Joseph Smith
• The spirits of the just are exalted to a greater and more glorious work; hence they are blessed in their departure to the world of spirits. Enveloped in flaming fire, they are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained therewith. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.325)
• Words of Benjamin F. Johnson: Then with a deepdrawn breath, as a sigh of weariness, he sank down heavily in his chair, and said, “Oh! I am so tired—so tired that I often feel to long for my day of rest. For what has there been in this life but tribulation for me? From a boy I have been persecuted by my enemies, and now even my friends are beginning to join with them, to hate and persecute me! Why should I not wish for my time of rest?” His words and tone thrilled and shocked me, and like an arrow pierced my hopes that he would long remain with us. I said, as with a heart full of tears, “Oh! Joseph, what could we, as a people, do without you and what would become of the great latter-day work if you should leave us?” He was touched by my emotions, and in reply he said, “Benjamin, I would not be far away from you, and if on the other side of the veil I would still be working with you, and with a power greatly increased, to roll on this kingdom.” (The Teachings of Joseph Smith [Larry E. Dahl, Danald Q. Cannon, eds.], p. 644).
Brigham Young
They are just as busy in the spirit world as you and I are here. They can see us, but we cannot see them unless our eyes were opened. (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.378)
Harold B. Lee
• The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “The spirits of the just are exalted to a greater and more glorious work; hence they are blessed in their departure to the world of spirits.” Now listen to this: “Enveloped in flaming fire, they are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained therewith.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938], p. 326.) It may be that when the anxieties of the passing of this day shall have gone, in the quiet loneliness of your home, in a day not too intense because of the motherhood requirements, there will come times when you will say, “My, he seemed to be so close to me. I seem to have felt his nearness.” And it will be real. It will be something you can’t deny. (The Teachings of the Harold B. Lee, pp. 59-60)
• Where is the spirit world? Is it away up in the heavens? That isn’t what the scriptures and our brethren explain. They have told us the spirit world is right here round about us, and the only spirits who can live here are those who are assigned to fill their missions here on earth. This is the spirit world. And if our eyes could be opened we could see those who have departed from us—a father, mother, brother, a sister, a child. We could see them, and sometimes when our physical senses are asleep, sometimes our spiritual self—and we have ears, spiritual ears, and spiritual eyes—sometimes they will be very keen and awake, and a departed one may come while we are lying asleep and come into our consciousness. We’ll feel an impression. We’ll wake up. Where does it come from? It comes from the spirits of those whom we are sealed to. (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, p. 58)
Ezra Taft Benson
• The Prophet Joseph taught that ofttimes those who go before, our loved ones particularly, are permitted to look down and view the activities of this world, to view the activities of their own loved ones and often are pained because of our misdeeds and our mistakes and our neglect. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.31)
• I am sure many of you know that the veil can be very thin -- that there are people over there who are pulling for us – people who have faith in us and who have great hopes for us, who are hoping and praying that we will measure up -- our loved ones (parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and friends) who have passed on. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.31)
• Visitors, seen and unseen, from the world beyond, are often close to us. This is part of eternity which we are living today – part of God’s plan. There is no veil to the Lord. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.35)
• Sometimes actions here, by the priesthood of God, the First Presidency and the Twelve, as we meet in the temple, have been planned and influenced by leaders of the priesthood on the other side. I am sure of that. We have evidence of it. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.35)
• On the other side of the veil, the righteous are taught their duties preparatory to the time when they will return with the Son of Man to earth when He comes again, this time to judge every man according to his works. These righteous spirits are close by us. They are organized according to priesthood order in family organizations as we are here; only there they exist in a more perfect order. This was revealed to the Prophet Joseph. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.35-36)
Joseph F. Smith
Sometimes the Lord expands our vision from this point of view and this side of the veil, that we feel and seem to realize that we can look beyond the thin veil which separates us from that other sphere. If we can see, by the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God and through the words that have been spoken by the holy prophets of God, beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely those who have passed beyond, can see more clearly through the veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our sphere of action. I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separated from them. We begin to realize more and more fully, as we become acquainted with the principles of the gospel, as they have been revealed anew in this dispensation, that we are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors, to our friends and associates and co-laborers who have preceded us into the spirit world. We cannot forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot break, that we cannot dissolve or free ourselves from. If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses, shortsightedness, lack of inspiration and wisdom, from time to time, how much more certain it is, and reasonable and consistent, to believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond, are still engaged in the work for the salvation of the souls of men, in the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound and proclaiming liberty to the captives, who can see us better than we can see them -- that they know us better than we know them. They have advanced; we are advancing; we are growing as they have grown; we are reaching the goal that they have attained unto; and therefore, I claim that we live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; they can comprehend better than ever before, the weaknesses that are liable to mislead us into dark and forbidden paths. They see the temptations and the evils that beset us in life, and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation and to wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves. (Gospel Doctrine, p.430)
David O. McKay
The veil is thin between those who hold the priesthood and divine messengers on the other side of the veil. (Conference Report, April 1948, p. 172.)
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