Mormon Bloggers

It’s interesting to notice how easy it is to misunderstand/misinterpret history. Historical “facts” arise from different sources, and it is the historian’s job to sift the documentary evidence and see what kind of balance comes out in the end. And the balance doesn’t necessarily come from the volume of the documentation. Popular lies get reported [...]  Read More →

This past week has been one of those weeks where I simply wanted to curl up in a corner and disappear. Not exactly sure why I felt the way I felt, but those old feelings were haunting me like an episode of Ghost Whisperer. For the moment, it did not seem like I could do [...]  Read More →

William Shakespeare was arguably the most influential writer in all of English literature. One of his plays, Hamlet, seems to have become so influential that it has profoundly affected the course of Western literature and culture even after 400 years. From Hamlet, I have chosen three themes that Shakespeare developed so beautifully: 1) The impossibility of certainty, 2) The complexity of action and 3) The mystery of life and death. These ideas are further advanced in Tom Stoppard’s existentialist work, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Through absurdity, we are lead to believe that 1) The world is incomprehensible, 2) We are insignificant and incapable of making meaningful choices and 3) We are but players on a stage. The very purpose of life In effect, Stoppard’s ideas are the same as Shakespeare’s, illustrated with an equal amount of wit, but in a much more bleak and sarcastic style. I dispute these ideas and in contrast, it is my contention that 1) We can choose what we believe... Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine you are a fish in a pond. While in school, your teacher tries to convince you that it is impossible to see through water.  Of course this seems ridiculous to you at first, but then he stirs up the mud at the bottom of the pond.  Soon the entire pond is completely clouded.  You cannot even see the fish around you or the teacher.  “See?”  Your teacher says, “you are in water and you cannot see.  Now you know that it is impossible to see through water.” Some of you and your classmates recognize that it is not water that is blocking your vision, but the mud that your teacher spread in front of you that makes it impossible to see.  You recognize that when the mud settles, you will again be able to see again like normal, because the mud and water will again be separated. But some of the fish begin to feel confused and lost.  In panic, they turn to the teacher for help.  The teacher replies, “The only safe place is the bottom of the pond.  At least there, you can feel... Read the rest of this entry »

Two disclaimers: I am not at all party inclined, so if any examples seem unbalanced to you, perhaps the unbalance is with you? No, really, I tried to take examples of both political parties’ representatives follies for the most egregious examples of how insistence on ideological purity combined with political expediency lead to disaster. Second; [...]  Read More →

  Arthur Henry King by Nathan Florence   Wow! The new semester starts, with new classes and a new calling, and my blogging goes down the drain! I made a goal this week with some wonderful new friends that I would blog, though, so I planned all week to get here. I met with a member of our Stake Presidency a month ago, and we got talking about our common interests in philosophy and education. He pointed me towards a book, Arm the Children, by Arthur Henry King. It is a book of speeches and papers Brother King wrote on teaching and having faith in the contemporary world. From what I understand, Arthur Henry King converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was later in his life. He was raised Quaker (which I assume led to his unique perspective on some of our cultural habits), in England, where he learned to love the hundred books or so that his home held. From the love of reading those few books he went on to become the predominant scholar of Shakespeare... Read the rest of this entry »

“I think, therefore I am,” right? Well, think again. Questioning the deeper mysteries of mind and consciousness. Not trying to answer questions as much as ask the right questions about mind and matter.  Read More →

Philosophizing about beginnings and ends. Has to do with the bit about knowing God, which is called Eternal life.  Read More →

Since few others marking this day, I will.The Tiananmen protests started in April 1989, when students began calling for greater democracy and anti-corruption measures. After weeks of protests, which saw the square packed with up to 1 million people, troops and tanks moved in on the night of 3-4 June 1989. An unknown number of people were killed in the crackdown. Estimates range from 0 – 5000. For  Read More →

I read a very insightful article today on how Vladimir Putin’s totalitarianism can survive when so many others have failed.The author points out the one crucial difference which seems to make his rule palatable to ordinary Russians. I think he is absolutely correct. It’s a thought I’ve had floating around in my head for a while.People are often more tolerant of Government interference in big  Read More →