Communitas et Vanitas Vanitarum

For one who is by nature a sullen and solitary soul, who frets and fusses about every social engagement however so trivial, I have strangely been preoccupied with the concept of community in the past few months. Difficult thought I find socializing and human interaction (see my prior essay, "On Human Insufferability"), I have come to believe it is essential to health, happiness, and even to salvation.

I have come to believe that there was more than chance behind the founders of Christianity selecting the word "ekklesia" for their community. Ekklesia means "an assembly," or a type of exclusive community. Paul refers again and again to the ekklesia of Smyrna or of Rome or any one of the various early communities. He is referring to real communities of believers who were one in heart and mind and, for a time in the Acts, in substance. Church, I might add, comes also from Greek from the word Kyrios, meaning Lord. It referred to the building belonging to the Lord (in Greek: kyricos) and eventually became the Germanic Kirche and the English Church (and Kirk in Scotland).

Returning to my theme. I believe now that community is what church is to be; not a mere gathering of individual and separate souls, but a real communion of souls. That is the ideal to which we so rarely arrive. We are all striving together toward a common goal: perfection. We will not obtain in this lifetime, but the Atonement of Christ and His mercy and grace afforded thereby, bring us over the chasm that separates us from God and gives us the chance to become as He is.

This belief in the necessity of community, for what else is Zion if not a community, has some very real effects on our attitudes and behaviors. Joseph Smith once said that he was not perfect, but that as he was merciful to others in their infirmities, he expected the Saints to be merciful to him in his weaknesses, thus lifting up the whole community together. My experiences with roommates have taught me that forgiveness and tolerance and the related virtues of mercy and love, are essential for a community to live together in peace. The lo and behold! We find these are some of the very virtues most stressed by the scriptures.

Related to mercy and forgiveness is confession. Confession, being an aspect of repentance, is therefore essential for salvation, but I submit that it is essential, too, for health and for community. It is interesting that so many of the commandments require social interaction. One cannot love thy neighbor without socializing with your neighbor. You cannot forgive as we are commanded without a neighbor. You cannot help the needy, visit the sick and the fatherless, pray for struggling souls, or forgive the sinner, without socializing. In fact, I am hard pressed to find any commandment that applies to a solitary person isolated from society. Even the commandments to pray and read the scriptures include injunctions to pray and read together and we have already seen that to fulfill the basic commandments of the Article 4 of the Articles of Faith, all require other people.

This brings me back to confession. Most people have a slightly negative view of confession and, indeed, of repentance generally, viewing it as something you do when you mess up. This makes it seem a type of punishment rather than a mercy. Confession, I believe now, applies not just to sins, but to all the secret burdens and even temptations that have not yet led to sin. How much better would the world be if people did not hide their weaknesses and mistakes, but shared them openly with friends and family and could thus be helped in overcoming these very problems. Two scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants make this clear. One is in D&C 121 which states that the Spirit withdraws when a man seeks to cover up his sins. The second one - and I forget off hand the reference - states that you know a man has repented when he confesses. In my life, I find that when I have truly dealt with a problem, I find the burden of talking about with loved ones far easier. It is the duty of all 0f us to bear with our friends' and loved ones' infirmities and weaknesses, to strengthen them where they are weak, to restrain judgment knowing that we, too, have a beam in our eye, and to forgive and love them always.

How many despairing souls weighed down not only with sin, but also with illness, financial worries, loneliness, and so many other burdens for which they have no fault, could be comforted and helped to thrive. Depression may not be a sin in and of itself, but it prevents us from partaking fully of the blessings of the spirit and of the community and is therefore damning in every sense of the word. We need each other. We need mercy, tolerance, forgiveness, forbearance, understanding, faith, compassion, and, most importantly, love.