Sun Tzu wrote something that I think applies very well in these struggles of self that roughly translated goes like this:
"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.Who exactly are our enemies? I think we can all agree that the first is the Adversary, and the second is given to us in Mosiah 3:19: "For the natural man is an enemy to God".
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself."
C.S. Lewis I think put it in a slightly different way in the preface to Screwtape Letters when he warned that it is equally dangerous to display either too much or too little interest in the Devil. I think this can also apply to the dangers of having too much or too little interest in (i.e. "understanding of") the natural man.
Recently, I ran across a few resources online that expanded my understanding of the natural man, and gave me a little better idea of what we're up against in our quest to become like Christ.
The first is a video I found from a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace in 2005 that I think gives a pretty good summary of how the natural (a.k.a. "default") man operates (and some alternatives we have instead of going along with our "default setting").
I also found this video from Rev. Michael Dowd, who seeks to bridge the gap between religion and evolution. While I may not agree on everything he teaches, he gives a very interesting breakdown of the "quadrune" model of the brain, and how each developmental stage functions in terms of motivation and natural behavior.
So, there you have it. These bodies, which are not even our own, have their own default "modis operandi" which are not necessarily evil, but neither are they Celestial.
David A. Bednar explained it like this:
"Neither the [the Prophets] nor the scriptures ... assert that the physical body is inherently evil. Rather, we live in a fallen world. The very elements out of which our bodies were created are by nature fallen and ever subject to the pull of sin, corruption, and death. Thus, the Fall of Adam and its consequences affect us most directly through our physical bodies. And yet as President Young stated, we are dual creatures, for at the same time that we inhabit a physical body that is subject to the Fall, we also have a spirit that represents the eternal part of us; we are the spirit sons and daughters of God and have inherited divine qualities from Him. The precise nature of the test of mortality, then, can be summarized in the following questions: Will my body rule over my spirit, or will my spirit rule over my body? Will I yield to the enticings of the natural man or to the eternal man? That, brothers and sisters, is the test. We are here on the earth to develop godlike qualities and to learn to bridle all of the passions of the flesh (Alma 38:12)." (BYU Idaho Devotional, Jan. 2000)These bodies have natural tendencies toward pride, selfishness, anger, fear, self-centeredness, greed, impatience, and just about every other anti-virtue you can think of. Along with these bodies we have our free agency, which is what sets us apart from the other creatures on this earth - we can choose to go along with our "default" behavior, or we can choose to follow the life of Christ back to our Heavenly Home.
We have been given the Light of Christ as a starting point to guide us in how to temper these urges, and if we are baptized we have the opportunity to receive the Holy Ghost as out constant companion. I think sometimes this can be where people can get into trouble if they pay "too little" interest in the natural man. It can be very easy to think that just because we may have the Holy Ghost that we're protected, and that because we've been baptized / gone on a Mission / been married in the temple / are the EQ or RS president / etc. that we are in total control of our "elephant". Rev. Dowd also touches on our neurological capacity for self-deception. We have this innate ability to discount or ignore what doesn't gel with our view of our world and ourselves. We may think that we are a charitable person, but that may mean that we've just filtered out all the data that suggest that we may not be as pious as we think we are. The natural man uses this forced forgetfulness / selective memory / ignorance to defend itself and protect it's own self-interest. (Hartman Rector Jr. gave a G.C. talk in April 1971 about the cost of this ignorance that I think is very eye opening). Even our own consciences and the Light of Christ are malleable. Thanks to the gift of agency and the capacity for self-deception, our consciences can easily be corrupted to believe that good is evil and evil is good, and feel just as right about it as that the sky is blue and the grass is green.
The natural man is a very social creature, and we can cite great benefits of being social and many societies in the scriptures where there were no poor among them and all things were common, and we look forward to a Celestial Culture where those who return to God's presence will persist in great eternal societies forever. I'm sure there have been times when we have felt great strength and support from our societies during times of trials. But, do we think about the potential this internal pull to align has to slowly change our course from the straight and narrow? Do we think about how the body is hardwired to seek to fit into society and culture as a survival mechanism, and how that can actually be spiritual peril? We may think that we're doing pretty good because we go to Church, serve in our calling(s), present ourselves well, act nicely around others, but it could just be that we have been "culturally converted" yet not have a testimony of our very own strong enough to weather the future storms of life. I think it is this condition that the Lord warns of when he talks about being "well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively," (the organization), "and not individually," (those who are just culturally converted or living on borrowed light). And, with the warning that President Monson gave in the April 2011 G.C. that, "where once the standards of the Church and the standards of society were mostly compatible, now there is a wide chasm between us, and it's growing ever wider", can we still allow this innate internal pull to continue to align itself with the society around us, (even in Happy Valley or parts there 'bouts).
Rev. Dowd and with others who have researched neuroscience describe how the "reptilian" part of the brain has a great influence on the drive to survive both individually and as a species; this includes things like eating, safety, and reproduction. This is the part of the human and reptilian brain that share a common characteristic: xenophobia. Xenophobia is the "irrational or unreasonable fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange," (Wikipedia). Basically, it's the "us vs. them" drive. If I perceive that you are the same as me, then I see you as "safe" and you are part of my group survival and my brain rewards me for being around you; if I see you as different then you are a danger and I will either evade or attack you. If I find myself in a culture that I don't find myself "safe" in, then I will seek out other cultures where I can find my own personal "us" and will even invent one if it doesn't exist, (this is becoming easier and easier to do with more opportunities for "virtual cultures" online, but that's another blog post...). And remember, during the time of the prophet Noah that all the cultures and people on the earth were so wicked that the Lord knew that no spirits sent down to the earth would have a fighting chance to come to the truth, so He hit the big "flush" button as an act of mercy. Who we associate with and what we expose ourselves to does have a great impact on beliefs and behavior.
Along with self-deception and strong social ties as a means of survival, there is another tactic it employs - evasion and stealth. The natural man is right up there with the Gadianton Robbers / terrorists and illnesses such as Lyme Disease and Cancer when it comes to being able to hide in plain sight. We may try to attack and weed them out of our lives, but they have an innate knack for finding other hiding places right under our noses and existing on life-support until the coast is clear. And where do they go to hide? What protected area is usually safe from our spiritual immune systems? Elder Neal A. Maxwell has explained how we so often "defend our idiosyncrasies, as if those protrusions somehow constituted our individuality," and that modern revelation and the D&C contains "elaboration [that] is given nowhere else in scripture! It is a significant part of the fullness of the Restoration and includes counsel on how human foibles can keep us from gaining access to the powers of heaven." Elder Maxwell also has stated that discipleship is a "contact sport", and quotes Joseph Smith's description of how he is a rough stone that becomes a smooth shaft through coming in contact with something else. What are those chunks being knocked off and polished down? Abscesses which are capable of aiding and abetting the natural man. (I think this also adds a little understanding to when Jesus asked the rich, young price in Matt 19 to sell all his belongings and follow Him - maybe the Savior could discern a few too many protrusions that still needed to be knocked off...) One of the effects of being fully consecrated is that the natural man doesn't have any place to thrive or hide out.
And yet, we are more often than not a "silent partner" of it's life of spiritual crimes. It is so easy to look the other way and take dopaminergic kickbacks from the organized crime syndicate that is within us. Sure, we could crack down on the "Natural Mobster", but then we run the risk of disrupting our own sense of self, sense of worth, sense of security, sense of control, sense of belonging, and sense of individuality. Could we really handle seeing how much of who we think we are is defined by the whim of a temporal body throwing us neurotransmitter table scraps for not rocking the boat? And why mix things up when initial attempts at change are usually met with the equivalent of stirring up a proverbial hornet's nest of frustration, anxiety, depression, and a general sense of feeling out of control?
I think Omni and Nephi understood the pull the natural man has every second of every day in their confessions, "I of myself am a wicked man" (Omni 1:2), and "O wretched man that I am!" (2 Nephi 4:17), respectively. (Michaela Stephens takes a deeper look at these phrases and breaks them down on her blog).
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
That sounds like a pretty tall order for a brain that at it's very core is designed primarily for survival, and yet it is the only way back.
"Charity ... seeketh not her own". The phrase, "her own," can mean many things, but if we look at this from a xenophobic standpoint, it gives a little more dimension to this admonition. We are to give charity to not just those who our brains say are part of the "us" crowd, but all of God's children. This may sound simple, but we need to look a little deeper into the interactions when the brain says someone doesn't belong.
What does the reptilian mind use to reinforce these walls it sees between people? Everything it can. The brain is horribly interconnected, and the reptilian mind can pull a few strings to get what it wants. Ever notice the uneasy, awkward feeling you get when you're talking with someone and you don't seem to hit it off? Ever been in those situations when you have nothing to talk about, no emotional connection, nothing but awkward silence, anxiety, restlessness, boredom, and your body starts to experience things like feeling sleepy, light-headed, heart rate changes, skin hypersensitivity, and the growing pressure to either start to pick the person apart in your mind or just find a way to get out of there? Where do you think those are coming from? Yep, you guessed it - Lil' Godzilla is rampaging all over any emotional / social / physiology control neurons it can find and is throwing one pretty big hissy fit until you give it what it wants.
And yet, charity "seeketh not her own". Are They serious? Do we really have to be willing to not only exist in the same space as those people who make us feel like that, but beareth, endureth, and rejoice in it? And hold on - I'm supposed to seek after them?!? Wow. That's no walk in the park...
What's this about not being "easily offended"? Not only do I have to be nice to them but I have to temper my heightened emotional state and not blow up at the least provocation. Seriously???
That's exactly what we must do. How many times did Christ show us charity not to those who his body would say are "safe", but people who I'm pretty sure were from a different peoples, different socio-economic backgrounds, different belief systems, and some who's whole goal was to destroy him without getting caught. (I'm sure His brain was screaming at Him 24/7 to just get away from it all and go hide under a rock.)
Waiting out the storm doesn't work - this doesn't go away on it's own. Our "default" behavior may shift slightly, (usually to find a new hiding place), but is as relentless as debt or the force of gravity - it never sleeps and it never lets up. (Ever wonder why we are asked to keep a prayer in our hearts at all times / read scriptures daily / attend Sacrament Meetings weekly / go to the temple as often as we can / be reminded that we "Need Thee every hour" / told to be diligent or endure as if running in a race?)
So, when we talk of being more charitable, let's not be naive about it. I think we need to understand what we're heading into up front so there aren't going to be any surprises. We can drop the romantic expectations of being able to win over every one we meet, have perfectly compatible families and companions we Home/Visiting Teach, or be able to live with our spouses, children, in-laws, co-workers, neighbors, enemies, etc. in perfect harmony with no tension or awkwardness what so ever. (I think this is where the phrase "'I never said it would be easy; I only said it would be worth it" comes in.)
Virtue is expensive, and takes an eternity to truly master with frequent ups and downs in our pursuit. The spirit, or "pattern", that we leave this life in will be the same pattern that we take into the eternities. Are we willing to fight tooth-and-nail, day after day, putting aside our distracting obsessions and go against the internal shear forces from the very vessels we occupy to fight to set a pattern of seeking for something that we won't be able to master while we're alive, but can perfect if we persist through the eternities under a Heavenly Father's tutelage? We can choose to not choose and let our default behavior take over, (it is an option...), and whatever we decide we will receive the eternal reward that we will be most comfortable with.
So, if the deck is so heavily stacked against us, what options do we have? Are we doomed to be a slave to our natural impulses? How can we turn the tables in our favor? It may seem pretty drastic, but I think we can take a page from the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. No - I'm not saying we need to bury our bodies in a mass grave on a hill somewhere in South America; it's more of a figurative burial. I think the way to break our dependence on our natural man is to break the dependency on the carrot they are dangling in front of us. From my limited knowledge of motivation, it falls into three categories: fear, reward, and love. Fear motivates us to escape things that we think will harm us or produce unwanted negative consequences. Reward motivates us to attain a positive consequence or do something that will benefit us in the near future. Love motivates us to do something regardless of either a negative or positive consequence to ourselves but thinks in terms of having a positive influence on another person. The natural self uses the first two all over the place. Looking at the interconnectedness of the brain shows how many systems can independently send messages to either the structures that handle reward or fear/anxiety. These are like the stings a puppeteer uses to control a marionette. Many of these impulses can be necessary for the regulation of bodily functions, such as hunger, dangerous situations, and control of other physiological processes. However, we must be careful that this operant conditioning doesn't rule our lives. The mind is a excellent servant, but a terrible master; there are many ways that natural man uses the first two categories of motivation to control us, but it does so in a way that feels totally "natural", "genuine" and "real". These are very hard to distinguish between reality, because more often then not they determine our perception of reality, (hence Jacob's admonition to "see things as they really are" and not the story our bodies tell us). I think this is why Elder Maxwell has expressed on multiple occasions the importance of distinguishing between joy (primarily spiritual w/ secondary sensory/emotional ripples) and pleasure (primarily sensory/emotional w/ potential for negative spiritual consequences). It would seem then, that the only safe place is to be motivated by Christ-like love (a.k.a. charity). This is above the tree-line of the natural man where it can't last long and dares not tread. Now, please be aware, just doing something because you are "in love" with someone can still be under the influence of the natural man, because that sort of love has such as strong motivation from both a physical and a spiritual standpoint, so one should tread lightly here. But, if we can learn to "bridle our passions" for physical / emotional / social rewards, (similar to how we should bridle our "love of money"), and appreciate but not depend on those rewards that Heavenly Father may or may not bestow upon us for doing what is right, then we can start to listen to the still small voice and attain an inner peace and stillness. I believe that is the inner state that was spoken of in Psalm 46:10 when He tells us to, "Be still, and know that I am God."
This is much easier said than done, since through science we understand more of the mechanics of the mind and the pleasure systems of the brain, and so much of the world we live in now preaches the gospel of "emotional entitlement", (similar how during the time of the Tower of Babel the building materials and techniques had enabled a sense of "vertical entitlement"). All around this pleasure centric world we live in, you see people building their own personal "Tower of Dopamine" that they think and preach will take them to Heaven. One of the survival mechanisms the mind has is the ability to see someone and judge their health by their emotional state. (Why be social with someone who is unhappy since they are starving or are in danger, when you could hang out with someone who is happy because they have all the things necessary for survival?) Just like how our bodies are still hardwired to eat all the fat and sugar it can find until it's stuffed, this "emotional radar" sense is not needed as much now in our modern day societies where most people in western civilizations have the basic necessities for survival, yet it is still so easy to allow ourselves to be controlled by it. Believing that we need to have a healthy disconnection from the fear/reward mechanisms of the body (being "in the body" but not "of the body") is a hard pill to swallow, but so is the council that we are to be "in the world but not of the world". "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). I think it is very easy to be like the prodigal son and demand our inheritance of the joy spoken of in 2 Nephi 2:25 before all the interest is accrued because we see everyone around us experiencing what we think looks like joy but is just temporary pleasure. If we keep reading down in 2 Nephi 2, we see that in verse 27 we learn that "men are free according to the flesh". Elder Dallin H. Oaks expounds on this in a BYU Devotional given on Oct 1987:
"... Because free agency is a God-given precondition to the purpose of mortal life, no person or organization can take away our free agency in mortality.
"... What can be taken away or reduced by the conditions of mortality is our freedom, the power to act upon our choices. Free agency is absolute, but in the circumstances of mortality freedom is always qualified.
"Freedom may be qualified or taken away (1) by physical laws, including the physical limitation with which we are born, (2) by our own actions, and (3) by the actions of others, including governments.
"Lehi taught his son Jacob that 'men are free [have freedom] according to the flesh' (2 Nephi 2:27). For example, in the flesh we are subject to the physical law of gravity. If I should hang from the catwalk here in the Marriott Center and release my grip, I would not be free to will myself into a soft landing. And I cannot choose to run through a brick wall."We are free to experience this mortal existence "according to the flesh", and that includes things such as the amount of emotional satisfaction we may experience while on this journey. We still can experience spiritual satisfaction, but it may have a different flavor than what our "external emotional sensors" tell us that others experience. No where does it says that the emotional experience we go through in this life is going to be the same, nor does anywhere in the scriptures does it guarantee that we will have the same opportunity for satisfaction during this mortal journey. This is where the natural man gets a little pushy. The only thing it knows is physical pleasure, emotional highs, and powerful sensations, but it also knows that it's days are numbered, if anyone is having more fun that it is it likes to throw a tantrum or turn up the fun meter to 11. The resurrected bodies will be different, so the natural man knows that it's going to pass away and not last long, so it tries to pack as much into this experience as it can before it all ends. (I'm sure we all know these "sensation hoarders" who still believe the whole "he who dies with the most dopamine wins" line). And yet, I'm not sure if anywhere during the judgement bar we're going to be asked for an accounting of the total amount of happiness or pleasant experiences we have collected. Once again, we will carry the same spirit, or "pattern", into the next life - but any limitations on our freedoms to experience our existance as a physical being we may have expeienced in mortality will be removed. We must be willing to sacrifice the opportunities we may have for self-serving activities, and if we are not free to experience as much satisfaction as others, we must remember Elder Maxwell's counsel to not allow our "moods to maul our faith".
We really can't do this on our own, but we don't have to. Christ is all but falling over himself pleading with us to ask for His help - to cast our burdens before Him and take upon us His yoke. There is always a way out from every temptation and every form of bondage, if we are willing to follow Him and forsake ourselves, (which He's even promised to help us with). Attempting to do this on our own will make some headway, but in the long run isn't going to give us the results we need to get where we want to go, but neither is expecting Him to do all the work while we sit back. Just as in the Atonement, we can be saved from our natural man through the grace of Christ, after all that we can do.
In the end, we each must really think about it, be aware of what we're getting ourselves into if we choose to follow His path, and either go all in or choose to serve mammon by default (behavior).
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