Who Do We Think We Are
As we read the stories of David and his son Solomon, their rise to greatness, and their precipitous fall from grace, we may wonder how it all could happen. The courage and faith of David and the wisdom of Solomon are legendary, and they left legacies nearly unmatched in human history.
David authored many of the Psalms and recited or sang them continually as prayers, assumedly to maintain his focus on and faith in God. He had the monumental task of defending Israel and leading his people. You would think that he had no time for idle thoughts or distractions. Perhaps his constant focus on prayer was an attempt to stave off temptations that plagued him. Maybe he thought he was something more than the weakest part of himself.
God gave Solomon the gift of great wisdom and great judgment, and his abilities in these areas are revered even to this day. He built a temple on a site deemed holy by nearly all Abrahamic religions. It stood as a monument of faith for generations until Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylonia, weakened Jerusalem, and Solomon’s temple was burned along with the houses of all the great men. (Side note: One scholar, Richard Elliot Friedman, suggests that the Edomites were likely the ones who destroyed the temple.)
You would think that these two great leaders who had experienced personal interactions with God himself would be comfortable with who they were. Undoubtedly, they considered themselves blessed by God and above the people’s reproach. Could you say that they knew who they were? As it turns out, maybe they didn’t.
Considering these stories, we should ask ourselves some key questions. Are we, in reality, who we think we are? Are we comfortable, meaning less on-guard to behaviors of malevolence, either to ourselves or others? I argue that if David and Solomon fell, we are also in danger of similar actions. Even if we have had personal sacred experiences and are practicing our religion faithfully, we should constantly be on guard.
Is it really our choice?
Many science-based scholars say that we have no free will. They make compelling arguments that environmental, social, and biological factors predispose us to make choices beyond our control. I agree that most of the time, that is true. However, if that were always the case, how does a person or a society ever change for evil or good? In other words, actions and behaviors are predictable until they aren’t.
You are a product (think of a product in mathematical terms) of your genes, culture, environment, and social status. But, there are all those things, and then there is you. You are an entirely separate factor in the equation that changes everything. To be more accurate, you are not a factor; you are a variable. You can change, and we do it all the time!
The idea that we have no choice in what our future holds is possibly the most destructive doctrine in the world. No amount of sophisticated argument or so-called objective reality can be allowed to doom us to predetermined destiny. If the scholar’s reasoning were indeed fact, there could be no deviation and no exceptions. But there are exceptions, and they happen every day.
God gave Adam and Eve their agency. Indeed agency is the key to existence itself. Consider this from Doctrine and Covenants 93:29-30 “Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.”
I hope I have presented the argument that convinced you that you can change, perhaps to prevent you from falling like David or Solomon, or conversely, to repenting like Saul of Tarsus or Alma the younger.
Who are we, really?
I am not going to focus on the obvious here, other than to say we are the children of a living God. The question is: Can we fully understand the facts implied in such a statement? The number of things we don’t know about ourselves far outweighs the things we do comprehend.
Can we predict how we will act in a given situation until we arrive there? King David didn’t. Maybe if he had played out the scenario in his mind when in a more spiritual state, things would have been different. When it comes to us, I don’t believe it is possible, or even that productive, to play out every possible scenario in our minds and make preemptive choices. However, if we can develop a healthy concept of who we are in relation to the world around us, we can immunize ourselves to toxic and destructive ideas and practices.
Understanding yourself is a life-long process, and the concepts involved should be our primary focus. Learning from others’ mistakes is valuable but learning from our own is crucial. Evaluating your strengths and weaknesses is an essential part of self-discovery. Pay close attention to the compliments and criticism you receive, both of which can move you forward in this quest. Pay close attention to the inspiration and revelations that come into your heart and mind because our loving Heavenly Father is interested in giving us clues to our true identity as we can handle them.
Here is what I think about understanding yourself: If you can discover who you are, you will discover who God is, and if you can discover who God is it will reveal who you really are.
Conclusion
Sometimes we harshly judge the actions of others, either through the lens of history or with our imperfect understanding of a given situation. We know so little about them that such judgment is appalling. Who do we think we are?