The Transfigurist

My friend Michael LaTorra, an ordained Zen priest and the abbot of the Zen Center of Las Cruces, New Mexico, has written a short, simple and readable introduction to Buddhist Transhumanism. The article was published in Theology and Science in April with the title “What Is Buddhist Transhumanism?”

I don't know what I think about Jesus, sometimes. I'm clearly a believer -- a believer in his life, in the resurrection, in the atonement, in salvation and exaltation, in his hard moral teachings. But sometimes the ways I believe in these things seem so different from how I understood them before that some might not recognize them as Mormon.

In the scriptures we learn that the Satanic pattern is to vault oneself above all others:

"Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2 Thessalonians 2:4)

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:" (Isaiah 14:13)

"And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil—for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency;" (Doctrine & Covenants 29:36)

We also learn that Christ's pattern is to raise others up with him:

"And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him." (Doctrine & Covenants 84:38)

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (John 14:12)

"They who dwell in his presence are the church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace; And he makes them equal in power, and in might, and in dominion." (Doctrine & Covenants 76:94-95)

Theologies, therefore, that posit a God who is utterly unique and different from humanity, that are offended when glory is given to anyone but God and seek to reserve glory solely for God, are theologies that posit Satan as God.

On the other hand, theologies that posit a God whose role it is to demonstrate how to be a good person, to show a path that others are capable of following, that invite others to overcome sin and death hand-in-hand with God, that invite others to join the body of Christ and participate in the great atonement of humanity, are theologies that posit Christ as God.

-Carl Youngblood


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My first encounter with really powerful depression came in the MTC. It worsened in the field. I cycled through periods of intense productivity and soul scouring depression a few times a month. As a missionary, I framed everything I experienced within the vernacular that was closest at hand. I attributed the depressive cycles to moral failure, not working hard enough, not being pure enough in my selflessness, despite the fact that I was clearly undergoing symptoms of clinical depression.