Continuing on the theme of the vision quest and its role in the lives of holy people, and having touched upon the theme of the wilderness as a temple, we now turn our attention to another of the elements needed for a successful vision quest: solitude.
Scripturally, a majority of intense spiritual experience (such as visions and physical encounters with God) has occurred when the participant was alone:
"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (Gen. 32:24).
"I John...was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet" (Rev. 1:9 – 10).
"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him" (Exo. 3:1 – 2).
"The brother of Jared...went forth unto the mount, which they called the mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height...and cried again unto the Lord.... And it came to pass that...the Lord stretched forth his hand.... And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared" (Ether 3:1, 6).
Other experiences could be called to bear witness here, including Joseph Smith's first vision and Nephi's vision of the tree of life. Clearly, solitude can be an important factor in promoting sacred experiences. But solitude is not inherently sacred. This can be shown by the times in scripture when visions or physical encounters with God were entered into by numerous people together:
"And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.... And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen." (Luke 9:28, 35 – 36).
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them" (Acts 2:1 – 3).
"And now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together.... And behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them" (3 Ne. 11:1, 8).
The common denominator then in sacred experiences is not exclusion of multiple participants, but the inclusion of only faith-filled participants. This is demonstrated in the appearance of Moroni to the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon:
"In April of 1829, a schoolteacher by the name of Oliver Cowdery volunteered to be Joseph Smith’s scribe. The two of them worked at a blinding pace, completing the translation of the Book of Mormon in approximately 10 weeks. Shortly after that, Joseph announced to Martin, 'You have got to humble yourself before your God this day, that you may obtain a forgiveness of your sins. If you do, it is the will of God that you should look upon the plates, in company with Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer.'” "Joseph and Martin then walked to a nearby grove with Oliver and David, where they called upon the Lord. When the promised divine manifestation did not develop, Martin suggested that he was the cause and withdrew. Subsequently, the angel Moroni appeared and showed the plates to Joseph, Oliver, and David. Joseph then sought out Martin and discovered him engaged in humble prayer. Then the two of them were blessed with a vision similar to the one that had just taken place with the other witnesses. When the four men returned to the Whitmer cabin, Martin 'seemed almost overcome with joy, and testified boldly to what he had both seen and heard'" (Larry E. Morris, "The Life of Martin Harris: Patterns of Humility and Repentance," Ensign, July 2012).
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