Tsianina

Vital Problems of Life

A Study for the Advanced Senior Classes of the M. I. A. 1920-1.

Lesson I. —The Indispensability of Isolation No isolation, no individuality. The points in which we are different from everybody else constitutes our individuality. Nature has never created a duplicate. It has been said that the only way in which we are alike is in being unlike. Isolation has been a potent factor in the making of great lives. The hero, Michael, and heroine, Eve, began the peopling and subjugation of our earth alone. Enoch, the greatest human sociologist, was isolated from his kinspeople. Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses, 6:27, 40, 41, 42; 7:18, 19, 20. Noah, isolated as a social outcast, developed a trustworthiness that made of him the progenitor of the post-deluvian race, next in partiarchal authority to Adam, and a trustworthiness in the world beyond, through which he became the angel Gabriel. (Commentary, Doc. and Cov., pages 623 and 187.) His standing among tried and true spirits may be judged by reading Luke 1:18,27. The life of the great dispensator Abraham is replete with evidence of the indispensability of isolation. Read Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham 3:2, 3. Jacob, the great prince of Israel, experienced his isolation at an early age. Genesis 28. It would appear that the Lord was kind to Joseph in permitting him to be separated from his brethren; sold as a slave, cast into prison by false testimony. The Great Father had in view not only testing and proving Joseph's integrity before angels and men, but furnishing opportunity for the development and growth of a great individuality. Read the story in the light of the value of isolation. Genesis 37:27. The mighty Moses, reared in a king's court, was not denied the blessing of the higher preparation, in the wilderness of Horeb. Exodus 3. Many a person has found his burning bush in isolation from the world, alone with God. The forerunner of the Master had his training in the wilderness. Jesus, great exemplar for all men, notwithstanding his being reared in the isolated village of Nazareth, of which city it was asked, can any good come out of Nazareth? was isolated from human companionship. As a final preparation for his incomparable ministry, he went into the wilderness for forty days and prayed. Matt. 14:23.

VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 1017

Joseph Smith's isolation of thought was preparatory to his secret prayer in the grove, when the heavens opened and the world was shut out. With his message from on high, Joseph found himself separated from the rest of the world by a gulf of misunderstanding. He knew, but they could not comprehend. 1 ears of social isolation followed in which was laid the foundation for the fulfilment of the poetic prophecy: "Kings shall extol him, and nations revere." The Urim and Thummim, the seer stone, the curtain between Joseph and his amanuensis, were all instruments of isolation utilized in the bringing forth of the gospel. The experience of President Heber J. Grant alone on a mountain trail is a splendid illustration of the value of isolation as a factor in the discovery and the making of men. See Era, Vol. 22, December, 1918, p. 97. Edison's "aloneness" has illuminated the world. Every act of close attention is a process of psychic isolation. No one without the habit of mental isolation may consistenly be called a student. Group greatness has drawn strength from isolation. Through its "awayness" from the world the tree of "Mormonism" developed a faith-root without which it could never have produced itspresent fruit. Four times has America been the field of colonial isolation, under divine guidance. First, by the Jaredites, from the Tower of Babel. See Book of Mormon, Ether. Secondly, by the Nephites from Jerusalem, First Nephi 13. Thirdly, the Mulekites from Judea, Helaman 6:10; 8:21. Fourthly, the Pilgrims. Problems

1. Discuss in the light of the value of isolation, the inadvisability of

young married people living with the old folks. 2. Discuss the. slogan: We will have our own home. 3. How may city life cause the song, "Home, Sweet Home" to become obsolete? 4. In what particulars is secret prayer superior to any other prayer? 5. Discuss the saying of President Joseph F. Smith: "The Latter-day Saints could not have become in Illinois, what they have become in the Rocky Mountains." 6. A blind man in a cottage in the woods of England produced one of the world's greatest epics; who was he, and what is the name of the epic? 7. Commit to memory these lines of "Wordsworth to Milton: "Thy soul was like a star that dwells apart, pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free." 8. What great achievement did Luther accomplish in the isolation of a castle, where he was placed by his friends? 9. Discuss the value of isolation with one's hobby. 10. Give an illustration of forming self acquaintance through isola-

1018 IMPROVEMENT ERA

lion. Let the "1" tell the "me" what it is and ought to be. 11. What is the testimony of our missionaries with regard to isolation? Summary Nature in producing individuality practices isolation. Alone with the subject characterizes the student. Spiritual power is generated by being alone with God. Periods of isolation are the accompaniments of great lives. The gospel provides for daily growth through periodic isolation. Isolation operates with groups as it does with individuals.

Lesson II. —The Uplift of Adversity From an abundance of references both scriptural and lit-

erary the following are selected as germane to our theme: — These are they which came out of great tribulation. Rev. 7:14. — For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. II Nephi 2:11 We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22. But we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience. —Paul. Romans 5:3. I — Joseph Smith, D. and C, 127:2. feel like Paul, to glory in tribulation. The good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired. Seneca. Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man: but for one man who can stand prosperity there are a hundred that will stand adversity. Carlyle. It seems to me, Cyrus, to be more difficult to find a man unspoiled by prosperity than one unspoiled by adversity. Xenophon. — Prosperity proves the fort/unate, adversity the gre*v£. Pliny, the Younger. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity the blessing of the New. Bacon. Sweet are the uses of adversity. Shakespeare. "0 fear not in a world like this, And you shall know 'ere long, Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong." Henry W Longfellow. .

The uplift of adversity is provided for in the inner world as well as in the outer world.Every soul has the capacity for becoming a demon or a deity. The Book of Mormon tells us that the people "had become carnal, sensual, — and devilish, by nature."- Alma 42:10. Jesus answered, them, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"—John 6:70. As God is, man may become. Lorenzo Snow. — "They are Gods, even the sons of God." D. and C, 76:58. Capacity, however, is not possibility, it is simply potential- ity, or the power to become, through opportunity. A seed has capacity for growth, but can not grow until opportunity is fur- nished through soil, moisture and heat. Opportunity must be provided before capacity or potentiality can act. We cannot become demons without a devil to tempt us; we cannot be-