Two Circles

I listened to a thought-provoking talk by Elder Bruce C. Hafen today from many years ago.  He made the observation that “there is a kind of gap between the real and the ideal—between what is and what ought to be.”  He continued by explaining, “To illustrate, I ask you to picture in your mind two circles, one inside the other.  The inner boundary is the real, or what is; the outer boundary is the ideal, or what ought to be.  We stand at the inner boundary, reaching out, trying to pull ourselves closer to the ideals to which we have committed ourselves.”  This gap between the real or what we experience on a day to day basis and the ideal we strive for and the gospel promises can cause us problems if we don’t have the proper perspective about the circles.  He talked about the different ways that people deal with this “ambiguity” between the real and the ideal.  The Optimist is the one who essentially pretends there are no problems in the “real” circle and that everything lives up to the ideal.  The Pessimist is the opposite; he only sees what is on the “real” circle and is cynical of everything beyond that.  Our challenge is to not go to either extreme but to be able to face both the real problems of life while still working towards and believing in the ideals of the gospel and its promises. 

                I think we have a few examples in the scriptures of those who had to face this “ambiguity” of the gospel where the present circumstances didn’t seem to match the ideal.  For example, I think this is what Lehi must have felt when he was with his family traveling through the desert and they could obtain no food.  His children and grandchildren were starving, their weapons for killing animals had broken, and they were stranded in the desert.  The Lord had promised him a new land, and yet that promise was far in the future.  Nephi told us that in this difficult situation, “my father began to murmur against the Lord his God” (1 Nephi 16:20).  He let the overwhelming challenges blur his vision so that for a short time he only saw the inner “real” circle.  Another prophet who surely faced this kind of gospel ambiguity was Job.  Here was a “perfect” man and yet the Lord let him lose just about everything, even if it was in the grand scheme of things only a temporary loss.  Job must have wondered during the hardships why the ideal the Lord promised was suddenly so different from what he was experiencing.

                Jacob was certainly one in the Book of Mormon who was able to see the ideal of the plan of salvation and focus on that.  And yet I have to wonder if his unexpected comment at the end of his writing came from temporarily focusing too much on the “real” circle: “We being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days” (Jacob 7:26).  Their situation was surely difficult given their relationship to the Lamanites, and perhaps he turned into a little too much of a “realist” in that moment instead of keeping the focus of the gospel and eternal blessings. 

                Elder Hafen suggested that we need to be an “improver” to be able to deal with the ambiguity of our lives.  We strive for the ideals of the gospel by continually improving on the problems of reality—we don’t deny the difficulties we face but we don’t let them prevent us from continuing to seek the “ideal” circle.  No matter what challenges we must pass through in our mortal journey, we can keep our eyes fixed on the gospel as we work through our daily actions.  Our attitude must be like Moses’s, who acknowledged, “Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed”—the realist side—but who also stated firmly to the adversary: “I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him” (Moses 1:10, 18).  We have to live in reality and recognize the gaps that exist between mortality and eternity, and yet we can still stay focused upon calling on God and ever seeking to regain His presence.