Emotional experiences are necessary in
a well-ordered life. They break the monotony of the day; they give variety and
zest to life; they are impulses to action. They often determine the joy of
living. Emotional experiences are really necessary for complete living. Moreover,
emotional needs are among the strongest passions of mankind. They can not be
ignored with safety. Health and sanity depend measurably upon a well-ordered emotional
life. It may be said also that the normal emotions of man, unimpaired by the
false conventions of society and under intelligent control, are very safe
guides in life. The emotional behaviors of children and savages free from
acquired artificialities, are notably sound and correct. On the other hand, uncontrolled
emotions are misleading and generally dangerous.
Emotion is but another type of manifestation
of the interaction of the body and spirit, approaching nearer to the spiritual,
standing between the mental and spiritual phenomena of life. Admittedly, while
the emotions are real, necessary and powerful, their nature is not clearly understood,
and their exploration difficult. The essential consideration about them is that
they must be recognized, respected, fed and controlled.
The Church recognizes the existence and
place of emotions in human life, and seeks to supply the emotional needs of its
members. Historically it has always done so. Though on the pioneer fringe
during the first century of its history, it has always provided emotional help
to the men and women who were toiling to conquer the wilderness or the desert. (John
A. Widtsoe, Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Salt
Lake City: The Deseret News Press, 1937], 57-58)
Need of Explanations. The human mind naturally and properly seeks
to understand the reasons back of every experience or requirement of life.
Without such explanations man walks in semi-darkness, is unsatisfied, and may
more easily fall into evil. Reasonable answers must be found for the many
queries and problems of life. A religion which does not supply such explanations,
which has no acceptable philosophy, can lead men to happiness.
The philosophy of a religion unifies
the knowledge of that religion, that is, it shows the coherence under one
purpose or principle, of the many and apparently separate and sometimes contradictory
events of life which are the concern of religion. That is a fundamental necessity,
for without such unification, the countless manifestations of life, the
innumerable experiences of living, would overwhelm and confuse the mind. Events
and experiences are more easily comprehended when their relationships to one
another are understood and when it is made clear that all phenomena are but manifestations
of one reality. A sound religious philosophy must explain the phenomena of
life.
Based upon knowledge
and Reason. An acceptable
life philosophy must be based first upon man’s knowledge of the universe. The
more man knows the more comprehensive and certain will be his philosophy. Knowledge
thus used must be accurate and certain, so far as the senses of man and the
aids to the senses permit. Inaccurate or false knowledge, based upon faulty observation,
is useless and dangerous.
A life philosophy depends also upon the
reason of man, by which established facts are so brought together as to reveal
their relationship. The process of reasoning upon accepted facts must be done
with great care, since the chances of error are there multipled. Every man is
prone to allow preconceived notions to vitiate the conclusions derived from his
thinking. There are no instrumental safeguards in the field of reason of the
kind used in physical science. Yet the tests of knowledge and reason the value
of a philosophy may be rated. (Ibid., 183-84)