A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth.
Joseph Smith, April 10, 1842
Knowledge is the key to our salvation. This is true temporally as well as spiritually. Knowledge grows food, builds shelter, and creates technology. Knowledge builds literal bridges as well as metaphorical ones.
But it must be a knowledge of the truth. If the measurements are wrong, or the materials are shoddy, the bridge will collapse – often catastrophically. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Falsehoods will lead us away from, not toward, God.
Faulty thinking
In this world the potential for deception is high. Satan, “The Father of Lies,” is here and he has many helpers. He likes to take advantage of human weaknesses. Not infrequently, we actually help him to deceive us.
We humans are prone to lazy and weak thinking habits. Two common errors we make are egocentric thinking and sociocentric thinking. These two types of faulty thinking can lead to closed-mindedness, self-deception, arrogance, hypocrisy, greed, selfishness, herd mentality, and prejudice.
Egocentric thinking
Egocentric thinking is an ingrained bias toward one’s own views. All babies and very young children naturally have this bias. The challenge is to outgrow our childish nature.
As we grow and become more aware of others, we must learn such things as patience, taking turns, and sharing. This process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society is called “socialization.” It is an important part of our psychological development.
Unfortunately, it is entirely possible to become an adult chronologically without really growing up psychologically. Our childish self-centered focus can be difficult to overcome.
Egocentric thinking is subconscious. We must become aware of it before we can overcome it. Egocentric thinking has two goals: 1. Self-gratification, and 2. Self-validation.
When we are thinking egocentrically, we see ourselves as right and just. We see those who disagree with us as wrong and unjustified.
Richard Paul
Self-validation can be very important to us. We want to see ourselves as good, fair, logical, and open-minded, even if we are none of those things. This can lead people to twist, deny, or ignore facts, and make up excuses and justifications for their immature or unethical behavior.
This process of rationalization is really just self-deception.
Overcoming egocentric thinking
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 13:34
Overcoming egocentric thinking requires us to think beyond ourselves. We need to recognize that other people also have wants and needs that are just as valid as our own. We need to learn to be unselfish and to serve others. This is the essence of maturity. It is also the heart of being a true Christian.
Overcoming egocentric thinking requires personal humility. Jesus taught this constantly, but people are stubborn and slow to repent. The Book of Mormon calls this being “stiff-necked.”
Sociocentric thinking
Sociocentric thinking is an ingrained bias toward the views of one’s preferred social groups. While egocentric thinking is equivalent to getting stuck in childhood, sociocentric thinking is equivalent to getting stuck in adolescence.
Teenagers are known to quickly conform to peer group pressure in matters of dress, language, interests, and behavior. Their need to belong becomes more important than their desire for individuality.
Just as egocentric thinking thinking operates to validate the uncritical thinking of the individual, sociocentric thinking operates to validate the uncritical thinking of the group.
Richard Paul
Sociocentric thinking can easily devolve into an “us versus them” mentality. This occurs within societies as well as between societies. Social, cultural, religious, and even genetic differences can easily lead people to cling to their own self-identified groups and denigrate, even persecute, members of the “other” group.
Sociocentric thinkers often use language to justify unethical behavior. The ancient Greeks called outsiders “barbarians.” The European conquerors referred to the Native Americans as “savages.” This labeling allowed them to think of themselves as noble while performing outrageous cruelty and violence.
Words are also used ideologically to distort their meaning and obscure the truth. For example, words such as “socialism” and “patriot” are often used in ways that ignore their true meaning.
Overcoming sociocentric thinking
The Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing.
2 Nephi 26:30
Overcoming sociocentric thinking is very difficult. Unlike with egocentric thinking, wherein each individual has the power to change their own thinking habits, overcoming sociocentric thinking requires the individual to see past the assumptions and norms of those around them and perhaps resist.
Whatever groups one may be a member of, there is always pressure to conform. Thinking outside the box is not encouraged. This can be especially true of religions. Yet, Jesus taught that God loves everyone equally and challenged His followers to do the same.
Jesus taught that ethical (righteous) behavior is much more important than group membership. The cure for sociocentric thinking is charity toward all. We must, individually and in our various social groups, learn to love everyone equally – no matter their beliefs, social status, or ethnicity.
Sources
Joseph Smith, April 10, 1842, History of the Church, 4:588.
The Foundation for Critical Thinking, website.
Richard Paul and Linda Elder, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning & Your Life, 2012.
Linda Elder, Liberating the Mind, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
— “Socialization,” Wikipedia.
— “Developmental Psychology,” Wikipedia.
Well said. If “pure knowledge greatly enlarges the soul, without hypocrisy and without guile” (D&C 121:42), and the story of Enos is about enlargement of the soul, as shown in his expanding circles of concern, from self, to family to enemies, it follows, as you say here, that impure knowledge leads to contraction of the soul, and is accompanied by both hypocrisy and guile.
I’ve been thinking for years about how neatly J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books have enlargment of the soul as a consquence of Harry’s glimpses into the Pensieve, as well as at King’s Cross. Harry’s soul enlarges towards his parents, and parental figures, even after some disillusioning moments, coming to love them despite their flaws, instead of seeing them as lovable because they seemed flawless and ideal, and develops compassion for his antagonists, as he learns more of them.
Loved this!
On the matter of socioeconomic thinking. I am a pretty well informed student of Marx. He has a lot to offer contemporary economics and society in general. But he is positively TABOO in LDS circles. What to do? Explaining Marx to LDS is like explaining Sunday to a pig.