Regarding rational thought, “it merely is the habit of taking account of all relevant evidence in arriving at a belief. Where certainty is unattainable, a rational man will give weight to the most probable opinion, while retaining others, which have an appreciable probability, in his mind as hypotheses which subsequent evidence may show to be preferable.”
-Bertrand Russell, The Will to Doubt, (p. 9-10)
"Inner happiness and serviceability do not always agree. What immediately feels most 'good' is not always most 'true,' when measured by the verdict of the rest of experience. The difference between Philip drunk and Philip sober is the classic instance of corroboration. If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience."
-William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (p. 26)
*I have given this post the designation "2.0" because it is an update or a remodel of my previous post entitled, "Making Sense of Mormon Spiritual Experience." The more I reflected on my previous post, and wondered how I might better illustrate the various ways that Mormons experience and respond to spiritual phenomena, the more convinced I became that my use of a single straight line to conceptualize different brands of Mormon faith was inadequate. I simply knew of too many types of Mormons that didn't fit anywhere on that linear spectrum. I hope these attempted improvements will come closer to doing justice to our diversity of lived experiences.
Our Greatest Strength and Our Biggest Weakness:
I suppose my very favorite thing about Mormonism is that it was in this religious context that I first experienced the love and presence of God in my life. Mormonism has many teachings which encourage genuine spiritual experience on the part every single person, regardless of their status in the Church. I have always been particularly inspired by the story of the young boy Joseph Smith who was visited by God and Jesus as he prayed in the woods near his home. And the story of Enos in the Book of Mormon, who after spending the whole day praying in the wilderness, heard the voice of God for himself. I have always been encouraged by these stories. And better yet, as a Mormon, I learned how to experience these kinds of things for myself. While this has been an incredibly valuable part of my life, the narrow way in which I was taught to interpret my spiritual experiences has also presented me with some extremely difficult challenges at times. I want to discuss how opening our minds to additional perspectives can help us avoid a world of unnecessary difficulty in our religious lives.
Foundations of Mormon Spiritual Experience:
Moroni 10:3-5 teaches a principle that every Mormon learns at one time or another. As you faithfully and sincerely 'search, ponder, and pray' you will know the truth of any matter "by the power of the Holy Ghost."
"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."
Furthermore, we are taught to recognize the power of the Holy Ghost in the form of profound emotional/spiritual experiences. Both Doctrine and Covenants 85:6 and 1 Kings 19:12 refer to a witness from God in the form of "a still small voice." In Galatians 5:22 the apostle Paul associates the spirit with the feelings of love, joy, and peace. Doctrine and Covenants 9:8 identifies the spirit with a burning in the bosom:
"behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right."
Similarly, in Luke 24:13-35 we can read about a couple of disciples on the road to Emmaus whom the resurrected Lord met along the way. In this story, the immortal Jesus disguised himself so that he could not be recognized by sight. After walking, talking and breaking bread with these two disciples they finally recognized him, but just then Jesus vanished, and left them wondering,
"Did not our heart burn within us?"
So, our Mormon upbringing has taught us that we can learn the truth by the power of the spirit, and that the spirit comes in the form of these profound spiritual experiences. On top of that, the Church has taught us how to interpret these experiences. We are trained to interpret these experiences as proof that the claims of the Church are literally true. Then, once we "know" that one of the basic claims is true (for example, The Book of Mormon), then we know that basically all of the Church's other claims are true as well. This may be the only interpretation we are taught to consider, but there are other possible ways of viewing our sacred experience.
Why should we consider alternate interpretations of our spiritual experience?
For one, the interpretation I outlined above does not allow us to be very flexible or adaptable in the face of religious differences or new information. As a result, we may have difficulty talking about religion with our non-member friends. Or we might be completely at a loss as we try to sympathize with our Mormon friends and family who decide to leave the Church, or adopt a different brand of Mormonism. Additionally, we may one day encounter historical or scientific information which challenges that traditional interpretation of our spiritual experience. At this point, having an alternate interpretation to fall back on could help us avoid a total faith crisis, or at least lessen the pain and confusion we feel during such a crisis. For any number of reasons I fail to mention here, there may come a time when these alternate interpretations become absolutely vital to our social, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual health.
An Important Disclaimer:
Determining which of these various possibilities is the most valid is a rather personal, subjective matter; and I would suggest that it should be done prayerfully and with care by every individual. Here, I propose that it is possible (and I hope helpful) to imagine our various brands of LDS faith as falling in one of four quadrants on a graph. I even think it is possible to take it a step further and plot our personal convictions on the graph, approximately assigning them a position with corresponding cartesian coordinates. I realize that my use of a graph may seem to use unnecessarily mathematical language, and at first glance this may seem inaccessible to the average reader. But I'm no math whiz and you don't need to be, so please don't be scared off by it. The intended benefit of using a two-dimentional model (rather than the linear spectrum I previously used) is that the 2D model more accurately reflects the lived reality of our 3D world (I don't even want to imagine what a 3D model would look like). I hope that this model will help some find their place in Mormon life, and be at peace with whereever their consciences ultimately lead them. Still, it is important to keep in mind that this is an attempt to give voice to a wide spectrum of varying interpretations in a very small nutshell. I hope this little model will be useful, but these kinds of things are usually too clean to match our actual lived thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
The Four Quadrants of LDS Faith:
What you need to know? If this language scares you, it might be helpful for you to review this 2 minute video regarding the quadrants of a coordinate plane. The X axis represents the degree to which we feel we've experienced the classical Mormon spiritual phenomenon. The Y axis represents our level of belief in traditional LDS doctrines and policies. When we write these coordinates out, the X coordinate goes before Y, like this: (X, Y). The point where these two axis meet (0, 0) is appropriately called the "origin." For our purposes that phrase fits well, because when it comes down to it, we all start in a fairly neutral place. We begin to shift from that origin as soon as our parents teach us to pray, or read the scriptures with us, or take us to Church. Throughout our lives we might locate ourselves in many different areas of the graph. Within this framework, the broadest way we can characterize our faith is to find out which quadrant best fits our honest thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
I. (+, +) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You have given your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
II. (-, +) You are NOT sure you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience BUT… You still give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
III. (-, -) You do NOT think you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
IV. (+,-) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual experience BUT… You still do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
Note: It is also possible not to fit in any quandrant, but to fall right on one axis or the other indicating a neutral position on Mormon beliefs (if Y= 0) or a neutral position on spiritual experience (if X = 0).
Our Greatest Strength and Our Biggest Weakness:
I suppose my very favorite thing about Mormonism is that it was in this religious context that I first experienced the love and presence of God in my life. Mormonism has many teachings which encourage genuine spiritual experience on the part every single person, regardless of their status in the Church. I have always been particularly inspired by the story of the young boy Joseph Smith who was visited by God and Jesus as he prayed in the woods near his home. And the story of Enos in the Book of Mormon, who after spending the whole day praying in the wilderness, heard the voice of God for himself. I have always been encouraged by these stories. And better yet, as a Mormon, I learned how to experience these kinds of things for myself. While this has been an incredibly valuable part of my life, the narrow way in which I was taught to interpret my spiritual experiences has also presented me with some extremely difficult challenges at times. I want to discuss how opening our minds to additional perspectives can help us avoid a world of unnecessary difficulty in our religious lives.
Foundations of Mormon Spiritual Experience:
Moroni 10:3-5 teaches a principle that every Mormon learns at one time or another. As you faithfully and sincerely 'search, ponder, and pray' you will know the truth of any matter "by the power of the Holy Ghost."
"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."
Furthermore, we are taught to recognize the power of the Holy Ghost in the form of profound emotional/spiritual experiences. Both Doctrine and Covenants 85:6 and 1 Kings 19:12 refer to a witness from God in the form of "a still small voice." In Galatians 5:22 the apostle Paul associates the spirit with the feelings of love, joy, and peace. Doctrine and Covenants 9:8 identifies the spirit with a burning in the bosom:
"behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right."
Similarly, in Luke 24:13-35 we can read about a couple of disciples on the road to Emmaus whom the resurrected Lord met along the way. In this story, the immortal Jesus disguised himself so that he could not be recognized by sight. After walking, talking and breaking bread with these two disciples they finally recognized him, but just then Jesus vanished, and left them wondering,
"Did not our heart burn within us?"
So, our Mormon upbringing has taught us that we can learn the truth by the power of the spirit, and that the spirit comes in the form of these profound spiritual experiences. On top of that, the Church has taught us how to interpret these experiences. We are trained to interpret these experiences as proof that the claims of the Church are literally true. Then, once we "know" that one of the basic claims is true (for example, The Book of Mormon), then we know that basically all of the Church's other claims are true as well. This may be the only interpretation we are taught to consider, but there are other possible ways of viewing our sacred experience.
Why should we consider alternate interpretations of our spiritual experience?
For one, the interpretation I outlined above does not allow us to be very flexible or adaptable in the face of religious differences or new information. As a result, we may have difficulty talking about religion with our non-member friends. Or we might be completely at a loss as we try to sympathize with our Mormon friends and family who decide to leave the Church, or adopt a different brand of Mormonism. Additionally, we may one day encounter historical or scientific information which challenges that traditional interpretation of our spiritual experience. At this point, having an alternate interpretation to fall back on could help us avoid a total faith crisis, or at least lessen the pain and confusion we feel during such a crisis. For any number of reasons I fail to mention here, there may come a time when these alternate interpretations become absolutely vital to our social, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual health.
An Important Disclaimer:
Determining which of these various possibilities is the most valid is a rather personal, subjective matter; and I would suggest that it should be done prayerfully and with care by every individual. Here, I propose that it is possible (and I hope helpful) to imagine our various brands of LDS faith as falling in one of four quadrants on a graph. I even think it is possible to take it a step further and plot our personal convictions on the graph, approximately assigning them a position with corresponding cartesian coordinates. I realize that my use of a graph may seem to use unnecessarily mathematical language, and at first glance this may seem inaccessible to the average reader. But I'm no math whiz and you don't need to be, so please don't be scared off by it. The intended benefit of using a two-dimentional model (rather than the linear spectrum I previously used) is that the 2D model more accurately reflects the lived reality of our 3D world (I don't even want to imagine what a 3D model would look like). I hope that this model will help some find their place in Mormon life, and be at peace with whereever their consciences ultimately lead them. Still, it is important to keep in mind that this is an attempt to give voice to a wide spectrum of varying interpretations in a very small nutshell. I hope this little model will be useful, but these kinds of things are usually too clean to match our actual lived thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
The Four Quadrants of LDS Faith:
What you need to know? If this language scares you, it might be helpful for you to review this 2 minute video regarding the quadrants of a coordinate plane. The X axis represents the degree to which we feel we've experienced the classical Mormon spiritual phenomenon. The Y axis represents our level of belief in traditional LDS doctrines and policies. When we write these coordinates out, the X coordinate goes before Y, like this: (X, Y). The point where these two axis meet (0, 0) is appropriately called the "origin." For our purposes that phrase fits well, because when it comes down to it, we all start in a fairly neutral place. We begin to shift from that origin as soon as our parents teach us to pray, or read the scriptures with us, or take us to Church. Throughout our lives we might locate ourselves in many different areas of the graph. Within this framework, the broadest way we can characterize our faith is to find out which quadrant best fits our honest thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
I. (+, +) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You have given your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
II. (-, +) You are NOT sure you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience BUT… You still give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
III. (-, -) You do NOT think you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
IV. (+,-) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual experience BUT… You still do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
Note: It is also possible not to fit in any quandrant, but to fall right on one axis or the other indicating a neutral position on Mormon beliefs (if Y= 0) or a neutral position on spiritual experience (if X = 0).
The First Quadrant - A Breakdown:
I. (+, +) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You have given your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. (3, 3) Your spiritual experience in connection with Church-related activities (like reading the Book of Mormon, praying about Joseph Smith, or attending the Temple, etc.) has convinced you that ALL of the basic claims of the Church are literally true
b. (2, 2) The historical church had some problems, taught some falsehood, etc. but the present Church is basically true. Your spiritual experience might not have produced a testimony of polygamy or the priesthood ban, but you do feel your spiritual experience has substantiated the claims of the Book of Mormon as scripture, Joseph Smith as the prophet of the Restoration, current Church teachings, etc.
c. (3, 2) You are NOT so sure that the basic claims of the Church are literally true. You might not feel convinced that the Book of Mormon is historically factual. And Joseph Smith's first vision might not have happened exactly as we usually teach. However, you feel the stories are at least metaphorically true, and potenially deeply spiritually meaningful. Your spiritual experience has produced a testimony of the truthfulness of many of the teachings of the LDS scriptures and Church leaders.
d. (2, 1) Your spiritual experiences have produced strong convictions about many of the social and economic teachings of the Church, but you don't necessarily find the standard Mormon answers to the “unanswerable” questions very compelling.
e. (3, 1) Your spiritual experiences have produced strong convictions about Mormonism, but the mainstream/orthodox Mormonism of the current Church is quite different from the Mormonism you find in the scriptures and in the teachings of Joseph Smith (think of Rock Waterman)
The Second Quadrant - A Breakdown:
II. (-, +) You are NOT sure you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience BUT… You still give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. You trust in others to receive revelation for the Church and for you generally, and you have not really felt the need to receive a strong personal witness for yourself
b. You are a fairly traditional person and you feel like if it’s good enough for your parents, and your grandparents, and your great grandparents… then “it’s good enough for me”
c. Belief in the Church has always come naturally, Church membership feels comfortable
d. You prayed long and hard for a personal witness and you still don't feel you’ve ever received a profound spiritual witness, but even if the Church isn’t true in every way, you still feel like it’s the best thing out there
e. You prayed long and hard for a personal revelation of the truth of the Church claims and didn’t receive one, so you barely believe at all, or you just don’t know what to think; but you are still willing to say you believe for social reasons (to keep your spouse happy, to keep your family together, for the benefit of the Church community that you wish to remain a part of, etc.)
The Third Quadrant - A Breakdown:
III. (-, -) You do NOT think you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. Spiritual experiences may exist but they seem unnecessary to you or you feel they aren't meant for you; But you still find meaning in some level of involvement in formal LDS activities. Perhaps you like being a part of the community, or you find value in certain Mormon ethics, or you think there is something meaningful about Mormon rituals, or some combination of these.
b. Spiritual experiences may exist but you feel they are not meant for you, and neither is the LDS Church; You find more meaning in other life experiences.
c. Spiritual experiences are not a real thing, Church teachings are manmade and not divinely inspired or even good, generally speaking. Any good found in Church teachings can be found in non-religious literature without all of the attending pathologies.
d. What many view as "spiritual" experiences, you believe to be merely the product of biological functions. For example, researchers have found that the vagus nerve can be stimulated without the existence of supernatural forces.
The Fourth Quadrant - A Breakdown:
IV. (+,-) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience BUT… You still do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. Your spiritual experience seems to confirm some of the traditional teachings of the LDS Church, but not others.
b. Your spiritual experience seems to confirm the basic message of the LDS Church in a metaphorical sense, but NOT in a literal sense. Your scientific and historical discoveries make literal belief in many of the claims of the Church improbable or impossible.
c. You do NOT think your spiritual experience is meant to be used as evidence to confirm or deny the traditional claims of the Church. In your experience it can be trusted to testify of broad religious and moral principles (like the existence of a benevolent force in the universe, and the positive morality of the golden rule), but it is not very reliable as evidence of particular denominational claims.
d. You feel you've had spiritual experiences, and you feel they serve an important psychological or sociological function, but they are not very useful in the process of discovering truth of any kind.
e. Your spiritual experience seems to contradict most of the basic claims of the LDS Church, so you conclude that the Church is not true, in the sense that it does not seem to be what it claims to be.
The Subjectivity of Experiential Reality, and A Personal Note:
As I laid out many of the possible ways we can experience (or not experience) spiritual phenomena, and discussed various ways we might interpret and respond to these phenomena, I hope many of you could see how, at least from a strictly rational perspective, there is no objective way to favor one point on the coordinate plane over another. True, it is possible to "experiment upon the word," and often people in the Church feel they are getting the same answer and validating one another's religious claims. However, it is also true that people of other religious communities can recieve equally compelling divine witnesses and validate eachother's spiritual experience with just as much conviction. I guess my fondest hope is that everyone will feel at liberty to be honest about their own experience, and to go with the interpretation that gives them the most peace and happiness - that everyone will claim the privilege of living and believing according to the dictates of their own conscience, and allow all others the same privilege.
Some of you may be wondering where I locate myself on this coordinate plane. At one point I found myself squarely in the first quadrant, in the neighborhood of (3, 3). But I have since re-evaluated my faith, taking into account historical and scientific information, as well as cherished LDS teachings. Then, perhaps most importantly, I took into account the messages I felt the spirit communicating to me, which were (and are) often different than the messages I was hearing (and continue to hear) from the pulpit. I feel I have recieved profound spiritual witnesses throughout my religious journey, even as my personal convictions evolved into a less conventional but equally impassioned brand of Mormon faith. If you were to graph my religious thoughts, feelings, and experiences you would probably find an X value that is pretty consistently above a 2, and a Y value that is anywhere between 2 and -1, depending on the issue (see the graph below).
That being said, in my opinion, what the spirit has to communicate about specific denominational claims is not nearly as important as the way the spirit can inspire us with the Love of God and transform us into more compassionate creatures. The love of our heavenly parents is the great truth, and the Holy Spirit has been teaching this truth to spiritually-minded people all over the world for thousands of years. The great tragedy is that so many religious people find so many things to prioritize higher than this absolutely central principle of the gospel.
I. (+, +) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You have given your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. (3, 3) Your spiritual experience in connection with Church-related activities (like reading the Book of Mormon, praying about Joseph Smith, or attending the Temple, etc.) has convinced you that ALL of the basic claims of the Church are literally true
b. (2, 2) The historical church had some problems, taught some falsehood, etc. but the present Church is basically true. Your spiritual experience might not have produced a testimony of polygamy or the priesthood ban, but you do feel your spiritual experience has substantiated the claims of the Book of Mormon as scripture, Joseph Smith as the prophet of the Restoration, current Church teachings, etc.
c. (3, 2) You are NOT so sure that the basic claims of the Church are literally true. You might not feel convinced that the Book of Mormon is historically factual. And Joseph Smith's first vision might not have happened exactly as we usually teach. However, you feel the stories are at least metaphorically true, and potenially deeply spiritually meaningful. Your spiritual experience has produced a testimony of the truthfulness of many of the teachings of the LDS scriptures and Church leaders.
d. (2, 1) Your spiritual experiences have produced strong convictions about many of the social and economic teachings of the Church, but you don't necessarily find the standard Mormon answers to the “unanswerable” questions very compelling.
e. (3, 1) Your spiritual experiences have produced strong convictions about Mormonism, but the mainstream/orthodox Mormonism of the current Church is quite different from the Mormonism you find in the scriptures and in the teachings of Joseph Smith (think of Rock Waterman)
The Second Quadrant - A Breakdown:
II. (-, +) You are NOT sure you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience BUT… You still give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. You trust in others to receive revelation for the Church and for you generally, and you have not really felt the need to receive a strong personal witness for yourself
b. You are a fairly traditional person and you feel like if it’s good enough for your parents, and your grandparents, and your great grandparents… then “it’s good enough for me”
c. Belief in the Church has always come naturally, Church membership feels comfortable
d. You prayed long and hard for a personal witness and you still don't feel you’ve ever received a profound spiritual witness, but even if the Church isn’t true in every way, you still feel like it’s the best thing out there
e. You prayed long and hard for a personal revelation of the truth of the Church claims and didn’t receive one, so you barely believe at all, or you just don’t know what to think; but you are still willing to say you believe for social reasons (to keep your spouse happy, to keep your family together, for the benefit of the Church community that you wish to remain a part of, etc.)
The Third Quadrant - A Breakdown:
III. (-, -) You do NOT think you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience AND… You do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. Spiritual experiences may exist but they seem unnecessary to you or you feel they aren't meant for you; But you still find meaning in some level of involvement in formal LDS activities. Perhaps you like being a part of the community, or you find value in certain Mormon ethics, or you think there is something meaningful about Mormon rituals, or some combination of these.
b. Spiritual experiences may exist but you feel they are not meant for you, and neither is the LDS Church; You find more meaning in other life experiences.
c. Spiritual experiences are not a real thing, Church teachings are manmade and not divinely inspired or even good, generally speaking. Any good found in Church teachings can be found in non-religious literature without all of the attending pathologies.
d. What many view as "spiritual" experiences, you believe to be merely the product of biological functions. For example, researchers have found that the vagus nerve can be stimulated without the existence of supernatural forces.
The Fourth Quadrant - A Breakdown:
IV. (+,-) You feel you’ve had a profound “spiritual” experience BUT… You still do NOT give your ideological assent to the traditional claims of the LDS Church
a. Your spiritual experience seems to confirm some of the traditional teachings of the LDS Church, but not others.
b. Your spiritual experience seems to confirm the basic message of the LDS Church in a metaphorical sense, but NOT in a literal sense. Your scientific and historical discoveries make literal belief in many of the claims of the Church improbable or impossible.
c. You do NOT think your spiritual experience is meant to be used as evidence to confirm or deny the traditional claims of the Church. In your experience it can be trusted to testify of broad religious and moral principles (like the existence of a benevolent force in the universe, and the positive morality of the golden rule), but it is not very reliable as evidence of particular denominational claims.
d. You feel you've had spiritual experiences, and you feel they serve an important psychological or sociological function, but they are not very useful in the process of discovering truth of any kind.
e. Your spiritual experience seems to contradict most of the basic claims of the LDS Church, so you conclude that the Church is not true, in the sense that it does not seem to be what it claims to be.
The Subjectivity of Experiential Reality, and A Personal Note:
As I laid out many of the possible ways we can experience (or not experience) spiritual phenomena, and discussed various ways we might interpret and respond to these phenomena, I hope many of you could see how, at least from a strictly rational perspective, there is no objective way to favor one point on the coordinate plane over another. True, it is possible to "experiment upon the word," and often people in the Church feel they are getting the same answer and validating one another's religious claims. However, it is also true that people of other religious communities can recieve equally compelling divine witnesses and validate eachother's spiritual experience with just as much conviction. I guess my fondest hope is that everyone will feel at liberty to be honest about their own experience, and to go with the interpretation that gives them the most peace and happiness - that everyone will claim the privilege of living and believing according to the dictates of their own conscience, and allow all others the same privilege.
Some of you may be wondering where I locate myself on this coordinate plane. At one point I found myself squarely in the first quadrant, in the neighborhood of (3, 3). But I have since re-evaluated my faith, taking into account historical and scientific information, as well as cherished LDS teachings. Then, perhaps most importantly, I took into account the messages I felt the spirit communicating to me, which were (and are) often different than the messages I was hearing (and continue to hear) from the pulpit. I feel I have recieved profound spiritual witnesses throughout my religious journey, even as my personal convictions evolved into a less conventional but equally impassioned brand of Mormon faith. If you were to graph my religious thoughts, feelings, and experiences you would probably find an X value that is pretty consistently above a 2, and a Y value that is anywhere between 2 and -1, depending on the issue (see the graph below).
That being said, in my opinion, what the spirit has to communicate about specific denominational claims is not nearly as important as the way the spirit can inspire us with the Love of God and transform us into more compassionate creatures. The love of our heavenly parents is the great truth, and the Holy Spirit has been teaching this truth to spiritually-minded people all over the world for thousands of years. The great tragedy is that so many religious people find so many things to prioritize higher than this absolutely central principle of the gospel.
Something Old, and Something NEW:
(If you haven't read my original post on this subject, you can disregard this last part.)
For those of you who are familiar with my original model, I thought it might be interesting if I showed you roughly how it might look if I plotted the old model onto the new one. To give a little backgroung, in my first model I tried to outline the different ways that Mormons experience and interpret spiritual phenomena, and then boil them down to 5 basic approaches that could be plotted at some point on a linear spectrum. But very quickly I started to notice that certain ways of thinking didn't fit anywhere near that spectrum, and I alluded to this in my post. With that in mind, let's see what it would look like if I plotted those 5-6 basic approaches on this new graph. As you will see, there are many ways of conceptualizing Mormon faith that just can't be plotted on a single line.
(If you haven't read my original post on this subject, you can disregard this last part.)
For those of you who are familiar with my original model, I thought it might be interesting if I showed you roughly how it might look if I plotted the old model onto the new one. To give a little backgroung, in my first model I tried to outline the different ways that Mormons experience and interpret spiritual phenomena, and then boil them down to 5 basic approaches that could be plotted at some point on a linear spectrum. But very quickly I started to notice that certain ways of thinking didn't fit anywhere near that spectrum, and I alluded to this in my post. With that in mind, let's see what it would look like if I plotted those 5-6 basic approaches on this new graph. As you will see, there are many ways of conceptualizing Mormon faith that just can't be plotted on a single line.