Pages

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Today I Had an Original Thought . . .

It came to me during church while we were pondering the plan of salvation. I was thinking about ghosts at the time. (I've had ghosts on the brain since I saw Ghost Town on Friday, but you'll be reading that post soon). The teacher began talking about books and the Notre Dame cathedral and the Bible and knowledge and power and this completely unexpected original question crashed into my thoughts with Dave Matthews precision.

Can ghosts read?

We've all had that be-careful-what-you're-addicted-to-when-you-die-because-you'll-go-insane-trying-to-quench-it speech. But what if you're addicted to books? I mean, ghosts can't turn pages, right? So do they have to hang out at the library and look over people's shoulders to scratch that learning itch?

Near death stories fascinated me for quite a while after my dad's death. I wanted to know exactly what went on after we shuffle off this mortal coil. I'll never forget two near death stories that gave me chicken skin. I'll save the first one for my next post, but the second one was about ghosts in bars, waiting anxiously for the drinkers to become drunkards. Being drunk somehow made the living vulnerable to all those thirsty dead alchoholics waiting to jump inside their skin and share the buzz. It creeped me out to imagine all the dead stalkers out there floating around trying to satisfy their appetites.

But never had the thought of a book stalker crossed my mind. Until today. I don't know what gave me more of a jolt, the question itself or the joy of a brand new thought. How many other brand new thoughts are out there just waiting to accessed?

But seriously, will we be able to read in SP (spirit prison) or while we're waiting in line at the FJ (final judgement)? And what about the CK? (Celestial Kingdom) Don't even tell me there are no books in the CK?

6 comments:

The Rogers Family said...

I think your hobby/addiction is an eternal dead end. Kind of like investing, cycling, and food..? bummer, Stephen

Emily Anne Leyland said...

HAHAHAHA- I don't know why this post made me laugh so hard but it did. Maybe because I LOVE anything ghosty :) It's pathetic but I love the show Ghost hunters and often wonder myself about all that you said. Ghosttown, hmmn, tell me more. Me likey the sound of it..lol.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, here you get into the whole territory of do we even need books if we can just make up our own that are the best thing ever . . . or watch the lives of our creations unfold more dramatically than any film . . . etc.

I used to want to do all the sewing in the Celestial Kingdom, but I'm not sure anymore. (I also thought it would be cool to be the one handing out the spirit clothes to the newest Spirit World arrivals. But again, not so sure anymore. It depends on what kind of spirit fabric and notions are available, I guess.

Anonymous said...

(P.S. If you're curious how this stranger came to be commenting on your blog, I just came here through Mormon Mommy Blogs.)

Jami said...

Here's my take on it. You pretty much get to take three things with you when you go. 1. Relationships.
2. Covenants. 3. Knowledge.

Under the heading of knowledge, everything we learn here is just a teeny, tiny bit of eternal truth. But I think that the desire to know that we develop, the curiosity, the humble, learning heart, I think those character attributes will prepare us to receive eternal knowledge.

But to the point of your post, physical books probably would frustrate us during our spirit time, so I am guessing there is some type of book that can be held by a spirit body. Certainly the CK will have an amazing library.

Perhaps these are just the ponderings of a pathetic bibliophile, justifying her addiction with high falutin words, but I've got to sleep at night, and the thought of no books in the CK sort of flips me out.

*MARY* said...

Late last night I noticed that you had a new post so I started reading but when you mentioned ghosts I freaked out and turned the computer off without finishing your post. Now the sun is shining and I can read without being too scared. I hope I lose my fear of ghost after I become one.