LDS Geeks Podcast #44: Animorphs Re-Read (2)

Here we come for round two of our Animorphs re-read! Three more regular books and the first Megamorphs. We had lots to talk about, more than I expected. I hope you enjoy it!

--Spencer

Listen to Episode 44 on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube

Check out Spencer's recent blog posts: click here

Check out Russell's recent blog posts: click here

Show Notes:

    Follow along: Animorphs Book Club Reading Schedule

    Spencer's Recommendation: ”Greater Than All My Regrets” by Tenth Avenue North

        Listen on YouTube

    Russell's Recommendation: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

    #5 - The Predator

    #6 - The Capture

    #7 - The Stranger

    Megamorphs #1 - The Andalite's Gift

5 Books That Are Better Than Your Average Self-Help Book

 

Artist: Unknown

Self-help books are nice. They do a good job teaching us how we can improve as individuals. I usually will read one self-help book a year and try implementing that in my daily life for the whole year trying to make it my habit. Last year I read Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven, and I made my bed every morning that year. I still try to do it this year. I missed a few days, but it has been a nice habit to have, and it does make me feel more accomplished when I do it. This year, so far, I have read 3 self-help books because of a book club with my in-laws. I have read Essentialism by Greg McKeown, Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, et al, and How Full is your Bucket by Donald O. Clifton. I realized that the formula for each self-help book is essentially the same: 1. Be vulnerable 2. Improve yourself, and 3. Follow this guide to become a better person. Following all their commitments to improve yourself becomes increasingly impossible for each self-help book you read. After some frustration about not being perfect I realized that there are books out there that have helped me more than self-help books.

In this post I will go over 5 books that I believe have encouraged me to become a better person.

Lord of the Rings

Of course, the greatest fantasy book ever will be on this list. There is a reason that this book has been cherished over the decades. Besides the great story, almost every character is a similitude of the Savior that we can emulate in some way or another. Do we associate ourself with Gandalf who must actively avoid touching the ring (sin) because he knows he will be corrupted if he does, or do we feel like Frodo who has a burden he feels that he must carry alone, or Sam willing to be the best support you can be, or even Aragon who helps others to succeed?

There are so many great relatable characters in the book and most of them are good characters that emulate the Savior. Don’t worry we all have a little Gollum in us, but we can succeed where he failed.

The Boys in the Boat

I might be a little biased here because I am from Washington, but if you have never read this book, it is really motivating. It’s a true story about eight-oared rowing crew from University of Washington competed and won in rowing during the summer Olympic in 1936. The story focuses on a nine-man crew and how different each of them are, and how they became synchronized to win first place.

I liked this book because it talks about the crew’s personal stories. We read how each of them come from different backgrounds but ended up having one purpose: winning first place. When one of the members got sick during the Olympics the boys kept him on the team because they would be better synced with each other. It's a good message that we need to stand up for and support each other. 

Way of Kings

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite living authors. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and when he writes his stories he includes gospel messages in them---like in Way of Kings. Near the end of the book Dalinar Kholin, King Gavilar's brother, wants to buy Sadeas bridgemen (slaves that carry bridges during the war with no armor to protect them. They usually have a short life span). He trades his sword (Shardblade) that is “worth fortunes. Cities, palaces, kingdoms” for the “worthless” men (according to Saedes).  Kaladin being one of the bridgemen has the following conversation with Dalinar:

Kaladin shook off his numbness. He scrambled after the highprince [Dalinar], grabbing his armored arm. “Wait. You—That—What just happened?”
Dalinar turned to him. Then, the highprince laid a hand on Kaladin’s shoulder, the gauntlet gleaming blue, mismatched with the rest of his slate-grey armor. “I don’t know what has been done to you. I can only guess what your life has been like. But know this. You will not be bridgemen in my camp, nor will you be slaves.”
“But…”
“What is a man’s life worth?” Dalinar asked softly.
“The slavemasters say one is worth about two emerald broams,” Kaladin said, frowning.
“And what do you say?”
“A life is priceless,” he said immediately, quoting his father.
Dalinar smiled, wrinkle lines extending from the corners of his eyes. “Coincidentally, that is the exact value of a Shardblade. So today, you and your men sacrificed to buy me twenty-six hundred priceless lives. And all I had to repay you with was a single priceless sword. I call that a bargain.”
“You really think it was a good trade, don’t you?” Kaladin said, amazed.
Dalinar smiled in a way that seemed strikingly paternal.

In Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 we are told: Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. We are all priceless to God. We have worth.

 

Artist: TotemofHorror

The Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters, written by C.S. Lewis, is a compilation of letters written from a senior devil, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood with advice about in tempting his "patient," the average man.  When they are talking about God, they refer Him as the enemy. They mention how selfish gain and power are seen as the only good and how they can’t comprehend God’s love.

This book is a reverse psychology on how we should be. Instead of being selfish and gaining power for unrighteous purposes we need to be loving and serve those around us. I definitely feel like a better person when I try to be selfless than selfish and reading this book makes me want to be on God's side.

The Bible and The Book of Mormon

As someone that has grown up as a Christian and still lives it today; I have never found a set of books that have been more impactful in my life. From reading the scriptures I have gained faith that Jesus Christ did come and still lives today. He is the embodiment of what we should be and, as I study the scriptures, I get inspiration from God on what I need to improve on. Sometimes I am successful while other times I am not, but when I am, I feel like I am able to do more than what I expect from myself.

I feel like the scriptures are handbooks on how we can be the best versions of ourselves. No other self-help book can do what the scriptures can. They might tell you how to succeed in some respects, but the scriptures will show you how to be perfect in the things that matter most. 

What Loki Teaches about Self-Love

Partway through the Disney Plus exclusive series Loki, a "nexus event" occurs. Loki falls in love with Sylvie, a variant of himself. Let’s set aside any discussion about “selfcest” or “Loki-cest” or "Sylki" shipping. Instead, let’s focus on the symbolism behind the relationship between these two characters, who are the same but different. I choose to look at this as falling in love with ourselves.

No, not the romantic kind of falling in love, cuz ew. But just truly loving ourselves. Self-love.

Even though Loki and Sylvie are not the same person, we can interpret the relationship as a form of self-love. Loki depicts this self love developing amid chaos and turmoil in the episode “Lamentis”, a slower episode that focuses more on character development than action (despite that crazycool one-take scene), and pushes the idea that a relationship with yourself is more important than anything else going on in the world. When the pair finally let down their guard to become vulnerable and fall in love in the episode “Nexus Event”, we see that it has universe-shattering consequences. The very nature of Loki falling in love with somebody with similar character traits causes the timeline to literally start wobbling, and things change faster than Pietro Maximoff.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to love ourselves. Sometimes it happens after an amount of strife in our lives. But the act of loving yourself can have earth-shattering consequences. There are two types of loving oneself: being conceited, prideful, and arrogant thinking you’re better than everyone; and there is naturally loving yourself and accepting who you are and being thankful for what God made.

Growing up, I hated myself. I hid this self-hatred with humor and a gregarious personality. When I went to therapy and realized just how much I hated myself, I decided in a heartbeat that things needed to change in my life. Although the decision was made in a heartbeat, the process took a lot longer, and will probably continue to evolve my entire life. Some things I did to start loving myself.

• 
  I accepted myself for who I am. No more trying to hide or pretend or be somebody I’m not. I just accepted myself.
• I found comfort in the “in-between”. I often don’t feel completely at home in any one culture or with any single identity. That used to bother me. But somewhere along the way, I found that I could be comfortable with a foot in more than one world. My home isn’t in any single world, but on the bridge between those worlds. I’m okay with that.
• I developed a much more real relationship with Heavenly Father. Now talk with Him, instead of just saying prayers in my head. Sometimes I get mad at Him. Sometimes I disobey Him like a petulant child. Sometimes I walk with Him and take His advice. Sometimes I choose to do things my own way. But I learn from the way He loves me, and I love myself that same way.
• I say “no”. In order to mask my own self-hatred, I became a colossal people pleaser. Wanting to make others happy isn’t a bad thing, but doing so at the expense of your own needs is toxic and self-destructive. I would amputate parts of myself just to please others, or in an attempt to get them to like me. Not anymore. Now I say “no” when I need to.
• I am kind to myself. I am working to be more careful in the language I use about myself, both verbally and in my head. I try to talk to myself like I would talk to a loved one. I don’t cut myself down, I don’t call myself names, and I don’t criticize myself.
• I practice self-care and self-love. I literally take time to go on dates with myself. This might include a warm bath, time at the gym, taking time to do hobbies such as geocaching, or clearing an evening so I can spend time with myself. This might be the simplest and most concrete thing on this list, but I found that in practice it was the hardest thing to actually do.

Loki and Sylvie are variants of the same person and they are not the same individual, but I still think there’s a lot to be learned from watching this symbolic depiction of loving yourself. And if along your journey of self-love, all you end up doing is loving alligators, then at least progress has been made.

Donna Noble: The Most Important Woman

Donna: "Well, what d’you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I’m nothing special. I mean, I— I’m not… I’m nothing special. I’m a temp! I’m not even that. I’m nothing."
Rose: "Donna Noble, you’re the most important woman in the whole of creation."

I recently finished re-watching Season 4 of modern Doctor Who. It’s easily my favorite season, largely because of the Doctor/Companion combo. I loved the Tenth Doctor’s era in general, but his chemistry with Donna just makes it that much better. Not only is Catherine Tate a professional comedian who plays off David Tennant so well, but Donna’s character development over her story arc resonates with me so much.

In her first episode, Donna gives us a well-rounded character, right from the start. “The Runaway Bride” starts off with Donna being an obnoxious, naive bridezilla. However, as she realizes that the Doctor is her best chance of surviving Christmas, she softens up. Later, when she learns that her fiance has been using her, you can see her innocence and her genuine soul. With how raw she ends up and how shocked she feels after her traitorous fiance dies, she declines traveling with the Doctor. But that’s not the end of Donna.

Over a year later, Donna and the Doctor reunite and she brings a refreshing, non-romantic feel to the TARDIS. After two seasons of romantic tension in Doctor Who, it’s nice to have a break from it and for the Doctor to just have a best friend for once. So for the first several episodes of Season 4, we get the witty back-and-forth of David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s comedic chemistry. In many ways throughout the season Donna acted as the Doctor’s moral compass and she frequently gave him a much needed fresh perspective. Towards the end of their journeys, it gets deeper though.

During “Turn Left” (one of my favorite Donna Noble episodes), she gets an It’s a Wonderful Life experience, seeing what life would be like if she’d never met the Doctor. As the world falls apart at the hands of the Judoon, the Titanic, Miss Foster, and the Sontarans, Donna’s family and her self-esteem slowly fall apart. At a low point, Donna’s mother even straight up says that she’s given up on her. How heartbreaking is that???

Everything comes to a point as dimension-hopping Rose approaches Donna over the years, promising her that she’s the one that can fix the whole mess. Despite Donna’s insecurities, she goes back in time and fixes everything, only moments before the Daleks steal the Earth and mess everything up again. In the end, Donna overcomes her insecurities and saves the Earth and the universe, bringing everything back to normal. But it comes at a cost. The Doctor has to sacrifice Donna’s memories and character development in order to save her life.

For a moment before her memory was taken away, Donna knew how important she was. For just a moment, she knew it. As a generally insecure person, this resonates with me. Since we live in a fallen world, I get the occasional boost from the Holy Ghost reminding me who I am. However, those spiritual experiences have a half-life. What would life be like if we could always remember our divine potential? What if we could always live in a way that we magnified our gifts and our callings from God? That’s what Donna got (in a sci-fi kind of way) when she was the DoctorDonna. In real life, we can have that too. It involves continually seeking the Spirit and drawing close to God. Through His word and His light, we can keep that spiritual self-esteem boosted up. We can transcend this fallen world as we seek to fulfill our divine potential.