For The Power Is In Them
A few years ago, I became aware that many people fail to think for themselves. Every society in every country has a set of norms that are promoted in educational, cultural, and religious practices (or lack thereof) that program their citizens to fit into their ideologies. People want to fit in; they don’t want to be different, so they happily do as they are told.
In the United States, we enjoy freedoms that many other countries and cultures do not. The amount of prosperity and innovation here is the result of those freedoms. But before we feel too good about ourselves, there is incontrovertible evidence that we are not encouraged to think and act for ourselves.
(Warning: I am about to say things that will upset many people, but it is a perfect example to illustrate my point.)
If we have learned anything in the last three years, it is that we had better do what we are told, or else. A virus was somehow unleashed on the world, and we have yet to find out whether it was intentional or an accident. It is no joke and has had devastating consequences leaving millions dead. The response to the pandemic was not an accident and is at least as devastating in terms of shutting down any alternative voices to the official bureaucratic machine. My opinion is that it was partially an experiment on how far you can push people to conform. We gladly took the government bribe to stop functioning as usual. We were frightened into believing in unproven official remedies and scolded not to try anything else. Deplatforming alternative voices in social media make it impossible for us to make informed decisions. We are smart enough to tell who the crackpots are; let them speak.
Our education system (which I believe is well-intentioned) is designed to create factory workers. You start when the bell rings and respond to more bells throughout the day. You move in groups. Dress codes or uniforms ensure that no one stands out too much. None of those things promote individuality or learning, for that matter. Bless the good teachers who do their best to educate the children. I don’t personally know a teacher who does not have issues with the system.
The media is a terrible place to go for the truth. None of the news outlets are objective, and the commentators are worse. That is all I will say about that.
Even the churches are limited in their ability to say certain things. Because non-believers outnumber churchgoers, the weight of public opinion and probable devastating litigation looms over their leaders, who cannot say what should be said. Many people that I talk to are frustrated by this situation. You have to get good at reading between the lines and, in some instances, know that what is being said is out of necessity.
There is hope, but it requires effort and courage on our part. When I created a website to publish my thoughts, I chose startthinking.net to encourage and revitalize the art and power of thinking. My purpose in writing these messages is to present ideas that will get you to think about things in new ways. What I say should have very little to do with how you form your opinions. I don’t want you to believe what I think. If I am successful, I will get you to consider what God thinks.
That was a long preface to my main point today. Doctrine and Covenants 58: 27-28, “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves…”. We need to stand independent of every institution that promotes a collective mentality. We need to think and act for ourselves. We cannot rely on the government, education, or even religious institutions to tell us what to do or teach us what we need to know. We should expect less from them and more from ourselves.
When God says, “For the power is in them,” we had better believe it. Doctrine and Covenants 58:31, “Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?”.
I feel obliged to say something about resolutions made at the beginning of the new year; they are not important. If they were, you would have done them yesterday or whenever you first thought of them. What is important is that you think for yourselves. Find your own answers with the help of a Father in Heaven whose sole purpose is to make you better every day. When we discover that the power is within us, the noise of the world becomes a distant breeze, and the power of the world comes to naught.
This year we have the great privilege of studying the New Testament. I hope to focus on the words of Christ, and I believe they are the best source to learn who he is, who God is, and who we are. Happy new year!