Holy Mind

As a follow-up to my last post (One great whole), I wanted to elaborate on some related things. Mormonism (at least as taught by the present-day LDS church) defines the Godhead as God the Father, his only begotten son after the manner of the flesh and the holy ghost; In other words, it’s composed of three individuals. We often capitalize ‘holy ghost’, because we think of it as a proper noun, referring to an individual that shares godhood with God the Father. We even go so far as to talk about the holy ghost using the pronouns ‘he’, ‘his’, and ‘him’.

With this in mind, the following seems a curious statement by Joseph Smith, the founding prophet: “…the Holy Ghost is now in a state of Probation which if he should perform in righteousness he may pass through the same on a similar course of things that the son has.” (here is the source at the Joseph Smith Papers project). I say this is curious, because elsewhere in Mormon scripture, it says that we – you and me – we are in a state of probation: “…we see that death comes upon mankind…which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.” (Alma 12.24)

What a strange and interesting similarity in the way we describe, on one hand, the condition of a being we consider next to deity and, on the other hand, the condition that we lowly, imperfect creatures find ourselves in here. Is there a problem with this?

For about 86 years, from 1835 to 1921, we had at the front of our Doctrine and Covenants a series of seven essays on faith – what it is and the conditions upon which it is obtained. One of these conditions is that we must have a correct understanding of the nature of God in order to exercise faith unto power (i.e. divine manifestations and miracles). We must understand what kind of being God is and what our relationship is to him/them. In one of these essays is the following definition of the Godhead:

We shall, in this lecture speak of the Godhead: we mean the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are two personages who constitute the great matchless, governing and supreme power over all things… They are the Father and the Son… And he [the Son] being the only begotten of the Father…received a fulness of the glory of the Father—possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit…

This definition of the Godhead refers to only two personages. There is no third personage. There is the Holy Spirit which it defines as the mind of the Father. And any who become one with the Father possess the same mind. The lecture continues:

…these three constitute the Godhead, and are one: The Father and the Son possessing the same mind, the same wisdom, glory, power and fulness… the Son being filled with the fulness of the Mind, glory and power, or, in other words, the Spirit, glory and power of the Father… being filled with the fulness of the Mind of the Father, or, in other words, the Spirit of the Father: which Spirit is shed forth upon all who believe on his name and keep his commandments: and all those who keep his commandments shall grow up from grace to grace, and become heirs of the heavenly kingdom, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; possessing the same mind… being filled with the fulness of his glory, and become one in him, even as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one.

Contrasting these statements immediately above with those earlier that refer to the holy ghost, it seems the holy ghost and the Holy Spirit may indeed refer to different things. The Holy Spirit is the mind of God [Interestingly, in French, the same word (‘esprit’) is used for ‘mind’ and for ‘spirit’. So, while Saint Esprit refers to the Holy Spirit, it just as well could be literally translated to English as holy mind] with which we hope to come into a oneness, growing in degrees of light over eons until eventually we are perfected in Him. But, presently we are in a probationary state. We have tabernacles of clay which belong to the place we presently inhabit.

The high priest of the temple – meant to represent the Great High Priest or the Son of God – donned a robe of many colors representing incarnation. Margaret Barker explains it this way:

“The high priest was the only person who wore an outer vestment made of the same fabric as the veil of the temple (Ex. 28:5–6) and presumably with the same significance: it veiled the glory of the Lord. The vestment represented the matter in which the Lord clothed himself when he appeared with his people, so the veil and the vestment became symbols of the incarnation.” (you can find this here)

What else could the holy ghost be if it is not a third personage of the Godhead? Perhaps the answer is staring at us in the mirror.

Since a child, I have always been taught that in addition to this so-called holy ghost (used synonymously in Christian tradition with spirit or holy spirit), I have a spirit inside me – a soul. It’s that soul inside me that I believe is susceptible to the great, divine influence filling the immensity of space as the light of the sun. When we begin to pay attention to this influence to the point that it fills, animates and motivates us – to the point we become subject to the Holy Mind – then doesn’t the soul itself become holy? Would that, then, make it a holy ghost? As I wrote in my last post:

“…those beings that learn and understand the Truth, who love and embrace it, who are governed by it and reflect or emit it, are One. They are one with each other and they are one with The One, which is God. These, though they be individuals, though they be ‘particles’ are yet brought into a harmony, a union, a oneness. They are God.” (See also Psalms 82.6 and John 10.34)

One great whole

From Susan Cain on Unlocking Us with Brené Brown (How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, Part 2 of 2):

…one of the teachings that I find myself returning to again and again, it comes from the Kabbalah, which is the mystical branch of Judaism. The teaching that I love is that originally everything was one unified divine vessel. It was all light, everything was light, but then the divine vessel shattered, and the world that we are living in now is the world after it shattered, but with these divine shards of light scattered all around us. They’re buried all around us, everywhere you look. And from this point of view, the job in life, the task in life is to pick up the buried shards wherever you can find them. And you, Brené, and you, to everyone who is listening right now, you’re all going to see different shards from the ones that I would find or that you would find or that they would find, we all see different ones, but that’s the task. And I find that just incredibly helpful because even when you happen to be passing through your darker times of life, the shards are still there somewhere.

Both parts of this podcast resonated so much with me. As I mentioned in recent posts, I’ve realized how much I identify with Sadness in Inside Out. For as long as I can remember, I have periodically taken momentary comfort in sadness and longing. I thought this was a defect of my personality. But, I’ve embraced it, for reasons I wrote about in Empathy and Beauty in sadness.

Here’s something else Susan Cain said that stood out to me from part 1 of the podcast (How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, Part 1 of 2):

…we are all beings who long for a more perfect and beautiful world, the most fundamental state of being human is wishing to return to a Garden of Eden, that’s like our source code. And when you look at creativity through that lens, you start to see that what creativity is really doing is saying, ‘Okay, we’re here in this highly imperfect situation, and I’m going to reach for something that approximates that Garden of Eden that we’re all longing for’…

In Original harmony, concerning the condition that existed in the beginning, I wrote:

Adam and Eve were put into the garden and basically just told to take care of it. Everything was in balance, harmony, and peace. Then, the balance was broken and we inherited a world where much of nature and humanity was out of harmony with God. The entire challenge of this life consists of regaining that harmony, balance, and peace. We’re trying to be reconciled to God and with the rest of humanity. We’re trying to regain Zion or the original, natural fruit that existed in the beginning (Jacob 5). This is all I want.

I’m preoccupied with these common sparks of light that spring up in the minds of people of all sorts in different circumstances and walks of life, in all parts of the world, and from various cultural and religious backgrounds. I think there’s one source from whence these come, which is the mind of God, and we are influenced by it inasmuch as we desire good things.

We are all, to a certain extent (compared to God), dark or crude creatures. But we have something within us connected to the divine, even if we don’t always pay attention to it. We are in a veiled existence. The flesh we occupy is heavy matter by comparison to the more refined matter composing God’s being (“There is no such thing as immaterial matter…“; D&C 131.7-8). The veil of the ancient temple represented this coarse matter. The high priest in the holy of holies donned a robe in representation of what happens when a being of light descends to this earthly realm to make intercession for those who are stuck here.

We periodically open ourselves up to and receive some of the light from the eternal realm. When we write it down, when we share it with each other, we generate a momentary spark of light in this veiled place. What if we seek out and collect all of these sparks? What if we sift out from the chaff of our error and ignorance the grains of wheat which are these sparks of light and collect them? What will happen?

We should recognize these sparks in each other and be grateful for them. We should acknowledge the bits of light in each other, never assuming that one of us is all that much brighter than the next (again, using God as our frame of reference). In this way, we have some hope of living in peace with each other. It’s possible that if we see each other this way, we will no longer be opponents, but we’ll become collaborators in an experiment wherein we seek to identify and collect together the light that springs forth from us every so often.

Just like particles of light or photons, when they occur together in abundance, they cleave to each other and form themselves spontaneously into a union of light waves, exhibiting a wave-particle duality. It’s one of the great paradoxes of nature. But, is it really a paradox?

“For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own…” (D&C 88.40)

“That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day…” (D&C 50.24)

“And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space – The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God…” (D&C 88.11-13)

The union of light is the circumscribing of Truth into one great whole. And those beings that learn and understand the Truth, who love and embrace it, who are governed by it and reflect or emit it, are One. They are one with each other and they are one with The One, which is God. These, though they be individuals, though they be ‘particles’ are yet brought into a harmony, a union, a oneness. They are God.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23)

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing…. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.” (John 15.4-9)