The Mysterious Black Box
First off, let me apologize. It's been almost 2 months since my last post. Second off, let me apologize again. It's pretty egocentric of me to feel like I need to apologize to you for not gracing you with my wisdom and insight more frequently. So sorry for the lag in posts, and sorry again for the slight egomania. There. Now that we have that all cleared up let's get down to business.
Most people in the business world are familiar with something called a black box. This is a different black box than the one found in the cockpit of an airplane (which is actually bright orange). For those of you that haven't encountered that term in this context, it's really nothing more than a generic description of any process where there is an input and an output, but nobody knows what happens in between. For example my auto mechanic is a black box. I take the car to him, he does some things that I don't understand and he gives the car back. I'm never even really sure if he actually did anything, but that's the beauty of the black box. You don't have to understand the middle piece in order to interact with the process. It's someone else's job to understand it and make it work. You only need to know the input and output to use it.
In the world of software development, black boxes are everywhere. As a software developer I don't require the people using my software to know what goes on behind the curtains. They just know that they click a button and something happens. In many cases the developer doesn't even know all of the inner workings. For example, if I were to develop a web page, all I know is how to write the HTML (or whatever other flavor of web technology), but I have no idea what happens when someone types the URL for my site in their browser. I know there is this thing called the Internet and data is sent across wires (unless the data is going somewhere wires aren't available, then carrier pigeons are used) until it all gets where it needs to go and the website loads.
From a spiritual standpoint our life is full of black boxes, but we know them by a different term: The Mysteries of God. The thing about spiritual black boxes is that the we interact with them the same way we would any other black box; we put something in and we get something out without really knowing how the processes goes from A to B. We put obedience in, some mysterious and unknown things happen inside the box and out comes a blessing. We don't know what the exact blessing is. That's where faith comes in. We only know that the outcome will be whatever God has prepared for us. The prophet Joseph Smith described this phenomenon best while in Liberty Jail. The Lord spoke to Joseph and listed a large number of very bad things that could have happened to him and then counseled him that "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7). What happens inside the black box is not always easy to deal with, but the outcome is always in our favor.
Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and understand the black box. We are promised over and over in the scriptures that if we keep the commandments and pray diligently that we can know the mysteries of God. The following passage in the 8th section of the Doctrine and Covenants even tells us how this knowledge can be recognized when it comes to us:
Never in a million years would that idea have just come to someone, but that's why it's the perfect example of what it truly means to have the spirit of revelation. Nephi describes it as "having great desires to know the mysteries of God". In Moses' case it was his desire to know what God wanted him to do in that moment and having a perfect understanding that the answer could only come from God. And once he received that answer, he acted upon it. He put his obedience in, some things happened that even with today's knowledge of physics and science cannot be explained, and a blessing in the form of a miracle came out of the black box.
We have the same privilege and responsibility Moses had to understand what it is God would have us do in any given moment and in any situation. We need only ask and be willing to act upon the answer. We don't need to know how things work inside the black box. All we need is faith that our obedience will lead to the blessings God has in store for each of us.
Most people in the business world are familiar with something called a black box. This is a different black box than the one found in the cockpit of an airplane (which is actually bright orange). For those of you that haven't encountered that term in this context, it's really nothing more than a generic description of any process where there is an input and an output, but nobody knows what happens in between. For example my auto mechanic is a black box. I take the car to him, he does some things that I don't understand and he gives the car back. I'm never even really sure if he actually did anything, but that's the beauty of the black box. You don't have to understand the middle piece in order to interact with the process. It's someone else's job to understand it and make it work. You only need to know the input and output to use it.
In the world of software development, black boxes are everywhere. As a software developer I don't require the people using my software to know what goes on behind the curtains. They just know that they click a button and something happens. In many cases the developer doesn't even know all of the inner workings. For example, if I were to develop a web page, all I know is how to write the HTML (or whatever other flavor of web technology), but I have no idea what happens when someone types the URL for my site in their browser. I know there is this thing called the Internet and data is sent across wires (unless the data is going somewhere wires aren't available, then carrier pigeons are used) until it all gets where it needs to go and the website loads.
From a spiritual standpoint our life is full of black boxes, but we know them by a different term: The Mysteries of God. The thing about spiritual black boxes is that the we interact with them the same way we would any other black box; we put something in and we get something out without really knowing how the processes goes from A to B. We put obedience in, some mysterious and unknown things happen inside the box and out comes a blessing. We don't know what the exact blessing is. That's where faith comes in. We only know that the outcome will be whatever God has prepared for us. The prophet Joseph Smith described this phenomenon best while in Liberty Jail. The Lord spoke to Joseph and listed a large number of very bad things that could have happened to him and then counseled him that "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7). What happens inside the black box is not always easy to deal with, but the outcome is always in our favor.
Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and understand the black box. We are promised over and over in the scriptures that if we keep the commandments and pray diligently that we can know the mysteries of God. The following passage in the 8th section of the Doctrine and Covenants even tells us how this knowledge can be recognized when it comes to us:
2) Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.I think it's interesting that Moses parting the Red Sea is the example given of the spirit of revelation. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Put yourself in Moses' sandals for a minute. Here you are at the edge of the Red Sea with thousands of your people. You're feeling pretty good after all the hard work you went through to get them released from slavery in Egypt. All of the sudden some Israelite scouts coming running toward you frantically screaming something about Pharaoh and an army of chariots. You finally calm them down enough to get the whole story, which is that Pharaoh seems to have changed his mind and has sent an army to take your people back to Egypt. You know that fighting them will result in slaughter, but you also know that your people would rather die than return to Egypt as slaves. (Now stop and think: If it were you, what could you do save your people?) Suddenly, you have an idea. I know, you think to yourself, I'll just part the sea straight down the middle and we can just walk to the other side!
3) Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.
Never in a million years would that idea have just come to someone, but that's why it's the perfect example of what it truly means to have the spirit of revelation. Nephi describes it as "having great desires to know the mysteries of God". In Moses' case it was his desire to know what God wanted him to do in that moment and having a perfect understanding that the answer could only come from God. And once he received that answer, he acted upon it. He put his obedience in, some things happened that even with today's knowledge of physics and science cannot be explained, and a blessing in the form of a miracle came out of the black box.
We have the same privilege and responsibility Moses had to understand what it is God would have us do in any given moment and in any situation. We need only ask and be willing to act upon the answer. We don't need to know how things work inside the black box. All we need is faith that our obedience will lead to the blessings God has in store for each of us.
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