Spirituality - Post-Mormon

If this is the first page of this website that you have seen, I suggest that you read the summary on the Spirituality page to gain an understanding of why this website exists, and for some assistance in deciding what to read.

If you are tired of the usual ex-mormon rants (I hope that is not what I am doing, but some may perceive it that way), you might find "Out of My Faith" an interesting read. Also, some of the shorter, more creative pieces (found in the "Creative Writing, Short Stories and Poetry" section) and the essays respecting "renaissance", "metaphor games" and "perspective" may be more appealing to those who are still firmly connected to Mormonism.

I am told that, in particular, the "First Letter to Elder Holland" and the essays titled "Religious Belief: Enlightening or Blinding?", "Out of My Faith" and "Do Smart Mormons Make Mormonism True?" have been helpful to many people who have visited here. And, in the various pieces titled "Dialogue with My Daughter" I have attempted to summarize in more accessible form some of the concepts that are developed in greater detail in some of my longer essays. The long essays were, as noted above, mostly learning or therapeutic exercises for me that I have preserved. A friend who edits a newspaper calls my long essays "scaffolding" - the kind of notes writers make to themselves as they are getting ready to publish something. That, in my view, is a fair description. And perhaps some day I will be prepared to do the extra work required to publish something. For the time being, this will have to do.

Short (5 pages or less)

Are Mormons Free? (5 pages; no abstract) - When we ask “are Mormons (or anyone else) free?” we step onto a huge playing field. I will stay in one corner while commenting on three questions: First, what is the Mormon conception of freedom?; second, where does that likely find its roots?; and third, why do questions such as “What is the nature of freedom?” on the one hand cause war (both real and intellectual) while at the same time being assiduously ignored by the vast majority of most human groups? I will conclude that Mormon freedom has been narrowly defined, likely as a result of ideas regarding freedom that were popular in Joseph Smith's day and were adopted by Mormon leaders because they maximize leadership power, and have been uncritically accepted by Mormons. The Internet is changing this, as well as lots of other things relative to Mormonism, so look for lots of fireworks.

Peter Berger’s Approach to the Conflict Between Religious and Secular Society - A Few Thoughts About Religious Naturalism (5 pages; no abstract) - Swenson (“Society, Spirituality and the Sacred – A Social Scientific Introduction” (Broadview Press) (1999)) at pp. 347 – 384 summarizes the academic literature with regard to the secularization of society, including various ways in which the tension between science and other secular forces and institutional religion have been described.  One of the scholars whose thought Swenson reviews is Peter Berger.  Berger builds on some of Max Weber and others’ foundational concepts related to religion’s changing role in society.  After summarizing various ways in which religion has been marginalized by forces of secularization, Berger observes three responses at work in the religious community, as follows:  The deductive; the reductive; and the inductive.  I think this is a useful analysis, and provide some comments.

Leonard Arrington on Myth and Symbolism (5 pages) – Leonard Arrington is the only Mormon who was a professional historian to act as the Church's official historian before that office was practically speaking abolished in the early 1980s. He is a thoughtful scholar who was careful not to step on toes, but appears to have held views that would not have endeared him to Church leaders had they been well known. This essay examines some of those views, and indicates how far I am prepared to walk with him and where we part company. I wish he had felt able to be more frank respecting his personal beliefs.

Excessive Future Orientation - A Side Effect of Mormonism's Controlling Culture (5 pages) - A review of the psychological concept of present v. future orientation and how Mormonism affects its members in this regard. I conclude that Mormonism's strong focus on the importance of the afterlife and linkage of real life actions to after life consequences orientates Mormons toward the future in an unhealthy fashion.

What is Sacred? (5 pages; no abstract): I suggest that the best way to find out what is sacred to an individual or society is to ask "how do you know that" to any series of assertions until a source of unquestioned authority is found. Whatever "just is", is sacred.

The Blessing Chair (5 pages; no abstract) - This is a piece of creative writing that explores the emotional dynamics of individuation within a Mormon family setting.

Reality is what it is! What a Relief! (5 pages; no abstract) - Many of my watershed and most joyful events as a Mormon were related to signposts on the road to the Celestial Kingdom – marriage in the temple; goings and comings from missions; baptisms and other covenants made; etc. Signs that loved ones were making progress toward these things were big joy producers too – testimonies born; obedience shown; prescribed routines being followed; etc. Joy comes to me much more spontaneously now as I accept reality as it is instead of trying to control it.

Mormonism and Misdirection - What Magic Can Teach Us About Mormonism (4 pages; no abstract) - Humans tend to consistently misperceive certain types of phenomena.  Theories abound as to why this is the case.  Rather than explore those, I want in this essay to look at a type of misperception that has been exploited my magicians – misdirection – and ask what this can teach us about how Mormonism and other social phenomena functions in our lives.  Magicians have learned to harness the same human foibles that social groups unconsciously use to manipulate their members.

The "One True Church" ( 4 pages) – The idea that the Mormon Church is God's one and only true Church on earth is central to Mormon ideology and theology. This essay explores the origins of this idea, its current use and why it should be abandoned if not by the Church, then by individual members.

“I Was Healed of Rheumatism at the Banff Hot Springs!”: On the Nature of Certainty and Testimonies (4 pages) – While in Banff recently I noticed an interesting history of the long-held belief that the hot springs there could cure people of various illnesses, and began to think about the parallels between certainly held beliefs of this type and Mormon testimonies.

Why I No Longer Rage Against Mormon Idiocy (4 pages; no abstract) - This essay summarizes the connection between attachment theory and some of the difficult changes required for those who undergo fundamental changes in belief.

Happy Birthday Joseph Smith (3 pages; no abstract) -  Joseph Smith Jr., Mormonism’s founding prophet, would have turned 200 years old on December 23, 2005 which accounts for the current flurry of Mormon news articles.  Most of this shows Mormons at their clean-cut best, and Mormons generally deserve a hardworking, pleasant image. However, the more we know about history, the better we can understand the present.  This makes examining Mormonism's foundation important.  In the early 1800s, Joseph Smith claimed that God appeared to him and commanded him not to join any church because all were “abominations”. We are told that Peter, James and John gave Smith God's exclusive authority and angelic visitors and the voice of God guided Smith as he led God’s Kingdom on Earth.  Add to this lots of sex, deception, a run for the U.S. Presidency, a claim to be “King of the Earth”, several mass migrations and millions who today revere Smith as second in importance to only Jesus Christ, and we have quite a story.  While there are many ways to interpret Joseph Smith, one simple question takes his and Mormonism’s most important measure: Was he reliable? This essay briefly treats that question.

Changing Seasons (3 pages; no abstract) - Some thoughts about the wonderful nature of fall, and why it has always been my favorite season.

Why Don't You Leave the Church Alone!? (3 page; no abstract) - This essay answers a question I have been asked a number of times.

Conflict v. Harmony (3 pages; no abstract) - What is conflict at one organizational level is often essential to maintain harmony at another. Here are some ideas relevant to reframing conflict in life.

On Remaining within or Leaving Mormonism: Different Perspectives (3 pages; no abstract) - I recently read Linda Hoffman Kimball's article "Staying Power" at http://www.beliefnet.com/story/132/story_13219_1.html and wrote the following in response. Her point is, basically, that it is a shame that more people who doubt don't remain within Mormonism – that this is a viable option. My point is that the emphasis for people like her should be on encouraging people to explore instead of giving them excuses to cave into the fear that ideologies like Mormonism are designed to engender.

Knowing (2 pages; no abstract) - This was written on our 24th wedding anniversary to my wonderful and long suffering wife, Juli. It deals with the effect of a certainty oriented mind-set on relationships.

Spiritual Bedrock (2 pages) – A short musing respecting the relationship between science, religion and the dogma that tends to inflict both.

Using Science to Double-Check Faith (2 pages) – More Musings with respect to the science and faith relationship.

Brainwashing v. Education (2 pages) - A summary of recent research respecting the difference between these two modes of "value engineering", and a suggestion as to how they may be considered to apply in certain religious contexts.

Spiritual Transformation (2 pages) – A description of the process that has changed my life so significantly during the past couple of years.

Killing The Buddha: Exodus Reconsidered (2 pages; no abstract) - There are few things I prize more than perspective. Since I have found a nice little perspective expander, I will share a few tidbits relative to it. Killing The Buddha can be described as a book of Gen X spirituality. Killing The Buddha goes through various books of the Bible and "re-writes" them in contemporary terms. The chapter on Exodus I recently read notes the genocidal nature of the lesson being taught there, and questions its wisdom.

The Honour of God v. The Honour of Men (2 pages; no abstract) - Mormons are councelled to seek the honours of God instead of those of men. This idea fall apart on even a casual scrutiny.

Breath (1 page) - This is a modification of a piece already posted here that is called "Harmony". I bought a painting a while ago for my office that reminded me of the feelings I had at the beach and on the prairie that I was trying to capture in "Harmony", and have cut it down to one page so that I can frame it and put it with the picture.