FW: Individual worth

Individuality and personality were part of our preearthly state. The traits that we developed premortally assist in establishing the individual personalities that we each have at the present. They are gifts from God—he actually wants us to have personality. Both our Eternal Father and His Son had a personality particular to them individually, and the personalities that we developed in the preexistence helped God place us in our specific circumstances. Our individuality comes from within us, and no power can take it away.

“Individuals have a genetic and an environmental inheritance, each of which is powerfully important. But there is an even earlier bestowal that follows us from our premortal existence wherein our personalities and traits were developed in various ways and in various degrees and strengths. The third bestowal is at least as important as those involving genes and environment. All three combined would, if fully comprehended, give us a true picture of the human personality and how it has been shaped and molded. This would help to explain human differences that are not explainable solely on the basis of genes and environment, varied as these are.”

Neal A. Maxwell. “Third Session,” Deposition of a Disciple. Gospelink. Salt Lake City, Utah. Deseret Book Company: 2004.