It's been about a year since my last post. Today I'd like to talk about The Secret everyone knows about by now. It's not really a secret, it's pretty basic and actually is found in a book of scripture well known to Mormons, The Doctrine and Covenants. It is the law of attraction taught in D&C 88:40, "For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things." It is very similar to the law of the harvest, the law of the boomerang or karma, whatever you want to call it. The law of the harvest says what you do comes back to you. The law of attraction is more than what The Secret teaches. It's not just that we attract to us what we think about, but that we attract to us the same kind of people that we are. Like marriage, when I was single I was worried, too much at times, about the ladies I chose to date, instead of the man I was becoming and therefore the women I was attracting. We need to be more careful with our thoughts. This idea reminds me of the book As a Man Thinketh. Another quote it reminds of was by one of the prophets of the restoration that said something along the lines of, our thoughts turn to actions, our actions turn to habits, habits define our character, and character determines our destiny. We determine our destiny. Just like President Thomas S. Monson, current prophet, said, "The future is as bright as your faith" (April 2009 "Be of Good Cheer").
To stress the point of how important our thoughts are, anciently Egyptians thought if they stopped thinking about the universe it would cease to exist. Scientists have discovered there are particles that exist only when we think about them. Of course when we study history, and especially our recent history, we see the power of the mind in all the inventions and discoveries men and women have accomplished.
I'd like to end this post with something a bit controversial, and I know many people won't agree with my opinion, but who cares. I feel that our society has become way to lax with what is acceptable behavior. The current philosophy is "do what makes you happy." This philosophy is flawed in so many ways. In our politically correct stupidity we have sacrificed morals for tolerance, even apathy and in some cases anarchy. I believe in being tolerant, but ever since the 60's we have thrown out many morals. Pornography is a plague that has swept the world over, gays and lesbians are being more and more accepted as part of mainstream society, and drugs and premarital sex are rampant. Although we have progressed in many ways, there is still plenty of slavery in America and all over the world, there is still way too much racism and hate crimes, etc. We are on a very slippery slope and must change our mind set if we want to really progress and be better prepared to meet our Maker. I am a sinner like all of us are, and don't presume to make eternal judgments on anyone, gays or lesbians included. As David A. Bednar, one of the current 12 apostles has said, there are no gays or lesbians, just people that struggle with same gender attraction. The problem is not the struggle with same gender attraction but the real problem is identifying who you are with the body and not with your eternal spirit. Christ and Nephi didn't identify themselves with their bodies. They identified themselves with their spirits (2 Nephi 4:17, 27; 3 Nephi 1:14). The body is good, but it is susceptible to evil. Without the spirit the body is dead (James 2:26). We must not let the body control the spirit but the let the spirit lead. The body is the clothing of the spirit (D&C 138:43; Job 10:11). Just because we have bad tendencies, or inappropriate thoughts or feelings, doesn't mean we have to succumb to them. We need to stop believing the lies that Satan and our bodies tell us, acting like animals that have to obey every impulse or thought we get. The argument that "I was born this way," no matter what that pertains to (being gay/lesbian, wanting to steal, drink, smoke, etc.) robs us of our agency and is a cop out Satan uses to lead us to not overcome what we can overcome because we are children of God after all.
In the end we must realize that what we choose to think about for long periods of time becomes our destiny eventually. We are free to choose what thoughts and feelings we focus on and what actions we take. Scientists have proven we can rewire the brain through our thought processes. That's what psychologists do with their patients. We can do it on our own if we just choose to focus on good things and keep doing it until the negative thoughts no longer plague us. I know that with God's help and our good desires we can overcome anything that stops us from reaching our divine potential. If you don't have good desires, just pray to God and ask Him to change them (Alma 19:33; Mosiah 5:2). Let's stop acting like animals, just following our base instincts, and live above the mediocrity, and live up to our potential.
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