Spoken Word Messages - Page 94

Ofttimes, in the face of some eventuality that has overtaken us, we find ourselves saying regretfully:  “If I had only known, I would have done differently.”  Sometimes this is true, but more often it isn’t the fact that we don’t know that gets us into difficulties, but rather that we choose to ignore what we do know. 

The fact that we aspire to things which for the moment are out of reach, is one of the factors which makes possible the everlasting progress of man.  But those who merely aspire and let the matter rest there, are in need of sympathy and counsel, and a vigorous push, if necessary.  Ofttimes our young people see someone playing a great role in life, and they think they would like to play a great part also, without having any awareness of what has gone into the making of an able man.  We see his performance and are thrilled with his mastery of himself and of the things with which he works, but we often forget the years of self-denial, of creative effort and determination that have preceded achievement – years in which mediocre complacency has been given up to engage in an upward struggle. 

The young people of our day receive much attention.  Their opinions and their activities occupy a goodly share of front-page space.  Their needs and their problems are much talked of.  Their training, their education and their care account for a large part of our income. 

Sometimes in our use of word we allow them to acquire means which once they did not have.  For example, we have come to look upon the word “belief” wholly as a positive thing.  We often speak of a “believing man” as though that were descriptive of one who believes all things right. 

We have lived to see the day when the best-laid plans of men have fallen short of fulfillment.  Hopes and dreams and cherished ambitions have been postponed or abandoned.  Many have been diverted from their intended pursuits, and many, old and young, have faced a breaking up of the pattern of their lives. 

Under the tension of such times as ours, men react in many different ways to the disturbing events that beset their lives.  What some do is that which one of the advisers of Job urged him to do—to “curse God” (Job 2:0) and lay at the door of the Almighty the blame for every calamity. 

One of the well-known characters of Greek mythology was the giant, Antaeus, whose strength was unconquerable so long as he remained in contact with his mother, Earth.  Those who came to his country were compelled to wrestle with him, and many such, not knowing the source of his strength, would throw him to earth, from which he would gain greater power, and rise stronger that he fell. 

Much attention is given these days to the subject of doubt.  In a generation of skepticism and unbelief, when so much that is false finds itself intermingled with so much that is truth, men are inclined to doubt many things. 

One of the most loosely discussed topics of the days is the question of freedom.  We hear a good deal about freedom – freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, intellectual freedom, and a great many other kinds and varieties.  It isn’t difficult to get men to agree that freedom, in the abstract, is a great and desirable thing.  But it is difficult to get men to agree what constitutes freedom. 

Quite commonly heard among us is the person who loudly proclaims his right to live his life as he chooses, regardless of what anyone else thinks about it.  His contention is that his life is his own, and what he does with it is none of anyone else’s business.  Usually he recognizes, in part at least, the restraints of the civil law, because he wants to keep out of the hands of those who are sworn to uphold it.  But beyond that, he says that no moral law or social convention or public opinion or private counsel is going to have any affect on his way of living – and he doesn’t care who knows it. 

One of the widely accepted methods by which we determine the truth or falsity of any theory, is that which we call “trial and error", which is to say, in common language, if you have doubts concerning a thing, try it, put it to the test. If it works it is true; if it doesn't it is false.

When men are faced with the possibility of cataclysmic events - when-the accustomed pattern of our living seems threatened -- there is a tendency on the part of some of us to give up, in our thinking and in our doing, and wait for eventualities. And because of this rather prevalent attitude, creative activity has a tendency to cease.

There is a very old theme that comes to mind today - so old, indeed, that anyone who presumes to comment upon it, must risk the accusation of being old-fashioned which, after all, is just a modern way of saying that you are reminding someone of something which makes them uncomfortable - especially if they need to be reminded of it.

As we contemplate the new year, it would be interesting to know what men desire in their hearts that it should hold for them.  These hopes, no doubt, could be stated in broad generalities for most of us.  We all want peace, of course. 

If we were to measure the accomplishment of ultimate purposes in terms of the lifetime of any one man or any one generation, many things that are certain of eventual fulfillment would seem to have been vain and hopeless.

As we look out upon Christmas 1940, we are reminded that the world's greatest cause has often seemed to be a lost cause - the cause of right against wrong. Going back more than nineteen centuries we find this same cause having again the appearance of being lost. 

One listener has written to suggest that we speak to the question: “What is Truth?"   Of course, a word, being, after all, merely a symbol of a thing or an idea, means only what we allow it to mean by common consent. By some "truth" has been defined as a variable - as a relative term.

Our generation has lived to see the time when most of the children of earth live their lives from day to day with heavy hearts, with threatening danger, with the fear of uncertainty haunting their sleeping and waking hours, in the midst of physical want, mental anguish, and deep sorrow.

Within our generation we have learned to do many things better and more quickly than have ever been done before within recorded time. This efficiency has given us many blessings and material advantages. We have seen the assembly line and the factory belt pour forth material goods at a speed that is almost beyond our belief, even though we know it to be so. We have seen the words of men travel with the speed of light, and man himself move more than half the speed of sound.

One of the eminent young scientists of our day recently wrote, "We are learning more and more the high cost of discovering the truth about anything. Our subject matter is so complex that we never reach more than half-truths, and first approximations." This wholesome admission offers a viewpoint which scholarship in all its fields would do well to keep in mind. Also, it is very comforting and significant to the layman. Theories are useful as scaffolds in the building process; they are a means to an end, but they must not be mistaken for the basic structure, itself. New discovery is constantly unseating those things which were scientifically thought to be fundamental until today or yesterday.

The appreciation of what we have is largely a matter of contrast and comparison. That is one of the fundamental rules of life. Happiness is triumph over sorrow. Goodness represents the overcoming of evil. Prosperity is evaluated in terms of what others have and what we ourselves have been accustomed to having. The blessing of peace is cherished only as the curse of strife is abhorred. And perhaps that is why we are more deeply thoughtful and sincerely thankful as we approach another traditional season of thanksgiving and again make formal and public observance of the goodness of God to us and to those we love, and to our friends and our countrymen.

With the passing of another year we come again to a time of Armistice observance. But its significance in some places is not what it was thought to be or hoped to be twenty-two years ago.   Then it was the end of a war to end war.

It is difficult for most of us to see beyond our own immediate self-interest. We are often inclined to suppose that anything is a bargain if it preserves for the present our comfort and convenience and our accustomed habits of living, in a material way; and for these we sometimes consider foolishly signing away things that must dearly be bought back later.

We hear much these days about the use of moral force.  It is a thing to be reckoned with, as it always has been in the affairs of men. It is the only weapon in the world that does not become obsolete. It has led many peoples to victory after they have suffered physical defeat. It is the first and last line of defense.

There seems to have come to dwell among us the spirit of escape. Perhaps it has always been present, but the tenseness of our times makes it more apparent. We seem to want to escape reality; to postpone the day of settlement; to prefer present pleasure to future happiness- to escape the consequences of our own mistakes; to escape personal obligations; to escape public responsibility. There are some who seek to escape by borrowing rather than face the restrictions of a sound economy.

The spoken and the printed word are much in evidence in our day. Like all of the tools and facilities of civilization, they are used both for good and evil purposes. Sometimes they are used to express a man's thoughts, and sometimes their are used to conceal his thoughts - to cover up with a verbal smoke- screen that which he is really thinking and planning.

"And Jesus made as though he would have gone * * * But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." (Luke 24:28-29) And blessed are they who abide His coming as the gathering storm and the growing darkness of our times bring with them those events that move us on toward another eventide of which the prophets of all generations have spoken. And there is that about the record of prophecy which, even though it may not be pleasant to our ears, strikes conviction to our souls. For "all things must come to pass in their time." (Doctrine and Covenants 64.32) Time and the relentless march of events brought by its passing have been portrayed in musical symbol by the composer Vierne, and we now hear “Westminster Chimes" moving with the sweep of the hours and the march of the years but "the day or the hour no man knoweth; but it shall surely come.” (Doctrine and Covenants 39:21)

It matters not by what names we choose to call our vices and our virtues -- they remain what they are and what they always have been before men and in the sight of God. In the mod- ern scheme of things if we choose to call licentiousness by the flattering title of "broad-mindedness", it nevertheless continues to be licentiousness.

We live in a day when every standard of value is being challenged, and religion has not escaped the challenge. Perhaps religion is held with disregard in some quarters because men have asked too much of religion and too little of themselves. They have supposed that a mere creed or code of belief, or ecclesiastical statute of doctrines and dogmas would take the place of self-mastery. Some have known the law but have not lived it. Some have not even bothered to know the law, but have left the knowledge of religion to a professional class, and have worshipped, once removed - if at all.

There comes at some time or other to disturb every man, the question of his relationship to life, to the world in general, and to the eternal scheme of things.