Unhappiness

I’m starting a new “Quotations” category. Here’s the first:

Unhappiness equals idealized images minus reality.

- Dennis Prager

Unfortunately, I don’t have a link to the exact source. I heard Dennis speaking on the subject on his national radio show. If you don’t believe me, here’s another guy that quotes him, charlesnorth.blogspot.com. He seems a decent fellow.

Anyway, back to the quote. I find it quite interesting. To phrase it in other words: gazing upon an ideal status of being, while knowing the truth of our actual status, is the source of unhappiness. This “status of being” could  be the owning of tangible objects, but more profoundly, it could be the makeup of character. Wishing we were something that we are not could indeed cause unhappiness or depression. However, for the optimistic it could also be a great motivator to attaining a more ideal status.

The quotation isn’t perfect. I think it should read, “One of the sources of unhappiness…” The comparison between want and have isn’t the only source of unhappiness. Maybe it’s the most frequent reason for unhappiness -in the minds of those who feel sorry for themselves, but I think the source of the most exquisite unhappiness would have to be the spiritual separation of man and God, when it is brought upon ourselves from our own agency. The notion I’m referring to is called “spiritual death,” and is caused by sin, or in other words, the deliberate disobedience of God’s will.

With that said, I think the quote could very well read:

The greatest unhappiness equals the knowledge that the choices we made were opposed to the ones achieving our fullest potential, which potential was to become the idealistic image of God.

As a day of rest, Sunday increases performance in the secular world

I will, in my every so often blabberings, accommodate those who do and who do not belong to my faith, touching on principle and theory as applicable to life and prosperity. The humble seeker of truth, of any environmental circumstance, needs only to heed and put to practice what is here proposed. I believe my writings to be very near and accurate to the evident truth and to the unseen reality, by means of both reason and instinctive feeling. I invite you to so ponder, test and experiment with what is here exposed. As always, feedback is appreciated and in future posts, a “comment” feature will be available.

“Keep my Sabbaths” My thoughts on an address given by Dallin H Oaks on November 4, 2007

We’ve all heard it before, “…the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.. “ – Ex 20:10. As a Latter-Day-Saint, there are things that I’m supposed to do, and things that I am not to do on Sunday. I won’t go into any details of the matter, but I want to comment on the previous verse: “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:” - Ex 20:9. A concept that Dallin brought to light for me tonight was the fact that if I were to truly live this teaching, I would work and labor hard for six days, and when Sunday would come around I would actually want to rest, not so much physically, but I would just need a break. Right now, I don’t exactly rest on Sunday. I pretty much go to church, do a little reading, and hang out with friends as I would any other day (with a limit to which types of activities are engaged in). Now, an attempt to tie this in secularly. Common behavior: to work/study every day of the week in a less-than-exhaustive way, resting on and off the job, sometimes performing in a leisurely way. My application of a spiritual teaching as a secular principle: to work/study hard for six days, almost to the point that if it weren’t for the seventh day of resting, you would break. This results in a substantial increase of productivity and performance. (working 7 days at 60% capacity < working 6 days at 99% capacity, for example). If an increase in productivity and performance (not just industrially, but physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally and socially as well) equals prosperity and happiness, then the proposed work six days/rest one day teaching applies secularly and to life in general.

(originally Sunday 11/4/07 11:56 PM)