There is an infinite amount of truth: “...truth abideth and hath no end.” (D&C 88:66) We won’t come to the end of it in this life, no matter how much we acquire.
Though truth is infinite, there is a finite amount of truth associated with each scope. The Lord said: “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it.” (D&C 93:30) What are these spheres? Each is an extent of relevance defined by the level of trust in God required to obtain that degree of truth. Trust is required because trust is the limiting factor in obedience to God’s instructions and subjection to his experiences, which will be discussed shortly.
By this criteria, three groups emerge. These groups are called “kingdoms” in the scriptures. The bounds of these kingdoms are defined by how much trust in God is required to reconcile one’s life to the instructions given in the context of the given range of awareness. They are each defined by “a law.” In scriptural parlance, those “who cannot abide the law” of a particular kingdom—or do not trust God sufficiently to obey the level of instructions given—“cannot abide” the glory of that kingdom—or can’t endure the content of the awareness associated with those instructions (see D&C 88:22-25).
The law of each kingdom is the correct understanding of good and evil for all elements in the set of approximate truths pertaining to that kingdom. Those “who cannot abide the law of a” particular kingdom “cannot abide” the glory of that kingdom (see D&C 88:22-25). To “abide a law” is to act completely in accordance with the level of light and truth corresponding to that kingdom.
20 There is <u>a</u> law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which <u>all</u> blessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is [all things are] predicated. (D&C 130)
This law is the truth, the light, and the word. It is your discrete level of reality awareness and discernment of good and evil. The fullness of this law is the level of light and truth possessed by God:
11 ...the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings;
12 Which light precedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—
13 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 who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things. (D&C 88)
Law, glory, light, and truth are all intimately tied together. Any time you have one, you have all the others, and any time you lack one, you lack all the others.
Reconciliation to the law of the level of truth you possess sanctifies you, or makes you able to receive the glory pertaining to that kingdom, or all the blessings reaped as a natural consequence of living the truths at that level: “that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same.” (D&C 88:34)
There is a range of light and truth corresponding to a given kingdom. There is a minimum and a maximum. Everyone who possesses the minimum amount can dwell in happiness in that kingdom.
While the degree of light and truth in a kingdom exists in a range, the degree of trust required for each kingdom is a fixed amount. A descriptive analog of how this works can be found in how the quantum states of atoms operate. Each atom’s nucleus is orbited by one or more electrons. These electrons can absorb energy. Under a certain fixed threshold of energy, an electron’s orbit will be normal. If it is exposed to a higher band of energy, it will assume a larger orbit. While each atom has different energy bands and orbit sizes, the general behavior is the same: the electron can absorb any amount of energy within a band and still have the same fixed orbit. It is only when the energy passes the threshold that the electron will take the larger orbit, and no orbits exist in between. Interestingly, these thresholds do not occur in even spacing. The radius of each orbit is much larger than the previous one.
To sum up, our trust in God exists at quantum levels (like whole numbers), while our awareness is continuous (like decimal numbers), and greater awareness requires far greater trust in God.
Within each kingdom, there are innumerable “mansions.” The Lord said:
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14)
A mansion is an individual possession, but “mansion” here does not mean a house. Instead, it is a specific set of understanding, comprised of the individual’s experience, understanding, and desires. These inform the individual’s sincere idea of what is true and what is not, which in turn defines the specific glory each individual possesses here and hereafter.
The degree of trust in God that we develop in this life will grant us a “portion” of the glory of that kingdom in this life and enable us to obtain a fullness of that kingdom’s glory after we die (see D&C 88:28-31).
There are those who trust the world more than they trust God. These inherit telestial glory. These are they who never get to the point of listening to God’s voice directly, which begins as the voice of the conscience. They ignore that voice, and instead find some hireling to preach religion to them. They do not listen to people who actually possess and preach God’s word (see D&C 76:99-101). These trust the world and their carnal pleasures more than they trust God. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they commit adultery and sexual deviance (see D&C 76:103-106).
There are those who trust themselves more than they trust God. These inherit terrestrial glory. They trust God enough to follow his voice, but not enough to tenaciously seek more than what they have. They learn the voice of the Spirit, and they obey it, but they are content and satisfied with what they have. They don’t trust God enough to believe there must be more than what they have. They are honorable, but not valiant. They obtain some of God’s glory, but do not open their eyes fully (see D&C 76:75-79).
There are those who trust God fully. These inherit celestial glory. There is nothing that can happen to these people that would cause them to doubt God. There is nothing that God can ask them that they would not obey. There is no limit to their seeking more light and truth, and no limit in their obedience. They are just men made perfect—just, because they reconcile themselves completely to what God teaches them, and perfect because God teaches them all things.
You’ll notice that these degrees of trust are not evenly spaced. Celestial trust is much much greater than terrestrial trust, which is much much greater than telestial trust. If we were to place these on a continuum, the spacing between these levels would not be even.
Greater light, greater commandments
As Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Why couldn’t mankind do it without him? Joseph Smith said:
God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits. (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” p. 354).
God has more light than any man. Without his offering us light, we could not acquire more. God instituted laws in order to enable mankind to advance towards his character and knowledge. God’s commandments have at least four functions:
- They expand your awareness by explaining properties of reality that you are not presently aware of.
- They teach you good and evil beyond your present understanding.
- They provide support and stability to you as you extend your awareness so that you are not overcome by the revelation of what you previously did not know.
- They protect you from negative consequences and help you obtain positive consequences of awareness beyond your present comprehension.
We see an example of each of these things when Adam and Eve were instructed by God prior to their expulsion from Eden. God gave them new commandments that did each of the above. For instance, he instructed them on how to sacrifice animals even before they could fully comprehend the purpose (see point 4).
The pattern and purpose of God giving new or expanded commandments is found throughout the scriptures and in the lives of every person who seeks God. Like scriptural personalities, every time you have a new level of encounter with God, you will receive new or expanded commandments. Whenever anyone attains a greater level of awareness, God gives them new or expanded commandments.
The commandments, then, aren’t ends in themselves, but means for developing greater capacity for truth. The relationship of commandments to awareness is like the foundation to the height of the building. A foundationless building is very limited in height. The stronger the foundation, the higher you can build the building.
The Lord created this earth to “prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25). Some have erroneously understood that the principle test of mortality is to see how you act in the absence of direction from God. This is simply not so. The test of mortality is to see how you act in relation to direction from God.
The Lord’s commandments are much broader than the explicit “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” found in the scriptures. The Lord’s instructions are the guidance provided by each person’s individual, sincere, best estimate of the Lord’s will for everything in their lives.
How do you know whether you are progressing in your acquisition of truth? You should receive commandments that expand or replace your previous understanding of God’s will: “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) God reveals new or expanded commandments at every stage of awareness:
3 ...feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
4 ...the Holy Ghost...will show unto you all things what ye should do.
6 Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ... (2 Nephi 32)
You should be learning. You should find yourself with greater trust in God. You should find your character is more like his, and less like yours used to be:
44 For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.
45 For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
46 And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.
47 And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.
49 And the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin.
50 And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me.
51 For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin. 52 And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me. (D&C 84)
And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10:5)
You should find yourself able to conquer things that previously challenged you: “And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you.” (D&C 50:25) As you grow in your understanding of truth, the power of illusion over you wanes, until you conquer all things:
7 And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever.
8 But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them.
9 For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men;
10 And inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. (D&C 103)
There is a finite amount of truth pertaining to our earthly existence
There is a finite amount of truth pertaining to our earthly existence. This is the amount of truth we have to obtain to overcome all things in this life, and is the quantity of truth corresponding to the telestial kingdom. That quantity of truth is far less than the total amount of truth that is available in this life.
Outside of this mortal existence, our awareness is limited to the range of light and truth available in the kingdom we are quickened by; it is limited to the level of trust in God that we acquired in this life.
The maximum level of telestial truth is important. This is the level called “all things” in the scriptures. This is what is described as a “fullness of truth” in the scriptures (see D&C 93:26). It is an understanding of this quantity of truth that all Christians seek, or ought to. This is because possessing this fullness of truth is exactly what is required for salvation. In fact, it is the very definition of salvation.
Everyone who dies will be resurrected, and everyone who is resurrected will instantly be exposed to this maximal level of truth pertaining to this earth. The state of those who have not “overcome all things” (assimilated all truth ordained by God for us to receive) is called the fires of hell. This state is a reaction to unprepared exposure to all truth pertaining to this earth. The Lord said: “my blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not.” (D&C 29:17) This suffering is what those who are “saved” are saved from.
One must obtain and assimilate telestial truth in order to be “saved.” The set of commandments corresponding to that kingdom must be obtained and obeyed.
No one forces you to become aware of and assimilate this level of truth. You have to do it willingly: “Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.” (D&C 93:31)
What is it like to seek to obtain at least telestial awareness while still in this life? It is like being a gardener in a temperate zone, where summer frosts are rare, who actively researches how to garden in more northern climates, where summer frosts happen all the time, when he knows that he will have to move there eventually and where he is going there is no internet or books to describe how to do it.
Some mistakenly think of the Garden of Eden as paradise. When Adam and Eve broke God's command, it was not because their character had changed. Their behavior was the manifestation of their character in a new, expanded awareness. It was how they responded to more information than they had previously. Eden was not a paradise; it was a bubble of ignorance.
What actually changed when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Did the garden actually change? The world? Or was it simply that a greater awareness of the chaos that existed outside of the garden penetrated into it? Recall that Genesis begins not with order but with chaos. Order is not the default state of things. Chaos is.
It takes an enormous amount of trouble to derive order from chaos, and even then the order is a small island in a limitless sea. God spoke and chaos yielded to him because of what he had already done and become. When Adam came along, he was placed in a relatively small, confined area that was not the absence of chaos, but a bubble inside of it—a bubble where, through immense hidden effort, chaos was hidden through ignorance. Even inside of the garden, chaos reigned, but in a way that was too difficult to detect in the eyes of a neophyte like Adam. Satan showed up, and the tree that could radically rip away that bubble was there from the beginning.
In this life, a great deal of the natural consequences of our actions, thoughts, and desires are graciously withheld. Like in the Garden of Eden, we are placed in a situation where we can choose to remain insulated from a much greater scope of truth.
In this life, we can hide from the truth. We can shield our ignorance with illusion and thereby avoid correction. But 1) this does not shield us from the consequences of ignorance, and 2) when we die, we are fully exposed to things as they are, with no shield of ignorance.
You didn't come to this world to be comforted in illusion. You came here to acquire greater light and truth. The sand is running through the hourglass. Your satisfaction here and hereafter will be determined by one thing: how hard did you try to acquire further light and truth? You control the flow, 100%. Realize that the more you constrain that flow, the less joy you will have in this life and after this life.
We can choose to remain blind to the consequences of our lack of truth, or we can embrace truth and seek out as much as we can obtain in this life.
God knows everything. He understands everything that is going to happen, why it is going to happen, and why it is good and bad. We know very little. Everything we cannot predict and cannot understand signals to us that there is more for us to learn before we know all things pertaining to this life.
This portion of knowledge may seem enormous and out of our reach, but it will be revealed to everyone sooner or later. The only question is when.
You will be aware of this amount of truth here or hereafter
After this life, we shall be “taken home to that God who gave [us] life...to be judged according to [our] works, according to the law and justice.” (Alma 40:11; 42:23) We shall see God in the midst of his creation and glory, and contemplate his holiness, perfections and attributes. We shall, likewise, see ourselves as we truly are, in juxtaposition with God, and comprehend to what degree we have submitted to those laws he has set in place for our continual existence, progress, and happiness. In God's presence we shall be exposed to a perfect knowledge of all truth pertaining to this existence and, if we have not already repented, “we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness.” (2 Nephi 9:14) We shall thus be led to exclaim: “Holy, holy are thy judgments, O Lord God Almighty.” (2 Nephi 9:46) This will be a dreadful event for those who have not obtained and reconciled themselves to all truth pertaining to this existence:
21 And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit another kingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom.
34 And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same.
35 That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still. (D&C 84)
27 But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!
38 And, in fine, wo unto all those who die in their sins; for they shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins. (2 Nephi 9)
Preparing ourselves for that knowledge now will prevent us from suffering indescribable pain then . This is what it means to overcome all things , to become aware of and capable of living according to God’s character in the midst of a full awareness. To overcome all things is to acquire sufficient light and truth that nothing on earth has power to decrease the trust you have in God. When you reach this point, nothing on earth can dissuade you from believing in and obeying him in all things. To overcome all things is to see things sufficiently as they are to understand what improves and what deteriorates, what leads to life and what leads to death. Because these associations are contextual, overcoming all things includes gaining an awareness that encompasses everything this world has to offer.
This exposure to a fullness of the truth pertaining to this sphere need not wait until you die. Ideally, you will have obtained this level of awareness and reconciled yourself to it before then.
We can be exposed to the fire of the knowledge of God during this life in many ways, but all of it includes the revelation of more truth than we possess, and our reconciling ourselves to it. This exposure can be a major spiritual event. For Alma, his exposure to a greater degree of truth came all at once:
12 But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.
13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds. (Alma 36)
Similarly, Daniel was given a glimpse of this quantity of light when a glorious angel appeared to him:
5 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:
6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
7 And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.
8 Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. (Daniel 10)
Note the effect of the glory of the angel on Daniel. Everything he thought was good in him was transformed into corruption, and the change was so drastic that it robbed him of strength. The angel’s light had the effect of revealing the incorrect and incomplete awareness in Daniel, which in turn caused his understanding of good and evil to shift radically. Also note that his companions, who were in the same room with him, did not see the angel. Still, the unseen glory was sufficient to cause them to quake and flee and hide.
In addition to major, all-at-once events, you are constantly exposed to opportunities to discern and reconcile to smaller packets of truth. Paul explained that there is a time when:
13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3)
This trial by fire happens in a dramatic way on the day of judgment. In a smaller way, life provides its own purging fires that happen from time to time. It happens to all, no matter whether they want to recognize the process and purpose or not. The fire declares the worth of what we are, because it purges anything that is an illusion, and only what is real remains. We ought not love anything that is in this world, but all those who are here love a great deal. These are matters of the heart, and like the difference between the blind and sighted, our attachment to things of this world are sometimes only revealed when God takes them away. His taking them away doesn't have to be—and rarely is—through dramatic, external events. Many times he can modify our situation regarding the attachment so as to show us just how incapable it is to be relied upon. If we rely on other people, perhaps he arranges for them to let us down. If we rely on food, perhaps he arranges for a disease to prevent us from enjoying it. If we rely on work, perhaps he arranges for a hostile situation there or increased family need for our time. If we rely on money, perhaps he will take it away. If we rely on a church, perhaps he will show us serious problems with its dogma. And so on.
Why subject yourself to the fire before it comes for you? Well, for starters, because it will come for you, again and again. If you know the enemy is going to attack you, why wait until it is on the horizon to fortify your position? You waste precious resources and will be less prepared than you otherwise would. What if the difference between victory and defeat lies in the time you squandered?
One lesson from the Garden of Eden is that whatever peace you have in your life dangles from a thread, and the slightest drop from the sea of chaos that surrounds you can cut that thread and rip out everything you think you know. It doesn't matter how beautiful or permanent your Eden may seem, chaos is waiting right outside, and will eventually show up, just like Satan did, and reveal all the cracks in what you think you know.
Why else? Because, as Paul says, whatever survives the fire becomes a reward. It is scary to offer what you hold dear to critical inspection. But, consider that there are only two possible outcomes. If it survives the inspection, you can be even more confident in it. If it does not, of what value is it, anyway?
By discovering the parts within us that are not yet ready to withstand the fire, we are shown what else we need to do to overcome all things.
At some point before the second coming of Christ, God will expose the earth to more of the consequences of our lack of truth. The Lord describes this throughout scripture. One of the phrases he uses is “saving the righteous, even by fire”:
14 And every nation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord. And all that fight against Zion shall be destroyed, and that great whore, who hath perverted the right ways of the Lord, yea, that great and abominable church, shall tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it.
15 For behold, saith the prophet, the time cometh speedily that Satan shall have no more power over the hearts of the children of men; for the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day cometh that they must be burned.
16 For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the wrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous.
17 Wherefore, he will preserve the righteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.
18 Behold, my brethren, I say unto you, that these things must shortly come; yea, even blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke must come; and it must needs be upon the face of this earth; and it cometh unto men according to the flesh if it so be that they will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel. (1 Nephi 22)
Everything in our modern world hangs by a thread of God’s miraculous grace. We live in peace beyond the capacity of our political system. We live in freedom from natural disaster beyond what our wickedness supports. We live in prosperity beyond what our ignorance of and disobedience to God’s commands deserves. How will the Lord show the consequences of our lack of truth? He will gradually remove the unnatural easing of the consequences of our lack of truth.
The time is coming when an awareness of the portion of truth pertaining to this sphere will be universal. The true nature of this fallen world will be revealed. It is much, much worse than what you perceive now. God will kick out the crutches he has gracefully provided, and the world will see what man and nature are without an overflow of grace from God.
13 And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God.
14 For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed. (D&C 132)
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:27)
Why will he do this? To bless the righteous. As those who love God increase in light and truth, the wicked will increase in opposing them. Eventually, those who love God will live sufficient light and truth that the wicked will be driven to kill them. Many will die according to God's purposes, but some must be preserved. God will increase the level of chaos to a) allow further progress among the righteous until they achieve Zion and b) to preserve the righteous from the wicked.
He will save the righteous, even by fire. Save them from what? The persecution and effects of wickedness. How? Like the friends of Daniel, he will put you right into the hottest part of the fire. He will shake the righteous as much as the wicked. The difference will not be in the exposure to consequences but the preparation for and the survival of the consequences:
And at my command the heavens are opened and are shut; and at my word the earth shall shake; and at my command the inhabitants thereof shall pass away, even so as by fire. (Ether 4:9, see also D&C 132:13-14 quoted previously)
As God exposes this earth to more and more of the chaos that he is currently shielding us from, like a baker folds eggs into dough, all the glory of the world will be shown to be worthless.
How is he going to strengthen you to stand in that fire?
For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory. (D&C 21:6)
He is going to shake you. He is shaking you already. What does it mean to be shaken? It means exposing more awareness, more of the chaos, until the order is overwhelmed and the principles you think you know fail. They fail to explain your observations, they fail to give you the power to maintain what is inside of you in spite of whatever is outside of you. You might lose your job. You might lose a child. You might get bone cancer. In life, your state of mind depends on oh so many things and people, and all of them are far more delicate than you care to consider. By design, this world will rip each and every one of those pillars out from under you, sooner or later. Some of the stoutest people turn into jelly when death stares them in the face. Whatever your Achille’s heel is, life will find it sooner or later. Even if we persist in our illusions in death, we will soon be shaken violently from them when we stand before the judgment bar. In the presence of God, we will not be able to help seeing things as they really are. All the illusions will be ripped away from us.
How are you going to outlast the shaking? You have to trust him, and you have to learn from him. You are going to be ripped apart. You think you know what it means to suffer, but you have no idea what it means. You think you know what it means to be lonely, but you have no idea what loneliness means. You think you know what unconditional love means, but you have no idea. Not yet. But you will learn all these things. You will be thrown into the fire, and he will be right there next to you. As you ponder his character, and how he not only endures but thrives in this chaos, you will realize how you can acquire or modify your principles to become more like him. You will learn to delight in the shaking, because you will learn that it is the only way to grow closer to God, and that it is the best way to help others.
Get to the point where all things, no matter how awful, are present before you.
Reconciliation to this truth is heaven; Ignorance of it is hell
Paul said that “our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29) What is that fire? It is his maintenance of his character in the midst of a full awareness of reality. The fire that surrounds God is his glory. “The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.” (D&C 93:36)
What is the fire that surrounds God? It is chaos, unfiltered, uncontained, unexplained, unbounded. Life is going to grind you up no matter what. Your choices can sometimes limit the grinding to certain types, but you will be ground up no matter what. Your real choice is not whether you will suffer, but for what purpose the suffering will be. The glory of God includes all things that are present before him, including the many things that by his grace elude us. When you look upon God in his glory, the seemingly endless depths of chaos are before you. In him they are ordered, but without perfect faith, you can't leverage your trust in him to endure even a temporary awareness of what you can't yet handle.
We will find ourselves exposed to the entire awareness prescribed for our present scope. We cannot stop that from happening. This is judgment—where we see things as they really are up to that point. In that day, it will be too late to prepare ourselves to endure that awareness, to comprehend it. Mortality is required for us to discover and assimilate the principles necessary to overcome the things pertaining to this scope. The only thing we can do in that day is suffer from an exposure to an awareness that exceeds our comprehension.
Have you ever wondered why the presence of God and the pains of hell are both described as fire? They are the same fire! The Psalmist wrote: “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” (Psalm 139:8) The fires of hell and the fires that surround God are one and the same. The difference is not of what they comprise, but the capacity of the individual to endure them and maintain the character of God in spite of them—including happiness and joy.
The difference between heaven and hell is merely the condition of those who abide in it. Those in hell are exposed to the same degree of truth as God dwells in, but because they did not acquire the requisite knowledge of dealing with it, they suffer, while God emanates glory.
God knows things as they really are. He has a perfect character. The glory of God is maintenance of a perfect character despite an awareness of what is. God can endure the chaos that exists outside of the bubble of this mortal sphere. We cannot.
God's knowledge, his light and truth, his fire, is the state that he has attained through ordering the chaos that exists at our scope. It is the “law” by which he is sanctified. What does it mean that Jesus Christ has overcome all things? It means he experienced the entire breadth of awareness here, and still maintained perfect godly character. To overcome the world, we must acquire sufficiently many and sufficiently functional principles to maintain godly character in any situation pertaining to the scope of mortality.
The amount of glory you acquire in mortality will determine whether you can bear the weight of all knowledge pertaining to this sphere. All corruption is devoured in this fire—all beliefs that are incorrect or incomplete compared to this level of truth. The only way to endure the fire is to acquire sufficient light and truth that you can withstand it. We live in a world of illusion. The spirit of God reveals things as they really are (see Jacob 4:13). As he reveals to us what he knows, we are subjected to what was previously unknown to us. The challenge is to grow in our capacity to persevere in obedience to God and trust in him amidst ever-increasing levels of chaos.
Heaven and hell are literal places. Where they are, though, is far less important than how they are. As has been said, a righteous man could make heaven of any hell, and a devilish man would make hell of any heaven.
Heaven and hell are defined by the capacity of a person to endure reality. Those in heaven have developed a capacity to endure and live according to a certain degree of reality. Hell is the state of individuals who have not developed the capacity to endure the certain degree of reality to which they are exposed. This state is occupied by two different types of people. One type has not developed the capacity because they are not aware of that degree of reality to which they are eventually exposed. The other may be aware of some portion of that reality, but they choose to ignore it until they are unwillingly made to face it.
At judgment, we will be exposed to the full breadth and depth of knowledge of things pertaining to this existence. Those who have developed an awareness of the full scope of truth pertaining to our existence will experience incomparable peace and happiness. Those whose awareness falls short of this will experience incomparable suffering.
There is opposition in all things. Just as you have no idea what good things await you in increased truth (see 1 Corinthians 2:9), likewise you have no idea how awful the awful things are that await you. One characteristic of the unknown is obviously that we don’t know what it contains. What makes greater levels of awareness unbearable for the ill-prepared? It is a combination of the revelation of a greater and more painful unknown with a revelation of much of what you think is right being wrong, real being illusion.
Some specific examples of this happen when, for instance, you find out that a church you and your family believed in for generations and made much sacrifice for is a cult. Or, when your spouse of 25 years leaves you and says they never loved you. Or, when you are suddenly fired from your job after being promoted the day before. Or, when your 6 year old son withers away from cancer.
Now, imagine everything like this happening to you, all at once. This may seem ridiculous, but that is what it is like to have “all things before you” as all who possess telestial degree glory do. The feelings these experiences create are all revelations of a degree of trust in God that is lower than the telestial dispensation of truth requires. If the fulness of telestial awareness were revealed to you, it would be as if all these things were happening to you, all the time.
The pains of hell come as you’re shown that reality is far worse than you thought, reality is far less secure than you thought, your greatest desires are impossible, and your greatest joys were an illusion.
Reality is far worse than you thought. But it is immeasurably better to have a more accurate picture of what is out there than it is to be brutally exposed to it at random intervals, causing extreme anguish.
Reality is far less secure than you thought. But it is immeasurably better to develop a perspective where you aren’t relying on the unreliable than it is to lean on an illusion, only to have it fail you at the worst times.
Your greatest desires are impossible, and your greatest joys were an illusion. But, what is possible is immeasurably better, because it is real, you can actually have it, and it is far greater than anything you can presently imagine, eclipsing any illusory joy you have ever felt. A desire may be misplaced, and therefore an illusion, but the joy you feel towards it is real, and it has a worthy target. Put otherwise, every desire you have will be fulfilled—although it will be fulfilled in ways beyond your present comprehension—if you trust in God and seek a fullness of his intelligence. “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (Matthew 19:29) “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
The only way to endure these things is to develop much stronger trust in God. The Lord said: “And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.” (D&C 78:19) What does it mean to receive all things with thankfulness? It means to trust God and seek and submit to all things he is willing to give you. Not the things that you seek, which are lusty desires of this world and the product of your limited awareness, but the things that you realize are beyond your awareness. You write him a blank check. This is such a fundamental concept in the gospel that it is, essentially, the baptismal covenant, the central ordinance of Christianity. You profess that God knows everything, you know nothing, and you subscribe to whatever he might tell you to do or not to do, for the rest of your life, at all times and in all places.
Heaven
Some people are very concerned with being in the presence of God. In reality, this isn’t the challenge. Anyone at any level of awareness can be in the presence of God if they just obey their best understanding of God’s will. The quantity of God’s glory that you can endure is limited by the degree of awareness you are reconciled to. The goal is to obtain and reconcile to all of the awareness God can provide you. It is only by doing this that you can be a joint heir with Christ, and enjoy the presence of the Savior and the Father to the full extent. That is the reason you were born, not to merely recover the state of reconciled ignorance that existed before the fall of Adam and Eve. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were in the presence of God, but his glory was so stripped down that it was not measurably different than being in anyone else’s presence.
In heaven, you are surrounded by those who obey the same law as you do. Everything you know of is bounded by the law of your current kingdom. You don’t have to worry about any of the consequences of lower orders of law. You achieve a state of rest, because you are free from any trials that would test your trust in God.
You are free from any trials because you can’t perceive the limitations of your current level of light and truth. Recall that Adam and Eve were not granted a means to acquire a level of awareness beyond their current level of trust in God in the Garden of Eden. They had to partake of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil in order to do that.
In the garden, Adam and Eve were naked, but they were not aware of that fact until they ate the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. When we think of this event, we think of sin entering the world. This is true, but oversimplified. What actually changed? Before the fruit, they chose to disobey God. It was not impossible to disobey God before they ate the fruit. Eating the fruit did not enable disobedience to God, because it was already possible. What changed then? They were already naked, but they did not realize what nakedness was. It was neutral, unrecognized. They were unaware. After the fruit, their perception of reality increased. They could now perceive more than they did previously. Did they perceive everything all at once? No, they did not, as noted by Eve’s comment afterward about their experience being good in the end. Eating the fruit opened a gateway to perception of reality beyond whatever they perceived before.
Heaven is like the Garden of Eden in the sense that you can’t perceive the limitations of the level of awareness you possess.
Hell
Hell is not some arbitrary punishment. It is the experience of enduring a realization of reality beyond the degree that you can endure. It is the removal of all illusions and the revelation of all hidden things pertaining to our creation. “Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering .” (Job 26:6) The happiness of heaven is not some arbitrary reward. It is to possess the capability to endure reality.
The torment of hell is within a man—it is his internal reaction to external truths he is unprepared to bear:
9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.
12 And Amulek hath spoken plainly concerning death, and being raised from this mortality to a state of immortality, and being brought before the bar of God, to be judged according to our works.
13 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.
14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
15 But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.
16 And now behold, I say unto you then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then is a time that whosoever dieth in his sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea, he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness.
17 Then is the time when their torments shall be as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever; and then is the time that they shall be chained down to an everlasting destruction, according to the power and captivity of Satan, he having subjected them according to his will.
18 Then, I say unto you, they shall be as though there had been no redemption made; for they cannot be redeemed according to God’s justice; and they cannot die, seeing there is no more corruption. (Alma 12)
The themes enumerated here are plentifully taught throughout scripture. With these in mind, consider a deeper and more correct interpretation of what you’ve previously read and reread.
Jacob wrote: “hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death.” (Jacob 3:11) He was inviting them to arouse their capacity to increase their awareness and escape from the default condition of hell that results when the unprepared are exposed to the full weight of the fullness of truth pertaining to earth.
Alma said: “may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death.” (Alma 13:30) To be bound by the chains of hell is to realize your subjection to the truth pertaining to this earth when it is revealed to you, which can only be overcome by acquiring and submitting to the light and truth God provides to all who will seek it.
This is the same dichotomy illustrated by Lehi who said:
28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;
29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom. (2 Nephi 2)
Jacob summed all of this up when he described the unsolicited awareness of all at the judgment day, the conditions of preparation, and the outcome of each party:
13 O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.
14 Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.
15 And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the judgment, and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God.
16 And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end. (2 Nephi 9)
You can only get further awareness through building trust in God in this life
Fallen mortal bodies are required to perceive additional light and truth. By nature, we will make mistakes in how we interpret what we perceive: as good or as evil. Our mortal bodies are a channel to our souls, and are a capacitor that either adds or subtracts light and truth from our spirits. When we die, this link is severed, and the growth stops. While we are absent a mortal body, we can still learn, but only within our current level of light and truth. While we can come to the point where we are reconciled to God at the level of light we have received, we cannot gain a greater state of awareness.
Thus, the task of mortality is to gain as much light and truth as we can while we can. We voluntarily subscribe to our eternal state through our attitude towards the acquisition and assimilation of truth in this life. This is why our mortal lives are called the “day of probation,” where how much truth we acquire and assimilate determines where and how we live after this life: “the day should come that they must be judged of their works, yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation.” (1 Nephi 15:32) This is why the Lord said of his own mortal life: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
This life is the time to reconcile to a level of “kingdom” trust in God:
31 Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.
32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. (Alma 34)
The inability to become aware of higher levels of truth after death is the point of the parable of the ten virgins:
1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 25)
These women knew they would need light when they were called—all of them brought lamps. They also all had oil. The “foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them” shouldn’t be misinterpreted to mean that they literally had no oil, as they were clearly burning their lamps when they went to sleep, and therefore said “our lamps are gone out” upon waking up, not “our lamps need to be lit for the first time.” It would be not foolish but ridiculous to carry an empty oil lamp, as possession of the lamp would indicate an intent to use it. So the foolish virgins brought no extra oil with them. We learn from the phrase “our lamps are gone out” that you burn oil as you wait. The wise virgins brought sufficient oil with them that they had extra for when the bridgegroom came. In this parable, the bridegroom’s arrival is death, when you can no longer add oil to your lamp.
The Lord once taught:
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. (John 11)
The night is death. The light of this world is the Lord Jesus as experienced in your mortal life. Though God exists just as much in the afterlife as here, your awareness level can’t progress after you die.
Though you can’t progress to a higher level of awareness, you can fulfill what remains to be learned in your current level of awareness. The Lord says that “all kingdoms have a law given.” (D&C 88:36) What is a kingdom?
A kingdom is a discrete approximation of truth, a set level of awareness on the infinite continuum of truth.
If heaven is a state where a man’s knowledge places him beyond the power of anything pertaining to this sphere, hell is the condition of those with anything less. Hell is to be subjected to the minimal threshold of heavenly knowledge without having acquired and assimilated it into your character, something that can only be done in this life.
The acquisition of sufficient light and truth to overcome the fire of hell is inseparable from trust in God. This is an attribute that can only be increased in mortality, where God’s glory and power is not perceived by the flesh. This is how his glory becomes our glory, and it was demonstrated when Peter tried to walk on water. Christ called him to walk on the turbulent sea—something that was an apt example of the vast unknown knowledge pertaining to this earth. As Peter trusted God, he was able to overcome the unknown. As his trust waned, so did his capacity to overcome. The Lord taught that our adherence to him will determine our capacity to prevail against the world:
7 And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever. 8 But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them.
9 For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men. (D&C 103)
We absolutely should trust the Lord in all things. He took upon him all our afflictions and sins. He knows precisely what faces us, because he went through it. How exactly did the Lord take upon him our afflictions and sins? Revelation provides the capability of vicariously experiencing the same things that someone would experience who is physically in the experience. As we increase in light and truth, we are exposed to a greater awareness of these things, and it is no different than if we had really experienced them. Throughout his life he was exposed to more and more of these things as he increased in experience with the Father. In the garden of Gethsemane he was made aware of everything left pertaining to this mortal sphere—what God himself only knows. Being exposed to it in a mortal body would kill anyone who did not hold his life in his own hand. He chose to endure it, having been prepared for this point through a sinless life, robbing death of any avenue of overcoming his flesh. Awareness, once obtained, does not go away except through disobedience to the Father. Jesus remained perfectly reconciled to the Father until the end. This means that his suffering continued after his prayer in Gethsemane. Until the moment of his death, he carried this burden. The scourging, crowning, carrying of the cross, nailing to the cross, and hanging on the cross were made unbearably more excruciating by the weight of his awareness and the perceived absence of the Father. This final test was what his entire life had led up to—the environment where he could show that nothing that earth possessed was capable of making him lose trust in the Father, and that his trust was not a result of special attention from the Father (that is, cheating). By what he did, he proved that it was possible for a man to endure an awareness of everything the world had to offer, and still trust the Father perfectly. The Lord maintained perfectly godly character in spite of a perfect awareness of all chaos pertaining to our present scope.
What does it mean to stand in the presence of God? It means to be capable of being exposed to the same degree of awareness of chaos that God is, and still maintain the character he has. Through how we live here, we can either become as he is, and withstand the flames of awareness, or we can be overcome by them and remain in perpetual suffering. Those things that can endure a greater awareness, that have a “law” or means of understanding advanced enough to overcome the greater awareness, will remain. Maintain the character of God, as far as you understand it, in any situation. A full life is full of suffering, because growth requires finding the cracks in our model of the world, and it always hurts to find out that your expectations of reality are wrong. When you overcome something, you either gain the context to realize why it is necessary, even if it hurts, or you learn that its negative aspects were based on illusion.