Politics, Philosophy, and Paintbrushes

It has been a while since I updated this thing and man have I got a lot to say! If only if only I had the time. Of the vast list of things I want to talk about I've concluded to just bore you with three. Namely, political rants, my study of philosophy, and some scriptural insights from the last two weeks. I promise that if you can endure the first the second and third topics should be interesting.
Right, so recently I put the New York Times App on my phone and it has become a daily habit the read the top stories over a bowl of cereal at five in the morning. Because this is the first thing to enter into my head in the morning it stays on my mind for most of my monotonous day of shoveling therefore these thoughts have been incubated long enough that they are ready to be shared. My question is this: when did a political debate and campaign aim change from 'I'm the best candidate and this is why' to ' he's the worst candidate and this is why!'? Honestly I have not heard the Obama campaign say anything positive about Obama other then he is better then Mitt because Mitt is a tax scoundrel liar who can't relate to the American people. Sounds to me like a handful of high school girls gossiping about and back stabbing the leading candidate for that years homecoming queen. I want to hear about, clearly stated, each parties plans ( including goals and how they are going to achieve them ) and positive selling points about their character and trustworthiness. Backstabbing and slander only lead me to trust someone less.
I was going to go into the Libyan riots but I don't want to get flustered, so suffice it to say I'm glad that Mormons don't start burning things whenever someone says something negative about their temples. That would just make the whole 'only true and living church's point a bit more difficult for the missionaries to share.
Interjectory note! WalMart great value food is awesome! ... Except one fact, they have no flavor. The bacon rates the same as the chicken which taste like the cheese and tortilla. Makes for a rather boring cheese and bacon quesadilla.
Currently I am studying philosophy. An introduction to philosophy really. So far I've studied the main thoughts of the ancient Greeks from Thales of Miletus to Plato and let me just say I think that some of these men were incredibly inspired, of course however, there were a couple of coouk coouk birds in the mix. Like Thrasymachus who philosophyed that injustice is to be preferred to a life of justice. That one who break laws an moral codes for gain is superior to those who subject themselves to them. It is interesting to note that those who held tightly to a moral sense of duty to do 'the right thing' seemed to come up with ideas that felt good to the soul. They didn't just say pleasing things to itching ears but spoke truth that struck a deep core. Look at the bad examples of the Sophist. They were largely skeptics who thought that truth is impossible to find and everything is relative. Whatever we define as truth is then truth. They also mastered the skill of rhetoric or persuasive speaking. So essentially they were really good at getting people to believe what they believed. Also they offered their 'wisdom' at a high price. Then came Socrates (good example) a man who felt it was his mission to restore a sense of reliable absolute truth and also to teach people how to discover it. Though early on Socrates was a pupil of the Sophist, later he proved an annoyer of their teachings to the point that that wrongly accused him, and falsely condemned him to death. Rather then escape this unfair punishment Socrates thought it better to uphold the laws and the government an drank the deadly prescribed hemlock. This deeply influenced his own pupil Plato who furthered the working his predecessor. Now let me get to the main pondering points from my readings.
From Protagoras of Abdera ( a Sophist) we are taught that laws and customs are relative to a point. That those who are in power are the ones who establish truth and laws and their subordinates are morally bound to obey them. He was right, but only if you take his idea to a much grander level. He was speaking of Greek provinces and Mediterranean settlements but I was thinking of universes and eternities. We know from the Doctrines an Covenants and other holy scripture that truth was ordained of God from the beginning. I can't really remember the exact scripture but I do remember having the thought while reading that 'in the beginning' God decided what would be truth. Thus truth is relative to what God ( the ultimate power that be) says it is. Chalk one up for Protagoras.
I don't even know where to begin with Socrates. I basically aced the test on him because I found what he had to say so amazing, interesting, and soul enriching. It was cool to see that a lot of the conclusions he came to and points he made were things that this ignorant me pondered on and philosophized about over and over again while on the other side of the pond. Just ask Elder Thayne Thompson he usually was the companion exchange that I bounced my ideas off of. First he says the examined life is not worth living! Bold but so poignant. We need to take time to look within and evaluate. Calculate the distance between reality an our dreams. Plan to close the gap, reflect on progress and steem digression. Second knowledge is virtue and ignorance is vice. He postulates that no person performs an evil act with the purpose of being malignant. Most will disagree but let me continue. One thing he said that I had come to realize while serving the Lord is that we all are striving to: A. Act rationally and B. pursue happiness. Often times rationality will be overridden by our desire for happiness. In other words we will do stupid things because we think they will make us happy. Thus some people will storm an embassy, burn a flag and murder innocent people because they believe that their 'just cause' will bring them greater happiness. So we see the human error. The less knowledge we have the less ability we will have to see what actions will bring us happiness and which actually lead to misery. Can we now see why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto the salvation of men? It teaches us how to be celestial beings! A fullness if joy comes to those who have become saints through the blood of the Lamb AND whose actions have been just according to the laws and dictates of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is essential to our happiness because it teaches us in what manner we must act to be happy! Simple as that! Connecting the two, knowledge and virtue that is, is exactly what Joseph Smith did when he revealed that a man is saved no faster then he can gain knowledge, and a man cannot be saved in ignorance. Like music to my soul! Know good and act good. Also Socrates introduced the concept of the soul as the center of our intelligence and character. Beautiful, just beautiful. The two must important things we have, centered in the only part of us that is immortal. Now I've just begun reading about Plato but he seems promising. First he believed ( as do I ) that our souls existed before they came to our bodies and in that pre-mortal existence they were taught about the Forms or essence of all things. Forms being a type of perfect infrastructure for something. These Forms having originated and now exist in the mind of God. He believed that we lived with and we taught by God before we existed physically!!! Sound familiar to any of you Mormons? I'm just giddy with excitement! He also taught that there is a class to these forms, that some envelop others but all come under one Form. The Form of Good, which is God. Do you see what this implies? We are constantly judging things and rating them. For example 'that's ugly!' or in other words 'this is less beautiful then that' so object one has less beauty then another. It more closely resembles the Form or essence of Beauty and is, therefore, more beautiful. Now to say that they all fall under the same head of the Form of Good is to say that everything in this physical world which resembles one or multiple Forms (which is everything) is based on Good. Positive not negative. So people are not 'cowards', they just resemble the essence of Courage less. People are not 'mean' they are just displaying less Kindness. Now this might seem to some of you hard core people that is is just one of those 'everyone is a winner' statements, but let me say, we are all children of God are we not? Then yes we are all winners because of the potential that lies within each of us. Now just as an artist can help a piece of canvas more closely resemble the essence of Beauty with a few strokes of his brush so can our Father in Heaven help us more closely resemble the essence of Good which He is. The Atonement of Christ is the paint brush medium that He uses for that purpose! Isn't it great to see how this all fits together? Well I hope that my powers of expression are good enough to present this all in an understandable way. I'm grateful for inspired men who share with us their God given knowledge.
I was going to share my scriptural insights but I basically have in my philosophy discourse.

Please if I was off on anything of if you have any comments feel free to contact me or email me and let me know! I'd love to hear from you!