Wondering

From my admittedly imperfect point of view, wondering seems to me to be the key to many great discoveries. Scientists wonder. Clerics wonder. Philosophers wonder. Mathematicians wonder. Artists wonder. We all wonder many times in our lives about many things.

Sir Isaac Newton wondered. Newton himself often told the story that he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree. Although it has been said that the apple story is a myth and that he did not arrive at his theory of gravity in any single moment, acquaintances of Newton (such as William Stukeley, whose manuscript account of 1752 has been made available by the Royal Society) do in fact confirm the incident, though not the cartoon version that the apple actually hit Newton's head. Stukeley recorded in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life, a conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726 (quoting Newton):

"Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground," thought he [Newton] to himself; occasion'd by the fall of an apple, … "why should it not go sideways, or upwards? but constantly to the earths center? assuredly, the reason is that the earth draws it.”

The prophet of the restoration, Joseph Smith, wondered (as quoted from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, p 602):

In the course of translating a portion of 3 Nephi that described the manner of baptism, Joseph and Oliver wondered about their own need for baptism. As had become customary with Joseph, he sought instruction from God. On May 15, 1829, while he and Oliver prayed, a heavenly messenger appeared to them. Identifying himself as John the Baptist, he conferred on them the Aaronic Priesthood, which gave them the authority to baptize (see Aaronic Priesthood: Restoration). With that newly received authority and under the direction of the angel, the two men baptized each other in the Susquehannah River. [Italics added]

On October 3rd, 1918, the prophet Joseph F. Smith wondered, resulting in D&C 138, the wonderful revelation about the status of spirits (italics added) I quote four verses from that Section:

1 On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures;

28 And I wondered at the words of Peter—wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah—and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.

29 And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; [Italics added]

30 But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.

There are many instances like these – all prophets (from Adam to Thomas S. Monson) have wondered, and because of their righteous desire to know, the Lord has blessed them with great knowledge and understanding of the gospel. We have the same privilege. We can wonder. We can ask. We can seek.

Wondering seems to me to be one of the keys to eternal progress. The trouble with wondering is that it can also lead to questions that can be detrimental to our eternal progress. Instead of trusting in the Lord and his prophets, apostles, and other leaders, instead of trusting the word of God as found in the scriptures, instead of listening to the Holy Ghost testify to us, we turn to our own understanding, and in so doing wander from the path. Solomon says in Proverbs 3:5-6:

5 ¶ Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Mormon describes unrighteous wondering and its consequences in Mormon 9:26-27:

26 And now, behold, who can stand against the works of the Lord? Who can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish. [Italics added]

27 O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.

Futhermore, as we wander, we lose sight of the goal. Since we have taken the easy, downward path, we stop wondering about the less traveled way, the way the Lord would have us go. We enjoy the momentary pleasures Satan offers, and forget the true joys of eternity that the Lord offers. The first and last stanzas of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, read as follows:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

…

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

There are lots of interpretations of this poem. It gets a ton of searches on the internet, and people have gone so far as to say that it is the most misunderstood poem ever written. I prefer the interpretation that most people place on the poem. Namely, that choices are important. Making the right choices in this life, taking the right path, moves us closer to our ultimate goal.

 The poem does not point out that there are many times in our lives when we face choices, and they are often difficult. The wrong choice can lead us away from our goal. We often cannot see past where the path “bends in the undergrowth,” so we must rely on wondering, pondering, searching, and praying to help us choose.

If we are willing to take the less traveled path, we may wonder what would have happened if we took the other path, but we realize the benefits of the harder way. Anne Osborn Poelman, in her book, The Amulek Alternative: Exercising Agency in a World of Choice, p 66, says:

Did you ever wonder where the other path, the "more-traveled road," led? Who hasn't looked backwards on his or her life with the always-powerful benefit of hindsight and wondered: What Might Have Been? What If? Or, perhaps sadly, If only… [Italics added]

If we fail to discern the critical decision points, we can—simply by default—drift onto side roads. We may bypass the right path, which is frequently the lonelier, less-traveled road. Yet it is so often the harder, more obscure path that will lead us to happiness and eternal life, even God's life.

As a final note, I could not let the month of December pass without solemn comment about the birth of our Savior. We celebrate the transcendent event of all of human history this month. The Father of us all gave his only begotten son to us. This is the beginning of a thirty-three year sojourn that led to atonement for our sins. Because of this, we (all who share mortality) are blessed with ability to repair our earthly mistakes and make ourselves (with the help of our elder brother) into beings fit to dwell with our Father forever. No wonder that when the shepherds talked afterwards about their experience, the people wondered:

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. [Italics added]

Let us never lose the ability to wonder at this inestimable gift. Let us “Choose the Right” so that in “ages and ages hence” (my interpretation: the celestial kingdom) we can say that our wondering and choosing have made “all the difference.”