This postRemember how I said I’d post about Elder Douglas L. Callister’s devotional address? The rebroadcast ended an hour ago (which is how long I’ve been working on this post :)), and here’s my response:
First, the underlying premise behind all of his remarks is that our heavenly home and our heavenly parents are refined, cultured, and majestic, and that we should try to become like them in every way possible. I agree: if we’re to become gods and goddesses, we need to cultivate the attributes that define godhood. Even though we’re only human, we all have the potential to become like God. We shouldn’t waste our time rolling in the mud.
1. Refinement in speech. The things a person says — both the words they choose and what they talk about — tell an awful lot about them. People who are down-to-earth are spotted quickly, as are the snobby and self-absorbed. Intelligence or the dull lack thereof shows clearly on the surface as we talk. And, more importantly, our refinement or vulgarity is plainly evident in our language. Do we use expletives unworthy of sons and daughters of God? (I mean not only swear words, but also the gutter talk that tends to pop up among guys in locker rooms.) Do we sink or do we swim?
For me, I tend to be a linguistic chameleon, fitting in with the language of those around me. There was a time where I picked up the word “crap,” much to my chagrin. It took a few months to purge it out of my system. Now, it’s not the worst word in the world, but I do think it’s unrefined, vulgar, and out of character for a disciple of Christ. I can’t see Jesus saying it. Nor can I really see him saying “cool!”, “awesome!”, or any of that ilk, for that matter. I don’t know if that means we should avoid such language — it certainly isn’t harmful or vulgar — but I do like the idea of dignifying my language, making it noble and refined. If we’re to be kings and queens, so to speak, oughtn’t we to act like it? (I rush to add that this doesn’t mean being hoity-toity or snotty. True nobility raises others to its level; it doesn’t push them back down into the mud.) I’ll see if I can tone down my use of “cool” and company, and if it makes a difference.
Elder Callister’s comments on “well-measured words” also stuck with me. I’m wont to spout off whatever comes into my mind, which has its hazards. :) Sometimes I’m too lightminded, treading dangerously far from the glow of the Spirit, treating jokingly that which ought to be honored and revered. Not often, but it happens more than I’d like. I need to think more about what I say before I say it. Beyond that, I want to be one of those people who speaks of “stirring ideas, compelling books, inspiring doctines” — those who make their mark in this world, as he says. I want to uplift and edify others, not bring them down.
2. Refinement in appearance. As President Hinckley talked about in priesthood session last night, we need to be clean and neat in appearance, not slovenly or overly casual. It seems to me that society has casualized itself almost to a casualty level. We worship the god of comfort (and laziness), and all the while our respectability slips out the back door. No, we don’t need to dress up all the time, but we’re making everything casual, and that’s bad. In the newspaper this past week I read about some professor up at BYU-Idaho who requires all of his students to wear suits and dresses to class. Perhaps overkill, but in all honesty it wouldn’t hurt. Dressing messy brings us down, and we lose respect and trustworthiness in the eyes of others.
Why does that matter? Well, for followers of Christ it matters a great deal: we represent not only ourselves but also our Lord and His church. I wouldn’t want my appearance to be a stumbling block, keeping others from coming unto Christ.
I’ll add that the reason I wear a collared shirt and dress pants every day is only partially a reaction against this plague of casualness. Mostly it’s because I feel better when I dress up — more noble, more grown up, more qualified to do great things.
3. Refinement in literature. For some, the first obstacle is actually reading any literature in the first place. Slavery to the television and the movie theater (to the exclusion of the library) has spawned a number of problems in society, but we’ll save a discussion of those for a later date.
With those who do read, are we mainly reading the equivalent of junk food? I don’t think all popular lit is bad, but most of it won’t help us become gods and goddesses. There’s so much good, uplifting, ennobling literature out there (and here I’ll expand “literature” to include not just fiction but all the good books of the ages, across all genres). Do we really have time to waste on Dan Brown?
I loved how Elder Callister said that there will almost certainly be a magnificent library in heaven, and it delighted me to hear that President Hinckley perused his library — I always look through people’s libraries when I visit. I can’t help myself. :)
E. Callister mentioned David O. McKay’s habit of rising at 4:00 every morning and skimming through two books by 6:00, before going about his daily business. I’m sorely tempted to do that. :) If a man as busy as he could read two books a day, surely I can, too. (And I’d love to be able to quote thousands of poems by heart…) President McKay apparently called the grandmasters of literature the “minor prophets.” That makes me happy. :) It tickles me pink to think that God reveals truth to all sorts of people, especially those whose writings I’ve come to love.
The bit about reading books more than once was a quote from C.S. Lewis (I think from “On the Reading of Old Books,” but I could be mistaken). Part of me panics at the thought of reading books more than once — because there are so many to read and not nearly enough time to do it in — but then again I’ve re-read many of CSL’s books, and I expect I’ll re-read many of my favorites over the course of my life. What I think I ought to do is stop caring about reading every book out there :), and instead focus on enjoying the good ones I do read.
I laughed when E. Callister talked about a young man sitting in his dorm room on Friday reading a book. That’s so me! :) The “slower and more lasting stimulus of solitary reading” is a wonderful thing, I must say. My heart grows warm at the thought of reading with my wife and children.
4. Refinement in music. I have trouble imagining rap or heavy metal in heaven. If our musical diet consists only of what Elder Callister calls “musical french fries,” we’re cheating ourselves of the true beauty of the heavens, I think.
Another danger (and this applies to all the arts, I think) is that we may get so used to our superficial, popular media that we (temporarily) lose the ability to enjoy the more refined and cultured music, literature, and art that is out there. Popular media also seems to create an “insatiable appetite to be entertained,” almost like a drug. The classics (which I’ll use as a general term to mean the more refined, cultured media) don’t seem to have that effect, at least not for me. Is there a substantial difference? Perhaps. At any rate, Elder Maxwell’s statement that “we’re too prone to the tasteless” is all too true. Godliness is not manifest in the trash of our literature, art, and music, but in the gems.
I need to listen to more classical music. Music “opened the spiritual pores” of J. Reuben Clark, and I’ve found that listening to Beethoven (I’m listening to the Ninth Symphony right now) and Mozart and Bach and Handel and the rest helps me concentrate, pouring light through me. Other kinds of music have a habit of getting in the way, like smudges on glass. I certainly don’t mean that non-classical music is bad, but I do think we need to get back to the masters.
The refinement that comes from playing a musical instrument is important. In the past couple of years I haven’t played the piano as much as I’d like, and the hole it’s left behind in my life is very noticeable. (Though I can still play the hymns as well as before; my guess is that it either comes from having played them thousands of times, or it’s a gift from on high.) The lounge in my apartment complex has a piano, but we can’t play it till quiet hours end at 10 a.m.; someday I’ll have my own piano in my own home and will be able to practice at 5 a.m. when I’m free to do so. Bliss. :) (I’ve never really memorized any pieces, but instead I’ve focused on sightreading. And while I’ll admit that I’m pretty good at sightreading, I want to start memorizing material so I can make it a part of me.)
5. Becoming noble and great. The core of all this is that we’re children of God, heirs to the throne, but our nobility and greatness lies latent within us. We need to wake it up, becoming the princes and princesses we’re destined to be. The world will slumber on in its misty stupor of mediocrity, but we must rise above it, piercing through the fog with our brilliant, blinding light. We must not settle for less.
