E Pluribus Unum

The Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum meaning, "out of many, one" that is escribed on the back of every American coin,  is a declaration that we are all individuals and yet our lives would be for naught, if it weren't for all the others we share this life with.

Transcript

E Pluribus Unum
By Nathan Vail
Published January 16, 2023

Welcome to the Verbal Motivation podcast. Where we talk about the things that motivate our lives, our religion and our relationships. My name is Nathan Vail. If you would like to comment on this or other episodes, please leave me a voicemail at 530-876-4153 or you can send an email to verbalmotivation@gmail.com. 

This is episode number 12 called E Pluribus Unum

I was standing in the temple a couple of weeks ago admiring a beautiful painting depicting a scenic landscape. The rolling hills were covered with yellow grass and the sun rays seemed to make everything glow. As I stood there I was reminded of how many pictures I have taken on my phone of beautiful sunsets or scenery that don’t really mean anything to me now, because there is no one in them. There is an enormous difference in value between a picture of my family or friends in front of a beautiful landscape and a picture that is just a random landscape. 

As beautiful as this world is, there is no point in it without the people who inhabit it. In other words, the earth was made for us, not the other way around. You are the only thing of value on this planet. God can create a new earth any day of the week, but not you. You are what’s valuable here.

A few weeks ago my son Tyler, who is my window into the tech and science world, told me about a Youtuber called Mr. Beast. I had never heard of him before, but apparently everyone else on the planet has because he has over 100 million subscribers. According to an article in Business Insider, Mr. Beast was offered 1 Billion dollars for his YouTube channel and other affiliated entities. To my surprise he seemed to scoff at such a miniscule offer. He estimated his worth between 10 and 20 billion dollars. 

If you're scratching your head right now, as I did, wondering how a youtube channel could possibly be worth more than the GDP of some small countries; the answer is simple; it’s not. It’s the subscribers that are valuable. It is fascinating to contemplate, but money can’t buy subscribers, no matter how much you have. It can only buy or create the content that might attract them. Thus, the outrageous offer for the Mr. Beast’s YouTube channel is really just a play for the people…who follow his channel.

In similar fashion and even more interestingly, there is only one thing that an all powerful God cannot command into existence and that is a righteous child. He can create an earth so beautiful that we photograph it, he can offer guidance in the form of commandments or His Gospel, and he can even sacrifice his only begotten son to erase the mistakes that are made while living here. But ultimately the only real value of this beautiful earth and all the other associated efforts, are the people that willingly subscribe to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You are the precious commodity here and the object of all that effort.

In movies they have what is called an “extra.” Which is a non-speaking role or a role that is insignificant or of little value. But that’s really not true. Think of your favorite movie star and your favorite movie that features that person. Mine happens to be the original Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise. Now imagine that movie with no one else in, except Tom Cruise. Even if he was just as charismatic, just as witty and just as willing to charge into the fray, you simply couldn’t make a movie without all the extras. Of what interest would a movie be if there are no villains to defeat or underdogs to champion? All the extras in a movie are incredibly valuable.

The mad genius of this life on earth is that every one of us is a superstar…and yet we each also serve simultaneously as the extras in the lives of the others around us. How could you have the experiences necessary to accomplish this life without all the other people around you. Everyone from your eternal companion to that random jerk that cut you off last week on the freeway, is vital to your ability to be successful here.

And yet, somehow, you are also the eternal companion or random jerk in countless other lives. We are all the hero and the extra.

Have you ever had a day that felt like The Truman Show with Jim Carry. His character was trapped on a fake island and every time he tried to leave town, suddenly people and cars appeared everywhere blocking his way. How does that happen in real life, because you know it does? 

My wife and I have given a name to our pain. It is Wednesday morning. That is because we work in the temple Wednesday evening and every Wednesday morning the wheels come off our lives and every problem you can imagine in our business and personal lives presents itself simultaneously.

I know you can all relate to this. Yet how is it possible? It is easy to imagine ourselves as the one that the universe has combined to defeat, but if that's true then we each must also be the random person that appeared at the perfect time to ruin or benefit someone else’s day? 

There is a term called “Controlled disorder” that refers to a situation or environment where there is a deliberate effort to maintain a level of order or control, despite the presence of elements that may appear chaotic or even disorganized. In various contexts, controlled disorder may be implemented to foster creativity, adaptability, or dynamic responses to changing circumstances, while avoiding complete chaos.” (ChatGPT)

In other words, it feels random, but it’s not. Because God knows each of us individually.

When I first started college I enjoyed sketching faces. I did an occasional pencil drawing here and there of people's kids or families for extra money. I was also a sales person at the time so I was always in a suit. One day I stopped at a warehouse to drop of a pencil drawing of the business owners son. When I walked in I immediately recognized a young lady from the family picture who I would be drawing next. I had only been there at one time at night, working with her father, so she had no idea who I was. She came over to me and asked if she could help me. I said, “Yes mame, I am with the FBI. I have a sketch of a suspect that we are looking for I need to know if you have ever seen this person before.” I pulled out the picture of her brother and her face went white. I had captured his likeness perfectly and as she looked at it her head slowly and very forcibly started moving back and forth indicating that she did not know him. Her mouth opened as she was trying to think of what to say and right then I heard the voice of her dad ring out from the other side of the warehouse in gleeful anticipation. “Nahtan, How did the picture of my son turn out?” She looked at her dad, still a little shocked and then looked back at me smiling at her. “Yours will be even better,” I said. Relief washed over her and she forced a laugh, probably wishing she had something sharp and then went back to work.

Isaiah 49 16 says, “...I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands…”

The metaphorical language used in this beautiful verse conveys a powerful message of God's enduring and intimate care for each of us. The image of engraving us on the palms of his hands suggests a deep and permanent connection, as if individuals are written or inscribed on God's very being. 

In April of 2022 Elder Michael T. Ringwood related the following true story.

“Paul grew up in a home that was sometimes abusive and always intolerant of religion. While attending school on a military base in Germany, he noticed two sisters who seemed to have a spiritual light. Asking why they were different brought the answer that they belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Soon Paul began meeting with missionaries and was invited to church. The next Sunday, as he got off the bus, he noticed two men dressed in white shirts and ties. He asked them if they were elders of the Church. They answered yes, so Paul followed them.

During the service, a preacher pointed to people in the congregation and invited them to testify. At the end of each testimony, a drummer gave a drum salute and the congregation called out, “Amen.”

When the preacher pointed to Paul, he stood up and said, ‘I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true.’ There was no drum salute or amens. Paul eventually realized he had gone to the wrong church. Soon, Paul found his way to the right place and was baptized.

On the day of Paul’s baptism, a member he didn’t know told him, ‘You saved my life.’ A few weeks earlier, this man had decided to look for another church and attended a service with drums and amens. When the man heard Paul bear his testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he realized that God knew him, recognized his struggles, and had a plan for him.

This is not a blanket, catchall, hit-or-miss sort of plan.” Elder Ringwood continued, “It is personal, set forth by a loving Heavenly Father, who knows our hearts, our names, and what He needs us to do.”

When we look up into the sky at night and see the countless stars, it seems impossible that he could know each of us individually; but that is because we are projecting onto him our mortal limitations. Which is ironic really. Could you or I create an earth and set it into orbit as God did? Yet somehow we think because we can’t do something that God is not able to. He can and He does. He cares about us on a level that I don’t think we can comprehend because we judge his care for us by the random circumstances that we experience each day.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught “His is a Father’s pure love—universal to all yet personal to each.”

On the other hand, Satan would have us believe that we are insignificant; nothing more than extras in a movie that features the more beautiful, more talented or more important people of the world. Your self esteem is not really relevant to him, so why does he care?  It’s because if we feel worthless, we stop trying or equally bad, we focus too much on things that have no eternal consequence and fall into an eat, drink and be merry or keeping up with the Joneses type of life, instead of pursuing personal growth.

The greatest mistake that we can make is to think that we are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you're not driving. Take a coin out of your pocket. If you look closely at the back side you will see the inscription E Pluribus Unum, a Latin phrase that means "Out of Many, One." 

We are not carbon copies. As individual children of God, we are known and we each bring unique talents and personality to this show we call life. We need each other to succeed. We are each the star of the show and simultaneously the extras for everyone else. God knows us individually and has a plan for each of us, despite the random and even chaotic feel life can have. And when we mess up, and we will mess up, Jesus is the ultimate stunt double. He stands in for us, takes our hits and pays for our sins; so that we can become what this earth was created to help us become…even as our Heavenly parents are.

My name is Nathan Vail and this is the verbal motivation podcast