0:00:00 - 0:00:22 Men are that they might have joy. I woke up this morning and I had a dump of information in my mind and I looked at the clock, it was a little before four and I was pretty happy because it wasn't one and it was time to write. So I jumped up and uh got on this presentation and I'm pretty excited for it 0:00:22 - 0:00:47 because lately, uh I've been directed to teach a lot about suffering and it's, um it's nice to talk about joy for once, but we're also going to talk about suffering. Uh I have a lot of people I'm aware of that uh are in the midst of some tough times and it's nice to um be aware of some tools that can 0:00:46 - 0:01:11 help them transcend what they're going through and see the forest for the trees and understand why all this is and how to navigate it. OK. So let's start with the seeming, if not contradiction, at least weirdness. And secondly, I 225 it says men are that they might have joy. But we also know that uh 0:01:10 - 0:01:29 the more light and truth that you acquire through living the gospel, the more suffering you're going to go through. And Solomon said, in much wisdom is much grief and he that increases knowledge, increases sorrow. And surely he would know something about that given his stature as the wisest man in the 0:01:29 - 0:02:01 world. Uh So the question is, how does this all go together? And is one of the statements not true because they seem like contradictions. How can you, how can the purpose of our creation be to have joy? And also the means for obtaining that joy be the means of increasing sorrow. So um one question I've 0:02:01 - 0:02:24 received as I've tried to teach these things is yeah, but didn't Jesus suffer so that we don't have to. And there's a quote that I'm going to butcher in trying to paraphrase, but it basically says that it, you can, you can make anything false if you oversimplify it enough. And um so it is with the atonement 0:02:23 - 0:02:51 of Jesus Christ, he came to provide a means for us to be forgiven of our sins and also a means for us to stop sinning. And part of what he did was uh connected to our suffering. But instead of just trying to oversimplify that into less than a sentence, let's read what the scriptures say on the topic 0:02:51 - 0:03:09 in Alma seven, it says, and he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind and this, that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him, the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which 0:03:08 - 0:03:26 bind his people and he will take upon him their infirmities that his bowels may be filled with mercy according to the flesh that he may know according to the flesh, how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now, the spirit knoweth all things. Nevertheless, the Son of God suffer according 0:03:26 - 0:03:46 to the flesh that he might take upon Him, the sins of His people that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance. And now behold, this is the testimony which is in me. Now, I wanna go back through this in reverse. So the last verse that I read about blotting out 0:03:45 - 0:04:07 their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance. So while it is true that the Lord gives us a means of being justified or forgiven of past sins, that sacrifice would be worthless without providing, also providing a means to be truly delivered from our sins. To be delivered from our transgressions 0:04:06 - 0:04:37 or sins requires us to get to the point where we no longer sin. It's not enough to just take away the consequence of past sin. We also have to change our behavior so that we don't sin again. And uh that's important and poorly understood. So going back, uh we read this part about Him taking upon us uh 0:04:36 - 0:04:57 taking upon himself, our infirmities. But why does he do it? Is it to take away our infirmities? It says that his bowels may be filled with mercy according to the flesh that he may know according to the flesh, how to succor his people according to their infirmities. So succor his people according to 0:04:57 - 0:05:18 their infirmities, doesn't say to take them away or to do something so that we don't have them anymore or prevent us from having them in the first place. It means to support someone through something, right? So his taking upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people. So there's this, I won't get into 0:05:18 - 0:05:40 this because it's a huge topic. But you know, you start talking about uh miracles and healings and uh other related topics. And people think somehow that the gospel is the means to avoid suffering or that somehow uh through living the gospel, you'll suffer less than you will otherwise. And that's what 0:05:40 - 0:06:07 we're going to take on head on in this uh in this presentation. But in the context of why it matters in the sense of having joy. So men are that they might have joy. That's the purpose. So um going back to what we were just talking about from al seven, the gospel gets you to the point where you don't 0:06:06 - 0:06:30 sin anymore. If, if you stay with it, if you really submit to God, that's the end state. So, um most people and most Christians even don't, don't get there because they stop short. But uh if you really submit yourself to God, that's, that's the end state. So um overcoming all things is this phrase that 0:06:30 - 0:06:54 we hit in the scriptures. And uh Jesus says that he's overcome all things and uh it's very clear that he gives the gospels about giving us the tools so that we can do the same thing. And um as, as it pertains to sin, the way we overcome all things is to learn the principles and the truth and the light 0:06:53 - 0:07:22 that we need to choose to follow God under all circumstances. So, learning obedience, unconditional, obedience to God. And um as we submit fully to him, another thing that happens, which is quite important and relevant to our discussion today is that systematically He will show you the things in your 0:07:22 - 0:07:54 life that you think make you happy that in the context of greater awareness will not make you happy. So everything is progressive. And um there are things that you derive joy and happiness from as you suppose that are temporary or they're based on something false. And um the goal is to get to the point 0:07:54 - 0:08:20 where all the joy that you feel is permanent and it can't be revoked, it can't be shaken, it can't be taken away and nothing anyone does can decrease it. And to get to that point, you have to submit yourself to God so that He can identify each and everything in your life that uh doesn't align with that 0:08:19 - 0:08:45 . So uh if your joy is derived from anything false or temporary, it will be shaken and destroyed as long as you submit to God, and he'll shake and destroy it through revealing greater truth to you. And this is a blessing. So if it's not obvious already, um you could describe this as suffering and it's 0:08:45 - 0:09:08 one of the several types of suffering that you can experience in this life. But it's the one you want to go through. You should anyway. If you trust God, if you don't want to go through it, it means you don't trust God. So that's one source of suffering. It's um the revelation of the unknown. So as you 0:09:08 - 0:09:35 become more aware of reality, um the light will shine into your darkness and you'll see the things that previously made you happy that were an illusion or that they were, they were built on something temporary or built on something as false. And um that hurts a lot, but it can go away completely as your 0:09:34 - 0:10:00 trust in God increases to the level where it's unconditional. Once you unconditionally trust in God, every single thing that He reveals to you, you accept as a gift and you appreciate it more than life itself. Another source of suffering is uh when people do things to you that cause pain and this could 0:10:00 - 0:10:21 be as direct as someone punches you in the face to something that's a lot more evil. Like someone schemes behind your back and you find out after a lifetime that this whole time this person was out to get you or whatever, it's limitless. Um You can get this kind of pain for people that don't even know 0:10:21 - 0:10:41 you. Um, kind of like uh an animal trap in the woods and you just kind of walk across it and it springs on your leg figuratively speaking, there are things like that in this life. Um It turns out that this kind of suffering increases, the more you serve God because people will persecute you, the closer 0:10:41 - 0:11:04 you get to Him, the more you get persecuted. Uh But this can go away as well through charity. So it's not that you don't feel that pain. It's just that you don't care anymore because you love people more than um they can hurt you. The last kind of pain is the realization of others limits and this also 0:11:04 - 0:11:27 increases with awareness. So all, all three of these do. But uh for different reasons. But, but this kind of suffering is the kind that actually doesn't go away. It, it actually increases uh the more you love and serve and learn from God and it increases equal and opposite to the joy that you feel and 0:11:26 - 0:11:55 it never goes away. And this is the kind of suffering that makes the Lord weep. And yes, God suffers too. In fact, uh we'll talk about that in a minute but he suffers more than any of us do. And that's not, uh, coincidental. So, as I've talked to people about this topic, um, the beliefs on why we suffer 0:11:54 - 0:12:12 and what suffering is all about very greatly. I've heard things like, oh, well, you know, it's something that people have to go through every once in a while and, you know, if your number comes up and you get bone cancer, then it stinks to be you. But for most of us, we'll make it out. OK? And that is 0:12:12 - 0:12:34 definitely not true. Um Instead of thinking of suffering as this lottery where the incidence and severity of your suffering is random and is a rare event and then the intensity of it's rare like an earthquake or something where where most, most of the time there aren't earthquakes and then when they 0:12:34 - 0:12:57 do happen, most of the time they're small, that's not the way suffering works. Instead, we should view life as a conduit that we all have to walk through. Uh where the purpose is to endure the maximum that can be inflicted here. And there are reasons for that. But the long story made short is that the 0:12:57 - 0:13:22 purpose of suffering is to increase our joy. And if your purpose is to maximize your joy, then you should also expect to have your suffering maximized. So people who go through life and dodge the bullet. Um The question is why were they even born because they're kind of wasting their time here. But I 0:13:22 - 0:13:45 also think that that happens far less often than most people think. And, uh, people who think they're dodging the bullet are really, uh, it's coming for them too. They just don't realize it, whether in this life or after this life they will be exposed to everything that, that you can be exposed to. And 0:13:45 - 0:14:07 for most people who seem to do, dodge the bullet, it's not that they're dodging the bullet. It just hasn't hit them yet and it will, and it actually seems to be worse for the people who have lived a substantial portion of their lives without needing to adopt higher principles that have the power to get 0:14:07 - 0:14:27 them through these things. So whether this is sort of on their deathbed as they're dying and they're dying without any grace because they, um, are suddenly slapped across the, the face with what life really is and their whole life, they've built up belief systems and expectations that are completely 0:14:26 - 0:14:45 false, uh, or it happens earlier in life, but out of nowhere and then they just fall to pieces and you see people like this, I'm sure you can think of some right now and maybe you're one of them, but it doesn't have to be that way, even if it is, there's a purpose and there's a way out. So it's, it's 0:14:45 - 0:15:06 good to know these things. Um, and then there are those who think that the gospel is the path that helps us avoid pain. And these people quote revelation and they say the book, they say, oh God's going to wipe the tears from our eyes. And jeez, it's all puppy dogs and rainbows. And, um, these people 0:15:05 - 0:15:24 may seem like the happiest people, you know. But it's all an illusion. This is a funny thing. Sometimes I talk to, I'm thinking of a few people in particular and they think, oh, well, I'm just so gloomy and I'm not happy and all these other things. And I, I think to myself, what are you talking about 0:15:23 - 0:15:44 ? You're more aware of the evil in this world than most of the people walking this earth. And yet look at all the joy and happiness that you still have in your life. And, uh, it's not that these other people are happy. They're just ignorant, they're ignorant of the evil that's actually there. Uh, I walk 0:15:44 - 0:16:03 around and I meet these people and I talk with them, the fake happy ones. Uh, and I guess the ignorant happy ones and I think to myself a million things that could absolutely crush them things that I know that they don't. That were I to just share a couple sentences with them, they would melt into a 0:16:03 - 0:16:25 puddle on the ground and everything they think they know would just be laying in, in rubble beside them and, and I'm not God and God knows a heck of a lot more than I do. And so, uh, wouldn't it be nice to get to the point where nothing in life can touch you that your joy and your happiness cannot be 0:16:25 - 0:16:49 affected by anything that might happen to you that could possibly happen to you. And that's the point of all of this, um, bec and, and, and it's not a, just in case because these things will come to you. It's not a question of if it's a question of when. So uh for the people that adopt these ideas, that 0:16:49 - 0:17:06 the gospel is the path to help us avoid pain or that there's occasional pain in this life. But, you know, as long as you dodge the bullet, you'll get out. Ok, I would ask them, well, why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good and even in innocent people suffer? You know, babies suffer little 0:17:05 - 0:17:26 kids suffer. So why is that? And uh when you get to the point where something happens to you in your life and you feel like you're going to die, you're suffering so much emotionally, you, you feel like you're going to die in spite of the fact that you believe in God, what do you do? And they don't have 0:17:26 - 0:17:46 answers for this, uh They say, oh, you just have faith or whatever. It's, they don't know. And then you see them in these experiences where they can't deny where they see a kid, an innocent kid murdered or raped or they see, uh, themselves going through all these things that they feel like they don't 0:17:46 - 0:18:10 deserve or they watch their parents die or they have to put their, they have to euthanize their family dog or whatever the case might be. And, uh, their life falls apart. They, they don't have answers to these questions. The best they can do is pretend that these problems don't exist. So let's shed some 0:18:10 - 0:18:34 light on it. I want to give you a little analogy. So what life is like? It's like you're shipwrecked in the ocean and thirst, starvation and sharks are coming for you. They're coming for you. Whether you recognize it or not, you do not have a choice as to whether these things are coming for you. But 0:18:33 - 0:18:53 no one is going to force you to learn what you need to use the wreckage to improve your situation. On the other hand, no one's gonna take you out of this. No one is going to pop a helicopter onto the scene and lift you up and say, well, it's a good thing. You don't have to worry about any of these problems 0:18:53 - 0:19:21 anymore because you're saved. The solution is to learn what you need and then do what you have to do to be able to contend with thirst, hunger and the sharks. But the very first step is facing the discomfort of recognizing your situation. You can float in the water and pretend that everything is puppy 0:19:21 - 0:19:42 dogs and rainbows and you're gonna die of thirst if you don't get eaten by the sharks first, if somehow you manage to get some water and the sharks are just circling you, they're not biting you yet. You might die of starvation. First. These things exist and there's nothing you can do about the fact that 0:19:42 - 0:20:11 they exist except learn how to contend with him. So how does this relate to the Gospel? The gospels, the knowledge and purpose? You need to contend with reality in order to obtain the greatest possible happiness in spite of things as they really are. So let's talk about God. So the father is sad, sometimes 0:20:10 - 0:20:33 , at least he has sadness. But is it really a sometimes thing, all things are before him continuously? So whatever event might make him momentarily sad because we're projecting our humanity onto him. That's how we think of things in relation to what we know when you're sad, you're sad for a moment or 0:20:33 - 0:20:53 because of something. So before that something happens, you're not sad with God. All things are before Him continuously. So that thing that you're ignoring or you're ignorant of until it happens and then you're sad because now you're aware of it. He's aware of it all the time and you will be aware of 0:20:53 - 0:21:18 it all the time as well after you die. So how do you build up a system where you can be happy in spite of that. Because right now, if you're normal, then uh if you're like most people, then your, your happiness is an absence of sadness and that's wrong. That's not enduring. That's only possible while 0:21:17 - 0:21:46 you're ignorant, God is the happiest being because he has the tools to maintain greater joy in the face of greater suffering than anyone else. He suffers more than you do and yet he's happier than you are. His happiness is not the absence of suffering. It's what transcends suffering. It happens in spite 0:21:45 - 0:22:11 of the suffering. And the gospel is the means he, he gives us to do the same. It's how he gives us these tools to do the same. A while ago, the Lord told me the amount of light you acquire is determined by how much darkness you're willing to endure. And this is very true. I invite you to meditate on 0:22:11 - 0:22:39 that phrase. It's deep. And uh if you live according to it, it'll change your life. Unfortunately, we almost everyone stopped short. It's funny. We expect to inherit an eternal or unending existence. And we expect that that will include eternal or unending learning. And then we lie to ourselves and say 0:22:39 - 0:23:02 we will obtain this through limited learning. Here. We put up stakes and draw lines in the sand and say, yeah, yeah, I'm interested in all this, but you have to deliver it to me in this confined way or you can teach me about this stuff, but not this stuff over here. I'm not interested or you can invite 0:23:01 - 0:23:25 me to let go of these things that I think are bad. But don't you dare question these other things that I treasure and I love more than you. That's what we say to God. And uh if you do that, you will limit the light that you can acquire. And consequently, you will limit the things that you overcome to 0:23:25 - 0:23:50 flip this on its head. You will preserve things that overcome you. If you limit God, you will ensure that there are things that can overcome you. There are things that can prevent you from exercising God's character in your own. And there are things that will destroy your joy. And so your joy will be 0:23:49 - 0:24:18 limited ever after because you didn't acquire the tools to overcome those limits in alma. We read uh about one man's repentance and he says, what joy and what? Marvelous, marvelous light. I did behold. Yeah, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain. This is an eternal patterned. You'll 0:24:17 - 0:24:46 see it again and again and again. But if you want exceeding joy, you have to go through exceeding pain. There is no other way. Every portion of awareness consists of increased evil and suffering only through trusting God. Can you endure it sufficiently to obtain the equal and opposite, good in joy that 0:24:46 - 0:25:19 it also entails. This has to do with opposition in all things. So you go from learning the depth of evil by experiencing it. You're experiencing even greater sorrow and pain that you've than you've experienced before. But that's the path to commensurate or equal, an opposite joy. So after you've increased 0:25:18 - 0:25:47 the sorrow beyond the high water mark, the previous high water mark, that's the, that's the means that motivates you and gives you the, the context for God to reveal to you the tools that allow you to endure that. And once you are at the point where you endure that you're now prepared to experience equal 0:25:46 - 0:26:15 and opposite joy, we see a pattern of this in the creation. Oh I meant to put a quote here from Genesis or Moses, but I didn't do it. Sorry. But if you look it up, you see that first there's formless chaos and then God admits darkness. It's like, um let's see, it's not quite like there's a container 0:26:15 - 0:26:48 and he opens it and pours it out. But um it's kind of like a floodgate. And in this undifferentiated mess, you've got both darkness and light, but the darkness has to come in and it's only after that, that he exposes it all to his word. And then some of what's there reflects back light and this is the 0:26:48 - 0:27:09 process and it happens in every phase through the creation, through the creation account. And this is what our lives are meant to be as well. And you see a cycle and it happens over and over and over again. Instead of the days of creation, you have phases in your life and the, you know, a phase could 0:27:09 - 0:27:30 be a day, it could be 40 years. Who knows? It just depends on you and your speed, your diligence, and your obedience. But this is what the phrase opposition in all things means. If you want more of something, step one, you get more of everything, the undifferentiated, a good and evil, you get it all 0:27:29 - 0:27:51 together and then you have to extract out the good. It's like Jesus taught you haul in all manner of fishes and then you throw out the little ones and you keep the big ones and this is the way it works. If you want more joy and you're not willing to have more sorrow, you will never get more joy. You 0:27:51 - 0:28:13 could fool yourself and temporarily think that you have more joy, but you don't actually, you just have more lies and those will be stolen away from you eventually. And when that happens, you'll see that you are worse off than you would have been if you just sort of admitted where you were and much worse 0:28:13 - 0:28:38 off than you would have been if you were willing to trust God enough to trust His process and his process is that He will shepherd you through more truth, which brings more sorrow so that you can learn the tools you need to have more joy. That's the process explaining this. From another angle, there 0:28:38 - 0:29:06 were two trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. And you reconcile yourself to God or eat of the tree of knowledge by um but assimilating the things that He teaches you into your character, but you can also expand your awareness by eating of the tree of knowledge. And 0:29:06 - 0:29:29 this exposes you to greater light and truth than you had before. But it's a process. And with this, it's kind of like um you increase your suffering by eating of the tree of knowledge. And then when you reconcile yourself to God, you increase your joy by eating of the tree of life, something interesting 0:29:28 - 0:29:49 , which I also didn't quote here, I apologize for this. But if you reread the accounts of people eating from the tree of life, the most numerous ones are in the dreams of Lehi and Nephi. In the book of Mormon, you'll see that eating the tree of life is not a singular event. It's a continuous thing they 0:29:49 - 0:30:09 continue to eat. It's not just that they pluck a piece of fruit from the tree, take one bite and magically they're immortal forever or that they have God's love in its fullness and it's all done. They keep eating from the tree and you should ask yourself why? Because it's important to this and many other 0:30:09 - 0:30:40 points. Neither one of these things is a once off, it's meant to be a cycle, a progressive thing where you increase because it never ends. So, um but this demonstrates that, that coming back to this idea, you can't obtain greater joy until or unless you experience greater suffering and what light and 0:30:40 - 0:31:00 truth does, what knowledge does is it gives us the ability to have joy in spite of greater suffering. That's the point. That's how you increase joy. It's not some abstract thing that you get more of. It's always in the context of greater suffering. So when Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is 0:31:00 - 0:31:21 light. And you're sitting there asking yourself how the heck can this be? Because living the gospel is a heck of a lot harder than not living it. Well, sure. Except you when you think about the alternative. So in the context of the alternative, yes, his yoke is easy and his burden is light. So um it 0:31:21 - 0:31:41 , it might be hard to um walk through the maze of, it might seem hard to walk through the maze of his commandments. But actually compared to the alternative, uh and compared to what it helps us avoid and compared to what it would be like to not have these tools and not be able to lean on him and trust 0:31:41 - 0:32:04 in him. It's, it's a heck of a lot easier, but it's easier because of the alternative. It's easier in context. All right. So we, we talked about the father a little, let's talk about the son. So in Hebrews 58, Paul said though he were a son yet learned, he obedience by the things which he suffered. Now 0:32:04 - 0:32:28 , what does that mean? You could use this passage to explain a lot of things. But in this context, um just ask yourself, wasn't Jesus already obedient? Didn't he live a sinless life? There's some depth there. Uh I won't get into it. But what does suffering do? It shows us the limit of our trust in God 0:32:28 - 0:32:52 . And typically it does that at least initially through our sinning, through our choice to not trust in Him. And uh eventually that transitions to our emotional response. So once we reconcile ourselves to God and actually repent and don't disobey him anymore, then it becomes a matter of the heart. Well 0:32:52 - 0:33:21 , it's a matter of the heart before them. But anyway, it's a transition from actions to emotions. And uh the question is, are you ever anxious? Are you ever depressed? Um Are you ever really unhappy about your life? And these things are all manifestations of a limit of trust in God because uh when a 0:33:21 - 0:33:45 mother is going through labor, she's in pain, but she's not unhappy about the fact that she's gonna have a baby because she looks forward with hope to that anticipated event. And if God puts us through affliction and suffering, if you trust in Him, you see this as the absolute precise thing ordained 0:33:44 - 0:34:06 by an all knowing God to enable us to have greater joy. And so you just kind of lump it all together and you say, well, yeah, I mean, I'm not super excited about suffering, but still, it's a great thing because I know this is the way, this is the way, the truth and the life and there is no other way 0:34:05 - 0:34:32 . And I trust God. Therefore, I trust this experience that trust this situation. So when we submit ourselves to God and we suffer, we uh in doing so, it shows us where the limits of our trust in God are. It also shows us the limits of our love. So I, I talked earlier about how one kind of suffering is 0:34:32 - 0:34:55 , is through the pain that others inflict upon us. And you'll find through suffering that maybe you don't love people as much as you think you do and then you can change that. So there's this pattern of a basement and ascension and a basement is increasing in suffering and ascension is increasing in 0:34:55 - 0:35:21 joy and it's a cycle. And as you submit yourself to God in greater and greater ways, you go through greater and greater a basement and a as you do that, it's the only way you climb the ladder and descend. So to explain this as briefly as possible, you can think of a basement as uh water or chaos. It's 0:35:21 - 0:35:41 this expansive influence, it disorders things, it destroys things. So that's all figurative. What does that mean? Literally? Well, you'll find yourself with more questions you'll say, well, why is this like it is or what does this mean, or why did this happen or why am I going through this right now 0:35:40 - 0:36:01 , or what? Why did this happen to this other person? You'll have more problems. You'll also have new perspectives. So your viewpoints will change on things. You'll become aware of things that you didn't know before. You'll notice things you didn't notice before. And, and this is all generative. It generates 0:36:01 - 0:36:29 um new situations that your previous understanding is not sufficient for. And so when I talk to people and they say, well, I just, I just have more questions than I did before. That's a good thing. That's a basement. OK. What about ascension? Well, that's fire. That's order, that's arrangement, that's 0:36:28 - 0:36:59 system organization, it's reduction, it takes away it consolidates um it generates principles, it generates laws. You notice things are just another one of those you come up with ways of thinking about things to simplify it. And um this is the way that you have more joy. And so things get simpler and 0:36:59 - 0:37:28 easier and uh they don't get easier by um removing things per se, but through reducing things which is different. So uh that's all I want to say about that could say more. That's all I'll say. So. Uh this should have been with the other Jesus slide anyway. Um So DNC 88 6 says he, that ascended up on 0:37:28 - 0:37:47 high and also he descended below all things. Oh, that's why I put it here. Um Forgive me, it's still quite early in the morning. He ascended up on high as also he descended below all things. He in that he comprehended all things that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth. So this 0:37:47 - 0:38:08 is the reason it's here, this is an example of how Jesus submitted to the ascension and descension cycle. That's how he got to be who he was. And if we want to be like him, we will only be like him to the extent that we submit ourselves to the same. So he descended below all things. And that was necessary 0:38:07 - 0:38:32 for him to comprehend all things. And that was necessary for him to be in all and through all things in the light of truth. So one very small way he did this. It's not the full extent of how he did it or why or what. Uh but something you probably haven't thought of is that in his mortal life, he had 0:38:32 - 0:39:02 to live through the successive revelation of the impermanence and, and limits of everything he valued in his life. What the heck does that mean? Well, he was a little kid and little kids, uh don't have perfect and complete and final um trust in the father. They don't, they haven't removed all the things 0:39:02 - 0:39:37 that little kids are all about. And so he, as he went through life, he had a lot of value and trust in his earthly father and mother and siblings and in his uh religious group and in his vocation and in his friends and in all these other things in life that you can't um have permanent joy in because 0:39:37 - 0:40:02 they are all limited. And all these things were taken away from him as he submitted to the father, which he did perfectly. And he was taught through the revelation of greater awareness that these things had limits and that the only place he could place his trust was in the father. If he wanted his joy 0:40:01 - 0:40:28 to be greater and permanent, and we have to follow that pattern. So what he did and what we have to do is realize that if you want something better than what you have, the only way to get it is to trade it, you have to give up what you have. And the way this happens is the Lord shows you the evil and 0:40:28 - 0:40:57 sorrow that lies in what you think is good and you just keep going and going and going until what you have transcends anything this world can do to take away the goodness of it. If you want more joy, you ought to expect things to get worse and worse. It's a long and short of it now, instead of submitting 0:40:56 - 0:41:22 yourself to this process or at any time during the process, you can say I'm good. I don't want to keep doing this, but you have to realize two things. One, there is a finite amount of truth that pertains to this mortal sphere. And whether it happens in this life or after you die, you will be exposed 0:41:22 - 0:41:58 to the fullness of that truth and everything you have grown to rely on that doesn't endure, that level of light will be hell for you. The second thing is on the positive side that God is glorious and to the extent that you've limited your exposure to his process and your submission to him. In the cyclic 0:41:57 - 0:42:26 , a basement exaltation pattern or a basement ascension pattern. The, the, the degree to which you've limited your submission to Him is the degree to which you will not be able to endure His presence. You won't be able to um to be there physically and you won't be able to have that level of awareness 0:42:25 - 0:42:54 that goes with that, which isn't an external thing. It's, it's very much wrapped in to your ability to feel that degree of joy because men are that they might have joy and the path to getting that joy in the greatest possible quantity in the most permanent form is to submit yourself to the things that 0:42:54 - 0:43:18 God has to teach you and to become what you have to become in order to endure that if you want to know more about this topic, I strongly encourage you to read The Glory of God is Intelligence and that's a book you can get on Amazon. There's a free PDF. Eventually there will be an audio book that's also 0:43:18 - 0:43:36 free. Um, but you should definitely get into that. This is a big topic. It's really important and it's worthy of your time and it's not something that you'll just pick up in a couple minutes. Uh I also encourage you to check out the other videos on the youtube channel, the Upward thought youtube channel 0:43:36 - 0:43:51 because I've uh taught these same things in different ways. And also there are a lot of adjacent lessons to be learned here. So I encourage you to check those things out and share them with others.