The world is full of accounts of people who have experienced a heavenly light, and have communed with the divine.
The world is full of accounts of people who have experienced a heavenly light, and have communed with the Divine. These are sacred experiences, so many may want to keep them private, and not want to share them. That is ok. Still, they can often help other people know what is possible in their personal searching, discovering, and communing with God. Many accounts can also be found already written in the world’s literature, but may not be widely known.
If you would like to submit an account, either personal or found, which you think is similar to Joseph Smith’s First Vision, please fill out the form below. You can remain anonymous if you wish. Your submission will be reviewed, and may be included on this website.
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Sorry, Bryce–me again. What I have to say may cut a little bit. I truly want to be as harmless as I can while being clear in my (very strong) opinion on this particular subject. You seem like one of the coolest dudes on the planet–and I’m inclined to believe that you are sincerely trying to do good. Here’s my concern: If what you term as “First Vision Experience” is merely a euphemism for a transcendental experience within the scope of “normative” mystical thought, then my concerns will be allayed. But, if you’re speaking candidly about an individual having the heavens open to them, then I must challenge you with this thought: Spiritually mature individuals (typically) do not share deeply sacred experiences. They know how to guard the “mysteries” and, when constrained by the spirit, how to measure their disclosure.
That said, I must tell you that, frankly, I believe some of your blog posts are treading too heavily sacred ground. IMHO, greater care would be in order.
Hi Jack. I welcome your comments.
I believe that a “First Vision” experience, like the one Joseph Smith had, is an experience that has occurred among many people in the world (as these “accounts” attest). God speaks to all mankind. It is a transcendental mystical experience, and is also having the heavens open to them. It is both. They are, I believe, one and the same.
I agree that these are sacred experiences, and, as I note in the post, some people may not want to share their own personal experiences for that reason. But there are many such experiences already recorded in the written literature and libraries of the world that we can discover, read and know. I perceive that we don’t guard the mysteries by intentionally remaining ignorant of them. We respect them, and honor them, and they show us how we too may approach them. If no one knows that they may approach God as Joseph did, then no one will. I believe that an honest, respectful, clean and pure offering of them for others to ponder will help us all learn more about how we too may approach God in our own worship, and have the heavens open to us.
If you believe that these things are too sacred to read, then you are free to choose to not read them. Still, they are available to those who are seeking, and who would like to read them, that want these additional witnesses from others, and how we may all approach God likewise. For “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Cor. 13:1; Deut. 19:15; D&C 6:28). And “if there are more than two witnesses it is better” (D&C 42:80). And “I speak the same words unto one [witness] like unto another. And when the [witnesses] shall run together the testimony of the [witnesses] shall run together also” (2 Nephi 29:8).
There are many witnesses. Let’s let them testify, if they so choose.
Jack, I have to agree with Bryce, and push back (gently) on the idea of “guarding the mystery”. Were it remotely easy to share the mystery, I would have written vastly more about my own nondual experience in 1980. If by “guarding”, you actually mean:
being circumspect about the severe limitations of most humans to comprehend attempts at conveying the mystery; or
accepting the impossibility of conveying the mystery in words, then I’d accept the metaphor.
I inferred from the full context of your reply that you were mirroring myriad “esoterics” who do not embrace the goal of “universal salvation” (that ALL have access to the “light” that already resides in them).