Kalinda Harris

FDEng301

DEvegnee

28 April 2017

Response Paper #2

I agree with what Elder Bednar says about learning being an essential lifelong part of our

spiritual and personal development. In science, if a muscle is not used it begins to atrophy and

die. Thus we would lose an essential part of ourselves and hamper future development.

Eloise Bell teaches that current society teachings and social norms require us to hide out

true selves and feelings behind a mask of niceness, as if we are not allowed to have feelings,

when it is in fact the feelings that provide the passion in life. Books and movies would not be

good entertainment if the characters experienced only nice emotions.

Another problem about hiding behind the mask is that the mask prevents us from seeking

out help for emotions such as depression and anxiety, which left alone can cause serious health

problems.

People who hide behind the mask of niceness are like the Level Oners Elder Bruce c.

Hafen talks about in On Dealing With Uncertainty. They ignore their true self and focus only

on their ideal self. By ignoring the true self, they are not allowing their true self to improve and

become more like their ideal self.

By ignoring the not-so-nice part of themselves, they are unable to reconcile themselves

with their darker sides and thus do not figure out healthy ways to deal with those sides when life
catches up to them and they can no longer hide their true feelings behind the polite mask. It is

like with sickness; if we ignore the signals our body sends us to tell us we are sick, but go on

acting like everything is normal, we will get sicker and eventually will collapse.