Eating the Moon

This morning, I got up early (as I often do). I knew that there was a full lunar eclipse at 4:00 am, so at 5:30 (when I got up) I walked out on my deck to see if I could still see anything of the moon being covered by the shadow of the earth. Happily, the eclipse was still nearly total. Only a very small sliver of the bright moon was visible. This was a first for me – the first time I actually saw an eclipse. I had seen pictures on the news and on the internet, but this was the first time ever I saw an eclipse as it happened. About 7:30, I went onto the deck again and a larger crescent of the moon was again visible as it sank toward the horizon and into the morning mists – very unusual and beautiful. A small treat for me; one probably not to be repeated in my lifetime.

In many older cultures, there was a belief that some entity consumed the moon during an eclipse, but through their intervention in one way or another, the moon was eventually returned to its rightful place in the skies. Various peoples, Vikings, Native Americans, South American tribesmen, and Chinese people (among many others) attempt to explain the moon’s disappearance and eventual reappearance in terms they understand and that are real to them. These almost always involve a creature, gods, people, or even a dragon “eating the moon.” Two such myths come from starryskies.com:

The Moon was represented by a mirror in China. During an eclipse, an old Chinese tradition involved a dragon eating the moon and the people beating mirrors to induce the dragon to cough it up and return it to the sky.

The Serrano Indians of California believed an eclipse was the spirits of the dead trying to eat the Sun or Moon. So during an eclipse, the shamans and ceremonial assistants sang and danced to appease the dead spirits, while everyone else shouted to try to scare the spirits away. Meanwhile, everyone avoided eating food with the idea that it would starve the spirits.

We often examine these old legends and myths for anthropological reasons, but we regard them as quaint and even silly because every schoolchild knows what really causes an eclipse. A lunar eclipse was a fearful experience for these cultures. They were moved to take some action by their fears. Intervention seemed to be the key in these legends – people doing something eventually caused a favorable outcome.

For these cultures, this was “truth.” They explained and reacted to an eclipse in terms they understood. We too, tend to think of events and happenings in terms we understand. We evaluate and justify things around us for ourselves in terms that are real to us. We rationalize to help our finite minds grasp those things that defy rational explanation. We manufacture “truth” to fit our need for something to grasp when we are perplexed by circumstances, or when we have a need to justify our actions, desires, or thoughts. While we perceive many gradations and nuances of “truth,” in fact, there are really only two kinds of truth.

The first is “truth” based in man’s interpretation of the world around them, often called temporal truth. This “truth” is subjective – people decide what is true based on their experience, knowledge, wants, and desires, including their morals, morays, desire for confirmation of various kinds of behavior, and even accepted scientific truth. All of these worldly “truths” can shift and change with the wind. They are not a basis for eternal progress. Even scientific “truth” changes with new discoveries, new theories or even competition between various factions of science.

Woven like an evil, almost undistinguishable vine through temporal truth are the evil counterfeits Satan offers us. He whispers immorality over chastity, dishonesty over integrity, self-indulgence over service, ease and pleasure over joy, carnality over godliness, harshness over kindness, selfishness over generosity, bondage over freedom, entrapment over agency, and myriad other counterfeits he has offered since the world was organized.

The second is eternal or spiritual truth. Spiritual truth consists in the Laws of God and the universe. They are eternal and immutable. Even God himself must obey these laws. The Lord knows and understands all things. The Lord has declared that all truth – spiritual truth – is spiritual unto him He says, in D&C 29:34:

Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.

In the next verse (D&C 29:35) He explains why he has revealed spiritual truths to us:

Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual.

To be agents unto ourselves, we must learn to sift truths and recognize God-given spiritual truth, satanic offerings, and temporal truth. How can we differentiate between temporal and spiritual truth, and the “truth” that Satan offers to corrupt us and lead us away from the Lord? Are we in danger of “eating the moon,” of accepting mortal truths over eternal ones? Joseph Fielding McConkie, in his book, Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions, says this:

The dogmas of science are in constant flux; the verities of religion remain everlastingly the same. Using the scientific method we seek to understand the physical universe of which we are a part. It has proved itself a fit tool for doing so. It is not effective, however, in finding spiritual truths. If we would know the things of the Spirit, we must become conversant with the laws that govern spiritual things. The laws of science respond with the same consistency for evil men and their purposes as they do for the noble and righteous; but the powers of heaven are inseparably connected with righteousness (see D&C 121:36). "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated" (D&C 130:20-21).

We can understand that carnality and sensuality are not part of eternal truth. But avoiding and rejecting the things of the world is not as easy as it might seem. Many things seem good and attractive, but take us away from the gospel and our eternal progression toward the Celestial Kingdom. Defining the things in mortality that are real to us in terms of spiritual and eternal laws is essential to eternal progress. Reality is not subjective. It is everlasting and absolute.

Our whole purpose in our mortal probationary state is to learn of the spiritual truths the Lord offers and to learn to differentiate them from distractions and the subtle whisperings of Satan. Doing so requires a lifetime of study, a commitment to avoiding evil as we identify it, a constant search of the scriptures, and the pronouncements of the prophets, and a willingness to do what Alma challenges us to do in Mosiah 3:19:

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

As we do these things, it becomes easier to recognize the temporal truths that damage and slow our progress. We learn to seek the eternal, spiritual truths and laws the Lord has provided. What we are really trying to establish is our relationship with God, and his relationship with us. To avoid damage to that relationship, the best policy is to stay away from the edge of temptation. President George Albert Smith often said: “Stay on the Lord’s side of the line.” Bishop Robert L. Simpson, in April 1969 General Conference, said this:

I know a host of … wonderful people of the kingdom who ventured too close to the edge, all the time saying to themselves, "I know what I am doing. I can turn back the second I choose." Then all of a sudden it happens. The riptide loosens the last foothold, the quicksand starts to sink, the thin ice suddenly cracks, the precipice abruptly gives way. There are physical laws that govern the riptide, the cracking ice, the unstable ground; and there are moral and spiritual laws that are just as real, whose safe boundary is just as clearly defined, but as we take one fatal step, just one step too far, the laws of the universe take over—the consequence is inevitable.

Don’t let your judgment be clouded and eternal progress be stopped by eating the moon of the sensual and carnal.  Doing something (just as the native cultures did, but for different reasons), taking action to reject the wiles of Satan and “put off the natural man” are the keys to spirituality and progression.