Dear brethren and friends: President McKay has asked me to talk to the youth of the Church about education. I am not particularly grateful for this task, but I am thankful for his trust and faith in me. I am also grateful for the example which he has set for us in the field of education. President McKay loves the Lord with all his mind, as well as with his heart and soul. I know this from personal experience.

On several occasions when I have dared to impose upon him with problems that were very critical to me, I have always come away satisfied in my mind as well as in my heart. One thing he taught me when I first began to teach in the Church has been extremely helpful. He said, "Brother Bennion, remember, words do not convey meanings; they call them forth." I speak out of the context of my experience, and you listen out of the context of yours, and that is why communication is difficult. I don't expect to be fully understood tonight nor that you will agree with everything that is said, and I certainly invite President Brown to qualify and correct anything that he feels he should.

It is also inspiring to me that President McKay in his ninety-fifth year should be thinking of the future and putting himself in the place of youth as he planned the theme of this meeting.

Joseph Smith sought wisdom

If we take a look at Church history, we find that education has played an important, proud role. The process of education began even before the Church was organized. We usually think of the beginning of the Latter-day Saint movement as having taken place in the Sacred Grove in that glorious First Vision of the Father and the Son. To me this is not entirely accurate. The initial beginning of our faith took place, I believe, in the mind of a youth. The boy Joseph in his fifteenth year had questions; he was searching; he was eager to know. You should read again the familiar story, his own story, in the Pearl of Great Price. I was struck this week to notice what an emphasis he placed on learning, on asking. At a time of considerable controversy and great emotional excitement, he said in retrospect, "My mind was called up to serious reflection."  JS—H 1:8 And the biblical passage which stirred him the most was that famous verse from James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.  James 1:5 Never, he wrote, did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine . . . I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did."  JS—H 1:12

Unknowingly, and unconsciously perhaps, the boy Joseph carried out the admonition of the Savior, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."  Matt. 7:7

Continued search for truth

There is no finer symbol or characterization of the Mormon movement to me than to think of the boy Joseph going to the woods, in his own words, "on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring," kneeling, offering a prayer, asking questions of the God in heaven  JS—H 1:14 Joseph's search did not end there. The gospel and Church of Christ were not revealed from heaven in their entirety like the blueprints of an architect's building plans. Rather, Joseph continued to ask questions. He had searching questions that he was asking to find solutions to his problems, and he received "line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little."  D&C 128:21 Only in response to hungry minds, to earnest questions of the boy Prophet and of his associates, did the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it seems to me, reveal their mind.

Very soon after the First Vision, Joseph not only prayed, but he also studied, as has already been indicated in President McKay's remarks.

Education encouraged

The first temple built by the Latter-day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, the most sacred of all buildings in the Church, was also used for the School of the Prophets. There they studied not only scripture and theology, but also Hebrew and German; and they were taught to learn by study and also by faith, and to seek wisdom out of the best books.  D&C 88:118

It is remarkable to me too, brethren, that when the Saints came to the West, struggling to conquer the desert under the leadership of that very practical leader, Brigham Young, that he, a man without formal education, talked about education a great deal. He was always encouraging the Saints to study science and all things. In fact, he said that Mormonism embraces all truth; even if the infidel has it, it belongs to us.

We have a proud history of education in the Church that includes the development of auxiliary organizations, academies, colleges, Brigham Young University, institutes and seminaries. Generations of Latter-day Saints have been inspired by this philosophy and by the beginnings of our faith to go on in higher education. Our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers have gone east and west in this country, with faith that any knowledge they could gain was consistent and in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Education today

What about our education today in the Church? Are you and I as hungry to know? Are we aware of our lack of wisdom? Are our minds burning and hungering and thirsting for knowledge, as I think Joseph's was, and Brigham Young's, and my father's, and others? We inherit land and money and debts and other things, but education is not inherited any more than character is. The German poet Goethe said, "What from your father's heritage is lent, earn it anew to really possess it." We inherit only the opportunity, the tradition, and I hope the motivation to seek learning and wisdom and education.

I think there are several reasons why you young people should be earnestly engaged in all kinds of education, including secular training. The first reason I would give is that we live in a technological age. Unskilled labor is fast diminishing, going by the boards. Unskilled jobs are decreasing. They are poorly paid. One is expendable if one's only talent is common, untrained physical work. On the other hand, there has never been such a demand for trained people, both technical and professional. Back in depression years engineers came out of the universities and were glad to take a job at a filling station or any other kind of work. Today, anybody who is trained as a teacher, social worker, nurse, doctor, lawyer, dentist—name what you will—is in great demand, is well paid, and I think, generally speaking, his work is more interesting than that of common labor, though not always.

Training needed

The frontiers which Mormons have known in the past—the desert, the plains, the prairies, rugged mountain passes, "hole in the rock"—are no longer there. Today's frontiers are human and social, spiritual and moral. They were mentioned in this morning's meeting by several of our speakers—air pollution, water pollution, crime, delinquency, family disorganization, war, racial strife. The resolution of these problems calls for training, for understanding, for knowledge, as well as for character and faith.

Education fulfills life

Secondly, I believe that he should seek education for education's sake. I would not spend my time encouraging young people to get more education simply to make more money, or to live a life of ease, or to gain status in this world. My chief reason for encouraging education is that I believe that the essence of man is his brain, his mind, his spirit; and I think a person who does not cultivate his mind will not fulfill his life. His life will end in frustration and disappointment.

Let me illustrate concretely, if I can. Last summer I was in the mountains with some young boys, and one day they found a nest of robins, just ready to leave their mother's nest. The boys wanted to take these robins and put them in a cage. I suggested that the robins would die if they did but let them do it; and sure enough, the boys put these little robins in a cage, gave them water, grain, and grass, and in two or three days they were dead. The reason they died is that birds do not belong in cages. Birds were made by the Creator to scratch in the earth and to soar in the sky. Birds have wings to fly. Put a bird in a cage and you destroy his nature.

Cages we make Now you and I also find ourselves sometimes in cages, cages of our own making, and though we don't always die in these cages, we sometimes die a moral and spiritual death; and we find life shallow and meaningless. I haven't time tonight to do any more than mention the kinds of things that get us in these cages, but in my experience alcohol does (I should have said "in my observation"). In my observation, these mind-expanding drugs do also. I have talked with a number of students and young people who have been caught up in this latest effort to find the meaning of life by running away from it, and what I observe is nothing but tragedy.

You and I don't indulge in alcohol, LSD, or marijuana, but we find ourselves in other cages. One of them is sitting as a spectator of life watching TV day and night. It is wonderful to watch a show occasionally, to refresh oneself and get away from the cares of the day, but to spend hour upon hour watching the trivia that comes across our movie house screens and TV screens sometimes is, I believe, a great disservice to one's life. Another tragic aspect of the life of contemporary man, in my judgment, is our hunger and thirst and lust for material things. We want new clothes, cars, homes, furniture, and drapes, and we spend most of our time, many of us, trying to achieve these material things with which we can identify. I think people who spend most of their life trying to make money and accumulate material goods will wake up with a taste of ashes in their mouths by and by.

Things of the Spirit

Jesus said, ". . . for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."  Luke 12:15 And he also said, "Be not anxious about the morrow, what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink, and wherewithal ye shall be clothed, but seek ye first the kingdom of God." (See  Matt. 6:31-34 And I think he meant by that, seek ye first humility and repentance, meekness and integrity, mercy and peaceableness, purity of heart and sacrifice for fellowmen, and love—things of the spirit.

Buddha said, "In eating, fearing and sleeping, men and beasts are alike. Man excelleth the beast by engaging in religious practices; so why should a man, if he be without religion, not be equal to the beast."

When I first read this, it struck home. In eating, fearing, and sleeping, men and beasts are alike. Man excelleth the beast by being human, by engaging in things of the spirit, of the mind, of the heart.

Qualities of the mind

Brethren, how often do you contemplate the wonderful qualities and aspects of your mind? Imagination is one of the qualities of a human mind that I cherish deeply; it is the ability to take single images and to put them into a new image that has never existed before. Only a human being can reorganize life around him after his own image. Only the human mind, so far as we know, enjoys memory and can transcend time and space. Only human beings can keep the entire past with them. You and I can live with Jesus, Beethoven, Socrates, and our grandfathers. Animals only live in the present, driven by instinct. Only human beings have language, the power to symbolize feelings and ideas and to communicate. Imagination, memory, language—these are wonderful gifts of the human spirit.

Until a year or two ago I kept a pig. My pig never got his eyes above the trough, except when I came to feed him; and, brethren, when I went out to feed my pig, I thrilled at the color on Mt. Olympus, and I pondered its geology, and I worshiped at the foot of the mountain. I sang "O Ye Mountains High" to myself alone, and "For the Strength of the Hills." I like animals, but believe me, I am grateful for those qualities which are distinctly human and which are divine.

You and I were not only created in the physical image of our Father in heaven; we were also created in his spiritual image. And if the glory of God is intelligence  D&C 93:36 then the glory of man is also intelligence. If God is Creator, man must be creative to satisfy his soul. If God is love  1 Jn. 4:8 man must be loving. If God is a person of integrity, then we must also be honest, to be true to our own nature, which we have inherited in part from him.

Gospel must be understood

Another reason why I believe in education is that it is not enough to believe the gospel; it must also be understood, if we wish to live it. Ancient Israel lived their religion after a fashion, but were rejected by God for lack of knowledge. Hear the words of the prophet Hosea: "Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee . . . seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God . . .

"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."  Hosea 4:1,6  Hosea 6:6

Brethren, the gospel is to be understood, as well as believed. The gospel has a beautiful structure about it. It has form. It is something like a beautiful Greek edifice, if you will. The Ten Commandments are related to each other; they hang together beautifully. They strengthen each other. The Beatitudes form, in the words of a scholar, a map of life, each one building on the preceding one. The wonderful attributes of God reinforce one another and give us a marvelous basis for a relationship with him. It seems to me that we need to reflect deeply upon the gospel of Jesus Christ in terms of its great fundamentals, and then we need to relate these fundamentals to the issues of the day.

How many of us apply the Golden Rule  Matt. 7:12 in business, in race relations in our country today, in relations between nations? Do we always remember free agency, as we deal with our coworkers, with our children, with our wives?

Faith and education

Just one more thought, brethren. By encouraging its youth to gain an education, to study at universities, the Church is encouraging our young people to think, and to think critically. Parents, church leaders, and even some of our students are afraid that in the process of learning, and of learning to think critically, some of our students will lose their faith. I must confess that some Latter-day Saints, college youth, do lose their religious faith as they encounter secular learning. However, I believe that this is not due primarily to their thinking. Some of our youth who do not go to college also lose their faith.

There are a hundred and one reasons why young people lose faith. Some who do go to college leave their religion behind at a very shallow level while they proceed to work on their PhD's. Some discard religion before they have ever known it, before it has taken root in their lives. Others lose faith because they cease to practice religion and study it and live it. Still others lose faith because we their parents and teachers and leaders have not listened to their questions, have been too quick to condemn, have not respected their free agency and their honest thinking. Some lose faith because they do not distinguish between gospel principles and the actions of men. I recall a girl who lost her faith because a returned missionary asked that his engagement ring be returned. People live lives as a whole, and many factors influence their faith.

Committed to God and learning

I dislike very much to see a wedge driven between faith and reason, between secular learning and religious living. It has been my great privilege to have known thousands of college youth who are bright, eager students in every field—in philosophy, in the social sciences, and in every other science. Thousands have kept the faith and are truly committed to both God and learning. But these people walk with humility, both in religion and in secular thought.

Last Sunday I was privileged to attend a priesthood meeting and Sunday School in Madison, Wisconsin. In these meetings graduate students, professors, businessmen, and intelligent wives were enriching each other's thinking immeasurably. This is a beautiful thing to behold, and it is happening in many areas of the Church. In the life of every Latter-day Saint faith and morality, born of religion, should be wedded to all the knowledge and learning we can get from every source. It is not an easy marriage—faith and reason—and one will have to treat the other partner with great respect. Like marriages between men and women, there will be ongoing adjustments; mistakes will be made; forgiveness will be required; and some divorces will occur. But much of the conflict between faith and reason lies in the person, just as failures in marriage are usually due to limitations in husband or wife, or both, and not in the institution of marriage.

I repeat, let us not drive a wedge between faith and knowledge. We need both. I love my bishop, who is a businessman, and I have sought his counsel in spiritual and family affairs, but should the need arise, I shall not ask him to remove my appendix. The great problems facing us in the world today are far more intricate than an appendectomy. We need to unite all the faith and idealism the gospel can provide and to combine it with all the wisdom of human experience, no matter who has it.

Light a candle

Not all education is found in textbooks or in university halls. I have time to mention only one illustration in closing. I know a little lady listening in tonight who is nearly 94 years of age. When she was approximately ninety, she began to practice the organ. Last year the power went off in her home, in her apartment where she lives alone, and her daughter phoned and said, "Mother, is the power off?"

"Yes."

"I will come and bring you home to dinner."

And her mother said, "No, thank you."

"What will you do if the power doesn't come on?"

She answered, "I will light a candle and play my guitar."

I had a wonderful father who was an educator, but I have learned, I think, as much from this little woman who is my mother as I have from my father.

My message to you in closing is this: Light a candle. Light the candle that is within you, the candle that is your own eternal intelligence, which has also received the imprint of divinity in the spiritual creation of our Father in heaven.

I pray that we Latter-day Saints living today may learn to love the Lord our God with all our mind, as well as with our hearts and with our souls  Matt. 22:37 I pray that we may hunger and thirst after righteousness  Matt. 5:6 and after truth, and I ask it humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.