LDS Freedom Forum

My undergrad degree is Linguistics. Naturally I love languages and trying to communicate with others and learning about their languages.

I'm interested in thoughts others might have about the dead in the Spirit World and how we communicate with each other.

Hypothetical Situation #1:

You, as an English native speaker die, and in the Spirit World meet a Mongolian who died in 987 AD.

IIRC, spirits communicate to each other through the spirit (since they don't have vocal cords).

What language do they communicate in? Do we have to learn 10th century Mongolian first? Do they have to learn English?

I do know that the spirit world is a lot of learning, I imagine languages is a big part of that.

Any thoughts?

Via the spirit - they are "given to know". The same way God communicates with us in our respective languages. If we feel the spirit or receive words, they are as we understand them. But beyond the veil, there is one "language" - it's not a communication we are familiar with using every day (unless we DO use it.... ;) )

so we communicate to another person but using the Holy Ghost as a medium?

source?

LDSguy wrote:so we communicate to another person but using the Holy Ghost as a medium?

source?

Denise Mendenhall, Lance Richardson, personal experiences, etc.

2 Nephi 32:2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?

Language as we understand it and use it is an earthly limitation. How does God speak to us? He speaks via the Holy Ghost or if we hear his voice audibly, he speaks in a way we understand him - whether in the earthly language we are familiar with, or by opening our spirit to understand the language of heaven.

12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

If you understand what Ether 1 is teaching us, you'll see that it was not the language of the land that was confounded, it was their communication with GOD that was confounded. The veil was drawn even further. But the brother of Jared plead for him and his righteous family and friends - that the veil would not be drawn over them; that they would still have communication with the heavens and be able to hear and understand them. The others no longer understood God or heard him.

33 Which Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered.

34 And the brother of Jared being a large and mighty man, and a man highly favored of the Lord, Jared, his brother, said unto him: Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words.

35 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon Jared; therefore he did not confound the language of Jared; and Jared and his brother were not confounded.

36 Then Jared said unto his brother: Cry again unto the Lord, and it may be that he will turn away his anger from them who are our friends, that he confound not their language.

37 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and their families also, that they were not confounded.

38 And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, and if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance.

39 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord according to that which had been spoken by the mouth of Jared.

40 And it came to pass that the Lord did hear the brother of Jared, and had compassion upon him, and said unto him:

41 Go to and gather together thy flocks, both male and female, of every kind; and also of the seed of the earth of every kind; and thy families; and also Jared thy brother and his family; and also thy friends and their families, and the friends of Jared and their families.

42 And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.

43 And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me.

I'm not sure if I did a good job of summarizing a LOT that could be taught about this. If I didn't, it's my own inability to express it, so forgive me.

The closest example that I can think of to explain what Jules is saying are facial expressions.

If I do this: , you see it and know that the message that I am conveying is happiness.

If I do this: , you know that I am expressing feelings of sadness.

As humans, we learn to do this throughout our lives, read the emotions of others by their facial expressions.

With the Spirit, the Lord can communicate several sentences to you with a simple feeling. They are words that you don't necessarily HEAR, but words that you FEEL. I have had the Lord answer my prayers with several sentences, which had I heard them, would take a few seconds for Him to say and me to hear word by word. However, I received the content of the sentences all at once with a single feeling. I feel and comprehend the words instantaneously.

I imagine that the communication in the spirit world with other kindred spirits would be the same.

This quote by Elder Packer probably describes it better than I can:

“The Holy Ghost speaks with a voice that you feel more than you hear. It is described as a ‘still small voice.’ And while we speak of ‘listening’ to the whisperings of the Spirit, most often one describes a spiritual prompting by saying, ‘I had a feeling…’…
“Revelation comes as words we feel more than hear. Nephi told his wayward brothers, who were visited by an angel, ‘Ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words’” (President Boyd K. Packer, Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 77; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 60).

We probably communicate the same way we did before we came.

embryopocket wrote:The closest example that I can think of to explain what Jules is saying are facial expressions.

If I do this: , you see it and know that the message that I am conveying is happiness.

If I do this: , you know that I am expressing feelings of sadness.

As humans, we learn to do this throughout our lives, read the emotions of others by their facial expressions.

With the Spirit, the Lord can communicate several sentences to you with a simple feeling. They are words that you don't necessarily HEAR, but words that you FEEL. I have had the Lord answer my prayers with several sentences, which had I heard them, would take a few seconds for Him to say and me to hear word by word. However, I received the content of the sentences all at once with a single feeling. I feel and comprehend the words instantaneously.

I imagine that the communication in the spirit world with other kindred spirits would be the same.

This quote by Elder Packer probably describes it better than I can:

“The Holy Ghost speaks with a voice that you feel more than you hear. It is described as a ‘still small voice.’ And while we speak of ‘listening’ to the whisperings of the Spirit, most often one describes a spiritual prompting by saying, ‘I had a feeling…’…
“Revelation comes as words we feel more than hear. Nephi told his wayward brothers, who were visited by an angel, ‘Ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words’” (President Boyd K. Packer, Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 77; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 60).

Good explanation embryopocket

If translation in the Spirit World is necessary, the Holy Ghost is capable! Don't we have an example of just that in scripture, an example of all hearing what was said in their own language?


Bob

From my experience of speaking a few different languages I have come to realize that one language doesn't just translate perfectly to the next. An example is in English when we are thanked we say, "You're welcome" and in Spanish we say, "De nada" which transliterates: De= Of/ From, Nada= Nothing. It's closer to us saying "Oh, it was nothing" but it carries the meaning of "You're welcome" Also in Hebrew they say Hello and goodbye both as, "Shalom" which actually means "Peace" but it is what they use for greeting and translates in a way depending on context.

In reality I have come to my own conclusion that we only use languages to share or describe what we feel or to explain the principle of an idea. One learns other languages quicker by understanding that we don't just memorize words that are the equals to other words but that we need to learn to express ourselves in a different way.

I like what Jules said about how God communicates with us. Sometimes we fumble some of the things God sends us in translation. I had a spiritual communication with God recently. He was telling me a name and I fumbled the name and said it slightly wrong when asking him back for a confirmation. I felt nothing. I listened better and more intently. I was one letter off and the right name came to me. I asked that name back correctly and I felt a witness from God.

I wish I had words to describe this better. I'm sorry if I have not been able to communicate this experience correctly but the rest of the experience is too sacred for me to share at this time. I however love many of the posts on this thread so far. They have described this better than I have.

or Hawaiian and Aloha.

I suspect in the spirit world if you communicate with someone, you understand them perfectly. I don't think there are misunderstandings, nor can their be.

People can still be incorrect, but at least when we have discussions it will not be over semantics. I think that if words in language are used at all, the person who is speaking"s understanding and meaning are conveyed with the communication.

So ZERO deception nor haggling over what the meaning of the word "is" is. We won't have to tell people to open their mind, because I believe when we share things our perspective and our paradigm will be shared at the same time.

For those who are ready for it, I suspect this is going to remove a great stumbling block, and progression will in many ways come faster, at least on the understanding side of things. (The doing may be considerably slower, however.)