Some Preliminary Background on Mormom Cosmology
Mormon cosmology is based on a four stage concept of creation. Intelligence , an underlying state which "was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (D&C 93:29) is the first stage of existence. The second stage (which constitutes the first step of actual organization, or "creation") was that during which intelligence was organized as Spirit . In a third, the present stage of existence, spirit becomes clothed in Matter . Each step thus represents a higher form of organization than the preceding stage of existence. Both man and the organized suns and planets of the cosmos are subject to all these states of existence and creation. Not only Man, but fields, streams, mountains, and suns are thus in Mormon doctrine considered to possess an element of intelligence which enables them to respond to the Natural Law which governs the universe.
Herein is Mormonism's explanation of both the "weak" and "strong" subatomic force and of gravity. In the ultimate analysis, Mormonism is thus both materialistic and monistic in its philosophy, though adopting a quite different than traditional form of monism. Absent a spirit to motivate it, the body is not just inanimate clay as in traditional Christianity. Nor is man merely a highly organized conglomeration of chemicals, as scientific evulutionism would have it. Nor, yet again, is spirit some kind of mystic, immaterial force, constituting man's sole source of life and directing agent. Spirit is but a refined form of matter, while the body possesses enough inherent intelligence to carry on life, if perhaps in coma state, while his spirit may be absent elsewhere.
In a fourth, or final stage of existence, spirit and material body are to be reunited in the resurrection, "never again to be be divided" -- those who have proven worthy of Celestial exaltation "receiving a fullness of joy" (D&C 138:17) -- i.e. finally fulfilling the purpose of existence. Indeed, we are told that "Man is that he might have joy". The less worthy will inherit a lesser Terrestrial or even more distant Telestial Glory (D&C 76:71-80), becoming something less than "heirs of God and joint heirs-with Christ", but still receiving a level of joy "that passeth all understanding". Only a relatively few truly evil men who having once possessed a knowledge of God, then willfully renounce the testimony of the Holy Ghost -- the so-called Sons of Perdition, "shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord . . . and [are] the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power" (D&C 76:37-38). We are not told the nature of the "second death", but Brigham Young once speculated about it in some detail (see below).
According to the Doctrine and Covenants , a compilation of revelations received by Joseph Smith, first prophet of the Restored Church, "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (D&C 93:29), clearly implying that "intelligence", however that is to be defined, preexisted the physical creation of the Universe, however that, too, is to be conceived.
We are told that "the Lord showed me, Abraham, the intelligences that were . . before the world was, and that among these there were many of the noble and great ones" (Abraham 3:22). The intelligences were thereafter brought to a higher level of organization, closer to their eventual fullness of joy, becoming "begotten sons and daughters" of the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, who were "more intelligent than they all" (D&C 76:24 and Abraham 3:19).
While we are not informed in detail about how the organization of intelligences into spirit beings was brought about, Brigham Young (who is reputed to have taught nothing that he had not heard direct from the mouth of the Prophet Joseph) once said that the Celestial bodies of the Heavenly Parents are so constituted as to bring into being both spirit children, and bodies with physical tabernacles, as with Adam and Eve (Journal of Discourses 1:50-51). It is therefore commonly accepted by Latter-day Saints that our spirits were organized from the existing background "intelligence" much as our physical tabernacles are begotten by our earthly parents.
Having lived for an undetermined period of time in another state of existence with our Heavenly Parents, where we gained such experience as is possible for spirit beings, being instructed about the forthcoming trials and tribulations of mortal existence, and having voted in a Great Council to participate in the Second Estate, some, or perhaps all, of us took part in the creation of the physical world on which we now live.
At this point our First Earthly Parents Adam and Eve were brought (or sent, or created, depending on one's understanding of the Adam-God doctrine) to earth, where they became co-creators with the Heavenly Parents, jointly participating in the formation of physical tabernacles for the already begotten spirit children awaiting entry into this third stage of creation.
Mormonism teaches that all peoples on the earth are not only spirit brothers and sisters born of the same Heavenly Parents, but physical descendants of the First Human Parents brought to, or created on this earth. Many prominent LDS scholars are thus proponents of the cultural-diffusion theory of human society. Differences in language, skin color, and religious and social tradition being explained on the basis of "pass the message" theory, i.e. that when one whispers a short message in another's ear, as the words go around the circle they are almost certain to become distorted, sometimes ludicrously so. Mormon theology is thus, philosophically, inherently pluralistic (though not all Mormons fully recognize this or act accordingly). This applies to the Mormon approach to genetics, language, religion, and culture. In Mormonism's sacred temple ceremony God, commenting on the multiplicity of life forms on his newly created world, says "This is done to give variety to the Earth". And this being so, the Bible concludes "God said that it was good".
Mormonism instructs that, all being equally loved children of the same Heavenly Parents, God has from time to time sent one or another of his "noble and great" spirits (Abraham 3:22) to teach as many of the moral principles gained from experience with his countless other creations as the people of that time and culture could absorb. Lao Tze, Krishna, Gautama, Quetzalcoatl, and Mohammed, were thus spirit brothers and co-teachers with Jesus of Nazareth -- though only Jesus was begotten by the Father in the flesh and thus capable of becoming the Resurrected Savior and Redeemer. Each spiritual leader taught honesty, chastity, hard work, loyalty to family, and to the wider culture: that one should not kill except as a last resort in defense of home and community; and, in variously worded ways, that one should treat one's neighbor as one would wish to be treated. Each of these being the distilled wisdom of how to live in society with minimal dislocation or societal friction.
Some Non-Christian Traditions With Related Cosmic Foundations
Among the tenets of Hinduism are the notions of reincarnation and eventual escape from the trials of earth life by those who have learned to live without giving offense, by absorption into a nothingness called "nirvana". Hinduism also teaches that the universe is endless, first expanding, then contracting, reemerging at length into a newness of creation -- sort of a rubber ball, or bounce-back syndrome. Parallels with Big Bang and/or Steady State and Mormon theology are evident, as will be examined below, though there is evidence of considerable distortion of these notions over time as a result of the "pass the message" phenomenon. A Similar notion existed among the ancient Maya of Mesoamerica and Taoists of China. A not dissimilar concept, restricted to this creation, of a returning "Golden Age" is familiar among many cultures.
Big Bang or Steady State?
As a missionary, I had a very thoughtful and philosophical Mission President, and a similary inclined District President, who encouraged study and discussion well beyond the Standard Works and missionary discussions. My father had insisted that I read a good newspaper daily so as not to lose touch with the events of the world going on around me, feeling that a missionary familiar with the events of the day would be the more effective for it.
Britain had for many years been the Headquarters for the Church in Europe, and for a number of years during the mid- to late Nineteenth Century there were more LDS in Great Britain than in the United States. A great number of early works on Church History and doctrine, including the Pearl of Great Price, were first published in the UK.
Our mission office had a complete set of the Millenial Star, which contained any number of important doctrinal works and letters by early Church leaders, which one could read during spare moments while in London at periodic District Presidents' Conferences. And there was access to unbelievably low-priced, hard bound editions of many seminal doctrinal works, some of which were unavailable, or out of print, in the United States. These were more often than not the basis for early morning study, supplementing readings of the Standard Works. It was not unusual, then, for missionary companions, and individual missionaries, during the exchanges following District meetings, to reflect on whether, the great governing stars God showed Abraham which were near his throne (Abraham 3:2 ff), were to be understood to be located at the center of our neighborhood galaxy, which for so many years was believed to be the entire universe, or near the center of the larger universe consisting of galaxy clusters which several of us had in our recent university studies learned about in astronomy class. (Today one would have to wonder whether they were in the center of the myriad bubble universes, each consisting of myriad galaxies, which modern cosmology has discovered). We were compelled to speculate on these matters since we also read in Moses 1:33-35 that "Worlds without number have I created . . . but only an account of this earth and the inhabitants thereof give I unto you. For behold there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power."
We also wondered from time to time what could be intended by the phrases "worlds passing away to their glory" and "continuing from eternity to eternity" (D&C 76:4). After all, isn't Eternity for ever and ever as far as one could imagine? We assumed that a world's "passing away" meant being celestialized. But might "eternity to eternity" imply an eventual end to Being as a result of entropy, which even then astronomers were speaking of as the eventual end of creation, with possible renewal in a totally new creation, as per the Hindu "bounce back from oblivion" notion. If so, what did this mean for life on a Celestialized Earth as an Eternal Being whose body and spirit were reunited, not to be parted again?. Or was this phrase simply a play on the name of God, one of whose name titles is "Eternal", implying that God (whatever God ultimately is conceived to be [see discussion below]) remains unchanged from one cycle of creation to the next?) And what did it mean to "become a partaker of the Divine Nature", becoming like Him? If there is a difference in intelligence between the members of the Council of Gods -- are some inferior in other than organizational hierarchy?
Orson Pratt: Mormon Precurser of Modern Cosmology
Orson Pratt, one of the original Apostles of the Restoration, professor of mathematics and philosophy at the University of Deseret, who delivered the noted General Funeral Sermon for All Saints & Sinners; also of the Heavens and Earth in the Salt Lake Tabernacle (Journal of Discourses 1:200, July 25, 1852), came up with a number of startlingly precocious predictions and insights for his time. He authored the notion that worlds are the result not merely of the coalescence of gasses, or the outspoutings of sun flares, but consist of the residues and collected particles of earlier stars and planets destroyed by the forces of nature. We now know that, in fact, our solar system is most likely the result of a binary star system in which one of the mutually rotating suns, having transformed most of its hydrogen into heavier elements, including many metals, imploded, then blew apart, resulting in the planets which now circle the remaining star partner. These thoughts were given further development in the unpublished masterpiece of Brigham H. Roberts, The Truth, the Way, and the Life (see Truman Madsen's 32 page summary in BYU Studies, Vol. 15, No. 5, p. 259 ff).
It is now accepted that during its first eons, the earth (and other planets) did in fact receive periodic accretions from many planetoids and meteorites, some of which still randomly circulate in and out of the solar system. While the craters from these space travelers have for the most part been obliterated, their impacts can still be clearly seen on the moon and on Mars. And some remaining examples can be found in Siberia and Arizona. A contemporary theory about the anihilation of dinosaurs depends on acceptance of a gigantic collision at the end of the Jurassic. The book Worlds in Collision by the Russian physicist Emanuel Velikovsky, which maintained that such collisions may have occurred into late pre-historic times, accounting for folk memory of some of the miracles recounted in Exodus, while derided at the time of its publication thirty-five years ago, is receiving new attention because of the contemporary belief by some astronomers that a Nemesis planet may even now be circulating in relative proximity to our solar system, threatening potential collision with the earth.
Pratt also maintained, primarily grounded on his understanding of Abrahamic cosmology as contained in the Pearl of Great Price , that the speed of light, established by Morley & Michelson in their interferometry experiment of 1883, towards the end of Professor Pratt's career, could not be the limiting speed of the universe as initially held by most physicists (see Journal of Discourses : Vol 3:104).
Today, this Einsteinian dogma is being reexamined, some holding that as matter enters a Black Hole, or one of the wormholes which seem to lace the universe between galaxies, that matter may gather velocity until attaining the speed of light, then race even faster as it slides down the far side of space.
Fred Hoyle & Stephen Hawking: Big Bang or Steady State?
Stephen Hawking is held by many to be among the most brilliant astro-physicists of all time. He is the holder of the Chair in Physics at Cambridge University once possessed by Isaac Newton. The story is told that as a freshman, Hawking was one of a group of five particularly brilliant young physics students. Following a first seminar class, the professor assigned them thirteen end-chapter questions taken from a previous comprehensive examination given to graduating seniors. They were told to complete as many of the questions as they could. Three of the five spent the night studying together, arriving at answers for three. The fourth, who chose to work separately, completed one. Hawking diddled away the evening (he is reputed to have been something of an inconsequential scholar prior to his affliction with amytrophic sclerosis, which his mother says may have been a blessing in disguise for giving him a sense of limited time and causing him to become more focussed than ever before in his life). Next morning, his partners reminded him when he came down at 8:30 am that he'd have to turn in some work at 9:05 when the class began. When he returned to join them in walking to class, they asked, "How many did you do?" He replied, "I only had time to do ten". At which point the others realized that not only was Hawking not on the same campus with them, but not in the same universe.
Hawking initially wished to study at Oxford with Professor Hoyle. But, having been a middling student, was admitted only to Cambridge. Perhaps this was another blessing in disguise, for he was spared the difficulty of having to disagree with his principal professor when it came time to publish his seminal Brief History of Time from the Big Bang to the Black Hole.
Hoyle, whose Steady State theory of the cosmos was published thirty-five years ago while I was a missionary, holds that there exists an infinitely diffuse "background material" filling interstellar space, out of which matter is brought into being by a yet-to-be explained mechanism. The Universe is thus in a constant state of new creation and expansion into an infinity of space without end. I acquired Hoyle's book while a missionary and it naturally became a part of my early morning post-scripture study. I found Hoyle's theory compatible with Mormon theology, as I understood it from the Book of Abraham and Orson Pratt's writings, and found it congenial to my notions of infinite time, infinite space, infinite creation, and infinite room for co-workers with God to bring to pass an infinite upgrading of infinite "intelligence" into the higher form of "spirit" as tabernacled sons and daughters of God. As I worked Hoyle's theory into my own "provisional understanding" of how the universe functioned, I identified his "background material" with the "intelligence" eventually to be organized as spirit and later to be entabernacled in flesh, receiving Agency, and possessing the eventual possibility of attaining the fulness of joy which is the purpose of being: Clearly a more desirable state than the lesser levels of sensation or subjection to the narrower laws of nature which constrain inanimate matter and the lower animal forms.
Following publication of Hoyle's book, radio-astronomers discovered distinct backgound emissions coming from deep space, the source of which they had difficulty identifying. It was Hawking's contribution many years later to do the mathematics which seemed to support the notion that these were residua of a "singularity" (i.e . an event unexplainable in normal Einstinian theory) which Hawking considered to have been the result of an enormous explosion from essentially nothing, which brought into being Time, Space, and Matter. The mathematics seemed impeccable. And after several years, even Hoyle conceded, giving up his Steady State notion and joining the Big Bang theorists.
Hawking's second major contribution was his notion of Black Holes. Astro-physicists had also discovered an isolated region in deep space which seemed to be sucking into itself vast clouds of interstellar matter, which, unlike the sucking in of interstellar clouds which refueled and extended the life of other stars and galaxies passing through them, simply disappeared without trace. Initially this was seen as the great sinkhole of the universe, into which all would, in time, disappear. And for a time I wondered whether this was the mechanism for worlds to pass away into the glory of another dimension.
Later, however, additional Black Holes were identified, and Hawking's mathematics seemed to show that when giant stars of certain critical size completed their life cycles and began collapsing in on themselves, instead of blowing apart into new solar systems of heavier matter, they utterly disappeared into vast hyper-gravitic space, drawing with them any nearby matter, not even particles of light or cosmic rays being able to escape: hence "Black Holes". It is, of course, not inconceivable that these other Black Holes are reconstructive mechanisms of other divisions of Creation within the greater universe.
Further discoveries piled one on another. American astronomers came up with the notion of wormholes -- unbelievably extended connections within the vast reaches of space, apparently linking at least some black holes. Some believe such wormholes transmit matter disappearing into one black hole into a far distant regions of space, sort of redistributing matter throughout the cosmos. This theory competes with a more recent, but not necessarily contradictory string theory , which holds that space itself consists of a large number of dimensions whose faint shadow appears in the form of these barely discernable strings of dimension , with only length, breadth, and height (and perhaps Time) being manifest in our phenomenal world.
Most recently, we are now faced with the notion of a super-cosmos filled with bubble universes each presumably an in-curving, time/space continuum of countless galaxies and numberless stars not unlike ours. (This concept bears an interesting relationship to Kant's notion of the noumenal and phenomenal worlds -- only the latter of which the human mind is constructed to apprehend).
It is also related to many teachings of the mystery religions of history, as well as to the Mormon notion that the Spirit World is all about us and the spirits of both deceased and unborn being physically near us, though in another dimension of creation). It certainly lends strong support to the Book of Moses verse, "Worlds without number have I created; and I created them for my own purpose" (Moses 1:33). And "by Him and through Him, and of Him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God" (D&C 76:24). In this connection, one might also reflect on the the words of the LDS hymn:
If you could hie to Kolob in the twinkling of an eye
And then continue onward with that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever, through all eternity,
Find out the generation where Gods began to be?
Or see the grand beginning, where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation, where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the Spirit whispers, 'No man has found pure space,
Nor seen the ourside curtains, where nothing has a place.
The works of God continue, and worlds and lives abound,
Improvement and progressiion have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter; there is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit; there is no end to race."
LDS Hymnal p. 284
Hoyle, Hawking, and Pratt: Recantation or Reconciliation?
After several years of unsuccessfully trying to fit Hawkings mathematics to some of the remaining problems of astro-physics, Hoyle decided that Hawkings' Big Bang Theory was based on a misreading of the phenonomena and has returned to his earlier Steady State approach. The author must confess that he greeted this news with some satisfaction. Yes, it would be possible, one supposes, for a Latter-day Saint to accept the Hawking/Hindu notion that existence is one transformatio after another eventually leading back to ground zero, rather than improvement and progression worlds without end. And that after eons and eons (and the Hindus and Mayas actually calculated these eons in lengths of time most Euro-Anglo-Americans would consider irrevelant to any of our traditional concerns) both Man and the Universe might collapse into a great nothingness, only to reemerge after a Big Bounce, to start the course of existence over again. Indeed, even Brigham Young taught that the ultimate fate of the Sons of Perdition, referred to earlier in this paper, was to be torn sub-atom from sub-atom into their original form as crude intelligence, to be "recast upon the potters wheel" in hopes that as their intelligence was reformed into spirit and the spirit re-tabernacled into flesh the new combination might be salvaged for eventual salvation. (See Journal of Discourses , Vol 3:100 ff). Brigham sees this process taking place "in outer darkness" -- a remote Black Hole?
Current understanding of physics makes this notion easier to envision. We now know that electrons and protons are not the ultimate basis of matter. Physicists now speak of "quarks", which come we are told in six varieties, and of which it is now believed matter consists.
Hawking maintains that as matter disappears into one of his Black Holes, the forces are so enormous that matter is literally torn apart from even its most basic sub-atomic form as proton or electron -- or even cosmic ray, rendering nothing more than the quarks out of which matter first emerged -- which in the author's own "provisional understanding" he now associates with the "intelligence" out of which first Man's Spirit and the Spirit World, and then the material world and Man's earthly tabernacle were brought into existence.
In his own latest thinking, Hawking now appears to have joined Hoyle in entertaining the possibility that "the universe just is", and that it will not disappear into a series of Black Holes, which may be no more than epiphenomena of inexact scientific instrumentation.
A couple of questions remain: What is the role of God in all this? And what is Man's relation to God, who is "the greatest intelligence of all" -- and to the future state of the universe?
Carl Sagan, the noted American astromomer, is of the opinion that the universe we know has come about as the result of the natural interaction of the forces of Nature. According to Sagan the orderly nature of the observed universe is nothing more than the natural result of eons of collisions between randomly wandering stars, planets, and meteorites which have cleared up the detrita of space, creating the appearance of orderly orbiting heavenly bodies and giving rise to the superstitious notion that God created an orderly universe ab initio.
A Comprehensive Notion of Deity
Mormons should have no problems with the basic thinking behind this. They believe in Natural Law. And this may well be God's natural way of bringing order out of chaos. Orson Pratt, as noted, seemed to think as much. Unlike most Christians, Mormons believe that even God works according to preexisting law rather than being the arbitrary giver of natural law and is himself subject to law, not above it or beyond it.
Given His virtually infinite intelligence and the fact that he is "without beginning of days or end of years", He has simply learned the operations of Natural Law so comprehensively that he can not infrequently accomplish what appear to Man, in his more limited state, as miracles -- events beyond our comprehension and which seem to be counter to physics as we understand it. The author has come to see the role of God as "The Great Catalyst" -- whose role it is to speed up enormously, through his comprehensive understanding of natural forces, processes which nature left to itself would accomplish on a far more protracted schedule. Or, as with many catalytic processes, which might simply not take place without His presence and guiding hand. It is possible that Man might, given a few ten thousands of years of evolution, and spared a collision with Nemesis which would wipe out our collective progress, learn to live in a peaceful multi-cultural, multi-racial society; achieve travel through space, peopling other worlds; and possibly even gaining a fair hold on extended life. (see Timmins Axiom , a codicil to Pascal, Carl Sagan, and Me ). But, if Hoyle's Steady State theory (or the Mormon hymn about Kolob -- God's seat in the Universe) is correct, this process has been going on forever. And, while Man's finite, phenomenally-ordered mind has difficulty conceiving of it, the Universe has always been much as it now is and there never was a time without Gods or Space or background material out of which to form new creations.
The Heavenly Father, who's been around long enough to learn all the tricks, being the greatest intelligence of all (or with access to all the greatest intelligences which exist -- see below), simply got there first. And out of His benevolence, wishing to increase his own satisfaction through increasing the "fullness of joy" of other highly evolved intelligences, has chosen as "My work and glory -- to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man". (Moses 1:39).
This means the creation of additional worlds, peopled by additional organized intelligences, initially clothed in spirit bodies, and later, having passed, with high marks or low, the test of the earthly Second Estate, to inherit in one degree or another eternal joy (all joy being Eternal, this being a name of Deity and joy being His reward). Those who have proved themselves the most other-directed and self-disciplined, becoming partakers of the Divine Nature and heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ -- i.e. gods themselves and potential creators of new worlds. The author finds this a much more congenial basis for the multi-cultural belief in "rounds of creation" than the Big Bounce back from annihilation of either Hawking or Hinduism.
This leaves the question of who, or what, God is and what Man may be when, and if, he becomes a partaker of the Divine Nature.
Here, Orson Pratt seems to have outreached both Hoyle and Hawking.
In his great General Funeral Sermon for All Saints & Sinners: also of the Heavens and the Earth (See JD Vol. 1:200, also JD 2:344 ff), Pratt accomplished one of the most remarkable reconciliations of all time with regard to the many traditions of God which have come down through the ages in the several branches of mankind. Early Man saw God manifest primarily in the forces of nature, worshipping the sun, moon, various planets, or thunder and lightening. And anciently, some came to conceive deity as multi-form and multi-present -- a god in fact for each land and each people. Others, the pantheists, conceive the Universe itself, and all creation, as constituting Deity.
With the spread of monotheism on the one side, and Greek philosophy on the other, the belief eventually emerged that God is a Great Omnipresent Spirit, filling the immensity of space. With this notion, which in many ways was an important step forward in man's social progress, the older tradition of female deity was generally discarded, entailing a regrettable downgrading of the role of women in both worship and society at large.
As a result of the attempt to reconcile early Christianity with Greek philosophy, to make the new religion more acceptable to the educated, some came to see God in Triune form: a single deity manifest in different aspects as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in some mystical, eventually inexplicable way.
Others, usually more primitive groups, but including certain unsophisticated Latter-day Saints, conceive of God simply as a physical being, not unlike man in appearance, but infinitely wiser and possessed of eternal life, powers of instant locomotion from one part of the universe to another, omnicient and quasi-omnipotent in his knowledge and control over natural law.
Pratt conceived God as possessing all these attributes -- and more. "The light of God", as we have already seen, does indeed fill the immensity of space. What is this light? We are not told. But we are informed that this "light of Christ [which is part of God] . . . is in the sun, and [is] the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. As also he is in the moon, and the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made, as also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made; and the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand". (D&C 88:7-10).
Which should certainly gratify any remaining advocates of pantheism -- as far as such concept goes.
Seeking further understanding of what this "light" may be, contemporary physics enables us to postulate, as a "provisional understanding", that it may be comprised, if not of the photons of the sun (which would involve us in a circular logic requiring the sun to be created from the very sub-atomic particles it gives off as a result of its fusion processes), then more probably of the quarks which underly physical particles of matter. The bodies organized from such quarks in their more material manifestating are evidently connected by "strings" and/or "wormholes" (as difficult to describe in ordinary language as Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle" in physics, but evident in the detected phenomena of the universe which leading scientists maintain should enable matter [celestial beings?], to travel from one distant part of the universe to another at super-light speed).
But God, as described by Pratt, and according to received Mormon doctrine, is at the very least, not just spirit or light or Nature, but a Being of tabernacle. (See JD 2:344 ff). This was the whole point of the theophany of the Sacred Grove. It is this aspect of God which accounts for the primitive (and post-Restoration) understanding that God is a being, however exalted, who, when he shows up, looks like a man. The "light of God" aspect is merely the medium through which he makes his will and presence manifest -- through which communication with his offspring is accomplished, and through which his creative desires are accomplished. When God speaks, the elements hear.
To be sure, a partaker of the Divine Nature (a God) cannot be in two places at the same time (though presumably He might project himself in holograph image form for some, if not all, purposes). But God has the capacity not only to transmit revelation or inspiration by thought-wave, speaking to the mind of an individual engaged in solemn prayer; but can actually travel at several times light speed when his physical presence is required for some special purpose, as repeatedly recalled in folk memory and recorded in the written scripture of many races and cultures. One need not dismiss the notion that the Heavenly Father indeed visited Adam in the Garden, or the young Joseph Smith in the Grove, in person, to usher in a New Dispensation -- a once in two millenia event.
Nor, if one accepts the notion, unique in Mormon teaching -- putting aside the traditions of ancient Greek and Roman theology -- that God is, in one of His callings, hierarchical Board Chairman of a Council of Gods, comprised of the most intelligent, self-disciplined, and other-directed products of any number of previous creations, need we insist that the Great Eloheim, individually, in his corporal form, is necessarily the intellectual superior to any measurable degree of any other "member of the board" (though it is quite likely that this is in fact the case).
On Becoming a Partaker of the Divine Nature
Indeed, it might help overcome one's diffidence, should one aspire to live worthily enough to make one's "calling and election sure" (II Peter 1:10), becoming a partaker of the Divine Nature, to recognize, as Pratt taught, that the "Members of the Board" have the capacity to allow others to tap their mental processes as desired (See Journal of Discources Vol. 3:99 ff). To be sure, this can only be done upon request, and always with permission of the person being approached to share a compartment of his mind, when a particularly difficult issue is confronted. Free Agency pertains even in Celestial Worlds -- though presumably with all gods being perfectly trustworthy and with no personal agendas at stake, there would never be occasion to refuse participation in such generalized ESP sessions.
Godhood is, then, not essentially a question of being brightest in the class. It is a matter of having proved oneself among a handful of the most honorable, trustworthy, and self-disciplined of one's generation of creation. In a word, the chief characteristic of God is Wisdom -- not wit, IQ, or charisma. Of having in the long run, short run, and consistently, shown oneself to have the good of the commonweal as one's guide rather than any form of self-interest. As Christ put it, "The master of all is the servant of all".
What wise individual need be daunted confronting any problem with all the best brains of the universe available for instant consultation through the medium of the "light of God which fills the immensity of the universe". Here is resolved, at least in the Eternal balance, the question of worldly electoral choice: whether it is better to vote for the most honorable man or for the one with the cleverest platform targetted at the problems of the day. In the heavens, one would always vote in favor of honor, letting leadership draw upon the collective wisdom of the ages in seeking solutions to issues.
So What Is God?
Finally then, what is God? In-dwelling intelligence inherent in all matter? Unembodied Spirit filling all space? Exalted Being of Tabernacle? Collective Wisdom of a Supreme Council of the Universe?
Pratt insists that God embraces all these attributes -- and lacking any one or another of them, could not successfully fill the role required of Deity. Space-filling background material without organized intelligence is nothing other than unorganized matter -- the type of interstellar clouds or chaotic electro-magnetic waves detected by scientific instrumentation, which gave rise to the notion of an originating Big Bang.
To accept the pantheistic notion of the intelligence inherent in all matter as the sole manifestation of deity implies acceptance of the infinitely slow processes of unguided nature as the limiting speed of evolutionary forces in the universe. This puts aside the possibility, likelihood, that other corners of the universe may be tens of thousands, if not millions, of years in advance of us in their evolution, being in a position to catalyze the progress of fellow inhabitants of the cosmos out of good will or self-interest. And look what the last three or four thousand years of human progress alone represent in terms of man's control over nature.
Reason suggests that we accept that we are not alone in the universe. Even sceptic Sagan calculates that there must be millions of planets equivalent to ours in specification, yet further along in evolution than the earth, just in our wing of the local spiral galaxy. Revelation, as well as reason, assures us that higher forms of intelligence have indeed previously taken form, much along the lines of our own evolution. Indeed, we are told that we are descendants of these higher life forms, which we collectively, or individually, call God because of their appreciable head start over us and their relatively infinite wisdom.
God is, then -- variously -- organized, exalted Being of tabernacle who has successfully passed through four stages of existence: uncreated intelligence, organised spirit (a refined form of pre-matter not detectible to the unaided human eye -- quarks??), possessor of an earthly tabernacle of flesh and bone which has, in its fourth stage, been refined by resurrection and judged worthy of exaltation as heir to a previous generation of Gods and therefore partaker of the Divine Nature; the inherent intelligence that pervades all nature; the divine essence which fills the universe enabling Beings of Tabernacle to communicate with all corners of creation; the Divine Council consisting of select, exalted graduates of previous generations of creation sharing their wisdom and experience with the Presidency of Three which presides over this Council, and, lastly, the Great Eloheim -- the First President of Heaven..
The Council of Gods -- Adamic Definitions of Deity
As noted, an inseparable part of being a partaker of the Divine Nature is that one has been elected to the Council of Gods, whether this Council consists of dozens, thousands, or millions, where one can share wisdom and experience with others similarly endowed. Gods (as fellow Council members) operate through the control they collectively exercise over the "Spirit of God", the divine essence which extends throughout the immensity of space. In this connection, the reader will not have failed to notice that the word "God", which is the Anglo-Saxon word the English language employs to describe all of the elements which make up deity, is clearly deficient in definition, and it is thus not to be wondered that historically much confusion has entered into the debate over the nature of God. Joseph Smith, in an attempt to clarify matters, turned to the more nuanced Adamic language, instructing us that the correct name for the collectivity is Ahman , the "greatest intelligence of all". He then applies equivalent Adamic terms for each of the constituent parts of deity -- Son Ahman for Jehovah (D&C 78:20 and 95:17), and so on until we arrive at a name for mankind in its mortal state -- Anglomen . However Joseph did not tell us whether the intelligence of the individual known as Eloheim, whom we understand to be President of the Great Council, is itself greater than that of any of his associates, leaving one to wonder whether this is merely a matter of fact (These facts exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent that the other: there shall be another more intelligent than they: I the Lord God am more intelligent than they all. Abraham 3:19), or perhaps this is so because He is beneficiary by access through his Presidency of the Grand Council to all the intelligence that exists. Pratt suggests it is that collective wisdom of the Council itself which is, in the cited scripture, spoken of as "God", (JD 2:344 ff), thus reconciling Mormon doctrine as closely as is possible with the traditional sectarian teaching that God is a great creative mind which fills the universe, a teaching which salvages at least part of the corrupt word-of-mouth Graeco-Christian transmission from antiquity regarding the nature of God.
That God is God "from eternity to eternity", means not necessarily that the great individual whom we know by the name title of Elohim was himself always God, but that the Council has always existed, "God" being one of the name titles for the Council as well as for individual members thereof -- just as each member of the British Peerage may be addressed as "Lord" while the Upper House of Parliament is known collectively as "Lords". Perhaps, indeed, it is significant that similar confusion presents itself in other languages, Elohim being the plural form of the Hebrew Eloi, the plural being commonly used to give emphasis in Hebrew grammar, and the construction thus alternatively meaning "God of Gods" or "The Gods", depending on context.
When it is said that worlds "pass away into their glory", it is evident that this is accomplished at God's bidding and that such worlds are entering into a celestial, terrestrial, or telestial glory, from their provisional spheres of creation as more or less successful Second Estates for the inhabitants thereof.
In Summation
God is one; He is many; He is collectivity; He is spirit -- and He is Tabernacled Being. He is (in a sense) finite. He is, ultimately, in a collective sense, effectively infinite. He is comprehensible, yet in the infinity of his powers, which reach beyond human understanding, he is beyond our comprehension.
There need be no misunderstanding about His nature or His teachings, yet both our knowledge of His nature and what he is trying to tell us about the universe in which we live must necessarily conform to our level of understanding -- though with human progress He has been able to speak to us more clearly in this Dispensation of the Fullness of Times than in any of the ages past.
This is why even today certain of the sometimes arbitrary-appearing rules He gives us to reduce the tragedy people often bring upon themselves in this life through lack of self-control (without infringing our Agency or sparing the measure of trial and hardship each must undergo to prove himself during the Second Estate) must ultimately remain mysteries.
It is faith-strengthening, however, that we have recently gained a much clearer understanding of the physical principles underlying His teachings about avoiding alcohol and tobacco and other drugs, reducing intake of meat while eating fresh fruits and wholesome grains, maintaining chastity before marriage, and adhering to the marriage covenant afterwards. Yet even with our best attempts to bridge the unknowns about what has not yet been revealed with "provisional understandings", much must yet be taken on faith: We are simply not equipped to deal with the dimensions of Time and Being beyond the sphere in which we presently dwell -- which is undoubtedly why God told Moses that "only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants, give I unto you" (Moses 1:35).
God is everything scripture reports Him to be. And what we know of Him, rightly interpreted, is remarkably consistent with the major traditions of humankind, as conflicting as these various religious interpretations superficially appear to be, focussed as they are on one or another aspect of deity partially revealed at one time or another throughout man's long history -- much as the contrasting views of the nature of the elephant as recounted in the noted tale of the Wise Men of India, as well as being surprisingly compatible with the notions of contemporary science regarding the nature of the cosmos.
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