The Compass

In his book 10 Great Souls I Want to Meet in Heaven, S. Michael Wilcox used an analogy of a compass (the kind one employs to draw circles) to discuss the way we should seek for truth and goodness in the world.  The compass has two ends, one which is fixed at the center of the circle, and the other which is extended, and the further it goes out the bigger the circle that can be drawn.  Brother Wilcox said that we likewise have a “spiritual compass” which has two “feet”, what he called the “fixed foot” and the “searching foot”.  He suggested that we must first find where to plant this fixed foot, saying, “It took a good measure of spiritual maturity for me to realize that the great question of mortality was not really to find the one true church among all the false ones; rather it was to discover where truth and goodness and beauty had reached their most mature form and plant my fixed foot there. That is the critical starting point: Where will we place the fixed foot of our life’s compass? There can be no true or complete circle without a center.” 

 As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we of course believe that this center point must be Jesus Christ and His atonement and teachings, and that the best access we have to those teachings has come to us through the Restoration of the gospel in these latter days.  We must be firmly planted in the “rock of our Redeemer” and the ordinances of the gospel available through the Priesthood as we set our compass in this life.  But that is not where we stop searching.  Brother Wilcox then said this, “Placing the fixed foot is only half the task, not the whole of life’s journey: We would draw the circle. We have another foot to consider—what will we do with the searching foot?  Unfortunately, too many religions and cultures do little with it, believing that their own particular fixed position contains the essential and only believable truth, goodness, and beauty. They draw a tiny circle surrounding their own position and feel comfortable with life.  Truth is too grand to be found in such small dimensions.  It is scattered around the world, God distributing his wonders as widely as the sower throwing grain.  God would have the harvest cover the whole field.  Light is given not only in the scriptures or through prophetic inspiration, but in multiple ways.  Our Father in Heaven is a light-giving God and dispenses it as widely as the stars.  I believe God anticipates that as Latter-day Saints we will circumscribe the largest circle we can.  May we become an inclusive as well as a discerning people” (quote from Wilcox, S. Michael (2012-11-12). 10 Great Souls I Want to Meet in Heaven (Kindle Locations 175-194). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition.)

                I love that analogy.  Because we know that God has called prophets who reveal His will and His word in these latter days, we may be tempted to disregard other religions or cultures in our quest for understanding and truth.  But the gospel in its broadest sense accepts all good and does not discriminate based on the source of truth.  In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord Himself invited us, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom”—note that He did not put any stipulation on where those books come from, only that they are “the best” (D&C 88:79).  We also are invited to seek all kinds of knowledge: “Things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms” (D&C 88:79).  Elsewhere the Lord also invited us to “Obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms”—those aren’t the kind of things we will generally find in the scriptures or in conference talks (D&C 93:53).  In the Book of Mormon the Lord condemned those who would reject latter-day revelation because they already had a Bible: “Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?... Because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another” (2 Nephi 29:7, 9).  We have to be careful that we don’t fall into the same trap saying, “A Book of Mormon! A Book of Mormon! We have got a Book of Mormon, and there cannot be any more Book of Mormon.”

                Perhaps Joseph Smith said it best: “Mormonism is truth; and every man who embraces it feels himself at liberty to embrace every truth….  The first and fundamental principle of our holy religion is, that we believe that we have a right to embrace all, and every item of truth, without limitation or without being circumscribed or prohibited by the creeds or superstitious notions of men, or by the dominations of one another, when that truth is clearly demonstrated to our minds, and we have the highest degree of evidence of the same” (see here).