M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Revisiting "Lehi's Dream"
By Steven Lloyd Neal, M.D.

Editor's note: This is the conclusion of a two-part article about the painting of “Lehi's Dream” twenty years ago. Read part 1 here.

Depicted in the center background of the eight-foot painting is primordial wilderness symbolizing our pre-existence. This represents the transposition in which we as innocent spirits now must begin to exercise our agency and choose good or evil according to the great Plan of Salvation.

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Pre-existence.

This was seen by Father Lehi as he describes a strait and narrow path that “led by the head of the fountain, unto a large and spacious field, as if it had been a world.” (I Nephi 8:20) This is also where the rod of iron begins.

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The rod of iron and the head of the fountain.

In this place I also painted two pillars that mark the beginning of the “broad road” in contradistinction to the “narrow path” and rod of iron nearby.

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Beginning of the broad road.

These same two pillars, inspired by the symbols for Upper and Lower Egypt , mark the end of the road or entrance into the great and spacious building.

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The building's two pillars.

I made the broad road twisted and indeterminate and covered with the “mists of darkness” or the temptations of the devil, which “blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost.” (I Nephi 12:17)

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Wandering crooked roads.

Isn't it an amazing fact — an inescapable eternal truth — that most of mankind naturally chooses to travel the broad road to the great and spacious building, instead of the strait and narrow path to the Tree of Life! In fact, all of us spend some of our life visiting or seeking the great and spacious building.

In the painting, the mists of darkness affect those who are clinging to the iron rod as well.

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Mists even surround the iron rod.

Only if they (we) persist in holding to the rod, do they (we) get a chance to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life.

And what of the Tree? When the angel interviewing Nephi asked, “Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?” Nephi answered saying, “Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.”

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The Tree of Life.

The angel added, “Yea and the most joyous to the soul.” (I Nephi 11:21-23) Immediately, a vision of the Savior's birth and life is unfolded to Nephi, reiterating the scripture, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son…” ( John 3:15).

I searched for two years to find an example of what I thought the Tree of Life should look like. Finally, I constructed a tree, in the shape of God's hand.

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The shape of the Tree of Life was patterned after a hand.

In my mind's eye, God giving unto mankind the Gift of His Son, as symbolized by the dazzling white fruit — so sweet and desirable that Joseph Smith Sr. in his own dream of the Tree, described his family helping themselves to it by the “double handfuls.”

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The hand of God.

The woman at the terminus of the iron rod is Sister Kimichi Masako, a widow to whom I taught the gospel as a missionary in Omuta, Japan . She has served as a temple missionary in Tokyo, Japan.

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Kimichi Masako, at the terminus of the iron rod.

Those who fall away after partaking of the fruit, are mentioned in the vision “wandering down strange roads and are lost.”

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Strange roads.

As I was preparing to paint this great allegory from the Book of Mormon, I read the account at least a hundred times. And believing as Nephi did, that the Lord could make it known to me if but I would believe, I prayed to see the same vision as the prophets of old.

Though I never saw the vision, the Lord did bless me with a special experience one night as I was up late painting on Lehi's Dream in the quiet of the house. In a powerful way I could sense the prophet Lehi and his family and their reality as historical figures. This experience was a great dividend from the effort to paint “Lehi's Dream” and helped me develop an unshakeable testimony of The Book of Mormon.

Those of you desiring a large, high quality lithograph of “Lehi's Dream” that is suitable for framing may have one for the cost of a mailing tube and postage (this means the print is free!) during the month of June. Just contact me through my website at www.nealmd.com .

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