Making a cup of green tea, I stop the war.

What is desired is reflection that transpires within everyday lives and that evaluates those lives, assesses values, sets goals, solves problems—in short, that creates examined lives, the only kind that Socrates said are worth living. What is desired is the kind of pondering in the heart recommended repeatedly in the scriptures.

I flatter myself with the notion that we need so many synonyms in order to delineate the subtle nuances of our rich mental activity. Then, with my head in the clouds, I stumble over the disconcerting fact that the most serious pondering I've done recently is whether I'll have fries with that. Suddenly my list of synonyms seems like linguistic overkill, mere lexicological extravagance or featherbedding. When I consider the mindless sensory overload that characterizes our electronic age, I begin to wonder if we need 50 synonyms for thinking any more than Samoan Islanders need 50 synonyms for snow.

And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft.

You do not pray enough, you do not read the Scriptures enough, you do not meditate enough, you are all the time on the wing, and in such a hurry that you do not know what to do first. This is not the way to get rich. I merely use the term "rich" to lead the mind along, until we obtain eternal riches in the celestial kingdom of God . . . . Be calm and composed; you are in too much of a hurry. Hold on, be easy, never let your nervous system rise above your judgment . . . . It is just so with men. I see them through the world, I have watched their progress for many years, and I see that many of them are too much in a hurry. If we are not in too much of a hurry we can attend these two-days' meetings, and talk to each other. Are you full of faith? You can tell whether I am or not by looking at me . . . . I wish there was a little more patience and obedience.

Sit down and commune with yourself. There is a battle going on within you, and within me, every day. Fight it out with yourself, and decide upon your course of action.... Decide where your duty is, ...remembering that 'the greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of your own soul'.

The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.

In between meditations, the gamma signal in the monks never died down. Even when they were not meditating, their brains were different from the novices' brains, marked by waves associated with perception, problem solving and consciousness. Moreover, the more hours of meditation training a monk had had, the stronger and more enduring the gamma signal.

It was something Prof. Davidson had been seeking since he trekked into the hills above Dharamsala to study lamas and monks: evidence that mental training can create an enduring brain trait.

"This positive state is a skill that can be trained," Prof. Davidson says. "Our findings clearly indicate that meditation can change the function of the brain in an enduring way."