Hi Jared,
Your project idea is good. The potential scope seems a bit overwhelming. Perhaps it might be helpful to further define spiritual experiences. What is a spiritual experience to one might not be considered a spiritual experience to another. For example, I can read just about any recent talk from General Conference and pull out what I consider spiritual experiences because the speaker related something that was based on faith or testimony of the influence from those living in the spirit world. To me, that is a spiritual experience.
If you are looking for experiences that are clearly identified as such by the church leader saying, “I would like to tell you about a spiritual experience I had…,” you may not find very many, especially among modern church leaders. I think we all have our favorite collection of stories we like to relate in talks or lessons that we consider spiritual experiences. They are usually ones that can be found in the official curriculum. I shared one on my blog just the other day where Heber tells of his vision of the devils while on his mission in England.
I consider that a spiritual experience, but it is not one that is usually shared in a Primary lesson or a Sunday School class because it is not particularly uplifting. Yes, it is evidence or rather testimony of the unseen world, but does it fall into the category of spiritual experiences you are looking for? If that is the case, I would be happy to share other experiences from my collection that are similar in nature, all from church leaders. They are mostly from the Journal of Discourses.
I like your research project. Perhaps you could provide some more precise categories of experiences that you are seeking. Which types of experiences do you want first - the kind where individuals came from the spirit world to deliver a message, or the kind where an individual went to the spirit world and then reported on what they discovered there? The stories I have in mind are very sacred to the ones who related them, but can all be found in some sort of published form. They may not all have been first-hand accounts that happened to the church leader, but ones they were relating to illustrate a point in a discourse.
Assuming that you are going to have contributions from multiple sources, how will you determine the ones that you will include? Do you have a criteria for classifying or verifying the source? Must it be from something published in an official publication of the church or will you accept journal entries found in books or magazine articles over the years? Does the church leader have to be a General Authority or will you accept stories from Bishops and Stale Presidents? Will you accept stories that occurred before the church leader was a church leader?
The list of questions can go on and on. I intend this to be encouraging, not discouraging. I have many to contribute to your collection. Are you going to share them in a blog format? If so, how will you index them for easy reference? Perhaps they might be better organized in a website format with a master index on the front page that readers can use to find what they are looking for. Although I imagine your intent is to provide inspiration and encouragement that comes from reading and sharing these stories, ultimately, the collection will be most useful as a reference work. You might also want to include some statements from the Brethren on warnings about sharing stories- are they meant to uplift or to just be sensational?
That’s enough for now. I hope I haven’t overwhelmed or in any way discouraged you from your project. I offer again my help in getting it started. Although they are not mine, I have dozens of stories that I can think of right away that I can contribute to your collection. God bless you in your project.
Tim Malone
Latter-day Commentary
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