Light Divided by Darkness

Ancient Hebrews sometimes thought of the creation as beginning in a spiritual realm (Ein Sof) and the our physical creation as being an extension of that “world” (Keter is the gate to that world), and as that power extended downward to make creation it was divided. This divided power can be likened unto images of Solomon’s Temple. The Holy of Holies (Celestial Room) was a cube, the Holy Place (Terrestrial Room) was a larger room representing the expanded, divided, or dilution of the law. Then the Outer Court (Telestial Room) which was even larger.

In Ezekiel 47 the imagery is extended into the world in three degrees of salvation, where a trickle starts at the temple. At thousand cubit lengths the trail of water expands, or divides until it becomes a rushing river. (see HERE)

The same idea is present in Nephi’s river, see my post on: ”Filty Water”.

I know this idea may be foreign among many LDS folks. Think of it this way. We know that the imagery of the Tree of Life is central to the LDS view of the creation, it is there at Eden and heals the nations of the world during the Millennium.

In the Garden of Eden this overwhelming symbol, the “Tree of Life” was shown to Adam. But there was another tree there, “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” This latter tree had no power on man until he partook of the fruit. It appears the partaking of this “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” is what divides or dilutes the influence of the Tree of Life, at least as it now effects man. It is man’s choice to partake of the forbidden fruit that causes the levels or degrees of creation. In a nutshell, it is what law we live that creates the purity of the water, and the corresponding kingdom.

The powers of the Tree of Life are divided or split to the level we wish to partake at. Within the thinking of ancient Egyptians, regarding the creation and redemption of man this idea is played out over and over. Hugh Nibley teaches us about this teaching as found in the Book of the Dead.

“The custom is mentioned in the Book of Breathings: ‘I am the one before whom Atum [Adam] has announced the Annals under the noble Ished-tree of Heliopolis’ … When the initiate ‘witnesses the splitting of the Persea-tree in the midst of Rostau,’ in the B.D. version, that, according to Thausing, represents the Creation, among other things the ‘splitting of 'good' and 'evil' ’…, the law of opposites set forth in the Shabako Creation text.” (Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment, Hugh NIbley, Deseret Book, 2nd addition, pg. 290)

The pillars of Jachin and Boaz stood in Solomon’s Temple representing these trees. The temple is a playing out in ritual form of these ideas of healing and death, justice and mercy, law and choice.

The choices of man have created an inequality in the universe. Things are at odds, there is no reconciliation, things are dying or running down to destruction.

It is the atonement of Christ that heals this splitting or dividing. It is in him that we must trust.

“I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.” (Ecclesiates)

It has long been held by some that this splitting or dividing is what is being spoken of in a symbolic way when God divides the light from the darkness during the creation narratives. This Idea has support from a reading of the Book of Abraham. In Abraham chapter 4, through 5:3 the seven creative periods (days) are described. The first act of creation is the creation of light (good) and it being divided by the darkness.

“And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light. And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness.” (Abraham 4:3&4)

Then verses 5 through 13 describe two more periods of creation. But then in verse 14 forward is when actual lights in the heavens are set up, which is the FOURTH CREATIVE PERIOD.

“And organized them to be for lights in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so.” (Abraham 4:15)

So the first day of creation can be thought of as the dividing of light and darkness, which in gospel terms is good (law) and bad (wrong choices), And the fourth day of creation is the placing of the actual luminaries in the physical heavens. (1)

What amazes me is when we learn more about ancient understandings of the plan of salvation, even as they come to us in fragment and corrupted condition, they can cause epiphany after epiphany when we read modern text such at the 88th. section of the Doctrine and Covenants where we are taught about light, law, choice, mercy, and kingdoms.
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1.) In actuality the fourth chapter of Abraham is the spiritual creation, it is not until a few verses into the fifth chapter that the physical creation is described. However, the spiritual creation works as a template to aid our understanding.

By The Power Of His Word

I would like to pose a few questions to my readers:

Established in LDS theology is the idea that before this world, we lived as spirits in the pre-earth life. There, we did not have physical bodies, but we were spirits. We also know that all spirit is actually matter, but more fine or pure.

We have some limited knowledge of what went on there. There was a plan put forward, some accepted it, and some rejected it. There was a great council, and so on.

For all of this to happen, we would have had to been able to communicate with each other. In this life a large part of our communication is spoken. We take air and modify it into varying waves or patterns. We can do this in our throats, or by machine. These spoken patterns have meaning. Our written words indicate, symbolize, or even attempt to mock our spoken words.

Speaking is placing intelligence into discernable and transferable patterns.

In the pre-earth life, how did we communicate? Did we breath a finer air and make intelligent patterns similar to what we do here?

What kinds of patterns of intelligence would we expect to see there? Light? Sound? Something else?

Christ is known as the “Word.” The “Logos.” He was the creator of the world. Was it by the patterns of intelligence that He created? Did these patterns make up the “spiritual creation” that is the foundation of physicality?

The Sepher Yetzirah teaches that all things that exist are founded upon “letters” or parts of speech, along with the numbers.

“Ten are the numbers, as are the Sephiroth, and twenty-two the letters, these are the Foundation of all things. Of these letters, three are mothers, seven are double, and twelve are simple. “(Chapter 1:1)

What say ye?

Built Upon a Foundation

In my earlier post Is God In The Spirit World?, I unilaterally decided that:

1. The (what we used to call) Pre-Existence (pre-mortal life) is not the Celestial Kingdom.

2. The Spirit World is not the Celestial Kingdom, or the Pre-Existence.

If you accept this, there is a Pre-Existence, Mortality, Spirit World, and kingdoms of glory in the resurrection. These are all different places.

I present two questions:

* Did God create the earth from Celestial Kingdom where He resides, or from the Spirit World?

* From an ancient Jewish Mystical point of view, looking at the Cabalistic Tree of Life, does creation come from Malkhut, or from Keter?

I see these as the same question.

I propose one answer to both questions.

As I have proffered many times before, the terms “glories,” “worlds,” or “spheres” (intelligences, Pre-Existence, Mortality, Spirit World, Celestial Kingdom, Terrestrial Kingdom, Telestial Kingdom, Outer Darkness) are just another way of saying different dimensions. Just like we know the spirit world is here on earth, but we can’t see them, they are in a different dimension.

We are taught in LDS theology that our world was created spiritually before it was created physically. But these descriptions mention the Pre-existence, and not the Celestial Kingdom.

Cabalist always have a problem with Malkhut (kingdom), and Yosod (foundation) coming before higher worlds. The foundation is created last? So they flip the tree upside down, and do all kinds of other gyrations in an attempt to make the teachings of the Tree of Life flow logically.

So, I ask: What kingdom (dimension) is “Higher,” The Pre-existence, or our current physical world?

I suggest that God directed the creation of our physical universe from the Celestial Kingdom, by directing those in the Pre-Existence. Christ was the leader of that work, in that kingdom or dimension.

Further, that God dwells in the Celestial Kingdom, but all lower kingdoms are before Him, He can traverse not only time, but dimensions themselves. He has had all Kingdoms added unto Him.

“And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory [dimensions] added upon their heads for ever and ever.” (Abraham 3:26)

This is how God is both a caporal being, and still all things are before him. How He is in the Pre-Existence, and the Spirit World without leaving Celestial Realms.

How Prop 8 Protects Rights

Here is a very good video about how gay marriage will infringe on our rights:

LINK TO VIDEO

See my earlier post regarding rights and Prop.8.

I am usually a bit leery of such things. But I received an email about this Tool Bar for Firefox.

I tried it, and I like it. Give it a shot, I think you will like it too.

Check it out at LDSToolbar.net.

Here is the LINK to take a look.

The Great Secret

I will herein use a couple quotes by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in his great King Follett Sermon (KFS) (LINK), and discuss them a bit,

Joseph said about God that He is “…not trifling with you or me.” This is all very serious, we are not on vacation, nor should we be preoccupied with feeding our bellies. There is a real plan from the beginning, and this is our time on stage.

Joseph quotes the New Testament, "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." But Joseph goes further and teaches that not only must we know God, we must understand our true relationship with God. If we miss this, we really know nothing.

“There are but a very few beings in the world who understand rightly the character of God. The great majority of mankind do not comprehend anything, either that which is past, or that which is to come, as it respects their relationship to God. They do not know, neither do they understand the nature of that relationship; and consequently they know but little above the brute beast, or more than to eat, drink and sleep. This is all man knows about God or His existence, unless it is given by the inspiration of the Almighty.”

So what was our relationship with God in the “past,” and what will our relationship be in that which is “to come?” What do we know?

We know that we always existed like God:

“The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end. …That which has a beginning may have an end. There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal with our Father in heaven.” (KFS)

What made Him our Father is that He reached back into eternity, to bring us forward.

“The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits.”

This ability to be “exalted,” to receive “knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence” is the promise of God, from before creation, through the atonement, otherwise known as the Abrahamic Covenants, or our inheritance.


We know that before this world was created there was a grand council, made up of the Head (rosh) God, Eloheim, and the other Gods in the council. These are the noble and great ones that Abraham saw (LINK), the priesthood holders of this life. Some of these achieved the rank of god before the world was, as Christ did. The Hebrew word “El” means God. The Hebrew “im” is the plural suffix.

“In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it. When we begin to learn this way, we begin to learn the only true God, and what kind of a being we have got to worship. Having a knowledge of God, we begin to know how to approach Him, and how to ask so as to receive an answer.”

So we existed forever like God. He is our Father because He brought us forth from intelligences, to spirits. He is our Father because He created our physical bodies, as planned in the Council of the Gods. This is the present or the past. What is our relationship “to come?” If worthy:

“…[A]lthough the earthly tabernacle is laid down and dissolved, they shall rise again to dwell in everlasting burnings in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more, but they shall be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. … To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a god, and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before…”(KFS)

This is all a family affair. Parents passing on an inheritance to the children. Elijah said:

“And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.” (JSH 1:39)

And modern prophets said it this way:

“All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”

“In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.” (LINK)

The Prophet Joseph said “That [this] is the great secret.”

More on California Proposition 8

I wanted to clarify a couple last things regarding the California Proposition 8. I am urging a YES vote.

In the year 2000 the people of California passed Prop 22 by a 61% voice of the people, which made the following words the law, this is the entire law:

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California."

Recently the California Supreme Court overturned the law (prop. 22) and the voice of the people. Proposition 8 will restore the law that was already past by making the above words part of the state Constitution.

Here a link to the official web site: ProtectMarriage.com. You can donate there, or download fliers and other materials.

One of the reasons I home schooled my children was because of Project 10 in the Los Angeles City Schools. Where the schools were mandated to teach homosexuality to ALL grade levels. And they had mandatory meetings with junior high schools kids and informed them that ten percent of them were homosexual, that they should consider if they may be homosexual, and provided information how to integrate into the homosexual community.

In California we have domestic partnership laws, that give homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual couples regarding medical benefits, medical rights, property and inheritance rights, and so on. I don’t know anyone opposing these rights. Because hurting homosexuals is not the point of Prop. 8. What is at issue is third parties rights in relation to homosexual marriages. Please see my last post.

If Proposition 8 does not pass there will be a devastating effect on schools, adoption agencies, churches, and some businesses. No matter where you live, we need your help.

By the way - this is my 100th. post!