Fantasy vs. Reality

In a long conversation yesterday I had a discussion on several topics:

There is no God, but rather an ideal “altruistic philosophy” of justice.
Socialism is the answer to government, social, and economic problems.
If we stop “global warming.” or "climate change" we can prevent our extinction.

It seems that atheism leads to living in a fantasy world. Those who think this way have a problem with reality. They cannot see reality, so they live in fantasy. When you don't know, you can only go by your own experience, creating ideals in the physical world, not understanding that "all the world is a stage," or that we only see the shadows, being chained down facing the wall. These cannot deal with reality, and need to create a fantasy. There is a reason for this, it is to replace what is lost by losing God and truth. All of the qualities and powers that come from God have a counterfeit in the fantasy world. Like the vegan who has to have a “veggie burger” everyone wants to find a replacement for what is real. We love fakes to fill the gap left when we remove reality.


Reality                Counterfeit
Peace                       No war
Love                        Sex
Joy                           Fun
Hope                        Predict future
Faith                        Scientism
Happiness                Drugs
Connect with God   Connect with peers
Truth                        Learning stuff
Intelligence              Wit/clever
Charity                    Altruism
Justice                      Equality
Mercy                      Permissiveness
Grace                       Welfare
Choice                      Determinism
Spiritual hierarchy   Economic hierarchy
Order/thought          Random/Luck
Rest                         Television

If you don’t have the real thing, there is a void that must be filled by something. All nature abhors a vacuum. People who don’t know God have a hole that is never going to be filled. Without all the principles and qualities of God, without the truth, they feel empty, so they try to fill the vacuum of reality with worldly counterfeits. All of the counterfeits are a fantasy, a dream, they seem like they could fill the void, but they don't -- they CAN'T.

The purpose of the church of Jesus Christ, and the reason it is so important that parents teach their children the truth is so that when the children go out into the world they are immunized against the counterfeits. There will be no void in their lives that needs to be filled. They will not listen to professors who tout the fairness doctrine, the communist manifesto or socialist doctrine, or the philosophy of altruism. They won’t believe friends or doctors who recommend drugs and sex. They won't become addicted to food to fill the emptiness. They will see it for what it is, childish, fantasy, and thus not be swayed by it.

Justice
The philosophy of justice in equality of outcome is childish. There is no justice in the world. Everyone has been told by their mother that life isn’t fair. It’s a 10-year-old fantasy to make life fair, to have superheroes that bring truth, and justice to the world. Sorry, there are no superheroes, it’s just us. Grow up. Life's not fair. Work hard. Take responsibility. Give up "The Justice League."

Altruism
There is no such thing as true altruism, it is a fantasy. You’re not going to find a daddy to give you a “Universal Basic Income.” Those who promise it are totalitarian despots and cannot fulfill their promises.. Real altruism is inherently selfish. The most altruistic thing I can to is to build up myself, to make myself strong, and healthy and wealthy. That way I have power to help others. The CEO making $10M employs thousands of people, thus helping his employees and their families have a better life. Thus, as I truly help others, I help myself more. I increase my happiness and improve my standing in life. I am better by making others better. Never can anyone be wholly altruistic. Even Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for all mankind, the greatest sacrifice ever, effectively raising Himself  to the top of humanity by His sacrifice.

All of life is inherently selfish. If I live for me, I help others. Even God, the Eternal Father, is not wholly altruistic. God has children and helps them to grow up so that He can be glorified. He defines His work thus:

For behold, this is my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
Moses 1:39

It’s all about Him, His work, and His glory. He offers us immortality and Eternal life so He can have more glory. We glorify Him. Is this altruism?

Monkeys murder and torture each other mercilessly. Chickens kill each other out of spite. Lobsters destroy other lobsters to get higher on the social scale. Life is brutal. To think otherwise is a fantasy. The only altruism that exists is for each individual to be truly Christian by taking all the suffering given to them and not giving it back. As unjust as that sounds, that is real altruism.

Socialism
Socialism doesn’t work. It never has worked. It never will work. The brutality of the 20th Century centers on socialism. More people have been murdered in the name of socialism than all other creeds - combined. Socialism is not reality, but rather a fantasy that cannot work in the real world. Being equally poor doesn’t help our species grow - nobody grows or improves unless there is freedom - freedom to succeed, and freedom to fail. Trying to bring justice by forcing economic equality just lowers everyone's standard of living and takes away the incentive to live. Lower standard of living equals lower serotonin, less happiness, less freedom, less creativity, less growth, and less life.

Ideal isn’t real, fantasy ideals are those that cannot ever be real. They are fantasies. Movies. Stories. Myths. Philosophies. Childish wishes. There are ideals that are real, but only in a perfect world. To say, “if the world were perfect, then we could...” This is not living in reality.

Climate Change
It is an axiom that doomsday predictions are always wrong. The reality with which we must deal is that we are going to burn every carbohydrate and hydrocarbon on or in the planet, this cannot, and will not, be stopped. Evolve or die is the rule. Reality requires us to look at the future and prepare for it, not try to stop it. Trying to stop the world only creates more suffering. Stop living a fantasy of doomsday. While extinction is a given, we are NOT going to blow up in a cloud of steam next year, nor are we headed for an ice age. The end is known, and the most important thing is that each of us prepare ourselves to meet God. This is the end we should fear because it’s real - and much sooner than the end of the world.

I should...

The bottom line of all life is free will.

Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.  

    2 Nephi 2:16

Without the ability to choose, there is no life. The machine cannot choose to do or be something other than what its creator has made it to do, or be. Life is choice, the ability to change.

There are two ways most people live, by choosing what they want to do, or what they have to do. Both are a choice. We choose to do what we want to do, but we also choose to do what we have to do rather than suffer the consequences.

I want to...

The default of everything is what we want. We do what we want to do, that’s the bottom line of every action we make as long as we’re alive on the Earth, from infancy to the end of our lives. Everyone does what they want to do. We eat what we want to eat. We sleep when we want to sleep. We exercise our will from the time we wake up every morning, until the time we go to sleep at night.

When things are presented to us as options, we choose the one we want. We choose to work, or not. We choose.

“I want to...” causes all the problems of the world. People who want money steal it. People who want sex abuse others. People who want to eat for taste get fat and unhealthy. People who want to avoid consequences lie. All evil in the world comes from choosing what we want at the expense of others.

Those who are wealthy have the power to do what they want to do. They can buy toys, eat what they want, travel, and generally have the freedom to do as they please. They often destroy themselves because the things they want cause damage. They eat too much rich foods. They indulge themselves in substances such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and drugs.

“When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.” - Oscar Wilde

Getting what we want is a curse because it leads down the road of painful consequences. All the diseases of indulgence happen after a lifetime of abusing our bodies. Arthritis, diabetes, gout, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, weakness, neuropathy, and all he painful parts of aging are the consequence of doing what we want to do.

I have to...

The other most common area is what is forced on us against our will. We have to pay taxes. We have to work to earn money so we can pay for the things we want to do.

The complaint about employers is that they are the taskmasters of our slavery. We are forced to work against our wills, and the employer is the slave driver. We complain about our work because it’s not what we want to do.

We obey rules against our will because of consequences. We want to kill someone, but don’t do it because of consequences, so we continue to live with that person in the world against our will.

We make promises so that when we want to do something, we won’t because of our promise. Marriage is a promise to be faithful and keep all the laws of marriage, to support, protect, provide and care for each other. We continue to do what we have to do throughout our lives because of the promise we made.

Those who are poor are primarily living in doing what they have to do. They are not free to do anything, because doing things in the world costs money. Communists recognize that the proletariat is bound, they are slaves, shackled to their work, doing what they have to do to survive. The answer, they say, is to spread the wealth by stealing money from those who have more so the proles can do as they please, so everyone can do what they want to do.

The realm of doing what we have to do is still a choice, it’s just that the consequences are more immediate and severe so we choose to do those things against our will. If we don’t work we won’t have money to eat and live. If we don’t pay taxes the government will fine us or put us in jail. If we kill that person who hurts us we will have to deal with the law. We chose to do what we “have to” because we want to avoid the consequences. However, it still isn’t what we want to do.

I Should

The third choice that is mostly ignored is to choose to do what we should do. The happy life is not found in doing what we want, nor what we have to do, but rather in doing what we should do. Should is in the realm of free will.  The way to change and be happy is to completely reject what we want, and what we have to do, and only choose to do the things we should do. Always doing those things we should be doing takes us down a way different road from “have to” or “want to.”

The commandments of God are the things we should do.

And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
Deuteronomy 1:18

The “golden rule” is not what we want, nor what we have to do, but rather what we should do.

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12

The Holy Ghost tells us what we should do, not what we have to do, nor what we want to do.

...The Holy Ghost... will show unto you all things what ye should do.
2 Nephi 32:5

We get the words of the Holy Ghost from angels, or prophets, who write scripture to tell us the will of God, to know what we should do.

Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
2 Nephi 32:3

“Should” Is free will. It is decision. It is love. It is sacrifice. It is growth and improvement. It is worlds apart from want to or have to. It is the straight gait.

And it came to pass that when Jesus had ended these sayings he said unto his disciples: Enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein no man can work.
3 Nephi 27:33

The default of life is to live in doing what we want to do, or what we have to do, but the few choose what they should do. This is the straight and narrow path that leads to Eternal Life.