So, what has roused my digital slumber?
Like the fabled princess, 'twas a pea.
Except I'm not a princess.
And it wasn't a pea.
It was a rock.
If you didn't click any of those links I'll give you the skinny slim of it all: As part of the Joseph Smith Papers Project the Church has released photographs of what is currently believed to be one of the 'seer stones' which Joseph occasionally used during the translation of the Book of Mormon.
"Can you smell what the rock is prophesying?"
The rock in question has long been a source of, shall we say, discomfort for some members of the Church. Mainly because it's generally not talked about and even kind of swept under the rug, with the narrative focusing more on the Urim and Thummim. So when they find out about it, usually through sources outside the Church it can be a little jarring to their faith.
But it doesn't have to be.
The reason Joseph's Seer Stone concerns both members and non-members alike is because it doesn't seem to fit the mold of what we expect from a prophet. Basically people have developed a mental image of what a prophet is supposed to look like, act like, sound like, etc. regardless of whether or not it is realistic. This is not a new problem. In the New Testament those who rejected Christ did so because they had a preconceived notion of what the Messiah would be like and refused to accept that their idea might not be wrong. Case in point, the Pharisees often went after Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. They had decided that the Messiah would definitely not do that, so when blind guys stopped being blind on the wrong day of the week they passed up one of the greatest chances in human history.
Sometimes we 'write fan fiction about life and the gospel. We decide (either arbitrarily or studiously) that things must be or not be a certain way. In the case of the Seer Stone, people have decided that a prophet shouldn't need any sort of tool to receive revelation (unless that tool has an impressive sounding name like the Urim and Thummim, the Burning Bush, the Arc of the Covenant, etc). But this leads to us missing the forest for the trees.
That's were Zen comes in. Zen is, as I understand it, accepting things as they are, without judgement. This means that when something appears that seems to contradict your preconceived beliefs you don't panic but rather accept it an try to understand it, while possibly altering your beliefs as needed. With this mindset you begin to realize that how the message is received is not as important as the message, be it a rock in a hat or visions of angels. Who the messenger is is mostly trivial. The day of the week the miracle happens if completely arbitrary, especially compared to the miracle itself. What matters most is the message.
That message is that Christ's church is here again, and He is preparing to return. The Message is that we can receive limitless joy and peace if we desire it. It doesn't matter if that message came from a rock, a bush, or a talking donkey.
Namaste y'all
Michael
