If You Could Hie to Kolob (Endless Version)
Lincoln Cannon is an American philosopher and technologist who co-founded the Mormon Transhumanist Association in 2006, serving as its president from 2006 to 2016. He is a leading advocate of technological evolution and postsecular religion, combining software engineering expertise with degrees in philosophy and business. ¶ Cannon is also a founder and board member of the Christian Transhumanist Association. He formulated the New God Argument, a logical argument for faith in God that has become popular among religious transhumanists. His academic work includes “Mormonism Mandates Transhumanism” published in Religion and Human Enhancement: Death, Values, and Morality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and “Transfigurism: A Future of Religion as Exemplified by Religious Transhumanists” published in The Transhumanism Handbook (Springer Verlag, 2019). ¶ Mormon transhumanism, as articulated by Cannon, holds that humanity should learn how to be compassionate creators. This idea is central to the Mormon theological tradition, which provides a religious framework consistent with naturalism and supportive of human transformation. Cannon’s work bridges religious faith with scientific advancement, advocating for the ethical use of technology to extend human abilities in ways consistent with a religious worldview.
“If You Could Hie to Kolob” has, as far back as I can remember, always been among my favorite Mormon hymns. When I was a child, it spoke to the nascent Transhumanist in me. And as an adult, I seem to have an unquenchable thirst for the vision it articulates, echoing the heart of Mormonism.
But it’s also kind of missing something. Implicitly, it may be there, for those who are well acquainted with the gist and thrust of Mormonism. So I thought I’d try my hand at making it more explicit.
Below you’ll find the five original verses of the song, authored by William Phelps, followed by four new verses, authored by me. In case you don’t know the tune, you might like listening to this rendition by Nick Sales. Enjoy.
If you could hie to Kolob
In the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward
With that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever,
Through all eternity,
Find out the generation
Where Gods began to be?
Or see the grand beginning,
Where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation,
Where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the Spirit whispers,
“No one has found ‘pure space,’
Nor seen the outside curtains,
Where nothing has a place.”
The works of God continue,
And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression
Have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter;
There is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit;
There is no end to race.
There is no end to virtue;
There is no end to might;
There is no end to wisdom;
There is no end to light.
There is no end to union;
There is no end to youth;
There is no end to priesthood;
There is no end to truth.
There is no end to glory;
There is no end to love;
There is no end to being;
There is no death above.
There is no end to glory;
There is no end to love;
There is no end to being;
There is no death above.
There is no end to courage;
There is no end to hope;
There is no end to wonder;
There is no end to scope;
There is no end to contrast;
There is no end to base;
There is no end to prospect;
There is no end to grace;
There is no end to beauty;
There is no end to mirth;
There is no end to rapture;
There is no end to birth;
We are begotten children
Of God that learn and play
In reverent emulation
Of their eternal, “Yea!”
From innocence to knowledge,
From senselessness to sight,
We witness evolution
As Eve and Adam bite,
But through the tears envision
The bloodied one who pled,
“Be Christ together: heal,
Console, and raise the dead.”
Will we heed the sublime calling
To love with mind and strength?
Will scientific knowledge
And technology at length
Destroy or build abundance
In health and greatest worth:
That we are sealed in friendship
As Gods with God on Earth?
Syndicated from Lincoln Cannon.