was hiking one night with a group of people across a large set of sand dunes in the Western Desert of Utah. As the sun went down I remember looking to the heavens to take our bearings. Venus was in the west as night fell upon us. By keeping the planet at ninety degrees to the left, we presumed that a straight line would guide us to the north, and from there, we would arrive at our destination. The Earth rotated. The night darkened. Stars shone brightly. Venus disappeared beyond the horizon. We reset our bearings and hiked the remainder of the night making certain to maintain our location and direction by the light of the moon. The next morning as the sun rose nothing was familiar. What I had calculated would lie immediately ahead was nowhere to be seen. We were surrounded in high and drifted dunes and the sun was rising quickly. Within a few hours the landscape would quiver with waves of heat. Without shelter or water our circumstances would shift from confusing to deadly. We sought the highest ground we could find and from a slight rise in elevation we could see green trees in the distance a few miles from our present location. We made our way toward the trees. An hour or so later we left the dunes and entered the relative shelter of shade and safety. Gradually we discovered that we had hiked the better part of ten hours only to make a great circular arc in the wilderness. Where we were, we had been. Where we had hoped to arrive had evaded us. Our ignorant dependence on moveable objects, which we had mistaken as reliable, had resulted in our being lost. Our hard work was spent in vain. We learned that presumption can lead to deception, and that erroneous diligence is still misguided. Hard work does not necessarily assure us of success. On the west face of the Great Salt Lake Temple, carved in granite by those who went before, is the sculpted image of Ursa Major; the Big Dipper pointing the way to the North Star. In ancient times, skilled travelers and experienced mariners took accurate bearings from an informed reading of the stars. Knowledge will guide you best, whether it is your own or that of someone who is better informed. We are wise to humbly rely on others until we know for ourselves. Each of us may wander in the desert for a time, but once we find our way, we are obliged to guide others.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 04:43:34 +0000
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