"The worth of souls is
great in the sight of God,” says the D&C 18:10. But it is so easy and lazy
to sink to the level of the natural man. That is what we are, isn’t it? The
natural man, carnal and bestial is the natural state of being of the fallen
mortal state of this mortality. Does this in some way justify the
behavior of the natural man? Does this mean that there is some excuse to
be found under the guise of being “only natural?” Does this in fact make
worldliness OK?” It is in fact a truth that the natural man, of which we
speak, motivated by the most base instincts that indulge in the most base
desires, is in fact an enemy to God and will have no place with him. To
fall into the state of the natural man is a pernicious state and denies all
possibilities of divinity.
In the natural state man is
found entirely without the light of Christ and all of the joys and real powers
that come with living the Gospel of Jesus Christ are subsumed. In worldly
terms today, the natural man thinks of himself and not the “other.” The “other”
becomes unimportant and detached and of no real value to the natural man to
whom all is relative to him. This is startlingly the language of the 20th
century existentialists since Heidegger who spoke in terms of the “they” and a
state of being that gave no philosophical exposition to that beyond
selfishness. The natural man is found being one not only sexual outside
of marriage but living in promiscuity, the natural man is ambitious above all
measure and seeks more than he can even imagine, he is competitive and lacks
compassion, he is greedy and uses noble deeds to mask an ignoble lifestyle, the
natural man is wasteful, the natural man is gluttonous, and the natural man in
this selfishness has not a sense of reality but a being that is entirely
egocentric.
The natural man has no hold
on Christ-like attributes and lacks any semblance of the true love of Christ,
which is charity and the ability to love the “other” regardless of position or
station, place or possession. It is only for the charitable one to love
and in that love, the love of Christ is being exercised, a love not quite
blind, but no respecter of persons or stations or possessions. Without
these Christ-like attributes, one is lost and Christ, as much as he may try,
can only guide so much, but as an individual behaves bestially, how is Christ
to be able to communicate spiritually through ways that are his and ways that
he admonishes when all there will be is a massive divide?
One not need be LDS to
exercise compassion and through that act Christ can use the Spirit to work
through that individual causing happiness and blessings, but for the one who is
truly base with no Christ-like attributes, how is Christ supposed to have a
chance to exercise the Spirit in constructive ways? Christ is ever
patient but at an impasse.
As we exercise the divinity
within us, we might do so by seeing with an eternal perspective; to look upon
humanity with reverence to all creation and, recognizing the true purpose of
existence, understand through the Spirit the truth of the plan of salvation,
that all have divine potential and therefore every soul is precious, made in
the image of the Father and intended to find their way back to him. In
doing so we might have sympathy with those who lack Christ-like attributes and
do our best to share the message of truth with them, as this is to help in
rescuing them, and also, a great service to our Savior to bring them closer to
him. Denying the worth of the souls of others, ceasing to see the
potential for beauty and possibility of all humanity, is ultimately, denying
the worth of existence that is the difference between the Mormon Existentialist
and the existentialist whose theory and practice is very much like that of the
natural man.
Unity, categorically defined
by the family, constitutes the substance of eternal existence, and is the aim
for those whose path is the Plan of Salvation with a divine self. Too
many understand this and for too many it is pure laziness and complacency that
allows the stalwart to sink to the level of the natural man by harboring ill
will and enmity within the family. This is where the journey of earthly
existence is born, reared, nurtured, and where the heart should always turn to
as the safety net of life. Yet in this worldly condition of today, the
natural man has shirked even this; what God gave as a safe guard to protect and
benefit and be a source of unconditional love, somehow has become fragmented.
The natural man has allowed feuds, money, disagreements, or indifference
harbored over time, to be a norm in society today where the idea of a
functional family is a practical joke displaced to the reality of 1950’s sitcom
television. The unity of the world, the kind that is unconditionally
created by family, is corrupted like a virus and this breeds misery out of the
happiness of existence, just where the adversary wants his victims to be.
As we keep our perspectives
eternal, our sight and heart will be focused on the pure love of Christ and we
can utilize this as a very real power in our lives to effectuate good; so much
more desirable is this than the nihilism of the natural man. Ill will be
replace by active charity and enmity will be defeated by love as all things are
possible as we rise to the potential of the divine self within us, a choice
each has to make as both are real, but the blessings in this life will shower
and the blessings throughout the eternities will shape our glories as the
choice is made to rise every day, with every choice, every act, every thought,
to continually progress on the path leading upward and away from the tar pits
of the natural man. For too many, once they are stuck, the tar is far too
thick, the lures of the world far too strong for a mind given to greed and
power to be humbled.
As we save ourselves, we may
save many others in return who are not lost, who still have hope and our glory
will be that much greater as we endeavor to assist or Savior in his rescue
mission, the least we can do after he has made everything possible. Every
decision we make toward the eternities and perpetual godhood was paid by his
price. In our quest to rise above the natural man, there is no looking
back, it is onward to the Savior that we must look and it is through the Savior
that our divinity will be found.
