Learning and the Gospel:

Education for Eternity  (BYU) (20 January 2006)

To Brigham Young, [life was] quite simple. "What are we here for?" Brigham asks and answers. "To learn to enjoy more, and to increase in knowledge and experience. The object of this existence is to learn . . . " he taught. "How gladly would we understand every principle pertaining to science and art, and become thoroughly acquainted with every intricate operation of nature . . . What a boundless field of truth and power is open for us to explore! We are only just approaching the shores of the vast ocean of information that pertains to this . . . world, to say nothing of that which pertains to the heavens" (JD, 14:228; 9:167).

 

His metaphor for life was the academy. "The treasures of the earth are merely to provide us with room and board while we are here at school," he said, "being made for the comfort of the creature, not for his adoration. They are made to sustain and preserve the body while procuring the knowledge and wisdom that pertain to God and His kingdom, in order that we may preserve ourselves, and live forever in His presence."

 

"And when we have lived millions of years in the presence of God and angels . . . shall we then cease learning? No, or eternity ceases."

 

"We shall never cease to learn, unless we apostatize . . . Can you understand that?" he would exclaim (JD, 8:135; 6:344; 3:203).

 

Obviously that kind of effort would require a struggle, but it was a struggle Brigham was always willing to ask of the Saints. Indeed, he was quite specific about his expectations: "After suitable rest and relaxation there is not a day, hour or minute that we should spend in idleness, but every minute of every day of our lives we should strive to improve our mind and to increase our faith in the holy gospel." And, "The more knowledge the elders have, the better" (JD, 13:310; 8:54).

 

And of course for him knowledge meant knowledge of everything. "Learn everything that the children of men know. Every true principle, every true science, every art and the knowledge that men possess, or that they ever did or ever will possess, is from God. We should take pains and pride to . . . rear our children so that learning and education of the world may be theirs. Teach the children, give them the learning of the world and the things of God." To the mothers he said, "we will appoint you to a mission to teach your children their duty; and instead of ruffles and fine dresses to adorn the body, teach them that which will adorn their minds" (JD, 14:210; 14:220).

 

"We are trying to teach this people to use their brains . . . " he would plead. "Whatever duty you are called to perform, take your minds with you, and apply them to what is to be done" (JD, 11:328; 8:137).

 

Apparently Brigham had an experience or two when someone must have forgotten that. "In things pertaining to this life, the lack of knowledge manifested by us as a people is disgraceful. . . . I have seen months and months in this city when I could have wept like a whipped child to see the awful stupidity of the people" (JD, 11:105; 2:280).

 

That pain was the pain of a prophet, not merely a pedagogue. He knew why we needed to be intelligent. "All our educational pursuits are in the service of God, for all these labors are to establish truth on the earth . . . that we may increase in knowledge, wisdom, understanding, . . . [in] the power of faith and in the wisdom of God, that we may become fit subjects to dwell in a higher state of existence and intelligence than we now enjoy . . . If men would be great in goodness, they must be intelligent," he would say to any who would listen (Manuscript History of the Church, in LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Sept. 22, 1851, vol. 21, p. 88).

 

That is our theology. But surely one need not have a school to learn. No, and many didn't (and won't), including Joseph and Brigham themselves, who knew that not having a school would make education harder and maybe a lot less likely. They wanted structure and synergism for their young scholars. They needed, in short, a place in which to assemble and intensify their education. Ergo, reason number two: they needed a "school in Zion"--like we need BYU. It may be too much to call ourselves Zion in the 1980s, but we can be a place of gathering, not only for an academic family five times the population of the Southern Utah city in which I was born, but a gathering place for (in Brigham Young's words) "the [knowledge and] treasures surviving in the earth from every age and culture."

 

Jeffrey R. Holland, "A School in Zion."  Educating Zion.  Ed. John W. Welch and Don E. Norton.  Provo, Brigham Young University.  1996.  143-134.

 

---

"Shortly after I was called as a General Authority, I went to Elder Harold B. Lee for counsel.  He listened very carefully to my problem and suggested that I see President David O. McKay.  President McKay counseled me as to the direction I should go.  I was very willing to be obedient but saw no way possible for me to do as he counseled me to do.

 

I returned to Elder Lee and told him that I saw no way to move in the direction I was counseled to go.  He said, 'The trouble with you is you want to see the end from the beginning.'  I replied that I would like to see at least a step or two ahead.  Then came the lesson of a lifetime: 'You must learn to walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness; then the light will appear and show the way before you.'

 

During the twenty-nine years following that experience, I have learned over and over again that all of us must walk by faith--near the edge of the light.  Like Nephi, who said, 'I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do' (1 Nephi 4:6), each of us must learn to take a few steps into the darkness of the unknown.

 

A desire to learn is one thing.  An expressed willingness to be taught and corrected is quite another.  I have found, and we have taught our children, that there is always someone older and experienced who knows much about the challenges you face, whether they be spiritual or temporal.  It is worth inviting them to help you.

 

While there is great value in seeking a personal interview to receive counsel, what I am talking about is something else.  It is an unstructured process, with counsel and suggestions offered in bits and pieces and you responding with thanks.  That process survives only where there is a genuine desire to learn and an invitation to those who can teach and correct you.  That invitation is not always in words, but more in attitude.  Could that be the reason that the scriptures counsel 'Ask and ye shall receive' more than any other statement?  I believe the priceless gift of the Holy Ghost, which can be a constant companion, operates on those terms.

 

Boyd K. Packer, "Spiritual Orientation."  In  Educating Zion.  Ed. John W. Welch and Don E. Norton.  Provo, Brigham Young University.  1996.  163-197.