Musings on the need for a living Prophet

Not really after conclusions, just thinking "out loud" and maybe conclusions will find me.  And maybe they won't.  *musemuse...*

One of the biggest "selling points" that the Church has is the claim that we have a Prophet of God alive and working on the Earth today: praying for and about us and our world, receiving revelation, giving guidance to those who will listen, etc.  We sustain fifteen men in all--the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency--as prophets, seers, and revelators, but only one is the Prophet, the one man who holds all keys of Priesthood authority and whose word is considered not just useful, but generally final.  There is the encouragement, of course, for every person to pray for personal confirmation of the Prophet's words and their application in the life of the individual, but there are a great many of us willing to forgo that step in favor of simply following the Prophet by faith.

Until or unless what the Prophet gives as a general guideline doesn't fit our personal circumstances.  Things start to get a little hairy at that point.

I don't know if I want to get into the particulars of those occurrences at this time, that's not really what I'm musing about but I may wander that way as I think.  I'm contemplating more about the intersection of mysticism and following the Prophet.  For the purpose of clarity, here's the definitions of mysticism under which I'm operating.

Mysticism:  n. "2. a doctrine of an immediate spiritual intuition of truths believed to transcend ordinary understanding, or of a direct, intimate union of the soul with god through contemplation or ecstasy." ;  "2. a system of contemplative prayer and spirituality aimed at achieving direct intuitive experience of the divine." ;
In religion, the attempt by an individual to achieve a personal union with God or with some other divine being or principle. Mystics generally practice daily meditation.

The personal relationship we are told we can have with God and that we are encouraged to pursue is  mysticism.  "God hears and answers personal prayers."  "The Holy Ghost will testify to you of truth."  "You can receive personal revelation."  Mysticism.  I think it takes a lot of the "woo-woo" connotation out of the term when you look at it this way; it starts to feel very normal.  So!  That makes Mormons a bunch of mystics.  So how do we reconcile that with the need for a Prophet?  If we can receive our own revelation, why do we need someone else to do it for us?  That's a good, fair question.

Spiritual gifts are mentioned several times in the scriptures (my links are by no means comprehensive) among them faith, prophesy, belief, understanding, etc.  What is almost always brought up in conjunction with lists of these gifts is the caveat that not everyone has the same gifts, and among those with the same gift, there are different levels of natural ability.  I would also say it follows that among the levels of natural ability, there are those who put more or less work into improving their gifts.  We're left then with a wide spectrum of ability and understanding mixed in to the flow of every day life.  Culture, language, history, family dynamics, friend dynamics, hormone balance, mental and physical health, life experience, socio-economic standing, education, natural disasters, and personal philosophy can all profoundly impact the way we think and act and what we want.  Individual circumstances are the essence of diversity, and that's wonderful, but it can also make it very hard to find Truth.  Universal, overarching Truth.  Prophets help guide us toward Truth, if we're willing to listen.

Of course, that brings up the fact that no two groups seem able to agree on what Truth is.  (Thus why they're groups rather than one unit.)  So how does one find who is a True Prophet?  As MormonsN we go right back to mysticism; we ask for Divine confirmation.  So, assuming we get confirmation, doesn't that prove we have our own Divine hotline?  So why a Prophet?  But we just had the confirmation, so shouldn't we follow that feeling and follow the Prophet?  Perhaps we didn't feel a confirmation at all, so does that mean the Prophet is false or that maybe we have more searching to do?  Are we asking the right way?  Are we receiving the answer in the way we think we should, or are we getting it in a way we don't want.


Billions of people around the world struggle with these questions and the answers will vary from person to person.  Diversity is hardwired into the system, so it must be part of the Plan, though not the very linear Plan we hear described in lessons.  There is proxy temple work to cover those who pass on without the opportunity to accept or reject the Gospel, but even then... why plan for billions of people to live by mystic connections alone, if they even maintain or acknowledge them?  It results in so many different ways of thinking and feeling and believing and being, some of which go so far aside that even with the presence of a true prophet that they no longer recognize the authority.  Still others get so stuck on prophets of the past that they can't accept prophets in the present and change with them.  This happens even among those who believe in modern prophets.


Still, change does come, because we live in a changing, diverse, multi-cultural, multi-philosophical (is that a term?  Is now!) world.  So having one steady, consistent voice, one keel directing the ship is a lot less frustrating.  Or maybe it's a flagship, and we're all just in little dinghies rowing along in the wake, trying to just end up in the same harbor.  We just happen to be equipped with our own sextant, if we know how to use it to confirm the course.  So you can follow the flag ship, use the sextant, or do both... Or neither!


I'm done musing for today.  I have to get to work, and my brain feels full.