Creation and Progression

Decades ago I read in the scriptures that all spirit is matter; consequently God has a physical body of flesh and bones. Because I taught chemistry and physics -- the sciences of matter and material laws -- I sought to integrate this "spiritual" understanding with my "scientific" training, writing down my musings in my journal.

As a teacher I considered it my "duty" to bear witness of the truth at all times and in all places. Consequently, I compiled these writings into a pamphlet, which I shared with any of my students who wanted them. (No wonder I got fired from that job! I was a "fool" for Christ's sake!)

These entries reflect my imperfect understanding of the material. Perhaps the greatest "leap" I have made since then is realizing that Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever in every sense: He was sinless, magnificent, divine, glorified, and possessing of a "spiritual" (though tangible) body both before and after His mortal ministry! (This was witnessed by Mahonri Moriancumer and by Christ's apostles, among many others.)

This post includes two journal entries (from 1987 and 1991).

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[1987 January 5: Monday: 2015 hrs.] Tonight as I read from Joseph Smith’s “Elder King Follet” discourse, I realized this eternal truth: God our Father, the very Elohim of heaven, once stood in our midst as we were gathered in the eternal worlds as intelligences.

It has often been asked, “What is ‘intelligence’?” Imagine the whole universe filled with element. We know that some of this element is matter as we naturally know it, the dust of the earth. We have heard also that spirit is matter, although a more pure and refined kind of matter. And as we gaze throughout the universe, we discover piercing the darkness another substance—light—some light which we can see, and other light which we know we cannot see. We can suppose that this light which we can and cannot see is also element, which would make it an element far different than that dust to which we are accustomed. However, we may find that this very dust we conjecture to be so very different from light may in fact be a more organized form of light and that it—this dust of the earth—depends upon this very light for its existence—as do the herbs of grass depend upon the noon-day light of the sun.1

This is not far fetched when one considers that the air is full of light: gamma, x-ray, ultraviolet and infra-red, microwave and radio, all whizzing through our atmosphere in a constant and steady stream. We have harnessed much of this light and have proven that, indeed, like other forms of matter, light, too, can be organized and harnessed and its element utilized. We can imagine that there are many more kinds of light in the spectrum that man has yet to discover, light that has far broader and more powerful effects upon us than do these terrestrial glows.

For example, in the same way that we utilize microwaves to bombard our food and thus cook it for us, could not God use some type of light to speak to our minds and give us ideas? Could not ideas themselves be organized forms of light? Then what of truth, wisdom, and intelligence? Are these not organized forms of matter? And mercy and justice? Are these not laws by which these elements abide? If the truth were to be known and plainly manifest, we would see that all these are, indeed, forms of matter, and that light and truth are matter reduced to its purest and simplest form, the building blocks of intelligence.

It is in this very way that our intelligences were organized: light cleaveth unto light, truth embraces truth, intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence.2 In this way we started from the smallest germ of life—light, truth, intelligence—in the beginning, and thus acquiring, accumulating, and cleaving unto like elements, we progressed in our stature, nobility, and glory.

As our Father Elohim looked out upon this vast assemblage of intelligences, He spied each of us with compassion and desired that each one of us—these intelligences—should have a spiritual body as He then had. Having lived in the eternal worlds with Elohim, having existed from the beginning, yea, having existed forever with God,3 having neither beginning of days nor end of years, we knew Him and knew that we could trust Him to lead us on to exaltation and eternal lives, for thus we had seen Him progress. Our Father Elohim looked out upon the intelligences round about Him and, desiring their total happiness and fulfillment, set out to so organize conditions such that these intelligences could take upon themselves bodies of spirit as He did and pass through like conditions as those through which He once passed so as to give opportunity for these spirits to grow and advance as He had done.4 Having done so, the concourses of intelligences were called together, all gathered from the vast regions of space, from the vast orders of the different kingdoms, each in their separate spheres.5 These were given the choice, to decide if they were willing to take upon themselves bodies of spirit.

Like planets colliding, like myriad rivers all rolling into one, like breezes mounting on the shoulders of massive mountains to bring forth the mighty winds, these intelligences, I believe—each one of us!—rushed forward in vast and innumerable union, driven by attraction to the forces of greater light and understanding. Willingly, we ran to be given birth by the Father and Mother of Heaven.6

After birth we were instructed by the Father of Heaven as to the nature of His plans. I believe that as each of our spirits grew and progressed, we advanced from glory to glory, enlarging upon intelligence with intelligence, being capacitated with a spiritual body to make the acquisition of light and truth easier and more fulfilling.7

Ultimately we would advance until coming nigh unto being like God Himself. The first of these to so advance was Jehovah. He was the Firstborn Son of God in the spirit, being the first to come forth in spiritual birth, and He was One both mighty and strong. Each spirit was given his free agency, to follow the Father if he did so choose. And many did so choose. And many others did not.

However, because we co-existed with God, having lingered with Him in the eternal worlds before and having trusted in Him then to guide us until we reached our goal; because we have known Him and have chosen Him to be our Leader and our God, surely He must now be our most trusted and faithful Friend! Surely Elohim is the greatest of all, above all, over all, the God of all. I do not have the words to say how surely Elohim is our greatest Friend. He is Everything, because He has given us everything. Everything we are today is because of His grace and perfect love, His using His perfect talents for our benefit and our perfection.

In the ranks of those spirits there gathered eons past, from which were chosen the Messiah and the prophets and leaders of now and old, were also found spirits impure, spirits not suited, ill-equipped, and unwilling to become like God. Jehovah knew this, and while it is in the heart of all the Gods that every soul should taste of Deity, not one being can ever be compelled to godhood in the divine economy of heaven. The plan of salvation comes with its preparations made in the kingdoms of our Father for those unworthy and unwilling of exaltation. There, in the kingdoms telestial and terrestrial, and in the lower realms of the celestial, will be found those who cared not or could not, by virtue of themselves, attain unto exaltation in the highest glory.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net which, once cast into the sea, brings forth many fish, all of different varieties and sizes.8 These are taken and sorted into three baskets, and the bad fish are removed altogether. This parable is in likeness of the three degrees of glory, into which the spirits of men are sorted, and the evil ones, the sons of perdition, who remain filthy still9 even at the end, these shall be cast out altogether into outer darkness. The kingdom of heaven is likened unto three loaves into which a little leaven is placed until it leaveneth the whole.10 This also refers to the influence of the gospel, the plan of salvation, in the world, preparing and training the sons of men for glory in the eternal worlds: the telestial, the terrestrial, and the celestial.11

The great plan of the Eternal Father is to bring salvation and glory unto all His children.12 To some He will give much, all that He has. These are they of the celestial, in the highest degree.13 To others He will give much as well, but not of His fullness. These only bask in the reflected light of the sun as does the moon, these of the terrestrial.14 And to others He gives what they are willing to receive, for lack of faith, the wages of sin—these of the telestial, the least glory of heaven.15 Those that remain—the sons and daughters16 of perdition—are they that, once having put their hand to the plow, look back and return to their former loves. These are they who have tasted of the joy of Jesus, who have gazed into heaven, who have been made partakers of the heavenly gift and who have known God as they are known, and then have turned away. These are they who have no more cloak for their sins, for they know the God of heaven and His will and refuse the light. These that then turn away must deny the sun while it yet shines.17 These are they that are unworthy still. These are unfit for the kingdom of God, even unfit for a kingdom of glory. These are misfits, lovers of darkness, twisted souls, perverted spirits from ages past who have arrived at the fulness of their days, damned to endure eternal wrath as God has so ordained to be dispensed upon them in the regions of outer darkness, according to His will.18

[1991 June 4: Tuesday: 0747 hrs.] We spoke of the spiritual constitutions of beings - of the measure of light and truth which is in man - and of how that measure dictates how men shall act in any situation, indeed, how they will administer their agency; and that though at any time they may have opportunity to make other, more favorable choices according to that agency, due to former, poorer choices they may not have power to do otherwise, to do anything else. In the broadest sense, therefore, each of us - though we may be able to do better than we now do - we always do the very best we can do at any given time, even when we utterly fail, even when we self-destruct.19

For when we do act in any wise, we demonstrate our insufficiencies, those spiritual voids of light and truth we carry with us from beyond the veil. So many factors affect our reasoning, our feeling, and our faith - factors both spiritual and physical, both intellectual and mortal. These factors influence how we act and how we respond; they dictate the measure of our action and of our progress. We can act no better nor be no greater than that light and truth we have absorbed to act upon.20

Only God Himself is able now to comprehend the full extent of our abilities, able to weigh the full measure of the light and truth we now enjoy. But someday we shall pierce the veil. And at Judgement Day we shall see as we are seen, we shall know as we are known,21 and we shall know that God’s judgement is just, that His assessment of our performance, based upon our abilities - upon the light and truth we have received - is a perfect one.22 For He is our Creator; He created us from the beginning, comprising us in spirit form from the luminous matter of which we are composed. He is the Father of lights.23 And He knows our composition perfectly.

In the beginning, each intelligence24 - that compound of light and truth then assembled into one distinct sphere at spiritual creation’s dawn - was invited to be fitted to spirit form - was given spirit birth - according to the measure of its intelligence, according to the highest order of being for which each intelligence did qualify. And each species, every one, was formed in perfect simplicity in the beginning and was given agency - indeed, each intelligence already had agency - to act according to its will and pleasure, to do according to its desire, to become whatsoever it willed and could within the confines of eternal law.25

For light cleaves unto light. And truth embraces truth. Like great and rolling snowballs, compounds of light and truth gather by natural means to form intelligence - the light of truth - in its most basic form. Intelligence cannot be created,26 only expanded upon (or diminished, through the effects of disobedience and the role of the wicked one).27 The more complex and comprehensive the light and truth, the more complete and intelligent the being.28

Consider the first primeval moment in eternity when newly formed spiritual beings would have been confronted with the first opportunity to make a choice. Imagine, then, that the choice there proffered to them would not have been one either of good or of evil, but rather one of preference, one of which color, for example, either would prefer. One being, we will suppose, in this moment of decision chose one color and the other likewise and equally flawless being chose another - their dissimilar decisions due principally to the differences in their composted characters, even to the differentiations of their individual stores of light and truth.

From that point onward, the experiences of these two beings would be markedly different, one having chosen one course and the other, another.29 Inasmuch as they continued to make similar subsequent decisions, they might have walked along parallel paths, but those paths would forever after have been different as well, even as their personalities differed. In short order, thus would evolve many gradations and variations of character, both among and within developing species.

These two beings would continue to progress - light cleaving unto light, truth embracing truth - until such time that such beings were capable of making the highest order of elections - those of moral magnitude, decisions of right and wrong, divisions between good and evil. Given this ability, each thereafter would have the power either to self-create or to self-destruct. It is a fact of life that the full spectrum of creation endowed with this agency has been filled with creatures pursuing to varying degrees one of these two alternatives.

From the greatest luminaries in the heavens - those composted sums of light and truth found to be gathered more greatly than any others - were drawn the elements from which were spawned the spirits of the Gods, divine offspring, the children of God. These were the greatest of all. Only these had power within themselves to make the mightiest of decisions, only these had the power to make moral choices between good and evil, to comprehend in their fullness the concepts of right and wrong, justice and mercy, love and hate.

Imagine the elephant and the dog. Cannot these creatures feel affection, devotion, and concern? I believe so. Even so, imagine how our own reactions differ from those of the canine and the pachyderm. So do those of God - even more so! - differ in their fullness from ours. Indeed, Brigham Young suggested that inasmuch as we differ in intellect and in character from the lowly ant, so does God differ from us. However, when the veil is parted and we are overwhelmed with our former knowledge, when the scales of mortality are lifted from off our eyes and the shackles of this clay are removed from off our minds, we shall see and comprehend how clearly God and we are very much alike.30

1 Or as we depend upon animals and plants for our existence. [1990 April 3]

See the explanation to Fig. 5 of Facsimile No. 2 of the Book of Abraham. [1990 April 3] 

2 See D&C 88:40. [1990 April 3] 

3 See D&C 93:29. [1990 April 3] 

4 See Abraham 3:24-26. "God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself." (Joseph Smith, Teachings Of The Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 354.) [1997 August 16] 

5 See D&C 93:30. [1990 April 3] 

6 In a related vein, can it be that exalted beasts—the animals, the birds, the fishes, once having undergone resurrection and having gained eternal bodies of flesh and bone—likewise reproduce their spiritual offspring, indeed, becoming gods over their creations, begetting in their own images the spiritual beings that shall one day inhabit the physical bodies formed on mortal worlds? Going one step further, being that Man of Holiness is the greatest intelligence of them all, does He not assist these exalted beasts in fulfilling their divine calling, the procreation of their species, by assembling planets, stars, and galactic orders for the purpose of providing mortal spheres of learning for these? And again, could it be that these very beasts, now exalted, in fact come down to these physical premortal spheres and by a means hereafter to be revealed actually participate in the process of assembly, of physical organization, of the bodies in which the beastly spirits shall dwell? Indeed, did not Father and Mother come down, partake of substances found upon the earth and, by so doing, engender within Themselves the elements combined by which They gave birth to the body into which Adam did enter, a premortal man? If so, then what of Eve? What use held the rib taken from Adam's side? What did Father and Mother use it for? If Adam's body was begotten through premortal physical birth, then was not Eve's? But then, what of Jesus, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh? Was not Adam's body flesh? And was not he begotten? Perhaps "Only Begotten in the flesh" refers only to being born of a mortal woman, which Heavenly Mother is not. [1990 March 5] 

7 Just as our physical bodies enable us to more easily ingest the substances of this earth—the vitamins, the minerals, the fluids, and other matter—as well as to seek out, to mobilize, and to appreciate other elements in this physical universe, so, too, did undergoing transformation into spiritual bodies enable us to expand upon our intelligences, to seek out, to mobilize, and to better appreciate spiritual elements and forces that exist in the spiritual realm. We were organized into spiritual bodies, capacitated with power we beforehand did not have. 

Think of the new-born babe: What power does it have to operate its newly formed body for the purposes of seeking out, mobilizing, and appreciating all that exists in the world? Almost none! And so we, too, found ourselves powerless to fully use our newly acquired spiritual bodies. Only inasmuch as we received nourishment, properly used our agency in the acquisition and implementation of light and truth, and persisted in patience were we able to grow and mature spiritually in that premortal sphere. Those who successfully matured to spiritual adulthood in that sphere of influence were privileged to come here, to receive physical bodies, and to continue the process of acquiring and implementing light and truth. The focus of activity hasn't changed, only the locus! We must still spend our days in acquisition, implementation, and dissemination of light and truth if we are to continue to progress toward godhood. [1990 March 6] 

8 See Matthew 13:47-48. [1990 March 6] 

9 We all become "filthy" by reason of the sin which conceives in our hearts (Moses 6:55). The great atoning sacrifice of Christ makes possible for nearly all of Father's children (save those destined for outer darkness, who remain "filthy still") to be cleansed and to be forgiven of all their sins, upon condition of repentance. Eventually, those who repent to the fullest of their ability and who are not guilty of shedding innocent blood, which is the unpardonable sin, will be sanctified in Christ. The remaining flaws in their characters will be "covered over" in Him; they will be endowed with the sanctifying spirit of Deity, that overwhelming influence which shall finally purge, last and forever, all inclination to do evil and which shall imbue the blessed recipient with the eternal strength and determination to bless others' lives forever. These most successful shall inhabit the celestial world. As each one of us—all the host of the human family (save those few)—must eventually and most certainly one day repent, bend the knee, humbly recognize the preeminence of Christ as their Savior and their Lord, and ultimately render unto that Holy God His just due, namely, obedience, why, then, should we not do so now? Why not now, while the prize of eternal lives, of exaltation, of celestial glory is yet being offered? Why not turn unto God now, repent of all human folly, and follow righteousness while it is yet day and the cherished objective may still be obtained? To procrastinate the day of repentance, to put off coming unto Christ, is the greatest foolishness, the uttermost waste. Since we all must come unto Him, anyway (if not until the Great and Last Day, so be it), why not come unto Him now, when doing so provides the highest rewards and the greatest promises for happiness and joy? [1990 March 6] 

10 See Matthew 13:33. [1990 March 6] 

11 See John 14:2; 1 Corinthians 15:39-42; 2 Corinthians 12:2. [1990 March 6] 

12 Knowing this, I feel much better. I feel much better to know that my Father is approachable, that He is there! Indeed, that He wants me to call upon Him! This is His plan! He wants me to become like Him! That is why He made this life possible: to help bless each of us to taste the joys of Deity and to rise to the highest heaven. [1987 January 5] 

13 See D&C 76:50-70, 92-96. [1990 March 6] 

14 See D&C 76:71-80, 91, 97. [1990 March 6] 

15 See D&C 76:81-89, 98-112. [1990 March 6] 

16 Do "daughters of perdition" exist? Has ever in the history of mankind a member of the feminine order beheld God in His fullness, comprehended the light of the Son as at noon day, and then has turned her face therefrom, reverting altogether to her wicked ways, denying the gift? I think not. [1990 March 5] 

Then again, having seen what I have of womanly treachery, I think again, “Maybe so!” [1998 January 31] 

17 This means that they must be so contrary to truth and right that they can, in analogy, look toward the blazing sun at noon day and say "I see only darkness.” These are spirits of the most bitter kind; they rebel against all good, will not comprehend truth, cannot be persuaded to do right, neither by grace nor by glory, not by persuasion nor by power of might, neither by the combined testimonies of all heaven and earth. These, simply, cannot be saved. Fortunately, very few souls, once having risen to the greatest heights of spiritual maturity, later retrogress—self-destruct—in the throes of spiritual senility. To do so—in the face of the promises, after having tasted of Heaven, once having known and having felt the Power of His Goodness, having comprehended even the Omnipotent God in His fullness, having been bathed in the overwhelming element of His Love, and then to turn away into darkness, unto weakness—is craziness of the most comprehensive kind. [1990 March 6] 

18 See D&C 88:16-32. [1990 March 6] 

19 Thus our performance becomes the full measure of our potential. We will be judged for our works - not for what we could have done, not for what we almost did, but for what we did do. Our works will save us - and our works will condemn us. “For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us...and our thoughts will also condemn us” (Alma 12:14). We are what we do. And what we do is always our best - even when it’s not! It is the measure of our true ability under every condition and in every circumstance. [1991 June 12] 

Consider the rodent, rambling down corridors and behind couches, until it encounters the trap, baited with cheese. Can anyone reasonably expect the beast to do any better than to try to retrieve the morsel - to its own demise? No! For the thing lacks sufficient intelligence to comprehend its situation, to assess the real and present danger of its desire. What it lacks it usually cannot gain by experience - for traps are rarely forgiving. When the trap does, on occasion, forgive and the rat escapes, the beast may learn a lesson - and thus increase in wisdom as it augments its intelligence. 

In many ways, we are all like the rodent: constrained by carnal impediment, limited by lesser intellectual development, and unfavorably affected by unfortunate circumstance. Weaknesses of these kinds beset all of us to some degree. Inasmuch as they do, we are prone to failure and limited in our abilities. [1991 June 5] 

20 Satan himself was the preeminent victim of his own “incompleteness.” With vast intelligence, but also full of pride, he was utterly devoid of humility and wholly barren of meekness. Despite his eccentricities of greatness, his weaknesses were greater, rendering him unfit for the next stage of human development: mortality. Those of us who have made it this far - who have taken upon ourselves bodies of flesh and blood - have proven ourselves at least worthy enough to know mortality. Likely we yet carry with us many of the flaws and imperfections under which we labored in premortality. Surely each of us harbors in his nature some imperfection, some poorly developed attribute of character wanting to be improved. Inasmuch as we fail to detect and to correct these flaws, we are frustrated in our progress, we are hindered in our pursuits, we are handicapped even as the blind who cannot see and the deaf who cannot hear. But inasmuch as we learn truth - and apply it - the truth will make us free (John 8:32). [1991 June 5] 

21 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (I Corinthians 13:12). [1991 June 5] 

22 See Mosiah 27:31; Alma 12:15; D&C 88:49-50. [1991 June 5] 

23 See D&C 67:9. [1991 June 5] 

24 “Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be” (D&C 93:29). [1991 June 5] 

25 “Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation” (D&C 93:31-32). [1991 June 5] 

26 For light and truth are the basic building blocks of all existence, the substance from which all things are made! (The greatest lesson of natural physics begins with understanding that all things - all spirit, even every grain of sand - are nothing more than organized light and truth!) Light and truth are in their purest form. “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence” (D&C 93:30). That which is darkness and falsehood is cancer and chaos, the disorganization and devolution of light and truth. All darkness and falsehood stand in opposition to light and truth, without which opposition there could be no perfection, no existence, and no agency. The glory of God - or, in other words, the intelligence of God - is the gradation of light and truth which He commands in contrast to the darkness and falsehood which surround Him. His glory is to gather all light and truth unto Himself, to provide means whereby all light and truth may be exalted in its highest and most perfect form - or, in other words, the immortality and eternal life of man (see Moses 1:39). 

Even so, this knowledge - the nature of our primitive existence - has no saving power unless we repent, unless we make available to ourselves the salvation and the atonement which is in Christ. Six most blessed (and most pernicious) words are these: “Christ will atone for my sins”. How blessed to know that as we expand upon our intelligence, eradicate from our existence every weakness, and gather to us every goodly form of light and truth, Jesus Christ will atone for our mistakes! He will compensate our failings, stand before the elements and the judgement bar of God and say, “These are mine! I have won them, and they are redeemed in me! I will take away their sin and make them clean and whole!” Through time and through testing, through the mercy of Christ’s atonement, we can avail ourselves of this opportunity to grasp perfection of life and fullness of character; we can become whole in Christ; we can achieve exaltation, possessing all knowledge, all wisdom, all might, and all dominion. We can have all things - and be excused for our past failings - if we are willing, if we are committed, if we are unceasing in our cause to repent. 

Thus the perdition and the perniciousness of those who say, “Christ will atone for my sins,” but who have not repented, nor are trying to repent. These are in the gall of bitterness, those who falsely claim to rely upon Christ to correct the awful effects of their misdeeds, but who make no attempt to repent of their evil actions nor of the inclinations which obligate them to rely upon that blessed atonement. Nephi warned of these characters: “And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God - he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few strips, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God...O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!” (2 Nephi 28:8, 15). 

Even we who have repented and who are yet repenting - those Nephi calls the “few, who are the humble followers of Christ” - must needs be careful. For such are subject to falling, for “they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men” (2 Nephi 28:14). Inasmuch as we turn, even a little, from the teachings of Christ, letting loose the iron rod of the gospel from our grasp, we do fall. [1991 June 5] 

27 See D&C 93:39. [1991 June 5] 

28 The summation of all light within the visible spectrum is white light, pure light. The summation of all truth is complete holiness and absolute perfection. Just as there are gradations of light across the visible spectrum, so there are gradations of holiness and perfection - of truth - in existence and among species. In Christ is all truth (D&C 93:26), even all light. He is the Light of the world. (D&C 93:2, 9.) Even in the visible spectrum of light, all things testify of Him. [1991 June 5] 

29 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

     And sorry I could not travel both 

     And be one traveler, long I stood 

     And looked down one as far as I could 

     To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

     Then took the other, as just as fair, 

     And having perhaps the better claim, 

     Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 

     Though as for that, the passing there 

     Had worn them really about the same, 

     And both that morning equally lay 

     In leaves no step had trodden black. 

     Oh, I kept the first for another day! 

     Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

     I doubted if I should ever come back. 

     I shall be telling this with a sigh 

     Somewhere ages and ages hence: 

     Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - 

     I took the one less traveled by, 

     And that has made all the difference. 

     - Robert Frost, (1915 - 1916) [1991 June 4] 

30 “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him. Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound” (D&C 88:49-50). [1991 June 5] 

Heavenly Father - and by divine investiture of authority, His Son, Jesus Christ - is the true light which is in us: even as the flesh of our mortal mothers is the flesh within us, which gives us life, so, too, we shall see that we are the offspring of Deity, that we are the offspring of His spiritual body, and that the spiritual element within Him is that same spiritual element within us which gives us life, by which we are able to abound - to increase in glory beyond our own primitive intelligence. [1991 September 2] 

In fact, it will be seen that God is the Father of our physical bodies, as well! That, in the Garden, God begat Adam and Eve in their premortal physical bodies. And that, while these bodies have undergone changes subsequent to the Fall, still they bear inside their cells the substance of Deity, the genetic material of the Gods. When we shall look upon our Father and our Mother again, we shall look upon ourselves! We shall see how truly we in every way are surely the children of the Gods! Even the children of God! This is the greatest mystery of Godliness! (Something once commonly known among men, but then taken for granted! See Genesis 6:1-6.) [1998 January 31]