Chauncey C. Riddle
Brigham Young University
This paper is an attempt to clarify the spiritual functions of language, communication, and morality as seen in the framework of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. The hope is that you who receive this message will be able to say about it both “How correct” and “How obvious.” We shall proceed by stating a series of these ideas, demonstrating each as we go.
Thesis 1. All human action is the expression of the desires of a spiritual self. Each human being is a self, a spirit body, which spirit body has a physical tabernacle. The heart and mind of each person are functions of his spirit body. The heart is the seat of desire and the decision-maker. The mind is the power to perceive, to understand, to plan. A person’s strength is the ability of the physical tabernacle to respond to the desires and plans of the heart and mind. Strength involves health, physical stamina, skills, and procreative power.
The paradigm for human action seems to follow this pattern:
a. The mind perceives the self in some spiritual and physical relationship with the external universe.
b. The heart desires a satisfaction, either of the flesh or of the spirit, which the mind has envisioned in the relationship of the self to the universe.
c. The desire of the heart triggers the mind to invent a course of action to attempt to satisfy the desire.
d. The mind creates a course of action and implements it, largely through its control of the physical tabernacle.
e. The mind perceives the result of the action taken and reports satisfaction or non-satisfaction of the desire to the heart.
(Step e is the beginning of the second cycle, recapitulating step a.)
Thus all human action is the attempt of the spirit of the person to gain some satisfaction.
Thesis 2. The actions of a person are his spiritual language. All human action is the attempt to change the perceived relationship between the spirit of the person, the self, and the external universe, which external universe includes his or her own physical body.
There are two basic ways of doing that. One is for the heart to ignore the perceptions of the universe which the mind presents to the heart and to instruct the mind to create a more desirable universe out of imagination. That is what we call insanity. The other way to change the relationship between the spiritual self and the universe is for the heart and mind to seek to change the external universe so that perception of the universe will later reveal the desired change. For example, if my stomach reports hunger and my heart chooses to satisfy that hunger, it instructs my brain to plan and execute an action through my physical body which will eventually cause perception of gustatory satisfaction as a replacement for the present perception of hunger.
We now stipulate that every human action, every attempt to change the perceived relationship between the self and the universe, is an example of the person’s language. Action is language as language is action. Part of that action may be verbal, but it need not be. Language is the expression of self, the revealing of the desires of the self as it struggles with the universe for satisfaction. Taken as a totality, the actions of a person become a total revelation of the nature and desires of the self. If we are not able to perceive the nature of a self directly, another way to form a correct idea of what a person is is to observe his or her total expression of desires as revealed in the totality of action, his or her language. All human action is communication of a self with the universe, the attempt to make the universe a more satisfying place for the self. Non-verbal action is classed as language along with verbal functions because both kinds of action have identical origin and goal, differing only partly in the form of the means to the goal.
Thesis 3. Communication is to affect and/or to be affected by another being by interlocking with that being. All action is for the sake of effect. All action is language. One cannot correctly interpret the verbal expressions of another person apart from the totality of that person’s actions, which are the totality of his language. Language expression is the communication of the desire of the actor to affect the universe in the hope that the universe will change to in turn affect the actor in such a way as to fulfill his desire. A man plants a tree, which communicates his desire for shade and beauty, in the hope that later the tree will communicate back to him shade and beauty.
Communication between two beings is thus the totality of all the effects they have upon each other. Communication is not the transfer of ideas. It is simply affect. That affect may have many dimensions. What one person does may affect the feelings and desires of another, or the perceptions, understandings, plans, and concepts of another; or the pain, pleasure location or disposition of the physical body of another being. The first may affect something that in turn affects the body and/or spirit of the second being.
Communication must have an effect to exist. The effect need not be consciously intended or consciously received. If nothing is sent when there is an expectation of something being sent, that too is a communication, a message, for that lack can affect the non-recipient. One message may be intended and quite another received, but that is still communication as long as there is an effect. Communication is the creation of change and therefore must exist in time as well as space. If there is no space there is no being, but if there is no time, there can be no communication.
Communication is an interlock of one being with another being, a form and degree of union. That interlock may be physical, or spiritual, or both. The interlock increases with space shared, time spent, increase of number of avenues of affect, number of contacts and degree of change created by affect. Perhaps the ultimate communication is between husband and wife who share and affect each other in all things, physical and spiritual. But spiritual affect is always more important, more profound, than physical affect.
Thesis 4. All communication is translation. For the sender, communication is the encoding or translation of desire into action which affects the universe. That desire has at least three dimensions in normal communication. First is the meaning or the intention of the sender; this may be seen as the result the sender desires to have on the universe. Second is the truth of the message, the correctness of its representation. Third is the rightness or morality of the message. For example, suppose I say to you, “Provo will experience a severe flood in the next twenty-four hours.” I say it because I desire to affect you; I speak either truly or falsely; and I speak either in righteousness or not. When I speak or act, I translate at least these three aspects of my spiritual self out into the universe.
You as the receiver of my message must translate whatever spiritual and physical impact my action of sending you a message has upon you. You must create a meaning for what I say, guessing at my intention; you must assign some degree of truth-value or credibility to that meaning, and you must decide whether I was right or wrong to say it. You translate whatever effect I have on you, inventing this three-fold impact on your own spirit.
Translation, sending and receiving, is a spiritual phenomenon. For one has intentions, relates to truth, and is moral or righteous or not according to the desires of his or her own spirit at the moment. It is not uncommon for a hearer to receive one meaning, truth and rightness translation for a message, then shortly afterward ascribe a quite contrary meaning, truth-value and rightness translation because his or her own spirit has changed during the interim and now ascribes other meaning-values to the affect of the sender.
Thesis 5. There are two kinds of human spirits revealed in communication. One kind of spirit perceives the universe as being filled with other beings at least as important as himself, having desires of their own which are as important in his own eyes as are his own desires in his own eyes. Esteeming the desires of others to be as important as his own, he does not insist on the total satisfaction of all of his own desires, but hopes rather that all can be satisfied, others as well as himself. To that end he is willing to be only partly satisfied himself if such sacrifice will help others to gain some of their basic desires. He hopes to find a way to communicate with others and with the universe so that everything and everyone will be fully satisfied; or failing that, to achieve a situation wherein everything and everyone will have as much basic satisfaction as possible. This kind of being perceives himself as holy, as special, but also perceives other beings to be at least as holy and special in their own being as he perceives himself to be.
The other kind of spirit revealed in communication is the being who sees himself and his own personal desires as being preeminently important above all else in the universe. He sees other people and other things as beings which exist for his own personal satisfaction only. He may acknowledge that they have their own personal desires as he does, but he will not accord the satisfaction of their desires as having any necessary value relative to his own satisfaction. Thus he sees the satisfaction of his own desires as the only really good thing in the universe. He takes account of others’ desires only as data which may affect as means or deterrents the fulfilling of his own desires. He uses other beings as means, to his own end, helping them to the satisfaction of their own desires only as means to achieving his own desires, sacrificing their satisfaction wherever expedient to the fulfilling of his own desires. This kind of being perceives only himself and his own desires to be holy or special.
The first kind of spirit communicates to make the universe a better place for everyone. In an LDS frme, this is to be moral. If this action is done in willing obedience to Jesus Christ, it is righteousness. The second kind of spirit communicates to make the universe a better place only for himself. In an LDS frame, this is selfishness, sin.
Thesis 6. Communication with God assists those who esteem others. Our being, verbal and non-verbal, essential and unfolding, is fully perceived by our God and Father. We are interlocked nearly fully with him in that everything we are, feel, think, do, and say, is translated fully and immediately to him, directly through our actions as they affect his other sons and daughters and creatures. He, of course, perceives our being, directly, as well as our actions. The extent of that interlock is unbeknownst to most of us, however, for we do not perceive him to the same degree that he perceives us.. We are told that in him we live, move, and have our being, but the consciousness of what that means comes to few and is believed by yet fewer. If our eyes and understandings were opened, we would see that we are in his arms, enfolded in his love and being, already.
But generally we humans do not perceive that interlock because he, God, has left part of the interlock incomplete. He is in full communication with each of us, with our heart, might, mind, and strength. But he treats as holy, as special, our hearts and minds. He is the first kind of spirit. Though he perceives all, he does not attempt to control our hearts and minds. Rather, he lets us become aware of his heart and mind in our hearts and minds only at times, only by degrees, only on special topics. The fact that he does let us know his heart and mind somewhat makes us free to become as he is. The fact that we do not always have that influence with us unless we seek and cultivate it makes us free to become something unlike God. Because he loves and esteems us, holds us as being holy, he sets us free, to become as he is or not to become as he is.
If we esteem him as holy and respect his heart and mind when it comes to us, we learn a most remarkable thing: when we yield our hearts and minds to God, he affects us to be able to desire, to think, and to act in such a way that we are then able to assist all others around us to have more opportunity and power to fulfill the desires of their own hearts. We find further that the more we communicate with God and seek to interlock our heart and mind fully with his, the more we can help others. We soon realize that the ideal is a full, explicit conscious interlock of our being with his being. That full communication makes us one with him. Then we have all of his heart, might, mind, and strength at our disposal to assist us to help others to fulfill their desires, even as he has then all of our heart, might, mind, and strength of each of us at his disposal to help others. Through love, full communication has brought us to become one with him. Then as we communicate with others, it is the love of God which we communicate, which shines out of us to all others, inviting them also to share in the goodness of God.
Communication with God poses a problem for those who see only themselves as holy. He is an affront to them. He tells them that what they are doing is wrong, and that unless they change they will be very sorry about themselves in the long run. If they do not desire to change, they scrupulously avoid discussion or thinking of the long run and try to see how they can turn the influence of God—his words, his priesthood, his church—to the present satisfaction of their own personal desires, regardless of what happens to anyone else in the process, including God himself.
Thesis 7. Communication with Satan assists in this life those who esteem only themselves. Satan is not in full communication with anyone, for he would need to cooperate fully with them to do that. But he has been given by God the freedom to communicate something of his mind and will to every accountable human being. His net message to them is to encourage them to be selfish, to esteem only themselves and to use all human beings and other creatures only as instruments to their own personal satisfactions. He treats all humans this same way, using them to achieve his own ends, then discarding them whenever they lose the power to further his own selfishness. Though not full, Satan’s communication is sufficient to entice every human being to evil, to selfishness. Those who accept that enticement are rewarded by heightened feelings of self-desire and the revelation of ingenious means of using and abusing others to fulfill that selfish desire. The more a person interlocks with Satan, the more such a person rejects communication with the Lord. He or she becomes more and more selfish until mortal probation is over. Then, having denied the Lord when he spoke to them, they are delivered to eternal torment to use and be used by the selfish dregs of the universe to all eternity.
Thesis 8. Every accountable human being is influenced both by God and by Satan. The point of this thesis is that there is no middle ground. Every accountable person is in communication with God and Satan. The only question is: What is the person’s reaction? Some are strong in the Lord and do great good in the earth. Some are strong in Satan and do great evil in the earth. Many are swayed to and fro, do a little good and do a little bad, but do nothing outstanding. At any given moment, any accountable person is in communication with Satan or the Lord and acts accordingly. All actions, words and deeds, are the acts of selfishness or of righteousness. The sum of actions may be a mixture, but each specific action is either of the Lord or of Satan.
Thesis 9. To communicate with another human being is to interlock either with Satan or with the Lord. To be in the presence of another human being is to interlock, to communicate with him or her to some degree. We carry into that interlock the influence of God or the influence of Satan. The influence, good or bad, of one person is stronger than the influence of the other. The weaker person must reject the interlock and flee unless he or she wishes to be influenced by the stronger, for as time and contiguity increase, communication or the flow of influence increases, flowing from the stronger to the weaker. “Charisma” is the worldly term for the strength of strong people, which can be either good or bad. People like charisma, for they feel strength flow to them in its presence.
Thus, when we enter into an association, whatever spirit we take into the association retreats if the other person has an opposite and stronger influence. If both enter with the same spirit, that spirit is strengthened in both. The situation need not be another individual, of course. We can enter into communication with a group of people, a book, a TV program, a mountain, etc. The principle of spiritual flow remains constant in all of these situations. Spirit always flows from stronger to weaker whether it be a good or an evil spirit. Whatever spirit possesses us than determines what we do. We always represent and influence others either for the Lord or for Satan. When two people communicate, Satan and/or the Lord are always part of that interlock of being.
Thesis 10. To be a moral person one must be strong as well as good. It follows then that to be moral, one must not only have the Spirit of the Lord but have it in sufficient strength that he will not be overwhelmed. Perhaps anyone can be righteous in the presence of the Lord. Who then can be righteous when he leaves the presence of the Lord and enters the presence of great evil? Only he who carries with him the presence and the power of the Lord when he goes into the presence of great evil. The basic ways in which this is done are:
a. To have incorporated the Lord God into our feelings, thinking, strength, and might, so that we are one with him. This we do by seeking his presence and his influence, letting that strength flow into our self, stronger to weaker, until we have built up a great reservoir of his strength. The reservoir is the good deeds we have done and the good words we have said in obedience to him which have strengthened our fiber and changed our being.
b. To be on his errand at all times. While on his errand we have his continuing presence with us and the promise that we will never be tempted above our ability to withstand. But if we ever depart from his errand and begin to seek our own selfish desires, we lose our protective shield. Should we then encounter an evil influence stronger than that residual good which we retain in our fiber and being, we would then lose our agency to resist Satan. He could then sift us as wheat.
To be a “good” person, that is, never having done great evil, is a good thing but not the best thing. Much better is the good person in whom the Spirit of the Lord has welled up until he or she is a tower of strength. To be a “good” but weak person and then deliberately to seek our evil influences to “find out what the world is all about” is to commit spiritual suicide. Wisdom would have us seek out the very best in all things and to hold fast to that which is good. Those who seek the Lord and become strong in him, increase thereby their ability to communicate with him, to receive strength from him. Strength thus begets strength. To be moral and righteous one must be good and strong in the Lord.
Thesis 11. Communication among humans is good only for those who are in communication with God. We humans need to communicate with each other to solve our problems, to make a better world. What is it that we need to communicate?
First, we need to discern, to understand one another. To understand a person is to discern both the ideas and intentions of his heart and the kind of spirit which possesses him, either God or Satan. That discernment is a gift of the spirit, fully known to and used by only those who seek and find a full communication or interlock with the Lord.
We need to communicate about truth. We need to have a common and true understanding of the way things are and were and will be. Since we each can observe directly only a small portion of what is real and not at all what was or will be, we have no direct personal access to enough truth to achieve the common true understanding which we need. We are then thrust back to our spiritual resources. If it is our desire to be selfish, then Satan rules us and he distorts and falsifies the communications we give and receive as to what is, was, and will be. That is why the world of ideas is awash in a sea of falsehood and personal opinion. Only when we deliberately turn to the Lord and deliberately interlock with his being can we gain those true ideas of what is, what was, and what will be to be able to ground our labors in reality. But truth is a stranger, an unwanted interloper, in a world of selfish people. Only the righteous cherish truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
We need to communicate about what is best to do and how best to do it, that we might gain the advantage of working in concert in making this world a better place. No one of us knows enough about truth or about what is possible, let alone what is best, to become the guide. So the programs of the world must find spiritual resources. Those stimulated by selfish personal interest are abetted by Satan: their promise is false and their glory fades as time passes. Witness all of the political kingdoms of the earth in all of its history. Those leaders stimulated by righteous desires know that they of themselves are not wise, and must turn to God himself who is the fountain of all righteousness. In him, the strong in righteousness find wisdom and success in earthly ventures that build forever and increase in beauty into eternity. Witness the eternal families of those that know and love the Lord.
Should human beings strive to discern, to find truth and to find wisdom but do not do so in the Lord, then their communication is prospered only in Satan. They may indeed communicate and accomplish things, but their creations will represent degradation and will enthrone selfishness. Such was the situation at the time of the flood, when the thoughts of each heart were only to do evil continually. Such will be the state of the world in these last days. The sum of the matter is that the only intelligent thing to do in this world for any person who desires happiness for anyone other than himself is to seek first to find the true and living God. One must come into full communication with him, then in the strength which flows only from him, to seek to establish his righteousness wherever and whenever possible in this earth. Then the language of such an one will become pure and holy, perhaps even Adamic. Then his communication with all other righteous beings will be full and joyous. Then he will never be overcome nor thwarted by the strength of selfish beings. Then he will speak and do all that is true and right, and in that communication will find that joy which his Creator had in mind as the reason for his existence.