The LGT is Dead: Official CU announcement

[_sock puppet]

And speaking of the reality of actual colors contrasted with textual layers, I'm reminded of Steven's point in The Necessary Angel:

The imagination loses vitality as it ceases to adhere to what is real. When it adheres to the unreal and intensifies what is unreal, while its first effect may be extraordinary, that effect is the maximum effect that it will ever have.

So that's what happened to Mormonism in the late 1830s. Huh.

[_J Green]

LOL. Well played, SP.

But does this mean by contrast that you regard the early 1830s revelations, visions, and manifestations to adhere more closely to reality? As a symbol of those early visions, would you say the angel Moroni aproximates Wallace Stevens' "angel of reality" or Dido's "I'm no Angel"?

Cheers

[_sock puppet]

LOL. Well played, SP.

But does this mean by contrast that you regard the early 1830s revelations, visions, and manifestations to adhere more closely to reality? As a symbol of those early visions, would you say the angel Moroni aproximates Wallace Stevens' "angel of reality" or Dido's "I'm no Angel"?

Cheers

Mormonism did not seem so fantastical before Book of Abraham as after its advent. Simply because of the Christian societal context leading up to and during pre-BoA Mormonism. Mormonism was, in its teachings, closer to mainstream Christianity before the advent of the Book of Abraham than afterwards.

As for my current skeptical palate, Mormon teachings from both eras are too detached from reality. But I do admit, upon learning the details of those Book of Abraham teachings (and some other meaty Mormon teachings), the first effect on me was extraordinary. Like sugar plums dancing in my head. As Stevens' noted, that was when it had its maximum effect. The effect eroded away the more I pondered them. They have just seemed to become ever more fantastical, detached from reality.

My comment certainly had the snark, but I thought the Stevens' quote encapsulated my mental walk through Mormonism's meatier claims.

[_J Green]

Stevens himself spent decades removing the scaffolding of the institutional religion of his childhood and replacing it with the idea that both creation and redemption are found in the act of creativity. I think he would sympathize with your journey because you have articulated something similar.

And perhaps it's just my POV, but I see the early Joseph doing something similar--deconstructing the institutional religious views of his environment through bursts of creativity and imagination (whether we would call this revelation or not) that led to the idea of salvation and redemption for his adherants. And this despite any similarities to the framework of Christianity that you point out.

Further, despite the fact that I pursue my path from a believer's perspective, I enjoy questioning the soundness of the scaffolding through the creative testing of my own assumptions set against traditional pillars like revelation and institutional adherance. I don't claim to have a corner on truth or relevance, but I do find it satisfying. To do otherwise would lead to an unreflective and unexamined life. Best wishes for your own construction and deconstruction projects.

Regards

[_RockSlider]

Thank you one and all for a very good discussion. I had missed this a year back. Gad I'll give you your pat on the back.

J Green, you have represented yourself very very well here.

Very refreshing.