Sociality...is it good or bad? By definition, sociality is the interaction between individuals in a community or group. But is this necessarily good? Well, by human nature, we seek companionship. We go about trying to be friendly to others so that we can gain appreciation from those people. It allows us to socialize with each other to find out what troubles somebody might be going through, and be able to serve those people in order to help them with those troubles. This is the good in sociality. But what about the bad part? When we socialize, we put trust in those that we meet in order to establish a friendship, but it doesn't take care of those people that would take advantage of those relationships. We may put trust in a person over time to the point of being their best friend, and then being betrayed and finding out they were only using you.
Sociality enables us to become better by interacting with other people, but leaves us open to severe emotional injury. In D&C 88:90, it says,"And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds." In this verse, God is saying that his voice has been in each of these things. Have you ever noticed that human beings can never fully unite in a time of peace, but once there's a common disaster they unite in bonds of friendship. Take WW II for example. We Allied Nations joined together to eliminate the common threat which was Germany. When the earthquakes of 2010 happened, the countries of the world united to bring relief to those who had been affected. God gives us these horrifying things to overcome to help us all to unite. So, does this mean that God wants us to be sociable? Yes. He has said so many times throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and D&C. "Be kind to your neighbor" and "serve your neighbor" are two of the many statements that He has made about us being sociable. And yet how do we avoid trusting those nations and people that would use us to their advantage?
Well, after having watched the TV series Lie to Me, I've picked up on some of the subtle tendencies that a person has when they are being deceptive. But, people can be deceptive without even trying and manifest no such tendencies. So how are we supposed to tell? Only God would know, and so we must ask him if we are to know if that person is a true friend, or if they are trying to deceive us.
Perhaps God wants us to be their friend even if they are trying to deceive us. Consider Matthew 5:39–42, 44
ReplyDelete…whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would bborrow of thee turn not thou away…. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
And Luke 6:27–30
Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
Sounds to me like even if you know they'll try to take advantage of you, sometimes it's more important to still be their friend and use that friendship to influence them for good.