• There’s the chapters in 1 Nephi that are pretty clearly talking about Columbus and early European colonials.  Who had their faults.  Modern education is sometimes selective in presenting facts about the people it wishes to blacken, but doesn’t always invent stuff.  A lot of the dubious things they were up are dubious.  The Book of Mormon, though, presents them as blessed and to some degree on the Lord’s errand, even though later in the same chapter it says they err a lot because of their incomplete scripture.    With Columbus, one thing to keep in mind is that greatness is an aspect of righteousness.  A great man (visionary, energetic, and so on) who does wicked stuff is only partially righteous.  So is a commandment-keeper who is mediocre.  For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  For the settlers, another thing to keep in mind is that they are described as “humbling” themselves.    Righteousness isn’t really a matter of intellectual assent to a set of propositions, nor in this life is it a freeze frame of what kind of person you are holistically right now.  “Humility” isn’t abasement.  Humility is a recognition that something is lacking about you and a desire to fix that lack.  In other words, humility is directional.  Reading the BoM through the lens of Lehi’s Dream, humility is grasping the rod to move to the tree.

• the end of the world — should we interpret that as the end of the World?   Not the end of everything, but the end of this worldly system.

• There has to be some connection between Laman and Lemuel standing by the ‘chasm’ and the river of filthy water in Lehi’s dream, and his earlier comparison of them to a valley and a river respectively when they first left Jerusalem.

Someone smarter than me can tell me if this is a poem or what.

Proverbs 18:2

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliver;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

The horn of my salvation.

The horn of rescue.

The horn of the infantry are here.

The bugle of the cavalry coming over the hill.

Roland winding his horn and hearing, o blessedly near! the answering clarion.

The bell of the boxer’s round is done.

The church bell, the evening bell, the day is over.

The last trump.

Your surprised laugh when you find it all worked out in the end.

Your home greeting–Daddy!–at the end of the day.

Inspiration works in curious ways. I don’t feel like I get inspiration. Whenever I ask about some serious real world decision I invariably get an answer that is something like, “Yep, you are right that there are pros and cons and risks. What do you want to do?” So it wasn’t with much expectation that I prayed for some guidance on what approach to take to the Book of Mormon this year. I didn’t get any answers other than that maybe I should ask. I asked some friends, got a few ideas, and then a day or so later got a clear out the blue bona fide inspiration. Its funny and typical that the inspiration had nothing to do with anyone’s suggestion but didn’t come until I got the suggestions.

Anyhow, the inspiration came, I don’t know why, since I have all of 5 readers here, but those are the only sorts of inspiration I seem to get sometimes, gospel insights that no one cares about, the Saints seem to prefer either pablum or scholarship or official sources and good for them, none of which I am.

Oh well. The Lord knows what He’s doing I suppose.

Anyhow, the inspiration was to look at the entire Book of Mormon through the lens of Lehi’s Dream. That’s what I am going to be trying to do this year.

Here’s the first fruits of that effort.

(more…)

Warning: this is a dream.

(more…)

To recap:

The people who taste the fruit of the tree of life and stay have 4 differences from those who don’t stay

1.  Mists of darkness are not mentioned for them.
2. They hold on to the iron rod instead of clinging.
3. They fall down when they get to the tree.
4. After eating they are not ashamed.

In 1 Nephi 11, Nephi has an extended vision in response to his question about what the tree  means.

Here’s one bit (v. 24)

I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.

I dreamed that I was pursued into a great  hall by enemies.  It was a lovely hall, all brass and wood and high windows and a great roaring fire.  Comfortable elegant furniture all over. Highly polished.  I started to climb up the walls to get away from them.  They tried to throw things at me.  One of them climbed after me and when I pondered what to do I was reminded that I was a prince of Amber.  So I put points into climbing and acrobatics (I guess I was an RPG sort of prince of Amber), quickly scaled the wall, grabbed an enormous tasseled cord and swung across the wall, and willed that there be a secret entrance there and then through the entrance a roof exit there . . . a scaffolding . . . a rocky outcropping . . . a sheer granite cliff strung with vines . . .

It was fun.

Yesterday we mentioned that the interior of the building is hidden while the tree is open to view.

Today let’s talk about another difference.   The building experience is superficial–literally superficial, it happens on the superficie of the building–and relies on the non-building world to be meaningful.

When the building first comes to our attention, its because of all the people on balconies or windows in it mocking and pointing.

And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.

27 And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.

When people go into the building, they quickly appear on the exterior mocking and pointing too.

And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also;

Whatever secrets are in the interior of the building, they are apparently too boring and meaningless to occupy anyone for long.  There is nothing to do there other than to point fingers at people who aren’t.  What is hidden inside the building is almost literally nothing.  The physical building is founded on little to nothing.  The building experience is also founded on little to nothing.  There is no there there.

(more…)

Let’s think about the basic symbolic differences between a fruit-bearing tree in a field and big building in a field.

There’s a whole lot to say, so lets focus for now on the different view when you are standing outside.

The tree is open to view.  Whatever is going on at the tree you can see from pretty far away.  There may be problems with your visions–there may be fogs or obstacles–but none of them are intrinsic to the tree.  It is open to view.

The building, however, is concealed on the inside.  The outside observer does not know what is going on in there and that’s the nature of a building.  A building’s basic functions of protection from elements and defense against outsiders mean that it also offers concealment.

In Lehi’s dream, both concealing mists and the building are associated with evil.  Hidden works, concealment, secrets, and cover ups are key to their work.  Whereas the tree is open.

But you can’t know everything about the tree until you go there yourself.  You can see that there is fruit.  You can see that the people who eat it really like it.  But you can’t  know the taste until you taste.

The building is secret.  The tree is sacred.

The people of the Church of Jesus Christ usually interpret the Great and Spacious Building as having no foundation.  Me too.  The scripture we rely on implies that but doesn’t state it out right.

And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.

-thus Lehi’s dream, 1 Ne. 8:26.  later verses saying that the building falls and that it represents “vain imagination” help complete the picture of a building without foundation.

The alternate explanation is that it has a foundation, it just looks like its in the air because of how tall it is.  This interpretation implies that the building is toplofty, i.e., that it has an inadequate foundation.  For interpretive purposes, having no foundation and having an inadequate foundation are not much different.

Let me suggest a 3rd explanation.

(more…)

Once upon a time, a successful author went to a business seminar.  The presenters told him that every business had to pick a price and therefore the size of a market.  “You can sell one billion items for one dollar, or one item for one billion dollars, it is the same.”

The author was quite taken with the idea.

(more…)

After many vicissitudes, the Tree Son and the Starwife are united, and they all frolic with the Godchild on Christmas day.

They then have the adventure of the pheasant and the fruit  and then adventures in cloud land with the donkey, the monkey, and the turkey cock, aided by their children.  The travelers then descend from the clouds to an autumn island and then to the autumn mainland.  After much sailing, they walk the moon path to the winter land.

When they got to the shore, they went to the city. It was early enough in the evening that there were still lights in the windows, gaslamps lit on the streets, and passersby in top hats or bustly dresses moving on the cobblestone streets greeting each other with “Merry Christmas.”

“Is this the land of Christmas at last?” the Tree Son asked.

“This is the land of Before Christmas,” a jolly fellow in a green top hat and a yellow scarf. “Christmas is that way.” He pointed down to the street to the end of town, where an evergreen hedge had a giant gate set in it. “The gate is closed, for fear of a monster called Ogredak who lurks on the other side. No matter! We’ll figure it out sooner or later and in the meantime, more time to prepare!” All through the town they saw and heard delicacies being made, the saw and hammer going for toys, decorations being hung and strung, voices practicing carols, and so on.

Over all there was a bustle of merriment.

When they came to the town hall to ask for the key to the gate, they saw the town council sitting soberly in session. The lords and ladies of that place, 12 men and 12 women, were very grave as they worked.

Down popped the ninth and tenth children, a boy and a girl. Fwoosh!

Father, Mother, joy is come

brighter than the noonday sun

Ladies soon will blithely dance

Lords can’t help but leap and prance.

The newest young man hopped up on to the council bar and started hopping from one foot to the other. The monkey joined him. With that and the Tree Son’s merry laugh, the lords starting leaping too, all except two who were too old but clapped merrily.

“Your name is Joy to the World,” the Tree Son said.

Meanwhile, the daughter began to dance beautifully. She shone like her mother. The ladies were touched and joined also in the dance, all except one who was too old but nodded along to the stately measures.

“Your name is Gloria,” the Starwife cried.

The Tree Son took the key and then, lords leaping and ladies dancing, they all leaped and danced their way to the gate. The townsfolk joined them.

But when they arrived, they realized that in all the excitement, the last two babies had hopped off and were not to be found.

Just then, above the noises of the crowd they heard a rat-tat-tat and a troo loo loo. Around the corner and across the square came their last two children leading drummers and musicians.

The girl sang

Mother, Father, hear them play

a tune as new as buds in may

a tune as old as stars above

and always fresh, like mortal love

The boy hollered

Father, Mother, our ships creaked

and we often had the tramp of fee

With those old familiar rhythmic sounds

These drummers make the world resound.

They  named those children Old-in-New and New-in-Old.

The Tree Son and Starwife unlocked the gate and opened it.

In they all marched, leaping, dancing, singing, drumming, playing.

The ogre ran away.

Thanks for reading.  My goal is to update these every day through Christmas until Twelfth Night and Kings’ Day.  The concluding episode is tomorrow on January 6, Kings’ Day.  I will try to include  links so you can follow, but if not please  use the Christmas Fairytale tag at the end of this post.  You can also use the Merry Christmas page on the header bar above to find other writing that celebrates the Christmas Season.

After many vicissitudes, the Tree Son and the Starwife are united, and they all frolic with the Godchild on Christmas day.

They then have the adventure of the pheasant and the fruit  and then adventures in cloud land with the donkey, the monkey, and the turkey cock, aided by their children.  The travelers then descend from the clouds to an autumn island and then to the autumn mainland.

As they traveled along that early fall coast, feasting every night, they came to a small harbor with seven ships with sails. Like everywhere else in that strange land, there were no people there. The Tree Son and the Starwife still longed for the winter land. They decided to set sail. (more…)

After many vicissitudes, the Tree Son and the Starwife are united, and they all frolic with the Godchild on Christmas day.

They then have the adventure of the pheasant and the fruit, aided by their children.

They then have the adventure of the donkey, the monkey, and the turkey cock, aided by their children.

After some time, the Tree Son began to long for home. He asked the golden pheasant how they could leave the clouds. The golden pheasant told him that where a thing had descended from the clouds, such as the pear tree they had first encountered him at, there was a a large golden circle left behind on the cloud that a traveler could use to descend also to the original location where the first descent had occurred. The Tree Son and Starwife did not wish to go back to the icy waste, and in any event they did not know where that cloud was. They asked their little group Foresight and Hear-and-Speak and Thingmaker and Lifter-Upper, and Friend, the babies, the golden pheasant, his two dove wives, the donkey, the monkey, the turkey cock and the bugle birds and the whole entourage, to keep their eyes opened. The bugle birds and the dove wives were the sort that flew, so it was no surprise when a few days later they had come to an endless cloud bank and one of the dove wives said she had seen not just one ring but four in the direction of the north star.

(more…)

After many vicissitudes, the Tree Son and the Starwife are united, and they all frolic with the Godchild on Christmas day.

They then have the adventure of the pheasant and the fruit, aided by their children.

(more…)

The old year is going out.  It occurs to me that next Christmas, for the first time, my little family may not all be together.  We are all of us very happy.  The new year will probably be far happier than it has any right to be. Still, as the old year goes, I think of old times and old friends.  Betsey, Vader, Bookslinger, Grandma V, here’s to you.