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.