Finding the Real Superman, Cape and All.


Jane_Doe
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I don't have a blog, so when I want to share something you guys just get to deal with it :).  

 

 

 

 

A while back I wrote a post about how as I read through the Bible as a youth, I discover that it was hundreds of rated R pages of people messing up again and again.  Before this, the people in scripture kind of wore superman capes in my eyes (you know over-glossy-hero-idolizing).  But as I read the Bible, I discovered that even the greatest prophets made mistakes just like me.  And it is through the power of God everyone of us learns and grows, even through our mistakes.  The prophets and all lost their superman capes. 

 

This weekend I was reflecting back on that thought train and realized I was missing something.  Because I didn’t find just flawed human beings in the scriptures, also I found God.  Christ Himself came down and walked among us.  He showed us the way: teaching us through word and deed.  And through His sacrifice, He understands everything we could go through, and gave us a way to conquer it all: our mistakes, our trails, our flawed selves.

 

Christ: He’s the real Superman. 

 

This week is/was Easter, a time to think of Christ’s atonement and all it means.  Christ is the great physician: one whom heals the wounds so wonderfully that not even a scar remains.  Through Him we grow, we learn, we are healed.  Christ doesn’t just heal the mistakes in our lives, He heals the entirety of our lives- our flaws, our hopes, our loves.  He makes us complete: He makes us perfect like Him. 

 

Christ wants to share everything that He has, everything He is.  He wants us to share in His perfection.  In the scriptures, when a Lord wants to share everything with his heir, even a prodigal one, the Lord gives the heir his garment.  God wants to share everything with us- even his garment. 

 

Christ—He wants to share his Superman cape with me. 

 

Wow… I know this is just one little dorky analogy I came up with but…. Wow, how underserving I can be of His so perfect love.  Today, I write this standing all amazing, confused at the grace so freely He proffers me.  Trembling I cry at how much He did for me, confused at a love so deep I cannot comprehend.  Lord, how great art thou?

 

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Many years ago I wanted to be a teacher (math and science) but flunked remedial spelling 3 semesters in a row and was forced out of the program and had to become an engineer.  But I did not want to just be any old teacher – I wanted to work with the best and brightest students.  I studied how to identify genius.  I wanted to find the developing superheroes and teach them.

 

What I discovered is quite the opposite of your discovery.  That is that the world if full of undiscovered superheroes and geniuses.  They are everywhere.  We are all living a double life and some – most are very expert in keeping their superhero (and their capes) secret.  You may think it is about Jesus sharing his cape but it is really about getting others into letting out the secret of their own superhero genius.  We are all the children of G-d – hiding everywhere and pretending to be just common folk.

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Many years ago I wanted to be a teacher (math and science) but flunked remedial spelling 3 semesters in a row and was forced out of the program and had to become an engineer.

 

Oh man.  Gotta share this with all my engineering buddies.  I bet more than half of them will relate!   :lol:

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What I discovered is quite the opposite of your discovery.  That is that the world if full of undiscovered superheroes and geniuses.  They are everywhere.  We are all living a double life and some – most are very expert in keeping their superhero (and their capes) secret.  You may think it is about Jesus sharing his cape but it is really about getting others into letting out the secret of their own superhero genius.  We are all the children of G-d – hiding everywhere and pretending to be just common folk.

 

*Jane starts singing and dancing*  "I'm just an ordinary everyday superhero, trying to save the world"  :D

 

We do all have those seeds of divinity in us, even all the world's crude tries to hide it from us.  

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I believe I have posted this several times before - but what do you all think is the one single most common element present in the genius (excellence - superhero) we know about and identify?   Hint - this plays across all fields - sports, literature, science, finance, music, military, politics - and even religion.  What is that single most common element in the life of someone excelling?

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I believe I have posted this several times before - but what do you all think is the one single most common element present in the genius (excellence - superhero) we know about and identify?   Hint - this plays across all fields - sports, literature, science, finance, music, military, politics - and even religion.  What is that single most common element in the life of someone excelling?

 

I would say a solid foundation.  For even if one has great inborn potential for genius, but lacks a solid foundation, they will not build up, but sideways.

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I would say a solid foundation.  For even if one has great inborn potential for genius, but lacks a solid foundation, they will not build up, but sideways.

 

I waited for a while to see responses.  Since you are the only one interested - I will respond.  The most common element with exceptional individuals is :  They have a mentor. 

 

This may come as a great surprise to many that look for the brightest and best on the surface.  Even a close look at how Jesus talks about his father indicates a very close relationship and effort to act directly on what he was taught and trained to do by his father.

 

As much as we want to think of individual abilities - greatness is not as internal as we may like to think but that greatness is both taught and learned.  Not everyone with a mentor responds and becomes great but just about everyone that becomes great in the view of the world has a mentor to thank.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is not really about individual salvation as much as becoming converted and strengthening others (feed the sheep of G-d).  I believe the final act of true genus is to lift others to greatness.  Even G-d follows this template:  "This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".  In other words - to teach and train geniuses.

 

Greater than the doctrine of Jesus Christ is the training and discipline in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to achieve divine genus so you can help train others on their way.

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I don't have a blog, so when I want to share something you guys just get to deal with it :).  

 

 

 

 

A while back I wrote a post about how as I read through the Bible as a youth, I discover that it was hundreds of rated R pages of people messing up again and again.  Before this, the people in scripture kind of wore superman capes in my eyes (you know over-glossy-hero-idolizing).  But as I read the Bible, I discovered that even the greatest prophets made mistakes just like me.  And it is through the power of God everyone of us learns and grows, even through our mistakes.  The prophets and all lost their superman capes. 

 

This weekend I was reflecting back on that thought train and realized I was missing something.  Because I didn’t find just flawed human beings in the scriptures, also I found God.  Christ Himself came down and walked among us.  He showed us the way: teaching us through word and deed.  And through His sacrifice, He understands everything we could go through, and gave us a way to conquer it all: our mistakes, our trails, our flawed selves.

 

Christ: He’s the real Superman. 

 

Very observant...there are things in the Bible if repeated might get one banned. But what makes most Prophets so assume is they reveal their weaknesses In even every book, in all humanly. And Christ is indeed Superman...good post. Just as with us, like all men are flawed as all Prophets. God calls the flawed, as it is all he has to called. What makes them great is all they accomplish despite their weaknesses. God bless them! :)
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I waited for a while to see responses.  Since you are the only one interested - I will respond.  The most common element with exceptional individuals is :  They have a mentor.

 

This may come as a great surprise to many that look for the brightest and best on the surface.  Even a close look at how Jesus talks about his father indicates a very close relationship and effort to act directly on what he was taught and trained to do by his father.

 

As much as we want to think of individual abilities - greatness is not as internal as we may like to think but that greatness is both taught and learned.  Not everyone with a mentor responds and becomes great but just about everyone that becomes great in the view of the world has a mentor to thank.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is not really about individual salvation as much as becoming converted and strengthening others (feed the sheep of G-d).  I believe the final act of true genus is to lift others to greatness.  Even G-d follows this template:  "This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".  In other words - to teach and train geniuses.

 

Greater than the doctrine of Jesus Christ is the training and discipline in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to achieve divine genus so you can help train others on their way.

 

I've been thinking a lot about this Traveler, particularly as I've been hiring interns the last few days.  

 

While I would agree that having a good mentor is certainly a key factor in success, I'm not sure that it's the only key factor.  To have that be the dominate variable denies the rights of the individual to listen or to not.  Even Heavenly Father, the greatest mentor, lost 1/3 of his pupils on the first hurdle.  

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I've been thinking a lot about this Traveler, particularly as I've been hiring interns the last few days.  

 

While I would agree that having a good mentor is certainly a key factor in success, I'm not sure that it's the only key factor.  To have that be the dominate variable denies the rights of the individual to listen or to not.  Even Heavenly Father, the greatest mentor, lost 1/3 of his pupils on the first hurdle.  

 

Glad I got you thinking.  Of course a mentor is not the only consideration - just the most important.  How many stories have you heard like the movie with the song "To Sir With Love"?  Where a teacher takes a class room of failing students and inspires all of them to greater heights of success?

 

There is another interesting factor of expectations.  I grew up in a family where my parents expected success.  My parents were both prominent and respected, my oldest brother had a photographic memory - both my older brothers were #1 in their class - both high school and college.  When I came along everyone expected greater things of me.  As a result I discovered that such expectations are easy to take advantage of - I talked my way into much better grades than I earned.   I also discovered that I was motivated to excellence because so many expected me to be so.   Other, even better qualified were not given the opportunities I have been given because the expectations was that I would succeed. 

 

One of the studies I reviewed while trying to become a teacher of genus was a program that took place in the 60's in a Chicago school district.  They took a servery to identify the top 50 students and the bottom worse problem students. What they attempted to do is work with each group independently to determine best overall teaching methods.  The results came out just as everyone expected.  The top 50 achieved wonders and in a single school year advanced several years worth of teaching.  The bottom 50 were nothing but problems and even seemed to go backwards.  This was until it was discovered that by mistake the two groups and been mixed up and identified as the opposite of what they were. 

 

If you are impressed and like your interns - they will do very well working for you.  If you are very unimpressed and dislike your interns; they will fail at every turn.  Strange as it may seem we will all work harder for those we believe have taken an honest interest in us and that we believe will help us more than anyone else can or will.

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If you are impressed and like your interns - they will do very well working for you.  If you are very unimpressed and dislike your interns; they will fail at every turn.  Strange as it may seem we will all work harder for those we believe have taken an honest interest in us and that we believe will help us more than anyone else can or will.

 

This is true, but a mentor saying encouragement does not guarantee that the encouragement will be heard by the student.  While people in high-expectation-high-encouragement environments tend to do better, that is not always the case.  

 

The classic example I'm thinking of is siblings raised with high-functioning high-encouraging parents.  Say there are 4 kids in this family.  Frequently I see 3 of them succeed and 1 not-so-much.  Frequently the no-so-sucessful kid doesn't think he's smart (no matter how often he's told), doesn't want to apply himself parent-approved ways, or just wants to coast through.  (Admittedly these are generalized observations from my non-scientific observations).

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True the ultimate hero is Our Lord,Redemer,Savior, Messiah!!! But we should all be wearing that cape in a humble way.....not for glory of the world. The world gets in our way But our ultimate goal should be..

What manner of men(person) should I be? Jesus replies even as I.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend.

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Guest LiterateParakeet

Jane, I just read this...I realize I am late to the party. I loved your post and your analogy...that will stay with me for a long time-which is of course the reason for analogies. Well done.

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As the black sheep in a overachieving family I am well versed in falling short.  My mother took great joy in reminding me that of all her children I was the hardest to raise.  She also enjoyed telling my children and grandchildren.  Much to my surprise, as soon as I was out of the shadow of my parents and siblings I suddenly became the smartest and most capable in the room.   But when I came back home I was the trouble maker and the problem child.   I have been at both extreme ends of the spectrum.

 

I believe the problem is that we tend to judge others and sometimes ourselves with our own eyes.  I know I do this.  If someone seem more capable than me - I think of them as smart - but if I seem more capable, I think of them as less than adequate.  But what is often overlooked is that we all are given different gifts. Where we are gifted we and others think of us as super.  Where we are not gifted we and others think of us as sub-par and even incapable. 

 

Everyone in their element is a genus and super hero.  Sadly some never realize their element.  Some come to believe there is no element of their genus.  G-d so loved and appreciates our genus that he gave his only begotten son.   Jesus so loves and appreciates our genus that he suffered and paid for all our sins - just so that our genus could be nurtured and grow.   So capable are we that G-d tells us - all things are possible to him that believes.

 

If we accept the covenants and keep the commandments - we cannot fail.  Our trials of faith train and enlighten us and no matter how badly we think we fail - we can learn, repent and do over.  As a expert in repenting and also in application of artificial intelligence to industrial automation - intelligence is defined as the ability to learn and modify behavior or responses. All of mankind is intelligent and capable of learning, repenting and using the atonement to modify behavior as we train, practice and perfect methods of G-dly goodness.

Edited by Traveler
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