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snow college - art 2950

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

commitment updates: nephi's mystical absolutism - ben sang

Between chapters 1 and 7 of the first Book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon, a strong theme of commitment, resolution, and absolutism being forcibly projected on Nephi's peers via pure determination is very interesting to me because it so well coincides with Robert Greene's ideas expressed in his books, The 48 Laws of Power and The 50th Power (made in collaboration with 50 Cent). They explore the idea of boldness and tie bold claims to influence so long as one continues in bold claims to back themselves up. Not only can someone with intelligence make most things sound reasonable, but the infectuous power of confidence also spreads and phenomenon can be attributed to this confidence in time. Through this confidence, Nephi gains power not only over his family but also truly projects it to himself, empowering himself to do anything that his agenda requires.

UPDATE 3/9/18

What I'm finding very challenging about reading the Book of Mormon is that with my current perspectives and opinions, I oftentimes get caught in really skeptical states of mind instead of being able to really allow the words to affect me. It's actually gotten me quite upset a few times because I am genuinely curious as to how I would take the doctrines and stories in at this stage of my life. I'm about halfway through 2 Nephi at the moment.

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