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Episode 39: D&C 14 – 17
Shiloh and Ben discuss the Sections in D&C that are directed towards the Whitmers. These Sections, while short, hold a key to understanding the power of asking questions. The questions we ask are highly indicative of the understanding that we possess of how and what we perceive we need. The Lord speaks to us in our language and understanding, and He also answers our questions accordingly. He reveals unto us "line upon line, and precept upon precept," and we receive that in which are willing and capable of receiving. Notice the different questions that the Whitmers ask and the different answers that they receive. One asks to know his "individual…
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Episode 13: What is Contemplation?
Riley and Christopher answer one of the most frequently asked questions they get from listeners of this podcast in this episode: What is contemplation? While a definition of "contemplation" is easy enough to come by, the range of contemplative practices is vast, and the depth of experience they provide is unfathomable. Riley and Christopher give an extensive, if not exhaustive, list of contemplative practices, including more and less familiar ones, from among those they have practiced, and those they have observed. Along the way, they share powerful personal experiences of the divine from their own contemplative practices, as well as the palpable peace they have found through them--a deep abiding…
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Episode 38: D&C 12-13; JS-H 1:66-75
Ben and Shiloh open up an anticipated discussion of John the Baptist's appearance to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. As Moroni's thematic message to Joseph set the narrative and stage for what the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (as was discussed in Episode 34), John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ who prepared the minds and hearts of the people to receive him. John the Baptist's message, especially as contained in Luke 3, is often underutilized in understanding the radical shift the people required to recognizing the true Messiah. Until this time, the people had been expecting a violent, militaristic, and forceful leader to deliver them…
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Episode 37: D&C 10 – 11
Shiloh and Ben open up a discussion to consider God's perennial nature and work. This discussion starts in an unlikely place by talking about the archetype of Satan. Section 10 contains more references to "Satan" than almost any other, and there is a lot to learn about ourselves through this archetypal recognition. Whereas Christ is our anointed advocate with the Father, Satan is "The Accuser" that interacts with and justifies the perceived existence of the "false self." In these verses we see a beautiful revelation of God helping us identify and deal with the accusing voice within each of us that we feed, nurture, and cherish. It is this accusing…
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Episode 12: The Alchemy of Beatitude
Christopher and Riley have guest Morgan Aldous back on the podcast this week to explore correspondences between the alchemist’s ascent of the Mountain of the Adepts through seven stages of alchemical transformation and our own ascension of the eight rungs of the ladder of the beatitudes to personal transformation as taught by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount. The correspondences they find between the widespread idea of the eight beatitudes as rungs on a ladder, ultimately leading us upward to the presence of God and the peace found therein, point the way to personal transformation and peace, and peaceful community with our fellow man in a Zion society.
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Episode 36: D&C 6-9
Ben and Shiloh review the sections that speak primarily to and about Oliver Cowdery. Oliver has a rich history before and after coming into the LDS narrative as a scribe to Joseph in penning the Book of Mormon. In these sections we find an incredibly supportive, compassionate, and encouraging God that is patient, merciful, and forgiving. God speaks to His children not just through their own language but according to the context of their cultural, religious, and personal understandings. Both Joseph and Oliver were (or had been) engrossed in what we would see today as a "magical" worldview of experiencing God where imbuing random objects with divine power (e.g., stones,…
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Episode 11: The Alchemy of Religion
Riley, Christopher, and guest Morgan Aldous take you back to the true inner meaning of alchemy. That's right, alchemy! If you are among those who think alchemy is just misguided proto-chemistry, you're in for a big surprise! As Morgan put it, "While we tend to see alchemy as a primitive, mistaken form of chemistry that was redeemed by the Scientific Revolution, in reality, alchemy lost its sacred meaning and became mundane science." While it's true the Scientific Revolution took the exoteric (i.e., the outer) practices of the alchemists denuded from their esoteric (i.e, their inner) meaning and brought us many mundane conveniences we all take for granted today and seemingly…
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Episode 35: D&C 3-5
Shiloh and Ben open up a discussion about Martin Harris and the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. There is so much to grasp of the grace and mercy of God throughout these three sections of scripture, and we often sidestep these conversations because they threaten the worldview of our ego-based false selves. Scripture is a beautiful thing, for it is the record of when mankind and God touch. Within the scriptural record we see God pouring through cracks of men's foibles to reveal Himself again and again between the erroneous narratives of the false self. On each page of scripture we find both a documented account of…
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Episode 10: On Esotericism and Exotericism: The Inner and the Outer Experience
Christopher and Riley talk about the esoteric (inner) and exoteric (outer) experience of religion and finding a balance between the two. On the one hand, there’s holding so tightly to the letter of the word of God that’s the iron rod that we can’t let go long enough to take a step forward in the darkness in faith to walk the path the iron rod is meant to lead us down to the presence of God. On the other hand, there’s failing to hold to the rod at all and getting lost in the mists of darkness that are the temptations of the devil. How does the church support us…
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Episode 9: Mourning With Those Who Mourn
Shiloh, Riley, and Christopher Hurtado all open up space for a conversation about the healing power of mourning. A part of the baptismal covenant is to "mourn with those who mourn" (Mosiah 18:9), but do we really comprehend the incredibly healing power that mourning has on our fellow man? What does "mourning" here even mean? In the Beatitudes, after we empty ourselves and are poor in spirit, we experience a mourning from letting go of those false identities and ego. This personal step allows us the ability of being able to mourn with others. Mourning with the other, at least in part, is an experience of being with and seeing…
Finding Lasting Peace in a Modern World
