Monday, October 12, 2009

On "Relief Society: Divine Organization of Women" (Svithe)

I'm svithing the (slightly revised and expanded) notes I took during Elders' Quorum today. They devolve from our discussion of Lesson 39 in the Joseph Smith manual on the Relief Society. Engage me if you feel compelled.

Notes from prstd 11 Oct. 2008:

The Relief Society sisters saw a need and organized to meet that need even before the Prophet had initiated the organization. They didn't have to be asked---just proactively did what needed to be done. Questions for myself: What can you take from this? What needs have you seen in your various spheres of activity and what can you do (w/out being asked to do it) to fulfil those needs?

As Emma Smith: learn to devote increased (quality? quantity?) time, space, and attention to others. Making/giving space for others---a means of expanding the soul, the influence of the soul, of the person. Like Bella in Breaking Dawn (random association): expanding her natural gift, the "shield" of her love/concern over her friends and family in order to protect them from danger, to give them the chance to reach for their potential. 

Spatial relationships and/in the Relief Society. Creating inter- & intra-personal connections and spaces through compassion, charity, and benevolence. The potential of service, passion, and adversity to create an expansive emotional space in which to engage the needs, sympathies, and potential of others. In the end, is this what the kingdom of God is all about, what it means to become possessed of pure love (see Moroni 7:47)? 

Second full paragraph on p. 454: As I read it, the Prophet's language is latently erotic, in the purest sense of Eros: "Females, if they are pure and innocent, can come in the presence of God." Offering the deepest in themselves to Deity, their innocence, their purity for the benefit and service of others, of the kingdom. An unselfish pursuit/release of their passions in the presence and service of God, implying that these passions, this inherent nature can and must be directed through the proper channels and that God will accept such an offering when given in righteousness. (Tenuous reading?)

Thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. .

    Was "come" used that way in the 1830/40s?

    (I ask because I don't have OED access.)

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  2. I very much like that reading, whether it was originally intended or not.

    I like to use Webster's 1828 when reading anything written or spoken by Joseph Smith or his contemporaries:

    http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/come

    The 1971 OED (which is all I've got) lists definition 37b (obsolete) as follows: "To come into bodily contact or sexual connection with"; all such usages are from the 16th and 17th centuries and are used with the preposition "at." That definition seems to apply more to joining than to climaxing.

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  3. Perhaps the more grammatically correct rendition of the Prophet's phrasing would be "come into the presence of God," but since it says, "come in the presence of God," I pursued the erotic reading, though there are certainly other readings available.

    In the version of the O.E.D. I have access to (1989), definition 17 is "to experience sexual orgasm." The earliest usages it lists are from 1650 (Walking in Meadow Green in Bp. Percy's Loose Songs: "Then off he came, & blusht for shame soe soone that he had endit") and 1714 (Cabinet of Love: "Just as came, I cried, 'I faint, I die!'"). So such a usage was available in the 1830/40s, though whether Joseph had it in mind when he said this is impossible to know.

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  4. Well, now you have confirmed a suspicion I have held lo, these many years: I need to get the updated OED.

    I bought mine at a rock-bottom sale price in 1988, unaware that said sale was on to clear the floor for next year's model.

    Maybe Santa will spring for the CD-ROM version.

    (And yes: I assumed that Joseph meant "into." But still.)

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  5. Yes: but still.

    Luckily I have access to the OED online through school. One benefit of still being a student.

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