Trust30 – #11 – Geekiness, Truth, and the Path

Part of this Trust30 exercise is to clarify my own thinking, and in so doing, I'll be using analogies and language that make the most sense to me – and a big part of that is my religious practice. This isn't meant as an attempt to convince people to my way of thinking. Rather, it's an attempt to explain my thinking to myself. Anyone reading this is, of course, welcome to draw their own analogies, use their own metaphors, and do their own writing, thank you very much. Let me also state at the outset that I'm someone that believes that things can be objectively true. That they are true not based on our point of view, thank you very much, Obi-Wan (and even then, note that Obi-Wan said many, not all – and in that, the Emperor mirrors that language in RotJ when he says that Luke is mistaken about a great many things), but that they are true despite our point of view. And once I accept that as a starting premise, the next question has to be: Oh Say, What is Truth? And this writing helps me think about that, and maybe come closer to it. At least, that's the goal.

Here's today's Emerson.

I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, if we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

There's a lot to pack here. I've talked about trusting yourself, and making decisions, and doing work. This quote brings a couple of things to mind. Pokémon, an iron rod, and a tree. Why? Beats me. Let me ramble on for a bit, and we'll see what tumbles out.

First things first. The Pokémon. I will freely admit to playing a game in each generation since I got Yellow for my birthday over ten years ago. But it wasn't the game that really sunk its hooks into me. It was (here's a horrifying admission) the cartoon. The first episode of Pokémon is a great story. You've got the hero who wants to be the world's best Pokémon trainer. Of course, he starts out, and he's a bit of a goofball. His Pokémon, the ever-present Pikachu, is constantly shocking him because he's a goofball. Hilarity ensues. And then there's this scene. Our idiot hero has mistaken a Spearow, a vicious little bird Pokémon that travels in big groups, for a Pidgey – a much calmer, much easier to catch bird. The Spearows come after our hero and Pikachu. And you'd expect the goofball to take off, right? But not our goofball. His Pokémon absolutely refuses to retreat to the safety of a ball. So he winds up shielding the Pikachu from attacks using his own body. It's that scene, hearing Ash cry out as the birds attack him, and seeing his Pokémon come to the realization Okay, this guy is a total goofball. But his heart is in the right place. I guess it's time to bring the hurt. Much zapping of Spearow ensues, and a bond is forged between Ash and Pikachu that's lasted for hundreds of episodes. Don't get me wrong, it's a little repetitive after so many episodes, but it's that first episode that really sunk the hooks of story into me and that I still think about when I play the game. The story reflects something – something that I believe is Capital-T True, and is hard to put into words, but says something about love, self-sacrifice, and respect that has to be earned.

Now, there is a part of me that feels the hooks of story sinking in – (happened this evening when I was watching the second half of the series premiere of… shudder… My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) and then I may mutter under my breath "YOU EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATIVE B@$%@#&$!" but that's what story CAN do. It can teach, it can inspire, it can edify. That's what I want to do in my own writing – lift others up. Say something about things that I believe are Capital-T True. And that can have power in story that it won't necessarily have otherwise. Music has that power to edify and inspire also, and a lot of times, I'll find myself telling a story in my head that goes with the music I'm listening to. Sometimes that gets written down (High Moon, for example, came in no small part from John Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory from the Young Guns soundtrack).

I've pointed out in a prior post that I'm LDS, and one of the stories that people of my faith enjoy is called the Tree of Life. It's a dream – a vision that gets recorded in the Book of Mormon in 1st Nephi Chapter 8 – and gets expanded a TON in Chapters 11-15. The whole thing is packed with symbols, but two of those symbols are exactly what Emerson is talking about in this quote. In the dream, a man named Lehi sees a huge field with people wandering around. He looks, and he sees this tree at the other end of the field – a tree with fruit that he knows is good. The way it's described in the account is "…a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy". That's the goal. Happiness. But between the people and the tree, there's all kinds of trouble, problems, wrong paths, mists of darkness, a river of filthy water, rifts, etc. Leading up to the tree is an iron rod – which in the dream is interpreted as the word of God. It would be theologically correct, and maybe a little more acceptable to people of other faiths, or no faith, to call the rod Truth. And at that point, it's pretty simple. You grab hold of the truth, and press forward, and eventually, you get to the tree. One of the admonitions LDS people give each other is "Hold to the Rod." It's in one of my favorite hymns.

Again, my goal isn't to get people to change to my way of thinking, or to convert people to my church. Still. I think it's a fantastic hymn.

People let go of the rod all the time. They say "Oh, I don't need to put in that effort." or "I'll never make it anyway," and they let go and wander off. They get distracted by shiny objects, the Internet, the "thick of thin things". They pay attention to other voices that make fun of them for wanting to get to the tree, and they submit to the Resistance of other people. And then they don't get to the tree.

Grab the rod. Find and embrace truth.

One foot in front of the other. Press forward.

And eventually… you'll get to the tree. (But understand, just because you made it to the tree, Resistance doesn't stop)

That's probably enough headiness for one post.