One of the people I visited with today told me a fun joke;

A man walks into a church and notices that there is a large golden pillar with a golden phone attached to it. A sign next to the phone indicates that the phone is a direct line to heaven and that calls are $2000 each. Dismayed by the price he goes to another church and low and behold he finds the same golden pillar and same golden phone but, the price is still $2000 per call. After finding many of these phones in all the churches he visits with the same $2000 price he gives up looking. One day he is visiting in Ireland and when he goes to church on Sunday he finds that they also have the same golden pillar and the same golden phone. He is very puzzled by the sign. This sign indicates that a direct call to heaven is only 25cents. So, he finds the Pasteur and asks him why the call is only 25cents when everywhere else it is $2000. The Pasteur replies, "Here in Ireland it is a local call."

The person who told me this joke today was a very delightful elderly woman with bright red hair. She also had the most wonderful Irish accent when she told this joke.

It is always fun to meet new people and share a small moment chatting. These small moments are the jewels you get every day. Don't miss out on them.

Fun Talk

Elder Bednar of the Mormon Church recently gave a speech to a youth group on the perils of social networking on the web and the creation of avatars in the virtual world. In my opinion he could have been just a bit stronger in his admonitions.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://broadcast.lds.org/ces/2009/May/CES_2009_05_00_BednarDA__108662_eng_.mp3&h=63591608add01cb841b28b960f2a4f6d

My view of this is that we need to act in all worlds as a moral and enlightened being. If we hope or desire to be a good person at our core, we need to be a good person even when in private when no one is watching. Our minds are a completely awesome system, building new neural pathways when we have new experiences and reinforcing pathways when repeating activities and experiences. The pathways in the brain are the same whether we experience the activity in the real world or some other virtual world.

Many of the emotional ills that we see people having are a result of conflicting pathways in their brains. In one world they must follow one set of rules, in another world there are no rules. It is inevitable that once the pathways are built and reinforced in one world, these behaviors will bleed over into the other worlds.

We must always behave as a moral being. Which ever world we find ourselves in.

Where is Love?

Let go of the pretend world of hate, fear, hunger, and the hustle and bustle of the current social paradigm. Embrace a world filled with love and possibilities.

I was speaking with a friend about relationships and love the other day. He had a very pessimistic view. He felt the only reason that a couple is together is based on what is in it for them. How much money does he have? How well will my carnal desires be fulfilled? Along with a variety of angles that need to be played against each other in order to have your needs fulfilled.

In my world; a couple is together because they actually desire each other, they actually love each other regardless of what the other person says or does, considers how their actions will affect their partner, a relationship where it is ok to disagree, a relationship where fear is vacant, money and power have no baring on the relationship.

I have been told many times that I am living in a fantasy world and that I need to wake up and join the REAL world. The reality is that they have it backwards. Unfortunately, a large number of minds have embraced this backwards view. There is no reason for us to buy into this cold dark reality when there is an alternative. Your perception of YOUR reality is YOUR reality. Make it one of love, hope, and peace. It is your choice.