The makings of a Zion Society

This may be a little more philosophical than most of my posts, but bear with me. I've been listening to this book about what motivates people on my drives to and from Orem. It's written with business in mind, but the author mentions that one of the psychologists he studied and interviewed mentioned that he was a war refugee as a child and when he saw all that violence he thought that grownups really didn't have a clue what they were doing, and that there's got to be a better way. That had me thinking about how we all hope for a peaceful society.

The book's main point is that motivators like bonuses or commission actually make people work less effectively, and that what they really need after a good salary is Autonomy, or the ability to make decisions about what they work on, how they do it, who they work with, when they work, etc.; opportunity to master and become better at any skill they wish (with guidance from supervisors, perhaps); and the chance to work toward a larger purpose. He said that lots of people are becoming really concerned with how their work helps the world and the different struggles we are having right now with sustainability, etc.

All of this made me think of great societies in the scriptures, namely the City of Enoch and the people of 4th Nephi. Both of them dwelt in righteousness and there was no contention and no poor among them. My thought was that we already have it in us to live like that. Studies mentioned in the book showed that people are much happier when they are working for something that will help others. I think that people successfully living together with no contention and no poor would be working hard at things they love in their own way, striving always to become better, and working for the happiness of all.