The usual sorts of things (well, not really)

[azurelunatic]

Life has struck again, and ...

What do you say when one moment you're panicked for your Evil Twin's immortal soul, and then a half-hour later, your spate of button-mashing has produced the exact effects you were looking for, if not in a way you were expecting?

My newest bondmate is now single-minded in purpose, and we've established for once and for all that his church is, in essence, a church of perfectionists looking to get absolute control over their lives to avoid unpredictable emotional spikes, for ill or for good. I'd die without emotional spiking.

I can taste some of the farewells in the air already. It's rare that I start out-and-out bawling these days, and even more rare that I do so when not in the company of either my Priestess-Confessor or her left hand man.

On the one hand, I got what I wanted. It took more than a month, but I wound up doing what I set out to. I was the woman, the gimp for the job.

Comments

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

That is an EXCELLENT assessment of the goals and mission of the LDS church. Though the "absolute control" thing is more about avoiding anything that might be a temptation to sin, rather than a conscious avoidance of emotional spiking. The removal of spikes is more an unavoidable side-effect than the primary intent.

Example:

Adultery is just about the biggest sin around in LDS cosmology. (Note that "adultery" in LDS-speak is a broadly-defined "nonmarital sexual activity", not the outside culture's narrower "*extra*marital sex".)

Adultery only happens 1) with prior intent, or 2) impulsively, in a situation which combines ALL of a) opportunity, b) temptation, and c) personal weakness.

Proper education/indoctrination can prevent case 1).

Removing ANY of a), b), or c) can prevent case 2).

b) and c) seem inherent to human nature--the best we can do is relegate them to occasional moments of ascendance. Thus we can't trust a policy that relies on controlling those.

Thus, the LDS Church statement/position/recommendation that LDS members behaving properly should NEVER BE ALONE with a member of the opposite sex (other than her/his spouse) for any reason at any time except cases of bona fide emergency. This means that very few Mormons have close relationships with anyone of the opposite gender, but that is deemed an acceptable price to pay for removing the opportunity and reducing the temptation to engage in Serious Sin ("removal of emotional spiking" as side effect of "removal of opportunity to sin").

[azurelunatic]

Heh.

*sigh*

Care to take a wild guess at how often Figment and I are alone with each other in private?

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

More frequently than "never", I gather. Though probably not NEARLY often enough for a certain Lunatic.

[azurelunatic]

I see Figment often enough for me -- perhaps three to four times a week outside of work, with usually at least one phone call per day, perhaps two or more.

It's Darkside who I need to see that often, and don't.