Last night in my leadership class, we discussed the things that motivate people to act. We began with the list of six basic reasons that motivate people but extended it into a larger discussion. See, these things are not bad in and of themselves. We're after all not talking about people who act because they are feckless followers, because they like killing, or because they hate everyone.
Whenever I discuss politics with people, they either agree with my principles or attack people. You will hear them attack millionaires and billionaires, which is of course a policy based on envy. It presumes that the millionaires and billionaires don't deserve it, that other people do, that the people who have things have them because they committed crimes. Such people then justify crimes as a means to make things 'equal'. Why do they care?
There are three basic levels of motivation. There are people, like those just mentioned, who meddle with others. For them it is not sufficient to pursue their own happiness. They have a plan; they know better; and by hook or by crook you will arrive at the same place by the same means or else. Above that, there is an attitude of motivation to elevate yourself. This is not inherently bad. It's why people learn to play instruments, go to school, work out at the gym, etc. They're interested in becoming better people, sometimes because they can, sometimes to be able to look down on others, and sometimes to serve. Becoming a better person can be a good thing. Finally, the highest plane of motivation is to serve and elevate others. Here, you use what you have to range throughout the earth and bless everyone with whom you come in contact. That is noble.
Our problem is when people in the lowest tier justify their behavior as if motivated by the same things in the highest. They claim noble aims for their actions on the auspices that they're doing good. In their crusade, they hurt other people, which was never part of Christ's plan. Such people think nothing of meddling in affairs that are none of their concern and over which they have zero authority. Furthermore, they criticize those who elevate themselves but who otherwise live and let live, as if self-mastery and self growth were necessarily negative by nature.
They forget one major lesson. Doing good things brings no reward. If it were that simple, to pray, attend church, read the scriptures, etc., then what need have we for a Savior? If you can ablate major transgressions over a long life with an untested however well-meant period of works at the end, why do we have long lives or penal codes? Every criminal who claims a reformation in prison cannot possibly mean it. Beware when people talk in sweeping tones of morality and christianity because they do not frequently mean it, but they know you do. They prey upon your guilt and your discomfort with your own state of grace to beat you down when they are not offended or affected by the same tactics. They have no principles. They have grievances.
When all is said and done, life will be about one thing and one thing only. Either there is no point, in which case nothing anyone says or things matters, because when we die we cease to matter, or there is. Since there is a point, and it is that we matter, we matter to someone. No matter how much we matter to our Creator, we are not as good as He, and hence none of us returns to His presence except by His grace. Our purpose is His, our lives are His, and our actions should be consistent with His. If we matter, the only motivation that matters is to serve our Creator and appeal to Him for grace because we are unclean no matter what we do.
Too often, we spend time trying to be good enough rather than being submissive enough. People in the lowest tier of motivation frequently remind us that nobody's perfect and then act as if they were. Our ideas suck; theirs are always awesome. In the end, they're not happy, and none of us will be as long as we run contrary to our natures to act in accordance with the principles and objectives for which our Creator first fashioned us. Unless you love people, you cannot help them. Until you love yourself, you cannot love others. Until you love others and truly serve them, the Atonement of Christ has no claim on you. We will not be saved by works. No man in the end will boast, and so the other motivators don't really matter. When you hear someone's plan, idea, proposal, opinion, testimony, etc., ask what their motivation is. We settle for "good enough" when it's possible to get what is best.
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