The Natural Self and Spiritual Self

Volume One—Chapter Five THE “NATURAL SELF” AND “SPIRITUAL SELF”

Doctrines are best understood against a background of self-understanding. What are the characteristics of each of us that are most pertinent to understand, as we attempt to understand and negotiate this mortal experience? What aspects of each of us might prove to be stumbling blocks? What are our potential weaknesses? Wherein lie our greatest strengths? How can a better self-understanding help us to please the Lord here on earth and beyond?

Most fundamental among our characteristics are our “natural self” and our “spiritual self.”

#Natural Self

Each of us possesses nagging desires or yearnings that regularly cry out for gratification, and the objects of these yearnings are things of the world. For example, we must have satisfaction of our physical appetites for physical comfort, food, water, safety, and sex. We are driven to be free from fears, insecurities, and anxieties. We want to be thought physically attractive and desirable. We long for social acceptance. In fact, we want to be regularly included and sought after socially. We yearn to possess material things of value that enhance our comfort, credibility, respectability, and visibility. We want to be looked up to, admired, trusted, respected, and to have influence in others’ lives. We may even crave some degree of notoriety. We have a desire to think highly of ourselves. Our “natural self” is the wellspring or source of these yearnings for worldly things.

Our natural self is impatient. It demands immediate satisfaction of its yearnings. It doesn’t like to be ignored or kept waiting.

Our natural yearnings include prominently a fixation upon self and selfishness. The world is seen from the standpoint of self. What will it do for me? And to me? And what’s in it for me? How do I benefit?

Our natural self is competitive and possesses the “scarcity mentality.” It has the paranoid suspicion that those things of the world that can satisfy its yearnings are scarce. There are not enough of them to go around. “If you get them, there may not be enough for me. I want them, and therefore I will do what I can to insure that I succeed. Your needs are irrelevant to me. I might even have to try to prevent you from satisfying yours.”

Our behavior may be defined as our thoughts, words, and actions. Many of our behaviors are directed at seeking satisfaction of our desires. These desires are powerful drives, experienced virtually daily by each one of us. Thus, we are all inclined to give much attention to “things of this world.” Although we have the potential for exercising conscious control over these yearnings, they are inevitably an influential determinant of our individual behavior.

We may aptly call the yearnings of our natural self our “lower yearnings.” Animals possess some of these same lower yearnings. They are especially powerful determinants of animal instincts and behaviors. In fact, they are practically the sole determinants because they are largely unopposed. We may refer to these yearnings as “needs.” Animals think and behave in such a way as to seek to satisfy those needs. The behavior of most animals is determined solely by their needs.

#Spiritual Self

Another aspect of each of us is our “spiritual self.” It is quite different and distinguishable from our natural self. Our spiritual self also has desires and yearnings. They are, however, usually not as demanding or powerful. They are subtle and quiet. They may be called our “higher yearnings.”

Our spiritual self is able to recognize spiritual promptings or tugs of the Spirit in whatever form they may present themselves. Our spiritual self has the need to find a higher purpose and meaning in life. It yearns for a better, softer, kinder, more fair, more joyful, more loving, and more fulfilling life beyond this one. It does not find fulfillment in worldly satisfactions. It eschews the temporariness and fleeting nature of relationships in this life, and longs for stability and permanence. Its behavior is exclusively controlled by an eternal perspective. It yearns for divine companionship—for God, for Jesus Christ and his teachings, and for other eternal things.

Our spiritual self regards some things of the world as important but seeks for them only as they are necessary and appropriate. Its focus is “in the world,” but not “of the world.” It is inclined to acknowledge that, “our material possessions are not ours, but the Lord’s” (D&C 104:13-14; Psalm 24:1). When they are not essential, it rejects things of the world. These things are inherently unfulfilling, superficial, and unimportant compared to things of the Spirit. Our spiritual side is concerned about the real purpose of life. Its main interests lie in affairs of the Spirit.

In contrast to our natural yearnings, our spiritual self senses the necessity of forgetting self and focusing on others. It yearns for the success of others as much as for its own. It possesses the “abundance mentality” which is its most essential characteristic—even its identifying feature. While the natural self may feel, “If you get into the celestial kingdom, there may not be room enough for me.” The ironic truth is well understood by the spiritual self: “If I don’t see to it that my family, friends, and other associates get there, and help them along the way, I don’t deserve to go myself.” Our spiritual self yearns to share those things that satisfy its spiritual hungers with others. There is no perception that they are scarce. The basis of the spiritual self’s self esteem comes from the Lord, not from other men.

The spiritual self is deferential to leadership and counsel. Its spirit is one of submissiveness to those called to lead. There is no thought to be critical of leadership.

Our spiritual self is patient and makes no demands for immediate satisfaction of its desires. It is content with deferred gratification of its wants. It is willing to “wait upon the Lord” even when the Lord seems to “hide his face” (Isaiah 8:17; 2 Nephi 18:17).

Our spiritual side has control over animal passions. While the temptation for sexual sin is ever present, our spiritual self has the strength to resist and control. The individual controlled largely by his spiritual self is freed to determine his own behaviors, independent of the pulls and temptations of the world.

#Relationship between Our Natural and Spiritual Selves

We may view mortality as a battleground between the “lower” and the “higher” yearnings. They both battle for our souls—for control over our hearts and minds. Virtually every commandment the Lord gives requires us to deny, or at least reign in to some degree, our responses to the lower yearnings. We are “naturally” disposed to favor our natural self. The Lord, however, would have us make the more difficult choices. He seeks our deliberate obedience to his commands even though it requires an uncomfortable and even painful denying of our natural selves.

Lower yearnings have decided advantages over our higher yearnings in this battle for a few reasons:

1. Lower yearnings are powerful. We feel them virtually daily, if not many times daily. They bedevil us constantly. We usually perceive them in the forefront of our hearts and minds. It is as though they have a life and volition of their own. We cannot escape them. They are ever with us.

Higher yearnings, on the other hand, are subtle and faint. Close attention is required to even feel them at all. We may go days or weeks without perceiving them. Sometimes, it may seem they play little role in our lives.

2. Lower needs need no help from anyone or anything in order to tug on us. They are innately enticing. They need no mediator or intermediary. They are immediate.

In contrast, higher yearnings have no ability to make themselves felt without an intermediary. That intermediary is the Holy Ghost. We can feel spiritual yearnings only as a result of his influence, his promptings. Hence, the problem: In order to become aware of the ministrations of the Holy Ghost and benefit from his attentions and influence, we must desire them, seek them, and be willing to live a life worthy of them.

Is it possible that some people never experience the gentle tugs of their spiritual needs? Don’t many people live their lives without the influence of the Holy Ghost? Actually, a certain modicum of the influence of the Spirit of God is given to every person born into mortality. This is the light of Christ or the Spirit of Christ (D&C 93:2; Moroni 7:16-17). The light of Christ brings into the heart of each person a subtle yearning for higher things. We will consider the concept of the Spirit or light of Christ further in subsequent chapters.

3. We don’t have the luxury of being able to completely eliminate the lower yearnings from our lives and concentrate only on spiritual things. It is not possible to simply reject all things of the world and never give them any attention. Some “things of the world” are not evil and, in fact, are entirely necessary, wholesome, and righteously desirable. How about the need for an education? And what about the need to acquire sustenance, clothing, and security for ourselves and for our families? The need to be well thought of and respected is a desirable and honorable yearning. The need for eventual appropriate fulfillment of our biological drives is important for each of us.

The design of mortality demands that we live “in the world.” We must respond, albeit appropriately and in measured fashion, to our lower yearnings. This is essential for successful negotiation of this mortal trial. On the other hand, things of the Spirit are not absolutely essential in order for us to survive in the world. We may appear to others to be completely successful, and yet we may be paying no attention whatever to eternal spiritual things.

#Our Natural and Spiritual Selves in Mortality

Imagine that a comprehensive moving-picture documentary were produced about your mortal life. What might we observe in that movie that would form the basis of the Lord’s judgment of you? If your movie documented events throughout your life, what would an observer see that would determine whether or not you will eventually return to your celestial home? Are there things the observer would not see that the Savior will use in his decision?

Your behaviors—your thoughts, words, and actions—will form the basis of the Lord’s judgment. While someone may miss your thoughts in viewing your movie, he would see the evidence of those thoughts in what you say and do. The Lord has access to our thoughts when he judges each of us. He revealed to Joseph Smith in our dispensation: “Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart” (D&C 6:16).

What determines our behavior? In large measure, it is the interactions between our natural and spiritual selves that define who and what we really are. Our true identity is expressed in our thoughts, words, and actions.

Confining themselves to a secular framework, psychologists suggest that our behaviors are determined by our needs. I have heretofore largely avoided reference to our yearnings as needs since the term implies that needs are all an imperative necessity.

Needs. I am not a psychologist and not qualified to speak for them. I believe, however, it is valid to assume a close relationship between what they would call needs and the yearnings we have discussed above.

Needs are well studied. Psychologists regard them as cravings deep within us that cry out for satisfaction. Every person, of course, has a choice whether or not they will give in to the cravings produced by these needs. Without question, however, needs tend to pull or push us toward circumstances and situations in life that lead to their satisfaction. Our responses to our needs are a major determinant of our behaviors. They cause us to think certain things, say certain things, and behave in certain ways, all directed at their own fulfillment.

Some psychologists believe that when we feel a need, we are, in some sense, compelled to satisfy or fulfill that need. We would, of course, disagree. All men should maintain careful, watchful control of their responses to needs. Much of keeping the Lord’s commandments involves choosing to deny or at least discipline and prioritize these needs.

The categorization or “hierarchy” of needs. Our needs may be separated into categories from “highest” to “lowest.” This hierarchy is often attributed to Dr. Abraham Mazlow (also Maslow), a humanistic psychologist. I have adapted Dr. Mazlow’s categorization to fit our purposes:

1. Spiritual needs—the need to see a higher purpose in this life; the need for a relationship with God and for a permanent life beyond this one.

2. Psychological or ego needs—the need to be admired, valued, respected, and held in high esteem by oneself and others. One may wish to add to this category mental or intellectual needs—the need to learn and understand.

3. Social needs—the need to be accepted, loved, and included; the need for physical self esteem (the need to be considered physically attractive). Materialism fits into this category, as the possession of material things is often regarded as a mechanism to make ourselves more credible, attractive, and acceptable to others.

4. Physical needs—the need for food, water, and air; the need to be in a safe and comfortable environment; the need to enjoy a comfortable temperature; the need to have enough space in which to move around; the need to satisfy our biological or sexual desires.

Mazlow observed that a need is perceived and therefore impacts the individual’s behavior only when the needs below it are satisfied. For example, a man who desperately needs food, water, or even air is hardly concerned about social needs. A person who feels unloved, unaccepted, or under appreciated is unlikely to be concerned about his spiritual needs.

Most psychologists agree that physical, social, and psychological needs are our lower needs, and spiritual needs are the higher ones. I suggest the lower needs originate from within our natural self. Our spiritual self is the origin of our higher or spiritual needs.

#No Man Can Serve Two Masters

Most of us are taught early in life that we must learn to control our lower yearnings or needs. We find we are often required to deliberately restrain them. The main tools we have available to do this are our own conscious will and our spiritual self. The latter, along with the yearnings it seeks, may provide us with motivation. Often, however, the spiritual need is so faint it does little to motivate us or help us subdue or overcome our lower needs. Hence the issue of self control falls largely to our own deliberate discipline. This deliberate self denial is often perceived as painful and difficult.

Why not simply choose to excel in fulfilling both sets of needs, our lower and higher ones? Let us pursue both sets of needs with enthusiasm! Would this work? It would not. There are two vital reasons why: (1) One who repeatedly gives in to his natural self, his lower needs, will experience an intensification of those needs. Further, the spiritual self, the higher needs, will be blunted and may eventually disappear altogether. (2) On the other hand, one who consistently resists the inappropriate pulls of the natural self, the lower needs, and deliberately obeys the Lord’s commands, will experience a lessening of the pulls of the natural self and intensification of the pulls of the spiritual self.

Consider the well-known verse, Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” In each man there is a tendency to do one and not the other. If he is inclined to respond consistently to his lower needs, his higher needs will eventually disappear. If he repeatedly and deliberately disciplines himself and manages to cater to his spiritual needs, his lower needs will be blunted. Hence, men will not, indeed cannot, serve both masters. For further scriptural admonishment, the reader may also wish to study the teachings of the prophet Mormon in Moroni 7:11-14.

#Pride

Definition. Pride has several different definitions, depending upon the context in which the word is used. In a secular or worldly context, pride may be either a positive or negative quality. As a positive quality, it is justifiable satisfaction or delight in something. We may be proud of a child’s accomplishments, proud of our country or flag, proud of our church, or even proud of ourselves. Worldly pride may also be a negative quality. In this context it is smugness, conceit, arrogance, or an inappropriately inflated opinion of oneself.

In a scriptural context, pride is a sin and has quite a different and unique definition. It is important to understand this meaning of pride. We encounter the sin of pride many times in our study of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures. Indeed, it is one of the most egregious and dangerous sins of mortality. President Ezra Taft Benson called pride the “universal sin, the great vice” (CR, April 1989, 3-7). Elder Neal A.

Maxwell referred to pride as the “activator” and “detonator of all cardinal sins” (“Put off the Natural Man, and Come Off Conqueror,” 14). We may conclude that pride is the source of all sin.

The essence of pride is the inappropriate and excessive giving in to the pulls of the natural self. It is the unrestrained and immoderate seeking after things of the world.

Pride is the absence of the Spirit’s influence. Pride also may be defined as all those behaviors that follow the loss of the Spirit. The Spirit’s influence brings to the fore those subtle pulls of the spiritual self. The Spirit also tends to impart gratitude to the Savior and ready submission to his will. He generates, within the heart and mind of man, appropriate longings for the Savior’s help and support. His influence brings knowledge of the very real need for his presence and succor during this spiritually hazardous mortal experience.

An absence of the Spirit of God can lead to spiritually-detrimental feelings of selfsufficiency and independence. Without the influence of the Spirit, man tends to become a law unto himself. He is not submissive and humble. He comes to care little about God’s laws. He cares more about those “laws” of his own making intended to lead to worldly achievements and acquisitions for himself. Ironically and predictably, though he regards himself as being fiercely independent, he usually ends up conforming to the worldly trends of the day.

Pride is acquisitiveness. The proud man’s entire focus becomes the acquisition of things of this world. He often becomes infatuated with or obsessed with obtaining these worldly things. The process of worldly acquisition becomes allconsuming. There is nothing of a controlled, measured, and appropriate response to his worldly lusts. He simply must succeed in the world. The means by which these acquisitions for self are achieved are of little moment. Regardless of what it takes, the proud man must not and will not fail to achieve his desired ends. He wants and seeks for unlimited, unchecked gratification and satisfaction of his lesser needs. He has decided it is okay to pursue them unrestrainedly.

He seeks for the praise of the world. He yearns for recognition, popularity, position, power and influence over others. He longs to be admired by others. He simply must be viewed by all others as someone who has found success. Of prime importance are his possessions and his physical appearance. They are symbols of his worth and importance. He will often incur excessive debt to acquire the possessions and image for which he seeks.

He is to himself as others see him. In a recent public television documentary of the life of Joseph P. Kennedy, he was quoted as teaching his children, “It’s not who you are that matters. It’s who people think you are.” I do not desire to pass judgment on Joseph Kennedy. But, taken to heart, his counsel to his children might have placed them at risk of becoming proud men.

The proud man will lust for sexual gratification. His behavior is likely to be influenced by his animal passions. Referring to him, Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “It is easy for him to commit sexual sins, because to please oneself is the name of that deadly game in which others are often cruelly used” (“Put Off the Natural Man, and Come Off Conqueror,” Ensign, November 1990, 14).

Consequently, the proud man’s spiritual needs are weak and not generally felt. Pride is the disregarding or even disdaining things of the Spirit. His main concerns are gratification of wants and the pleasures of the here and now. He cares little for the eternal future. The proud man has no understanding or yearning for eternal things. He is blind and deaf to matters of the Spirit. Not only does he not yearn for or believe in eternal truths, he is likely to actively reject them as being naive, foolish, silly, and unsophisticated (1 Corinthians 2:14). He evinces cynicism when discussing eternal matters. He comes to look down upon people inclined toward spirituality. He regards them as naive, foolish, weak, out of touch with reality, and given to folly.

What constitutes reality? To the natural man, the here and now of this life is the only reality. There is nothing beyond this life. There is no life after death. When a man dies, that is the end of him. Here in this life, people will succeed or fail solely based upon their own strengths and ingenuity. This leads to a belief in the “law of the jungle”—the survival and success of the fittest, and only the fittest.

Pride is competitive. The proud man has the “scarcity mentality” and lacks the “abundance mentality.” Pride allows for no equality. It pits one person against another. It is competitive and contentious. The proud man’s world is inhabited by other proud men who are also seeking for its bounties. He views these others more as competitors than colleagues. Pride pits one person against another. It allows for no equality. C. S. Lewis wrote: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man” (Mere Christianity, 9). Lewis also wrote:

We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. That is why I say that pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not (Ibid., 102-04).

It is easier to cheat or steal if one is a natural man, because what one wants is overridingly important. The process of worldly acquisition becomes all-consuming. The means by which this acquisition for self is achieved are of little consequence. Never mind the means. Regardless of what it takes, the proud man must not and will not fail to achieve his desired goals. If he must hurt other people in his quest for worldly success, then so be it.

We may add, then, to the definition of pride: Pride is the competitive, contentious, and excessive seeking after things of the world.

Pride operates at various levels. Pride’s destructive power may operate on an individual, societal, or a national level. We have already detailed how an individual may fall victim to the progressive nature of pride and destroy himself spiritually. The Book of Mormon outlines the conditions under which a nation may fall victim to its own pride: an offending nation is said to be “ripe for destruction” (Helaman 13:14): (1) when the majority of the people choose iniquity (Alma 10:19); (2) when they reject “every word of God” (1 Nephi 17:35); and (3) when they seek to kill or to cast out the righteous from among them (Helaman 13:14). Then they have reached a “fulness of iniquity” (Ether 2:9). Their eventual destruction is sure. The Lord will “pull the plug” on them by withdrawing his Spirit (Ether 15:19).

This destruction of individuals or nations may be both temporal as well as spiritual (1 Nephi 14:7). In the Book of Mormon, we read of instances of the people being “divided into classes” (4 Nephi 1:26). This is nothing more than pride on a societal level.

Pride damages relationships. The proud person lacks loving relationships. He is apt to regard his associates not so much as friends, comrades, brothers and sisters, but rather as competitors, rivals, and even enemies. The proud look upon the successes of another as a threat and personal failure. They often tend to diminish others in an attempt to elevate themselves. Also, they are inclined to be resentful, jealous, guarded, selfish, ungrateful, and contentious. Ultimately, the proud find joy in only one thing—power over others. Nothing makes the proud feel better than being able to manipulate and control other people. C. S. Lewis added: “But pride always means enmity [hostility, hatred, animosity]—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God” (Ibid., emphasis in the original).

Pride is the source of all sin. Once we come to understand the sin of pride, it is easy to see why most all sins spring from it. Consider the following specific sins, for example, in light of the above discussion of the characteristics of pride: materialism, oppression of others including the poor, making a mockery of sacred things, denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation, boasting in one’s own strength, bearing false witness, lying, selfishness, an inclination to judge others, contentiousness, self-indulgence, sexual sin, theft, and murder. It should be obvious how short a step it is from pride to any of these specific sins. Hugh Nibley, in describing the depths to which a proud individual may sink, wrote:

There is one phrase occurring some fifteen times in the Book of Mormon that starts the alarm bell ringing and the red lights flashing; the fatal words are: “They set their hearts on riches.” If you can have anything in this world for money, well, money is what you want; how you get it, as the Roman satirist says, is not too important as long as you keep things respectable by keeping your murders secret—another main theme of the Book of Mormon (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, 8:511-12).

Elder Maxwell suggested we are all sometimes guilty of the sin of pride:

We see in ourselves other familiar forms of selfish pride: withholding from others deserved and needed praise; accepting or claiming undeserved credit; exaggerating deserved credit; being glad when others go wrong; resenting the genuine successes of others; preferring public vindication to private reconciliation; and taking “advantage of one because of his words” (2 Nephi 28:8). One thing the brightest among us often lack is humility. Jesus was stunningly brilliant, yet more meek than any other. All things are thus viewed selfishly—what are their implications for “me,” much like the mattress on the highway which delayed traffic. When frustrated motorists finally got around the mattress, none stopped to remove it because now there was nothing in it for him (Men and Women of Christ, 10).

The prophet Joseph Smith declared, “Mankind [is] naturally selfish, ambitious, and striving to excel one above another” (The Words of Joseph Smith, 201).

One might mistakenly regard pride as largely a sin of the privileged, rich, talented, or learned. We can easily imagine these looking down upon others of lesser rank. President Benson warned that pride is also a sin found among those less privileged who are looking up at others. These may be guilty of “faultfinding, gossiping . . . living beyond their means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude . . . and being unforgiving and jealous” (“Cleansing the Inner Vessel,” 4-7).

Hubris and ate. Richard D. Draper, in his article “Hubris and Ate: A Latter-day Warning from the Book of Mormon,” has added significantly to our understanding of the sin of pride (Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 3:12-33). He points out that in classical Greek culture, those individuals or nations guilty of disregarding the laws of the gods and of attempting to become laws unto themselves were regarded by the gods as being guilty of the sin of hubris (pronounced HYU-bris). Those guilty of hubris were rebellious against the gods. They tended to deteriorate spiritually as they progressed in their hubris. Eventually their spiritual destruction became inevitable. At this point, the gods pronounced upon them yet another sin, that of ate (pronounced AH-tay). This pronouncement was a punishment for their misbehavior. It resulted in a completion of their spiritual blindness, delusions, deceptions, and it doomed them to spiritual selfdestruction. Once ate was pronounced, there could be no going back. Their fate was sealed. They had been declared by the gods to be guilty of ate.

While the ancient Greeks may have failed to realize that the essential cause of hubris was a loss of the influence of the Spirit of God, the behavior they considered characteristic of the sin of hubris is the same as what we would call pride.

Might we conclude there is a general tendency for pride to lead to spiritual selfdestruction? Indeed there is, as is evidenced repeatedly in the Book of Mormon. Pride (or hubris leading to ate) contributed significantly to the destruction of both the Jaredite and Nephite nations.

Do not make the mistake of equating ate with the unpardonable sin. Those doomed to self-destruction by their progressive pride are not guilty of the unpardonable sin. By and large they are not qualified to commit that sin. Nonetheless, their spiritual prognosis is poor. It may be said of them that, given their rate of spiritual decline, it is unlikely they will ever recover spiritually.

Pride and sorrow. Ultimately, the proud experience sorrow. It will not, however, be sorrow unto repentance. Rather, it will be the “sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin” (Mormon 2:13). “In other words, their sorrow [springs] from not being able to reorder the universe to suit themselves. They [feel] the full depth of anguish, but it [is] because God and his justice proved supreme” (Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 3:30).

#The Solution to Pride—A Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit

A vital attribute we must possess in order to consistently grow spiritually is one that begins to result from studying the life of the Savior and contemplating his atoning sacrifice. We then strive to diligently, deliberately, and repeatedly obey his commandments. These activities are so essential that no man can persist in his quest to overcome his natural self without them. They result in a gift of the Spirit called “a broken heart and contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:8; 2 Nephi 2:7; 3 Nephi 9:20; 12:19; Ether 4:15; Moroni 6:2; D&C 59:8). This gift is the essence of a man’s motivation to overcome his natural self and eventually become a spiritual individual. This remarkable gift results in a man’s feeling profound gratitude to the Lord for his atoning sacrifice. Consequently, the man is willing to unconditionally and humbly submit to the Lord’s commands. This attribute or gift is divinely-inspired gratitude and also goes by the name of “divine indebtedness.”

As the gift of “a broken heart and contrite spirit” or “divine indebtedness” is acquired, a man’s natural tendencies change. He is more inclined to obey the commandments. Disobedience becomes foreign to him and against his nature.

This gift of divine indebtedness is said to be not only the greatest virtue but the parent of all other virtues. Why is this so? If a man can successfully obtain from the Holy Spirit a sense of complete and utter dependence upon and indebtedness to God for all that the man is, for all that he has, and for all that he can become, he will realize the desperate need he has for the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. He will then be blessed to know that only through the atonement of Christ can he be saved and exalted. He will be in a continual state of humility and gratitude. He would not dream of being disobedient to the Savior. He knows that it is only by losing himself in the service of others that he may serve the Lord and grow. There is no gift an individual can possess more valuable than this one. If one possesses and maintains this quality, he most likely will one day be exalted.

Brother Draper closes his insightful article with a provocative question:

For the most part, the Church today finds itself in much the same circumstances as those in the beginning of the book of Helaman. It is wealthy and growing rapidly. Are we in danger? The Book of Mormon suggests that the only real danger to the Church itself is not an outward foe but rather a more powerful and far more devastating enemy within— pride. It grows in the hearts of those who profess to be saints. It is little wonder that President Benson has warned us against pride. Will we heed the warning or become as the Nephites of old? (Ibid., 3:33).