Many are beguiled by the illusions of youth and the physical qualities of youth amounting to a society obsessed by youth where standards of taste and even the basis of economics are fundamentally ruled by youth. The individual is rattled with anxieties over signs of aging and develops a frantic obsession to look “young.” Youthful never means beautiful.
Youth develops a false sense of freedom and security. Youth is ignorance- a state of immaturity and naiveté- easily impressed upon and rarely makes an impression. Once one escapes youth the mind catches up to the worldly and becomes frightened… and until one finds one’s proper place in society and the possibility of finding the proper place with the self… is anxiety quelled.
For many, the "proper place with the self" is never met and for these individuals, more is the rule and greed is the drive and a youth epitomized by an altered ideal of what could be- a reality where one might forever capitalize on their worldly greed in a state of youthful freedom and security- is the perpetual and self-defeating goal. This is certainly not beautiful. This is ugly.
The closer one becomes in finding the “proper place with the self” one might find what can in truth be called “beautiful,” in mortality. Something that is cultivated and nurtured according to the way it has been designed to develop to its fullest potential certainly shall be beautiful in the greatest sense.
In the same way, the Beautiful might best be realized in the individual as a full realization of who someone is supposed to be, with their full potential achieved, as ordained by God. An individual who has realized their full potential and has nurtured their God given talents and abilities and is the most authentic self they can be, happy and true to reality is a beautiful being.
To alter the aging process, to compete with the illusions and false states of youth, to pollute the mind with a distorted self based upon gluttony and greed, this is not beauty it is ugly. But to nurture the self to be as God willed one to be, in accordance with one's abilities and to maximize on true happiness and success in this life and to mature these gifts and every quality that is established for the eternities is certainly beautiful.
Thank you for the way you have expressed your testimony. There are but a few that will see through the thick cloud placed over society of the carnal misperceptions of happiness. The misunderstandings of the world have set up the majority to never realize their potential. These masking qualities have driven many away from finding true happiness. I love the picture you inserted above. This is what it's all about. I have had my own imperfections and lack of faith. Once I started my now large family was I able to see past all the decaying impressions that have been placed before us. Having been to the temple and knowing that I have the opportunity to be with my family, gives me the realization of the love our Heavenly Father has for us. The false sense that one can beat time and obtain their youth is another means of taking one's direction away from the true path. We have such little time to understand our objective and capitalize on it, to "pollute" our minds with such ugliness.
ReplyDeleteJason,
DeleteThank you for your thoughts and your insights on the gospel and particularly the applicability of this philosophy as manifest in your life on a daily, practical basis. But what is this philosophy? It is essentially the same as the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as practiced in the faith that you and I hold dear... and we may see the blessings of it in abundance when we do make this a reality in our lives. It is a sad truth that the reality of the world... common knowledge, the perpetuation of ideas, popular culture, media, partisan politics, age old polemics of pro this and anti that, a value system and a moral code that is out of alignment with universal standards ordained by God, this is all arbitrary babel self created by humanity itself, whom without the spirit knows not truth. It is a frightening thought to think of how far reaching this extends into society, but we can be grateful for the truth we have and as you pointed out, a primary source of eternal reality in this mortality is the family with a sense of love and harmony in that unity. The goodness we feel and the blessings we are sensitive to are enough to testify that there is something more beyond the cloud of illusion to the point that it need be no threat to us, it need not worry us in the slightest. We might feel sorry for those who live in ignorance but we can rejoice in the truth we gain from the Spirit. Your experience with your family and the Temple sedimented these eternal truths, and as long as we adhere to these truths and allow them to penetrate, the deeper they penetrate, by true acts of charity of overcoming trials or achieving success nobly or accepting failure humbly, these truths will carry us through temporal time and are the power of our testimony. You speak well when you address the concern of deviating from the path. The path ordained by God is his word, is truth and to succor and nurture the cravings of a polluted social mind, to one who is spiritually real, is simply distasteful. Such is the misguided state of the world, on no clear path other than that ruled by money or power or some perverse aim. This is the world. The spiritual is the real, the eternal, and the good as manifest in the greatest sense of family here on earth and this truth and the joy it brings is easily distinguishable from false reality. A true soul, a real individual of worth will seek after this reality of infinite worth and not the ugliness of the common and worthless state of fallen man.