Plan A
Goals: Meet as many needs as possible by
Creating as many connections as possible thus
Enhancing as much happiness as possible and
Thinning the hurt as much as possible
Strategies: Preserving choice
Choosing to meet others' needs
Allowing others to meet my needs
Hoping for the best
Waiting for the rest
Faith in others fuels this plan and is the
ultimate vulnerability
Plan B
Goals: Meet every need
Creating perfectly whole connections to be
Be happy all the time and
Eliminate hurt entirely
Strategies: Removing choice
Meeting others' needs and having my own needs
met by forcible agreement of exchange
Sacrificing autonomy and absorbing pain
as investments in the Big Payoff
Faith in self and the theory fuel this plan
containing zero trust; requiring no vulnerability
The objective of Plan A is to have as much joy as possible, by completely connecting with as many people as possible, thus meeting as many of our needs as possible and reducing as much of our own hurt as possible. We'll call the achievement of this state "Salvation". The objective of Plan B is to meet everyone's needs all of the time and enjoy never-ending bliss by completely eliminating hurt. We'll call the achievement of this state "Utopia".
Both plans seek to meet needs, create connections, experience happiness, and reduce hurt. They differ only in strategy. 2
Meet Needs
'Needs are the resources that life requires to sustain itself. For example, our physical existence depends on our needs for air, water, and food being fulfilled.'3 It feels good to have a need met, and it hurts to have an unmet need. That's why they're called needs. Because we are all connected through relation to God, some of our needs can only be met by others. We need each other. We are codependent through our shared matter.
Plan A maintains autonomy as the need upon which all other needs rest - the cornerstone, mainstay, linchpin, or crux. Indeed, they believe choice is their identity. Therefore, they accept the hurt caused by others. As a result, this plan contains lots of suffering, which endures as long as the choice of the one causing the hurt. Because preserving choice is a chief tenet of this plan, it contains an element of "as good as it gets." 4 Adherents rely on persuasion of man's natural goodwill as an impetus for giving and receiving.
Plan B seeks to eliminate hurt. Choice is not considered to be a need. Eliminating choice is a logical action for achieving the goal of eliminating hurt, when choice is not considered to be a need. Plan B holds that a person's need can be met by another who is coerced. Insofar as coercion succeeds, pleasure is had. Adherents rely on force as an impetus for giving and receiving. Force is applied by means of increasing pain or pleasure. If others are hurt by the notion of eliminating choice, the hurt is deemed invalid, as choice is not considered a need. The hurt caused by the application of force is accepted as an investment in Utopia. They believe that true happiness can only be achieved when all people experience no suffering, including the suffering caused by others' choices.
Create Connections
Connections are bonds between lives which produce meaning and happiness. They occur when needs are met. I can connect physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
Plan A values connections which grow out of willful acts because willful acts include choice, through which trust is built. Because persuasion is the tool, a large amount of patience is required during the trial and error process of learning to meet another's needs. A person can tell us what they want, but we may not want to do it. Or, we may want to help another, but he may not be in tune with his needs or have the ability or courage to vocalize them.
Plan B also values connections for the happiness, or pleasure, they afford. In this plan, it is generally understood that all connection will end, and so an appreciation for momentary pleasure is settled upon and highly lauded. The lasting element of connection is not highly valued, less because adherents don't desire it, more because they find it mysteriously elusive, and mostly because they write-off the lack of lasting connection now as an investment in the future blissful, effortless, painless, and everlasting connections of Utopia. "All is well that ends well."
Be Happy
Plan A derives happiness through making and keeping connections. It feels good to have needs met. Since adherents strive diligently to meet the needs of others, and get others to meet their needs, happiness abounds. Plan A'ers are careful to distinguish between happiness that is likely to last, and happiness that isn't. They look for that assurance that tells them if a strategy for meeting a need is sustainable. Sustainable happiness is joy. They seek only joy.
Plan B also derives happiness through making and keeping connections, or, having needs met. Needs are met by agreement of exchange. The agreement is enforced by force (what else?). In this plan, the sustainability of a connection depends on how effective the agreement of exchange. To establish an effective agreement of mutual meeting of needs, strong force must be applied. Those who abide the agreement enjoy much pleasure, reaping the benefits of connection, while those who do not abide the agreement experience an increased application of force.
Hurt less
For Plan A, one of the best benefits of maintaining connections is that when someone hurts, others mourn with those who mourn 5. Thus, the hurt is shared and the burden lightened. It it accepted that the sadness of one will occasionally interrupt the reverie of another. Thus, in Plan A, there is suffering 6. The cost/benefit analysis of this aspect of maintaining connection is found in favor of the connection.
The approach to hurt in Plan B is to accept the hurt which stems from disconnection, disregard of autonomy as a need, and the application of force in order to ignite utopia. Pleasure is the best medicine for coping with this abiding ache.
Between the planners, there are disagreements about, and competition for, words. Good and Evil are the most sought after and fought over words. Happiness, Pain, Freedom, and Value are also heavily guarded words. Here is how a few of these words are used in each plan:
Good
A: actions which connect and produce joy
B: actions which produce pleasure
Evil
A: actions which disconnect or do not produce joy
B: laws which circumscribe and their unwelcome consequences
Happiness
A: sustainable pleasure
B: pleasure
Suffering
A: allowing another to choose not to meet your need
B: not getting what you want
A: possessing the ability to choose
B: abolishing negative consequences
Value
A: when a thing created is being used the way it was intended
B: desirability
Equality
A: understanding the worth of every contribution to existence and how they are connected
B: rewriting The Law to eliminate opposition, making it so that every choice produces the same, glorious consequence
At the end of the day, each team has fundamental disagreements about what is good, what is happiness, and what is pain. Would that they could just agree to disagree. Plan A'ers can agree to disagree, because their fundamental tenet is to preserve choice. But, Plan B'ers do not value choice, and all means of achieving a painless state are justified. Since a belief I hold can cause them pain, they must eliminate my belief. So, the fundamental tenets of Plan B do not allow for them to agree to disagree. 7 8
Plan A lays out everything for people to see. Knowing options is essential to making a choice. Since Plan A promotes choice, it must necessarily promote options. Plan B keeps a few cards close to the chest. They do not believe that others, if given a choice, will meet all their needs. Since choice is minimized, there is no motive for revealing all details of the plan.
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1 1 Nephi 10:14 There are save two churches only
2 "I believe that human beings are always acting in the service of needs and values. This is true whether the action does or does not meet the need, or whether it's one we end up celebrating or regretting." Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication, pg. 133
3 Living Nonviolent Communication, Marshall Rosenberg, p.3.
4 "Agency is essential to the plan [A] of happiness. This agency allows for all the pain and suffering we experience in mortality, even when caused by things we do not understand and the devastating evil choices of others." Quentin L. Cook, "Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness", General Conference, April 2013.
5 Mosiah 18:8-10
6 1 Corinthians 13:4
7 At the end of the movie "The Count of Monte Cristo", Edmond's former friend, Fernand, calls him out to duel. Edmond's girl pleads, "Don't go." But Edmond's wing-man tells Edmond, "You tried. He'll never quit. You must end this." Because Plan Bers require the elimination of choice, and Plan Aers recognize that they are their choices, the first order of business for adherents of Plan A becomes self-preservation.
8 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough - Isaiah 56:11
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