The beginning of each semester at BYU felt like magic to me.
I love learning new things, and so the prospect of walking across campus and sitting down in various classes to learn from people who are experts in these subjects was just fascinating to me.
Looking at a syllabus to see how we could fill an entire semester with hours of learning about different facets of one subject was exhilarating.
Call me a nerd, I know.
And it’s not like I totally loved the act of reading every assigned book and writing every research paper.
But ultimately, I felt the spirituality that was inherently intertwined with learning.
Gaining knowledge was spiritual to me.
The thing that made me sad though were some of my fellow classmates who learned from the same classes that I did and eventually reasoned their way out of their gospel beliefs.
Gaining knowledge had become a worldly pursuit that pulled them further from God.
“The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.” (D&C 93:36)
The ultimate glory of God is intelligence.
Intelligence is vital and it is championed by God.
And what is intelligence?
It’s not just knowledge. It’s not just getting a good test score.
Intelligence is light and truth.
Intelligence is the light of Christ, the presence of the Spirit, at the same time as the acquisition of truth.
It’s learning under the influence of the Spirit.
And then it leads to intelligent action that is completely congruent with what we’ve learned.
We are created to crave learning.
Maybe it’s math. Maybe it’s music. Maybe it’s recipes. Maybe it’s emotional strategies. Maybe it’s history. Maybe it’s education pedagogy. Maybe it’s public service. Maybe it’s the scriptures.
When we are truly aligned in our spirituality, when we are inviting the Spirit into our lives with every action and thought, I believe that our curiosity is ignited.
There is so much knowledge out there.
And God is looking for righteous, spiritual individuals who are going to learn and then act.
I want to hear— when YOU are aligned spiritually, what is an area you feel your curiosity is led toward?
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
4 Responses
Learning more about everything related to the Savior and His Gospel ❤️❤️❤️
<3
I love this! So many of us in the church, when asked why we’re hete in this mortal life, answer “to learn.”
But I’ve come to believe that it’s more like “to experience.” To experience the light and truth and grace that only comes by doing our best to live in alignment with God…
Thanks Cali!
Thank you for sharing! <3