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8 Arrington Mormon History Lecture Mormonism and Oriental Mysticism/Materialism The creation of the Mormon faith in the 1820s is intricately bound up with two paradoxical themes about body and soul, namely materialism and mysticism. On the one hand, the Mormons were nominally Christians but deviated from many other denominations regarding, one, their ways of divining and revealing hidden truths, and, two, their beliefs about the meaning of the material or corporeal world in light of spirituality . The first involved the use of mysticism, while the second often involved considerable intellectualizing. Although the Orient is normally associated with the former, and mysticism is an undeniably important part of its appeal, the flip side—materialism—is also a factor in popular perceptions of the region. This is a reminder that Orientalism is largely composed of a series of binary distinctions such as good and evil, light and dark, and flesh and spirit, to name just a few.4 Consider, first, mysticism as exemplified by an act that was in fact essential in revealing the faith that would soon reshape the American religious landscape, namely Joseph Smith’s use of seer stones. Smith himself noted that his translation of ancient scriptures involved the use of “two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted ‘seers’ in ancient or former times, and that God prepared them for the purposes of translating the book.”5 This leaves no doubt that the stones possessed mystical powers, which were foretold in the Bible, but also that their source was Old World in origin. Although many cultures throughout history have ascribed power to stones of various types, the wisdom that these particular stones would reveal is linked to the ancient Near East. This is not surprising as the arts of scrying and geomancy were thought to have originated in ancient Persia, and were linked, in popular culture, with places such as ancient Egypt. As with many aspects of early Mormon history, these stones are clouded in mystery. Smith himself is said to have used three stones. Two 4. For a more complete listing and interpretation of these binary aspects of Orientalism, see Richard Francaviglia, “Crusaders and Saracens: Orientalism in Historically Themed Motion Pictures about the Middle East,” in Lights, Camera, History: Portraying the Past in Film, ed. Richard Francaviglia and Jerry Rodnitzky (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2007), 53–90. 5. Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol. 1, 34–35. 9 "Like the Hajis of Meccah and Jerusalem" of them (the Urim and Thummim) mentioned above served as spectacles and were evidently clear and likely colorless. Given the description later offered by Smith’s mother, one wonders if they may have been “Herkimer Diamonds,” the local name given to clear and colorless, well-formed (euhedral) quartz crystals that abound in portions of upstate New York. Smith’s mother reportedly claimed that these crystals were three-sided, and that accurately describes the pointed faces (terminations) of quartz crystals. At any rate, the third stone Smith possessed was quite different . Reportedly unearthed while Smith was digging a friend’s well, it was brown and apparently translucent or opaque rather than transparent; perhaps a variety of chalcedony, which is also commonly found in that area. Examples of surviving seer stones suggest that they were apparently of either a color or shape to be quite distinctive from other stones found. For our purposes here, the most important thing to remember about these stones was that they were said to possess magical powers (or to magically empower their users). It was said by some that in the case of Smith’s stones, these powers (and the stones) ultimately originated in the ancient part of the world from which the Jaredites set out—namely the Near East. The stones’ power and source area thus links them to the hearth of Oriental mysticism (and Oriental mystics), namely, the ancient Near East and its rich tradition of magic. Here we may consult the unofficial Mormon press for a nonscholarly interpretation—one that sheds light on folk views of Mormon history . As Ogden Kraut observed in a self-published book called Seers and Seer Stones (1971), “In certain ages of the world seers were commonly known, and occasionally many seers lived at the same time.” As with other aspects of Mormon history, place is an important operative here...

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