Books: Glimpses of Heaven

Library of the Dutch Parliament, atlasobscura.com

What is Heaven like? What is my vision of Heaven? I’ve been thinking about this recently, due to a comment in Church. The instructor asked everyone to think about what their idea of heaven was, to visualize it. Immediately, I thought of a library, huge ceilings, with shelves filled with books and some scattered odd paraphernalia (superhero stuff, a wand, a sad Jesus from Lithuania, lightsaber, a gavel, etc.). Of course, the shelves would have sliding ladders on them and the library’s windows would be massive, with beautiful stained glass at the top and alcoves built in to nestle with a book, comfortably, while the sun shines in or the rain pounds and the lightning strikes.

Perhaps that isn’t Heaven for everyone, but it captures much of what I hope for. Virginia Woolf seems to share my sentiments, for what that’s worth.

“When the Day of Judgment dawns and people, great and small, come marching in to receive their heavenly rewards, the Almighty will gaze upon the mere bookworms and say to Peter, “Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them. They have loved reading.”

Why is a library my vision for Heaven?

Well, I LOVE books. And reading. So that’s a substantial bit of the reason. But that seems rather superficial, and my Heaven may as well be filled with pizza, Converse All Stars, movies, shrimp, and popcorn. Lots of buttery, salty popcorn. Yet, I thought of a library. I think part of it is that I still view literature and reading as a more refined interest than film (although that opinion varies depending on the sorts of films one is interested in and in no way diminishes my own love and appreciation for film and the value it serves as an art-form. My perspective is more due to past stereotypes still ingrained in my subconscious.).

Anyway, some quotes capture some of the feelings that I have about reading and why I connect it with Heaven and an eternity of peace, joy and love.

“We read to know that we are not alone.” – William Nicholson

This is a large part of my attraction to reading, I think. Perhaps this is because I can more easily connect with characters in a book than real-life people. In times that I have felt like no one really understands my experience, I have found solace in reading, feeling that I am no longer alone.

“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” — Madeleine L’Engle

Books and reading represent knowledge and Truth, which as Jesus taught, will set us free. As I search for what is true, hoping to come closer to God and know what I need to do to better follow Him and bless the lives of others, books assist me on that journey. I think that the search for and understanding of Truth continues far past this mortal world, hence being a part of Heaven.

“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” — Joyce Carol Oates

A part of that search for Truth and losing loneliness is slipping into the life of another. Books give us the ability to live countless lives that we would never be able to actually live or may not want to literally live. It’s fantastic. Basically, reading can be reincarnation, without the worry of karma. Yet, as Oscar Wilde cautioned,

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”

Wilde captures the power of reading. It transforms us and shapes who we are. May we all read great books and just maybe, this could be Heaven for everyone.

What Is Love?

What is love? A question articulated by the Trinidadian-German poet Nestor Alexander Haddaway and countless others that muse about life and create art. Writers such as Shakespeare and John Donne with sonnets, poems and plays, and Austen with her social commentaries that examine the role and reality of love, among others have sought to explore this question.

Lou Gramm longingly croons, wanting to know what love is, while Michael Lee Aday will do anything for love, but he won’t do that. The Fab Four argue that all you need is love. I have always been a proponent of the idea of love, yet question the reality of the ideal that I uphold.

I recently gave a talk in Church based on Elder Oaks’ General Conference address “No Other Gods,” in which I declared from the pulpit my distaste for dating and attempted to trace my dislike to the worship of some idol(s) in place of God (who would likely want me dating, so that I can help participate in the whole multiply and replenish the earth thing, within the bounds that God has set). I came to the conclusion that I hold up the ideal of Love as some perfect, practically unreachable goal, much easier to appreciate in the abstract than in reality. The second idol blocking my active dating life is my mockery of all things related to ‘romance’ (evident in the sonnets I wrote for the Student Review’s newest issue, coming out in time for Valentine’s Day), leaving me like Shakespeare’s Benedict frightened of being in love for the ridicule that I would receive (justly so, although I suppose I just need to find a Beatrice, yet that plays back into this expectation/idol of love as an ideal- vicious cycle).

As I wondered what Love is, I thought back to my own life. I have experienced love, at least in a divine sense and assume that love from or for non-divine sources would be similar. My experiences with divine love are the most potent spiritual experiences that I have had and ground my belief and faith in God.

I’m not entirely sure, and this may be my skeptical nature doubting, that I have ever truly been ‘in love’. I’ve read about it, watched it in films and in reality, but have I ever really felt it? I don’t know. Yet, I think there are some things that I can draw from my other exposure that would be useful.

1.     Love casts out fear. There’s a scriptural basis for this idea (1 John 4:18) and I’ve felt it, having my fear of others replaced by an overwhelming divine love for them. In a more earthly/romantic sense, perhaps this means that you aren’t afraid of what will happen. It might be unknown and a bit scary, but fear departs when you are in the presence of (your) Love.

2.     Love is connected to negative extremes. My strongest feelings of divine love have happened after feelings of extreme negativity- overwhelming, crushing doubt and paralyzing fear. Maybe we need to go through some sorrow and pain, some level of suffering before we can truly feel love. Love truly steps in when we show our commitment to fight on, manifesting itself from the embers of something waiting to ignite.

3.     Love wants our best, yet respects us. While there may be disappointment in love, my encounters with the divine have been feelings of encouragement- pushing me to be better. Part of this would be the ability to let go of those that may not return our love. Another aspect would be not staring down our nose disapprovingly at those that we ‘love’ and act differently than we think they should. The respect and tolerance of Love will always trump disappointment.

Perhaps love cannot be conveyed in words (I tend to reject such an idea, since I firmly believe in the power of words. I am majoring in English after all). Maybe it needs to be felt and not read about, suggesting that Lou Gramm was on to something, wanting to be shown what love is (or they wanted something else and called it love…). At least death can’t stop true love, so I have all of eternity to figure out what love is (right? There is hope).  

Are We Not All Superheroes?

I recently read a fascinating piece by Nathaniel Givens on Times and Seasons entitled, “Are Prophets Superheroes?”. I was thinking about what was said within, in conjunction with a piece on Rational Faiths, about questions for the resurrection and felt like I should weigh in.

I agree with most of the central bits to Givens’ piece, which essentially boils down to the idea that we have a cultural expectation for prophets to be like superheroes, fundamentally different than the rest of us, with some superior connection to revelation. Givens posits that this is false and that prophets struggle to receive revelation just like the rest of us. I agree and think that anything that elevates prophets to a superhero or god-like standard brings with it dangerous assumptions and complications when those ideas are questioned by further historical inquiry.

However, I think rather than dismissing the idea of a connection to superheroes, we may be able to expand it to encompass all of us. Sure prophets are superheroes, but so is everyone else. I touched on this a bit in an older post about the tensions between the pragmatic and supernatural. I also watched an enormous amount of superhero cartoons as a child in the ‘90s (X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, The Tick, etc.) and that may color my desire to view the world with the possibility for the super to be reality.

So, why are we all superheroes? Well, the mutant comparison I think is most apt, except that everyone is a mutant, there is no divide between humans and mutants. There may be mutants that do not recognize their own powers yet or reject those that have more obvious powers showing. (You could make an interesting parallel drawing from Joseph Smith’s teachings about baptism literally changing blood to make it of the house of Israel, with that bringing some sort of ‘superpowers’.)

Everyone has the Light of Christ (Moroni 7:15-19), which gives some access to the divine. This becomes stronger and more honed as the Gift of the Holy Ghost is received, and each individual strives to follow it. This access to revelation and the divine is our superpower. We all have it. We can all be superheroes, but the choice is ours.

As one superhero knows too well, “With great power comes great responsibility.” He learned the hard way that using superpowers for gain results in personal pain and then devoted his life to using his gifts to help others. Admittedly, this choice seems to result in pain as well, but it brings a sense of fulfillment. For us, we should use the Spirit, our superpower, to help others- to know who is in need and what we can do for them.

With this model, the Church can be like the X-Men, with the prophet as Professor X, an experienced superhero that generally knows what is good, but occasionally makes well-intentioned mistakes that can cause hurt and pain for others. (AKA in the films, locking up Jean’s conscious, so that she never learned to control it, until it was unleashed as the Dark Phoenix and then led loads of deaths and destruction). Everyone has a part to play and a voice to add.

We can each experience the Spirit, our power, differently. Perhaps some it’s through service, others entertainment and still others in more traditional ways. Whatever it is, we can feel it and can use our gifts, our powers, to help others. Everyone’s flawed (Wolverine’s stubborn and a loner, Cyclops is prideful, Rogue is afraid of her powers and herself, etc.) but together we can do great good.