This is a great question that I have pondered a lot in my life. I am eager to hear what other people have come to understand regarding this topic!
I will admit that I have felt that rush of emotion following a good movie, yet as Sean stated, those feelings did not last long after the movie was over, nor did they inspire me to the greater good. Hence, I concluded those "impressions" were not from the spirit. On the other hand, when I have truly felt the spirit in my life one of the words that describes my experiences best is "light." I either felt a greater resolve to be better, the fruits (or result) of acting upon those impressions brought greater happiness, peace or light to my life and/or I experienced a decrease in feelings of anxiety.
I love Galatians 5:22-23 which states : But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. I believe that as we follow true revelation from the spirit we will experience these emotions, often after acting upon, and proving faithful, to the impression. When I have followed impressions that were simply my emotions, or desires of my heart, I have experienced either an increase of anxiety or a sense of despair following my decision. In Moroni 10:22 it states: And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity. I am not saying that I am filled with iniquity because I followed my emotions, but I do feel like the impressions I receive in those moments are a subtle form of iniquity, or deception, because the revelation is not from the Lord.
Now, with that being said...I feel more comfortable with discerning emotion from revelation after I have acted. Learning to discern it quickly upon first impression seems to me to be like learning a new language...learning how the spirit speaks to us. I try to find similarities to prior experiences that I feel confident were the Spirit and compare new impressions to what I experienced in those moments. Admittedly, I feel I am still on a journey towards mastery with this language, but I do feel more confident as I follow these principles and gain further experience.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Great points. Bottom line is the closer you are to knowing and obeying the will of the lord the easier it is to discern.
I definitely agree with that, Sean!
I think it's funny, some people have a hard time with decisions and want to wait till they receive revelation before moving forward in any direction. Sometimes they experience anxiety about a decision, and think that's the Spirit. Sometimes they get swept up in a whirlwind of emotion, and they think THOSE good feelings are the Spirit. Sometimes they have both and then they are lost because they think, oh, now what?
I'm always reminded of Oliver Cowdery and his experience regarding translating the BOM. He had a righteous desire, and the go ahead to do it, but then he "feared", and the opportunity was lost. Was that fear, or emotion, the Spirit? No way Jose! But so many people think those fears ARE the Spirit...warning them away from something. So, I do think it's valuable to learn how to tell the difference between your own anxieties or desires and the promptings of the Spirit.
I think one of the best things to focus on is consistency. I have made decisions, and felt at peace with those decisions. Moved forward in that decision. Hit a road bump here or there. Maybe had a moment, or even a day, of anxiety, but it passes. The consistent feeling is peace. And to me, peace is the ONE feeling that I really fully trust. All others, excitement, fear, sadness, etc, I feel like those things can be mimicked by the Devil, or my own hormones for pete's sake!
Another way for me to discern the Spirit is when I feel like I have an idea or distinct impression to do something that I hadn't already been considering. And it's a thought that persists. That's happened a couple of times, with a couple of very significant decisions in my life, that have led to significant change.
I've really only ever been able to associate the Spirit with feelings of peace, well being, love, and gratitude. I can only think of two specific times when I'm sure the Spirit gave me a "WARNING" feeling. And it was more of a thought and a bad feeling, than an emotion. It was, I shouldn't be here. It was, I don't feel light here.
I guess I'm not a spiritually emotional person. :) Crying as I bear my testimony doesn't make sense to me. A testimony is a peaceful, happy thing to possess. I think it would be harder to tell the difference if I were spiritually emotional....
One last thought about decisions. This may sound overly practical, but I'm a pretty practical person. Brigham Young has said that if you pray about something and don't feel like you've recieved an answer, do what YOU feel is best, the Lord will support you in that decision. He will make that the right decision for you. One of the reasons that we're here on earth is to learn to become like God. We have the reasoning ability and the opportunity to discover certain things on our own. A career, friends, even a spouse...those are OUR decisions to make. Heavenly Father can give us a confirmation of the correctness of our decision, but He's never gonna decide for us, because that's not the plan.
I agree with what everyone has said . I feel that as mortals there are many ways we have of communicating with each other__a look, a gesture, body language, tone of voice, an action (like not answering the phone communicates that we don't want to talk), having someone else deliver a message, and then what we do or do not say with words. All in all communication is a very subtle and complex process. If we compare this to the concept of receiving revelation there must be untold ways in which the Spirit communicates with us. I know that it does not work to demand that we receive revelation because I've tried it before. There have been major decisions that I've had to make when I didn't feel inspiration even though I asked for it. In addition to the feelings that we recognize as revelation it might also come in the form of receiving advice from another person, having our progress blocked when we think we have made a correct decision that isn't right, hearing the answer in a talk at church or while singing a hymn (I know you do not love hymn singing Todd), or in many indirect ways. Reasoning out a problem in our own mind and then moving forward is often the best course to take. I was talking to my sister the other day and she said she felt anxiety about her marriage up until the moment she said yes in the temple. After the ceremony she felt peace. I have experienced the same thing in making decisions about my family and my job. Sometimes we have to take action before we receive the answer. Also there may be many directions our lives can take that are pleasing to our Father in Heaven. We have to make the choice.
WOw, I love this. I am learning a lot from everyone's insights on this subject. I am a very emotional person, and I can be "spiritually emotional". There are definitely times in my life I think I confused my emotions with the spirit. I agree with Lisa that recognizing the spirit is a constant learning process. It has only been recently that I have really attempted to feel and recognize the spirit in my life. I am noticing how quite the voice is and soft. I am trying to not act on emotions, but instead to listen to tiny promptings I receive. I recognize it whenever I am reading about the ancient prophets in the scriptures, Christs teachings, listening to a talk in church or just walking outside with my kids. I feel a sense of purpose and direction and see a glimpse of something more and far greater than I had realized. I agree that the Spirit brings a calmness that cannot be imitated.
I agree that we do need to make decisions on our own in life and press forward, but I also believe that if something is very important to us that Heavenly Father will and is often giving us the answer. we just aren't listening. I think too many times Church members walk around saying "My prayers aren't being answered. Both decisions are probably good. I just need to make one." I think that both decisions maybe are good, but Heavenly Father does want to give answers. the hard part is learning to listen to that clear voice of peace.
One last thought, Emotions come from within. We hear our voice in our head battling out a fear or an anxiety or just repeating thoughts of excitement. We stir and think about all possible outcomes to a situation. They make us hesitate or act impulsively. Emotions cause a physiological response, butterflies or knots in our stomach, heart palpitations, palms sweating, etc. The spirit is an outside source. It is direct, quite, and calming. It i a quick thought before the rush of emotions come in, and we have to learn to quiet our thoughts enough to hear it.
Wish I had time to make a real response - I was thinking about this the other day and wrote the following - not sure if it is entirly applicable:
Often truth “resonates” with individuals, this seems only to be another way of saying that there is a recognition of truth, but in a different sense than a confirmation from the Holy Spirit in an outpouring or deep impression. I suggest there often is a duality in the idea of “resonation” that when centered around a new or semi-unfamiliar but important truth, or even just an important truth that is held in weak faith, that in this situation The Spirit does intervene in an appropriate way, but often there is something more. There is also a resonation in these moments of a self-existent type; knowledge gained previously that has become a source of confirmed faith, or as it were, self-existent faith is recognized by the spirit of an individual independently, or in this dual situation, in conjunction with The Spirit of God.
Thus, often, realities previously fostered can be recognized in mortal life and an individual can find “resonance” with it of a seemingly similar manor as with truths. Individuals then can find themselves in this recognition and resonance with personalities, attitudes, methods, styles (music, clothing, tempos), perspectives and philosophies, sensations, et cetera. There are even those areas that seem to be of a non-spiritual nature that are, such as ideals of beauty, et cetera.
Post a Comment