the trees and the road, giving spring to my stride and vigour to every breath. Perhaps my brain had released one too many endorphins, but as I ran under an opening in the canopy of roadside oaks, I looked up at the moon and was jolted by a flash of sudden clarity. Without any effort and without any warning, I was overcome with perspective. I saw the moon, not as a pretty painting that moves across the ceiling which I scientifically knew was really a cratered ball of sand and glass orbiting Earth thousands of miles away [side note--this sentence was really weird--I'm not going to change it right now--I tried to speak to the fact that while I know the moon is a real celestial body, it often looks visually two dimensional to me, and because that's how I see it and I'm such a visual person, that's how I conceptualize the moon emotionally--like a two dimensional painting], but as a heavenly orb--a three-dimensional body created by God with its own path and purpose. In gaining a sense of the distance and scale of the moon, I comprehended the size of the Earth beneath my feet and I could feel the joy of my soul and the light and power of Christ extending through and past the stars (though none were visible) and into the vast expanse of endless space. Immediately I understood my own nature and my own spacial insignificance. It was at once humbling and empowering to come to know myself as both an infinitesimal speck and a child of God with divine and infinite potential. I could see my path in front of me, and I don't mean that windy road in the upper hills of Flintridge. Though emotionally and spiritually staggered, I ran on, gazing to heaven-wards when I could and near tears.
Surprisingly, this moment has stayed vividly in my memory. I know I have had many other such experiences, but for a reason unknown to me, the details fade, leaving warm memories of deep emotion and a gap that I physically and spiritually needed to fill. It seems that once we are aware that the veil has thinned, it is too soon and too cruelly drawn back into place. I don' know why this one moment has remained with such tenacity, but I am grateful. It is present enough to save me from discouragement, but mysterious enough to lure me back to nature in hopes that the curtains will be drawn back and I'll find the windows open.
Here is a group I was thinking about today. They are called Amina and they are from Iceland (according to the Clives, who are fairly reliable with their music information) and I love their minimalism:
Here is my second college writing assignment. It's the second entry in my nature journal, to follow the previous essay I posted. It is written in response to a piece we read by Wallace Stegner--"The Sense of Place"--excerpted from his book Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West. It was a great bit of writing to read.
In a political and intellectual setting where the seemingly vast majority of environmentalist or environmentally-concerned writers focus dramatically on the cruel human impact on the environment and charge us to minimize or even eliminate our presence in it, it is interesting and rather refreshing to read the ideas of a writer who believes that the only way to really appreciate our respective corners of the world--in this case the environment--is to cause some sort of an impact upon it. A gentle and loving impact, yes, but an impact nonetheless. Stegner's essay not only provided much desired refreshment (the bitter taste from my study of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring still lingers even after a year and a half) but resonated strongly, as well. There is a part of me that is hopelessly and idyllically romantic and longs for the small rural towns of Frost and Wilder or the heather and heath of Burns and Yeats. These places' contented coexistence with the surrounding land--the mutual belonging whose praises these poets sing--is much to be desired. There, the types of growth that were (perhaps it's overly-optimistic to use the present tense) chiefly sought were growth of character and growth of garden (the word "crop" is so much less poetic than "garden"). Concerns of social mobility and economic (over)growth were of lesser importance. Selflessness triumphed over selfishness there, in those beautiful places.
Living my entire life in Southern California, a region whose culture fully embraces and embodies the concept of constant movement and motion, I understand what rootlessness can mean. Even as I lived there, I often felt that, with my busy schedule and my focus on abstracts (like the future) rather than concretes, I, too, was displaced. The process of packing and moving here to Provo proved otherwise, that in the little town of La Ca(imagine and n with a tilde here)ada, nestled in the foothills, I had found a place for myself. The unearthing of childhood treasures and the knowledge that every walk through the neighborhood or drive through town brought me closer to my last opened the floodgates on a reservoir of memories, good and bad, that I had saved away. Books, chairs, and street signs all symbolized the thoughts, feelings, and adventures of my seventeen and a half years of living.
Does this transition to college life hundreds of miles from my childhood home leave me without a place to call my own? No, it leaves me with a place under construction, if you will. I am a very lucky freshman. I am the eighth child in my family to attend BYU. I saw BYU for the first time just a couple months before my first birthday. Multiple visits a year followed that first trip every year without fail. It was so much a part of my early existence that I can't even remember when I first gained an awareness of it. Nearly every corner of campus conjures up images of long afternoons with my siblings in the Bean Museum while my mother ran errands, or exciting visits to the Eyring Science Center where I played wit hthe air cannon and tried and failed to comprehend the magnetic pendulum that swings in one direction independently of the rotation of the Earth (I still don't get it). More recent and fresh are my experiences at BYU camps where I lived on campus for five days periods and learned what the university meant and strove for. I have met my best friends at these camps (or rather these yearly sessions of the same camp--the Young Ambassador workshop). I have witnessed the first performances of songs written about BYU. I have listened to campus legends fact and fiction. My friends will fill in for my family and the dorms will substitute for my house, but there is nothing substituted or temporary about the fact that BYU is home to me. SO while I have much more of BYU to see and experience in the approaching years, BYU and I already share that mutual belonging--that sense of place.
That's all that I wrote back on Friday night. I may add more later to focus more fully on my place in nature. Lots of the choices may seem strange, but if you can read that piece by Stegner, it will make much more sense.
Today, my friends and I were talking about public comedy stunts, like the European train station that played stage to a mass-choreographed number from The Sound of Music. Here is another similar number that was performed at Disneyland earlier this summer. Yes it is authentic. My friend Alyssa is the curly brunette who enters the screen from the left at three minutes and forty-three seconds, wearing a dark read half-sweater and cutoff knee-length denim shorts. Isn't it cute???
Again, this is just a quick update because it is one thirty in the ante-meridian (ought that to be hyphenated, or one word, or two?) and I still have more to do before I sleep. Today was just wonderful. One particularly great part of it was the moving in of the dorm room. At about three something of the post meridian (wow, almost twelve hours ago), Mama and Daddy and Eva and I made many sprint up and down to and from the third floor of May Hall, Helaman Halls, to transport boxes and bags and miscellany from the truck to my room. One thing I can say is that I'm grateful my roommate isn't here until Wednesday. My stuff is taking a long time to organize and began by occupying all of my side and most of his side as well. I've reduced that space by quite a bit, but there is still much more organizing to do and it is nice to be able to do that with the room to myself. Unless Kyle wants my help, I think I'll clear out while he sets up camp so that he can be free to use my side as temporary storage until he can find the proper place for everything. Speaking of having the room to myself, I actually have the whole wing to myself. Except for the RA, no one has yet moved into my wing. So it's almost like living alone in a big mansion with many spare rooms and closets to explore. Okay not really.
Moving into the dorm made college feel much more permanent. I'm really here, I'm really living somewhere other than home, I'm really a college student! Thanks to the much shopping and packing that Mama and others greatly facilitated and aided, my room, even in its disarray, looks great. The blue color scheme is bright but not loud and adjusts to any mood and lighting quite nicely. The closets are beautifully and perhapsa bit crowdedly stocked with my clothes. My desk is a work in progress.
I'm excited to find place for everything, and I'm excited for my camera, printer, and a few forgotten items from home to arrive in the next week. More than that, I'm excited for my college life to really start when all of my new friends arrive.
Here is a dance I learned this evening. The video is campy, but the choreography is awesome. It's just so much fun to do, and I'm a little guiltily in love with the song:
As you can see from the title, I have very little time to post. Class today was much more fun because we examined everything through the glasses of the gospel (not the Urim and Thummim). I felt much more articulate today which was reassuring.
I want to quickly discuss punctuation. Lots can be revealed if you closely examine the punctuation of the scriptures. Here's one insight that came to me last night. There's the phrase in Genesis and elsewhere that man is commanded to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth." I've always been confused by the use of replenish in that setting, because replenish means to refill or replace and the Earth was not full of people when Adam and Eve were placed there. The problem lay in the vocal inflection that most Latter Day Saints take when they read that passage, which totally ignores the comma between "mutiply" and "and" which would indicate that the verbs "multiply" and "replenish" were part of the same clause and therefore grammatically and spiritually linked in one commandment. But there's a comma! The commandment to multiply is completely separate from the commandment to replenish the Earth! Elsewhere in the creation narrative, it specifically states that God filled the ocean and the dry land with plant and animal life. The commandment to replenish the Earth means that when you harvest or take something from the Earth, you must replace it and refill the gap you left. Therefore when you cut down a tree, plant a new one. When you eat a hen, take care of its chicks. I was very excited when I figured that out.
Okay well it's been eight minutes and I am now late for my tour of the HBLL (from which I am writing), not that I really need the tour.
Anyway, I'm out. --Christian
P.S. Here is the postly video. Some of you may have seen it. It's brilliant comedy:
Don't let the title fool you. I'm still so excited for college, but my excitement for Late Summer Honors has waned quite a bit. WARNING: this post may contain a high amount of negativity. Proceed with caution.
I really don't belong at Late Summer Honors. At least that's how I feel at the moment. I shouldn't even be thinking of trying to graduate with honors. University honors is for students who dominated their high school. I didn't. University honors is for students who never struggled academically. I did. University honors is for students who are driven and career-oriented and really really really smart. I'm not.
I haven't really found any great friends yet, or even the potential for great friends. I'm not alone, because I talk to everyone I see but I am very lonely. I just don't fit in with this group.
I try to participate in the discussion but I can't articulate my thoughts. Even my thoughts are unintelligent. I have nothing to contribute. I feel like I'm in Mr. Mohney's class again, with ideas flowing in circles but ultimately going nowhere. The difference is that in Mr. Mohney's class I had some decent ammunition. Here I have nothing.
After sleeping (for three hours) on it, I'm now mortified by that piece I wrote. It's pretentious and shallow and stupid, it doesn't say anything conclusive, and it's generally repetitive. I would delete it, but that's dishonest blogging. I really miss YASE right about now.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll get over it and end up having a great time. I'm doing what I can to listen and learn and I know in the end I'll get what I make of it. And I'll make it great. I'm just off to a rough start. Please pray. I'm praying and I need your prayers, too. Much appreciated.
I've been singing songs from Legally Blonde: The Musical to cheer myself up.
The beginning of the song just about sums up how I feel right now, but hopefully by the end of the week I'll feel more like this:
The beginning of the song is chopped off, but you get the idea.
Guys, I just want to let you know that I'm being melodramatic. It's fun. I definitely felt and feel those feelings, but I know they'll go away and it will be great. I've already made the choice to have fun and on top of that I've decided to forget about the pressure of making good comments or coming up with truly original and intelligent ideas. That does NOT mean I won't do my work, don't worry. It just means I'm going to focus on the positive from here on out. But not quite like this:
I love you lots and I'll come back soon with much more optimistic updates! --Christian
This is my very first college writing assignment. My Late Summer Honors professor asked each of us to write a paragraph or two (in my case about seven) about what nature means to us and to the community/world more generally. I had fun writing it, took some risks, and am fairly proud of it. It's a first draft and I started it after midnight, so it might be terrible in reality. In any case, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I hope I enjoy future writing assignments as much as I did this one.
Here goes:
Etymologically speaking, the word "nature" means "the conditions of birth." Whether in reference to the quality of human character or the physical world we inhabit, "nature" speaks to things as they really are, or originally were, without alteration or modification. Considering that Earth transformed into a completely different world (at least on the surface) during the billions of years between its cosmic creation and the creation of the word "nature," and has continued to change in the hundreds of years between that word's inception and Thursday the twentieth of August, 2009, it's necessary to expand that definition.
Here I must confess to a bit of duplicity. I have two definitions of the word. The practical me defines "nature" as the people around me define it, which definition is complex and manifold in itself. The philosophical me--the opinionated me who lies to get up on a soapbox and preach--has a very different definition. The trick is that my two definitions interact and overlap in my usage of and thoughts on the words. I'll try to minimize the potential confusion.
The first definition fits into the typical conception of the word. Nature is where civilization is not. Nature is good by definition. Nature is simple. Nature is beautiful. Nature is where we can grow closer to ourselves, to each other, or to God (or to any combination of the three) without the distractions of real life (but I thought that nature was supposed to be reality in its purest--can you see the reasons for my split definition?).
The application of this definition is flexible. Nature could be the pristine back woods and alpine peaks of upper Canada. It could be the well-used, drive-in campsite an hour out of the city with several well-marked trails trails nicely paved with other hikers' litter leading out of it to final destinations featuring picnic tables and pit toilets. Or it could be the fenced off zoo enclosures inhabited by "wild" animals and plants indigenous to the animals' original homelands. My heart breaks for those whose only definition of "nature" is illustrated by that last example. The fact is, there is no real application for a definition that means a place where civilization is not. Even the slowly shrinking places where human shoe has never trod are still affected by civilization, however minutely. Insert here one of many examples of animals who have died of toxins released from factories hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
This leads me to my second definition. Nature is not some remote place to which we run or hike or RV when we need to escape from ourselves. Nature is everywhere. Nature is not an inherent good to counter civilization's inherent evil. "Nature" is a neutral word. It is exactly what we make of it. Nature is this big round place that Heavenly Father gave us to use and to keep. It has the potential to be, and usually is, breathtakingly wonderful. And by wonderful I mean words-cannot-express, please-help-me-pick-my-jaw-up-from-off-the-floor, this-is-so-beautiful-I-could-just-kiss-you wonderful. It also has the potential to be unspeakably and disgustingly filthy. But the fact is, nature is everywhere, including the urban heart of "civilization." After all, aren't termite mounds and beehives and birds' nests considered natural, too?
As much as environmentalists of the political extreme would have us believe that humanity is evil and that civilization is causing the death of the environment and of the planet as we know it and that all the animals and trees (which are people, too) would be better off if we exterminated ourselves, we are a part of this world. We belong to it and it belongs to us. Human extinction would cause just as profound, if not more detrimental an impact on the world's ecosystems as the extinction of any of the other endangered species protected by international law. The sad truth is that if any of those species went extinct, the consequences would likely be minimal. It is the most pervasive--and not the rarest--organisms that are the most influential and important. Whether they like it or not, we're here and we're going to stick around.
The application of this definition, and the conclusion of this essay, is a choice. If nature is everything around us, including ourselves, and is neither good nor bad per se, but exactly what we make it, then we must decide what we will make it. Every individual animal has at least a small effect on the world. And we are more than just animals. Each one of us should recognize the impact we individually and collectively have. If we as a race decide to make this Earth breathtakingly wonderful and fully accept responsibility for that decision, then we will each do our part to keep the world clean and free to grow and develop. If this were the case, we wouldn't have to worry about global warming or melting ice caps or holes in the ozone layer. If they happen, they happen and we can't do anything about it but enjoy the warmer weather and work on our tans. We often fail to give the planet the credit it deserves. After all, it is a living, breathing, changing organism with incredible survival mechanisms. As long as we are taking care of Earth, Earth will take care of itself and of us. All I can hope is that we will make that choice to fulfill Nature's potential for good. I hope we choose to hold onto our empty trail mix bags for a few more miles until we can properly throw them away. I hope we choose to pick up someone else's trash and throw it away with out own. I hope we choose to walk and run and ride when we can, so that when we can't, the inevitable exhaust isn't as detrimental as before. If we choose the opposite, I'll be terribly disappointed, but in the end we will only hurt ourselves from the physical effects of inhaling gaseous refuse with every breath we take and the spiritual effects of mistreating our Heavenly Father's creation. It's the meaning we create that matters.
Well there it is! I hope you liked it. By the way, the Sirius Sattelite Radio Broadway station played perfect going away songs for me today, including "So Long, Dearie!" Here's one song that Mama and I especially liked:
All right, it is now after three o' clock Ante-Meridian, and I need some sleep so I can be ready and roarin' for Late Summer Honors tomorrow.
