The Pride and Prosperity Cycles

I used to think of the pride cycle as this long, ongoing, inevitable course that civilizations and people follow in their lives.

We certainly see from the scriptures and history that these things repeat themselves and sometimes we focus so much on the disasters and consequences of sin that we don’t really consider when those moments of disaster were averted altogether.

Where do those moments fit into this current “Pride Cycle” model?

The Pride Cycle

Above is our good old fiend the ‘pride cycle’. Now, this cycle isn’t incorrect, as was said before we have seen this happen over and over again, but righteousness and prosperity do not always lead to pride and wickedness.

I remember in a college course on Human Relations the professor asked the question: “What is the number one cause of divorce?” I knew what he thought the answer was but I decided to give what I felt was a more correct answer. Spencer W. Kimball once said:

“Every divorce is the result of selfishness…”

“Marriage and Divorce” a devotional address given at Brigham Young University on 7 September 1976

So I raised my hand and gave the answer, “selfishness”. He looked at me for a moment somewhat perplexed and then said, “No, it’s money actually.” So according to his thinking, you can cause a divorce by dropping by someone’s home and dumping some money on their front doorstep ;)

No, money is not the cause, the cause is found deep within our internal dispositions. We are counseled to ‘avoid’ this pride cycle, but how do we avoid something that seems so inevitable?

The Prosperity Cycle

There was one portion of the Book of Mormon that always caught my eye, and it’s the story of Alma the younger, and the sons of Mosiah. They were going about seeking to destroy the church, but their “pride cycle” was derailed when an angel intervened.

Then you have Jacob’s people repenting of their gross crimes, Enos, King Lamoni and his father, and many others who repent without having to face the destruction of any kind. The most notable example of the pride cycle being averted that I can think of is in the Old Testament where the city of Ninevah is spared because of the preaching of the reluctant Jonah.

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Jonah 3:10

Then there were the Lamanite converts during the ministry of Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah:

And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

Alma 23: 6

If you stop and think, it is quite incredible to ponder the fact that these people ‘never did fall away.’ They never descended back into the pattern of wickedness and destruction.

In many cases, the ‘pride cycle’ becomes a kind of ‘prosperity cycle’. Thankfully, God does, in fact, have ‘checks’ in place and these are his prophetic warnings that he will ALWAYS give before unleashing his wrath upon the wicked. The ‘pride cycle’ then becomes something like what is illustrated below:

While this model conveys the merciful side of God and the potential for avoiding destruction, it is now missing the important but incomplete information of the first model.

No person or nation is just wicked or just righteous so why can’t we have a model that illustrates our situation better? I think we can.

An Improved Model

Below is an attempt to illustrate how the cycles of pride and prosperity might be viewed as interconnected with neither being inevitable, but choices within a continuum that we are constantly moving upon.

Usually, we think of this cycle as it applies to the rise and fall of nations, but if we look a little closer, we can see how this cycle presents itself across many different aspects of our lives.

Download High-res PDF

If one begins at the point of the ‘agency’ they are presented with opposition. The determining factors of what path will be chosen can be determined by one’s own conscious will; such factors may be a propensity toward pride or humility, fear or faith, selfishness or benevolence, wickedness or righteousness, distrust or trust.

For the sake of example, let’s say that one gives in to temptation and pursues wickedness, this would result in the forfeiture of the increased strength they could have had.

The results of this choice will inevitably include consequences that justice demands such as darkness, captivity, suffering, damnation, or destruction.

Yet, no matter how deep the descent into wickedness, the opportunity to choose right will always present itself or it may even be present the entire time according to the tender mercies of the Lord.

With an opportunity to change comes a moment of choice where opposition presents itself again.

If the individual resists temptation and begins to pursue righteousness they are strengthened as the blessings of the Lord come upon them.

These blessings may be light, freedom, joy, progress or prosperity all of which are sure to come if the individual is penitent and aligns themselves with that which is just and true. Just as mercy and the opportunity to change will always present themselves, trials of faith are sure to come; these may present themselves as a trial from the Lord or a temptation from the adversary, both of which will bring us again to a moment of choice.

Resisting temptation or standing strong under a trial of faith will have the same effect; increased strength will come as the path of righteousness is chosen, and thus the cycles repeat themselves. A simplified version of the above illustration is as follows:

A simplified idea of what was presented above is a constant cycle of right or wrong with a person’s agency as the determining factor of their state at any given time as they respond to opposition.

Choosing right or wrong will bring the consequences of justice that will either promote or hinder the progression of the soul. The influence of God entices us one way and the influence of the adversary entices us the other way; we are left to choose.

There is no such thing as neutrality in this cycle; neutrality is impossible because life is motion and choice governs movement.

Checks

Websters 1828 Dictionary defines ‘check’ as:

CHECK, v.t. 1. To stop; to restrain; to hinder; to curb. It signifies to put an entire stop to motion…

The illustration above indicates that the key to staying on the path of righteousness is to keep oneself in check, to understand that all that stands between one and the consequences of wickedness is a simple act of agency – a choice.

We must learn to keep ourselves in check by never allowing ourselves to cross the line that marks transgression. This is illustrated perfectly in the Book of Alma when Alma and Amulek establish a church in Sidom:

Therefore, after Alma having established the church at Sidom, seeing a great check, yea, seeing that the people were checked as to the pride of their hearts, and began to humble themselves before God, and began to assemble themselves together at their sanctuaries to worship God before the altar, watching and praying continually, that they might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction—

Alma 15: 17

There was a ‘great check’, the people were ‘checked as to the pride of their hearts’ which allowed them to constantly stay on the cycle of prosperity.

If they were nearing too close to the edge, they would stop in their tracks and go no further. It stands to reason that we must do the same if we are desirous to follow the same course. If we do not keep ourselves in check, our future is uncertain, and it’s possible that we may always fall on the side of righteousness, but the opposite is evidenced in scripture.

Even with our current system of branches of government and separation of powers in the United States, we see that both just governments and individuals prosper with checks and balances.

A government without checks and balances will descend into tyranny just as an individual without checks and balances will descend into wickedness.

Life is not static, we cannot stand still in place, we are constantly in motion and being bombarded by real forces; some to our destruction and others to our salvation.

Our own state of mind is the determining factor as to which course will be pursued, but if we ‘[watch] and [pray] continually, keep an open awareness of our state of mind and our surroundings and seek after additional strength through the atonement to help us continue on the path of righteousness, we can continually prosper.

Examples of ‘checks’ for a Latter-day Saint could be:

• An attitude of repentance
• Family Home Study
• Prayer & scripture study
• Sabbath Day observation
• General Conference attendance (satellite, tv or the web counts of course!)

There are so many periodic checks or reminders in our lives occurring at varying intervals that if we take advantage of these checks we can maintain a prosperous course.

An example of continual prosperity in the Book of Mormon

Almost without fail, we see this ‘pride cycle’ continuing in the Book of Mormon throughout the ages and it often seems that this course is just the way things must unfortunately be. But thinking this way would reject the idea of agency and that good can prevail and continue.

In opposition to this cycle of pride we see in the Book of Mormon, there is a shining example of the pride cycle being avoided altogether. This is the 200 years of peace that existed here upon the American continent after the visitation of the Savior.

Generation after generation lived and died, never changing course, and preserving the cycle of righteousness. After a few generations, their descendants rejected their goodness and blessings and switched over to a course of wickedness that resulted in their destruction, but we can’t ignore the fact that an entire nation along with multiple generations of citizens never faltered.

Just as the Wright Brothers proved that human flight was possible by only flying 12 seconds through the air, that small achievement opened the door to the modern aviation and spaceflight that we observe today. In like manner, we can take these small examples of victory in the scriptures that the gospel can prevail despite temptations, trials, and the records of the past – continual prosperity is proven possible.

The Zion civilization in the Book of Mormon could have been discouraged by looking at their past and the seemingly endless cycles of wickedness, but they looked forward instead, they trusted in the promises of the Lord and generations lived out their lives in prosperity without descending back into destruction.

We can’t change the past and we certainly cannot guarantee what the future holds for generations who will follow, the only promise from the scriptures is that we can have complete control over our present, our own lives, and our own destiny.

We too, like the Saints in the 200 years of peace, can live out the rest of our days in light, freedom, joy, and prosperity, never returning again to a path of wickedness if we simply keep ourselves in check through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth…according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many…as believed…and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

Alma 23: 6