no one perspective

"An impassioned, compelling, dare I say poetic, argument on behalf of those who 'labor in the fields of sadness'...A call to live hard and full, to participate in the great rondure of life and to be aware of the fact that no one perspective on the world is ever finally true." - Ethan Rutherford

I have debated heavily with myself about what order there is to this "story" and does it really have one? Do I proceed by topic? chronologically? by what most bothers me?  And I still don't know which order will be most conducive to others' understanding so I'll just dive in...

Line upon line.

I'll head to a heavy hitter later.

I have always found beauty on the other side of the fence. Both in a negative way and a positive way - I can easily pine after what I don't have - but I am also adept at appreciating culture and the perspective of others. I looove me some documentaries on others' cultures, traditions, indigenous peoples, etc. I wonder at length as to what we actually 'know' and what we are culturally conditioned to 'know'.

Take dress for example. We have very clear ideas about modesty as a religion and a culture. But are those boundaries - just that - cultural?. Obviously, above waist nudity in indigenous cultures is completely acceptable. It is us who view it as barbaric and lacking restraint. But where those norms don't exist there is no moral degradation in that dress.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for traditional dress of cultures that our missionaries go to and when hearts are converted to the gospel - then things must change. Now I am all for abandoning harmful traditions (ummm like circumcision) - but I like the clothes of the Samoans, the Maori, Kenyans, etc. Including tattoos, hairstyles and whatnot.  And, I think, our Mormonism and Christian faiths ask for drastic changes. Changes that I don't think really serve any purpose for faith.

Then....

Where did we get all these downright ridiculous rules?

Only white shirts for men (especially if passing the Sacrament)
No facial hair at BYU or serving in Bishopric
One set of earrings?
Why don't women wear pants to church if they want- especially if you are serving in Nursery - what is more fun than crawling around with little kids with a skirt on.
No skinny jeans - wait, that may not be too bad LOL

And then don't even get me started on this one: Curvy Girl not admitted to BYU testing center because her jeans were too tight.

There are no words for how much this creeped me out.

Are there more rules to learn and follow than actual worship to do?
Just thinking about all of this opened my mind to the thoughts that maybe there is no monopoly on truth.  Would God have it here in one faith and only make it available to less than 1% of the world's population -and then within that small percentage quibble over such silliness?

I for so long felt that I "had" something... something so great in my faith that others surely wanted or needed it as badly as me.

But I'm not that conceited anymore.  I can see around me that there are many people as happy or much happier than me without a prescribed doctrine.

We don't corner the market on spiritual peace, happy families, etc.  In fact when I think of my 'mormon' identity as a whole - happiness does not register very high on the list of descriptives.

In fact as rude as it may sound - I don't really find church meetings all that joyful. Our songs are slllloooooowwww. Our interactions sometimes shallow, our comparisons far and wide.  Even general conferences have made me think - we have more power than this - we can do better!

We should be a place where the tattooed fellow who still smokes a pack a day feels just as comfortable with the white shirted CEO.  The single mom struggling is happy to be next to the stay at home mom.  Where I don't have to hear political messages masked as messages from scripture and feel like the person speaking just assumes everyone in the room agrees with that political persusasion in the first place.

I can't believe anymore that we have the "only" way. I can't believe in a God who would only have one path back to him. My traditions, my faith's ordinances are no better or worse than another's.  We are different. We were made that way. There are different ways to truth, love and happiness.

I am ready to be a little more "do" and a little less "know the rules".

And my journey has just begun.

We human beings have a strange tendency to complicate simple things. We set up rules, laws, bylaws, processes, and subprocesses. Eventually, we pile up load after load until we end up under a huge weight of expectations that are so complicated it is difficult to keep track of them, let alone meet them.

This is one of the reasons Paul said, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” 

 - DIETER F. UCHTDORF

If you knew that you would die today
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that love can't break your heart
When you're down so low you cannot fall
Would you change would you change?

How bad how good does it need to get?
How many losses how much regret?
What chain reaction
What cause and effect
Makes you turn around
Makes you try to explain
Makes you forgive and forget
Makes you change
Makes you change

If you knew that you could be alone
Knowing right being wrong
Would you change?
Would you change?
If you knew that you would find a truth
That brings a pain that can't be soothed
Would you change would you change?

How bad how good does it need to get?
How many losses how much regret?
What chain reaction

What cause and effect
Makes you turn around
Makes you try to explain
Makes you forgive and forget
Makes you change
Makes you change

Are you so upright you can't be bent
if it comes to blows
Are you so sure you won't be crawling
If not for the good why risk falling
Why risk falling

If everything you think you know
Makes your life unbearable
Would you change?
Would you change?
If you'd broken every rule and vow
And hard times come to bring you down
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would die today
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you saw the face of God and love
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

-Tracy Chapman