Terry Warner, BYU Professor of philosophy and founder of the Arbinger Institute, told BYU-Hawaii students that the many differences and divisions that separate all people "are not what the Lord wants for us."
"In every group of civilized people there are rankings or separations," Warner said at the College of Arts & Sciences University Seminar on March 30. "We feel a division between the generations, or between us and other sub-cultures, or between ourselves and those who seem more successful. These separations might be called culture."
Being put into distinguishing classes "enables us to feel better about ourselves," he said. "Identifying with such markers or emblems of importance...helps us feel approved, worthwhile. It's true in every culture. These identities help us feel like we belong. It's also a form of extreme self-absorption. We can't stop worrying about ourselves as long as our cultures are so important to us. So we're divided from each other."
"While we're striving to be so associated with each other, we're also very much alone," Warner said. "Based on the Book of Mormon, these rankings are offensive to God."
He stressed the Lord would have us unite with other people and be of one heart even as the Son is one with the father, or "of one heart and one mind" as Enoch described the people of Zion. "It's difficult to comprehend such a close unity."
"As we become closer to God, we become closer to each other. As we draw away, we divide from each other and feel more alone," he added, pointing out that Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist atheist, wrote: "Hell is other people."
"The righteous don't think that way, but the insecure do. We seek approval from those who are most like us. We want to blend in with others. It's a desperate game we play."
"We would be lost if we were only products of our culture. We would never be able to divest ourselves of where we came from."
Warner recommended the book, 'And There Was Light' by Jacques Luiseranne, in which a boy was blinded: At first he was disoriented, but then he realized he could see an inner light. "He could sense the presence of other people and how pure they were. He believed this light came from God," Warner said.
"If he became angry or confused, the light would go out. So he said, I learned the value of heeding the light. As I would go inward and hearken to that light, I would be more open outwardly to the world."
Warner explained the Savior helps us focus on the light while escaping "the bondage of our culture."
Citing the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, a contemporary of Joseph Smith, Warner said, "We are taught to measure ourselves by the standards of other people. We learn to define ourselves and strive to be what others expect us to be. You have to encounter ideals somewhere in your social experience to have them."
"If we live according to their ways, we may think we are free; but, in fact, we are only living out their script," he said. "But if we're living before God, he says, then we can be liberated...and we will strive not to be a false self. We will be free."
Warner added it's only through the Savior that we become truly free. "Your life is forever changed when you meet the Christ. Being in the presence of one so perfectly pure brings us to a halt. There are only two ways to respond. One is to follow him: ministering to the poor and serving all alike."
"If we don't, there's only one option, and that's to resist him," Warner said, "and not give your heart the way he did."
"His is the path that enables us to free ourselves from human judgment. We don't have to be like other people. We can follow the light. When we do this, then we too are filled with light."
He shared the following example of a Latter-day Saint woman teaching English in China who agreed not to talk about the gospel: "One of her students said, whenever you come into our class, there is light. Where does that come from? She said, I cannot say. All I can say is I love you."
"When we become like the Savior, we will become focal points for other people," Warner said. "When we and they follow that light before God, then we will be united in a perfect unity."
"I've been impressed lately not just with the importance of trying not to commit sin...but of the importance of taking the initiative and diligence to follow the Christ as early as possible in our lives. There isn't anything else that matters. All else will be given to us, and it will have the right proportions," he added.
"If we follow Him with this energy, desiring righteousness... our minds will be enlarged. We will open up as human beings."