JJM wrote:
However I think that there was something in Drchaos's statement that makes it slightly differ from both the Hindu Ideas and those of the Mormons. that is that it is not through human progression in their actions and spirituality that this new use of the brain would happen but rather the actual act of have another generation that turns that generations brains up a bit. however if he would be kind enough to help clarify that It would be appreciated
Then, DrChaos wrote:
I'm guessing you are referring to how the generation of people would "brain up". Well, think about it this way, we teach our kids everything the world already knows (or we try to). This means, that unless their generation learns nothing, then they learn something new, which is passed to their kids. So, eventually we know everything through the tedious accumulation of knowledge through the generations. Makes sense to me. The only problem is that it is human nature to try to learn more, so what happens when we know everything? I'm guessing Apocolypse in some form, maybe just the loss of our knowledge, maybe the destruction of Earth, who knows.
Well, in Mormon theology, spirituality and actual intelligence on the order of the stuff you learn in school both play into the equation. The belief is that one must progress spiritually in order to gain perfection.
However, there is also a belief that "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth." That is from the same book of revelations I wrote about in my earlier post, the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 93, Verse 36. Mormons literally believe that, in the sense of what you know, you
can take it with you and that whatever you learn in this life goes with you into the next life.
This makes sense when you realize that Mormonism is actually a very materially-oriented belief system. Again in the Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22, it is taught that "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also;...." In this belief system, this statement is justified in the next section of the same book (D & C 131:7), where it says: "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes." This, I suppose you could say, marries the spiritual and the material, as they believe one becomes "purer" by progressing spiritually. Anyway, Mormons do believe that God has a body, as does Christ.
How all this connects to the idea that one progresses to the point of becoming like a god, or in fact to become a god, is hinted at in a book, The Book of Abraham, from another Mormon scripture, the Pearl of Great Price. The history of this book is fairly convoluted and extremely controversial, but for this discussion it is just necessary to know that faithful Mormons believe it to have been written by Abraham and translated from a papyrus by Joseph Smith, the founder of the religion. Anyway in chapter 3, verse 19 of the Book of Abraham, Abraham writes: "And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all."
Now, this is where things become a bit odd, and probably more than a bit contradictory; still, the belief is that a man (and only a man; women are believed to be able to become gods as well, but only on the coattails of a man, and it is something the church does not talk about and gets upset about if someone does talk about it) living on this earth can, if he is good enough and obedient enough, go on after this life to become even more good and obedient and earn the right to be a God in his own right. The question, of course, arises as to how he can do that if God (Heavenly Father, as the Mormons call him) is the most intelligent, how can another become a god and, presumably, as omniscient as God is. And, going back to the idea that God was once a man, it also begs the question of whether he is more intelligent than the former man who became his God. Of course, the church authorities will not address that issue, claiming that knowledge of it is not required for us, here and now, for our salvation. But it makes a person wonder.
The point I'm trying to make here, in this longwinded and roundabout way, is that both spirituality and actual knowledge are considered necessary by the Mormon belief system to gain the highest degree of glory, as they term it. This, to the point that Brigham Young actually taught that it was just as appropriate to give a lecture on geology or chemistry in a church meeting (as long, he said, as the principles lectured on were "correct") as it was to talk about the nature of God, or about salvation, or any other spiritual subject that a person would be used to hearing about in church. This aspect of Young's teaching is played down these days, but the fact remains that it is a part of the church's tradition.
Thanks, both of you, for bringing this question out. Writing about it has helped me clarify in my own mind some of the issues surrounding these aspects of Mormon theology. I guess, by way of disclaimer, since I am getting a bit deep into some of these things, I should say that I was once baptized in the Mormon church, but I no longer practice that faith.
