“There is no such thing as immaterial matter . All spirit is matter , but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it, but when our bodies are purified, we shall see that it is all matter” (Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8). The above quote implies something about the nature of reality that has been discussed by physicists and philosophers alike. What Joseph Smith claimed in this brief statement - which will act as a catalyst for my thoughts as opposed to an authoritative justification of them - is that the physical and metaphysical worlds are inseparably connected. Furthermore, we can assume that spiritual matter works in tandem with and builds upon physical matter. When discerned by “purer” eyes, there exists no opposition or separation between them as “all spirit is matter.” One LDS scholar, Stephen E. Robinson, explained it this way: Latter-day Saints reject the Platonic spirit-matter dichotomy, which holds that spirit and matter are ...
There is a phrase in Portuguese that I love. Seguir na frente. Literally, it means to “follow in the front.” But to Brazilians, the actual meaning is to move on, keep going, or push ahead in spite of difficulty. I’ve always thought that was a fascinating way to explain endurance - following in the front. It's sort of like acknowledging that while circumstances are not always in our control, this doesn’t limit our ability to be leaders of our own lives. In our quest for growth, we might feel like we are always following or chasing after something in the future - whether a different circumstance or a better version of ourselves. For me, that can be deeply discouraging. I felt like that a lot on my mission. I just wanted to quit the chase. My companions would often hear me vocalize a half-joking desire to “run away.” What I meant, of course, was that I wanted to quit serving a mission. If not that, I wanted to stop facing trials in the process. My mission...