The Thought I've Been Gnawing On.

What is the purpose of this life? Generally, I mean. Perhaps each of us have a more specific purpose, but what, as a whole, are we supposed to be doing here? Do you ever wonder?

Get ready for a long, preachy, Mormon doctrine/mythology (depending on you) post. If not in the mood, tomorrow will probably be as shallow as ever.

*just know that every following sentence ought to start with "I, Brandy Roth, believe" and not necessarily "The LDS Church teaches." If you are interested in what exactly my church teaches, find a couple missionaries. Like any good theologian, as I have pondered, I have developed a few of my own, unprovable until death, theories.

I believe in a pre-mortal life where everyone existed together as spirits in the presence of Heavenly Parents (yeah, so I guess I'm not much of a monotheist, as I'm pretty darn sure there's a greater point to maleness and femaleness then simple physical procreation). We were taught how to how to control our spirits with intelligence and develop what their combined powers and capabilities are. There was a point where no more growth could be had in that environment. God presented The Plan: an earth would be made for us, we would be born into physical bodies with no former knowledge of our past existence. We would be expected to learn to control our bodies and our physical appetites with subtle spiritual guidance, however, if we failed to learn control, we would not be able to progress further. I'm not so big on the heaven and hell idea, so much as free agency in all things; it's all about choosing to progress or stay where you are.

God knew we would make mistakes, yet still required Perfection to "pass the test." So one person would have to make no mistakes within his physical body and then "pay" (i.e. physical, spiritual, intellectual pain, I'm guessing) for everyone else's mistakes. Then you choose to do the stuff that guy suggested, having faith that his sacrifice will work for you, just muddling through the best you can, and, wahoo, you're perfect! That guy was gonna be Jesus and I'm guessing he was just the super best spirit guy in Heaven. But there was another guy, who thought God's idea had some flaws. He suggested perhaps maybe we do away with the nonsense of agency. Everyone just does what is right, we all progress forward after life. God said, "Sorry, bucko, that's not how it's done." #2 gets mad, lots of others agree with him. They all get banished from heaven, no chance for bodies or progression, thus we have Satan and the Rebellious Spirits (that would be a cool band name - like a 50's cover band?). This is in Revelation, kind of sort of, and The Pearl Of Great Price, not to be thrown before swine.

SO the point of the pre-mortal life was to learn enough to choose to follow God; to reason things out and use the power of intelligence and bring my spirit into alignment with God, which is perfection, and then I'd be eligible for further progression towards becoming like Him. So we all passed that one (good job you and me!).

Now, here on earth, I think the point, the purpose of life is the generally the same, but with the added benefits and weaknesses of a physical body. Perhaps if we can align our physical selves with Perfection, consistently, we might have increased power over all aspects of the physical world.

Perhaps as we master one dimension of existence, we are made aware of the next. I like to think that everything around us is designed to educate and guide. So if you look at the patterns of the world, it seems to be a circle of life type of thing: everything is dependent on other things, everything becomes part other things, all things connected - the gazelle eats the grass, the lion eats the gazelle, when the lion dies, his body decomposes and nourishes the grass. What point does faith and obedience serve in that? How does that play into a grander, eternal picture?

Maybe that's the point. That cycle is for lower forms of intelligence, animals and plants, but humans have that whole, with great power comes great responsibility. So maybe I need to look at some different patterns. Human patterns, perhaps.

Let me wrap this up. I'm working under a belief that there is a God and He (but I want to say "They") is (are) perfect. I believe that He (they) have gone through a progression experience similar to the one we go through, but that we all have existed eternally in some form. I do not believe the idea that anything, even God, never has and never will change - I think change is related to perfection. I think we are here to get control of our physical selves, having mastered, to some significant degree, our spiritual alignment to perfection. I believe that our spirits have a subtle influence, stronger the more you pay attention, and will help us bend or align and control our physical desires and passions. We have too many distractions away from the spirit, away from perfect doing, or right acting or what have you. What is most important to our progression is what we do, how we affect the people and things around us. The stuff that clutters up our homes and lives is worse than useless ... perhaps that is why we (LDS folks) are so often reminded to pray, to fast, to meditate, to read scriptures, alone and with family, to interact with each other, at home, at church - perhaps if we do all these things, it becomes easier to ignore the consumerism, the world wide lust for more, new, better, stuff.

What is the purpose of this life? Do you ever think about it?