DO WE FORGET? BY ELDER D. A. LATIMER, PRESIDENT OF THE WISCONSIN CONFER ENCE. As a religious body the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints thoroughly believe and strongly advocate the principle of pre-existence, or of our having lived in our heavenly home as spiritual beings before coming to this earth. A great many objections are raised against this idea, by those not of our faith, and many say, "If that be true, why do we not remember something of our former life: of our former associations, and why are we not able to tell of things we knew while in that pre-existent state?" This idea of a life before is not a new one, but has appealed to many in times past. The poet Wordsworth said, This life is but a sleep and a forgetting, The soul that rises with us-our life's star, And cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter darkness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come, From God, who is our home. Also one of our own poets, Sister Eliza R. Snow, thus: For a wise and glorious purpose ⚫ Thou hast placed me here on earth, Of my former friends and birth. The Bible also gives us many passages on the same subject; for instance: In speaking of death, Eccl. 12: 7, "Then shall the dust return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." As it is impossible to return to space unless we have been there before, we must have existed with God before coming to the earth. Yet the question still remains, "Why do we forget all our knowledge of things pertaining to that former life, and yet at the resurrection regain that knowledge, and have added to it what we gain while here on earth?" The Prophet Joseph Smith says (Doc. and Cov. sec. 130: 18): "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain to in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection." God is a great Being, and works only on natural principles; therefore, our forgetting can come about only in a natural way. Let us see if we can venture a solution. First, we will look at the spirit while in the spirit world, then consider the body in which it dwells while here on earth, and lastly the result of the union of the two; continually holding in mind. that all knowledge gained in this life is by means of vibrations passing along sense-nerves carrying impressions to the mind; that all movement is by means of vibrations; that knowledge of all things is only in a relative degree; and that in the sending of messages or sensations, the instruments of both the sending party and receiving party must be attuned to each other, as in wireless telegraphy. Also that it takes different toned instruments to transmit or receive different sensations or impressions-likening the nerves and nerve-endings to conductors and instruments. Again, truth is a knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come, and "all truth is independent in the sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also, otherwise there is no existence" (Doc. &. Cov. sec. 93:24-30). Therefore, as this earth is different from other planets, truths here are independent and in a way different from truths elsewhere; which condition makes it impossible for knowledge pertaining to the life before to be transmitted by us to one another here, because we are not provided with instruments of the right kind either to send or to receive. Now, viewing the spirit in the spirit world, we see it as an intelligent being, "living with the Father of spirits," responding to the surrounding environments, and having its own free agency to obey or disobey the laws governing the sphere on which it dwells; and as sin is merely the breaking of law, it can sin there as well as here. The apostles asked Christ, "Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'' Thus we progress in the life before. Then, after having kept our first estate in the scale of advancement, it is our desire to come to earth and increase our store of knowledge-this is accomplished by our being thrown into entirely new surroundings. But to make it possible for us to dwell here on earth, we must take upon us a body of flesh and blood; the make-up of which we will now consider. The physical make-up of man is of the earth earthy; and made to respond to the conditions existing here, and here only-provided with only five means of communication from the outer world to the inner being-the five senses. Now, as impressions that reach the mind are produced by outer objects causing vibrations to pass along the sense-nerves, and as the scope of vibrations that will effect the nerves is very limited, we gain, by means of the senses, a knowledge of only the regular elements of earth. We feel air, but cannot see it; we hear sounds, but cannot feel them; we see the beauties of nature, but can neither feel nor hear them, and so on; and if we do ever become able to see, feel, or hear the finer vibrations that are ever around us, the senses must be toned to that high pitch, or be assisted by complexly constructed instruments. The body might be likened to a perfect machine, which in and of itself has no intelligence nor power to move or act. For instance, a locomotive is all charged with steam and in readiness to draw the coaches swiftly over the plains, yet it is useless until the engineer-the life or spirit of it, enters the cab and pulls the throttle, which causes it to move. So with the body, a perfect mechanism with all its organs, and well filled with air, the propelling power, yet it is a helpless, unintelligent piece of clay until the spirit enters it and causes it to move and act. We will now look at the result of the union of the two. On entering the body, the intelligent being from the other world is suddenly enclosed in a dark cell" which in and of itself has no intelligence and only five unused inlets to carry impressions from this new outer world to the intelligent being within; and as the scope of vibration that will affect the nerves is very limited, and those only caused by the coarser earthly objects, the being within has no means at its command by which it can make known to its fellow-man the knowledge it brought from the world before, because conditions here are different and independent from those on the sphere from whence it came. So we say that we forget all concerning our former existence; yet, strictly speaking, we do not forget, but haven't at our command the rightly toned instruments to transmit it to others. Although many times, in the lives of all people, when the feelings are aroused by some extraordinary incident, thoughts and ideas suddenly pass before the mind's eye and take us back to a knowledge which must have been gained elsewhere. Thus we can infer that the little infant which enters this life is an intelligent being from the other world, clothed upon with an earthly tabernacle in which it is to dwell while passing through this second estate, to gain the experiences of this, a new world. The knowledge that is gained in this life by means of the five senses, is assimilated with the knowledge we brought with us, and, as the first impressions are the most lasting, they should be the best; also, as there is neither good nor bad to the child, it should be taught opposites, so it will be able to choose between good and evil as it grows older; and the body should be kept pure and healthy, that the spirit might have a perfect house to dwell in. Then, after we leave this life and the spirit is freed from the body, we have the means of communicating all our store of knowledge, and therefore pass on as more intelligent beings for having passed through this sphere of existence-and continually go on and on unto perfection. Christ said, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' In conclusion, it can be said that it is only in a natural way that God brings about the many changes and, from what has been said, naturally enough we are unable to converse with our fellow-man about a knowledge of our life before. The prophet again gives us a clue as to how we will be able to realize greater things by these words: "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. "We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified, we shall see that it is all matter" (Doc. and Cov. sec. 131: 7, 8). But let us make the best of what we do have and with earnest endeavor approach the throne of our Heavenly Father whose glory. is his intelligence; the mysteries of today to be made clear in the future. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known." Milwaukee, Wis. THE COMING OF THE KING. (For the Improvement Era.) 'Twas eve, a glorious eve in Bethlehem; The glory of the Lord shines round, Salt Lake City, Utah. LYDIA D. ALDER. |