Tuesdays with Muerte

1. The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives • Disabuse yourself of your natural self-righteous position by acknowledging that everyone believes they are right, and by being open to others' experiences. • Step out of the moral Matrix to which we are all connected. "If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between 'for' and 'against' is the mind's worst disease;” ― Jianzhi Sengcan (15:10) 2. How to Step Outside your Biases • The phrase, "man is the measure of all things," is a self-serving rationalization disguised as philosophy. Seek truth. not confirmation. (5:00) • It's seductive to believe that all your believes happen to be true. Being right feels good, which leads to seeking support your position and acting in bad faith. (5:58) • Social media (including Google) is designed to feed us information that cooresponds to beliefs we already espouse, re-inforcing our respective confirmat...

The purpose of my talk is to help you to move the mountains in your life by following President Russell M. Nelson’s 5 suggestions from his April 2021 General Conference talk, Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains . When I was taught my first lessons on faith, I mistakenly thought that I would, one day, be expected to develop sufficient faith to literally move mountains. I can’t tell you how relieved I was, 30 years later, to hear President Nelson clarify that those mountains were figurative. He elucidated,   My dear brothers and sisters…through your faith, Jesus Christ will increase your ability to move the mountains in your life , even though your personal challenges may loom as large as Mount Everest. Your mountains may be loneliness, doubt, illness, or other personal problems. Your mountains will vary, and yet the answer to each of your challenges is to increase your faith. That takes work. Lazy learners and lax disciples will always struggle to muster even a pa...

Personal Introduction By way of introduction, my name is Bryan Tanner. 30 years ago, I was a kid in Redmond, WA; I lived just down the street from Microsoft campus and the U.S. HQ for Nintendo. 20 years ago, I was a freshman here at BYU, positive that I was going to revolutionize the biotech industry. 10 years ago, I got my first big-boy job in a completely different field, creating learning experiences for companies—first for the Air Force, and then for Church HQ. That obviously didn’t work out because a few years later, I came back to BYU as a student. I attended a South Provo ward in this stake. (For those doing the math, yes, President Hansen was Stake President at the time.) 2.5 years ago, I married my dream girl and we have a baby boy on the way. Last week, I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation on a potential model to help people in my field transition from academia into the business world. Purpose I’m grateful for this brief moment I have to be with you. I believe tha...

Image source 10 Arguments for Hand Washing Dishes  Immediately After Use 1. SHOWS CHARACTER The habit of handwashing dishes immediately after using them shows personal responsibility and consideration for others.  In the absence of clear dish-doing duties, washing one's own dishes is evidence of strong personal character and respect for others.  It is a mark of social maturity not to assume that someone else will clean up your mess. ( E.g., Necessitating "Your mother doesn't live here" signs.)  It also frees the sink and counters for others to use communal kitchen spaces. ( E.g., it's tough to rinse lettuce in a sink full of dirty dishes.)  It also allows for the re-use of favorite  dishes throughout the day.  2. PREVENTS CRUSTIES Dishes are often more difficult to clean as food hardens on them over time. (E.g., post-smoothie blender.) Even electric dishwashers can struggle to clean dishes that have sat out for more than a few hours. Exceptions to thi...