The Spiritual Muscle

The conversion process to the restored gospel can be a thrilling and riveting spiritual journey.  For each individual it is different, but for each individual they have at times felt the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  These experiences are testimony builders, and they initially seem to propel us from one spiritual event to the next.  Our prayers become sincere, our actions become genuine, and even our regular church attendance if wrought with spiritual insights.

As life continues on, there seems to be a time when the spiritual insights begin to dwindle, and the actions of activity in the church become nothing more than actions.  There are times when we ask ourselves, questions in regarding our spirituality and where it might have gone – and for some, such questions even raise inquiries about the reality of the initial events at their conversion. 

They seem to be doing the same acts that they were doing before, but now without the same results.  They are reading their scriptures, praying, attending the temple regularly, and serving in their calling as faithfully as expected.  And yet, the same feelings that were there in the past are nowhere to be seen.  I have had people confide in me and ask, “Where did the spirit go?”

Many missionaries see this very same thing in their rankings.  When a new missionary is sent into the Missionary Training Center, they are spiritually primed.  They are then sent out to the field, and they begin to have experience after experience which testifies to them the reality of their mission.  They begin to feel the spirit constantly, and they rejoice in the converting power – not just to new members of the church but to themselves. 

But what takes place next is inevitable.  There comes a point where the missionary wakes up, goes to Zone Conference, and questions why he no longer feels that rush, that spirit, and that confirmation every day that he once felt so strongly.  This happens to every missionary in the field, and arguably to every member of the church.

Allow me to propose a hypothetical solution to this question.  I call this hypothetical because it is only theory, but the logic has potential.  And by no means do I currently propose that this is doctrine or theology – but maybe just an applicable explanation.

Let’s draw from three events in the life of Joseph Smith.

First, imagine the Sacred Grove, 1820 – the fourteen year old boy having the theophany which would change the understanding of God and man thereafter.  According to his own record at the close of this remarkable event, the next thing he remembers is regaining consciousness in the Grove.  He remember waking up on the ground, having been absolutely (as far as I can assume) physically drained from the experience. 

Second, a few years later that same boy, is visited by an angel in the night – three times.  At the conclusion of these “interviews” the boy goes about his daily duties.  Sometime in the morning, his father notices that he is physically exhausted and directs to boy to go home.  On his way home he is so exhausted, apparently more so than just by having a late night – he passes out as he tries to cross a fence. 

Third, in the upper room of a building in Kirkland, Ohio, the prophet is surround by his colleagues in the school of the prophets – when a remarkable vision is opened to Joseph and Sidney Rigdon.  The accounts of this event are remarkable, and depict both of them sharing in the same experience which we later would call Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  At the conclusion of this event, the Prophet Joseph Smith would jump out of his seat – thrilled with the experience; while Sidney Rigdon would remain in his seat, ill and physically warn out.  This is the moment, when the Prophet, noticing Sidney’s physical reactions states, “Never mind him, he is not as used to it as I am.”

These three experiences reveal something about the impact the spirit can have on our bodies, and that is that it can have a physical impact. 

When people talk about feeling the spirit that is exactly what they are referring to, feeling the spirit.  Grant it, there are many circumstances and many people, who experience the spirit in a different way, but for the most part even the most novice participant in spiritual things can say that they feel something - that there is a physical response to the influence and impact of the Holy Spirit. 

For those who are not as used to it as others, this feeling can create excitement.  It creates a sense of awareness in part of our souls (body and spirit) that we formerly were not aware was even present or possible.  We feel something where we didn’t feel something before and it makes us learn that we are more alive than we ever imagined before.  And there are times when this knowledge, in and of itself, can give use a feeling of joy – joy that there is more to life than we previously anticipated.

But there, as always, is something more to this lesson.  There is more to it than just identifying that the spirit has a physical effect upon our bodies.  As with anything physical, there is a point where the action can still take place, but the reaction goes unnoticed.  We can grow accustom to such feelings, and they no longer noticeably affect us as before.

Take into consideration the use of caffeine (the author acknowledges the crude correlation that is about to take place, but requests the open mind of the reader to learn the principle).  When someone consumes caffeine for the first time there is a surge of energy, a physical response, and a reaction that hadn’t been felt before.  As consumption becomes regular, the noticeable effects diminish over time.  Dependence is created, and the consumer no longer feels the same affects as they did before.  In this circumstance it is not that the caffeine is not being consumed, and the reactions are not taking place – the body grows insensitive to the common place chemical reactions within the body.  This usually means that the only things that will become physically noticed in this circumstance is either the increase in the consumption amount (to heighten the response) or the decrease in consumption (to reveal just how dependent the consumer really is on the ingredient).

This is a viable explanation of what might happen with the spirit.  As we gain more regular, common, and frequent contact with the spirit – we physically grow accustom to it.  We no longer respond as we once did having become dependent upon it.  In these circumstances it is not that we are not feeling the spirit, we are only feeling the same amount of spirit that we usually feel; and the only thing that may change how we feel is either an increase of the spirit, or a decrease of the spirit to reveal to us exactly how dependent upon it we have become and exactly how much it really as with us all along.

As stated earlier, this happens every day.  I believe there is someone everyday wondering why they are not feeling the spirit as they once were.  The answer isn’t that there is an absence of the spirit, but an increase in our ability to process the spirit.  This stage is a reflection of just how much the spirit is around us. 

When you question to yourself why you don’t feel the spirit as you once did, the most important question to ask is – what am I not doing?  “Is it I?”

Be honest with yourself, and evaluate what actions and steps you may be neglecting: personal scripture study, family time, temple attendance, sincere participation in the sacrament.  If all of these things are genuinely completed, it may just be that you are surrounded with the presence of the Holy Spirit, you have become dependent upon it, and you have therefore become accustom to it.

When a missionary asks himself, his companion, or his mission president, “Why don’t I feel the same as before?”  Is it that they have just become accustom to living in the light of the gospel?

The example that Joseph Smith gave us was that of the spiritual muscle; something that is impacted through the experiences of the Holy Spirit.  And although it may begin weak at first, it can grow stronger and stronger, brighter and brighter, until the perfect day.  And as with any muscle the more it grows, the less it is impacted with the former exercises.