Conviction without concern

No worries, we are secure in our hope for salvation from the prisons spoken of earlier in this blog.

As a reminder, the prisons are due to: gravity, metabolism, time, society, perspective, thought, and death.

Death

Jesus Christ survived death, and although he didn't explain to us what it was like, he does give us hope that we can escape it as well. It is very likely that we will view existence in a very different way once we have broken that barrier, whatever the breaking experience itself might be like.

Gravity

He ascended into heaven, without the use of any machinery, so he escaped the prison of the surface of our planet as well. Another, Elijah, was also taken up, with a "fiery chariot" (some kind of mechanism, drawn by "fiery horses"). And the entire city of Enoch was lifted up, and perhaps was set down on some other planet, but we don't know. In any case, it appears that escape from the surface of this planet is possible.

Time

Apparently, God somehow lives outside of time, and there is reason to believe that we might — some time in our future — also escape the linearity of time. "The angels ... reside in the presence of God ... where all things ... are manifest, past, present, and future..." [D&C 130:6-7]

Thought

As we may think (an article by Vannevar Bush presaging the world wide web) explains how, in the age of hypertext, our thinking is shifting and we can more easily meld out thought with that of others. It is certainly easier now to escape the cycle of thinking the same thoughts over and over and over.

Perspective

There is some evidence in near death experience (NDE) research that our thoughts may be perceived by those around us without our having to speak, and vice versa. If true, this might mean that we will be able to understand things as others understand them, from their perspective as well as our own. Such experiences certainly qualify as out-of-body experiences, since NDE accounts are of a time when the person is outside of their body.

Society

It seems that we will associate with others in a different way in the next life. Some say we will still be with our families, but we will also be able to visit with others easily. However, "... that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there" [D&C 130:2], so we may not wish to escape in this way after all.

Metabolism

On the road to Emmaus, the resurrected Jesus interacted with some disciples, and may have eaten with them. Or not; for sure he broke bread with them. In any case, much earlier in his ministry, he fasted for forty days. It may be that we will no longer be required to eat and drink, etc., or that we may be freed from this necessity as well. Logically, the fact of immortality should imply the possibility of continued life without metabolism.

Notes

Explanation of title: the second meaning of conviction (hope) without worry or concern about it. While the previous post's title appears to be a contradiction in terms (syntactically like the title of the entire blog), this one appears to be a pleonasm. Hopefully this post is more hopeful than the previous one, as this post outlines a way to recognize our limitations in this sphere of existence while hoping for relief in the next.

"salvation from the prisons" reminds the author of his younger self's impatience with the entire notion of salvation. "Saved from what?", he was wont to plaintively inquire. "From the prisons enumerated in the earlier post," his older self replies today.

Trivia: Elijah, it was promised, will return before the second coming of Jesus [Malachi 4:5]. Elijah returned in the Kirtland temple on April 3, 1836 [D&C 110:13-14] (which was the second day of the Jewish passover season).

"escape from the surface of this planet is possible" reminds the author of a claim he made to an uncle that "no gets off this planet alive" and which he thought was quite clever at the time.

"outside of time ... some time in our future" illustrates the difficulty of expressing the notion in language, or just how thoroughly the arrow of time is embedded in our language. Once we are "out of time" will we still be able to look back on the time when we were not?