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I wrote “A Broken Heart” in part to ground a conversation that is going on thematically in my life. My mom, my dad, and I have a very unique bond from what was happening to my sister’s heart and “informed (in all the word’s counseling glory)” a lot of our understanding of the Plan of Salvation, some of how we see the Atonement, and a variety of other topics.
Surreal Aside: With my youngest, I was actually given as routine pregnancy care the option to have my blood tested to see if my unborn baby had the genetic deletion that my sister did. I absolutely took the test. Knowing what I know, I have no idea what I would have done if my child had tested as positive for the deletion. BackgroundMy parents and my shared experience was the hand-waving “in the next life, your sister will have a perfect heart to go with her perfect body” (which is some plausible, but mostly cold consolation when re-restroom training an 8 year old for example). AND we also have seen flashes of who my sister really is/who she might have been if she had gotten the proper newborn starter set that included all the genetic pieces she’d need. My sister is not her handicaps.
MY PERSPECTIVE:
I don’t think that we would recognize the soul version of ourselves based on the mortal seat we currently have. Very much in those few, scattered moments where my sister was transcending her base biological abilities (seconds for every hour and day of life lived) and her innate self shown through. I chose to believe that there is a piece of who we each are as individuals that transcends space-time (and DNA) limitations.I don’t know if follows the spirit-body “plug and play” model that we got from church doctrine with a specific part of the brain interfacing with the spirit or whether each cell has a spiritual anchor point that we cannot see. The best words I have to describe different options come from the world of science and border on science fiction, so I guess I’ll leave it at that. CONVERSATION WITH MOM:
I had the conversation about “genetically imposed disability” citing the family history above.
My mom expressed the standard “there is 1 measure of perfection that the Atonement bridges the gap for mortal humans for” line of thought.
We do take comfort that there is an “elsewhere” for my sister to experience a mortal body that isn’t trying to fall apart from the get-go.
Tone Tag: It was a very relaxed, part philosophical, part spiritual conversation. My mom and I are some of each other’s greatest allies to a very specific degree and always have been (well avoiding hormone-induced fights when I was a teenager alternating between wanting to be a cheerleader and be Mr. Spock).
CONVERSATION WITH SPOUSE:
BackgroundWe have dealt with Massive Depression and having “Atypical” brain wiring for the 18+ years we have intertwined our lives. We deal with mental-health induced developmental delays that require compassion and accommodations on a daily basis that are thankfully mostly not as life-arresting as my sister’s heart ones were.
My husband acknowledged the standard “1 perfection model” that my mom focused on.
But I love that he sees it differently.
His “hot take” is that our soul has specific traits/tendencies that infuse into what our bodies and thoughts do here and that those traits/tendencies are what are being refined here.
That a person who tends to be
is expressing a mortal version of spiritual characteristic. That there isn’t 1 “perfect template” but “perfection in a variety of traits creating individual templates”.
I think I understand. Your mother is believing that perfection (“Be thou perfect” & “that they all may be one”) also means same?
I like how Old Timer references fulfilling the measure of our creation – to mean become whole or fully developed. I am not simply a mammal doing mammal things, or a human doing human things, or a man doing man things, or even a child of God doing child of God things. I am a unique Roy (separate, apart, and different from the other 3 Roys in my family line). What “Roy” is both all of those prior descriptors and more.
My fully developed state/perfection/measure of my creation will look somewhat different than everybody else.
What Roy said. We’re people in a fallen world doing the best we can. That’s why I love the idea of a god that brings grace to the table. A fallen world needs grace. My mom comes to the theological/philosophical table with the “1 body type” template. There is a set measure of “Body Perfection” that the Atonement offers us as a gift. For centuries, the existence of this “Body Perfection” template and who it was for was the main debate going on. This template provides all of us comfort that my sister will have access to a “perfected body” and have the experience of vitality and intelligence that her current body cannot offer her. My husband comes to the theological/philosophical table with a “Perfected Trait” template with the explicit “Diversity” component and “unique-leaning body type” template. Some of us with brain wiring differences (my husband is one of them) may not want to give up some of those traits to gain a “perfected body” under the “1 body type” model.
If anything, I think this conversation actually flushes out the evolution of “character creation” as a concept. Yes, we got it from Dungeons and Dragons and video games – but the evolution from “you take the character concept you are offered” to “you collaborate on your character concept” from a Divine perspective is interesting to me.
AmyJ wrote:
If anything, I think this conversation actually flushes out the evolution of “character creation” as a concept. Yes, we got it from Dungeons and Dragons and video games – but the evolution from “you take the character concept you are offered” to “you collaborate on your character concept” from a Divine perspective is interesting to me.
Now I’m imagining a heaven where all the men are given a Conan the barbarian body in a speedo and all the women are given a comparable Dungeons and Dragons female fighter in a chain mail bikini. Admittedly, that is a humorous extreme but it does pose the theological question. What elements of a person’s body are “fixed” in heaven and what elements are retained but in a more pristine/perfectly functional state.
Does skin color, hair color, or eye color exist in heaven? Will we even have need of skin, hair, or eyes?
This concept has been somewhat of a challenge for the church lately regarding homosexuality. The church (to its credit) has listened to the studies and the lived experience of homosexual members that indicate that homosexuality is often not a choice. IOW, that people are born gay in the same way that other people are born with the seeds of heterosexuality that become activated at the appropriate time. Some church leaders have posited that homosexuality is a form of mortal trial that will likely continue as long as the person lives, but if faithful, that person can look forward to a perfected and fully heterosexual body in the resurrection.
Some may take comfort in the idea of becoming hetero, while others may feel that important elements of their identity are being erased.
My personal experience with stillbirths and whether or not they “count” as part of one’s eternal family informs my perspective here. I am comfortable with individuals imagining and deciding for themselves whatever their version of a perfect heaven/family structure/body looks like. Then they get to live that or even something that is way better than they could have personally imagined and everyone will be rejoice together in their individual “perfections.”
“the term ‘Heaven,’ as intended for the Saints’ eternal home must include more kingdoms than one.”
“”In my Father’s house are many mansions”
My husband and I make fun of “bikini mail” for all video games and anime we watch (usually with our girls joining in). But about a year ago, I started decking my characters out in silver hair. At first my husband freaked out considerably about it (we are in our 40’s and he married me in part for my then-red hair). Now, sometimes he does the glorified version of himself as his character default (blonde-brown hair and blue eyes), and sometimes he puts his character in gray hair too.
What if part of the conversation with God “Judgement Day” is a one-on-one character creation setup session? *
* Non-Christian Anime already does a variation of this concept in it’s “post mortality transfer to a new planet/dimension” storylines and is usually with a “rushed” God.
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