- What role does visualization play in receiving revelation and what do the scriptures and church leaders say about visualization?
The following scriptures use words and phrases
such as “look”, “look forward”, “eye of faith”,
“imagine”, “view”, “seek”, “watch”, “wait”, “eyes
of your understanding”, “eagles wings” and “behold” to
describe visualization – Psalm 17:15, Psalm 27:4, Psalm 33:18,
Psalm 40:1, Psalm 119:18, Psalm 119:37, Psalm 123:1-2, Micah 7:7,
Isaiah 17:7, Isaiah 40:31, Ephesians 1:18, 1 Nephi 15:3, 1 Nephi
18:16, 2 Nephi 2:28, Jacob 1:8, Jacob 3:1, Mosiah 2:9, Alma 5:15-16,
Alma 13:28, Alma 27:28, Alma 32:40, Alma 38:2, 3 Nephi 11:3-8, 3
Nephi 15:9, 3 Nephi 18:15-18, Ether 12:19, D&C 6:36, and D&C
124:97-99.
Stephen R. Covey (who was serving as a regional
representative at the time he said this) described a method for
visualization when reading the scriptures:
[To visualize] . . . means to see in your
mind’s eye the characters and events portrayed in the scriptures.
Such an empathetic effort will help you understand the situation that
produced the teaching. Then you can relate that situation to yours
and distill the universal principle that may apply in both.
When you visualize, you’re exercising faith.
Visualizing is a powerful mental process, one of man’s unique
endowments. Most of us neglect this power. Realize it or not, control
it or not, the spiritual creation precedes the physical creation in
all things. Most of life’s battles are lost in this private phase.
(“Likening the Scriptures unto Ourselves”,
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1974/09/likening-the-scriptures-unto-ourselves?lang=eng)
Margaret Nadauld (former Young Women’s
general president) described how visualizing has enhanced her
scripture study:
I love the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church,
which has been restored to the earth in our day. I treasure the
teachings of His holy life from newborn infant to resurrected man,
Son of God.
As I have read from the pages of the Bible, in
my mind’s eye I have watched Him as He “increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favour with God and man.” In my reading, I was
there when He raised the dead. He healed the sick, fed the 5,000,
brought comfort and hope and a process for peace into the world that
He had created. He forgave those who mocked and tortured and
crucified Him—for they knew not what they did. I saw the divine
love and concern He had for His mother, though He suffered in supreme
agony Himself. He overcame death so that we can too. He has prepared
a place for us in heaven with our Eternal Father. He has taught us
the plan for happiness and given us the vision of it and the hope to
follow it. His was the ultimate life of sacrifice and a life of
service to fulfill the plan of God His Father.
(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/10/a-woman-of-faith?lang=eng)
Claudio Costa of the Seventy described how
visualization helps him find deeper meaning when he studies the
scriptures:
I love to study and ponder the life of Him who
gave everything for me and for all of us.
I love to read scriptural passages about His
sinless life, and after reading the scriptures which tell about the
events experienced by Him, I close my eyes and try to visualize
these sacred moments that teach me and strengthen me spiritually.
Moments such as:
When He spat on the ground and, having made
clay of the spittle, anointed the eyes of the blind man and said unto
him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” And the man obeyed, “and
washed, and came seeing.”
When He healed the woman who had an issue of
blood and had touched the border of His garment, believing that just
by touching Him, she would be healed.
When He appeared to His disciples, walking upon
the sea.
When He went with the disciples on the road to
Emmaus and opened the scriptures to their understanding.
When He appeared to the people in the Americas
and told them to come unto Him and thrust their hands into His side
and feel the prints of the nails in His hands and His feet so they
could know that He was “the God of Israel, and the God of the whole
earth, and [had] been slain for the sins of the world.”
(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/that-they-do-always-remember-him?lang=eng)
Robert E. Wells of the Seventy described a
visualization of the time when Jesus delivered the Sermon on the
Mount:
Today I’d like to speak about this spiritual
peace offered by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, when he gave us
the beautiful beatitude about peace and peacemakers. The entire
sermon is a blueprint for us to use in our personal path towards
perfection, as well as a pattern of the many attributes and qualities
we must develop in our eternal quest to approach the perfection and
peace Jesus personifies.
I like to think of when the sermon was first
taught. In my mind’s eye, I see a scene of peaceful beauty:
I envision an afternoon in early April. The sky is softening toward
dusk, with not even a breeze. White, wispy cirrus clouds stand almost
motionless in the clear blue sky. And below, on the coast of the Sea
of Galilee, soft waves lap against moored fishing boats. A great
crowd assembles on the side of the hill. Eager listeners sit on the
grass or stand amidst the rocks and early spring flowers. All are
hushed and thoughtful as every face is lifted up, every eye looking
towards the Lord, and every ear listening as the Savior tells them
what they need to do in order to have peace in their lives.
Tenderly Christ speaks: “Blessed are the
peacemakers.” (Matt. 5:9.) Another Bible translator quotes the
Savior, saying, “Happy are those who make peace.” (The New
Testament in Modern English, trans. J. B. Phillips, New York: The
Macmillan Co., 1958, p. 9; italics added.) Either way, we focus on
the strong verb make as in “make peace” or “peacemakers.” To
follow Christ and bring forth the blessings of heaven, we must
actively make peace in the world, in the community, in the
neighborhood, and above all, in the home we live in.
(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1991/04/peace?lang=eng)
David B. Haight mentioned in a general
conference talk how visualization can be useful when administering
the sacrament:
Our quorum advisers schooled us in our
priesthood meeting on the sacredness of the ordinance of the
sacrament—how our thoughts should be about the Savior, of His
sacrifice for us—the importance of our dress and appearance, and of
this quiet opportunity to resolve in our own minds to do better in
keeping all of the commandments. We carefully watched our own priests
officiate in a sacred procedure somewhat similar to the very first
such occasion and heard them recite a divinely directed blessing upon
the bread and water in remembrance of the flesh and blood of our
Savior. As the priest publicly addresses our Eternal Father in
Heaven, he might, if spiritually in tune,
visualize in his mind a loving Heavenly Father listening to his
humble plea,
“O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in
the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread
to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in
remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the
Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of
thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he
has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with
them.” (D&C 20:77.)
(https://www.lds.org/ensign/1983/05/the-sacrament?lang=eng)
That same principle of being spiritually in
tune so that we can visualize “a loving Heavenly Father listening”
to our humble pleas can be applied to our personal prayers as we seek
revelation.
President Monson described the importance of
visualization in this general conference talk:
Our Heavenly Father did not launch us on our
eternal journey without providing the means whereby we could receive
from Him God-given guidance to ensure our safe return at the end of
life’s great race. Yes, I speak of prayer. I speak, too, of the
whisperings from that still, small voice within each of us; and I do
not overlook the holy scriptures, written by mariners who
successfully sailed the seas we too must cross.
Individual effort will be required of us. What
can we do to prepare? How can we assure a safe voyage?
First, we must visualize our objective.
What is our purpose? The Prophet Joseph Smith counseled: “Happiness
is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end
thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is
virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the
commandments of God.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp.
255–56.) In this one sentence we are provided not only a
well-defined goal, but also the way we might achieve it.
(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976/10/which-road-will-you-travel?lang=eng)
