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.

"The Inhabitants of the Earth are Asleep"

There is a wealth of information in the History of the Church volumes. I can turn to almost any page within each volume and find something new and enlightening that I have never come across. And I find that troubling.

I would like to think that at this stage in my life, at the very least, I would find no new Joseph Smith quotes. I understand that the Joseph Smith Papers are barely underway and there are still unpublished archives that are not easily accessible to the masses, so maybe I'm justified in not reading every possible document chronicling the early years of the church. However, the History of the Church volumes contain not all, but many direct, indirect, and transcribed words of Joseph Smith. These have been in my possession for several years, and growing up in an active LDS household, I knew at a young age exactly where these volumes were kept.

So getting that out of the way, I have no excuse to have not studied at least that which was available to me. But I'm also a bit troubled that many of these stories and experiences are available to all church members, yet I rarely hear many of them taught, even though I have sat in classes of instruction my entire life, totaling many thousands of hours. Almost unbelievably, I continue to find information from these early years of the church (i.e. the Joseph Smith era), even words of Joseph Smith, that are still new to me.

This is not a criticism of the church or the many volunteers who prepare lessons or give talks/sermons each Sunday. The purpose of talks and lessons is not to create historians, but rather to help us all live more Christ-like lives.

I think it's fair to say, however, that there are already very many revealed truths in the Restored Gospel that have yet to be revealed to many of us in today's church because of a lack of "feasting" on the word in its entirety, both the canon and the non-canon.

If you are LDS, think of the classes, lessons, and talks you have heard in your lifetime in the church. Consider the pool of scriptural verses, stories, and quotes that are drawn from in each talk or lesson that you have heard and see if this purely anecdotal data goes along with your experience.

• 25 Shakespeare or C.S. Lewis quotes
• 75 verses from scripture (see post on True Scripture Mastery)
  
• 100 scriptural stories (most taken from Book of Mormon and New Testament, fewer from Doctrine & Covenants and Old Testament, and I'll be generous, about four or five from the Pearl of Great Price)
  
• 500 conference quotes (or more since the Internet has simplified research). I have no problem with conference quotes, I use them and study them myself. My only issue with an over-abundant reliance on them is that the typical quote wraps everything up neatly in a soundbite, which is pleasing to the ear, but it deprives us the opportunity to come up with our own "soundbites" or pearls of wisdom derived from our own "toiling" in personal study. By the sweat of our brow...you get the idea.
• The remaining time in a typical lesson is spent on personal experiences and stories, along with challenges and invitations to better practice our religion.
  

All of this is well and good. My only concern is are we striking the right balance in our instruction. How many scriptures should be shared in a sacrament meeting talk? How many conference quotes? Of course, there is no quota. We will prepare based on our knowledge-base on the topic at hand.

Which leads me back to the History of the Church, and two quotes I recently found that I had never heard before.

#1
Joseph Smith (Vol. 5, p. 402):

"I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them.

"The Lord deals with this people as a tender parent with a child, communicating light and intelligence and the knowledge of his ways as they can bear it. The inhabitants of the earth are asleep; they know not the day of their visitation."

Earlier in Volume 5, in an unrelated passage, I think Joseph Smith offers an explanation on how the "inhabitants of the earth" are likely asleep. I would include myself in that group, because I often feel "asleep" in spiritual matters. And I love the analogy of being asleep because there is a stark difference between being awake and asleep. I have felt awake in the spiritual sense but there are many times when my eyes are open yet I'm just going through the motions of life without realizing there is a greater purpose.

How do we awaken from such a spiritual slumber? Faith! The following quote will seem a little disjointed to the current discussion, but try to stick with me.

#2
Joseph Smith (Vol. 5, p. 218):

"Because faith is wanting, the fruits are. No man since the world was had faith without having something along with it. The ancients quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, women received their dead, &c. By faith the worlds were made. A man who has none of the gifts has no faith; and he deceives himself; if he supposes he has. Faith has been wanting, not only among the heathen, but in professed Christendom also, so that tongues, healings, prophecy, and prophets and apostles, and all the gifts and blessings have been wanting."

In the first quote, we learn that light and intelligence is withheld from the inhabitants of the earth only as they can bear it. The second deals with the concern that fruits of faith are lacking on the earth because faith is lacking.

Perhaps our faith can improve as we are given more light and intelligence through diligent study of all that is available to us, and then, we can be found bearing the many fruits that are available to those who have exercised the needed faith.