{"id":145,"date":"2005-09-21T17:38:54","date_gmt":"2005-09-22T00:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newcoolthang.com\/index.php\/2005\/09\/get-on-a-train-of-thought-our-one-track-minds\/145\/"},"modified":"2020-01-09T06:48:13","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T13:48:13","slug":"train-of-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newcoolthang.com\/index.php\/2005\/09\/train-of-thought\/145\/","title":{"rendered":"Get on a train of thought (our one-track minds)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last post on the Oneness <\/a>of the members of the Godhead I brought up the idea that a fundamental difference between our minds and the mind of the Godhead is that we can only think of one thing at a time and they can think of multiple things at once. Here is a link to the Nibley article I referred to earlier called “Zeal Without Knowledge<\/a>.” In this paper Nibley leads with the idea that human minds literally can only think of one thing at a time. We really do have one track minds — we are just good a flickering back and forth between things so quickly that it is as if we are thinking of multiple things at once. God does not have this limitation. The connection to the last post is that I think that without this limitation, the notion of me vs. other becomes a different thing entirely. Clearly, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The claim that God can think of many things simultaneously is nothing shocking. How else could he hear and respond to thousands or even millions of prayers simultaneously? The Son could have a deep conversation with Paul at the same time He is having a deep conversation with Peter. All the while the Father and the Holy Ghost are sharing his thoughts on those conversations he is sharing their thoughts as well. It is a hard concept to grasp for those of us here with one-track minds. I honestly don’t really understand it. But I do think this idea could help us reconcile the Oneness that the Godhead enjoys (and that I believe they want us to join in with them) with the notion that they retain separate minds and bodies.<\/p>\n

But it does bring up some interesting (if currently unanswerable) questions. If we are in the image of God’s body here, are our brains the image of his brain? If so, then perhaps it is just a matter of some sort of governor placed on our mortal brains to keep us thinking of one thing at time. (Nibley suggested that our one-track minds are what will make our judgment so easy at the last day – every thought is a choice and every choice reveals the desires of our heart.) Or maybe God had a different model of a brain entirely. Just because we are in his image here does not mean that everything is the same “under the hood” after all. And what model of brain do spirits have? Are their brains like God’s or like mortal brains or another model entirely? <\/p>\n

Any thoughts? How literally should we take the concept that we are built in the image of God here on earth? If we do take it literally, does it apply mostly to the chassis or does it mean we are like him “under the hood” as well?
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