EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENT

Although I was deeply involved in post graduate studies, or maybe it was because I was deeply involved in post graduate studies, I had a year which would have to be referred to as my Louis L’Amour period. It was unlike my Michener or Uris periods which were spread out over decades as I awaited their next contributions, but very much like my Fleming, Steinbeck, James and Lund periods whose novels I read after they had either passed away or completed the historical series I buried myself into.

Since L’Amour passed away before I started reading his works I was able, if I so desired, to read everything he had ever written. This period of escapism only lasted a little over a year and I only read 91 of his novels, which is but a pittance of his contributions to the literary world, but I learned a great deal about the Old West.

For example, I learned that Western Heroes seldom end up with fair maiden, you are not a true Western Hero unless you have had at least one lengthy fisti-cuff battle with the town villain or his henchman and when the Western Hero rode away from a town at the end of each novel he always left it living in peace with all villainous problems solved.

So that I don't appear to be a complete dolt who wasted a year reading meaningless stuff, L’Amour gave me many moments of morality thinking. For example, in one of his novels entitled The Quick and the Dead, he paints extended character sketches of the two main characters in the book. One of the men was educated in the East and well suited to coping with and solving problems which existed in a well-regulated society. The other was tutored in the ‘by the boot strap’ informal education of the West.

Besides the fair maiden and fisti-cuff stuff one of the major concepts that I pondered as I was reading this book is that education may only be valuable when it is suited to the environment in which it will be applied.

As I pondered this principle which was very applicable to that time when Kathleen and I were well into starting our family, while at the same time she was helping me get myself all degreed up, I came to the following preliminary, but what I now deem, important realities.

It would be wise to pursue educational studies which would be most useful in the environment in which we planned to be.

It would be good to assess the probable environment where we would abide and then pursue areas of study which would be most beneficial to one living in that environment.

It would be wise if this preparatory assessment included some thought about what kind of environment met your needs, would your field of study be beneficial there and what kind of people with whom you would be associating if you pursued your field of study and lived in your desired environment.

Since these preliminary decisions would affect the rest of your lives, it would be good to make sure your examination of these variables was exhaustive to at least give you a chance for a life of happiness and success.

I hope you don't feel like you have been yanked from a horse having been lassoed by a Western Hero as I make this abrupt change of direction in this Thought.

In the 88th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord teaches us that there is a relationship between the concepts and thoughts we choose to put into our minds and by which we govern our lives and the eternal environment where those ideas and actions might prove to be most suitable.

He who cannot abide the law of a Celestial Kingdom cannot abide a Celestial Glory.

He who cannot abide the law of the Terrestrial Kingdom cannot abide a Terrestrial Glory.

He who cannot abide the law of the Telestial Kingdom cannot abide a Telestial Glory.

Just the names mortal and eternal should provide us with sufficient understanding that we will be spending the vast majority of our eternal existence in an environment other than that which makes up this brief moment of mortality.

If my pondering has led me down a correct line of understanding, then much like our exhaustive evaluation of our preparatory education and the environment in which it would be best suited then our examination of the environment in which we desire to spend the rest of our eternal existence dwelling should be even more exhaustive.

Just a few of the questions which I have found which needed extensive pondering:

Do I really believe that my present state of existence is part of the preparatory path for my eternal environment?

Are the scriptures not only a formula for happiness during mortality, but an important primer for inculcating into my life attributes needed for an eternally joyful environment?

Is being taught by living prophets, who receive inspiration from a loving Heavenly Father, part of the important curriculum which leads to understanding the environment I wish to inhabit after mortality?

Am I striving to gain the understanding of and absorb into my being the laws which will lead me to the Kingdom in which I am desirous of dwelling?

I am pretty sure just like there were days when the Western Hero didn't know if he could really solve all the town’s problems and just as my education versus environment examination didn't always bear the fruit anticipated, there will be days during our mortal trials when we wonder if we are capable of abiding the laws necessary to allow us to dwell in the environment of the Kingdom we desire, but the Lord has given us the promise that happiness and success can only be maximized in the Celestial Kingdom.

THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY
EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY