Two Cows

My wife and I revised the analogy of the two cows:

SOCIALISM
You have two cows, and your neighbor has none. The government takes both, hires you to milk them, and sells you the milk.

COMMUNISM
You have two cows. The state takes both and gives you some milk for the rest of your life.

FASCISM
You have two cows. The state takes both, sells you some milk, and tells you what to think about your cows.

FEUDALISM
Your liege-lord owns you and two cows. You milk them and he graciously lets you keep some of the milk.

CAPITALISM FOR THE ENTREPRENEUR
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. If all goes well, you sell the herd and retire.

CAPITALISM FOR ABLE-BODIED POOR
You have no cows, so you spend your life milking the entrepreneur's cows for a living. If he pays well, you save up and buy one cow.

CAPITALISM FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE
You have no cows and are unable to get/do paid work, but you are told you are lazy for not milking your cows.

CRONY CAPITALISM
You have two cows, and you sell the milk at a profit. The government gives you ten bulls because you seem promising. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell all your cows for a bull-only business model, and your business fails.

CRONY CAPITALISM, PART II
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. They get sick and die, and the government gives you a new herd.

WELFARE CAPITALISM
As capitalism, but the community votes for the entrepreneur to give some free milk to the less fortunate.

WELFARE STATE
The community votes for the entrepreneur to give free milk to the able-bodied poor.

A Child of God

One hundred eighty-two years ago this Spring, a child of God knelt in sincere prayer to ask God a simple question, intending to do whatever he was commanded.

And Satan went berserk. That boy wrote: "immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak." Satan did everything he could to silence the boy whose testimony would enlighten tens of thousands in his lifetime. Millions have now grown because of Joseph Smith's testimony.

But God delivered Joseph! He gave the boy prophet protection from Satan, work to do, and power to do it. Soon, under the new Prophet's direction, other children of God began to be called to serve:

And your whole labor shall be in Zion, with all your soul, from henceforth; yea, you shall ever open your mouth in my cause, not fearing what man can do, for I am with you. Amen.

The Lord never intended for one child to do his whole work. Jesus Christ leads the work and ensures that all our mistakes are made up, sooner or later. He promises that everyone can be a part of what he is doing:

For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.

Every person has a gift. Your gifts may include the ability to share knowledge, or to share wisdom, or to be comforting. The scriptures guarantee that you have at least one. The Lord used astronomy as a metaphor in D&C 88 and in the book of Abraham. D&C 88:44 could be describing how our gifts all complement each other in God's work:

They give light to each other in their times and in their seasons.

We all benefit from each other in different ways. I believe that some promptings are more likely to come to men, while others are more likely to come to women. The poor seem to get more revelation about taking care of each other, while the rich seem to have more light on spending their money efficiently. And the scriptures are clear that our own interests and questions have a huge impact on what revelations we get:

Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Like with Joseph Smith, Satan wants to silence each of us. Of course the light we have is incomplete, there's no way we're going to save the world on our own, but Satan wants us to believe that our gifts, ideas, and interests are irrelevant. He wants us to close our mouths. He will tell us whatever lies are necessary: that women can't be leaders, that men can't be loving, that children can't be wise. Even well-meaning people may believe some of Satan's lies and tell you to be silent. But could the Lord be any clearer?

Open your mouths and they shall be filled, and you shall become even as Nephi of old, who journeyed from Jerusalem in the wilderness.

Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you.

Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying: Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Again, most of us know we all have limitations on our authority over others. We don't have the right to declare new commandments, to judge others' worthiness, or to become angry. We do, however, have the right to speak as we are guided by the Holy Ghost. We all have the right to ask hard questions of others, to point out important deficits in what the Lord has revealed so far, and to propose possible solutions until the Lord reveals more on the subject. We can pray with all our hearts for revelation, and we can receive it.

If we open our mouths, we can literally become like Nephi. His father, the authoritative Prophet in the story, saw a vision of a tree and an iron rod leading to it. After Lehi explained the vision to his family, Nephi desired to see the same vision.

And he did.

Nephi learned some different things from the same vision, things more applicable to his own perspective and needs. And when his brethren were arguing about what the vision meant, Nephi could explain with confidence.

I plead with you, don't wait for someone else to be Nephi (who could explain the vision so clearly), or Esther (who saved Israel by lifting up her voice), or Emma (who got us the Word of Wisdom by objecting to church leaders' tobacco use). Don't let anyone tell you that your gifts are worthless. Their light does not invalidate yours.

After all, you are a child of heavenly parents. Is there anything you can't do, if they are behind you?

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.)