I've been corresponding with my e-pal Ginger (don't get mad at this nickname, I'm just trying to protect your annonymity) since Nov 2005. He is by turns urbane, intelligent, witty, maddening, cosmopolitan, artistic, faithful, liberal ... and vacationing in Provo. To my mind, it's a very strange location for him, but he has his reasons. And in the midst of enjoying the fresh air and scenery and meeting new people, he's also found out what it is to live in The Bubble. Yes, he's run up against what I consider the other Big C's in the gospel ... Conservatives (especially Republicans) and Capitalism. And no, I'm not trying to rant against Provo and C's specifically, but against homogeneity and entrenchment.
In the LDS church, we're taught that there must needs be opposition in all things (2 Ne 2:11). This is not a uniquely LDS concept. The most delectable culinary dishes are the ones that find the best balance between sweet, sour, salty and bitter. The perception of beauty is heightened by contrasting ugliness. One's ability to feel joy is often deepened by one's past experiences with pain. And so on.
And so it is that I find myself better able to not be of the world because, by living in Los Angeles, I am very much in the world. It's the rebel in me. If I lived in a place where everyone was the same, I'd probably experiment with going against the grain just to break up the monotony. So, it's probably a good thing that I live in a rather sinful place where I can explore the far reaches of my righteousness (such as it is), instead of living in a hyper-righteous place and exploring the limits of my wickedness. And sometimes I wonder what this says about my character, that I have a certain need to feel ... what? Rebellious? Special? Unique? And what would happen to me during the millenium? I don't know. I can only say that I feel more ownership of my righteous choices because I don't feel socially obligated to make them.
I'm reminded of a movie that a friend told me about. I must apologize here, because I can't remember the title of the movie, or WHO is was that told me about it, but I picture a Marvel-esque setting, and cartoon animation. Also, I am probably embellishing the story here, but it's just how I remember it. An Evil Villain is being chased by the Good Guys. EV is about to be caught, when he inadvertantly stumbles through a portal that transports him to another world inhabited solely by super-heroes who go about their lives as normal people, but occassionally rip off their regular-people-clothes to reveal super-hero-attire in order to rescue other unwitting superheroes from accidental catastrophes such as falling pianos, after which point the rescuer is delighted at the break in sameness, but needs to go home and dress in RPC again. Anyway, EV starts doing EV-type things again, and the local super-heroes have the time of their lives catching and imprisoning him. At this point, the GG's re-enter the scene, having found a way through the portal. They approach the leader of the SH community to extradite EV back to their home world and are rebuffed. Turns out that the SH's had developed a fondness for EV, and were planning on letting him out of jail every once in a while for a "Hunt the Evil Villain" spree. Talk about a twisted plot ...
Anyway, my point in bringing this up is not to bombard you with images of bulked up people in spandex, but to explore the pitfalls of entrenched cultures. In terms of change, I think the church culture moves at an excruciatingly slow pace ... slower even than the pace of the general leadership, which I happen to think is rather more progressive. In Feb 1996, church membership outside the United States outnumbered that within the states. Last year, the first foreign general authority born in the last century was sustained as an apostle (all the other ten foreign apostles were born prior to 1900). And at every general conference, although I'm sometimes irked at not being able to understand their accents very well, I always look forward to hearing from general authorities who have spent a significant portion of their lives outside of the United States. The church is growing and diversifying, and that fills me with joy. It gives me hope that as the membership of the church grows to include those who have very different origins ... be they racial, geographical, philosophical, cultural or intellectual ... it will also invigorate us to further understanding of what it means to be a child of god, and how we can love each other despite and because of our differences. Thus my personal goal is to rejoice in unity without feeling stiffled, and diversity without feeling fear.
Two other great posts that I've read recently on cluture versus spirituality, and token rebellion:
There's something about Mary (and Martha)
What is the purpose of the BYU Dress and Grooming Code?
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