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Devotionals

Your Empowering Education

Aloha and Good Morning!

Sister Michie and I are thrilled to be with you today in Laie. We have a number of good friends present. President Wheelwright and I graduated together from East High School in Salt Lake City in June, 1961. I have read his January 10th devotional address to you on the subject of leadership. I commend his talk to you. President Spencer W. Kimball once said that, "The mission of Ephraim is Leadership."1

Similarly, Elder and Sister Steve and Lynne McDonough, who currently serve as the site directors at the Hawaii Temple Visitors Center, have been good friends of ours for many years. They have raised a great family of six children and Lynne is an expert genealogist.

And, Dr. Helena Hannonen, Professor of Business Management on this campus, is a native of Lappeenranta, Finland where we met last summer at a Sacrament Meeting in her mother's home ward.

As you visit the nation's capitol in Washington, DC and tour the great national memorials along the Potomac River, looking across to the other side of the Tidal Basin, one is drawn to a beautiful marble domed monument known as the Jefferson Memorial, honoring the memory of the Third President of the United States and drafter of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. Chiseled in marble on the inside of the dome encircling the head of the eighteen foot high statue of Jefferson are these words: "I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."2

I ask you to keep this powerful statement in mind as we reason together over the next few minutes.

I congratulate each of you on your decision and qualification to attend to your higher education at this special university. Sister Michie and other family members are graduates of BYU. Brigham Young, who is the founder and namesake of BYU, is also the founder of another great university. It is the school from which I graduated, the University of Utah.

On February 28, 1850, the Territorial Board of Regents of the Territory of Utah convened in a special session at the request of Territorial Governor Brigham Young. It was a momentous occasion, the founding of the first university west of the Missouri River, the University of Utah. During that meeting, Governor Young made this important observation concerning education: "Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the day's work, and the power to appreciate life."3

This is my all-time favorite quote. Over the past twenty years I have assembled a small collection of quotes from great men which have had significant meaning in my life. When I was Commissioner of Insurance in Utah, I used to sit down with every new employee, give them a copy of my collection, which I entitled, "A Philosophical Basis" and we would have a good conversation about these quotes. It was a teaching moment. And today, I would like to share some of them with you and teach you as I can.

Notice that President Young used the word "power" three times. Education is, therefore, empowering. How? First, the power to think clearly, to be able to understand and to process ideas and communicate them with clarity. A famous quote says that "a man can only think to the limit of his vocabulary." Along with your liberal education comes an expanded vocabulary helping you to process thoughts and ideas with clarity. You become increasingly empowered and enabled to deal with the complexity of our times and get to the bottom of things. You can handle highly complicated concepts and weigh priorities and values. Some call these critical thinking skills. This allows you to more properly make correct decisions and act appropriately to the dictates of your own mind.

Second, the power to act well in the day's work. You may receive training in a specific field of art or science that, along with post academic or on-the-job training, gives you an expertise in a career where you can make a difference and earn a living for your family. Employers are willing to pay for the services of an individual who has acquired real "know how." This empowerment also raises your confidence and you feel prepared to step forward into the real world. This confidence in your abilities tells you that you are "good at something" as well as "good for something" and that you are prepared to take your place in society. And maybe even sufficiently confident to ask that certain someone to marry you, then the two of you walk the earth together as a new family unit prepared to keep God's first commandment that you may have joy in your posterity.

The third empowerment is, in my mind, the greatest of all: the power to appreciate life. Life is all around us, in so many forms. Living on an island in paradise as you do, you are aware of the beauty and wonder of nature, the magnificence of the universe as you observe it in the night's sky, the majesty and bounty of the sea, and the love of God made manifest in all of His glorious creations.

As you know, many English words have numerous meanings. The word appreciate is like that. Most of us think the word appreciate to mean to be grateful for. But there is another meaning of the word and that is to place value on. We demonstrate the measure of our education by the values that motivate us.

I would like to suggest a family home evening exercise that you might do with your spouse and children. It's called "2-4-6-8 What Do I Appreciate." It's a little bit like counting your blessings, only in this instance, you identify your personal values by the things in life you appreciate. 

There are many aspects of life: geology, botany, biology, zoology, anatomy, psychology, medicine, pharmacy, sociology, etc. Below is a small list of four different categories of things one can be grateful for, and shows oneself that there is high value placed on them. 

2-4-6-8 What Do I Appreciate

Physical Life
1.   The earth and its fullness
2.   The miracle of birth
3.   The miracle of eyesight
4.   Things that taste good
5.   Beauty: music, art, poetry
6.   The heritage of my forefathers
7.   My children and grandchildren
8.   The miracle of healing
9.   Strength of body and mind
10. The tremendous variety of life

Physical life is just one of many major categories of life. Our spiritual life is also real and ought to be valued by the mind and heart of an educated soul.

Spiritual Life
1.   The gift of eternal life (The greatest gift of all the gifts of God). Eternal life can be defined as to live with God and to live like God lives.
2.   The Savior: His love, His Gospel, His Atonement
3.   The companionship of the Holy Ghost
4.   The Plan of Salvation
5.   The grace of God
6.   The restored Church of Jesus Christ
7.   The restored priesthood of God
8.   God's commandments
9.   The ordinances of the temple
10. The truths found in the scriptures
11.  The gifts of faith and charity

Social Life
1.   Freedom
2.   My family and our home life
3.   Good friends and neighbors
4.   An orderly society
5.   Politics (Did I say, politics?) Yes. An educated person shows his appreciation for life by participating in the politics of our society.
6.  The right to vote
7.   The opportunity to travel
8.   The richness and diversity of languages
9.   The Constitution of the United States
10.  A meaningful career

Animal Life
1.  The incredible diversity of plant and animal life
2.  The balance of nature
3.  Pets and animals that love us
4.  The amazing abundance and diversity of insect life
5.  The miracle of birds in flight
6.  The abundance of the sea
7.  The Sun and its support for life
8.  The abundance of food
9.  The beauty of animal life
10. The miracle of the regeneration of life

I hope your list covers many categories of life, and that each list is long. Spend some quality time throughout your life pondering the question of: what do I appreciate?

I mentioned earlier that I have become a collector of quotes. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. To me, a great quote is like beautiful picture. In a few words it gives a glimpse into the depth of another man's thoughts and values.

The very first quote I ever acquired was from Cicero. I was in the office of Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone and this quote was on a handsome brass plaque on his credenza in a very special and conspicuous place. It read: "Philosophy, if rightly defined, is nothing more than the love of wisdom."4

I have pondered the message of this quote for many years. It inevitably leads one to wonder, what is wisdom? Volumes of books have been written on the subject, but in its shortest and most concentrated rendering, wisdom is to know and to do what is right.

Wisdom has two parts to it, to know what's right, as Lincoln said in his famous Second Inaugural Address: "...with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right."5

Thus in wisdom, there is much personal revelation from a loving and gracious Father in Heaven. But wisdom is not simply knowing what's right, it is not just knowledge. Knowledge, once gained is actually a passive concept. The real joy of this word is in the doing. Wisdom is both to know and to do what's right. To do what's right requires courage. As Confucius said, "To see what is right and not to do it is a want of courage."6 

We must be actively engaged in a good cause and "do many things of our own free will and bring to pass much righteousness for the power is in us"7 as an educated, clear thinking being.

So, if I could, I would give you this great gift of a philosophical basis. I would make of you lovers, lovers of wisdom. It's about being true to your own CTR ring. Having the courage to choose the right, as God allows you to see the right.

Let's examine this quote from Roger Ward Babson, the founder of Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts: "Experience has taught me that there is one chief reason why some succeed and others fail. The difference is not one of knowing, but of doing. The successful man is not so superior in ability as in action. So far as success can be reduced to a formula, it consists of this...doing what you know you should do."8

I would like to turn to another powerful thought encompassed in this quote from Daniel Webster. His statement launched an idea in my mind that lead to the single most significant professional accomplishment of my career as an investment banker. Daniel Webster made this powerful observation: "Men can do jointly what they cannot do singly; and the union of minds and hands, the concentration of their power, becomes almost omnipotent."9

In this powerful idea, Daniel Webster makes the case that there is great power in unity. Unity is one of the great and central concepts of any Zion society. It is also behind the phrase that our mothers always remind us of: "Many hands make light work."

I hope you write it down and memorize it. Repeat it to yourself often. You can build a successful career around this one big idea. It is a principle with power, the principle of unity, that together as a team, as a firm, as a family, as a society in Christ, we can bring about many good things that we could never do on our own. As Daniel Webster states it, the concentrated and united power of good people working together becomes almost omnipotent.

In Nauvoo in 1843, Joseph Smith told the sisters gathered for the organizational meeting of the Relief Society that, "In unity of spirit there is great power."10

Earlier I mentioned that an educated being shows his appreciation for life by participating in the politics of our society. Unfortunately, some modern politicians have given politics a bad image. Let me try to disabuse you of that negative outlook. If I could, I would suggest that politics is one of the most noble of all of life's opportunities. I even have a definition I would like to try on you of noble politics. Noble politics can best be defined by an understanding of these two quotes melded together. The first is a paraphrase of Aristotle who said, politics is the highest and best of all the sciences because it promotes the best overall good of all the people."11 

The second is a quote from Joseph Smith wherein he said, "It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and unpopular that which is unsound."12

Thus as an educated person and practicing noble politics we come to see it as our own personal duty to concentrate our influence to make popular that which is sound and good endeavoring to promote the best overall good of all the people.

I often told my children that there are two words in the English language that I love to hate. Let me say it another way, there are two words in the English language for which I have an unwavering enmity. The first is the word demagoguery and the second is to obfuscate.  Both represent the actions of evil men that must be considered as tyrannical. Remember the words chiseled in marble in the dome of the Jefferson Memorial: "I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." So, what is the tyranny of these two words and why is it so important that we know their meaning?

Demagoguery n. A demagogue is a person who stirs up the people by appealing to their emotions and prejudices. The aim of most demagogues is to get either money or power.13

Obfuscate v. 1) To purposely make unclear, 2) To make dark or obscure, 3) To confuse.14 

Do you see why they are both so antithetical to the great quote from Brigham Young? President Young wants us to be empowered to be able to think and act independently, in concert with other men of good will, with clarity of thought, and with an appreciation for the gifts freely given to us by God. Evil men want to take from us that empowerment and to gain either our money or our vote that they might have power over us and others.

There are people out there who would like to manipulate your mind. Their tactic is to grab you by the gut and stir you up rather than to engage your mind. The use of demagogic speech is meant to get you to vote for them, or in the case of print or radio or TV media, to separate you from your money. The proliferation of radio and TV talk shows and the deterioration in real ethics based news reporting prey upon the minds of large numbers of the public. 

You may have your own favorite demagogic entertainer on one or the other side of the political divide.  Some of our radio talk show hosts have become well paid demagogic stars.

Likewise, many modern journalists have lost the integrity of their once noble craft. Our thoughts and opinions on the large issues of the day come to us through the filtered lens of issue-oriented journalists who would rather editorialize on the front page and mask their opinions as fact.

Demagoguery is an increasingly toxic trend or form of speech in our society. Unfortunately, it leads to the poisoning of the well of trust, a condition known as cynicism. Taken to an extreme, public cynicism egged on by demagogic speech leads to a society that is not governable.

The Book of Mormon talks a little bit about the demagoguery of its day, only it uses another word to label it. Listen to how Nephi defines priestcraft. In 2 Nephi 26:29, Nephi says, "He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world but they seek not the welfare of Zion."15

The language is not precisely the same as the dictionary definition of demagoguery, but they are close enough to be first cousins.

In 2 Nephi 10:5, Nephi uses the word "priestcraft" to describe this great sin. "But because of priestcrafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that he be crucified."16 And in verse 3, "and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their [own] God."17

In John 12 we have the Son of God himself come on Palm Sunday into the great capitol city of Jerusalem, riding on the back of a white colt; his followers placing branches of palm trees before him and shouting "Hosanna" as they go out to meet him.18 Yet, within the space of six days from the time of this triumphal greeting by the masses of the people who also knew of his recent miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, the next Friday Jesus is raised up on the cross to be crucified by His own people. How could this happen and in so short a time? The answer is in the manipulation of the body politic and of the Roman authority by priestcraft, or demagoguery. 

Demagoguery (priestcraft) taken to its extreme, leads to mobocracy. 

Consider the case of the assassination of Joseph Smith on June 27, 1844. He was the mayor of the largest city in Illinois, the Commanding General of the Nauvoo Legion and a candidate for President of the United States. He peacefully surrenders himself, like a lamb to the slaughter, to the judicial authorities in Carthage. Because of the emotional and hate filled speech of the demagogues of that day, a mob is stirred up with such passion that they storm the jail in late afternoon and murder a Prophet of God and his brother in cold blood.

One of my major points for you is to demonstrate that while your education is meant to empower you to think clearly and appreciate life, there are dark forces out there who would like to steal from you your ability to see through the complexities of the day by manipulating your mind and your actions with their demagogic and obfuscating speech. I suggest to you that we, especially the educated young minds of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, must guard against cynicism and demagoguery and expose purposeful obfuscation and other priestcrafts as we see them arise in our public discourse.

My sweet daughter-in-law Sherri has on her Facebook page the statement: "I hate politics." I am guessing that many in this audience might say the same thing. My answer to her was that I love politics. It is potentially one of the most noble activities in our society, but it is clear that in the minds of many, it has taken on a tarnished image. The public discourse of our modern politicians has become pretty disgusting. We used to call it the "silly season," but now much of the political speech we hear is not only uncivil, it is downright mean and full of personal attacks. We appear to have moved too far along the spectrum of demagogic speech patterns, and as President Uchtdorf said in April Conference, we need to "stop it."19 That may be one of the biggest leadership challenges of your generation.

Hence, I propose for your consideration, the establishment of "National Reject A Demagogue Day." A Tuesday in early November would seem to be the appropriate time for that, don't you think? The power is in us as the people of a free nation to change the course of our political discourse, and to reject demagogic and obfuscating speech and those who would abuse us by using it in its worst forms. How do we do that? We must see it for what it is, which is modern day priestcraft, and we must unitedly learn to reject it at the ballot box.

At the entrance to the GE Building in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City and chiseled in stone above the archway of the front door we find this interesting statement: "Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times."20 For me, this statement is easier to understand when examined in the negative: Foolishness and ignorance shall lead to instability in thy times.

Listen to this important observation from George Orwell. "Political disorder is inevitably accompanied by a deterioration in the clear use of language. Language becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish. Slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts."21

As you ponder Orwell's observation just a little, you will begin to understand one of the most subtle ways that Satan practices tyranny over the mind of man. His purposeful obfuscation of the vocabulary we use makes it nearly impossible for us to think clearly about certain fundamental truths of life. All he has to do is tweak the meaning a word just slightly and it no longer carries its clear intent into the mind of the receiver. For example, the all essential words "faith, hope and charity" have all been tweaked just slightly and don't mean the same today in the ordinary usage of most English speakers, as they did when they were first used in their original early gospel setting. A tweaking of the vocabulary of the gospel has made it easier for the modern Christian world to lapse into foolishness and hence, an inability to understand the fundamental truths of the gospel.

Travelling to Washington, DC not too long ago, Sister Michie and I picked up a little Abraham Lincoln quote book in which we discovered this gem. It is one of my favorites. "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present...As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, so we can save the country."22

I love this quote from Lincoln. As you ponder its meaning and depth, you find that it is alive with meaning for our day just as it was when first given to the Congress in 1862. Let's take a look at the second sentence first. "As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew..." That would make Lincoln the first person to advocate thinking outside the box or at least not being boxed in by things that are neither true nor right.

To completely understand what Lincoln is saying, you must understand what a dogma is. A dogma is something that someone holds out to us as true, and, if this false idea is not challenged with sufficient intellectual vigor, it may over time become settled opinion in the minds of most men, and generally be upheld as truth.

Now, the last sentence is the one that really comes alive for me. "We must disenthrall ourselves, so we can save the country." The word thrall is a Norwegian word meaning slave. Not a physical slave as in the slaves that Lincoln emancipated, but a slave as in being captive to an idea. As used here, it means to be enslaved by a dogma or something that is not true, captivated by false doctrine or a foolish notion. We should remember the scriptural phrase found in the Gospel of John, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."23

So, we must disenthrall ourselves from false dogmas and the slovenliness of Satan-inspired foolishness, so we can save [ourselves and] the country. And as Jefferson advocated, we must, "swear on the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

And now, I would like to close with one of the most beautiful and meaningful quotes from the greatest man who ever walked this planet, Jesus Christ. It is a poetic answer to the intent prayer of His prophet Joseph Smith. Found in the Doctrine and Covenants section 121:45. "Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven."24

I love the beauty and power of this scripture. It is virtual poetry. 

The word charity means to love God and to love as God loves. He wants us to be able to love, in a Christ-like way all men and, especially those brothers and sisters who have joined with us as members of the Lord's Church. I would like to suggest that you write in your scriptures and substitute the word "character" for the word "virtue." Virtue literally means strength, strength of character, or Godly character.

As we continue our education beyond this university, let us be lovers of wisdom. Let us cultivate in ourselves those numerous character virtues that can bring us closer to becoming truly Christ-like. I once counted 113 different character virtues that we can ponder and work on. As we develop and grow into men and women of Godly character, then will our confidence grow that we may actually stand uprightly in the presence of the Father. Then will our understanding of the Priesthood and its power for good swell in us as we magnify our calling in the service of God and our fellow men; we will come to intimately know our Father and His Son Jesus Christ for we shall be like them.

This is my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

References
1. Spencer W. Kimball
2. Thomas Jefferson, The Jefferson Memorial, Washington, DC
3. Territorial Governor Brigham Young at a meeting of the Territorial Board of Regents on the occasion of the founding of the University of Utah, February 28, 1850.
4. Cicero
5. The Second Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC, March 1865
6. Confucius
7. D&C 58:27-28
8. Roger Ward Babson--1875-1967. Founder, Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts
9. Daniel Webster
10. Joseph Smith at the founding meeting of the Relief Society, Nauvoo, 1843.
11. Paraphrasing Aristotle, The Nichmochean Ethics.
12. Joseph Smith
13. World Book Dictionary
14. Webster's II Dictionary
15. 2 Nephi 26:29
16. 2 Nephi 10:5
17. 2 Nephi 10:3
18. John 12:13
19. President Dieter F. Uchdorf, General Conference Addresses, April, 2012.
20. Entrance to the GE Building at Rockefeller Plaza, New York City.
21. George Orwell, 1946, Politics and the English Language
22. Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message To Congress, December 1, 1862
23. John 8:32
24. D&C 121:45