The second of a seven part series.  See 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Chapter two of ‘Eternal Man’ has to do with the our origins. Joseph Smith taught that man as a primal intelligence is eternal. The spirit-elements that compose man’s Divinely-sired spirit and the matter-elements that compose the body are also eternal. The destiny of these elements are to be inseparably connected throughout eternity.

 Some elements of these ideas are indeterminate, but Madsen provides four characterizations:

 Individuality – Man is never wholly identified with any other being, nor is he the product of nothing.
Autonomy – The self is free to act for itself.
Consciousness – There is no inanimate intelligence or unconscious mind.
Capacity – All minds and spirits are susceptible of enlargement.

Few of us realize how radical these ideas are. They are staggering. They challenge both established religious dogma and leading secular viewpoints. Madsen offers these implications:

The quantity of souls is fixed and infinite.
There is no beginning to us.
Mind has no birthday.
No one is older or younger than anyone else.
We have always been separate from, and coexistent with other intelligences.
Creation is never totally original.
Immortality is not conditional – it is inevitable and universal.
Death does not destroy the self.
Suicide is just a change of scenery.
No self can change completely into another thing.
No one will ever lose their mind or consciousness.
Nothing is something we never were and never will be.

Contrasting Views

 Orthodox Christendom

 In traditional Christianity man is derived from nothing and is completely contingent on creation ex nihilo by the fiat act of God. Everything except God is derived from total non-being. Hence, God is directly responsible for all that man is and does. Calvin faced this inevitable consequence squarely. He denied all freedom, asserting that all acts were the acts of God. Others have held that God created man (from nothing) for His own purposes, yet man is still (somehow) responsible for his salvation.

 Madsen summarizes that within orthodox Christianity:

Creation is the absolute and mysterious act of God
Free will is denied or foreshortened
Consciousness and enlargement opportunities are focused on mortality

 Existentialism

 In existentialism, man is derived from nothing, is now almost nothing, and is destined to be nothing. Creation is a mystery of self-creation, freedom is absolute and within the limits of ‘being’. Consciousness is agony and enlargement is meaningless. In the ‘big picture’ life can be nothing but pessimistic. It is religion of much nothing and nothing much.

 Humanism

 In humanism man comes from something, and returns to something. This something is nothing more than dust which is almost nothing. Man is to the cosmos what a train whistle is to a train. The origins of man are explained by a blend of Darwin and microbiology. Mind is an accident and will soon return to matter. Creation is a shifting of molecules. Freedom is a term for our ignorance in the causes that determine us.

 Conclusion

 If Mormonism is true, than the positions on the origins of man provided by orthodox Christianity, existentialists, and humanists are all false. The question is not ‘to be or not to be?’, because no one can choose to be or not to be. Everyone simply and eternally is – an individual, free, conscious, and enlargeable. ‘Nothing’ is not the source of, a threat to, or the destiny of man.

 The real question is ‘to become more or not to become more?’. This view presents the best and inescapable need for God and a Savior. Since what we become is largely the product of our own choices, and not the absolute creation of God, the need for a Savior is more clear.

 I agree with Madsen so far on all of this. I am not sure about the number of souls being both fixed and infinite, but I suppose that is one of the indeterminate aspects of this line of thought. But I really like the part about how this view supports a belief in free will/free agency, and presents the absolute need for a savior so clearly.