I had a good friend who professed agnosticism or agnostitarianism or however you want to say it. It’s the school of thought that constitutes what an agnostic believes or disbelieves. As I understand it, an agnostic differs from an atheist in that the agnostic’s position is that knowledge of God is “unknowable” whereas the atheist simply says that there is no God.

This friend of mine passed away fifteen years ago. He had a very interesting life. There were many chapters in his “book of life.”

His Sanpete chapter followed his Ketchum, Idaho chapter and preceded his Iraq and Mexico chapters. I think about him fairly often and wonder how that agnostic position has been working out for him lately.

What my friend believed in, and claimed to have some knowledge of its power, was the “universe.” When he had a need or a problem, he often said things like, “I’ll put it out to the universe” or “The universe will take care of it.”

I’ve done some thinking about his concept and I’ve decided that it’s not a half-bad approach to life. In the process of thinking about my friend’s universe concept, I’ve done some “lab work.” I discovered the element which made the notion work for him.

The active ingredient in this universe thing is networking. That’s what makes it work. It’s a network of people who respond when there is a call for help. This can work for anyone, whether you’re an agnostic universalist, an atheist, Latter-Day Saint or a member of United Church of Bacon (25,000 members in 2020 – “Praise Bacon!”).

Sanpete is great place for this concept. All you have to do is pull the trigger on letting the word out that you have a need for something. When you tell one person, they will tell someone else and they will tell someone else and before you know it the “universe” is processing your request.

Let’s take a “for instance.” Let’s say that you’re looking for someone to teach you how to yodel and play the banjo. You’ve always wanted to yodel and play the banjo. Your spouse has always forbidden you from embarking on this phase of your self-development, but you’ve reached a point where there’s no holding yourself back any longer.

The desire need only be “put out to the universe.” You merely tell someone of your sincere aspiration to play the banjo. (Let’s just do one thing at a time. We’ll save the yodeling for another time.)

Once the universe receives the message, it’s unbelievable how quickly it branches through a network of people. It will spread faster than an Amway downline at a Gambler’s Anonymous meeting. (I don’t know what that sentence means, but it just came out and sounded good to me.)

If you really want to “jump-start” the universe, express your need to an L.D.S. Relief Society President. You’ll have a call from a banjo instructor before you can say, “the devil went down to Georgia.”

The Sanpete network (universe) is a good one. Its tentacles reach out all over the place. As we discuss here every now and again – Sanpeters are everywhere.

I’m not certain that I’m ready to trade my religion in for my friend’s “universe.” I know I’m not ready to lobby the government to change the motto of these United States to “In the Universe we Trust” (Wouldn’t that look nice on our coins and currency?)

What I am ready for is the helping hands and hearts of people who want to help. And that’s what I think happens when the call goes out into the universe. People hear the call and want to help. And when you think about it, maybe God is in that process somewhere.

So whether you need a banjo instructor or a ride to the Senior Citizen Center or a recipe for bird nest soup, don’t be afraid to tell someone of your need. You may be surprised how quickly the universe responds. — Merrill

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