General Conference is one of those times for taking inventory.  After a short aside to cover some matters I promised to cover (and that do not justify a full post) I’m going to talk about inventories.

It was tempting to analyze Dallin H. Oaks talk at Chapman University instead.  After all the harsh things people said about the citations to the talk, I thought there was lots of room to analyze it.  Unfortunately, looking up the citations only disclosed that Oaks was citing them correctly and that the critics were so far off base as to reflect either total ignorance of legal citation methods or a disconnect with concepts of personal honesty.

For example:

If that’s the case, then I’d be very surprised to see anyone raise their hands to support how he interpreted those cases in his speech at Chapman Univ. The vast majority of the cases he used to support his views were on the losing end via summary judgments. I would be very, very surprised if he’d have even allowed those cases to be cited, let alone used as the main substance of someone’s arguments.

Well, I looked up the four United States cases that were cited.  One of them had a typo in the citation, but none of them were summary judgment cases.  For example, footnote 21 supports 100% Elder Oaks when he states “In Employment Division v. Smith,21 the Court significantly narrowed the traditional protection of religion by holding that the guarantee of free exercise did not prevent government from interfering with religious activities when it did so by neutral, generally applicable laws. This ruling removed religious activities from their sanctuary—the preferred position the First Amendment had given them.”  That is exactly what happened (the case is about sacramental peyote and the Court held against the religious exemption).

Perry v. Schwarzenegger did reject religion as a basis for argument. (Now, whether or not that was the right decision is an entirely different question.  Since I favor the freedom of any religious group to marry adults in any fashion they want, let them marry who, how and what they may, I’m not adverse to the rejection of any particular religious argument as controlling over other religions preferences.  If your Methodist Church [to think of a local church] wants to marry two men, or two women, or some other combination, I think they should be free to).(On the other hand, I do agree with Oaks that the trend of foreign jurisdictions to criminalize the expression of some well established religious views is troubling.  I’ve been following those cases at Volokh.com — a hot bed of libertarian law professor analysis that rejects both government intervention into free speech and government control of most allegedly moral issues).

The rest of his citations are solid.  Which kind of ruins the post.  To analyze the footnotes turns into something boring, mostly dissecting someone else’s un-examined conclusions that have led them astray in criticizing the parts of the talk that are solid.

So, I’m back to what I had planned to write on, inventories. I am starting with a quote or two from some 12-step materials a friend pointed out to me recently:

Our past problems have been controlling our actions and feelings for years, often in ways of which we were not aware.  As we face the problems, they lose their power to overhwlm and control us.

….

Many of us have become experts in self-deception after years … We’ve lied to ourselves about our other problems too, denying that’ve we made mistakes, that we’ve been wrong about things, that we need to change.  We must change if we are to recover.  Change begins with honesty.

… calls for us to examine our lives up to the present day, writing down …

… see clearly how some of our reactions had served us well, while others had unbalanced us emotionally …

links to inventory materials:

I have inventoried myself many times.  I have tried to create a rhythm and pattern to inventories.  Every Sunday before taking the sacrament.  More depth once a month with fasting.  Different focuses for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  Twice a year with general conference.  Every time I start a new journal.

Sometimes my review is just a repetition of familiar structures.  Sometimes it is a reflection on specifics.  Once thing I have done is reflect, from time to time, on my part in situations where I “was done wrong.”  For example, twice in law school I had professors get so abusive that they made public apologies during class to me.  One reason I do not resent either of them is that I can see my part in creating the situation as it developed.  (The apologies help too ^-^).

Some times a person is blameless.  But some times we have a part in what befalls us.

I’ve been reading Hold Me Tight:

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson

She points out that some people are luckier than others — as a matter of attitude creating reality.

Often we are both blameless and have a part — many children afflicted with ADD or obsessive compulsive disorders create environments were they are abused by others.  They are blameless, yet they have a part.  Now, through medication and training, many of these issues are much more likely to be overcome rather than endured.  But there are other afflictions, other patterns.

I’ve become more aware of those things in my past and my present, working on that part of inventorying myself.  Not that I’m skipping other parts.  I still lift weights, for example.  Not that the other parts are perfect.  But inventories have helped me in my life, over and over again.

And each General Conference sparks some degree of self-assessment and inventory.

What sorts of things did you find in General Conference that helped you examine your life and the way you wish to create your future?