From Neal A. Maxwell’s book “Things As They Really Are;”
“This Planet earth is a mere microdot, we are told, at the edge of a galaxy that is but one of thousands of galaxies. Some urge us to succeed on this particular planet, at all costs, by yielding to transitory worldly ways. Such urgings are poppycock, and a very provincial poppycock at that.
Would we ask someone who is in a jet flying over Europe to adjust the culture and language of each country whose airspace he is over at the moment? Hardly. Likewise the disciple of Christ is briefly in but not of this world; it is not his destination for he follows the living God of the galaxies. The ways of this world are, in fact, alien to the better world he seeks to prepare for. Thus he must be realistic, for to be too quick to adjust to the ways of the world is to be maladjusted for the next. It is so vital to know, therefore, about things as they really are.
What a great blessing for the believer to be able to see himself, others, his situation as these really are and not as some imagine or wish them to be. In this sense, as in others, the truths of the gospel, as the Savior said, will really make us free from iniquity and ignorance.
It is vital to know that there really is a God, that there really is a Savior, Jesus Christ, that there really is impending immortality for all men (and women) and that there really will be a judgement with impending accountability, and that there really is purpose in life and a divine plan of happiness for man (and woman).
When we know such basic truths as these, then we know what really matters, how to approach life and how to view man in the universe. There is great power in perspective. Therefore the adverb “really,” as used by Jacob, is deeply significant. ~Neal A. Maxwell, Things as They Really Are (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1978) p.3-4
