that blessed mood, In which the burthen of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world, Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood, In which the affections gently lead us on,— Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul: While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things.
We are not what we think we are. This self that we believe ourselves to be everyday, that goes to work, eats lunch, spends time in a hobby, chats with friends, and all else, is a false self.
"Sometimes during meditation golden light pours into my head, as if squeezed through a cloth, filling my head with light. At times, I feel like a newborn baby entering a new dimension of reality made of infinite tenderness, purity, love, and divine wholeness, a heavenly domain."
"Sometimes in meditation I experience deep silence, being in an unbounded empty space. Sometimes I see light in that empty space like the sun."
"One day during my [meditation] my head became full of light and the room was full of sunlight (and yet it was totally cloudy outside). It was beautiful. I felt healed, safe and full of nature's forgiveness. After meditation I lay down for a few minutes and I felt as if I was lying gently in heaven's cradle."
Today I feel I had my eyes opened to the meaning of scripture. It was like flipping the switch on a light. I suddenly understood and the meaning was laid open to my view. I'd like to share with you what I think is a key to understanding the scriptures having to do with the "natural man."
During the first few years after I started meditating, the experience of deep silence was absorbing and charming. I would see a dark vastness in front of me. In time this darkness sometimes transformed into a field of brilliant light.
Suhrawardi's "First Vision"
What if we looked at the Simulation Hypothesis from a Mindful, Mormon, Neuroscientific, Transhumanistic, Mosaic, Eastern Meditative viewpoint?
The experience and concept known as mysticism and its practitioners, mystics, are largely unknown today in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What are these, and what relationship might they have with the Gospel and the Restoration, particularly with Joseph Smith and his First Vision? The case is made that they are vital to our communion with God, and our ultimate goal of returning to God. Many perspectives and concepts are discussed including personal experience, neuroscience, psychology, transhumanism, computer science, philosophy, popular culture, history of religions, psychology of religion, and contemplative practices, offering tentative associations and insights with Mormon concepts of spiritual experience, atonement, salvation, exaltation, the Second Comforter, calling and election, and theosis or divinization, becoming like God.