Jealousy

This topic was a considerably difficult one to think about. First of all, what is jealousy? Is it an emotion? Or a state of being? Personally, I think it's both, because for one thing, you feel jealousy, but you can also be jealous in the sense of pride. Pride is one of those things that incorporates many emotions into itself. Jealousy, by definition, is basically a resentment towards a rival, enjoying success or advantage over another, and having resentment towards another's success or advantage. Why is jealousy so infectious? Why is it that when you see someone that has achieved a state of higher talent than you, inside, you resent their success and talent. There are those of us that have been able to get by that by being thankful for what we have. But because of pride and greed, we want to be more talented or more benefited than that certain person. So why is jealousy so hard to let go of if it's so closely tied in with pride? Well, since pride is the human disease, it is very closely tied in with our character and our personality. We unconsciously have the need to receive approval from those we respect. So when we see that someone else has something better than us or does something better than us, we feel jealousy, because they are better than us. Jealousy is a horrible thing. It forces us to compare ourselves against those around us, and by doing so, we begin to dislike those that are better than ourselves, and look down upon those that are less so than we are. But when we let go of this jealousy, we force ourselves to realize that we shouldn't be something we're not just because someone else is better at something than we are. We need to realize the fact that we can't do everything perfectly, nor are the odds very high of us becoming the very best at something. Very few human beings have achieved the status as being "the best". Usain Bolt, for example, is the fastest man on Earth according to his speed being compared to other peoples'. So does this mean that competition is a sport of jealousy? Yes and no. Yes because it makes us dislike those we are competing against because we are the "enemy" so to speak. And no because this sort of competition is what gets us to push ourselves to the limit, to become better than we already are. So can jealousy be a good thing? Perhaps. Perhaps if somebody was able to completely let go of their pride and enmity, they could exercise their jealousy for the sole purpose of making themselves better, rather than to try and become better than the next guy. But it is highly unlikely that anyone would be able to let go of their pride completely soon enough to actually use it without pride. As you all know the General Authorities are the best example of those having no jealousy, but they have no real desire to become the best at anything. They have service in mind at all times, and they have the benefits and well being of their families in mind. Not becoming the best. So is this what we should do? Focus ourselves on others in order to lose our jealousy? Perhaps, it is the only way.

Time

What exactly is time? Is time merely the method with which we measure the rate of entropy? Or does time actually have a physical effect on this universe and its inhabitants? Time is the sequential measurement of events and provides us with the terms past, present, and future. Past refers to events that have already occurred, present refers to events happening currently, and future refers to events that have not happened yet, but will eventually. So how does time apply to the time/space continuum if time is merely a sequential measurement? This term is deemed spacetime and refers to the geometrical grid that space is made up of; time being the fourth dimensional variable, and thus helping in explaining gravity and its effects. With larger and larger bodies out in space, the more spacetime is distorted and bent around the celestial body, thus the greater gravity. But, the phenomenon known as the black hole is basically a complete breach of this geometrical grid. The gravity of this object is so great that once you've passed the event horizon, it is impossible to escape. And once inside the hole, you are "spaghetti'd" and all of your atoms are separated slowly. But since it's a rift in the spaceTIME, there is no time to speak of, and thus you are infinitely being pulled apart. At least, that's the theory. We'll never actually know what a black hole is exactly because one has never been observed, and even if we found one, it would be too far away for us to get to. And yet there are physical effects that happen with time. An experiment was conducted where two atomic clocks were synchronized. One was left on the ground, and the other was put in a high speed fighter jet. The jet went up, reached its peak velocity, and came back down. But when they compared the two clocks, the one from the plane was a couple of seconds behind the clock on the ground. How could this be? Well, the theory of relativity states that time passes much more slowly when going at extremely high speeds. So does that mean that time is physical? Who knows? No one has ever fully understood time. But, time also has one redeeming quality. Healing. Time heals the broken heart, the shattered soul, the mourning man. But, time never really passes at the rate we want it to. Sometimes, it passes in a flash, and other times it is tenaciously drawn out. But why is it time that heals us? Is it actually the things that we do in that space of "time" that ends up helping us to heal? Or is it really just us waiting for the wound to heal on its own? Nobody really knows.