The Choices We Make

In the Mormon scheme of things, this is what the choice between right and wrong looks like:

The choice between right and wrong is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, commanded to "be fruitful and multiply," and commanded to abstain from the fruit of the tree that will allow them to fulfill that commandment. How can this be? Is God trying to make us crazy? How the hell does he expect us to follow his will by giving us these kinds of impossible commandments? Is it a Zen thing?

The choice between right and wrong is us, leaving the realms of light and truth in the presence of God, and essentially putting on these blindfolds of flesh and mortality and forgetfulness. Now remember, choosing right and wrong was never easy, not even in the presence of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, because a war was fought up there. People still chose wrong in the full light and knowledge and presence. And now we're expected to do it down here in the dark and blindfolded? What the hell!

The choice between right and wrong is us becoming cosmic grown-ups. Us learning that every action causes a reaction, every choice has consequences, effects, ramifications, that roll on away from us once we make it, out of our control, out of our reach except in that mysterious moment of choice. If we make this choice, this good will come of it, but also this evil. If we make that choice, we avoid this evil, but we lose this good. But maybe there is another good out there we can win.

How are we supposed to know, ultimately? It's enough to drive you bonkers. It does make us bonkers. We pull away from the brink of the true Choice Between Good, Between Evil that God has sent us down here to make. We devise laws and rules and strategies to convince ourselves that it's easier than it actually is. All we have to do is "X." Insert your favorite easy answer: follow the prophet, eat nothing but meat, eat NO meat, clear yourself of Body Thetans, wake up every morning at 6:00 a.m., avoid gay sex!

But how can we know what to do?

That's what we're here to learn. That's what mortality is for, that's why we're test-driving these bodies that wither up and die after about 80 - 100 years. That's why teaching us in the classroom of pre-mortality wasn't enough. We needed hands-on experience, where we could get good and dirty, make lots of mistakes first hand, learn up close and personal exactly what making choices between good, between evil is really all about, see for ourselves that it ain't so easy after all. It takes lots of practice. That's why God is God and why we... are still children.

So feel. Feel the blood pumping in your veins. Listen to the beat of your heart. Listen to the marrow of your bones, your muscles, your fat, your kidneys, your innards. Feel what it is like to live. What makes you love. What makes you happy. Listen to the gorgeous rush of life inside you, all around you. This is what we came down to experience, so listen, pay attention. Listen to your heart.

Calm yourself. Take a deep breath. Now listen for the stillness, beyond all that rush of life, yet in it, woven into it. Listen to your spirit. Find that magical place where they intersect, where body and spirit become soul.

Listen then for that even greater stillness, beyond even that quiet place where body and spirit intersect, beyond where soul resides, yet also in it. Listen to the Divine Spirit. The Spirit of God. The Spirit that draws us into oneness with Him, with Her, with our unnumbered brothers and sisters, with the earth which is our mother, with all that is.

Now look at all the pain, anger, division, hurt, evil in the world. What do you need to do to start making healing? There's your choice between good and evil.

Choose.