Start Here…

Dialectic is not a chronological pursuit.

It can be explored at any time, from any angle.

However, the following posts serve as a useful introduction, no matter your current faith tradition, religious background, or spiritual practice.

Native Tongue Theory

What if we, as individual Mormons, took a moment to make Catholicism our “native” tongue, as Kramer suggests above? Attend Mass, observe a Holy Day of Obligation, do anything to immerse ourselves in a tradition that is not our own. Appreciate what that tradition has to offer with no judgements, condemnations, or comparisons. Then, come back to Mormonism and “plug in” what we’ve witnessed, appreciated, and learned into our framework. How much richer is that experience for us?

Perspective

Curiosity grabs you by the scruff of your collar and drags you around the corner of that cliff, just to see if it really does drop. You hike and hike, nose to the ground ensuring safe footing. Finally, you look up. The mountain you memorized is gone. The cliff you thought you knew --you imagined yourself clinging to the edge of-- is a gentle slope wading into the bottom of a lake. A lake you didn’t know was possible.

The Meal

“I make functional pots that are part of a ritual. By ritual I don’t mean some complicated trendy concept, but the simplest one, that of eating. The pot is literally the umbilical cord that brings our food from the Earth. When we sit down at the table to eat, we commune with the Earth.” – Joseph Bennion