cc: file, Grandma Hafen via Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, and Lloyd and Luana Warner.
"I just came from the afternoon session of General Conference. My mind is flooded with the wonder of the restored gospel. I am so thankful I have a testimony of the restoration, and that it provides an iron rod for me to hold on to as I struggle and find joy in my little corner of this experience we know as life. I won't preach, and I will encourage each of you to read the conference talks when they are posted at http://www.lds.org/en/3_General_Conference_en/O1998en/O1998en.html, especially President Hinkley's Priesthood talk, and Russel M. Nelson's talk this afternoon.
Roice, it was wonderful to talk to you this week. Maybe I particularly felt that way because you have been reading the book I gave you, 'Project Mind,' have been enjoying it, and see some value in something your `old man' has been involved in for several years now. As we discussed in our brief phone conversation, I am also enamored with the idea of accelerated thought. For those who don't have any idea what I am talking about, find the concept entriguing, don't have a copy of the above referenced book, and are interested in a copy for yourself, send me an e-mail and I will send you a copy. Roice, as I told you, it is one of those books you can read several times and get new insights each reading. In addition to the concept of accelerated thought, I am particularly impressed with the concept of essence. The author defines essence as:
Since I first became acquainted with the MOCHIN Internet group, Project Mind, and the book by the same title about five years ago, I have been striving to tie some of the ideas I learned into my daily life. It really felt nice to have Roice express interest in something I am also interested in. Now if I could only learn to be estatic he took 3rd place in his motorcycle race last weekend. Roice, A.J. was at General Priesthood meeting last night, and he showed the kind of enthusiasm for exploits I feel you would like me to show. Oh well!
I do see each of our individual essences, or unexpressed potential, as being much more than what we are doing this week, or this year. It is great and even important to win a motorcycle race, to be the `grandparents' of new dalmation puppies, to serve as an Assistant to the Mission President, to be on the UT gymnastics team and in the LDS sorority, or to be a cellist at Bryn Mawr. However, what is our true essence? I have spent a lot of time over the years working on my personal mission statement, only to have half of it become invalidated by another person's choice. Obviously I wasn't as close to understanding my essence, or unexpressed potential as I thought with my Mission Statement. My personal and Walden 3-D vision statement comes closer:
Hopefully a prayer, or a Family Home Evening lesson, or a vacation, or these Thoughtlets, or Prime Words, or Ken's paintings, or one of my songs, or the church service I perform, or my missionary or temple work, or my participation as a Project Mind Associate, or the work I do at Continuum Resources, or the work I have done at The University of Houston or Landmark Graphics, or something surrounding my life will have made or will make a positive difference in someone's life.
I went to see the movie `Simon Birch' on Friday night. I was touched by his belief in himself and that he had a mission to perform in life. Hollywood always seems to find an essence. It was a sad movie. It was a funny movie (I associated with the BB's and raisins). It was a movie about hypocracy, and about faith. It was mostly a movie about one young man's essence, his purpose for being placed on earth how he was able to make a difference. However, it was just a movie.
Saturday morning's paper announced the death of one of the movie stars of my Mom's youth: Gene Autry. I remember on Saturday's, probably when I was about 8 years old, I used to go to the Cedar Theater and meet some of my friends and see the weekly movie. They always had these serials at the beginning of the movie, which ended as a cliff-hanger, and you had to go back the next week to find out what happened. (Maybe this is why I like to read the comics.) I remember Tobor (robot spelled backwards), and I remember a Gene Autry movie where he discovered an underground city of aliens. In looking over the list of his movies, it seems like it might have been `Valley of Fire,' which was made in 1951 when I was 2 years old. Gene Autry was the first of the singing cowboys (even though John Wayne mouthed singing in a movie before him, and Roy Rogers did more singing over the years than he did). The Chronicle printed Gene Autry's Cowboy Code, a great personal mission:
I'm still wearing my cowboy boots (.../1998/9811.html), and so mabe this cowboy code is a statement of my essence. What is the statement of each of your individual essences? How do you spend your time? Do they match?
After getting in from New Orleans and writing last week's Thoughtlet, I was wiped out. So I went to bed. Monday was spent getting caught up. We hung Sara's painting in my office, hung a whiteboard, and put up three bookcases. A couple of men in the office stopped by the office to admire the landscape painting. One said, `Is that a covered wagon in the sky?' It is suppose to be Biosphere 2, and the fact this type of habitat might be the covered wagon that takes mankind through the environmental damage of the industrial age is certainly an appropriate metaphor. Paige had a swimming party for Family Home Evening Monday night.
Tuesday morning I moved the last of the desks out of the garage in the rental U-Haul van, went to the University of Houston and got the desk that was down there, and emptied all of the HyperMedia boxes we had moved to Energy Innovations into a storage shed. It was a long hot day of real work. I felt really tired and good about the day. I was asked to write some papers, and started outlining them on Tuesday. Rhonda had over 30 letters for me to sign as follow-up on the SEG Workshop. That evening Roger Anderson and I had dinner with Mike Forrest and John Howell. John has a new Lexus with an interactive map that shows your position as determined from GPS (Global Positioning Satellites) and shows the shortest route to where you want to go. That was neat to see. I want one. Oh well!
Wednesday we had a presentation to the development team by our newest employee, Bowen Loftin's most recent Ph.D. graduate. The meeting went very well. I am going to give the presentation this next week. That afternoon we had a visit by three researchers from Elf Acquitaine. We are right on track, with what we are providing. Continuum Resources is going to be a big company. I left at 6:00 so I could get Rob to Young Men's Activity. I worked on sorting one of the remaining boxes in the bedroom during the two Star Trek episodes, when I wasn't giving Rob a ride back home. Larry moved out of the house and into Mike Smith's house Wednesday evening. Another change in my life.
Thurday morning I got up early and drove the U-Haul van back to New Orleans. Folks at the office gave me a hard time for not having someone else drive it back. I felt it was my word on the line. I also knew the time alone and away from the phone would give me the time to write most of one of the papers I have promised, `Spatial Integration,' on the way. It took almost as long to get to the airport in New Orleans from the U-Haul place, fly to Intercontental, catch a bus to the Holiday Inn at Highway 6 and I-10, and get a cab to the house, as it did to drive to New Orleans. Friday morning we had a meeting with Coherency Technology, and I put together some marketing materials on Knowledge Management. Most of the afternoon was spent at the VETL doing a practice run of the BEG presentation for Maraven. There should be some great results come from this work. I got back to the office in time to put in a couple of hours of work before quiting time. Rob went to Galveston, and since he obviously wasn't spending the weekend with me, I went to see the movie `Simon Birch.'
The movie was on my mind when I got up Saturday morning. Simon seemed
to know his essence, and he seemed to know when it was time to return
to Heavenly Father. I spent most of Saturday driving to San Antonio
to go to the funeral of Erik Douglas Geisler, probably the best graphics
programmer in Houston, if not the nation. Erik was only 38 years old.
He appeared to be in excellent health. He had gone to Switzerland, got
food poisoning, came home, had a diabetic reaction, and died alone
in his house Monday sometime. He was estranged from his wife, whom he
loved very much. He worked too long. There were senior scientists
from NASA, from the VETL, and from Texaco Research. There were wonderful
testimonials, including the dedication of the Texaco Visualization Center
to Erik. Mike Zeitlin talked about how Erik held his son's hand at a
party celebrating the opening of the center. Bowen Loftin talked about
how Erik was a wonderful teacher and all of the staff and students he
has taught at the VETL. Tom, of NASA, stressed how great projects are
always started with one person, and how Erik was personally responsible
for the various incantations of the blue earth seen on every NASA flight
(
Maybe my essence is in drawing poetry, like this, out of a scientist. Maybe it is in giving Roice a book, which when he read it turns out to have significant meaning. Roice, you will recall I said ``Project Mind' is the kind of book you need to read several times.' For the rest of you, I then said, `It is just like the Book of Mormon. A book you can get something new out of every time you read it.' Life is about learning something new every time we turn around. Sometimes the lessons are hard, especially if we don't have a little bit of the faith shown by Simon Birch.
The Bishop had me come in to discuss new callings for me this evening. It was the first time we have talked, other than in the hall, in about a year. He is going to pray about whether he thinks I should take on these two callings. It was a nice conversation, and I encourage each of you to have a regular interview with your Bishop in your various areas. They are ordinary people, who give us extraordinary and wonderfully insightful advice. I came home, and as I was finishing this Thoughtlet, I got a call from Ron Burgerner. He asked if I could come over and help his son Rhett give him a blessing. Fifteen minutes later I was back here, thinking about essence, about General Conference, about each of you, and about how wonderful life is. Hope you all have a great week, and I hope you start the search for your individual essence."