I believe that meditation and other related contemplative techniques, including the use of seer stones, can help us become aware of the Divine and enter God's Presence. This post introduces some concepts from psychology and neurobiology which might begin to help explain how this happens.
Several months ago I began to write new "translations" of key passages of scripture in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. I thought the original translations were not clear enough, and did not communicate the truth very well that I have experienced in recent months and years. So I began to rewrite them as I understood this truth, to try to better convey that truth to a modern reader. I've called this the Bryce Haymond Translation (BHT).
I believe Joseph Smith, and perhaps his associates, accessed the higher Christian "new covenant" long before the temple ordinances were ever introduced, even as early as the First Vision. The confusion, as I understand it, is that access to that higher covenant is not through carnal commandments and ordinances, not even those within the temple on Earth.
I perceive that when Jesus introduced the "communion" of the bread and wine, it wasn't so that we would remember only the person Jesus, per se, but the whole of God's creation, the Universe, that Jesus realized he was One with. It was all his "body."
I shared this account in my introductory paper about mysticism, but I think it should be shared as a stand-alone post as well. This is because it is so stunningly similar in many respects to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision.
A poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye
I don't think there is any evidence in nature that bodily resurrection can happen. I think this is a misunderstanding of the resurrection.
One of the most remarkable things I've found is the tremendous insight that comes from doing nothing. That sounds strange, and it is. But I think there is truth in it.
There are many benefits to meditation: spiritual, religious, practical, psychological, emotional, etc. Psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goleman talks through some of them in this video.
I've now posted eighteen "First Vision" accounts here on ThyMindOMan.com. There are many more coming. I thought I'd take a moment to share some comments about them as a whole.