Upcoming Posts

In order to keep myself accountable to what i've told some of you, i'm compiling a list of things i've agreed to blog about and explain. In case you didn't know, i love lists. I feel so accomplished when i scratch something off one of my lists. :-) Also, when i finally write these, i'll come back here, and link my posts.

for Beehive Healing Arts
1. Some sweet science behind why alternate nostril breathing (ANB) is one of the greatest gifts India has ever given the world of mental health.
2. E=mc2 Why everything is energy
2.5 What is "Christ-Centered Energy Work?"
3. What is Karma? LDS Doctrine + Science = Awesome
4. The subconscious demystified

for Like Nephi of Old
1. False Prophets: "I, I am Christ!"
1.5 What the difference between not being separate from God, and being God is. (Cosmic Humanism explained)
2. What is the difference between the Light of Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost?
3. What is Charity?
4. Missionary Letter that i forgot to write long long ago (Sorry Sister!) about faith unto golden investigators


If you'd like me to blog about something, leave it in the comments below! 

Music: Foundation of Faith (And a quick update!)

In case you didn't know i've been kind of quiet on the blogsphere because i've been going back and forth between Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. It's been an amazing couple of weeks! I've got a lot of insights to share here, and on my other blog, but i wanted to share a quick insight that hit me today amazing time, and some fun pictures from my trip.

I love jazz music

Music. Magic that has enchanted people since the beginning of time. There's something inside of us that cannot resist the pull of great music! Whether it's Jazz, or Hip-hop, or Baroque, or Classical, or maybe Country western, once you find music that you love, you can't get it out of your head!

If you've had the pleasure of seeing Pixar's new movie Inside Out, then you (hopefully) noticed the tripledent gum ad that kept popping up for the young girl. The molecules said about the memory of that jingle "this one is never gonna fade! Sometimes we throw it up there just for fun!" (Speaking of Inside Out and music, i'm currently hooked on the song Lava.)

TripleDent Gum, will make you smile!

As i pondered why some of these songs just randomly come from the depths of our memory, i had an insight, it's because we're hardwired for praise. We're hardwired to praise the Lord! (This is a subject i'll be writing about at some point, but it requires a lot more time and attention than I can put into a blog post)  The Lord designed us this way so we could learn easier through song! Basically any song  can stick in our memory like gum on the bottom of a shoe, which means we have to be just as careful what we let into our ears, as what we let our shoes fall into.*

When i was pondering this, one of the first witnesses that pointed me to this was the fact that almost all the major religions, the texts were recited to music? The Hebrews have their chants, and prayers that are in song, the Muslims have their call to prayer, and the Qur'an in song, and the Hindus have the Vedas which were originally hymns, Catholics have their repeated prayers, and songs. Even the Yogis sing their mantras to music!

The Vedas are older than Moses!

For a while i was really annoyed that Latter-day Saints don't put many of our scriptures to music. We have our hymns, yes, but i wish there was some cool song that i could use to sing 1 Nephi!  (I was actually just talking to Erwin about this today.) The jews have cool patterns! However, it seems that Latter-day Saints are peculiar enough as they are, that they avoid things that might make them seem even weirder.. i.e. chanting scriptures to music in order to learn them better.

Back to today! I was walking through Deseret Book, and after i made my purchase i saw a jewel, a nugget of gold, an oasis in the desert! (No, it was not the chocolate counter next to the cashier!) I saw Scripture Scouts on CD!

Old School Cassettes

When i saw the CDs, i remembered that in my childhood i used to listen to the cassettes as i would fall asleep. There was one particular song that i would stay up late and listen to over and over. As i would listen to it, i would feel something. I wasn't sure what it was, but i loved how it felt! I would listen to it over and over, just because i loved how it felt!

As i looked back, i realized that i was feeling the Holy Ghost testifying to me about what i was hearing. Then I realized that the foundation of loving the Lord, and loving the scriptures came to me as i listened to these songs. Songs about the rameumptom, and kids talking about Laban and the plates.

I bought the album, and immediately put it into my car CD player. As i listened to it i was shocked to hear how corny some of the songs are. But even though they're corny i can't help but love them!

Now on CD!

Moral of the story: use music as a foundation for faith. Children may wander in later years, but they will remember the music, and the feelings, and that can and will provide a path to return. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is older, he will not depart from it. President Eyring said it this way,

There are things you can do early, when those you love are young. Remember that daily family prayer, family scripture study, and sharing our testimony in sacrament meeting are easier and more effective when children are young. Young children are often more sensitive to the Spirit than we realize.

When they are older, they will remember the hymns they sang with you. Even more than recalling music, they will remember the words of scripture and testimony. The Holy Ghost can bring all things to their remembrance, but the words of scriptures and hymns will last the longest. Those memories will exert a pull that may bring them back when they wander for a time, possibly for years, from the pathway home to eternal life.

*(The fact that Satan uses that hardwiring to ensure that meaningless drivel and horrid filth play on repeat in our heads is just a further backhanded 2nd confirmation for me.)

Now time for some photos from my trip to AZ with Erwin!

Erwin and me in front of the Payson, UT temple

In front of the Grand Canyon

This is the symbol of our trip. Mediation: where heaven meets earth.

We slept under the stars

Sat Nam! We love meditating!

Beautiful

Religious and Personal Liberty

As i watched this video about religious liberty, i was examining my own heart, and a thought dawned in my mind. "How can i stand for religious liberty when i don't have personal freedom from my sins?" Aren't they basically the same thing? Am i free to worship God in my personal life the way my heart wants me to be? What did i do when the thought came "You should read the scriptures?" How sincere was my prayer this morning? Did i sincerely seek the Lord like i sincerely sought lunch today? What inhibited me from worshiping the God i claim to love so much? Am in bondage to anything in my life that prevents me from worshipping my God even when external circumstances warrant it?

I've often felt that the external world is merely a reflection of an internal world, and our collective external world is a reflection of our collective internal world. (Ghandi was an amazing example of this. He first achieved liberation from the internal war, then helped others achieve spiritual liberation, and then won the external political battles liberating India from the control of the British.) So it is no surprise to me when i'm seeing spiritual bondage all over the place, to hear that religious liberty is under attack.

What i'm seeing though is a lot of well intentioned people getting "vocal" about protecting religious liberties by getting on social media, and clicking, posting, liking, and sharing. That's good, but it's not the best. The Savior said that we must "cleanse the inner vessel." We must first gain spiritual liberty before we can defend our religious liberty. We cannot fight like Captain Moroni for our our freedom of religion if we have not chosen "liberty and eternal life" by obeying the commands of Christ.

Obedience when followed precisely results in one amazing gift: charity. Charity is often viewed as feeling the fulness of God's love for other people, but that is a gross misinterpretation. Charity is described in both Lehi's dream, and Nephi's first vision, as the "love of God which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men (1 Nephi 11:22)." (If you'd like to know more about this, the book Following The Light of Christ Into His Presence, by John Pontius is an amazing resource!)

Charity, then, is the experience of feeling the fulness of God's love for me.

Maybe if he'd cleaned his glasses...

So what does that have to do with religious liberty, you might ask? Everything! If we are to take the Savior at his words, before we can help our brothers and sisters see the error of their ways, we must first have clear vision. We must cleanse the inner vessel, clean the windows, take of our dirty glasses, whatever the euphemism you understand or like, we need to stop talking about it, and do it! Fearless obedience is the very attribute that made Moroni so powerful! (Moroni 38:17) It's also what made the stripling warriors so powerful! We cannot defend ourselves from spiritual enemies if we aren't fully putting on our armor.

This is my vision: every priesthood holder powerfully discerning the influence of the Spirit of Christ, and learning to hold fast to every word which comes out of God's mouth. Every mother nurturing her children with the spirit of Christ in her heart, telling bedtime stories from the scriptures. Instilling faith in Jesus Christ at every opportunity. Taking advantage of every little revelation, every moment of conscience telling us to do something, every prompting, dutifully and faithfully obeyed, obeying because we recognize that those moments are opportunities to show our love for God.

How do we handle pain?

            In my meditation today, I felt like I needed to journal. I have been on the brink of new understanding lately, and I could feel it. I felt like this was a necessary step in my growth, and I wanted it! I had just finished getting really bitter and nasty with my mom, and I didn’t ever want to do that again. My prayer was that this meditation would help me, so I decided to go with it.

Photo cred. http://www.exploremosaic.com

            In my journaling I found some interesting tidbits that I’d like to share with you. I’ll just quote from my journal though:

            “Truth is, it’s scary. I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen when I accept people as they are. I certainly won’t feel justified like I have been! I’ve been in self-deception for a long time, and now I’m coming to the heart of this. I don’t know how to live any differently. I need someone to tell me that it’s going to be okay. I won’t cease to exist, and I won’t cease to feel. I’m afraid that if I accept people as they are, I’ll lose all my emotions. But truth is, I won’t have to accept their actions as they are. I can still be deeply upset about something that happens, but never shame the person! In fact, I imagine that I’ll have an even more rich emotional life! Because my emotional life will be garnished by virtue: courage, selflessness, power, love. I will have people who will more vehemently hate me, and love me. Like Christ I will gain friends who will be closer, and more intimate than any friends I’ve ever had before! I will also gain enemies who will hate me, and cause me more sadness than I’ve ever known before. This isn’t an ending. This is the beginning of a new dawn, a dawn of love.

            “…The idea of vulnerability in a friendship scares me. The idea of wholeheartedly loving someone, of letting them see me as I am, really freaks me out. I might let someone see me. I haven’t let someone see me in a loooong time! Like, a long, long time! The idea is really scary, but I know that this is what I want in my marriage: total authenticity and vulnerability.

            “But I don’t know how to live that way! What if it hurts?! Indeed. What if it hurts? Will you die? No. But hurting is worse than death! If I die things just stop, but if I hurt it carries on. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s going to hurt. But you’re actually hurting more now than you will when you live in total vulnerability and authenticity. You bury your hurt, and ignore your hurt, and hurt yourself more in order to cover up the hurt, but if you acknowledge the hurt you can forgive and then be free. ‘If someone hurts you, so much that your feelings seem to choke you, forgive, and you will be free (F. Enzio Busche).’”

           

            As I was writing this I asked, “what do you do when you get hurt? How do you handle hurt in a healthy way?” And the answer that came as I looked to the Savior of the World. He gave the perfect example in all things. As he hung on the cross, obviously hurting he did one thing that helped him deal with that emotional pain of betrayal from those you love, those with whom he was authentic, and vulnerable, and real. He forgave.

  

          “Forgiveness is one of the greatest medicines around.” –Kimberly Watts

            As I seek to live more like Christ, I will seek more to accept people as they are, not judge them or their actions (which Enzio Busche also prescribes for Christ-like living in Unleashing The Dormant Spirit), be vulnerable, authentic, and real, and forgive others when I’m hurt by their actions. If I don’t fully live up to this perfectly, I pray that you will forgive me.

            If you haven’t read it yet, go read Unleashing The Dormant Spirit by F. Enzio Busche. It’s on my blog here. If you have read it, go read it again, it’s worth a reread or two (or fifty).

How do you #hashtag?

So... a dear friend and i invented what we fondly referred to as "Hashtag Fever" when we attached obnoxiously voluminous amounts of hashtags to our letters, texts, and emails to each other. It was always involved us using #hashtagfever

Why do i bring this up you might say? Well, i was thinking about this because i saw Al Fox's blog (which i am now following), and i saw #UseTheInternetForGood  #SpreadTheSpirit  and i loved it! And i just got curious.. How do you hashtag?

For me? I use them to tag things like #UseTheInternetForGood and #SpreadTheSpirit or #HeIsTheGift to follow and trace posts that follow a theme. 

Any who, i hope you all have a very happy New Year! 

Love you all! 

-Ryan

#TryingToBeLikeNephi

How-To Meditate

Lately I’ve had a lot of my friends ask me how to meditate. I’ll be teaching a class very soon teaching mediation, and exploring different types of meditation some common, some not so common! The intent will be to use your discernment to identify a type of meditation that you can incorporate into your life that you’re comfortable with, and that works for you.

That being said, there are a few tips I can offer here to help all of you who want to begin to learn to meditate. One of the critical elements of understanding the common thread in the diverse types of meditation is having an understanding of what I call the thinking mechanism.  The thinking mechanism is merely a part of the mind that generates thoughts. Your mind has the capacity to follow those thoughts generated by the thinking mechanism, but it cannot actually produce thoughts. Think of it, when you are trying to recall someone’s name, or address, or information and you can’t seem to recall it. It’s because your thinking mechanism can’t “find” the information. Your mind is aware of it’s existence, your heart wants it, your brain has the info stored somewhere in it’s neural pathways, however your thinking mechanism can’t get to it! Thus you only have the power to follow thoughts, not generate them.

It has been said that your mind can only follow one thought at a time, so if you choose what thoughts to accept then no other thought can occupy the stage of your mind. This is true for temptation, and it’s also true for meditation! Meditation translation? In one-way or another all meditation techniques will focus your mind on something other than the products of your thinking mechanism. That might mean focusing on light, a sensation, a color, a sound, a phrase, an emotion, a memory, a scripture, or your breathing.

Doing this sends your thinking mechanism into a state of rest like the 15-minute break you get at work, it’s not down-and-out, it’s just giving your mind a breather so it can do it’s job the rest of the waking day calm, and refreshed. Even in sleep your mind does not get this kind of rest! In sleep, dreaming occurs in which the mind is processing, dumping, storing, and retrieving; the thinking mechanism is very active during sleep! Thus, meditation can be as healing as sleep!

Research done by Harvard Medical has shown that engaging in meditation (resting the thinking mechanism) can regrow grey matter in your brain, a feat once thought impossible by scientists! Resting the thinking mechanism is as important to your mental health as rest is to your physical health.

As you begin meditating, don’t let yourself get discouraged if it seems like your thinking mechanism never quits. I have a friend who, after a month of meditating had 3 seconds without a spontaneous thought being generated. What she needed was a different type of meditation that used more than breathing. If when you meditate your thinking mechanism is particularly noisy, the key is to not get upset. Your thinking mechanism is just doing its’ job. It’s like a workaholic who has been asked to take time of work, and ends up in the office anyway. Just acknowledge it, thank it, and go back to whatever it is you’re focusing on!

World-famous yoga teacher Erich Schiffman suggested that there are two phases to meditation, the first is slowing down, and eventually stopping the thinking mechanism, the second is enjoying the mental quiet. He prescribed 10 minutes to slow down, focus, and rest the thinking mechanism, and then 10 minutes to enjoy the stillness. The first time I tried his prescription was amazing! 20 minutes later and I felt like a whole new person! I couldn’t do 20 minutes consistently though, which brings me to my next point, your edge.

The edge is one of the most important elements of yoga. People who don’t know what their edge is either hurt themselves or never experience growth. With too much of a stretch to our mental, emotional, attention, physical, spiritual, or energetic experience we experience pain, which hinders our growth. With too little stretch there is no challenge, and no invitation to open up to greater good.

Erich Schiffmann said: “Somewhere between these two points (too much stretch and too little stretch) is a degree of stretch… called your ‘edge.’ The body’s edge in yoga is the place just before pain, but not pain itself. Pain tells you where the limits of your physical conditioning lie. Edges are marked by pain and define your limits. How far you can fold forward, for example, is limited by your flexibility edge; to go any further hurts and is actually counterproductive. The length of your stay in a pose is determined by your endurance edge. Your interest in a pose is a function of your attention edge.”

I found it very interesting that there are many different types of edges. If you try one type of meditation and you find that you dislike it, or it isn’t relaxing to you, it may be that this type of meditation is outside of your “edge” and that you ought to try a different type of meditation! I tried and quit many types of yoga before I found a yoga practice that I’m comfortable with. I didn’t realize how many different branches there were! I kept coming back to yoga, and eventually I found out why! I now have a yoga/meditation practice that I enjoy very much! It serves me, and is very satisfying.

So! As you go forth trying guided meditations, yoga classes, singing, visualizations, chanting, or any other type of meditation, just remember to be patient with your thinking mechanism, and to listen to your body for it to tell you when it reaches it’s edge.

For now you can start with this simple meditation taught by Deepak Chopra M.D. that I got from a friend.

1.     Sitting position both feet on the floor, hands on lap palms up:

a.     Just listen to all the sounds around you

2.     Pay attention to your heart:

a.     Think of all the things you’re thankful for

b.     Think of all your blessings

c.      Think of everyone you love, recall and experience of love

3.     Ask yourself a few questions: (don’t answer the questions)

a.     Who am I?

b.     What do I want?

c.      What is my purpose in life?

d.     What makes me happy?

4.     Notice all the sensations in the body: just simple awareness of your body

a.     Your heart beat

b.     Any vibrations that you feel

c.      Your breathing

5.     Be aware of your breathing as it goes in and out:

a.     Take deep breaths and hold for 12 seconds (do this a few times)

b.     Then breathe in and say the word in your head “so”

c.      Then breathe out and say in your head “hmm”

d.     If your mind starts to wander do the breathing again

e.     Do this for about 2 minutes without interruption

6.     Focus your attention on your heart again:

a.     Notice the feelings of your heart beat

b.     Notice the sound of your heart beat

7.     Move your attention into your open hands

a.     See if you can sense your heart beat in your finger tips, as a mild throbbing or as warmth, or as a tingling sensation

8.     Bring your focus back into your heart and relax into your body, take a minute and gently open your eyes

Well, there you have it friends! If you have questions or comments, feel free to comment below. I love comments, and I try to answer all the questions I get. (Sometimes I’m not great at answering questions, so if you feel like your question wasn’t answered, message me, and I’ll try and better answer any questions.)

Honesty: The Key To Rebirth

            Truth is the issue. When we aren’t honest with ourselves, we can’t be honest with God. And if we aren’t honest with God, we can’t receive honesty from him; light cleaveth to light, virtue loveth virtue, truth embraceth truth (DYC 88:40). By being honest with ourselves and with God about where our flesh is in its progression from sensuality to sainthood, we can begin to shatter the illusion of lies that we’ve been living under. When that illusion that we called life begins to crumble in the scorching heat of truth and honesty the only thing left is a new life to live, a new heart, and a new song to sing; when we become completely self-honest in the light of God’s love we are reborn.

            Enzio Busche said “Enlightened by the Spirit of truth, we will then be able to pray for the increased ability to endure truth and not to be made angry by it (see 2 Nephi 28:28). In the depth of such a prayer, we may finally be led to that lonesome place where we suddenly see ourselves naked in all soberness. Gone are all the little lies of self-defense. We see ourselves in our vanities and false hopes for carnal security. We are shocked to see our many deficiencies, our lack of gratitude for the smallest things. We are now at that sacred place that seemingly only a few have courage to enter, because this is that horrible place of unquenchable pain in fire and burning.”

            Two examples from the scriptures that come to my mind are that of King Benjamin, and also Alma the Younger. Benjamin uses honesty as a sword to cut the people down to their core, the honest truth that they are less than the dust of the earth. Alma the younger is cut to the core by honesty and suffers the pains of a damned soul for 3 days! Make no mistakes my brothers and sisters, rebirth is painful, probably as painful as giving birth the natural way. (I’ve never given birth, nor have I yet had the complete rebirth, but from what I’m reading, it’s pretty miserable. Though King Benjamin’s people had a quick labor and Alma the younger had a really long labor, they both had pretty unhappy feelings at the time of their honesty/conversion (see Alma 36:13-16; Mosiah 4:1-2).)

            What sparked this was a Sunday School lesson I attended a few weeks ago that’s still sitting with me. We talked about honesty, and Jeremiah, and the new heart and several other things, but what I’m still chewing on was 4 questions that my teacher gave us. He told us the story of being in a class in college and pairing off with another student, and the instructions for the day were basically thus: ask your partner the questions, and then have your partner ask you the questions, and then ask your partner the questions again, and then have him ask you the questions again, and do this over and over until class is over or you’re crying too much to function. You cannot say anything to your partner when you’re asking the questions, you can only ask the question and then sit silently while they answer the question.

            My teacher said that by the 4^th time around he was a crying wreck. Want the questions? Here they are:

1.     What do you want?

2.     Why do you want that?

3.     What have you been willing to do to get that?

4.     What haven’t you been willing to do?

            Pretty simple eh? Well by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass! He said the first time he was pretty superficial, and the next time around he got a little deeper, and the next time it was a little deeper, and eventually he had several breakthroughs and made some really amazing changes.

            Self-honesty in the Light of Christ is the essence of the ancient art of Alchemy. Christ will take the most mundane feelings of our heart, and when examined in the light of truth and honesty, they will transform before our eyes into humility, truth, love, and gratitude. He offers us eternal life, and immortality, but he also offers to turn our ashes to beauty and our worthless offerings to Gold! (Isn’t that awesome?!)

            So how do we get self-honest? Well, there’s several ways! A few are listed in the Book of Mormon! 1) Be taught by an amazing missionary like Ammon, Benjamin, or Nephi (son of Nephi). 2) Get visited by an angel because of your father’s righteousness and prayers on your behalf! (Be warned, this didn’t work for Laman and Lemuel because they couldn’t get self-honest and stay self-honest.) 3) Alma 42:30. 4) Contemplate, ponder, study, pray, and fast about how you can have this type of experience every week during the ordinance of the Sacrament. 5) Ask yourself those 4 questions, or better yet, have someone else ask you those 4 questions and follow those rules! 6) Read Truth Is The Issue by F. Enzio Busche in the October 1993 General Conference, and learn more about truth. 7) The 12-steps of addiction recovery! They’re an amazing resource for personal growth and transformation. If you want a true spiritual rebirth, check those out! They’re amazing. You might need a sponsor to help you understand them, but if you look for one, look for someone who has had the change that you’re looking for. 8) Meditation. A personal favorite of mine! It’s amazing what a little stillness can do for clearing your head, and helping you see things more honestly. 9) Journaling. I teach this to all my students. A piece of paper and pen is the cheapest therapy you’ll ever have. Just start writing down all your thoughts and feelings onto a piece of paper, and just get honest. Anything that pops into your head, or any feelings that you have, write it down! This is a zero-judgment zone. One time I wrote in my journal that I’m afraid of food. No judgment.

            Okay! Well that was a ton of information for you! I hope you find this helpful and that it helps you experience conversion, rebirth, and a new life in Christ.