On what Mormonism is really all about, according to Joseph Smith, Aleister Crowley, and (mostly) me, a short essay made in the image of a long thread: 0/20

Mormonism is a religion quite unlike any other. In fact “religion” is too small a word to describe it. It’s a method, a direction, an aim beyond any church, a leap few since Joseph have taken. It should lead you to a stone that guides you elsewhere. 1/20

I was just a little older than young Joseph was in the Sacred Grove when I first learned the Mormon story. I knew no other mischievous 15 year olds obsessed with religion so Joseph became a quick friend. Unsatisfied with his leaders he longed for a God on the margins. 2/20

I would soon discover all the flaws that blossomed in him as an adult, but I was already in love. It was not my place to forgive but he was easy to accept as mine, good and bad. A “rough stone rolling,” Joseph, in my mind, is forever that curious boy in a grove. 3/20

I’ve mentioned before that, during a dark period of my life, once while reading the Book of Mormon, I was completely turned around by the Spirit. It saved me. But when I joined the Church, above the BoM and the living prophets, my commitment was to the faith of Joseph. 4/20

What do I mean by “the faith of Joseph”? I use this phrase to describe what I feel is the essence of Joseph’s journey, what he tried to communicate via pseudepigrapha, ritual, and mystic exercise. It’s not the faith of his followers, very different than that of the Church. 5/20

While Mormonism is first a religion of personal revelation, from early in Joseph’s ministry there grew a preoccupation with authority. To this day revelation is emphasized only inasmuch as it reinforces the authority of those with “keys”. But what are these keys? 6/20

Referring to Noah, Joseph once explained that “the keys of this priesthood consisted in obtaining the voice of Jehovah that he talked with him in a familiar and friendly manner,” establishing that any claim to authority relies on a person’s ability to receive revelation. 7/20

Late in his ministry Joseph described experiences of angels laying hands on his head, as if to pass on a lineage, but the way I read that quote priesthood authority really comes by establishing a line of familiar communication with God. Thus, you likely already have keys. 8/20

Joseph wanted to make prophets. He tried teaching his followers to translate records, receive revelation, see visions. Unlike most religious founders, Joseph spent his whole ministry trying to give his followers the experiences which liberated him from religious authority. 9/20

This doesn’t mean he didn’t like the power, nor does it mean he didn’t at times use that power in some really ugly ways. But till the day he died, always a man of paradox, he expressed a vision of Zion that numbered every Saint a prophet, priest(ess), king/queen, and god. 10/20

However, we like leaders don’t we? The Israelites were afraid to enter the presence of God on Sinai, they preferred Moses be their advocate. As a result they lost the higher law that God first intended them to have. It’s abundantly clear that Mormons have met the same fate. 11/20

Joseph never intended revelation to be confined to warm fuzzies you feel in your chest while reading the BoM, followed by the ceding of all spiritual autonomy over to those presiding over you. He wanted the Church to be a springboard into our own prophetic journeys. 12/20

There was a time when the temple was understood to be a place where you learned how to pray so as to “converse with the Lord through the veil.” Today, it is simply another way to show obedience. The Mormonism of the Church is no longer the faith of Joseph. 13/20

But the faith of Joseph doesn’t work well institutionalized. It’s not homogeneous, it’s a method of working your way into God’s presence by whatever means you find. Invent story, craft ceremony, place yourself in something ancient, somewhere you don’t belong, & settle in. 14/20

In my spiritual journey I spent some time studying the work of another problematic prophet, Aleister Crowley. He once wrote something that deeply resonated with me and, I think, would resonate deeply with Joseph as well: 15/20

“I admit that my visions can never mean to other men as much as they do to me. I do not regret this. All I ask is that my results should convince seekers after truth that there is beyond doubt something worth while seeking, attainable by methods more or less like mine...” 16/20

“...I do not want to father a flock, to be the fetish of fools and fanatics, or the founder of a faith whose followers are content to echo my opinions. I want each man to cut his own way through the jungle.”

This is the faith of Joseph, a work to obtain your own keys. 17/20

For Joseph, these “keys of the priesthood” included the Bible, story-telling, seer stones, visualizations, folk magic, Methodism, Freemasonry, and wherever else his youthful curiosity led him to find the “words of Jehovah.” 18/20

I don’t talk much about my spirituality beyond what is firmly grounded in Mormonism, but I’d like to start. I read the tarot, study A Course in Miracles, use crystals in meditation, practice Gurdjieff’s method of self-observation, and all of this is part of my Mormonism. 19/20

Early Mormons believed it was our duty to walk in nature, eyes aimed at the ground, noticing anything that catches our attention. The Church did not provide “correlated” seer stones, you had to find your own. So, Saints, follow the faith of Joseph and find your own. 20/20