Man is the most amazing of all creations. We know we are the greatest thing which God created on this earth, because He tells us so.
And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so.[1]
Since God is omnipotent, omnipresent and all knowing, and we are created in their image to become as they are, it is only reasonable and logical that our potential and our abilities are to match our Heavenly parents.
This time on the earth is a time unrivaled in history. There is information at our fingertips and in front of our eyes that can only be equaled and bested by personal revelation. In the study of the human body being the temple of God[2], as Paul teaches us, it gives us an opportunity to understand the temple and man more clearly.
Hugh Nibley taught us that the temple is the scale-model of the universe and the source of all civilization; "there is no aspect of our civilization which doesn't have its rise in the temple[3]" (p. 25) — all the arts, government, commerce, the traditional academic disciplines (mathematics, astronomy, history, architecture, philosophy), writing (and hence libraries), athletic competition, judicial systems, our festivals, the patterns of our celebrations, and so on.[4] Nibley went on to state that what makes a temple different from other buildings is not its sacredness, but its form and function.[5]
This information inclines my thinking towards a greater degree of magnificence regarding the human form. If you can find art, government, commerce, mathematics, architecture, and even astronomy in the temple/human body, then it is truly a most magnificent creation and deserves the attention of every scholarly action and pursuit.
Emanuel Swendenborg gives us an additional insight into the body and the temple. He tells us that absolutely everything in nature, from the smallest to the greatest, is a correspondence. His explanation of a correspondence is that everything in the world corresponds to heavenly things that are in heaven; or things in the natural world correspond to things in the spiritual world.[6]
He goes on to explain how the union of heaven with the world occurs by means of correspondences. The Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of purposes that are functions…or functions that are purposes…We can see that the correspondence of the world with heaven, takes place through functions, and that the functions are what unite them. We can also see that the forms that clothe the functions are correspondences and unions to the extent that they are forms of the functions.[7]
Since everything created on earth is created spiritually first, or in a different sphere of more refined matter to be clothed later with a physical body for a function, it is easier to understand the human body as having not only divine design, but also divine purpose. The object is to achieve the highest function and purpose.
This purpose is beautifully explained in Moses 1:39, when the Creator himself explains the object or function of the creation. For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Hence, it is not difficult to comprehend that our bodies, which mirror something heavenly, have a function to perform to become eternal, immortal, and glorious beyond our wildest imaginings.
Weaving the pattern of truth and understanding about the temple and how it relates to the form of the human body creates an unrivaled parallel to a piece of heavenly fabric. The subjects of number, geometry, art, architecture, color, light, and government will be found woven through the complexity of this work. This would make such perfect sense, for God is a god of economy, wasting nothing, but explaining everything.
For a short while you may be diverted in your concentration, but only for a season and certainly with a purpose. All these subjects (colors of glory) will culminate in creating a greater understanding and reverence for man and the temple. So let us study the human body in greater complexity as it relates to the temple.
[2] 1 Cor. 3:16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
[3] Hugh Nibley, Temple and Cosmos, Deseret Book Company, Salt lake City, Utah, pg 25.
[4] Ibid, Forward.
[5] Hugh Nibley & Stephen Ricks, Mormonism and Early Christianity, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2000, Chapter 8.
[6] Emanuel Swendenborg, Heaven and Hell, translated by George E. Dole, Swendenborg Foundation, Pennsylvania, 2000, pg 141.
[7] Ibid, pg. 145.
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