Many years ago, I took the Scouts on a campout in the desert. The boys slept by a large fire they had made, and like every good Scout leader, I slept in the back of my truck. In the morning when I sat up and looked at the campsite, I saw one Scout, whom I will call Paul, who looked particularly rough around the edges. I asked how he had slept, and he replied, “Not very well.”

When I asked why, he said, “I was cold; the fire went out.”

I answered, “Well, fires do that. Wasn’t your sleeping bag warm enough?”

No answer.

Then one of the other Scouts loudly volunteered, “He didn’t use his sleeping bag.”

I asked in disbelief, “Why not, Paul?”

Silence—then finally the sheepish reply: “Well, I thought if I didn’t unroll my sleeping bag, I wouldn’t have to roll it up again.”

True story: he froze for hours because he was trying to save five minutes of work. We may think, “How foolish! Who would ever do that?” Well, we do it all the time in much more dangerous ways. We are, in effect, refusing to unroll our spiritual sleeping bags when we don’t take the time to sincerely pray, study, and earnestly live the gospel each day; not only will the fire go out, but we will be unprotected and grow spiritually cold.

Taken from Gary B. Sabin's talk: Stand Up Inside and Be All In. Entire talk available at: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/stand-up-inside-and-be-all-in?lang=eng

Confirmation Bias

The 2016 election provided a perfect example of "confirmation bias," which is the human tendency to seek out and value information that confirms our own perceptions. This tendency also leads us to avoid, undervalue, or disregard any information that conflicts with our beliefs.

Hegemons are powerful entities. USA, Russia or China?

I love doing business around the world, especially the largest country in the world. And I don't profess to be an international relations expert, but having spent the last two weeks in China and traveled there for business and family vacations 3-4 times each year over the past 20 years, I do know this: China is unlike any other country participating in the U.S. led global economy. It intends to benefit from the openness and security offered by the system without being obligated to abide by its norms. Hegemony is the economic, political, or military predominance or control of one state over others. A hegemonic country has the power to help countries cooperate with one another for the maintenance and, when needed, the restoration of prosperity. When no country can or will act as hegemon, a world crisis erupts. Trump’s suggested retreat, along with China & Russia’s ambitions, and the reasons why the two probably can’t fulfill them—it all suggests the unnerving possibility that this eruption is already underway.