Occasionally I have exchanges with friends via email, text, or private messenger that are worth sharing. Here is one such exchange between a friend, KR, and myself, PD.
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KR: Hey! How are things going? Sooo… Have a Mormon Q for you… So I was never married in the temple but had gone through for endowments. My Dad kept telling me My kids would never be sealed to me unless I married a Mormon in the temple and my kids (who are adults) decided to get sealed to my husband and I. He also told me my daughter would be sealed to her husband and family and not me. (That got me really frustrated)…
I gave up on it all a year and a half ago because I just don’t get most of it and It really frustrates me that my chance to be sealed is game over. My kids would never chose to be sealed to someone I met. Wouldn’t happen.
Thoughts?
PD: Nice to hear from you. Life is good over here. How are YOU doing?
KR: I’m really well!!
PD: Hmmm… the sealing thing….
KR: Yeah I was just reading some of your posts.. Got me wondering if you had any thoughts on that..
PD: Well…. here are my thoughts on sealing… and I think you are probably prepared for my unorthodox answer…
KR: Haha.. Yes of course
PD: I believe that reincarnation is a thing. Word on the street is that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught it, as well. That being said, the whole idea of sealing is more of a recognition of a bigger cosmic reality, when you take reincarnation into context: we TRULY are, in the most literal sense, one big family. Hell, you and I were probably crazy lovers in a past life and might be brother and sister in the future. That being said…. this gets to a bigger point….
And just follow me on this one for a second…
I think that in modern religion, the notion of “commandments” and “ordinances” has been twisted a bit.
Instead of the Ten Commandments, consider that they are the Ten Signs – the ten signs that you are, as Moses did on Mt Sinai, ascending toward God –
When you find that you feel inspired to honor your parents, that’s a sign that you are climbing toward godhood.
When you find that you no longer covet… when you no longer curse the name of God… when you no longer have the desire to steal… these are all signs! There are no “commandments”, but rather, mile markers given by a loving God to help us find our way.
KR: I lean more towards reincarnation.. Makes more sense.
PD: And so, with sealing… I take it as a sacrament of sorts, a ritual that gives a nod to the cosmic reality that we are all connected, because of this opportunity to be reincarnated and learn the lessons of Earth Life as fully as we need to.
…rather than an ordinance that DOES something.
KR: I get that.. So do you believe it’s the end of days? My Dad says it every time I see him.
PD: Nah. People have been complaining about the end of days being nigh since people were able to complain.
KR: Hmmm… And if you don’t get sealed?.. Maybe next life?
PD: So, I know this isn’t very satisfying, but I don’t think sealing matters. At all.
KR: My family all believe it’s coming in the next 3 years
PD: We can not change the cosmic realities by going through some ritual. Bottom line: we are all one big family. No matter what.
KR: I just don’t believe God wouldn’t want his children back with him. Yes I do believe that.
PD: Furthermore….
We are spiritual beings having a physical experience. In other words, we are higher dimensional beings that are temporarily trapped in the first three dimensions for training purposes.
Once our minds are unlocked and we are able to think in 4, 5, 6, 7 dimensions… I think that we’ll realize that the questions that things like “sealing” try to address, are not issues at all. Time ceases to exist. Time is a construct of our 3 dimensional minds.
KR: Learning? Hmmm… It’s hard being raised Mormon and just shutting it out. I still feel guilt.
PD: We don’t even know how to ASK the right questions, let alone, understand the answers.
PD: Not sure I understand your question…. learning? No need to shut it all out. Don’t fall into black and white thinking.
KR: You said we are here training … Learning?
PD: Oh yes. We are here learning to become like God. We are here learning to become powerful creators like God. Specifically, we are here learning how to make stuff in the first three dimensions. Once we really get that down, we will graduate to working in the four dimensions.
So…. this is how I see it:
KR: I don’t think I can go back to being black and white. Think I’ve evolved a little past that.
PD: Good! Consider that a shadow is a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional object.
KR: I don’t really understand the dimension thing. I’ve tried. I kind of get it
PD: I believe that our bodies are quite literally shadows of our 4 dimensional spirits. This is where “auras” come from – our bodies dwell “inside” our spirits, rather than our spirits being inside our bodies.
Ah, ok I have a really cool video that I want to share with you. do you have 7 minutes? I will tie this into a cool verse in the BOM regarding this dimension stuff
KR: Haha.. Can I watch it first thing in the am? And I’ll get back to you in the am? I am curious to see it just have big day tomorrow need to sleeeeep.
PD: As you watch this… I want you to think about the verse in the BOM when Nephi has a vision of the birth of Christ. The angel says, “Knowest thou the condescension of God?”
KR: Ok send it I’ll watch it when I wake up.
PD: Think about this – the phrase, the condescension of God – and the idea of the “trinity” (which the BOM teaches, let’s not lie to ourselves, it does not teach that the father, son and spirit are three different beings)…. anyway, think about this when you see Carl Sagan do the sliced apple example:
Ok cool. Hit me up after you watch this.
God is the apple – Christ is the cross section of the apple. I know that sounds abstract, but you’ll get it when you watch this.
The apple is the “condescension of God”
KR: Ok. You’ve really thought about this haven’t you? Interesting stuff.
PD: And for sure.. Tomorrow. Thank you so much for chat!
KR: Nighty night!
PD: Oh yes. Very much. Ok, have a great night, sweet dreams!
KR: Sweet dreams to you !