The Dream
Once upon a time a man named Joseph Smith had a dream, and he told his family about it. Later, his son, Joseph Smith Jr., wrote a book and included a version of the dream in the book. His son also wrote an explanation or interpretation of the dream in the book. (To read about Joseph Smith’s dad’s dream, see The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith.)
He built a religion around that book, and millions of people lived their lives based on the dream and the interpretation he gave.
I spent 42 years of my life doing the same. But now I have my own interpretation of the dream based on my own experience:
Life on the Straight and Narrow
I’m grasping a rod. There are steep drop-offs on either side. A dark mist surrounds me and keeps me from seeing what lies below and above. Family and friends are nearby. They too are desperately clinging to the rod.
We know that up ahead, at the end of the rod, there is a tree with fruit that will fill us with love, peace, and joy. And we know that below the mists lie grave dangers. Clinging to this rod is the only way we will stay safe–the only way we will reach the love we crave.
Every once in a while someone will hand a fruit down the line and everyone who gets a hold of it tastes a tiny portion of the promised love. Most of us have never tasted it, but we’ve seen others taste it and heard how amazing it is. We are so glad we are on the path that leads to the tree so that someday we too may taste of the fruit and know for ourselves. We get a warm feeling when we think about what the fruit must be like.
What Keeps Us Here
Holding to the rod is difficult, but we know it is necessary. Occasionally someone around us will stop holding the rod and slide away down the steep slope, lost forever, so we know it is necessary to hold very tightly. We work to protect our family and friends from suffering a similar fate.
Luckily we have been provided with a small book that outlines the dangers we face and the reward that awaits us. So we study daily and read to our families. Each week we read and study the book with the other families clinging nearby and talk to each other about the best ways to stay safe.
Those who have tasted or seen the fruit tell us about it. In this way we strengthen ourselves in our determination to hold tightly to the rod. Sometimes the people at the front of the line nearest the tree yell back and tell us about the delicious fruit. They are able to see the dangers better than we are and they can tell us more specifically what we are escaping by our continual clinging.
The Great Effort
We often call out into the mist to get people wandering there to join us. We are so happy when someone chooses to cling with us, because we know we have removed them from danger.
Sometimes voices from the mist call out to us to try to persuade us to let go of the rod. They often sound happy and have good reasons that we should let go, but we don’t listen to them. We know they are trying to trick us, because our books and the ones ahead have warned us. Instead we gather closer and cling tighter.
It’s not such a bad life. We’re so grateful for the rod and the safety it affords. We’re with our families: all gathered in close as we cling together. Our leaders tell us our lives have meaning and purpose as we work to keep ourselves and our families holding tight.
It’s all worth it when we contemplate the joy that awaits us at the end of the rod. We know we might never reach the tree in this life, but our leaders assure us that in the next life we’ll feast for eternity.
The Great and Spacious Building
There is one unpleasant aspect of our lives, and it’s harder for some to ignore than others. Unfortunately, we can see a building rising high out of the mist. It’s all we can see of what might be below.
In the building we can see people laughing and talking. They’re eating and looking out the windows and pointing. It almost looks like they’re just happy and enjoying themselves, but our books and the people ahead who can see better have told us they are really pointing and laughing at us.
We ignore their mocking because we know that we are the ones who are safe and loved and happy. It’s the people in the building who are deceived and even wicked.
Sometimes someone clinging nearby gets confused and thinks it looks nicer in the building. They let go of the rod and slide down into the mist to try to find a different kind of life. We’re always sad when that happens because they are lost and we know they will find sadness and danger, and, most importantly, they will miss out on partaking of the fruit someday.
My Awakening
Then one day I thought about my life holding the rod and thought, “This can’t be the way to live a happy life.” I let go abruptly and slid down to the ground below. I was shocked that I had done such a thing and was scared of the mist all around me, but my hand immediately touched something and I ate it. It was fruit from the tree! (Read about my experience here.)
Love filled me and the mist around me disappeared so that I could see the people above me miserably clinging, and I could see the world around me filled with people living freely and happily.
I could see that the tree was huge and covered all the world. Fruit lay on the ground–free to eat! For anyone who found it! It was wonderful and I was very happy.
My Grief
Inspite of the underlying peace I felt, I was also astonished and grieved that my entire life was wasted clinging, when I could have been really living and actively looking for the precious fruit. I couldn’t believe that the rod that I had thought was keeping me safe was the greatest danger in sight.
I grieved to see my family still clinging, but they didn’t want to hear the truth about the rod and the freely available fruit. To them, my voice became just another treacherous voice out of the mist.
They didn’t want to know that the dangers were false and that the people in the building were laughing just because they were happy, and they were merely pointing at the beautiful view from their windows. They weren’t mocking the people holding to the rod—they didn’t even see the rod or the clingers; they were too busy enjoying life. When I tried to explain this to my family they thought I was also mocking them.
My Life Now
Now I live happily on the ground. I tend to stay close to the rod so I can be near my family. I hope that someday one of them will come sliding down into my arms and I’ll hold them and comfort them and help them find a piece of fruit. And we’ll live happily and watch for the next person who comes sliding down ready to live instead of cling.
From Fear to Love
Now I realize that fear created the mists. Fear kept us from seeing that the love we were looking and hoping for was freely available to all. As I talk to people that chose to let go of the rod I’m realizing that my experience of finding a piece of fruit immediately after falling is unusual. Many people let go of the rod only to wander in fear and darkness.
Thankfully, most people seem to eventually live without fear. Some might find the fruit—the love—that erases fear. Or some lose their fear as they see other people living safely and happily. And some who used to cling are now free because they were able to taste enough of the fruit while holding the rod that eventually they could see clearly enough to let go.
Everyone’s story is different, but the love is the same—yea, it is the love of God that sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.
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