The Backyard Professor

The Book of Adam And Our Own Book of Moses!

A note from Joe Steve Swick III which I find intriguing, as I am sure you will also!

Then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord blessed
them; And a book of remembrance was kept, in . . . which was recorded, in
the language of Adam . . . . which was pure and undefiled . . . . [the]
prophecy that Adam spake, as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost. - see
Moses 6: 4-9

All religions have preserved the remembrance of a primitive book, written in
hieroglyphs by the sages of the earliest epoch of the world. Simplified and
vulgarized in later days, its symbols furnished letters to the art of
writing, characters to the Word, and to occult philosophy its mysterious
signs and pantacles. This book, attributed by the Hebrews to Enoch, seventh
master of the world after Adam; by the Egyptians to Hermes Trismegistus; by
the Greeks to Cadmus, the mysterious builder of the Holy City: this book was
the symbolical summary of primitive tradition, called subsequently Kabalah
or Cabala, meaning reception. - Eliphas Levi

There exists an occult and sacred alphabet which the Hebrews attributed to
Enoch, the Egyptians to Thoth or Mercurius Trismegistus, the Greeks to
Cadmus and Palamedes. This alphabet, which was known to the Pythagoreans, is
composed of absolute ideas attached to signs and numbers, and its
combinations realize the mathematics of thought. - Eliphas Levi

Podcast: Eugene Seaich, LDS Scholar Memorium Podcast

Here is my podcast honoring and thanking LDS scholar and researcher Eugene Seaich.

Download eugene_seaich01.mp3 

President Hinckley makes me MAD!!!!!

As only he can do. Mad with delight at his amusing, yet truly accurate perspective. The man just rocks! If I am even half near this wonderful when I get to be his age (that probably won't happen either), then I will consider myself absolutely Godly blessed!

Pres Hinckley spoke in the Priesthood Session about anger and how it is a major factor in problems today. He mentioned a person who was upset because a negative article about him was in the paper. A friend told him not to worry about it, because 1/2 the people didn't read the paper. Of those that did, 1/2 wouldn't notice the article. Of those that did, 1/2 wouldn't read it. Of those that did, 1/2 wouldn't understand it. Of those that did, 1/2 wouldn't believe it. Of those that did, 1/2 were nitwits.

Amateurs and Professionals

Over on Jeff Lindsay's blog someone asked about my status and scholarship. They ended their musing about me by noting they suspect I am an amateur. They are, of course, strictly correct. I did however rather enjoy this last idea which claimed my musings were a good hopping point into the more serious scholarship. That, ahem, is precisely what I am aiming for, getting others to look into some things themselves. I am grateful I am being seen in a correct light. I really don't mind being an amateur either, since that leaves me wide open to pursue any subject I wish to, and I have so many varied interests that I specialize in nothing, but look into as much as I have time.

http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2007/09/kerry-shirts-podcasts-many-details-on.html

Mormon Mysticism - Great Blog of David Littlefield!

Here is a really great blog by my friend and frequent commentator here on my blog, David Littlefield...... Lots of very interesting ideas. Highly recommended.

http://mormonmysticism.blogspot.com/

Reincarnation. What? Reincarnation. Which? Reincarnation. Why? Reincarnation, Whoa...... HOW?

"[In the mystic Swedenborg's philosophy, reincarnation] depends entirely
upon the thought of the person. All things in the universe arrange
themselves to each person anew, according to his ruling love. Man is such
that his affection and thought are. Man is man by virtue of willing, not by
virtue of knowing and understanding. As he is, so he sees. The marriages of
the world are broken up. Interiors associate all in the spiritual world.
Whatever the angels looked upon was to them celestial. Each Satan appears to
himself a man; to those as bad as he, a comely man: to the purified, a heap
of carrion. Nothing can resist states: everything gravitates: like will to
like: what we call poetic justice takes effect on the spot. We have come
into a world that is a living poem. Every thing is as I am. Bird and beast
is not bird and beast, but emanation and effluvia of the minds and wills of
men there present. Every one makes his own house and state" (Emerson,
"Swedenborg; or, The Mystic," _Representative Men_).

WHEN is Enough, ***ENOUGH***?

An astonishing insight I just have to share....

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments

together at the airport. They had announced the departure of the daughter's plane.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I

love you and I wish you enough."

The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough.

Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom."

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window

where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to

cry.  I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by

asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?"

Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking,  but why is this a

forever good-bye?"

"I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the

reality is-her next  trip back will be for my funeral," she said.

"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough,'

may I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other

generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a

moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she

smiled even more. "When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting

the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to

sustain them."  Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if

she were reciting it from

memory:

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray

the day may appear.

"I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

"I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

"I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may

appear bigger.

"I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

"I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

"I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."

She then began to cry and walked away.

Zohar Teachings on God & His Shekhinah (Wife)

From one of the most delightful friends I have on the net, who goes by the tag "Gaia."

The Relationshp between God and His Shekhina

(from Patai's "The Hebrew Goddess") --

[I]"The Central Creation myth of the Kabbalah (the Jewish
mystical-magical system) said that "no sooner did Adam become a sentient
being than he began to contemplate the physical and spiritual worlds
into which he was placed, and committed a grave sin that ever since has
dogged the steps of man:

God's spiritual being is understood as comprised of ten "Sefirot"
(emanations or aspects) but in contemplating God, Adam MISTOOK the tenth
and lowest Sefira which was the Shekhina, the female manifestation of
God, for the totality of Godhead.

Since the Creator endowed Adam with...

Zohar and Just How God Creates

"One might think that the Kabbalah, concerned as it is with higher states of consciousness, would have an ascetic impulse. However, although asceticism was present in some kabbalistic movements, the dominant trend is that sexuality is holy; that sexual union embodies, actualizes, and reflects the fundamental dynamics of cosmic and even theological processes; and that union must be actualized to maintain the flow of the shefa, the divine effluence. For the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah, God, creation, the balance of energies in the world—all are understood through the prism of the union of opposites, a union reflective of and expressed in sexuality. This is no mere metaphor: the world of the Zohar is a dynamic universe in which energies are always combining, breaking apart, and then combining anew. Human agency, including sexuality, is an essential part of this process: the process of God itself. We are not meant to return to God by leaving the body behind.....Rather, the Zohar says that we are meant to imitate God, who creates, manifests into separation, and unites the separate back into One.....Exactly how those energies are united will vary from individual to individual, since all of us contain both masculine and feminine aspects. But in general, manifestation, separation, and union are not just the ways of the birds and bees; they are the imitation of God."

- Jay Michaelson (God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice)

The Sword of Binah & the Law

A Ditty from Joe Steve Swick III:

Most mystics are aware that Manifestation requires limitation/restriction, and that another name for limitation is law. Mystics understand the wisdom in acting in ways that are congruent with the general principles upon which the physical universe is constructed, as those principles apply to our individual vehicles. Now, some rules can be bent, and others can be broken. And, adversity being a fundamental quality of the physical world, some folks who live by the rules still end up with their fair share of challenges. With this as a caveat, I’d suggest to you that no honest mystic is going to argue against the general principle that if we expect (for example) good health, that this necessarily requires our living lives congruent with the laws upon which good health is predicated. The longer we depart from such laws – i.e., “fail to obey” – the greater our likelihood of degradation of health; while the closer we live to such principles, the greater our likelihood of better health. That is to say, “there is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of the world (i.e., a Spiritual law in the World of Causes [“heaven”], which governs the World of Effects [“the world’]), and when we obtain any blessing . . . it is by Obedience to that [Spiritual] law upon which it is predicated.” Understanding these spiritual laws and how they affect us on a personal level here in Malkuth is a matter of discrimination. Those who study Tarot recognize the operation of what is called the Sword of Binah, held by Justice in Tarot Key 11: we either choose to use this Sword it to cut away the superfluities of our lives, or we are eventually cut by the Sword – and that can hurt...