character.
In addition, what we say or do, either by ourselves or in the company of
others, also creates impressions that we carry with us forever, even if we are
not consciously aware of them. Of course, we can’t control the affections or
feelings with which other people receive our words and actions, but a little
rational thought and our own experience can be pretty good predictors.
In what we call the Ancient Church thousands of years ago people
therefore took great care to try to evaluate the states of those around them
– not to judge them as in any way inferior, but to identify their strengths and
weaknesses in order to be useful to them. In a pejorative sense today we would
call this “labeling,” bias or discrimination. But to those people it was part of the
process of being supportive.
We do the same thing when we provide “handicapped access” or
“affirmative action” legislation for specific minorities. The point is, if we can
see where a person or group has some specific need and we can accommodate
or provide for that need, then we all benefit, because they get a good experience
from us, and we get a good experience for ourselves by helping. These actions
build the foundation for eternal life.
We have to be careful, though, because most people don’t like to be told
what to do, and contrary to the appearance at times, most people don’t like to be
dependent on others. Furthermore, life is not primarily about the blessings of
this world, which are intended to provide for eternal life. So, when we think of
helping ourselves and others have a good experience of life we need to learn to
think as the people of the Ancient Church did, and use the time and resources
we have been