“In the World but Not of It"

With the weariness of the mortal existential journey the gaze may be fixed upon him, his sublimity, and the soul may be comforted.  I will address this topic, given what I have come to understand more fully.  I hope you too gain insights and testimony.  I will be circumspect in my attempt to not addressing the horrors of the “world” graphically as I am wont to do.  But as we have come this far we all too lucidly understand the “weariness of the mortal existential journey” that is conflicted with “worldliness” of every shade.  But instead we will consider what we can do, as Latter-Day Saints, to put this “mantra” of ours “to be in the world but not of it” into practice and into full fruition, in practical terms, so we might enjoy the joy of living “and the soul may be comforted.”

We must reorient our desires.  Desires are deceitfully dangerous.  A desire to do good is a general and authentic wanting to be better in one’s progression, but the literal definition distills that and is described by the New Oxford American Dictionary as “a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.”    The wanting and wishing, utterly different from one’s personal dreams for their life, are an innocuous elixir that unabated, turns to lust, greed and gluttony.  This lust, greed and gluttony, is it for that which is right and good?   Of course not.  It is the gravitational pull that draws the good soul towards the “worldly” as all desire is based on “worldly” ambition, superficiality, money, power, prestige, privilege, luxury, and ultimately waste. 

A good heart can become quickly tainted by such as these that are corrupting and inimical, and that good heart finds itself lost in the fall to a “dreary waste.”  The pull is a powerful one, it is ubiquitous, it is everywhere, it is the universal theme of “worldliness” meant by the adversary to manipulate and then ensnare.  It takes a resolute heart and a determined mind, the mind and spirit of a Latter-Day Saint, to develop a concerted and committed self that eventually becomes inured to those lures and can be safe in truth and reality.

How is this possible?  I refer back to an earlier post How "being a Mormon is very cool..." “Our spirits are all unique as are our lives. This phenomenon represents the power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to effectuate real and absolute change and a God who desires for his children not uniform homogeneity and one mind but for each of us to shine in our special ways with our special talents sharing our own special testimonies and developing our special abilities each with a very special purpose. Yes, being a Mormon is very cool.” 

An understanding of How "being a Mormon is very cool..."as one lives humbly and selflessly, reveals a truism that one will inadvertently journey along the path to self-realization as one turns the will entirely to God.  It happened in my life; a biting insecurity, issues with my body, addiction, mental illness, same-sex attraction… the effect of all of these was a total loss of self, that self that had long been forgotten over several decades.  In humility and a conviction in God, one might transgress the “worldly” conditioned ills and find your authentic self as you are meant to be, as I have discovered who I truly am and am becoming as I travel that journey.

It is an exciting journey of discovery as one recognizes the reality in seeing incredible changes with the self, a sure self esteem, confidence, and a more pronounced individuality, as we are each very unique, united in a feeling of security grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When one turns away from the world, aided by the Savior, it is an exciting and beaming reality of overwhelming blessings and knowledge as one is truly free to be their own master.  Mormons are not a homogenous group, this is common slander, NO!  

We are a vibrant global community of precious and strong spirits unlike any phenomenon outside of the Church.  We are a dynamic and multi-dimensional global community, which thrives in maintaining cultural heritage from all nations and social and ethnic groups and to encourage true individuality from within vast global demographics.  This is great news!  This is exciting stuff!  How can any temporal and transient worldly condition compare, hold a candle, to the peace that comes with the-inner self and the peace one can legitimately feel for all of life because we understand that the “world” is lost and goodness, the reality, prevails.

What incredible motivation to transcend absolutely the temporal and constricting worldly trickery.  I have witnessed this as true reality in one near and dear to me, who barely lives in the world let alone of it and thus radiates the light of Christ.  Eventually, with clear eyes, the strong Latter-Day Saint can see through all of “worldly” artifice and find meaningless in money for its own sake and realize the delusion of power.  These in effect become ugly and utterly transparent to the soul that lives selflessly, without a lust for the “world” that is a general condition of humanity.  To grow numb to the pull of the world is to avoid the desire and covetousness of the material, the acquisition of wealth for its own sake, abusing others as one “climbs the ladder” not caring whose head is being stepped upon.  These ills that constitute the norm for the “world” can be superseded with the very real state of reality that is the manifestation of the atonement, that which allows everything to be. 

Breeching the divide, making the transcendence, takes much effort as we are “natural man,” but with study and personal relationships with Heavenly Father and our life-long companion Jesus Christ, this can help us as we move farther away from the “world” and closer to a relative state of pure reality as we have no limitations, no confines, no restrictions… we are free! 

Of course, this is no Molly Mormon, Peter Priesthood or Larry Linger-Longer, but an exciting transcendent leap into a state of reality that can be made very much one’s own, far away from annoyances and irritable worldly noise.  It is one that is mindful of Christ always, prays fervently, and does not read but studies.  Of course, in the “world” there is the “virtuous and lovely;” the good and healthy, educational and spiritually uplifting resources to add zest to a  colorful personal reality that becomes very real and very special.  It is a liberation that is the beginning of the journey of self-realization, a clear understanding of existence, deep connections with your fellow man that are eternal, profound insights to true reality, a more fully realized individuality more than ever experienced growing stronger as time passes, and great success in life as good trumps evil always and an honorable professional who is trusted, stalwart and dedicated will not have to climb that ladder but as one is living righteously with the Spirit alive within, the way will be made manifest.  

With all facets of life, if there is a concerted effort to live without the bonds of the “world,” life, with all of its “cares, worries, anxieties, paranoia, confusion, contradiction, irrationality,” are no concern to you and me.  As we live deliberately, strengthen our families and special relationships, as well as our talents, the journey will have none of this ugliness but is sublime and beautiful as God lays the stepping stones that we joyfully cherish in our state of progression, and he will make all of the rest, the most sincere, selfless desires, to be made manifest vividly in the clear manner of de facto intervention.  “When the Lord closes the door somewhere he opens a window.”  To this I testify.      “With the weariness of the mortal existential journey the gaze may be fixed upon him, his sublimity, and the soul may be comforted.”  These are the precious words I have quoted from my post “In the World but Not of It.”  As promised in my last post, I will readdress this topic, given there are immeasurable leagues between that first post and what I have come to understand more fully.  I hope you too gain further insights and testimony.  I will be circumspect in my attempt to not addressing the horrors of the “world” graphically as I am wont to do.  But as we have come this far we all too lucidly understand the “weariness of the mortal existential journey” that is conflicted with “worldliness” of every shade.  But instead we will consider what we can do, as Latter-Day Saints, to put this “mantra” of ours “to be in the world but not of it” into practice and into full fruition, in practical terms, so we might enjoy the joy of living “and the soul may be comforted.”

We must reorient our desires.  Desires are deceitfully dangerous.  A desire to do good is a general and authentic wanting to be better in one’s progression, but the literal definition distills that and is described by the New Oxford American Dictionary as “a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.”    The wanting and wishing, utterly different from one’s personal dreams for their life, are an innocuous elixir that unabated, turns to lust, greed and gluttony.  This lust, greed and gluttony, is it for that which is right and good?   Of course not.  It is the gravitational pull that draws the good soul towards the “worldly” as all desire is based on “worldly” ambition, superficiality, money, power, prestige, privilege, luxury, and ultimately waste. 

A good heart can become quickly tainted by such as these that are corrupting and inimical, and that good heart finds itself lost in the fall to a “dreary waste.”  The pull is a powerful one, it is ubiquitous, it is everywhere, it is the universal theme of “worldliness” meant by the adversary to manipulate and then ensnare.  It takes a resolute heart and a determined mind, the mind and spirit of a Latter-Day Saint, to develop a concerted and committed self that eventually becomes inured to those lures and can be safe in truth and reality.

How is this possible?  I refer back to an earlier post How "being a Mormon is very cool..." “Our spirits are all unique as are our lives. This phenomenon represents the power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to effectuate real and absolute change and a God who desires for his children not uniform homogeneity and one mind but for each of us to shine in our special ways with our special talents sharing our own special testimonies and developing our special abilities each with a very special purpose. Yes, being a Mormon is very cool.” 

An understanding of How "being a Mormon is very cool..."as one lives humbly and selflessly, reveals a truism that one will inadvertently journey along the path to self-realization as one turns the will entirely to God.  It happened in my life; a biting insecurity, issues with my body, addiction, mental illness, same-sex attraction… the effect of all of these was a total loss of self, that self that had long been forgotten over several decades.  In humility and a conviction in God, one might transgress the “worldly” conditioned ills and find your authentic self as you are meant to be, as I have discovered who I truly am and am becoming as I travel that journey.

It is an exciting journey of discovery as one recognizes the reality in seeing incredible changes with the self, a sure self esteem, confidence, and a more pronounced individuality, as we are each very unique, united in a feeling of security grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When one turns away from the world, aided by the Savior, it is an exciting and beaming reality of overwhelming blessings and knowledge as one is truly free to be their own master.  Mormons are not a homogenous group, this is common slander, NO!  

We are a vibrant global community of precious and strong spirits unlike any phenomenon outside of the Church.  We are a dynamic and multi-dimensional global community, which thrives in maintaining cultural heritage from all nations and social and ethnic groups and to encourage true individuality from within vast global demographics.  This is great news!  This is exciting stuff!  How can any temporal and transient worldly condition compare, hold a candle, to the peace that comes with the-inner self and the peace one can legitimately feel for all of life because we understand that the “world” is lost and goodness, the reality, prevails.

What incredible motivation to transcend absolutely the temporal and constricting worldly trickery.  I have witnessed this as true reality in one near and dear to me, who barely lives in the world let alone of it and thus radiates the light of Christ.  Eventually, with clear eyes, the strong Latter-Day Saint can see through all of “worldly” artifice and find meaningless in money for its own sake and realize the delusion of power.  These in effect become ugly and utterly transparent to the soul that lives selflessly, without a lust for the “world” that is a general condition of humanity.  To grow numb to the pull of the world is to avoid the desire and covetousness of the material, the acquisition of wealth for its own sake, abusing others as one “climbs the ladder” not caring whose head is being stepped upon.  These ills that constitute the norm for the “world” can be superseded with the very real state of reality that is the manifestation of the atonement, that which allows everything to be. 

Breeching the divide, making the transcendence, takes much effort as we are “natural man,” but with study and personal relationships with Heavenly Father and our life-long companion Jesus Christ, this can help us as we move farther away from the “world” and closer to a relative state of pure reality as we have no limitations, no confines, no restrictions… we are free! 

Of course, this is no Molly Mormon, Peter Priesthood or Larry Linger-Longer, but an exciting transcendent leap into a state of reality that can be made very much one’s own, far away from annoyances and irritable worldly noise.  It is one that is mindful of Christ always, prays fervently, and does not read but studies.  Of course, in the “world” there is the “virtuous and lovely;” the good and healthy, educational and spiritually uplifting resources to add zest to a  colorful personal reality that becomes very real and very special.  It is a liberation that is the beginning of the journey of self-realization, a clear understanding of existence, deep connections with your fellow man that are eternal, profound insights to true reality, a more fully realized individuality more than ever experienced growing stronger as time passes, and great success in life as good trumps evil always and an honorable professional who is trusted, stalwart and dedicated will not have to climb that ladder but as one is living righteously with the Spirit alive within, the way will be made manifest.  

With all facets of life, if there is a concerted effort to live without the bonds of the “world,” life, with all of its “cares, worries, anxieties, paranoia, confusion, contradiction, irrationality,” are no concern to you and me.  As we live deliberately, strengthen our families and special relationships, as well as our talents, the journey will have none of this ugliness but is sublime and beautiful as God lays the stepping stones that we joyfully cherish in our state of progression, and he will make all of the rest, the most sincere, selfless desires, to be made manifest vividly in the clear manner of de facto intervention.  “When the Lord closes the door somewhere he opens a window.”  To this I testify.