186: Life and Other Transformational Stuff

This episode is a joy. In it, LDF host Dan Wotherspoon chats with his friend Stan Bennion about Stan's life and experiences as a Latter-day Saint whose sense of adventure led him and his family to live in interesting places. Stan has had the good fortune to be able to marry his fascination with new and interesting things to his Mormon life in ways that allow him to be more fully himself in church than many people feel able to do. We hope his story and sense of things might help others find this sweet spot as well. The topic thread that emerges from the conversation is about transactional and transformational ways of living the gospel. He shares great sense about how it is essential to grow up viewing the world in mostly transactional ways. It helps us be safe, gives us a sense of what's fair and not fair, and helps bring a little bit of order out of chaos. But he also lays out some of the pitfalls that can arise when we hold too tightly to this way of being, how it can warp our perceptions and inhibit our growth Godward.

The transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament was from a world dominated by transactions, including in its sense of and rules for justice, to a new vision taught by Jesus's changes everything. Everything and everyone become more significant, and as we come to understand new ways of seeing them and ourselves, wonderful things unfold in us. In taking us through a few elements of the Sermon on the Mount and then a couple of Jesus's parables, Stan brings this message to life. Enjoy!