Daniels Summit

The group poses as Matt forlornly ponders his existence...

Wizard staff in hand, Brian nonchalantly leads the way.

"Where the #@*& are we?"

???

Bows and Axes (Memo to myself)

I remember as a missionary listening to tapes of Truman Madsen (Rachel's grandpa) as he discoursed on the life of Joseph Smith. One of the nuggets that remained with me to this day was the prophet explaining how one must maintain balance in life from the pressures that sometimes seem to overwhelm. He said, essentially, that your bow needs to be unstrung from time to time, otherwise it loses its elasticity. In our case, the bow is our schoolwork. We need to take breaks at times.

Another cool analogy I found on the Internet:

Once there were twin brothers. They were tall, strapping lads who had both become lumberjacks at the same time. One year they took part in a logging competition together. Each was strong and beat everyone they came up against, until they reached the final where they met each other.

They seem evenly matched. The crowd urges them on as they both started cutting timber at a strong rate of knots. After an hour one of the brothers stops for a few minutes. Let's call him the "idle chopper". He soon resumes work but every hour he keeps stopping.

Eventually the competition finishes and it's immediately obvious that the idle chopper cut down significantly more wood than his brother. His brother shakes his hand to congratulate him and asks, "How on earth did you cut twice as much wood as me despite stopping so frequently?"

The idle chopper smiles and says "I wasn't really resting. I was sharpening my axe so my cuts went deeper faster than yours with your blunt axe."

The "idle chopper" was really the "smart chopper" because he'd taken to heart what President Abraham Lincoln had said. Abraham Lincoln said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

Clearly the LPP is very stressful; remember to take time to renew yourself so that you mind is refreshed and your focus acute. You'll learn better and get more accomplished.

- Tim

The Mojo-nator

Mr. Lennon

The Birthday List

Bert 11-Jan Brian 26-Jan Matt 7-Apr Annette 24-Apr Jennifer 25-Apr Terri 13-May Brent 10-Jul Aaron 22-Jul Christian 28-Jul Jodi 6-Aug Christine 25-Aug Rachel 30-Aug Barbara 25-Sep Tom 27-Sep Roger 1-Oct Michelle 6-Nov Carolyn 12-Nov Shanz 12-Nov Andy 1-Dec Tim 8-Dec Brenda 27-Dec

Courtney at his best

Don't ask me how I got a hold of this highly confidential photo of Courtney. :)

Enjoy,
Tim

Plato, Socrates and Monty Python

After reading the first three books of Plato’s Republic, I am left completely confused and bewildered at Socrates’ reasoning. He uses logical questioning to the point of nausea. No wonder he was executed—he drove everyone crazy! He starts out in Book I questioning wealth and in a few short paragraphs he makes sense of it. Those who make money as apposed to those who inherit it are likely to love their money as parents would love their children. The greatest blessing of money is piece of mind in knowing that all debts have been paid when one dies. But then Socrates begins questioning justice and throughout the next nine pages he twists and turns the answers and questions back to where he started in the first place. At the end of Book I Socrates stated that:

[T]he result of the whole discussion has been that I know nothing at all. For I know not what justice is, and therefore I am not likely to know whether it is or is not a virtue, nor can I say whether the just man is happy or unhappy. (Plato, pp. 11)

So Socrates, after all the logical questioning did not arrive at an answer that was meaningful.
That type of logic is very reminiscent of the witch burning sketch in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The villagers brought a woman, dressed as a witch, to the town square. It was discovered that they had dressed her that way and put on a fake nose, but they insisted she was still a witch because she had a wart. The dialogue follows:

Sir Bedevere: There are ways of telling whether she is a witch.

Peasant 1: Are there? Oh well, tell us.

Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with witches?

Peasant 1: Burn them.

Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn, apart from witches?

Peasant 1: More witches.

Peasant 2: Wood.

Sir Bedevere: Good. Now, why do witches burn?

Peasant 3: ...because they're made of... wood?

Sir Bedevere: Good. So how do you tell whether she is made of wood?

Peasant 1: Build a bridge out of her.

Sir Bedevere: But can you not also build bridges out of stone?

Peasant 1: Oh yeah.

Sir Bedevere: Does wood sink in water?

Peasant 1: No, no, it floats! It floats! Throw her into the pond!

Sir Bedevere: No, no. What else floats in water?

Peasant 1: Bread.

Peasant 2: Apples.

Peasant 3: Very small rocks.

Peasant 1: Cider.

Peasant 2: Gravy.

Peasant 3: Cherries.

Peasant 1: Mud.

Peasant 2: Churches.

Peasant 3: Lead! Lead!

King Arthur: A Duck.

Sir Bedevere: ...Exactly. So, logically...

Peasant 1: If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood.

Sir Bedevere: And therefore...

Peasant 2: ...A witch.

So it really didn’t matter if the woman was a witch or not, the villagers wanted to see her burn. Nor did it matter that Socrates questioned justice for nine pages in Plato’s Republic, because, in the end, none of the characters new any more about justice than what they had started with in the first place! I only see Socrates skating around the issues with more questions, and at the same time being condescending to those with whom he speaks. As I read Plato more thoroughly, I hope to gain a better understanding of Socrates and his philosophy.


- Bert Steele