The Book of Mormon+Kabbalah
The Lord has asked us to come to him with a broken heart and contrite spirit (3 Nephi 4:49 RAV, 9:20 OPV). As we’ve already stated, a “broken heart” is a pierced heart. One open to both receiving and pouring out God’s Love, the true prayer now inscribed upon it. What then is the “contrite spirit?”
Teshuvah is a Hebrew word translated in the Bible as “commandment“ or “repentance.” However, it’s true meaning is “return,” as in one returning to their original state. We use the term Teshuvah in Mormon Kabbalah for a few reasons. The main reason is because we are not leaving our old lives or old paths when we set Ego aside for something new. Rather, we are returning to the path we were already on.
Mormon Kabbalah isn’t really new. Joseph Smith’s magical world views were based on folk magic, Hermetics, and Kabbalah. As the religion progressed, forked, and grew, the new denominations that were birthed from the death of the original church forged new paths with new teachings and understandings.