The Religion of Experience

An in-depth discussion concerning experience versus belief and the role each plays in our understanding of the life/death relationship.

There is something we humans want. We have wanted it “from the beginning,” and we will continue to want it. We need not pass judgment on it or even attempt to define what it is. It manifests itself anew with each new go-around. We are born equipped with desire—a personal desire that will not be extinguished even though we will in time grow old and “pass away.” There is something unique within each of us. Come what may, though hell itself would rise up to eradicate it, it will live on. When all else is laid aside and forgotten it will still be there. It will endure. It will last forever.

My home town is Afton, Wyoming, population about 2,000, located in picturesque Star Valley 70 miles south of Jackson Hole, WY. I lived in Mexico from1958 to 1961. I was a student at Utah State University in Logan, Utah from 1956 to 1958, at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah from 1961 to 1965 and the University of Illinois In Urbana, Illinois from 1965 to 1968. I have traveled extensively throughout the Mountain West. EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE CEO MAVERIK COUNTRY STORES INC. 1983-1998 Maverik operates about 200 convenience stores in seven western states, principally in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. It is the largest marketer of motor fuels and convenience foods in Utah, Southern Idaho and Western Wyoming. COMPOSER REPRESENTATIVE WORKS Symphonies Symphony No. 1, “Let the mountains shout for joy,” for orchestra and chorus, includes a setting of verses by Joseph Smith (D&C 128: 22-23) Symphony No. 2, “Men are that they might have joy,” for orchestra and chorus, includes a setting of the Book of Mormon couplet Adam fell that man might be/Men are that they might have joy Symphony No. 3, “Summer” Symphony No. 4, “Country Scenes and Meditations” Symphony No. 5, “Autumn” Symphony No. 6, “Turned tables on the American Frontier,” a depiction of the Haun’s Mill and Mountain Meadows massacres Symphony No. 7, “1610 Allred Road” Operas Camila o El Curioso Impertinente, an opera in three acts, in Spanish, based on a novella by Cervantes in Don Quixote de la Mancha, with adaptations and additions by the composer Isie: Pyramus and Thisbe, a tragicomic opera in three acts, libretto by the composer First Cast a Stone!; a tragic opera in three acts, libretto by the composer Ruth: A Girl Out West, a musical comedy in three acts, libretto by the composer Other The Lord hath brought again Zion, for orchestra and chorus, words by Joseph Smith (D&C 84: 96-102) Hometown Concerto, for piano and orchestra Canciones del Alma, poems by St. John of the Cross, for Mezzo Soprano, Harp, and Chamber Orchestra Willow Bush Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano, poems by the composer. AUTOR PUBLISHED BOOKS The Trial of Faith (1986), Don Juan Profético (1991), The Cultural Revolution (2000), The Parmenides Problem (2007), Relativism (2009), The Religion of Experience (2013) EDUCATION Bachelor of .Arts. 1963, Master of Arts 1965 Brigham Young University, Doctor of Musical Arts 1971 University of Illinois