Lessons from Lehi: Balancing Thought and Action
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"We neglect the past in our society, yet it can give us a perspective of our own times that nothing else can give. It can make us see ourselves as the future will see us. In the case I'm going to discuss today, it will enable us to see an old record in a new light." [00:00:10]
"Lehi now lives not at the beginning of ancient times, as he did up till quite recently, but almost at the end of them. His century, some have claimed, was the greatest of all centuries. From the beginning to end, it produced more innovating geniuses, more epic-making firsts than any other, or perhaps than all the other centuries combined." [00:02:55]
"When we say that Lehi was a child of his century, we mean he was a strange combination of a dreamer and a man of action, an idealist and a realist, an adventurer and a hard-headed leader, a combination for which the sixth century B.C. was noted. Now consider some of his contemporaries." [00:03:51]
"Solon must have carried many a cargo of oil or pottery from his own rocky Attica to the wealthy cities across the Aegean. And in spite of his love for his own native land, he must have been charmed by the brilliant society which he found in Asia. He may have been tempted into luxury and prodigality, as Pudarch supposed when he offered an excuse for such habits, the trials and dangers of a mercantile career." [00:04:44]
"Another who visited the East on business in Lehi's day, and may have been a personal friend, was Thales of Miletus. He's nothing less than the father of Western philosophy and science. His mother was a Phoenician, and he received most of his education in Egypt. That gives him much the same cultural background you see as Lehi, Syrian and Egyptian." [00:07:54]
"Well, after Thales got rich, though, he returned to a life of thought, but it wasn't to a thought devoid of action. Like Solon, he remained all his days a traveler and a man of the world, going from city to city and from land to land, imparting freely of his great scientific and political knowledge to all who asked for it." [00:09:38]
"Others are lost in the mists of history, but consider all these, Gautama Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tse, Vaidamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, Zarathustra, Pythagoras, all of Lehi's day, all strictly contemporary. The only question has been about Zarathustra. Now it's generally believed that he died, he was killed, about 582 or 583, in other words, the same time Jerusalem fell." [00:11:35]
"Lehi was a man, we're told, possessed of exceeding great wealth, in the forms of gold, silver, and all manner of precious things. He had his own house at Jerusalem. These are all quotations. Yet he made it a point to go forth from the city. From time to time, he was a man of great wealth. From time to time." [00:15:15]
"His attempts to make this public were met by a violently negative reaction which put his life in danger. Now, isn't this interesting? At the same time, Solomon went forth to preach to the Athenians in the marketplace. And he had to feign insanity to avoid being mobbed and put to death. He wore a funny cap and pretended he was crazy, otherwise they would have killed him." [00:18:19]
"In one thing he stands apart from all the others. He alone found what they all sought. Now we have hundreds? Tarkovsky has collected hundreds and hundreds of sayings, aphorisms of the seven wise men, and we have a lot of them from Solon. Solon is the most famous, and this is the most famous saying of Solon. No mortal ever knows real joy, he says." [00:19:28]
"But how different it was with Lehi. Here was one man who did have the answer, but he got it the only way it could come. He was miserable. He was depressed until he got the answer. He worried and fretted and brooded a great deal. He was in an awful state, we're told." [00:20:52]
"The men of the sixth century and of the nineteenth century believed that thinking was more than scheming and planning to get ahead. It was a deep and prayerful contemplation, and they were not ashamed to ask for dreams and visions. The hours they spent alone with the Lord made them mighty in action." [00:22:18]
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"Lehi now lives not at the beginning of ancient times, as he did up till quite recently, but almost at the end of them. His century, some have claimed, was the greatest of all centuries. From the beginning to end, it produced more innovating geniuses, more epic-making firsts than any other, or perhaps than all the other centuries combined." [00:02:55]
"When we say that Lehi was a child of his century, we mean he was a strange combination of a dreamer and a man of action, an idealist and a realist, an adventurer and a hard-headed leader, a combination for which the sixth century B.C. was noted. Now consider some of his contemporaries." [00:03:51]
"Solon must have carried many a cargo of oil or pottery from his own rocky Attica to the wealthy cities across the Aegean. And in spite of his love for his own native land, he must have been charmed by the brilliant society which he found in Asia. He may have been tempted into luxury and prodigality, as Pudarch supposed when he offered an excuse for such habits, the trials and dangers of a mercantile career." [00:04:44]
"Another who visited the East on business in Lehi's day, and may have been a personal friend, was Thales of Miletus. He's nothing less than the father of Western philosophy and science. His mother was a Phoenician, and he received most of his education in Egypt. That gives him much the same cultural background you see as Lehi, Syrian and Egyptian." [00:07:54]
"Well, after Thales got rich, though, he returned to a life of thought, but it wasn't to a thought devoid of action. Like Solon, he remained all his days a traveler and a man of the world, going from city to city and from land to land, imparting freely of his great scientific and political knowledge to all who asked for it." [00:09:38]
"Others are lost in the mists of history, but consider all these, Gautama Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tse, Vaidamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, Zarathustra, Pythagoras, all of Lehi's day, all strictly contemporary. The only question has been about Zarathustra. Now it's generally believed that he died, he was killed, about 582 or 583, in other words, the same time Jerusalem fell." [00:11:35]
"Lehi was a man, we're told, possessed of exceeding great wealth, in the forms of gold, silver, and all manner of precious things. He had his own house at Jerusalem. These are all quotations. Yet he made it a point to go forth from the city. From time to time, he was a man of great wealth. From time to time." [00:15:15]
"His attempts to make this public were met by a violently negative reaction which put his life in danger. Now, isn't this interesting? At the same time, Solomon went forth to preach to the Athenians in the marketplace. And he had to feign insanity to avoid being mobbed and put to death. He wore a funny cap and pretended he was crazy, otherwise they would have killed him." [00:18:19]
"In one thing he stands apart from all the others. He alone found what they all sought. Now we have hundreds? Tarkovsky has collected hundreds and hundreds of sayings, aphorisms of the seven wise men, and we have a lot of them from Solon. Solon is the most famous, and this is the most famous saying of Solon. No mortal ever knows real joy, he says." [00:19:28]
"But how different it was with Lehi. Here was one man who did have the answer, but he got it the only way it could come. He was miserable. He was depressed until he got the answer. He worried and fretted and brooded a great deal. He was in an awful state, we're told." [00:20:52]
"The men of the sixth century and of the nineteenth century believed that thinking was more than scheming and planning to get ahead. It was a deep and prayerful contemplation, and they were not ashamed to ask for dreams and visions. The hours they spent alone with the Lord made them mighty in action." [00:22:18]
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