Agency All The Way Down

By Matt

There is an apocryphal story in which a man is explaining his claim that the world rests on the back of a giant turtle. The more sophisticated listener incredulously questions the first man, “but what does that turtle stand on?” Not to be outwitted, the first man exclaims, “it’s no use. It’s turtles all the way down.” This old tale has given rise to sayings such as “turtles all the way down,” for problems of infinite regress or “the bottom turtle” for a foundational principle where there seemingly may not be one.

When it comes to the laws of heaven, I think that agency may be the most fundamental of them, the bottom turtle, if you will. I believe the whole of the plan of salvation has a perfect and fundamental respect for the agency of children of Elohim at its core.

Desire

The Book of Mormon records the prophet Alma the Younger providing individualized counsel to his three sons. To Helaman, the next keeper of the sacred records, Alma testified of his conversion to the Lord after a visit from an angel. See Alma Chapter 36. He also taught Helaman of the importance of sacred records and the danger of secret combinations. See Chapter 37. To the dutiful and mighty Shiblon, he also testified of his experience with the angel and followed it with advice tailored to Shiblon’s strengths and weaknesses. Alma 38.

To his third son, Corianton, Alma taught about desire and restoration through resurrection.

“I say unto thee, my son, that the plan of restoration is requisite with the justice of God; for it is requisite that all things should be restored to their proper order. Behold, it is requisite and just, according to the power and resurrection of Christ, that the soul of man should be restored to its body, and that every part of the body should be restored to itself. And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good. And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh. And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.” Alma 39:1-6.

What could be more fair than the system of divine justice described by Alma? At the end of the day, God gives us each what we want. More specifically, God gives each of us what we want most. Of course, although we are going to be restored to what we desired, good or evil, that does not mean that we are free to choose implications of our actions. Those who embrace their desires for evil may very well regret that decision ultimately.

Action Follows Desire

Our desire precedes our actions. Our actions are simply the manifestation of the weighing of our various desires. Ludwig Von Mises expressed this as well as can be done in his treatise Human Action.[1] In his explanation, watch for the inherent tradeoffs in one’s desires as they are manifested in the use of one’s agency.

Mises defines human action: “Human action is purposeful behavior. Or we may say: Action is will put into operation and transformed into an agency, is aiming at ends and goals, is the ego’s meaningful response to stimuli and to the conditions of its environment, is a person’s conscious adjustment to the state of the universe that determines his life.” P. 11. Furthermore, and very importantly, “[a]ction is not simply giving preference. Man also shows preference in situations in which things and events are unavoidable or are believed to be so. Thus a man may prefer sunshine to rain and may wish that the sun would dispel the clouds. He who only wishes and hopes does not interfere actively with the course of events and with the shaping of his own destiny. But acting man chooses, determines, and tries to reach an end. Of two things both of which he cannot have together he selects one and gives up the other. Action therefore always involves both taking and renunciation.” Page 12 (emphasis added). And, “[t]he ultimate goal of human action is always the satisfaction of the acting man’s desire.” Page 14.

Our desires are not so binary as simply desiring good or evil. The saying goes, “there are no solutions, only tradeoffs.” This, also, is articulated well by Mises when he writes:

“Acting man chooses between various opportunities offered for choice. He prefers one alternative to others.

“It is customary to say that acting man has a scale of wants or values in his mind when he arranges his actions. On the basis of such a scale he satisfies what is of higher value, i.e., his more urgent wants, and leaves unsatisfied what is of lower value, i.e., what is a less urgent want. There is no objection to such a presentation of the state of affairs. However, one must not forget that the scale of values or wants manifests itself only in the reality of action. These scales have no independent existence apart from the actual behavior of individuals. The only source from which our knowledge concerning these scales is derived is the observation of a man’s actions. Every action is always in perfect agreement with the scale of values or wants because these scales are nothing but an instrument for the interpretation of a man’s acting.” Page 94-95.

“Value is not intrinsic, it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment.”

“Neither is value in words and doctrines. It is reflected in human conduct. It is not what a man or groups of men say about value that counts, but how they act. The oratory of moralists and the pompousness of party programs are significant as such. But they influence the course of human events only as far as they really determine the actions of men.” Page 96.

So, the more operative issue is not just whether or not we want the good thing or the bad. We always want both to some degree or another. The pressure of mortality forces us each to choose which one we want most at the moment of decision. On some level, each of us desires pride and humility, laziness and industry, chastity and licentiousness. The greater desire will win out. It always does, by definition. But thereafter the atonement of Christ provides us with another set of choices: we get to choose between repentance and a continuation in sin. However, what is most important is that we always, always, make the decision that most conforms with our desires the moment the decision is made, given the means at our disposal.

In this sense, it is just to judge and restore each of us according to our desires, as those desires will be manifested in our choices as a matter of definition. God is merely giving us what we choose to pursue.

Thus, agency becomes the most fundamental law of the heavens. We all get what we want most. I believe it wise to continually, soberly examine our own desires. We can change them with the help of Christ. With conscious effort, we can feed that part that is in us all that desires to ascend to higher stations closer to our Father and Mother, and by so doing we can find strength in moments of weakness, where the scales of desire may tip away from the light if we are not careful. 

Discovering Desire

 We often cite the wisdom from premortal councils found in Abraham 3 when discussing the purpose of mortal life: “we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them . . .” Abraham 3:25. As noted above, the choices made in mortality will be a product of each person’s individual calculation of desire in the circumstances in which he finds himself. But beyond merely a test of obedience, this life is also about discovering and formulating our desires for good or evil. I believe this aspect of mortal life shows the profound respect our Heavenly Parents have for our agency. There is more to this life than a mere test of obedience followed by a permanent judgment.

Lehi’s sermon on agency to his son Jacob in 2 Nephi 2 illustrates this point. Lehi explains that “it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation.” 2 Nephi 2:11.

This need for opposition is not just true for the plan of salvation itself, but it is true for each of us individually. In the one sense, we can think of opposition as the collective acts of Satan as he attempts to frustrate God’s desire to see each of us ascend. In this sense, Satan opposes God, and Satan is the opposition. However, Lehi’s sermon develops a more abstract and conceptual understanding of opposition. In this second sense, opposition is not the collective acts of Satanic force but rather opposition is ontological; it is the very existence of choice on the most fundamental level. In other words, Lehi is saying that everything needs the ability to choose between good and evil, and without the ability to choose, it could only live a pointless existence. Thus, opposition is very ability to exercise agency so that our desires can be both discovered and manifested through purposeful, directed action.

This need to choose requires each of us to be placed somewhere where there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil:

“[T]here is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon. And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter. Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.” 2 Nephi 2:14-16.

I believe it fully justified to say that life in this world is not just about testing our obedience to God’s commandments, but discovering what we want most when choosing between good and evil. The implication of this is that God indeed sent people to earth to discover and pursue their desire for evil. But it could not have been any other way. Each of us must decide what we want for ourselves, and we could not have decided what we want for ourselves if we never left Father and Mother’s presence. The point of returning to heaven, as we say, is not to dwell with God; it is to be God. We could have dwelled with God indefinitely as His captives, but if we are not there by choice, it would destroy agency, as we would never have developed our own desires and ourselves as one who enters the celestial realm of his own accord, and not just to have amenities of a heavenly city showered upon us, but to be one who is capable of dwelling, and prefers to dwell, in eternal fire.

Lest I be reductive in all of this, I do not believe it is fair to say that each of us simply makes a choice between Christ and Satan in an all-or-nothing sense. I believe it takes many, many probations, creations, and eternal rounds to get where Christ is. It takes many choices at a time, receiving grace for grace, and we will be presented with the choices that are relevant for our current level of development and plan for ascension and further development. The tests only get more difficult as you ascend. But the more ascended ones come here in reliance on the grace of the Christ, and they are not the Peter Priesthoods and holy rollers you might expect. We return to this fallen, mortal state to continue our development in an environment that is tailor made to facilitate it, honing our desires as we struggle with opposition.

Single Probation Doctrine and Fear of Agency

Father and Mother’s fundamental and perfect respect for agency is yet another witness that single probation doctrine rests on an impoverished view of the plan of salvation. The view of the plan of salvation under the lens of single probation doctrine goes something like this: man is born into a fallen state in this world to be tested in a place of opposition; he succeeds by finding the true church, receiving its ordinances, and staying in the good graces of the institutional church; after he dies, at some point, in some way, Christ will transform him into a perfected God who will no longer desire to do evil and will be equal with our Father in Heaven, and this will take place outside of any fallen world, where his own agency is no longer a threat to him.

I submit that the person who embraces that view of salvation ultimately rejects his own agency. In that scenario, agency is something to be feared. Just don’t screw it up! Don’t risk those talents in the marketplace of your own desire; Christ is a harsh man who reaps where he never sowed! Above all else, keep your priesthood leaders happy, as they hold the keys to the gates of heaven and can literally nullify your essential covenants!

How can I say they think this? Because we all recognize that one mortal life is nowhere near enough time and effort to approach godhood. If one mortal life is all we get, then it follows that reaching heaven is merely the product of making a handful of positive choices (such as authoritative baptism and covenant making) and avoiding a panoply of negative choices, so that when we die we can lay claim to Christ’s grace and demand that He ultimately bridges the gap between our current state and that of the Father on our behalf. It’s just a matter of making covenants and doing nothing to negate them. Christ does the rest, and it’s outside of your agency.

There is so much more to it than that. God respects our agency too much to plan for our salvation in that manner. Much has been written about the path to godhood taking many probations. A full analysis of that is beyond the scope of this essay, and probably beyond my capabilities anyways.[2] But I will share a few thoughts.

Some have argued that the truth of multiple probations negates the need for, and proper veneration of, a Savior. This is nonsense and could not be farther from the truth. I believe the person with this thought is still clinging to the concept that obtaining salvation is about “doing it right.” This person sees multiple probations as unlimited mulligans where one can come back and try to live the one, correct life that produces salvation, the “magic wand” scenario described above. This is not the purpose of the gift of multiple probations, as merely living a good life, or even a perfect life, is not what makes one God.

The gift of multiple probations is about growing line upon line, precept upon precept, receiving grace for grace, body upon body, and Christ upon Christ. It is about exploring and refining our desires so that we may grow in capacity. All of this is only possible because of the grace and merits of Christ. It would simply not be possible without Christ, as we would be hopefully lost without Him. Our negative karma would never leave us. Growth would never be possible. And we would be hopeless subjects of Satan’s kingdom for all eternity. Christ is at the center of each line, each precept, each hope, and each grace of each and every probation. Anything and everything good is because of Him. He is the reason why would we go down in the first place, and the reason we may ascend at the end.

Why, then, does the gift of multiple probations show greater respect for our agency? Joseph Smith said the following in the King Follett Sermon:

“Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.” Source here.

As Joseph explains it, the agency of the person ascending is the primary driver of this person’s growth. “You have got to learn how to be gods yourselves.” This will be facilitated through the atoning grace of the Christ. But He does not have the desire, and perhaps not even the capacity, to force it on you. What would be the point? The school of exaltation is one we are permitted to drop out of at any point, and it is one where the path to ascend as far as our desires take us is paved by the Gods who came before us. Our desire, manifested by our God-given capacity to choose, is what will determine our state in the eternities.

Contrast this to Isaiah’s account of Lucifer’s pride: “How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14. It appears that Lucifer had the same desire that we all do. We all want to ascend to the station of our Father. That is what the LDS church promises it delivers in its temples. Then where did Lucifer sin? If his desire to ascend is typical, it must have been in the means by which he wanted to ascend. Lucifer wanted to ascend by some other route than offered by Christ. Christ told us the means by which He ascended: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” John 5:19. Lucifer wanted God’s throne, but without God’s works. The fact of ascension is worthless without the proper means, as Joseph said, “the same as all gods have done before you.” Anyone promising God’s throne without God’s works preaches the doctrine of Lucifer.

Remember His Respect for Your Agency

One of my favorite New Testament stories illustrates the way God fundamentally respects our agency. Luke records the story this way in chapter 18:

35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:

36 And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

38 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

39 And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,

41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

42 And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.

43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

The question Jesus posed to this blind man is a peculiar one. Here is this blind man crying out to the Savior, “have mercy on me!” You don’t have to be a God to know exactly what it is this blind man wanted from Jesus. Yet Jesus approaches him and asks, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” I like to imagine the look on the blink guy’s face, perhaps total bewilderment, glancing side to side as if to say, “are . . . are you serious? Hey guys, I can’t see, is He serious?”

Of course, he wanted to see! But his invitation to the Savior was a very general one. “Have mercy on me!” “Sure, but what do you want me to do?” I look at this exchange as a lawyer, and I can understand exactly why the Savior would follow up with a question for a more specific request. The statement “have mercy on me” is so general as to be essentially meaningless. The Savior could have accepted the invitation and shown him mercy in any number of ways. He could have forgiven his sins, comforted his heart, given him strength to carry on life in blindness, bought him a house, punched his enemies, or given him a seeing eye dog. Any of these would have fulfilled the requested for a measure of mercy. Imagine a contract in which one party can fulfill it’s duties by “having mercy” on the other party. There is almost no way to breach it. It’s without any serious meaning.

The Savior was more interested in the blind man’s desires and asked him to articulate them more specifically prior to bestowing a blessing of mercy on him. In other words, the Savior wanted to give the blind man more control over what the Savior gave to him. That is why, I believe, the Savior asked what appears to be almost a silly question when He asked what he wanted from Him.

I have a few practical thoughts about this story:

• We can and should more actively ponder what it is we want for ourselves. We should closely examine our desires. What do we really want most, and what are we willing to give up to obtain it? Let’s root out vain and unproductive desires and focus more on what we need to fulfill the measure of our creation, both in the probation in which we find ourselves and as a child of God more broadly.
• We can pray more specifically for God’s help in obtaining what we want. Consider the prayer, “Father, bless me to have a good day today.” I have prayed this many times. What does that even mean? Is that prayer more about asking God to override your agency than it is about willfully seeking out something godly? How does a God who respects your agency answer that prayer? How is a “good day” a means to your ultimate ends? Would a different prayer allow God to intervene more in your life without compromising His respect for your agency?
• There must be some benefit to us more specifically articulating our desired intervention from God. I have no doubt that Jesus knew the blind man wanted to see. I have no doubt everyone there knew it. There must be some benefit to the blind man saying it. My guess would be that it has to do with the formulation of thought intent in the blind man himself. As children of Elohim, we have a very powerful capacity to create the reality we want to a greater extent than we realize. I believe that by narrowing his request from “have mercy on me” to “Lord, that I may receive my sight,” the blind man formulated thought intent that facilitated the blessing he sought from the Savior. I have had a similar experience in confronting demons and other evil entities. The stronger they are, the more specific of thought intent I have had to muster to cast them out. I believe the same may hold true when seeking angelic blessings. The more we train our consciousness onto an issue, the more likely we are to find it. I believe this process also helps us to more perfectly conform our will to Father’s, and not just to abandon our will in the hope that Father will always tell us what to do.

Conclusion

The business of salvation and damnation all grow out of a fundamental respect for our own agency. If anyone desires evil things, God permits that person to seek out and grow in evil. Likewise, if you desire the things of God, God will help you go “from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.”

Whenever I consider any of the mysteries of God, I find greater clarity in asking how any particular claim or doctrine would show a perfect respect, fundamental for man’s agency, especially in the larger sense of exaltation and damnation. I do not see this life as a short test that mysteriously and magically makes one God for not screwing it up. I do not believe God has ever intended to ultimately save us from our own tendency to choose evil. Rather, through the merits and grace of Jesus Christ, I see this life as an opportunity to find growth in a state of opposition, little by little, according to our own desires and our own agency, just like the Gods before us did and the Gods after us will.  

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[1] This book is available free online, including an audio version, from the Mises Institute. I highly recommend it. The citations here are from the 2008 print version from the Mises Institute.   

[2] Alaris’ blog, Lord of the Seraphim, has some great insights here. Click the tab on the top left and look at the list of articles on the Seven Levels of Mankind.