We all have vastly different levels of awareness. Those who desire salvation must acquire more.
We can learn more about what is required by analyzing the properties of Zion, the city of the saved. When Zion comes again, it will be among a group of people who will have the same level of awareness:
18 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
20 The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. (3 Nephi 16)
In order to live there, you have to know and keep all of God’s commandments: “...when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself.” (JST Genesis 9:21)
In the book of Revelation we read of advanced beings who are covered with eyes in front and behind. These eyes represent increased awareness:
6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind....
8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4)
As we acquire greater awareness, we too will obtain these figurative eyes before, behind, and within, demonstrating the categories of awareness, referring respectively to the future, the past, and internally (our desires and presence or absence of knowledge):
5 For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.
6 Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
7 And to them will I reveal <u>all</u> mysteries, yea, <u>all</u> the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.
8 Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.
9 And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.
10 For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man. (D&C 76)
The quantity of light and truth each person possesses is completely within their own control. This life is the time to prepare for eternity, and it is where you have the opportunity to grow in your awareness.
We get according to what we are willing to receive. We alone control what heed and diligence we exercise to acquire and assimilate truth. Alma recorded that we were all given an equal opportunity to acquire light, and any differences in our possession of it are due to our own action or inaction:
1 ...I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.
2 And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.
3...being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.
4 And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.
5 ...in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared—
6 And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest—
10 Now, as I said concerning the holy order, or this high priesthood, there were many who were ordained and became high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish. (Alma 13)
One’s awareness is not static. As you obey, you will open more opportunities to acquire more light and truth. As you acquire more light and truth, your perception of what is good and what is evil will change. You will add more items to your sets of good and evil by becoming aware of the moral nature of situations that you were previously unaware of. You will add more items to your sets of good and evil by breaking up items that are already there into several more specific concepts. The items in each set might change from good to evil, or vice versa. On the other hand, if you are disobedient to your present understanding, you will lose light and truth, and your conscience will deteriorate: “And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received” (D&C 1:33). You will be less capable of discerning between what improves you and what pulls you back.
The Lord had an interesting exchange with his disciples during his mortal ministry. He told them: “whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” (Matthew 13:12) In doing so, he described that light and truth accrete in high abundances among the few—just as wealth does. The more light you have, the more you get. This flies in the face of the sentiments of modern society, who wish that the world were a place where everyone obtained equal outcomes. As previously quoted in the parable of the sower from Matthew 13, the Lord explained that the exact same seed yields wildly different outcomes depending on the receptivity of the soil. The reaction of the person to truth is wholly responsible for how much fruit it bears. Those that choose to turn away from it because of persecution, love of lesser things, and lies produce no fruit. Some few produce fruit. But even among those, there is a stunning variety of outputs, with some few of the few bearing a hundred times more than their peers.
What are these fruits the Lord speaks of? They are the outcomes of gospel living: resilient adherence to godly character through all situations; maintaining reconciliation to the light you have in all scenarios without exception. Those who bear fruit are those who have come to think, feel, and act like God to some degree. Those bearing more fruit have acquired and live more advanced levels of God’s light.
How are these levels manifested? When teaching his disciples, the Lord explained the difference between those with more or less light:
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. (Matthew 13)
Those with more light understand more advanced topics, have more advanced experiences, and become more advanced people than those who have less light.