Increased Powers through the Celestialize Spirit

Over the years I have learned, and have been taught, how marvelous it will be when we are no longer confined to the limited powers of perception of our mortal physical body. Those who are on the other side of the veil, our faithful kindred spirits, are learning at the speed of light, amazing concepts and doctrines that we, at this point, can't begin to understand with our limited powers.

I once read a very interesting statement by Orson Pratt. By sharing it with you I hope to arouse you to a lively perception of who you are and who you will become if you keep the commandments. One of the best ways I know to keep the commandments is to know why and who we are. Orson Pratt said:

Suppose He should give us a sixth sense, a seventh, an eighth, a ninth, or a fiftieth. All these different senses would convey to us new ideas, as much so as the senses of tasting, smelling, or seeing communicate different ideas from that of hearing. [Journal of Discourses, 2:247]

Orson Pratt spoke of the ability to obtain and consider many different ideas at the same time instead of thinking in a single channel only and of following only one course of reasoning. Elder Pratt said:

Knowledge will rush in from all quarters; it will come in like the light which flows from the sun, penetrating every part, informing the Spirit, and giving understanding concerning ten thousand things at the same time; and the mind will be capable of receiving and retaining all. . . . Not one object at a time, but a vast multitude of objects rush before his vision [the vision of a celestialized soul], and are present before his mind, filling him in a moment with the knowledge of worlds more numerous than the sands of the sea shore. Will he be able to bear it? Yes, his mind is strengthened in proportion to the amount of information imparted. It is this tabernacle, in its present condition, that prevents us from a more enlarged understanding. [Journal of Discourses, 2:246]

Elder Pratt continued by explaining that celestial beings have the ability to perceive with all parts of their bodies:

The spirit [like the eye] is inherently capable of experiencing the sensations of light. . . . I think we could then see in different directions at once, instead of looking in one particular direction; we could then look all around us at the same instant. [Journal of Discourses, 2:243]

When I first read this, I remembered I’d read something similar—Philo Dibble’s statement that Joseph Smith told him, after receiving revelation, “My whole body was full of light and I could see even out at the ends of my fingers and toes” (cited by N. B. Lundwall, comp., The Vision [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft Publishing Company, n.d.], p. 11).

 The following scripture, found in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 88, further confirms the Prophet's statement: “And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things” (D&C 88:67).

A statement by Brigham Young, who said something similar:

I long for the time that a point of the finger, or motion of the hand, will express every idea without utterance. When a man is full of the light of eternity, then the eye is not the only medium through which he sees, . . . nor the brain the only means by which he understands. When the whole body is full of the Holy Ghost, he can see behind him with as much ease, without turning his head, as he can see before him. If you have not that experience, you ought to have. It is not the optic nerve alone that gives the knowledge of surrounding objects to the mind. . . . I shall yet see the time that I can converse with this people, and not speak to them. . . . We are at present low, weak, and grovelling in dark, but we are planted here in weakness for the purpose of exaltation.[Journal of Discourses, 1:70–71]

Again, Parley P. Pratt, in his book Key to the Science of Theology,says that we will move from one place to another without a loss of time by willing ourselves to be there: “There is no apparent limit to the speed attainable by the body when unchained, set free from the elements which now enslave it, and dictated by the will” (5th ed. [Liverpool: John Henry Smith, 1883], p. 162).

Brigham Young, in another statement, said that we can move instantaneously to any point in time:

The brightness and glory of the next apartment (The Spirit World) is inexpressible. . . . They (The spirits)  move with ease and like lightning. If we want to visit Jerusalem, or this, that, or the other place . . . there we are. . . . If we want to behold Jerusalem as it was in the days of the Savior; or if we want to see the Garden of Eden as it was when created [and notice we’re not only moving through space, we’re moving through time], there we are, and we see it as it existed spiritually, for it was created first spiritually and then temporally, and spiritually it still remains. . . . We may behold the earth as at the dawn of creation, or we may visit any city we please that exists upon its surface. [Journal of Discourses, 14:231]

There are many wonderful gifts and powers that await us on the other side. Our duty is to endure to the end, remain faithful, to receive all that the Father has. (D&C 84:38)

As we work together, as a family, we'll all make it, and together share in these great and glorious gifts and powers.

Love, Dad