544. A nice Sunday read ! -- Attributes of Highly Developed Beings -- in Meridian Magazine. Amazing ideas!
This is an article with such excellent ideas and truths, that it needs to be read slowly and pondered. The author has shown many ways to become like God.
Attributes of Highly Developed Beings
Editor’s Note: The following is the fourth in a series of excerpts from The God Seed by M. Catherine Thomas. To see the previous installment, click here.
If men do not comprehend the character of God they do not comprehend themselves.
(Joseph Smith)
The very power of God is found in His attributes of godliness….We seek these attributes.
(Elder Gene R. Cook)
Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.
(3 Nephi 12:48)
Where shall we find a prototype into whose likeness we may be assimilated, in order that we may be made partakers of life and salvation?…. There will be no dispute…that it is Christ…. What he proposed unto the human family…[was] to make them like unto himself.
(Lectures on Faith, #7)
We have already within our being the energetic seedlings of the attributes of God. They need only the light of our awareness, a spiritual practice, and the ever-present enabling power of the Lord.
We say we want to become like Christ—but what is Christ like? We often talk about how always kind and loving He was. On reading the New Testament, we find Him treating some people roughly: “Woe unto you,…hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men…ye blind guides…ye fools and blind…ye are like unto whited sepulchres…full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness…ye generation of vipers….” (Matthew 23:13–38). We find that being like God is not just a matter of being nice all the time.
Then what is the divine nature like and how does it look? Here in this chapter is a small sampling of the attributes we find in highly developed beings. Several of these attributes cluster and overlap. And maybe only in the telestial world do we have to separate them to talk about them. In the eternal world, truth, joy, and pure love may finally be all the same thing.
Unlike us, the Gods do not make a difference between theory and practice. They become the personification of the laws they teach. The Savior says, “I am the law, and the light. Look unto me” (3 Nephi 15:9; emphasis added).
He and all the highly developed beings who populate the celestial kingdoms in the Cosmos made a choice. They developed unshakable confidence in Goodness and Truth as the way to do life. They practiced until they actually became one with these godly characteristics, actually embodied the truths they now offer us. They are the evidence that it can be done.
Following are attributes of highly developed beings, including the Gods themselves. Highly developed beings, having not yet reached Godhood status, will nevertheless embody a high degree of these qualities.
Fully Self-aware with Full Interior Awareness
D&C 88: 67—And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you, and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.
Ex. 3:14—I Am that I AM
“Filled with light,” with “no darkness” in them, suggests that they have no shadowy or unknown aspects of themselves. Each knows himself perfectly, having emptied out and purified the unconscious mind. He does not lie to himself, is not in conflict of any sort, has all the streams and developmental lines of his being integrated in the endeavor to bless and to do good continually. This state would reflect a previous period of relentless self-honesty until all the shadows were swept away in the light of truth. The Gods say, “I Am that I AM” (Exodus 3:14), reflecting their perfect knowing of who they are in their divine nature.
The value of pursuing self-knowledge with penetrating honesty is that blindspots and filters may be removed, clearing one’s perception so as to comprehend all truth. This cleansing allows us to perceive things as they are instead of through the filter of our own self-ignorance or self-deception: “that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is” (Moroni 7:48).
Acutely Aware, Fully Conscious, Fully Awake, Directly Experiencing Life
Moses 1:27—There was not a particle of it [the earth] which he did not behold, discerning it by the spirit of God…not a soul [that he did not see].
Moses 6:36—[Enoch] And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A seer hath the Lord raised up.
Following from increased interior awareness, external awareness becomes comprehensive, acute, and more detailed than that in ordinary development, seeing even beyond the limits of time and space. We mortals perceive only a very small fraction of what could be seen, heard, felt, or known, were our senses and consciousness opened to perceive “all things.” Scriptures refer to us in the mortal probation as “asleep,” with the need to awaken:
Ephesians 5:14—Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
2 Nephi 4:28—Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice O my heart and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.
Alma 5:7—Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God.
Alma 32:27—Behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties….
God is always conscious: He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep (Psalm 121:4). Until we have come fully to Christ, we suffer from some degree of spiritual unconsciousness. The scriptural promise is that these attributes can be developed beyond what we might have thought likely, even as we walk this life.
Perfectly Present, experiencing life directly, not lost in thought
Joseph Smith—“The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever ‘the morning stars sang together’ for joy; the past, the present, and the future were and are, with Him, one eternal ‘now.’”
D&C 130:7—Past, present, and future…are continually before the Lord.
In a way incomprehensible to most of us, all time, backwards and forwards, constitutes the present for more highly developed beings. Time and space look different to them than to us because of their more developed consciousness.
Full of Knowledge and Truth, which they spontan-eously perceive
D&C 88:67—And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.
Ether 3:26—For [the Lord] had said unto him…that if he would believe in [the Lord] that he could show unto him all things; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things.
Apparently all knowledge is already and always present with us, but a purifying must occur in our consciousness for us to be able to perceive and understand it. This faculty of access to all knowledge opens and unfolds upon fulfilling the Lord’s instructions, for example, in training mind in singleness to Him alone, rather than to a host of conflicting ego programs.
Fully Empathetic and Compassionate
Moses 7:41—Beholding the misery of the wicked, Enoch “wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook”; (see also Alma 7:11–12).
Having left all forms of selfishness behind, that is, not motivated by their own selfish gain or blinded by egoistic goals, higher beings experience inexpressible love and mercy for all creatures. They experience their at-one-ment with all Creation. Their loving feelings have become deep and sensitive. We see the Savior stand before the Nephites, alternately rejoicing and weeping freely (3 Ne 17:21). Beings of this order have no hardness in their hearts.
Softening the heart in love allows access to a greater vision of things-as-they-really are: for example, “He that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full” (Alma 12:10).
Possessed of Perfect Peace
Philippians 4:7—The peace of God surpasses all understanding
Perfect Humility
Ether 12:39—I have seen Jesus, and…he hath talked with me face to face, and…he told me in plain humility
Possessed of the Love of Goodness and Its Presence in Themselves
2 Nephi 9:14—The righteous have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment and their righteousness.
As the Savior and all higher beings traveled the continuum of development in all its stages, they developed unshakable confidence in their godly attributes and in the powers of goodness, and they loved the fruits of this goodness in their lives.
Full Intellectual Powers
Abraham 3:19—I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.
D&C 93:36—The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.
Romans 8:28—And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
He has full powers to foresee and to orchestrate earthly events so that His purposes are not be frustrated (as in D&C 3:1, 3).
Committed Wholly to Truth, with Power in Their Word
Isaiah 55:11—So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.
Moses 6:34—[to Enoch] Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.
D&C 62:6—I, the Lord,…cannot lie.
They embody the truth. So completely at one with the truth are they that when they speak, it causes materials and events to come into line with their Word. They would not speak without the intent and power to fulfill what they said.
Full of Bliss and Joy
3 Nephi 28:10—Your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one.
John 15:11—These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Purely Loving, Selfishness Gone, Pure in Heart
Moroni 10:48—Filled with this love…as he is.
1 Nephi 11:22–23—Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things…. Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.
This attribute of pure love underlies all the divine attributes and is the energy that holds all Creation together, causing the workings of the Universe to function according to the Divine will.
The poet Dante describes his brilliant vision of God in which he saw the workings of this Love as though bound together in a book with leaves that seem scattered to us but are all bound up together by God’s Love: “In its profundity I saw—in gathered and bound by love into one single volume—what, in the universe, seems separate, scattered.” Or as Paul says, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together”
(Colossians 1:17, NIV).
(Colossians 1:17, NIV).
The power of Love itself has a creative and sustaining function which can be generated infinitely by both men and Gods. As Elder Gene Cook says, “The very power of God is found in His attributes of godliness…. We seek these attributes.”
This list is necessarily partial, but reviewing even these attributes immediately clarifies our path. We can become these attributes. The only way to know these attributes is to be them.
An additional observation on love from Dr. Hawkins that demonstrates that an attribute may begin in a small degree, but with practice take on greater proportions:
Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others. Love for God or nature or even one’s pets opens the door to spiritual inspiration. The desire to make others happy overrides selfishness. The more we give love, the greater our capacity to do so becomes. It is a good beginning practice to merely mentally wish others well throughout the course of the day. Love blossoms into lovingness, which becomes progressively more intense, nonselective, and joyful.
The seedlings of these attributes rest in some degree latent in us, waiting, wanting to emerge, to be recognized, to flower fully. Becoming increasingly familiar with these attributes in our being and exercising them through practice, actually creates new neural pathways, reshapes one’s way of being, and can make the fullness of our godly development inevitable. Perhaps our deepest longing is to stay in touch with the energy of our basic goodness every moment, cultivating the thoughts, the words, the actions that ride this energy.
And thus we turn confusion and dissatisfaction with life upside down and realize we have come into possession of the quiet, profound secret of the universe—basic goodness with its love and compassion is the dynamic on which it all runs. These attributes become our best friends.
In fact, there is an intriguing way to activate these attributes, and that is to see them as a community of voices in one’s being: mercy, faith, loving kindness, truth, happiness, contentment, generosity, wisdom, gratitude, goodness—each one has its own role to play in the soul and each one can be seen to have its own intelligence. Each can be called forth and engaged at will.
Spiritual growth, development, and empowerment are a conscious choice. These attributes will not fully awaken without deliberate encouragement, without calling them forth. Godhood will not happen by living randomly. The prophet Joseph declared:
I refute the idea that God was God from all eternity…. You have got to learn how to make yourselves Gods, Kings, Priests, etc.—by going from a small to a great capacity, as all Gods have done. Till [you] are able to dwell in everlasting burnings and everlasting power.
And in greater detail, showing the incremental development, he said:
We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker, and is caught up to dwell with Him. But we consider that this is a station to which no man ever arrived in a moment. He must have been instructed.
And he must also practice the instructions. So we might consider identifying those attributes that still lie a bit beyond us and getting familiar with how they feel, sitting with them, walking with them, BEING them. Who can tell what might happen?
To repeat Elder Cook: “The very power of God is found in His attributes of godliness…. We seek these attributes.” As we deliberately nurture the attributes, we get acquainted with the growing power of God within us; a palpable energy seems to develop. As Alma exclaims,“O then, is not this real? Yea, because it is light;… it is discernible” (Alma 32:35); we taste this light. Intentional spiritual development is not experienced as sacrifice but as empowerment.
The good news is that we get to take this journey into our own hands
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