Looking through multi-colored lenses

I think I’ve discovered what makes a person appear to be intelligent (or what intelligent people often talk about) It’s not the knowledge that they study, the numbers they have memorized, or the papers they have written…those that are considered ‘intelligent’ are considered so because of their perspective.

I’m not talking about the kind of perspective that an artist learns in their line of work. The intelligent person looks at things witha different perspective, sometimes a different colored lense every morning. There is something to be said to look at something with the eye of an artist, seeing the beauty and compositions around you. It is something else entirely to see something with they eye of the scientist, ever eager to see the logical connections between things. It is something else entirely to see things in the numberical eyes of a mathematician, to see the beauty of the numbers that organize daily existance.

They read books and in some cases remember the names of the main characters, but more often than not they are labeled smart because of an incredable ability to see connections between seemingly unrelated things. The kind of person who cannot sit through a children’s film without seeing the in depth connotations that lie just beneath the surface. The kind of person who sees the principles of Marcism in the context of the Smurfs.

Perspective is why I love the book of John in the Bible. The other Synaptic gospels are so intent on the story that they forget to mention the improtant things. They relate direct prophesies, but they do not mention the deep teachings. John focuses on the extraordinary in the ordinary actions of Christ, he acts upon the actions that others have seen, that others just push aside as ‘odd’ or ‘quirky’ and forget the deep meaning beneath.

Perhaps perspective is what makes the difference between someone who is OK and someone who is simply amazing. The different lenses make the world an amazing place to reside.

A picture is Worth 1000 words…

Recently my New Testiment class went to the Museum of Art on Campus to see one of their more fameous paintings, the painting of CHRIST HEALING THE SICK AT BETHESDA. I’ve been to the Louvre, I’ve seen the paintings, this one reminded me of how ordinary Christ must have seemed to others. Also I liked how the the story seems to be told through of the eyes of the an in the center of the painting.

I know that he is our Savior and our Redeemer, but it is interesting that he does not appear to be anything more than a man in this painting, but I have always been slightly awed by the many depictions of Christ that I’ve seen in my life. He is wearing white, but this painting seems to be focused on how people reacted to his miracles. I’ve always wondered how I would react to his miracles if I had been there… would I have been too busy to stop? Would I have watched for a moment then left thinking ‘that’s nice’? Or would I have been one of his devout followers, like Mary, who would have followed him to the ends of the earth?  I know that this is a moot point, because it is a question that will never have an answer. But I suppose I can follow Christ now, through the study of the scriptures, through the listening to conference, through everything I do and say. Perhaps I would be like the man in the center of the painting, telling the story of Christ’s ministry to the world…

Prejudice and Prop 8

I have tried to abstain from the nonsense of the yes/no debate of Prop 8. But I have recently been introduced to several different ads against (and for I might add) the proposition that shocked and appalled me.
For those of you who have not figured this out yet, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am not ashamed of my religion, nor was I forced to donate money to the cause of proposition 8. Honestly I never really heard anything about it in my Sunday Church Meetings. I am also not a California resident. I claim to be apathetic, especially in the realm of politics, but sometimes my opinion needs to be heard and understood.

Some of the ads that jarred me most were the misinformed ads demonizing Mormons, and their leaders. They took their words and used them to support their own purposes. I was in TV production in Highschool and I can tell you now that if I wanted to promote tolerance and respect I could make a video using only sound bites from Adolf Hitler and make a pretty convincing video. If there is anything that I detest more than yellow journalism, it is poorly done yellow journalism. With this thought I turn to my next issue.

“I hate those ‘haters.’” With these words more irony is contained than in any sentence spoken in history (With the exception of some statements by Moliere). How can you hate those that hate and not grow to hate yourselves? Is there something wrong with a person that believes in reincarnation? Is there a reason why a person cannot see marriage as it has been seen for hundreds of years without being seen as ‘medieval’?

Terms have changed, ask any person studying linguistics and they will tell you this, but is there a reason why a different form of union cannot have a different form of name? If a man and a man want to be together they can have one term associated with their union, the same for a woman and a woman, but they do not need to use the term ‘marriage.’ To quote Shakespeare ‘a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.’ The sweetest part of this change in terminology (not rights) would be to alleviate the fight for marriage. Just use a different term, with the same rights.

I do not want to hear your claims that marriage should be based on love. If that is the case, I have one more question for you, do you agree with polygamy? One could argue that polygamy is based off of love; therefore we should legalize that practice as well. I am fully against reinstating polygamy, does this categorize me as a hater?

One more thing that irked me (On either side) was the astounding lapse of logic used in presenting their arguments. Why is it that one can purport to be ‘tolerant’ and ‘forward thinking’ when all they can say is ‘Why Society is Dumb?’ or Protect Families?. Both sides had gaping hoels in their arguments. Please be articulate when you are arguing your point, or just don’t argue it at all.

*After this rant I would like to add that issues like this are why I am not a political science major. I don’t know how one can cope with society as well as that…oi. I respect Political science majors, you guys are amazing.

NaNoWriMo

I am writing for NaNoWriMo… a little story with horriffic grammar about heroes and villains and the origins of the purple platypus. Admittedly by little I mean 50000 words, but I am going to have  a fun time. And no social life. root me on and await the random posts that will soon come to let me know if you are even remotely inested in what I am writing… I doubt that I’ll let people read the miscreants masquerading as words, but who knows I might actually like it.