Doctrine and Covenants 128:15

"And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation.  For their salvation is necessary to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers--that they without us cannot be made perfect--neither can we without our dead be made perfect."
Doctrine and Covenants 128:15


This is fascinating stuff.  I have been thinking a lot lately about how we are bonded to one another.  I know *absolutely* that I don't understand it except in a very very small way... but scriptures like this seem to shed some light. :)  Sealing, to me, seemed to be all about families... you get sealed to your spouse, your children, and the generations hook together somehow. :)  But then there are things like "the same sociality ... will exist among us there" (not an exact quote, but close)... and then this, that talks about it as an entire group... the dead and the living.  So, it isn't just our departed relatives that we are sealed to... part of... but the dead and the living are part of each other.  We are all (Zion comes to mind again) a huge community, and we have to be saved *together.*  It doesn't take away our individual responsibility to say this... we still need to make the choices in our own lives that ensure our own salvation... but it does also bring to mind Cain's question:  Am I my brother's keeper?  ... and the answer, resoundingly, is YES. :)  We need to watch out for each other, and help each other to salvation... because we don't go there alone, and spending our lifetimes in a singular search for our own salvation will either end in failure, or inevitably lead us to others anyway... we cannot be saved alone.  Everything speaks to this... even church.  We go there to "speak one with another concerning the welfare of our souls" ... we don't go off into the mountain alone to meditate (though that is good as well.)  We *need* other people... desperately.  We fight it (or some of us do) because it makes us feel vulnerable and we are scared of being hurt.  But, as (my hero) Neal A. Maxwell says, "we are each other's clinical experience."
I was at dinner with my Visiting Teaching group last night and one of the girls there works for a cosmetic dentist.  She told us this great story about a woman that came in... she was about 80 years old, and had learned not to smile because her teeth were crooked, and it always caused a reaction with others.  After coming in, she was smiling and laughing and happy.  ... Cool story.  As we talked, I realized that that is *another* way that we discriminate against our brothers and sisters... and there are SO many.  We are here to learn not to discriminate... to love the people around us, no matter their age, weight, or dental condition. :)  We need each other ... in not just an emotional way, but in a spiritually palpable, eternal way.  The reason we share the gospel is not (or shouldn't be) because we belong to an exclusive club and we like to pick and choose the new members... and not because we feel like throwing out a really scary and biased test of friendship to everyone we meet... but because we need people.  Because we all need to learn the same basic things in life, and help each other get to the same place... together.
My patriarchal blessing talks about the resurrection as a reuniting, and a great day of rejoicing. :)  That is because I won't be there by myself... I will be reunited with all of the people that I was part of... and all of us, who helped each other through... will be there, together.  And, it will be fun. :)