Virtue's Arm: Light

Light, one of my favorite subjects, written about here on a fairly new blog, Virtue's Arm. Many great insights. A must-read.

A Firm Mind

Our family motto is a scripture written by the Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob.

Jacob 3:2

O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.

Love is the desired object. The audience is the pure in heart, or Zion. There are many great words that could be written about the entire sermon which begins in chapter 2 and continues until 3:12. But this verse stands out to us because of Jacob's use of the words, "a firm mind."

The word, "firm," and its synonyms, immoveable, unshakeable, steadfast, and fixed, occur frequently throughout scripture, but to have a "firm mind" is unique to Jacob and then used again by Moroni in chapter 7:30. Jacob also uses the words, "firmness in the Spirit," in the last verse in chapter 4, right before he begins the lengthy allegory of the olive trees.

While we could probably agree on a good, religious definition of what a firm mind generally means, this is one area I would have liked to quiz Jacob on in person. Unfortunately, the prophets of ancient scripture don't always define every word, phrase, and verse, and time and language act as barriers to what was intended, so there is always a lot left to interpretation. I think most of us would agree, though, that to have a firm mind connotes integrity, strong character, diligence, and endurance. Since we probably have the correct definition of a firm mind, the more important question becomes, how exactly does one develop a firm mind?

Since I can't have a conversation with Jacob (unless there's an app for that), I will add a word we don't always hear in the church to what a firm mind might mean, and that is, "concentration," a skill I feel I lack. In Truman G. Madsen's, Joseph Smith the Prophet, he outlines how the power of concentration makes for more effective councils, but I think this can apply generally to the idea of developing this skill in a way that moves us a step toward a firm mind:

At a council of high priests and elders in Kirtland, the Prophet said: "No man is capable of judging a matter, in council, unless his own heart is pure…we frequently are so filled with prejudice, or have a beam in our own eye, that we are not capable of passing right decisions." Joseph continued: "In ancient days councils were conducted with such strict propriety, that no one was allowed to whisper, be weary, leave the room, or get uneasy in the least, until the voice of the Lord, by revelation, or the voice of the council by the Spirit was obtained, which has not been observed in this Church to the present time. It was understood in ancient days, that if one man could stay in council, another could; and if the president could spend his time, the members could also; but in our councils, generally, one will be uneasy, another asleep; one praying, another not; one's mind on the business of the council, and another thinking on something else." 1

The Prophet's reference to weariness is intriguing. Not allowed to be weary! How can one prevent weariness? Notice the assumption about the strength we will have if we will truly seek the Lord – even the strength to cope with weariness. This and the other human distractions common to Church meetings are preventable. The unity the Lord promised as a presupposition of his most powerful responses to prayer comes from that time of genuine concentration. His fellow Saints said that the Prophet Joseph Smith had immense power to concentrate on the topic at hand. 2

There is a book called, "The Power of Concentration," published in 1918 and now long out of print, that inspired me in this area some years back. Although out-dated it is available for free at http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1570/pg1570.html and is a quick & easy read; an early 20th century self-help book.

Also, a July 1980 Ensign article on "The Strait Gate" which touches on the power of concentration.

I would write more but I need to concentrate on getting to sleep now, where I can dream of becoming one of the Sleep Elite, and therefore have more awake time to practice concentrating.