The City of Names

1 I, Nephi, having been born of parents who meant well, Lehi and Sariah, and having been instructed somewhat in the learning of Jerusalem, the City of Names, make a record of my proceedings in my days.

2 Yea, the people of the city were industrious exceedingly, and they named all things that they beheld.

3 And they named the mountains, and the rivers, and the animals, and the colors, and the offices, and the ranks, and themselves.

4 And when a thing had been named, behold, many supposed the naming thereof to be the same as understanding it.

5 And I shit you not, there arose among them a great dispute concerning a leaf.

6 And Laman said, Behold, it is green.

7 And Lemuel said, Yea, surely it is green.

8 And Nephi said unto them, Where is the green?

9 And they were astonished, for they supposed that a question so foolish deserved an answer so obvious.

10 And one pointed unto the leaf and said, There.

11 But Nephi answered, Is the green in the leaf when there is no light? And is it in the light when there is no eye? And is it in the eye when there is no experience? And is the word green the experience, or only the word?

12 And they said unto him, Thou art exhausting.

13 And Nephi wrote this response upon a small plate, for it seemed unto him representative of civilization.

14 And I shit you not, Lehi, the father of Nephi, dreamed a dream wherein he saw the whole city divided into boxes.

15 And upon the boxes were written MAN and WOMAN, RIGHT and WRONG, CLEAN and UNCLEAN, WORTHY and UNWORTHY, SUCCESS and FAILURE, NORMAL and ABNORMAL.

16 And the people labored all their days to fit themselves into the boxes.

17 And when one did not fit, behold, the people did not question the box; they questioned the person.