I am reprinting this article as a favor to Luman, so that if censorship rears it ugly head, his writings will be preserved.
I am the great, great, great grandson of Luman Andros Shurtliff. In honor of this great man, I have been named after him. Here is a copy of his journal, 1807-1847. http://lashurtliff.googlepages.com/journal1807-1884. Today is my birthday, and so I thought I'd celebrate by starting this blog. I would like to record some of my thoughts here. I am a mystic. That makes me a Mormon Mystic. I am a Royal Arch Mason as well.
I was born under the covenant and was raised a member of the LDS church. I was initiated into the LDS temple rituals just before serving a mission for the church. It was the best two years of my life, that is, up until that time. I would say that getting married to my sweetheart in the LDS temple and the many years afterwards were even better. My first mystic experience occurred when I was 17. After a great effort at that time, I heard the voice of God. Since then, this communication has grown considerably. A number of years ago, I began to study the Mysteries of the Kingdom. I began to look at many of the religious teachings the world over. What I found surprised me. I found truth---profound truth. I found visions, I found God. In Mormon terms, I have had my calling and election made sure, I have received the second comforter, even the presence of Jesus Christ as my guide. There are many guides, guardian angels, masters. Jesus is my Master. I came from the same world that he came from. We have known each other forever.
I keep running into parallels between my awakening experience and what Joseph Smith and his associates taught. I regard him to be a mystic.
"The dangers I speak of come from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals." (Talk to the All-Church Coordinating Council, May 18, 1993).
Hearing this quote disturbed me. I am in favor of supporting everyone in what they feel to be true. I don't judge them. I don't even think, "I am not judging, isn't that grand?" Judgment just doesn't occur to me. It is a foreign emotion or feeling. It has no place in my psyche. I have friends who are gay or lesbian. I think noting of it. I am for giving the priesthood to the women of the church. It is their right. Just examine the temple rituals, it is as plain as anything. History indicates that Brother Joseph gave the keys to the women of the church to do just that, to set up a female priesthood. Emma didn't understand what she had and lost it. I'll write more on this with quotes sometime. The very least the church could do would to be to give the management of the Relief Society back to the women. It wasn't under the leadership of the men until much later. Control is not an attribute of God. Neither is judgment. What are intellectuals that the church need fear them?
"Vibrant, healthy, guilt free people of high self esteem are traditionally very hard to `manage' or control for churches or governments." (from "Naturism: Naked Beneath Your Clothing," by John Veltheim)
Are these what Boyd K. Packer calls 'intellectuals'? Then I must be one, because I am hard to manage. A while ago, I wrote some of my thoughts about Mormonism, trying to fit my mystic experiences into what I had believed all my life. My comments weren't in any way degrading to the LDS church. I didn't see them as offensive. I had actually seen those visions. I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it. Boyd K. Packer's committee investigated my writings on the web and then turned me over to my local church authorities for further investigation. My bishop told me that I had to stop writing my feelings on the web and after I bore a strong testimony of the church he left me alone.
In my own thoughts and feelings, alone, I have pondered just what had happened to me. I felt that somehow my human rights had been badly trodden upon. "What do I do with a church like this?" I asked myself. The church of my whole life and that of nearly all my ancestors for the past 170 years had rejected me. My bishop might as well had said, "You can get out of this church, we want no such men in it." His words had the same chilling effect on me. It was one thing to attack members who were sinners, but I had done nothing but tell the truth. There is something about being censored that is very disturbing to the psyche. I felt as if I had been gagged. My bishop told me that what I wrote was not the gospel of Christ. If I was to believe him, then my personal religion was not of Christ. Yet, it was.
A few months after this ordeal, I stepped beyond the conflict. I stepped into Union with God, beyond this world of perception. After that, it simply didn't matter what my church felt about anything. I began to let go of my attachments to this religion. It is a long process, a mystic experience. I have seen the spirit world. I have seen Brother Joseph's Celestial Kingdom, I have both seen and physically hugged Mother in Heaven. My sensations were of indescribable joy and love, of total quite of mind and ultimate peace.
I repeat---Control is not an attribute of God. Neither is judgment. And since I see these flaws in the LDS church, it must not be the Kingdom. It might have been at one time, but not now. Luman Andros Shurtliff knew a different church. It too had it's problems. All churches have their own set of problems. I'm not drawn to any of them. Mystics seldom are. I am letting go of everything except the light I feel living inside me.
I have written much on the web, but now I never mention my religious roots. I have become ashamed of them. I don't tell anyone that I am a member of the LDS church because I don't want them to get the wrong impression of me, to think that I might possess the same inner feelings of prejudice, and self righteousness as many good Mormons do. My not writing my LDS thoughts is a problem in and of itself. I often see a strong parallel between the mystic path and the LDS church and want to talk about it. Since I won't include LDS thoughts in my other mystic writings, I have no outlet for them. That is the purpose of this blog---to write what I see that is mystic in the LDS traditions.
I will try not to write negatively about the current LDS church. That is not my purpose here. I may poke fun at times. And I intend on saying things that will make most good Mormons feel nervous, maybe even make them think about just what it is that they believe. Since I support the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement, and the scholars or intellectuals movement within this church, that makes me a triple treat to them. I didn't ask for this conflict. I am just hard to control. I am seeker of truth.
"God loves all of His churches." (from A Glimpse Into Eternity)
I believe that. Diversity is God's way. We see it all around us. That is why He gave us free agency. He also gave us the power to become Gods and Goddesses. Some of us already are. They have just come down to live here and help out the spiritual evolution of this planet. Some religions call them Ascended Masters. Jesus was one of these. So were many others. Today we have possibly millions of Ascended Masters living here, waking up. Are you one of them?
My hope is that some of what I write here will stir in you, the reader, a remembrance of a former life in the presence of God and Goddess.
---Luman
