This earth life is — crappy. Excuse my language (really, I’m toning it down and not using my favorite curse word.) It’s difficult. It’s hard. Somedays I can’t believe that those of a higher glory chose to become mortal — that we chose to come to a telestial world. Christ laid down his former glory to be the savior. Adam and Eve laid down their former glory to provide mortal bodies to others (their spiritual children according to Brigham Young.)
It’s like getting called to the most difficult mission. But it’s your choice. My daughter is pregnant, about to deliver and she has had a difficult pregnancy — a real decent phase of her choosing. She will deliver early due to complications that could put the baby at risk.
I understand why we cannot remember our former glory and former life. It did not go so well with Adam and Eve — they remembered their former glory of the garden and when they hit the telestial lone and dreary world, they were devastated. Adam jumped off a cliff and had to be brought back to life, according to the books of Adam and Eve. After that, I’m sure the gods decided that it will be better if no one remembers a previous life. It’s just too damn hard.
I believe that part of this journey is finding out and learning about our previous glory. It’s one of the mysteries. But once your eyes are open, “…all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” (The Alchemist)
As I was studying the significance of the garment in an earlier post, I realized that the garment given to Adam and Eve could have been their telestial mortal skin — having fallen from the garden of Eden they lost their terrestrial glory. Then I read where Hugh Nibley explains that the garment that we wear as Mormons, is actually symbolic of our former glory. That makes sense to me — our skin is mortal and then we clothe it in a garment representative of our previous higher glory — it’s a little reminder that we had an earlier life of progression and we have chosen to lay down that treasure to become mortal and serve in this telestial kingdom. This may not make sense to you if you believe in a straight-line kind of plan of salvation. But I believe in a cyclical plan of salvation.
Another reminder of our former glory is the story of The Pearl. The young man leaves mother and father in the higher glory and comes down to earth to retrieve the pearl — and then return. When he leaves the higher glory he takes off his robes of glory and puts them in a treasure chest for safe keeping, whereupon returning with success, he can retrieve his glory and receive more.
