Blog

The Mystical and Archetypal Nature of a “Heavenly Book” and Joseph Smith’s “Gold Plates”

A tradition of a "heavenly book" runs through many traditions, including Mormonism with its "gold plates." What spiritual reality might these traditions be pointing to?

Infographic—The Perennial Cycle of Religions: Mysticism to Politics v1.0

I created a graphic to better illustrate the evolution (or devolution) from mysticism to religion to politics, and back again, as originally modeled by David Steindl-Rast.

What is “Seeing” Christ? An Interspiritual, Mystical, and Psychospiritual Perspective

Is it seeing a man with brown hair, a beard, and a white robe? Or is there much more to the "Christ" than this?

The “Ahman Prayer”: Toward a Mormon Contemplative Practice

There is no genuine contemplative practice in Mormonism, an inner meditative gaze deep in consciousness. I offer a possible format for a uniquely Mormon practice.

Joseph Smith’s First Vision in the Book of Mormon: The Earliest Accounts?

The earliest known account of First Vision may not be the one in 1832, but many esoteric accounts in April-June 1829, in the Book of Mormon text itself.

Joseph Losing the “Plates” and “Interpreters” was Mystical not Literal

The "Urim & Thummim" were perhaps Joseph's own eyes, which in a mystical state of consciousness could "see" the visionary "plates." He lost these "gifts" for a time.