Seeing through Sticks, Stones, and Screens

The Technology of Revelation

Adapted from Seeing by Mason Kamana Allred, part of the Maxwell Institute’s Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series.

The Doctrine and Covenants is one of many tools at our disposal to develop our vision. As we expand the ways the Lord is able to enlighten our eyes, we will experience more instances of epiphany, or sudden strokes of revelation and insight. But we can also have more instances of “hierophany.” As the influential historian of religion Mircea Eliade explains, these are moments when the divine manifests itself in the profane, which here just means the everyday. Whether in a sunset, another person, rain, a movie, a leaf, or a mundane task, the sacred breaks through into the everyday, and we experience something holy by glimpsing the Lord in His creations.

In our day, when Church leaders have consistently admonished us to grow in our capacity to receive personal revelation, we must learn to open our eyes to revelation from heaven, however it may come. It may look a little different for each of us, but every single one of us is entitled to revelation from the Lord for our specific circumstances and often after the manner of our language, understanding, and needs. Sections 8 and 9 prompt us to consider the various media of revelation and ways members of the church have been able to find the divine in the profane, by modern means no less than by ancient. Instead of letting our technologies and tools distract us, we should be inviting more revelation through them.

Sticks and Stones

An important and early story in the Doctrine and Covenants helps us think about the role of vision in revelation. After Joseph Smith met Oliver Cowdery in 1829, they were both hopeful that Oliver could possibly translate like Joseph Smith had been doing with the gold plates. When Joseph asked the Lord concerning the matter, the answer he received highlighted different modes of revelation. The Lord acknowledged Oliver’s existing talents in receiving revelation and specifically mentioned Oliver’s ability with the “sprout” or “rod.” Oliver’s apparent use of a divining rod to get answers or perhaps even find water and minerals underground—without seeing them—was a form of revelation, and Joseph Smith’s answer confirmed it was a gift of God (D&C 8:6–7). Oliver had experience holding a stick and asking for answers, perhaps yes/no or directional kinds of answers. But now Oliver wanted to try his hand at the mode of revelation Joseph Smith had been practicing. He wanted to use his vision to look into stones and see much more, even to translate ancient texts.

The description of how he should do this is fascinating. People from the time period and close to the miracle described Joseph Smith as looking at a seerstone placed in his hat to gain spiritual vision. The setup was important because the stone(s) would reportedly shine forth in the darkness of the hat and allow Joseph Smith to see on the stone’s surface or in his mind what he should dictate as translation for the Book of Mormon and some sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. By looking into the hat containing the shining stone, Joseph Smith created a unique visionary technology. He had something like a mini movie theater—a kinetoscope—over sixty years before its invention, even if the way revelatory vision worked was much more singular and spiritual. Joseph Smith had an amazing gift to see what others could not, and his use of Urim and Thummim attests to his openness to using existing materials to receive new and incredible revelations. It seems Oliver wanted to experience this form of revelation, so he tried to emulate Joseph Smith’s seership to also translate with new vision.

It wasn’t so straightforward. As the Lord described to Oliver, revelatory vision came by linking eyes with impressions and feelings. “Now behold, this is the spirit of revelation,” the Lord explained to Oliver, “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost” (D&C 8:2–3). Mental exertion to study something out in the mind preceded a situation where Oliver’s bosom would burn, and he would feel what was right. The rest of his body was as important as his eyes. The Lord clarified: “Ask me if it be right and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore you shall feel that it is right” (D&C 9:8). But fear got in the way and stopped the process (D&C 9:11). Oliver struggled with the difficult development of moving from rod to stone—from simple directions and answers to complex revelations that combined feeling and seeing with translating. Whatever they might see on the seerstone’s surface, the properly prepared visionary individuals would need to feel in their bosoms and brains that it was correct and coming from God. Then, their vision was spiritual. Then, what they saw was true, as their eyes were corroborated with their body.

Whether Joseph Smith literally saw the exact text on the surface of the stone to read out loud to his scribes, as David Whitmer assumed, or Joseph Smith “saw” the translation as concepts to capture in his mind’s eye, the process of revelation as translation was rooted in looking. Focusing his eyes on the stone somehow focused his spiritual or inner vision. By tapping into a powerful alignment of spiritual and physical vision, Joseph Smith learned to see and discern things invisible to the natural eyes of his contemporaries.

Screens

Nowadays, visionary sticks and stones have been updated by glass. Glimmering glass screens offer unprecedented digital visions. This cultural shift in vision and screen technology makes the Doctrine and Covenants’ preoccupation with visions and deception resonate in new ways. Technologies that were new in the nineteenth century did trick the eyes and amuse or flabbergast users. But the introduction of mobile screens in the twenty-first century also exponentially increases our time spent in the visions of others. We literally take the perspective of cameras, and we inhabit or consume the work produced by all kinds of content creators, tech designers, influencers, and manipulators. We spend more time than ever before looking at the visions of others as images on a screen, and these visions are often not healthy or beneficial despite their reach and popularity. We can end up living inside someone else’s imagination, bias, and worldview when we take on and inhabit their vision. This means if we don’t learn to critically examine how our vision is shaped by these forces, we see and perpetuate “misery for some, monopoly for others.”

Faced with these miraculous glass surfaces, we have to learn to live up to the Doctrine and Covenants’ call for an eye single to the glory of God. We must, like Joseph Smith, translate what we see anew with the help of screens. The early revelations of Joseph Smith suggest we can hone our spiritual vision through natural sight. Where he looked into stone to make what he saw on gold plates understandable and relevant, we can look at imperfect surfaces and learn to recognize truth and deception to make the purpose of life clearer. Hence, while it is important to look away from screens at the unmediated world, I want to highlight the power of learning to look at mediated images and see them “as they really are.” That, too, is a powerful form of revelation.

We can discern surfaces for profound depth and direction. Some of this comes from education in critical thought and media literacy to recognize intention and effects. We can discern how an image is shaped by bias or ignorance or how it seeks to get us to feel a certain way or buy a certain product. But we can also learn to see “beyond” the surface of these images by looking directly into them--when we couple this critical thought with spiritual eyes. Of course, God sees all. In our imperfect state, the best we can do is learn to see surfaces of videos and images with a holier and more expansive perspective. Only then can we effectively navigate how to respond to their intention and effect. From images on screens to the ways our neighbors might dress, we must reenvision surfaces or appearances so they inspire more love and understanding rather than posturing and judging. In this way, we might metaphorically learn to see through things, as Orson Pratt suggested.

Screens can bombard us with distraction but can also provide the circumstances and necessity for profound insights. Perhaps, in the face of so many manufactured visions, we need an increase in revelatory perspective. As President Russell M. Nelson emphasized at the outset of his tenure as prophet, we need to learn to receive and recognize personal revelation, especially to deal with the constant bombardment of “social media” and the “24-hour news cycle” through our screens. With revelation, we can learn to know how to engage or disengage with these forces. With the right tools, we can also develop the capacity to see through our screen surfaces into deep knowledge.

This should be an important update to the ways Joseph Smith was able to use stones or even scripture as screens through which he glimpsed greater truths. Consider how Joseph Smith and another one of his friends, Sidney Rigdon, seemed to see through scripture. During Joseph’s translation of John 5:29 with Sidney, a vision came as if to emerge out of their books. That scriptural surface provided the catalyst for profound revelation. They were able to project a vision from the pages of the book in real time. This means they saw through the shared words on that page into a unique and new vision. After they experienced their own miraculous vision, they were told to download it and store it as language on paper again, eventually becoming section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The new enhanced revelation could be recorded and shared with others to spread the vision and hopefully stimulate more. “Write the vision,” they were commanded. It was a personal and singular event, but as the Lord explained, he “show[s] it by vision unto many, but straightway shut[s] it up again”(D&C 76:47). Seeing screens, whether digital or textual, is entangled with seeing visions. Visions can lead to more scripture, or scripture can lead to more visions. The calculus can be reversed like an equation, but either way, seeing visions is rooted in working with physical sight.

Mason Kamana Allred is an associate professor of communication, media, and culture at Brigham Young University–Hawaii. He earned his MA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in German history and culture with an emphasis on film and media studies.

Art by Leslie Graff.

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