Ourselves as We Really Are
On February 25th, 2015, a near cataclysmic event occurred that shook our society to the core. Families were divided and life-long friendships put to the test. The effect of this event was great enough to eradicate previous dividing lines existing within our culture--not the dividing lines of sport teams or political parties, but of Team Harry Potter vs Team Voldemort and Team Edward vs Team Jacob--and created a new dividing line: Team White and Gold vs Team Blue and Black.
For those who managed to miss the social media phenomena known as #thedress, a picture of a dress was posted that appeared different colors to different people. Assured this was a large scale practical joke, I looked at the picture and easily identified it as white and gold. Amazed that such a large contingency could see this picture as blue and black, I showed Kelsey the picture and asked her what color the dress was without giving her any context. I was astounded when she responded the dress was either “blue and brown or blue and black.”
It was later confirmed that the dress was blue and black but due to the lighting in the picture the colors could be interpreted differently due to a scientific principle known as chromatic adaption or color constancy. To maintain constant colors the brain interprets color signals transmitted from the eye differently depending on how the object is illuminated, allowing us to always see the object’s “true” color.
To identify an object’s true color, the brain must sift through various input signals such as hue, saturation, brightness, and many researchers believe our expectations also affect the interpreted color. An incorrect interpretation of the various input signals causes the brain to mis-see the color, while a correct interpretation allows the brain to see “things as they really are” (Jacob 4:13).
Much like our brain’s ability to correctly identify a color depends on its ability to interpret multiple input signals, our own ability to correctly evaluate our self-worth is dependent on our ability to filter the various forms of feedback we receive. While we know our Heavenly Father has sent us the Holy Ghost which “speaketh the truth and lieth not” (Jacob 4:13), “filleth with hope and perfect love” (Moroni 8:26), and teacheth “the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5), we also know that “there are many spirits which are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world. And also Satan hath sought to deceive [us], that he might overthrow [us]” (DC 50:2-3).
While we often study the story of Korihor to identify characteristics of an anti-Christ, we can also learn another important lesson from his example. Korihor taught the Nephites “that there should be no Christ” and asked these poignant questions: “why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye look for a Christ?” (Alma 30:12-13). Having presumably grown up amongst the Nephites during a time when the prophet Alma was vigorously teaching the word of God and establishing the church throughout the land, why then did Korihor believe there would be no Christ? After being shown a sign in that he was made dumb and could not speak, Korihor wrote these words as an explanation: “I always knew that there was a God. But behold, the devil hath deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel” (Alma 30:52-53). Korihor was unable to interpret the truth from Satan’s lies--unable to see things as they really were--and suffered death because of it.
Believing the devil’s lies might not bring a physical death upon us, but it will bring a spiritual death. Under his influence, many blatantly “call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20) but his influence also affects us in much more subtle ways. We know that “each [of us] is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World); yet Satan works to convince us that we are unworthy of our Heavenly Father’s love and mercy, incapable of repentance, and inadequate when compared to those around us. Because of his influence, we too often share the sentiments of Mr. Sydney Carton in a Tale of Two Cities when asked why he not change his life and make it better. “It is too late for that,” he said. “I shall never be better than I am. I shall sink lower, and be worse” (Tale of Two Cities, pg. 149). Satan’s lies, if we let them, cause us to feel like “boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (The Great Gatsby, pg. 180), reminded constantly of our previously failures and inadequacies.
How then do we learn to see through Satan’s lies, through the false realities he teaches, and through the mists of darkness he raises up around us? Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught, "The Holy Ghost will protect us against being deceived, but to realize that wonderful blessing we must always do the things necessary to retain that Spirit. We must keep the commandments, pray for guidance, and attend church and partake of the sacrament each Sunday" (Be Not Deceived, Oct 2004). Jacob taught that “the Spirit speaketh the truth” (Jacob 4:13) and the Savior himself taught that “truth is a knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (D&C 93:24). Through the Holy Ghost we are able to see ourselves for who we truly are and who we truly can become, not who Satan would have us believe that we are.
In Lehi’s dream, we learn that those who “did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron” were able to pass through the mists of darkness safely and arrive at the tree of life (1 Nephi 8:30). We too must hold fast to the words of God and “treasure up in [our] minds continually the words of life” (D&C 84:85), for “light and truth forsake that evil one” (D&C 93:37). In addition, “by the power of the Holy Ghost, [we] may know the truth of all things,” even the truth concerning who we really are (Moroni 10:5).
We often see self-deprecation and self-abasement as forms of humility; however, when the Savior taught the first and second great commandments he also taught another important lesson. He taught the first and great commandment was to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and the “second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matt 22:37-39). We see within this commandment to love our neighbors another commandment: the commandment to love ourselves. How is it possible to fulfill the commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” if we do not first love ourselves? This love need not be prideful, but we can learn to love ourselves for who we are--for the talents, gifts, and abilities we have been blessed with rather than finding fault in ourselves because of those we lack.
Elder Hugh B. Brown often told the story of a currant bush on a run down farm he purchased in Canada. The currant bush had grown over six feet tall but yielded no fruit nor blossoms. Elder Brown trimmed back the bush extensively and after doing so he noticed “what appeared to be a tear.” He then commenced an imaginary conversation with the currant bush, asking why it cried. The currant bush responded, “How could you do this to me?...I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me, because I didn’t make what I should have made.” Elder Brown answered, “Look, little currant bush…I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush (The Currant Bush, January 1973 New Era)
Each of us at times feels the need, as did the currant bush, to compare ourselves to those around us. The currant bush measured its own growth not by the fruit it produced but by how tall it grew in comparison to the other trees in the garden. We too, from time to time, judge ourselves not by our own strengths but by how we compare to the strengths of others. However, just as Elder Brown did not intend the currant bush to be a fruit tree nor a shade tree, our Heavenly Father does not intend for each of us to be identical. At times we feel we do not fit the mold of what we believe a “perfect church member” should be because of our differences in comparison to other ward members; however, these thoughts are deceptions the adversary uses to lead us away from the truth, just as he did with Korihor. Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf explained the following in his April 2013 conference address:
“While the Atonement is meant to help us all become more like Christ, it is not meant to make us all the same. Sometimes we confuse differences in personality with sin….This line of thinking leads some to believe that the Church wants to create every member from a single mold—that each one should look, feel, think, and behave like every other. This would contradict the genius of God, who created every man different from his brother, every son different from his father. Even identical twins are not identical in their personalities and spiritual identities” (Four Titles, April 2013).
Our Savior taught throughout his mortal ministry that we need not be identical nor produce the same “fruits” as others to qualify to receive all that our Father hath:
- In the parable of the sower, seeds are scattered in various growing conditions. Only those seeds, however, that fell in good soil brought forth fruit. Some of those seeds “brought forth...an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.” When explaining this parable to the disciples, did Christ call those which brought forth thirtyfold good, sixtyfold better, and an hundredfold best? No, but rather he called those that bore fruit “[them] that heareth the word, and understandeth it,” not distinguishing between those who brought forth more or less (see Matt 13:3-8).
- In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, the householder hires laborers to work in his vineyard. Throughout the day more laborers are recruited and when the day’s end arrives, all the laborers are paid equally regardless of the time they spent in the vineyard. Obviously those who began early in the day gathered more fruit. However, they were not compensated based on the fruit they gathered but by their productive use of time in the vineyard (see Matt 20:1-16).
- In the parable of the talents, the servants of a lord are given talents--a form of currency--before their lord departed on a journey. Upon returning he expected the servants to have gained an increase on the money they had been left with. Those servants who returned an increase were told by the lord: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord.” While one servant returned ten talents unto the lord and the other only four, they both received the same reward (see Matt 25:14-30).
These parables remind us that “unto whom much is given much is required” (D&C 82:3). Those in the parables were never judged by the quantity of fruit or money they produced, but by the effective use of that which they had been given--whether it was fortuitous circumstances, time, or money. The prophet Alma taught at the waters of Mormon that “the people of the church should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had” (Mos. 18:27). This same principle applies to the spiritual gifts which each of us has been blessed with.
In Doctrine and Covenants we learn that “all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God. To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby” (D&C 46:11-12). While we must be careful not to become complacent and excuse ourselves from trying by saying, “that isn’t my talent,” we must also remember that we will not be judged in comparison to the shade trees or fruit trees, but according to what we did with our own gifts and talents.
