How is the Burning in the bosom and Stupor of thought?

[nellyleyva92]

How would you describe the burning in the bosom and the stupor of thought? Any experiences with these?

How can you tell when your feelings are a burning in the bosom and not your own desires / or if it is really a stupor of thought that comes from Heaven and not your own fears?

Thank you!

[Eowyn]

Burning in the bosom is easier for me. I feel a literal swelling in my chest, but more than that, I feel peace.

I am by nature a fearful person, so the other one is hard for me. I've learned for myself that I need to pray to feel peace if I'm on the right track, and clarity if I'm not.

I think what many people forget is that it takes work sometimes to get to the right answers. We have to do our homework and pray always, and live in the way that keeps the Holy Ghost with us.

[Anddenex]

I am not familiar with the burning in the bosom, thus unfortunately I am not able to give anything substantial to this doctrine.

Here is one example of a stupor of thought, however there are probably many ways this is accomplished. My friend's mother was actually going to be engaged to another man than his father. The man had proposed, and then she went to the Lord in prayer. They had dated for about six months and the relationship was getting serious, obviously since he proposed.

When she knelt in prayer, and begin to pray, as she tried to say his name, her potential fiance, she could not remember his name. She continued to pray, and she still could not remember his name. After she closed her prayer, the moment she ended it appropriately, she remembered his name. She took this as a sign for "stupor of thought."

Six months after she said "No" the man was arrested for a felony and put in jail. She then met my friends father.

This is one example, however I am assuming a stupor of thought can be more subtle than this experience.

[anatess]

It is different for everybody. I just gave this talk a couple weeks ago. The interesting thing about the Spirit is that we are taught to "listen" to the Spirit but actually don't "hear" the Spirit, we "feel" it.

Each person experiences this differently because a person's feeling is subjective and formed by a combination of experience and personality. A burning in the bosom, therefore, is unique for every person.

For me, I can pinpoint to several instances throughout my life where I felt the Spirit so strongly. Each experience is different so that I can't really say, when I feel this, that's the Spirit right there.

For example, one of these experiences is when I met my "favorite" missionary and I blurted out, "I want to be baptized right now". I had no plans of getting baptized. I was as shocked as the missionary was. It just seemed like everything I have been denying for the longest time just all of a sudden rushed to the forefront of my brain, my heart raced, my hands and knees shook, my thoughts were wiped except for one thing - I want to be baptized. And after I blurted it out, my heart stopped racing, my hands and knees stopped shaking and I felt so peaceful.

Another example was when I was sitting at the beach contemplating the Apostasy. I have tried to read the book The Great Apostasy (Talmage) and everytime I pick it up, I can't get past the first page. That day, I fasted and prayed and sat on the beach. When I picked up the book, I was so consumed that I read the book from cover to cover in one sitting under the hot rays of the sun. After I finished the book, I sat staring at the ocean and all these images of my experiences came flashing to the front of my brain (it's exactly like how I envisioned death would happen! When images from my past would race through my brain like a movie). It was then that I realized, I already know this. All my experiences have pointed to an Apostasy. I just did not look at it in that light because there was nothing else that made more sense. So, it was like a light just turned on in my brain and all of a sudden things that I've always wondered about now makes much better sense. I felt very peaceful instead of the turmoil that I feel after reading the first page of the book before.

The 3rd example is when I was contemplating eternal families. I have been thinking about it for quite a while - a period of months even. I was sitting at the patio with my family one day - the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, it was a wonderful day. Then all of a sudden, I look at my family and everything seems a lot brighter - like an over-exposed camera shot. And it's like everything went in slow-motion and I see such peace and clarity in my brain. And my brain is wiped and all I can think about is - this is exactly where I want to be at exactly this moment. It gave me a solid memory that pops in my head everytime I think of eternal families. That it is the feeling that I would feel in eternity.

Lastly - while I was giving that talk a few weeks ago, I prepared this 3-page talk that I practiced and practiced giving. It was only 10-minutes long. I was having a hard time making this talk because I just couldn't get to a spiritual moment while preparing it. I don't know why but I really had a hard time with it. So, I told my husband to prepare a long talk because if the youth speaker only gives a 10-minute one as well, he'll need to talk for 25 minutes. So then the youth speaker spoke for 10 minutes and it was my turn. I go up to the podium with my 3-pages of paper, my heart racing, my hands and knees shaking, then I said "Good morning" and then these thoughts start pushing to the forefront of my brain and my heart stops racing, my hands and knees stop shaking and I started talking. When a pause happens in my brain, I try to look back at the paper to see where I'm going and more thoughts start popping so I kept going. Until now, I still can't quite remember what I said. Things on the paper were touched on but not in the manner I planned. Anyway, I got off the podium - 30 minutes later! - and I felt this amazing peace. Then we had the intermediate song and the 2nd Councillor announces the closing song and the closing prayer. We did not have enough time for my husband to give his talk (we share our building with another ward) and that's when I started to feel terrible...

Anyway, I have a common theme to how the Spirit speaks to me. It is usually through my brain first that I "hear" Him. I have this really wierd logical brain where everything has to make sense for me to even consider it. I get overly analytical at times. So, I guess that's what the Spirit uses to prepare me to hear what he has to say. And afterwards, no matter how apprehensive or nervous or distressed I was prior to the experience, I always feel this peace - like a relief of some sort. It's almost like the feeling I got when I was pregnant and craving for ice-cream and then I finally get that first bite of banana split. It's not always as "grand" as the experiences I mentioned above. It's usually a much smaller/milder experience. It's rare that I get those grand moments like I mentioned. Usually it's like a small nudge or a quick flitting thought. But I have learned to recognize it when it does happen.

So yeah, it will be different for you. The Spirit will speak to you in the manner that fits the way you learn things that are true. A Bible verse explains it - he knows you before you were born. He'll know how to get you to see the truth in the manner that you learn it when you diligently and humbly seek for it.

[Traveler]

I think this is different for me - what I do not understand is what is going on with the rest of you. But for me the burning in the bosom is like an epiphany of understanding and knowledge. A realization that I understand and know the answer. The operative words here is understanding and knowing.

It is clear and there is no doubt - I have found what I am looking for - I have "the answer" and I know to the core of my being that it is right. For me it is not an - oh gee this feels good thing. That is the heart warming feeling I get when my wife cuddles close and tells me she loves me. This heart warming and good feeling but not the understanding and knowledge that from time to time comes from much effort.

And for me there are many time I get nothing - and to me this is not the "stupor of thought". It is what it is - nothing. Which means to me I have to work harder at understanding. This happens a lot to me in my quest for understand and enlightenment.

For me the stupor of thought is the opposite of the burning that I have found the right answer. It is like a wow - is this really off track, stupid and is sick and wrong. This is not the answer at all but a bad mistake. A realizing that this is not the intelligent direction to go or the effort to be supported. It is wrong! And there have been many things I have greatly desired that after study and effort I have still wanted but I have also had the notion that it is wrong - very wrong - despite all the logic, hope and desire otherwise. And if asked I can give specific examples that have resulted from discussions on this very forum - and when that happens I usually withdraw and end my comments or at least the logic I was employing.

The Traveler

[anatess]

Originally Posted by Traveler

I think this is different for me - what I do not understand is what is going on with the rest of you. But for me the burning in the bosom is like an epiphany of understanding and knowledge. A realization that I understand and know the answer. The operative words here is understanding and knowing.

It is clear and there is no doubt - I have found what I am looking for - I have "the answer" and I know to the core of my being that it is right. For me it is not an - oh gee this feels good thing. That is the heart warming feeling I get when my wife cuddles close and tells me she loves me. This heart warming and good feeling but not the understanding and knowledge that from time to time comes from much effort.

And for me there are many time I get nothing - and to me this is not the "stupor of thought". It is what it is - nothing. Which means to me I have to work harder at understanding. This happens a lot to me in my quest for understand and enlightenment.

For me the stupor of thought is the opposite of the burning that I have found the right answer. It is like a wow - is this really off track, stupid and is sick and wrong. This is not the answer at all but a bad mistake. A realizing that this is not the intelligent direction to go or the effort to be supported. It is wrong! And there have been many things I have greatly desired that after study and effort I have still wanted but I have also had the notion that it is wrong - very wrong - despite all the logic, hope and desire otherwise. And if asked I can give specific examples that have resulted from discussions on this very forum - and when that happens I usually withdraw and end my comments or at least the logic I was employing.

The Traveler

Traveler! I can completely relate to this!

[Anddenex]

Originally Posted by Traveler

I think this is different for me - what I do not understand is what is going on with the rest of you.

Clarify what you mean by what is going on with the rest of us?

But for me the burning in the bosom is like an epiphany of understanding and knowledge. A realization that I understand and know the answer. The operative words here is understanding and knowing.

It is clear and there is no doubt - I have found what I am looking for - I have "the answer" and I know to the core of my being that it is right. For me it is not an - oh gee this feels good thing.

In my experience, when I hear people speak about the burning of the bosom I am reminded of testimonies when someone prays and they say, "I felt an overwhelming peace, and I new it was right, my heart literally burned within me."

My experience with the spirit is as you have suggested, a ray of intelligence enters into my mind, and I know the answer is right -- or as you have suggested "an epiphany of understanding and knowledge."

A stupor of thought for me, I am still left with confusion.

[Wingnut]

I don't think I've ever experienced a literal "burning of the bosom," and I suspect that most people haven't, either. We all feel the Spirit in different ways. For me, I know I'm feeling the Spirit when what I think and what I feel come together and align. The scriptures say "I will tell you in your heart and in your mind." That's how it works for me.

When I have a stupor of thought, I've learned to recognize it (typically in hindsight) as being when what I think and want seem like fine and good things (like Anddenex's friend's mom), but I have a different feeling that I can't shake, and it just nags at me. When my heart and mind are uncomfortably at odds, I am experiencing a stupor of thought.

[Vort]

I have experienced the "burning bosom", as have many others of my acquaintance.

[mnn727]

The only time I have had a burning in the bosom is once when I ate my cousins chili. That was spicy stuff -- talk about heart burn!

All I can say is you learn to recognize when the Spirit is touching you and that may or may not have anything to do with an actual burning in the bosom - it does not with me.