You see, I am of the variety that thinks very little in this life is necessary and almost all of it is pomp and circumstance. I wouldn't call myself an anarchist by any means, but you could say that I have some of their blood in my veins, just a much more subdued version of it. Let me elaborate.
There are a few things that are great examples. First off, the tie. The tie is one of the greatest examples of things that I hate in this life. Now granted, I wear a tie every Sunday, at the very least, during a week. I am guessing that pretty soon I will start wearing one to work every day. But why! It serves absolutely no purpose. I suppose it covers up our buttons, but I don't think revealed buttons is a very big deal. It does not keep us warm, it just serves no purpose. It serves no purpose, except to fulfill a convention that has been established.
The second thing is praying with a hat on. In the New Testament they prayed with their hats on. They said it was a shame to pray with their hat off, or have your head uncovered when you pray. Yet now it is the opposite. There wasn't another change like the Law of Moses or anything like that to change it. It was just people in those early days deciding that they wanted to do something different and take their hat off when they pray. And because they did that we now have the convention of praying with it off. But the rub is that for it to be the convention now to pray with our hat off, somebody had to go against the system then. Someone had to take their hat off and cause gasps around the room. So when Kylee asks me to take my hat off when I pray and I refuse she says I should take it off just to be polite. But that is the problem, it is polite now because someone wasn't polite then! What if I am the person who needs to do it now.
That could be when the pride sneaks in. Why do I think I need to be the one who bucks all these trends and traditions. I also hate it when we are supposed to double space the introductory stuff on a paper, like name and date stuff. Kylee asked if I would get points taken off my paper and single space that part just to make a point, to which I responded in the affirmative. I absolutely would get points taken away. She said that is prideful. It may be.
But there is a sacrificial part to this question also (I hope that word--sacrificial--isn't too loaded to use in common usage!). For me to be the person to buck the trends and traditions I will have to go without some things. For instance, if you go without a tie to an interview chances are you will not be landing the job. So do I have to be the sacrificial lamb for change? I don't know. My teacher says that some things are not important enough to try to change the way they are, like the tie. But I said that is my point exactly--if it isn't important why don't we just do without it? Should I be the one that starts it. Maybe I could be the beginning of getting rid of a useless article of clothing.
This may seem like a small thing to you readers, but it is something that I struggle with almost daily. When do we go against norms and traditions to institute change? I hope someone has some profound insight into this problem I face, because I don't have a clue what to do about it. I have seen many teachers who seem to face the same dilemma.
It is like today. Today I wanted to wear basketball shorts. I can honestly say that in cold weather my legs don't really get cold. So I decided I was going to wear shorts. I almost didn't wear them because it is dressing down too much and because people would give me the "you are not tough as you think you are" look or the "you are crazy" look. I decided that was stupid, what do I care what others think, and I wore them. It could possibly have been prideful to declare that I don't care what others think (we all do), but I did it anyway and wore my shorts. They were very comfortable.
What do you guys think?
8 comments:
LOL - I'd say don't sweat the small stuff Matt. At least, I'd say that until I consider that I wear nylons and a skirt every Sunday (which I hate doing) because "you should." We do a lot of stuff because we should. I think Kylee is probably right to some degree about the pride thing. There are some things that REALLY matter - like racial discrimination, glass ceilings, child abuse, etc. Some things are personal preference, like ties, shorts and nylons. Life was mos def not meant to be comfortable all the time. I think we often claim that we're bucking the system and "questioning" simply so we can do what we want. And we all do it, and it's kind of silly. I think that following certain trends of respect is not silly though - it's respectful. Even Dr. Muhlestein wears a tie when he's teaching or presenting, you know. :)
Actually, I was talking to a friend about something similar the other day - why on earth we kneel and bow our heads and fold our arms to pray. Okay, bow head/close eyes= better focus. Kneeling? Beat's me. Folding arms???? I'm of the opinion that that particular tradition originated because some parent got sick of their kids poking each other during prayers, so they solved it by telling them to fold their arms. I don't really think God cares much HOW you pray. But you know what? When I have kids, I'll probably teach them to kneel and fold their arms anyway. Hm.
Ah, well the small stuff is my point. If it REALLY doesn't matter why do we do it? Why don't we all collectively decide to not do things that don't matter. If they really don't matter that is an even better reason to stop doing it.
About the kneeling thing, I see the point in that. I feel much more humble, or I feel like I am showing my reverence for God more when I kneel down. I agree with the folding the arms thing, and I don't fold my arms.
But if it doesn't matter that is an even bigger reason to buck the system. And I think we do buck the system so we can do what we want, but that is also the point, if we want to do it, and there isn't anything wrong with it, why not just do it? Why do we have the convention to begin with?
You ask "Why don't we all collectively decide to not do things that don't matter."
My question is, why don't we all collectively decide to do the things that matter? In a few more years of earth life, you will just take off your hat and put on your tie and go and do the things that truly matter. Read the last page of the March Ensign.
I love aging.
I think Daniel feels the same way about shaving....and I the same about ironed clothes.
In my opinion it's important to do these things to show respect. And these things are how in our society we show Respect to oursleves, God, and others around us. I think that there are many times when the small things can be pushed to the side in order to accomplish a higher purpose. Such as Priesthold holders administering a blessing when not in Sunday best because it is needed immediatly. Also, I think we do these things as to not draw negative attention to ourselves. For example, during the early church it was considered immodest to were a dress at knees length. But today that is modest by church standards. IT isn't that God changes but society does. I feel that the Lord allows for some change (so long as it doesn't cross obvious lines)in order for us to 'belong' to our society and be effective missionaries there in. Most importantly we need to do as our leaders tell us. IF they say to wear a tie on Sunday then we should. If they say women should were nylons than we should. We shouldn't judge when others don't follow those rules. We do simple things like wearing ties, nylones, taking your hat of to pray, and so on...because our leaders either say we should or they do so and we should follow their example. So, in my opinion the small things do matter. IT shows to our heavenly father our willingness to be obedient regardless of whether or not we like it or understand it. (sorry about all the spelling and other grammatical errors :) )
Hi Matt,
This is such a touchy topic that I hesitate to say anything. But since you asked, here’s my two cents. Take it for what it’s worth (lol).
I think that we all agree that the gospel requires obedience. I also think that there is a fundamental difference between obedience and conformity. The problem is, it’s often really hard to tell the two apart. So hard, in fact, that a lot of people simply choose to do what they are told to do, all the time. Conformity is a price they are willing to pay to insure that they are not disobedient.
Maybe they’re right. Certainly they have the best of intentions. And perhaps in the end it all depends upon your grounding assumptions about the purpose of life. For what it’s worth, I think that the purpose of life is to develop and perfect agency, to learn how to think and judge wisely, to grow. And for me, a fundamental part of that growth is developing the ability to distinguish between what is eternally true and what is a cultural construct. In that sense, I think that unreflective obedience sometimes limits rather than promotes growth.
With agency and choice come consequences, however. And if we choose wrongly, we risk everything, even damnation. But if we never develop the capability to distinguish between truth and error, between gospel and culture, we are not risking damnation—but only because we are already damned. We never even got out of the starting blocks.
Life is risk. Life really is a test. And part of that test is figuring out what is eternally true and what is institutionally convenient—what must be obeyed, and what needn’t be. How we act upon that determination is of course an entirely different question, but an unwillingness to make the determination in the first palace is not obedience. It’s mere conformity. Anyone can conform. Not everyone can obey. Obedience must be earned through judgment.
Dan Muhlestein
Yes, I believe you hit it on the head Professor Muhlestein. It is not about obedience or not, it is about conformity or not. Things that I think are about obedience I do, or at least try to do, without any hesitation. But the things that I believe have nothing to do with obedience or not, like wearing a hat during a prayer, I have issue with.
For the respect aspect of it, I think that for our convention of taking off a hat to pray came about by people not respecting those around them. Like I said earlier, people in the New Testament wore a hat when they prayed, and now we don't. So somewhere in the middle there people went against the cultural norm, and were disrespectful to those who were the dominant culture of the time--those who wore hats. So I don't think it is about respect, because respect changes all the time.
Matt, I don't know who Carole is, but I really wish I did. I really like her comments - and you can tell her I said so, in case she doesn't read this again. (Blogs are such a weird thing - they allow us to be completely nosy in ways we otherwise probably wouldn't...LOL)
Another example:
I don't watch Rated R movies as a general rule. I don't watch them because I believe a prophet has said that we would be better off if we didn't watch them. I believe that he can see things that I don't see, so I trust that he knows better than I do. I believe prophets are watchmen on a tower, and I believe that they see things that I don't see. So regardless of whether or not Rated R movies are worse than PG-13 movies or not, I believe they should be avoided. Also, it is true that there are many R movies that are great movies, but I think they should be avoided just the same. The man on the watchtower sees something I don't see.
But I don't think there is any watchtower for social conventions. I don't think wearing a tie has much to do with God. Now, to illustrate further, I wear a tie to church. I wear a tie when I go to interview. I AM DOING THESE THINGS, I just have a hard time seeing the reason all the time.
The things is, I don't want to do things that don't matter. And everyone is saying, "one day you'll get more mature and just follow suit" I would reply that I hope that day doesn't happen. I don't want to pick up what everyone else is putting down. I want my life to be about obedience, not conformity. The hard part is deciphering between the two!
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