"United Consent or Voice of the Order"

As a Latter-day Saint, I have found two passages from the Doctrine and Covenants particularly soul-distressing over the past few years:

“But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.”

“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.”

Recently, I have watched with dismay, and sometimes with horror, as elements of the global financial industry, certain government policies, and associated oppressive forces prey upon my brothers and sisters both near and far. Increasingly, victims of recent financial-turned-economic-turned-political catastrophes in both rich and poor countries have become the favorite targets for blame and increased exploitation and degradation. The consequences of recklessness and plundering have been forced upon the working poor, the unemployed, the recently laid-off, pension funds, retirement accounts, education savings, living wages, and my child's future, all while for-profit financial institutions and large multinational corporations have returned to record profits without creating the employment that is said to follow such recapitalization.

I have found it increasingly difficult to ignore the unambiguous, repeated, and damning revelations regarding material wealth, its unequal distribution, and its use in maintaining a global status quo that fosters tyrannical control through deceit and violence. The former passage from the D&C above is one of many recorded by the Prophet Joseph Smith wherein is recounted a clear condemnation of material inequality and sustained, generational poverty. Despite the claims of well-intentioned friends and self-described foes alike, the Doctrine and Covenants does not (nor does the New Testament or the Book of Mormon) demand only ostensibly equal “rights” for all, but rather unambiguously requires material equality among God's children on earth: "Why does the world 'lie in sin'"? Because some “possess that which is above another,” and either do little to resist that circumstance, or actively promote it.

This scripture is not an outlier. Despite the fact that we Latter-day Saints (myself included) may be prone to brushing over them or dismissing them as having only been historically relevant, the D&C is simply awash in passages and entire Sections devoted to principles of material equality and solidarity with the poor.

Don't believe me?

“And you are to be equal, or in other words, you are to have equal claims on the properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just—And all this for the benefit of the church of the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, that every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundred fold, to be cast into the Lord's storehouse, to become the common property of the whole church— Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God. This order I have appointed to be an everlasting order unto you, and unto your successors, inasmuch as you sin not. And the soul that sins against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against it, shall be dealt with according to the laws of my church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption.”

“And let every man deal honestly, and be alike among this people, and receive alike, that ye may be one, even as I have commanded you.”

“Nevertheless, in your temporal things you shall be equal, and this not grudgingly, otherwise the abundance of the manifestations of the Spirit shall be withheld.”

“That you may be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things. For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things.”

“But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them; And are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom; And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.”

“And let him lift up his voice long and loud, in the midst of the people, to plead the cause of the poor and the needy; and let him not fail, neither let his heart faint; and I will accept of his offerings, for they shall not be unto me as the offerings of Cain, for he shall be mine, saith the Lord.”

These (and many, many others) are not conjectures of the Prophet Joseph, nor of succeeding prophets and apostles, but the revealed word of the Lord. And, of course, they do not stand alone in Holy Writ: Old Testament history (including especially the accounts of the people of Enoch found in the Pearl of Great Price), New Testament commandments from Christ's mouth and practices of the former-day saints, and precedents throughout the Book of Mormon (especially following the visitation of the post-mortal Messiah) are equally clear and binding. The fact that I have not been fully attendant to these commandments (despite the structural obstacles of politics, economics, and social and cultural practices I cite to excuse myself) does not make them any less prophetic, eternal, or obligatory. I humbly suggest that there might be others of my faith (as well as undoubtedly many other faiths) who feel themselves under the same condemnation and divine appeals. (My sampling from LDS-oriented blogs and forums over the past few years would seem to confirm as much.)

Which brings me to my second point, which is that of the second passage at the beginning of this post, and, in fact, the central purpose of this blog:

I want to live the United Order. Now.

No, I don't want to usurp or portend a prophetic mantle (I sustain President Thomas S. Monson as the prophet). No, I don't consider myself better, more righteous, more Christian, or more advanced than any of my LDS or non-LDS brothers and sisters. No, I don't want to found an armed survivalist militia or a polygamous splinter group in the mountains. No, I don't claim any special knowledge of or role in end-times happenings. I have simply read the revealed word of the Lord, like any other person is able to do, and believe that my personal lifestyle is not (or might soon not be) in harmony with the unambiguous Christian requirement that I not rest until (1) the poverty around me is eliminated, (2) the fatal poverty I've observed around the world cannot be said to be sustained by my actions, and (3) I am allowed to have “all things in common” within a voluntary, democratic, participatory, cooperative, and properous United Order community. I do not believe that I must wait to be “commanded” or “compelled in all things”; in fact, I believe that such hesitancy on my part would constitute an offense to God. Rather, I want to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [my] own free will.” Indeed, when Brother Brigham encountered such reservations about the timing and viability or the United Order, he replied that “The Lord Almighty has not the least objection in the world to our entering into the Order of Enoch.”

This blog is the digital platform upon which I hope to build a consensus among like-minded families and individuals who are interested in founding a real, tangible, healthy, happy United Order family somewhere on this abundant earth that has been provided for us. Though I am tempted to enumerate some ideas or guide the direction which I would like this endeavor to take, my experiences in life and my firm commitment to deliberative democracy and participation make me hesitate to do so in this initial posting.

Thus, let it suffice for me to say the following:

I am fully aware of the audacity of such an undertaking. Audaciousness, however, is no excuse for what I perceive to be disharmony in my own life towards the revealed will of the divine and the exemplary life of Jesus Christ recorded in scripture. Nevertheless, I propose to move forward with a seemingly paradoxical modesty, rooted in a gradual but forward-looking approach, a sense of humor and enjoyable fulfillment, hard work, and a discernment between what is necessary, justifiable, and ennobling in this mortal life, and what is distracting, degrading, wasteful, and exploitative.

I bring to the table very little, in terms of capital investment, except, perhaps, the “human capital” (a phrase with which I am supremely uncomfortable) associated with having (nearly) earned a Ph.D. in the social sciences and the future lifestyle and income that such a certificate is supposed to license me and my family in our contemporary society. I have been greatly blessed by having had the opportunity to live in a number of different countries and visit many more in the course of my childhood, adolescence, and college-aged years; I suppose this had made me somewhat sensitive to (1) the severe and increasing inequalities within and between societies and (2) to the great and inspiring diversity of socio-economic and political configurations that resist such inequality and poverty. I served a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have (nearly) earned university degrees in three different countries (including, yes, Brigham Young University) with fieldwork in many others. Ultimately, of course, none of that has, in and of itself, qualified me or anyone else for anything in this life or the next; I recount it here, more, in order to set minds at ease that I approach this atypical undertaking from a generally “normal” Mormon, family-centered background.

I propose that anyone interested in the foundation of a United Order community begin contributing and proposing a set of constituent ideas and practices in a democratic and participatory fashion... a United Order Manifesto, as it were. Given the variety of Orders in operation during the tenure of the first few prophets of this dispensation and the statements by these same and subsequent leaders about the adaptability of “UO” policies, I propose we agree upon a set of principles that seem to be absolutely central to an Order community, and then work on definitive practices that will (1) flow from those principles and (2) be relevant to contemporary circumstances and challenges. Perhaps the “United Order Principles” identified by James Lucas and Warner Woodworth in their Working Towards Zion volume may serve as a basis for discussion. From there, we may want to consider worker (producer) and consumer (e.g. credit unions) cooperatives (as existed, in part, among the rapidly industrializing Saints gathered to 19^th century Utah and environs and that continue to flourish in the Basque country of Spain and the Emilia-Romagna province of Italy), the pooling of capital and investment (though not necessarily personal) resources, alternative and local currencies, ethically-based trade/supply networks, earth-sustaining forms of industry and development, the role of educational and artistic elements within communities, affordable housing and living, sustainable and natural agriculture, etc.

One final note: throughout this process, I envision a multiplicity of opinions, suggestions, and comments. The moderators of this blog will not, however, tolerate forms of hate speech or religious intolerance, personal attacks, explicitly degrading remarks, or assertions about the hell-bound course of any person or group whether religious in nature or political-economy based (e.g. “socialism,” “capitalism,” “communism,” etc.). Individuals, not social systems or religions, bring condemnation upon themselves by their actions in relation to the divine and to their sisters and brothers. If a particular course is believed to lead towards problematic societal or personal outcomes, such can be stated in helpful, constructive, specified, delimited, and contextualized terms, and all are free to engage or disengage with this process as they see fit. Having spent years investigating a number of questions that I believe will inevitably arise, I can say that it would be supremely possible to cite a scriptural passage or a General Authority quote to ostensibly support or refute nearly any “economic system” when we speak in broad, unspecified, and ideological terms. Rather than play this circular and regressive game, let's be engaged in finding inspiring and pragmatic community solutions to the problems of on-going poverty, pride, hunger, coercion, illiteracy, discrimination, abandonment, alienation, and the monopolization of power and resources. Let's build a democratic, gospel economy!

Anyone interested?...

P.S. As you have undoubtedly surmised, I am a relative novice in the blogosphere and even more so in the area of producing artistic material (i.e. my attempt above at representing some of the historical and contemporary institutions that I believe can be instrumental in United Order living [e.g. ZCMI, Orderville, open-source software, credit unions, etc.]). Advice, support, and the outright appropriation of some of these tasks by anyone sympathetic to this cause and blessed/experienced in the like is welcome!