As I have mentioned in several of my Thoughts for a Sabbath Day, one of the activities which has been a constant during my life is people watching. I should also add that I do a lot of assessing while I am observing the comings and goings of my eternal brothers and sisters. One of the conclusions I have come to is that most of the reason why people react to various stimuli in their lives happens because of previous negative or positive experiences in that realm of their life’s events.
For example, I have previously written that it is difficult for me to enjoy the companionship of a dog, because of previously having had such experiences end in the tragic loss of my best friends.
Likewise, although I enjoy painted scenes of glittering new fallen snow, I have zero desire to have snow as part of my daily experience. Although there are many reasons why snow stimulates a negative personal reaction I will illustrate my previously mentioned postulate with two examples.
When I was in my early teens a group of my peers, with proper supervision, went on a tubing excursion in the mountains east of where we lived in Southern California. One of the sledding devices we had was a rectangular plastic slider which allowed for two or three people to experience the exhilarating rapid decent down a hillside on freshly fallen snow. On the last journey I ever made on any type of device down a snowy patch of land, I was in the front of the afore mentioned device with two buddies behind me. As we were rapidly descending the front tip of the plastic slider hit something solid hidden just below the new fallen snow, which resulted in the three of us continuing our downward descent without anything beneath us. It would be more accurate to say that I had nothing beneath me, because my two buddies were on top of me. When we came to a stop I quickly realized the white beneath my head had turned crimson. I wore the scabs for several weeks thereafter.
Another event which added to my dislike of being involved directly with snow happened when we were returning from spending Christmas with Kathleen’s family. The windshield of our car was covered with snow and when I went to start the car, since the snow seemed fluffy I just turned the wipers on to clean it off. The wipers were frozen to the windshield under the freshly fallen snow, which resulted in the wipers breaking down. Our journey home was filled with trying to wipe the windshield while continuing to drive and stopping to do a necessary scraping. I should add that the tension which resulted for the family having to deal with periodic freezing did not diminish the negativity of the experience.
I have many other reactions to stimuli which have resulted in interesting character traits because of having been added upon by either positive or negative life experiences.
Earlier in the morning before I wrote this Thought, which was during the height of the COVID – 19 pandemic in the middle of April 2020, Kathleen and I were visiting about an event which happened in a family between a mother and her son and one of the conclusions which we discussed was that individuals have a tendency, during times of either positive or negative stimuli to have their normal reactions increase in intensity. Those who usually react with anger, hatred and prejudices seem to have those reactions heighten when stress levels increase. And likewise, those who have a propensity to be calm, loving and inclusive seem to have those emotional responses stimulated to a higher degree during times of stress. Therefore, we can add an additional observation to my people watching generated hypothesis, which is that as well as individual stimuli/reaction we can also put people into groups depending on the major characteristics which govern their emotions and actions.
The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ adds an interesting caveat. In that marvelous record we find testimony added upon testimony about what seems to be a tendency of all mankind. This testimony is given not only as instruction on a universal frailty, but as a warning to all mankind. We can start the sequence of the universal stimuli/reaction chain at any point in The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ because we are taught that it seems to be a cycle with no beginning nor end.
An abundance of riches has the propensity to fill hearts with pride.
Hearts filled with pride have a propensity to cause people with abundance to persecute those with less.
People with abundance seem to have an endless ability to persecute those of a lower state, including withholding food, clothing and lodging, smiting them physically and emotionally and mocking in every way possible.
People with abundance move towards relying on their own strength and intelligence, boasting upon their superiority.
When people are left to the results of their own strengths it is not long until they begin to lose that which they felt make them strong.
A great deal of time does not pass before they find themselves on the same level as those who they persecuted because of their inferiority.
Because they were made to be humble having been stripped of pride they turn away from their own strength and begin to seek the aid of God.
Because of having returned to God they are blessed and begin once again to be blessed with prosperity.
There begins to be those who prosper to a greater degree than others.
An abundance of riches has the propensity to fill hearts with pride…
Although what we are becoming because of our individual or characteristic reactions to the stimuli we have experienced during our lives may or may not have any significant eternal consequence, allowing ourselves to get stuck in the riches, pride, persecution part of the stimuli/reaction cycle described in The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ will result in negative mortal as well as eternal consequences. If we choose to return to God and strive to remain there with all our hearts, minds and strength the promised result will be positive mortal as well as eternal consequences.
THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY
EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY
❣️THINK + PLAN + PREPARE + DO ➡️ GENTLENESS + KINDNESS + CARING + GENEROSITY ➡️ HUGS + PEACE + JOY + LOVE ➡️ INTEGRITY + FAITH + HOPE + CHARITY❣️ = 💞THE GOOD LIFE💞
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