Something that isn't about anger! Whoo hoo!

Sunday 29Nov09 – How impressive the human body is! I was reading in Wikipedia about Genomes, naïve T-cells, negative T-cell selection, and other things, and I thought ‘How incredible, literally, is the fact that the human body will be able to do things like store DNA inside of cells, be able to keep one safe from infections after only one exposure to a disease, and that the body will do the best it can on any sort of food that we give it: the food may either still be alive and whole, or it may be cooked, irradiated, denatured and/or toxic, and the body will do the best it can!’ True, if we put sub-standard fuel into ourselves we will have many problems, but just the fact that a person could conceivably live 50+ years on non-living food and still exist is truly amazing.

            And then I thought ‘How much better will our lives be if we choose to eat living things, and reduce the amount of cooked food we eat?’ The body, I think, would hardly know what to do with itself. Probably the body would help one to lose weight because it wouldn’t have to deal with the toxic byproducts of metabolizing non-living food, and could thus continue removing the excess weight that most of us carry. I think this process is called the ‘elimination cycle’, and it is tasked with removing all the ‘crap’ that is left in our body after we eat. The sad part is that it is limited by how much activity we get and the amount of time it has in a day in order to work: usually 8 hours. The analogy I have heard, and that I really like, is that the elimination cycle is like a person tasked with shredding 20 boxes of paper (toxic byproducts of metabolic function) in a normal workday. If everything goes ‘normally’ the 20 boxes get shredded and life is OK. If we, by what we eat or drink, add more than 20 boxes to our ‘pile’, say 21, the body stores that excess ‘box’ as fat in order to try and get rid of it at a later opportunity. The really bad part is when we consistently add boxes to our pile and never give the body or the cycle a chance to get rid of its excess: it is constantly overworked and the toxic buildup increases steadily as we continue to add to our pile. Is it any wonder that so many people suffer from poor health as they are not exercising, thus not giving their lymph nodes an exponentially-increased chance of processing toxins, and are constantly eating more than they should or need and at extremely poor times (thanks, Taco Bell and your 4^th Meal garbage!) ?

            The great part is that as soon as the body has the chance, it will start to deal with the excess boxes we have stored! If we only contribute 19 boxes in a day, the body will take the shortfall and process 1 more box of our excess in order to make up the difference! Thus, the fewer bad things we add to our system, and if we don’t eat at inopportune times (stopping the elimination cycle in its tracks as energy is diverted from elimination to digestion and adding more ‘boxes’ to our pile), the more our body will help to clean us out.

            I know that this process works! I was 275 pounds before Val and I changed what we eat. As I started to eat things that were better for me and eliminated all animal products from my diet, I steadily started to lose pounds: I lost 50 pounds, without exercising (!), in 2 years. True, it wasn’t a fast reduction, but I didn’t even get out and jog once in order to permanently lose 1/5^th of my body weight. Besides, it was healthier for me to lose the weight slowly rather than drop all 50 in 3 weeks: I put it on slowly, and I lost it slowly.

            If you want more info, email Val and ask about the elimination cycle. I think it is found in one of Harvey Diamond’s books. She knows more about it than I do...

            I’m getting off of my ‘weight-loss/healthier-living’ soapbox now, but I know that these principles (veganism, the elimination cycle) are true, that they work. And thus can work for anyone if they will invest the effort to take care of their miraculous body.

 

            The 3 Witnesses and the 8 Witnesses all testified that the Plates were real, and the 3 testified that they had been delivered from an angel. And even though a lot of these men turned against the Prophet Joseph, never would they nor did they deny or refute their testimonies or statements concerning the reality of what they had seen... As I think about the awesome responsibility of proclaiming eternally to the world the reality of the Book of Mormon, my spirit is in awe of these men and their dedication to the truthfulness of the latter-day work. And yes, some did turn away, but others didn’t, and all stood by what they had seen, felt and heard.

            I have to ask myself: would I be able to do the same?

 

Your Star Wars laugh for the day...

http://www.basicinstructions.net/?p=1277

Man, I talk about anger a lot...

Wednesday 18Nov09– Book of Mormon title page – I didn’t know that this was actually a translation of the first ‘page’ of the gold plates, and that it was written by Moroni. ‘...And now, if there are faults, they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-set of Christ.’       

How often do we think that because something comes from God it must be perfect? Concerning this, I had an interesting conversation with someone here at work last night about how a lot of the members in the Church act selfishly and thus hurt those around them, especially if they are in a position of leadership and thus are able to receive revelation for others. We expect, as members, that those in leadership functions will act altruistically and unselfishly, but forget that they are no further along the path of perfection than we are; or if they are further, it’s only a couple of steps along the path. Sadly, even the leaders of wards and stakes are not above using their influence to affect others.

What I told this person last night was a maxim that I have developed in my relationship with my family: ‘if you realize that everyone (with very  few exceptions), LDS or not, is not logical, but is short-sighted and selfish (‘natural-man’-ish’, then you won’t be surprised and hurt when they act that way; parents, bishops, leaders of any kind are our spirit-siblings making their way along the path of perfection, and some are farther along than others.’ I know this sounds cynical, but it is, I feel, the basis for moving towards godhood.  I feel it even has some charity in it because I don't expect people to act in a way that they probably aren't prepared to act in.

If we are judging people, and their actions, as less than what they ‘should’ be, we are placing ourselves in the spot of Christ and His judgment. The problem is that we can’t know what sort of mental-process is going on and what sort of life experiences have happened to make the individual act the way they do. Only Christ can know those things. All we can see is that their actions are either disagreeable or deplorable, and we are angry because of what we think they ‘should’ have done.

Anger (and its derivatives: annoyance, impatience, intractability and their ilk) is the destroyer of spirituality and makes it impossible to be perfected and purified because we are not ‘full of charity’ and haven’t used that Atonement in ourselves to take away our hurts: our hurts are still there because we have kept the wounds open by dwelling upon them. Anger destroys people’s souls, lives, marriages and relationships. It (hand in hand with its brother ‘pride’) destroyed the Nephite and Jaredite nations and will do the same to anyone unwilling to let go of it.

Finally, how can we be generous to others when we feel that they are mean, uncaring or wrong? We are commanded to be generous and not to withhold our means because we feel/judge that the person is unworthy. So, if a bishop whom we disagree with, &/or dislike, asks us to contribute more to our fast-offerings in order to help those ward members who, perhaps, are not meeting all of their obligations, what is the right thing to do? Simply, to give as the Lord has asked us to give, and He will be able to bless us more. If we seek for the power of His Atonement in order to soften our hearts and to forgive ourselves, He will do so.

Good gifts...

Tuesday 17Nov09) – Moroni10.30 – ‘And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.’ Hmmmm – good gifts...’Gifts’ refers to talents. So, I am commanded to seek out and enlarge my good talents, and shun those bad ones; bad ones being addictions to anger or pornography, laziness or other poor choices, and good ones being a desire to read, a good singing voice, a desire to be helpful, kindness (sometimes, as I am not always kind.  :C ), charity (again, sometimes), a knowledge of the scriptures, etc.

                I have good qualities (actually, I have lots of good qualities/gifts), but my ‘evil gifts’ seem to be so daunting and powerful to overcome that I quail inside to even try. I suppose that this demonstrates my lack of faith, because if I had faith, I would know that Christ will help me and make the surmounting of my obstacles possible, and I wouldn’t be afraid.

                Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who suffers from a lack of faith: it seems like everyone I know goes on merrily through their days , rarely, if ever, voicing doubts about their abilities to rely on the arm of the Powerful One or if they should seek or even receive forgiveness through their repentance...Mine sure is a lonely feeling.

 

Sunday musings...

Sunday 15Nov09  - Joey Rapp gave a talk today about E’ Holland’s conference talk about holding on to the iron rod, and I thought about how one can ‘hold’ on to the rod. Merely reading scriptures seems so...ineffective. It’s like glancing at a paragraph and getting the gist of it, but no application of principle.

                Moroni9.23 – ‘And if they  [the Nephites] perish it will be like unto the Jaredites, because of the willfulness of their hearts, seeking for blood and revenge.’ I wonder how many people anger has killed? I remember Pres. Monson’s priesthood session talk about anger, and that it has a harmful effect upon spirituality. It’s too easy to do things that one will regret when they are angry.

I recognize that I have an anger problem, usually because I feel like I am not listened to, my opinion isn’t valued (or sought) or I am ignored. I dislike all of those things a lot (no, really, I hate those things- I think it is because I try to find out what others think and feel, and I want them to do the same), but that doesn’t mean I have to resort to the ‘last-Nephite’ tendency of trembling because of my anger and hardening my heart. Usually what I decide is best, when I remember to do it, is to go away, off somewhere alone and say a prayer (‘When your heart was filled with anger/did you think to pray...?) and then play computer for a bit. Then I can articulate myself better and I am not in the midst of the firestorm of my rage. And that is probably the best thing I can do for everyone involved.

                I know I have a long way to go, but I try to do better. It’s troublesome to be so easily beset by such a powerful emotion as anger.