In a May 2011 Washington Post article titled, “Is this really a ‘Mormon moment?’” by Michael Otterson, who is the Head of Public Affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stated: “In my line of work, I get to read what a lot of people say about my church. Every day, news media reports mentioning The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or “Mormons” cross my desk, many from remote parts of the world. Since the advent of the Internet the number has increased exponentially, especially in the US… Perhaps most significantly, as the church grows, more people have a co-worker who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a neighbor, or friend. And, as people get to know members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they get a clearer, fuller, and more accurate picture of our faith. This is vital, since real understanding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lags far behind its visibility.”
In speaking of visibility, how are we perceived visibly? Is the light of our individual beings any brighter than any other group of people on this beautiful planet? This is a difficult question as we are all subject to physiological, mental and spiritual cycles or ‘highs and lows’ in life, but the question should be considered as a question ‘in general.’ “Are we more often perceived with a glow that one would expect from enlightened disciples of the Lord?
Do we have a visible aura? What is an aura?
Man is mysteriously and wonderfully made—‘In His image!’ (Genesis 1:26) Man is like an “Electro-Chemical machine.” We move and have our being through chemical and electrical interactions. Engineers have been working for years on machines (robots) that can perform processes that require the machine to mimic human functionality. Possibly the inspiration may have come from man’s electro-chemical makeup. Today’s physicians evaluate our health problems through chemical tests and/or machines that measure the electrical output of our major organs. Two such machines are: an electrocardiogram and an electroencephalogram. The interactions between the chemical and electrical processes cause a tremendous amount of energy to flow through our bodies. A portion of that energy can actually be photographed, it is called the human aura.
In the Dark Ages artist depicted a halo around the heads and sometimes the whole body of spiritual leaders. One explanation for such halos is that some people are able to see auras with the naked eye. A man by the name of Semyon Kirlian (Kirlian Photography) first studied and recorded pictures of people’s auras.
Today, a picture of our aura can be taken in a darkened room with an infrared TV camera and then we can view our aura in living color. Auras have a variety of different colors. The colors of an aura depend on the length of the lightwaves coming from the body. Pictures of human auras vary from person to person. Artists will recognize that red has the shortest lightwave, blue the longest and white is a combination of the three primary colors: red, blue and green. Exactly how the spirit interacts with the electromagnetic and chemical aspects of our being is not known. Our spirits and the electro-chemical activity of our bodies may, in fact, be one and the same.
The Book of Mormon describes how beautiful white auras appeared around the Nephites when Christ appeared on this continent. (3 Nephi 19:25–28) “And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him…and the light of his countenance (His aura) did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus;
And behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all…whiteness… And Jesus…prayed again unto the Father, saying: Father, I thank thee that thou hast purified those whom I have chosen, because of their faith…” Purity of soul has always been depicted as white in our society. I’m assuming that the purer, more spiritual we are, the whiter and/or brighter will be our auras.
Heavenly messengers are always described, in the scriptures, as being a glowing white. All of us, at one time or another, have been aware of persons whose countenance seemed to shine.
God has given us power, by virtue of the way He created us, to portray ourselves in many ways. We are abounding in life giving energy that can be expressed by our auras. We all have auras, but whether they be obvious or barely detectable; red, blue or white, I believe, has something to do with how we live. We have been instructed to: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) If it were not possible to let our light shine, I don’t believe the Lord would have phrased His instruction that way. May we all strive to live such that our light (aura), will so shine and be visible before men, that they will see our good works and happy countenances, that thereby the Father will be glorified. Man is mysteriously and wonderfully made—“in His image.”