If we’re going to understand quantum physics and understand the universe, then we have to be able to escape the dogma of obedience. This may be difficult since most of us are trained to obey. I get it. There is a time to obey, but there is also a time to understand why. Why should I obey? Really, the idea to obey and not ask why is common in religion. It’s authoritarian. It’s required in dictatorships. And in totalitarianism.
I had parents that expected me to obey them. At about age 6 or so, my mom said, “Tell you sister you’re sorry, Deila” And I couldn’t do that — I hated to be forced to do things. I remember rebelling from that, even though I did feel sorry. I didn’t want to be told to do it. And actually, saying you’re sorry because you’re obedient is not real sorrow. It’s just obedience. (Yea, I suppose I was the difficult child.) My spouse, on the other hand had no rules to obey under the stewardship of his mom. She believed in Dr. Spock and setting no boundaries. So, yes it’s been an interesting marriage.
However, I was not raised in the strict sense of a religious dogma. But somehow, around age 27, I came to embrace religious dogma for a long — too long time. Now, I’m free from that. Even free of the guilt associated with breaking those dogmas. I used to believe a lot of religious teachings — such as the story about when Adam is offering sacrifice, and the angel asks him why he is doing it, Adam says I know not except the Lord commanded me. I used to go along with that explanation of blind obedience to God. Don’s ask, just obey. But who wrote that and is it even an accurate history?
At some point, it didn’t feel right. Something felt wrong about that reasoning. I always wanted to know why. Why can’t God tell Adam the reason for sacrificing an animal on the altar? Really, that’s a big deal. I need to know why. I’ve decided that blind obedience is not honorable. It’s dumb. You must think for yourself. You must reason it out. You have to think outside the box from your typical traditional teachings. The Mormon theology I delved into and accepted for so long kept me within bounds that made me feel guilty for thinking otherwise. Hard to escape that. But I’ve learned to gather all my studies and keep looking at how it all fits together.
I see it everywhere now — religion, culture, politics. People blindly follow.
Mormon theology includes doctrine that you can become a god by obedience. But funny as this sounds, being obedient requires that you don’t really think for yourself. How can you become a god when you are just used to following rules? When you are the CEO of a company you must take on the burdens of success and failure — you have to make decisions. As an entrepreneur you learn so much that you cannot learn any other way. And you need experience in that role. I don’t think the theology of follow and obey prepares anyone to jump into god’s shoes and rule kingdoms.
Creation is real. Yes, in all ways — for good and evil. (Or, I should say that my interpretation of good could be another person’s evil — the power to create can be used by those who want chaos instead of what I want.)
And don’t get me wrong — there is a place for learning by following, but that is not the end game. Thank goodness we have to think for ourselves, make mistakes, not feel guilty about that, and create success. You have to get behind the wheel and drive — you cant just read about it or sit and be a passenger. And it takes a long time to be really good something.
