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I want to start my introduction by publicly thanking John Dehlin for re-posting the Richard Bushman interview formerly hosted on MormonStories.org. That interview came at a critical point in my trail of faith, one at which I was seriously considering joining my relatives and friends who have left. I’m happy to see them (the talks, not my Exmo friends 
Living in Japan for several years has helped me greatly to re-value my cultural heritage, and to consider what role, by staying, I might play in the church’s evolution.
As a science geek, I’m not at all opposed to mixing religion with evolution. In fact, I think that the church can learn a lot from what scientists studying evolution and complex systems are discovering. Richard Poll[1], around the time I was in Primary, noted the apparent bimodal distribution of Mormon faith-types–the Liahona Mormon, and the Iron-Rod Mormon.
More recently, my friend David Batten,[2] has noted that complex human systems evolve optimally when there is a blend of what he refers to as Cartesians and Stochasts. Evolutionarily, Cartesians were the ones who framed the laws around which communities were established, and provided the stability of the group. Stochasts, on the other hand, were the ones who looked out over the horizon, and wondered where new lands and opportunities might lay. Stochasts provide the flexibility to the group. Recent brain studies also point out that there are underlying reasons why most societies evolve bipartisan political structures, usually one conservative and the other liberal. Seeding an organization with a monoculture of cognitive types, or in the case of the church spiritual ones, is a recipe for a self-defeating system.
For the record, I’m a 7th generation cultural, Stochast-Liahona Mormon, married to a convert Iron-Rod-Cartesian Mormon. We have four wonderful children, two of them already in college. I greatly appreciated the theme of this year’s SLC Sunstone Symposium, “The Spirituality of the Rising Generation.” Listening to the talks has made me realize that the church is at a critical inflection point–one at which it needs healthy dialogue between Stochasts and Cartesians, in order to evolve and stay relevant for the rising generation.
That’s pretty much why I stay. I sit through Sacrament meeting, hold my own Sunday School class in a nearby park, and then return for Priesthood, especially if it looks like GDTeacher’s Japanese counterpart will be teaching the lesson.
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_D._Pollhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_D._Poll” class=”bbcode_url”> [2] David Batten, Chapter 4, “The Uncertain Future of Self-Defeating Systems,” in
http://epress.anu.edu.au/cs/pdf_instructions.htmlhttp://epress.anu.edu.au/cs/pdf_instructions.html” class=”bbcode_url”> Hi Godzilla, Thanks for posting an introduction. I like how you are able to look at the big picture from a few steps back, and appreciate the spectrum of different places of belief within our Church. I was just thinking yesterday at Church how different some people are. The thought really struck me how much I (we all) need some of those people who might frustrate me at times. They are often the ones making the program actually function. If it was run by people like me, it would fall apart in a week LOL. We are all very positive checks and balances on each other when we come together in unity through the Gospel, and most importantly with the influence of the Spirit.
Godzilla Gaijin wrote:I sit through Sacrament meeting, hold my own Sunday School class in a nearby park, and then return for Priesthood, especially if it looks like GDTeacher’s Japanese counterpart will be teaching the lesson.
Great plan! What is it about Sunday School!?!?
kupord maizzed wrote:Godzilla Gaijin wrote:I sit through Sacrament meeting, hold my own Sunday School class in a nearby park, and then return for Priesthood, especially if it looks like GDTeacher’s Japanese counterpart will be teaching the lesson.
Great plan! What is it about Sunday School!?!?
Well, I should caveat that remark. I attend the Park Branch SS whenever my DW is not teaching SS. And interestingly, whenever she isn’t teaching, she usually finds something else to do.
I think that it’s more about the fact that most adults can’t stand sitting for three hours. Especially when we’re having the kind of mild winter we’ve been having here in Japan. That, and the fact that the Park Branch SS serves mildly caffeinated beverages. [ Aside: What’s really funny is that nearly all of the expat LDS kids here in Japan hang out in Starbucks. I even see some of them in the park during SS block.]
What makes a good SS class? One where Stochastic comments are offered and respected. During the holidays here, the expat wards tend to evaporate, and so last week we met combined with a couple of other wards. My oldest kid commented on his SS class being awesome, because the teacher was able to freely weave in remarks about drugs, sports, sex, and rock and roll, in a positive way. Too often, stochastic remarks are met with the sound of silence.
So on days when my DW teaches, I generally try to attend, and take my parktime during priesthood. They’re mostly interchangeable anyways, at least as far as curriculum goes.
The December 2008 issue of Zygon just showed up in my mailbox, with a great article by Daniel Levine & Leonid Perlovsky, titled “Neuroscientific insights on Biblical Myth: Simplifying heuristics versus careful thinking: scientific analysis of millenial spiritual issues.” L&P review what we know about neuroimaging studies, which suggest two brain regions work out the balance between being Cartesian and Stochastic.
Quote:One region implicated in primary emotional experience is more activated in individuals who use primitive heuristics, whereas two areas of the cortext are more activated in individuals with a strong knowledge drive: one region implicated in detecting risk or conflict and another implicated in generating creative ideas. Knowledge maximization and effort minimization are both evolutionary adaptations, and both are valuable in different contexts.
Full abstract is here:http://ur1.ca/0p8i .
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