When I was a boy, I spent a week at Yellowstone National Park with other fifth graders. It was a joyful experience. The long bus ride home ended in the middle of the night. I had fallen asleep, and as a groggy eleven year old, I staggered around the rented coach, looking for my bags among the heap of luggage. Someone else was searching for a valuable—I was startled by the strong hand of my father on my shoulder. We hugged, he loaded up my bags in the car, and we drove home. I fell asleep in the car, and awoke in my bed the next morning with no memory of having walked into my room.
I enjoyed that trip, and think of it whenever I see large coaches like the one we rode. I knew that trip was only seven days—I would be home soon. In a similar way, we have all left the presence of God, the Father of our spirits, and we are here as mortals on earth, only for a temporary stay. However, the nature of this life sometimes fools us into thinking that it will go on forever, or that the priorities of this world are the priorities of eternity. It is easy to forget that it is not our permanent residence.
Dual Citizenship
Our spirits come from a celestial home, heaven, while our bodies are comprised of telestial materials of this earth. So we have two sets of laws tugging on us. Sometimes these rules conflict and we need to choose where our loyalties reside. Many of the laws of this world, the telestial kingdom, are compatible with the laws that govern our original celestial home in heaven. “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (D&C 130:2). Love, friendship, and familial bonds exist in heaven and on earth.
But there are other laws that apply here that do not apply in heaven. Pain is a signal that something in us is broken, or malfunctioning. It can also be psychological, the result of unmet hopes, needs, or disappointed expectations. Watching our loved ones sin or suffer can be excruciating, even when we are physically healthy. Physical pain is native to earth; in heaven, our bodies have everything in place. However, we read that God Himself weeps for us (see Moses 7:28-37). Sorrow is still a possibility there, if only empathically.
Death is a part of this life. Think of how many professions arise out of fear of death and the attempt to prolong life, to avoid death. The soldiers, doctors, farmers, police, security guards, and a host of other professions arise from the need to prevent bodily harm and death.
Another law of this earth is ownership by force. In heaven, says Brigham Young, you do not own anything until you can command it, and it obeys you. In this world, the threat of bodily harm or imprisonment is used to stake a claim on natural resources and artifacts we create with them. Land, gold, cars, and other things are fenced, put in vaults, locked up and set with alarms and video cameras to protect them. Suspicion and distrust of others are not written explicitly on these objects, but the security devices protecting them scream louder than words about that assumption, that others are untrustworthy in the minds of their owners. (Movies actually begin with an overt warning about fines and imprisonment, which is dissonant with the happy fantasies of justice and triumphant idealistic benevolence played out afterward. Apparently we know which side our bread is buttered on.)
Satan tempted Jesus Christ atop a mountain. “And again, Jesus was in the Spirit, and it taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
“And the devil came unto him again, and said, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me” (JST Matt. 4:8-9). In short, the quick way to worldly wealth and fame is to follow Satan. The more our hearts yearn for the things of this world, the more power he has over us. It is possible to procure the necessities of life through righteous labor, but if we want riches and superabundance, the quickest way to the top of the heap is to abuse others, to take advantage of others, and Satan promotes adherence to that kind of law.
He encouraged Cain to murder his brother Abel to get his flocks. In our society today, murder for money is considered evil, but enslaving others under the burdens of crushing debt, or holding the necessities of life (like medicine or a home or cars) for ransom and price-gouging those who need them is considered business as usual. It is a diluted version of the same principle: prospering at others’ expense.
Living here in mortality, it is easy to pick up some of the habits, rules, fashions, fads, and ways of thinking that dominate mortal life; when they run counter to the Gospel, we need to make certain they do not worm their way into our hearts and make us unable to live well in the presence of our actual Father, waiting for our return in our heavenly home.
Heaven
Heaven is not a theme park, where entry instantaneously confers joy; we need to belong there before we can be happy there.
“Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell” (Mormon 9:4). Who belongs with God naturally, in His presence?
Transparent
Jesus taught, “Suffer the little children to come unto me…for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). Little children are not always angelic. They can be downright mean and selfish at times. What quality makes them fit to dwell with God? They are not hypocrites. We tend to think of “pure in heart” as virtuous, chaste. Another possible definition presents itself in scripture: “…his heart is pure before me, for he is like unto Nathanael of old, in whom there is no guile” (D&C 41:11). Little kids do not posture or trying to hide anything.
Are we ready to live in a world where our thoughts are transparent, audible and visible to everyone? The Lord will even give us a true look at Himself:
“…that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is…” No wonder we need to become “purified even as he is pure” (Moroni 7:48). What other kind of person could stand such thorough scrutiny? We will feel our “nakedness” in His presence, too.
In this life, externals and appearances get all the emphasis, while motivations are hidden in the black box of the mind and heart. It is possible to do all the right things and appear good while being filled with resentment or wishing for the chance to go out and enjoy some telestial partying. Having our hearts trumpet that desire audibly, loudly echoing throughout the halls of the celestial world, will make heaven into a hell.
Clothes and fashions get such an emphasis in this world because they are all anyone can see. We become bizarre birds of paradise with clothing and paint on the outside, and gray oatmeal emotionally and mentally on the inside, under the influence of this world. (Sin is the great homogenizer.) One maxim states: “Clothes make the man.” What a pathetic thing to confess about ourselves, if that is what we really base our perceptions and priorities on.
In Lehi’s prophetic dream of the Tree of Life, the great and spacious building 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 (of the tree of life)” (1Ne. 8:27). Preoccupation with externals and regalia as status symbols is a symptom of living in this world for too long.
In heaven, we get every indication that the only thing people wear are simple white robes (see 1Ne. 8:5; 14:19-20; 3Ne. 11:8; JS—H 1:31-32). Who would need to express themselves with fanciful garments when every word in their heads is audible to everyone else? Our real selves would be on display all the time there. Even the light in our countenances would be proportional to our righteousness; we could not apply or remove it like makeup. That kind of faking is impossible there.
Is our identity so fragile that it depends on a few bits of cloth, however expensive or beautiful? Mercifully, the best things we incorporate into ourselves in this life will go with us into heaven, or even rise with us in the resurrection. Tailors cannot confer them, or take them away. (In his book, The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis even imagines angels running about naked in heaven. This is not the case, but even so, there is no lust there.) To be in heaven is not necessarily to be naked, but we are transparent to God there, and here, but there we will be next to Him and aware of our exposure.
“Have ye received his image in your countenances?” Alma asks (Alma 5:14). Every time I am aware of the presence or absence of this light in people’s eyes and faces, I remember the phrase, “O then, is not this real?” (Alma 32:35). It is not something cameras can capture, yet it is undeniable.
Rank
Preoccupation with status is another symptom of being here on this earth for too long. The world teaches that greatness, authority, preeminence, all hinge on the ability to compel or persuade others to see things our way, to force other people to do what we want.
As with so many things, the definition of greatness in heaven is inverted from the world’s definition. Jesus taught: “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:11-12). What a silly, unpractical paradigm, at least as viewed from the surface of this dog-eat-dog world. Compassion is seen as weakness; there is never enough of anything, and hording is a manifestation of that uneasiness.
Ownership
We can get some idea of what the economy of heaven is like, and prepare for it so that living there will be comfortable instead of intolerable, by studying the scriptures and looking at the covenants we must make to qualify to live there.
“…all that my Father hath…” (D&C 84:38) describes our reward if we are faithful. But if it’s all His, and all mine, whose is it really? It must belong to EVERYONE, which is another way of saying that in heaven, we live the law of consecration.
The Prophet Joseph said that “God had often sealed up the heavens because of covetousness in the Church” (TPJS, p. 9). “Nevertheless, in your temporal things you shall be equal, and this not grudgingly, otherwise the abundance of the manifestations of the Spirit shall be withheld” (D&C 70:14).
If we want the riches of eternity, we must be willing to share them with others. Heaven is “an innumerable company” (D&C 138:12), not a retirement home for hermits parted by infinite space. How well do we get along with others? Can we forgive them when they accidentally step on our toes? Most of all, are we willing to share? The emotional habit of greed is a faux pas by celestial standards. God is generous; to be like Him means to be generous.
“For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves” (D&C 104:17). If there is scarcity in the world today, it is because it is being artificially created and maintained by us.
We worry that we will damage the virtue of hard work necessitated by the curse of Adam if we share with others; how valid is this concern, or is it an excuse? “And I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh…” (D&C 38:18). Again: “And, as I, the Lord, in the beginning cursed the land, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake of the fatness thereof” (D&C 61:17).
A scarcity mentality drives our insane dash to accumulate. Abusing authority is another way to get rich. Status and its symbols can be enough by themselves to convince others of rank. (I once entered a work site to do some manual labor as a temp worker, and the other workers assumed I was a supervisor because my shirt had buttons and a collar.) Position is respected automatically, instinctively, by something inside us. Those who are aware of this instinct will play it to the hilt to their own advantage. They will even get intoxicated with it, believing they really are great.
Leviticus 19 has a simple theme: This is the way the Lord is; YOU be that way also. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor” (v. 15). Status and clothing and money (or their lack) do not cloud God’s view of another person; we should see in the same way.
Section 1 was dictated as a preface to the Doctrine and Covenants after many revelations had already been received: “I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh;
“For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion.
“And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst, and shall come down in judgment upon Idumea, or the world” (1:34-36). Let’s not be worldy. This planet is a nice place to visit, but it will require extensive renovation before it is fit as a permanent dwelling for us and our real Father.
