Self-Defeating Freedoms

Freedom! Freedom is worth fighting for. Freedom is worth dying for. Most people would say that's part of being an American, and I imagine that most other democratic countries feel the same way.

But many of the people who, with Patrick Henry, cry, "Give me liberty or give me death!" object when they see freedom being abused. This is natural. They understand the harmful consequences of abusing our liberties.

The Book of Mormon explains this principle in terms of choosing God or Satan: "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself" (2 Nephi 2:27).

In other words, we are free to choose Satan over Christ, but if we do, we will lose many other freedoms. As a student of psychology, I am very familiar with ways we can give up freedom. Addictions are the most obvious example; I'm free to smoke a cigarette, but every choice becomes less of a choice. Soon, I could be a nicotine addict seeking help. Plenty of other freedoms are equally self-defeating. Playing a video game for a few minutes is fun. Playing a video game for hours on end can be a form of unhealthy escape, in which we forget that real life is worth experiencing.

I don't know how many ways there are to give up freedom. I'm focusing more on freedoms that create. Choosing Jesus Christ in any way will make us more free, more powerful, more intelligent, and more like Him. Certain mental illnesses can reduce our emotional freedom, but there are ways to improve. We can get help, exercise, or correct harmful thinking errors. We can learn about our own needs and meet them in healthy ways.

I know from personal experience that there is no greater ally than God in the quest for emotional freedom. According the scriptures, He is the best ally in the quest for physical freedom and the only path to spiritual freedom.

Viva la Vida

Many people have speculated about what the song "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay is about. I believe it is about lost love. It is a song about a person who has lost everything, but looking back, there is one person they missed above all else.

For some reason I can't explain

Once you go there was never

Never an honest word

And that was when I ruled the world

However, the song is powerful because it isn't about any one person who lost everything. People have applied it to God's feeling as He watches people forget Him. People have speculated that it's about Napoleon. I think this song applies best to someone who has been close to God, then forgotten Him, lost everything, and now wants to come back.

Why? Because the only relationship on which everything depends is our relationship with God. When a person is close to God and has confidence in Him, they feel like they rule the world. Nothing rivals a special spiritual experience--no pleasure, no drug, nothing. It's wonderful.

But we have the ability to choose to forget. We do something against God, we choose some cheap thrill or easy road, and He withdraws. We forget how close to Him we felt. And suddenly we feel that there isn't an honest word in the world.

Soon, we lose everything.

But the sound of Viva la Vida isn't one of despair. It is a song about hope. The music creates a feeling of bittersweet determination.

The feeling of a prodigal son who knows his Father is waiting.

The Rubik's Cube of Goodness

This morning, as I watched my wife solve a Rubik's Cube, it occurred to me that the orange side looked truly chaotic, even though she'd been working on the cube for a few minutes. Then, I laughed at myself.

She was solving the red side first.

This is a great metaphor for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many principles that we must learn and obey, but we don't always do them in the same order. For example, the first principle of the gospel is always faith in Jesus Christ, but my faith may be different than someone else's faith. I may have unbounded faith that He will give me personal revelation when I need it, but I might not really believe, with my whole heart, that He loves me.

One reason the Lord is so merciful is that many of us are improving our relationship with Him, but only one step at a time. One person is perfectly honest but sometimes uncaring; another is full of compassion but doesn't see the need for priesthood authority. Line upon line, precept upon precept, grace for grace.

Of course, being perfectly honest without charity would be like having a "fake" solved side, when it appears to be solved, but the pieces actually need to be rearranged to align with the adjacent sides. "Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever."

A Non-Violent MMO

Why are MMO's so violent? I like a good online game, but most of them are the same routine: kill the monsters to gain levels, talk to person A, person B, and person C, gather 6 crystals by killing crystalline elementals, and talk to person C again to finish the quest. You will never see any of those people again throughout the course of the game, but you will gather a lot more items and kill a lot more monsters.

Ugh.

Puzzle Pirates is original, but I never really got into it. I hope Star Wars: The Old Republic does a good job with the story, but they're definitely planning to have fighting be central to the game. Free Realms and Endless Forest don't have a compelling plot or interesting goals. The Sims Online failed, and A Tale in the Desert is mostly about crafting. I think crafting is cool, but it tends to rely on gathering. And gathering resources bores me to tears.

Matthew Everett posted a great analysis of why violence is a convenient mechanism for game design. Dana Massey posted a wonderful suggestion for a non-violent mystery MMO, which I find fascinating. If somebody created a good mystery/adventure MMO, I know one thing for sure.

I'd play it.

Edits:

Captain Dwur posted a list of ideas for genres that can provide non-violent RPG challenges: adventure, detective, natural disaster, political, and puzzle. Some of his readers posted other ideas, such as card games, treasure-hunting, getting close to animals to study them, or competitions based partly on numerical skills and partly on strategy (e. g. footraces, archery, art/poetry). Syp also wrote a commentary on some common non-combat elements of MMORPGs.

The new Mistborn Adventure Game is a tabletop RPG that focuses much more on mysteries than combat. When questioning someone, the GM has a list of "secrets" that are revealed in order. If the person resists questioning, there are three ways to challenge them: physical, social, and mental. The victim is "unconscious at 0 Health, disgraced at 0 Reputation, or devastated at 0 Willpower." (See Crafty Games's downloads section for a free intro to the game.)

xkcd Journal series

One of my favorite bits of humor, from xkcd.com. :) Unfotunately, Blogger can't seem to handle images this wide, so you'll have to click on each image to see the whole thing :(

Quotes from Bill Cosby

I've always felt a kinship with comedian-educator Bill Cosby. Here are some of my favorite quotes from him.

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.

People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what's bitter and move on.

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.

“A thought comes . . . it's a true feeling, a funny feeling. And I get to develop it. [Writing] is more fun than performing, because I get to color with words.”

The truth is that parents are not really interested in justice. They just want quiet.

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.

The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods.

Nothing I've ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children.

Bill Cosby

Sources:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bill_cosby.html

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/bill_cosby/