Guest Blogger: Love One Another

Love One Another

In Leo Tolstoy’s final major novel, Resurrection, the repentant Prince Nekhlyudov muses:

“Men think there are circumstances when one may deal with human beings without love. But there are no such circumstances. We may deal with things without love – we cut down trees, make bricks, hammer iron without love – but we cannot deal with men without it … love is the fundamental law of human life.” (Tolstoy, Resurrection, Oxford World’s Classics 1999 edition, p. 383).

Far too often, we view another person as less than fully human. Perhaps, in the course of a political debate, an opponent falls from humanity to the lowly species of whichever party we happen to oppose. Perhaps an annoying coworker becomes classified in our mind as an irritant, an object which we wish would simply not exist in our life. Perhaps we feel obliged to publicly separate ourselves from an immature acquaintance, lest their social ineptitude reflect negatively on our own status.

Whenever we downgrade someone in such a manner, it is obvious that we might hurt that person. It is initially less obvious that we will also hurt ourselves. As Terry Warner has written, “who we are is how we are in relation to others.” (Bonds That Make Us Free, 41). When we treat any human being as less than fully human, we inevitably devalue all humanity – including our own.

On the other hand, when we love and serve those around us by treating them as fully human – as brothers and sisters – then our own humanity, in the fullest sense of the word, will grow. As Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught in the April 2010 LDS General Conference:

“As we extend our hands and hearts toward others in Christlike love, something wonderful happens to us. Our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger. We become happier, more peaceful, and more receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.”

The prophet Mormon prayed “that when [Christ] shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (Moroni 7:48) – like him, for He sees us as we are. To fulfill that prayer, we must learn to “see as [we] are seen, and know as [we] are known” (D&C 76:94). Each person in our life – each of His, and our, brothers and sisters – must become as real to us, as worthy of love, as they are to Him. This will demand an infinite expansion of our heart and soul, and may require an eternity to complete. Thankfully, such eternal life is within reach through the Atonement of the One who has already completed the journey. We can begin to live that eternal life now, as our hearts are softened by His Atonement and we see and love others, day by day, as He sees and loves them – as He loves us.

BC