In her
introduction to The Revelation of Divine
Love from the 14th-century visionary Julian of Norwich, M.L. Del Mastro wrote the following about
Julian’s interpretation of her visions:
While bodily sight was going on, Juliana was
also experiencing spiritual insight as to the meaning and implications of what
she was seeing. It is her account of what she saw with her eyes and of the
words in her understanding—the alternative and sometimes simultaneous means by
which the showings were conveyed to her—that keeps the chronological thread of
narrative unbroken and provides a context for the spiritual insight and “unfolding”
of truth which as the point of revelation. (The
Revelation of Divine Love in sixteen showings made to Dame Julian of Norwich [trans.
M.L. Del Mastro; Kent, U.K.: Burns and Oates, 1994], 45)
What was
rather interesting to me when I read this was how Julian, in an ecstatic,
visionary state, not only “saw” with her eyes one thing, as a visionary, she
also expanded upon what she saw as part of the revelation. While I do not
believe Julian of Norwich was a visionary from God, at the same time, it does
show that those who experience visions, whether from God and/or as the result
of an ecstatic experience, can, at a revelatory level, expanded upon the vision
itself. Why is this interesting vis-à-vis LDS theology? It reminded me of Philo
Dibble’s reminiscences of the reception of D&C 76, and how Joseph, in
dialogue with Sidney Rigdon who also had the same experience, expanded upon,
and interpreted, the vision they were having while they were experiencing it while also interacting with one
another:
Joseph would, at intervals, say: “What do I
see?” as one might say while looking out the window and beholding what all in
the room could not see. Then he would relate what he had seen or what he was
looking at. Then Sidney replied, “I see the same.” Presently Sidney would say
“what do I see?” and would repeat what he had seen or was seeing, and Joseph
would reply, “I see the same.”