It Is The Bosom That Burns

My favorite line from Orson Whitney’s Home Literature speech is as follows: 

“The intellect may shine, but it is the bosom that burns, and warms into life 

every movement that is born to bless humanity.” 

When addressing matters of the spirit, it is important to remember that whatever is being said is framed in a way that is factually correct and in a way that can inspire people. 

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How often have we spent an hour in Sunday school listening to the teacher with half a mind and no desire to connect with the lesson? Contrary to that, how many times have we learned and taken away significantly more, simply because we found our connection and it opened up our heart, which in turn opened up our mind?

In the preface to Nephi Anderson’s Added Upon, he mentions that “It is suggestive only; but it is hoped that the mind of the reader, illumined by the Spirit of the Lord, will be able to fill in all the details that the heart may desire.”As an author, especially in the Mormon Literature Genre, he understands that two different people will take away two completely different opinions of the book. While that is one of the amazing things about human nature, it also proves to be a difficult challenge to approach. 

Anderson relies on the Spirit to fill in the missing parts of his novel. He provides the basis and the story, but for many there will be no takeaway, unless they open their hearts as they are using their minds. After all, even God said that he will tell us both in our mind and in our heart (D&C 8:2).

The Bosom Burns in Added Upon

Orson F. Whitney’s 1888 address, “Home Literature,” discussed the need for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to channel their talents and create works that would “not only be a credit to (them) and to the land and people that produced (them), but likewise a boon and benefaction to mankind.”

Nephi Anderson attempted to follow this charge in his 1898 novel, Added Upon. He took readers on a (fictitious) journey from the pre-mortal existence through exaltation, showing various characters’ experiences through this progression.

There are literary concerns with Added Upon. However, Anderson’s ability to evoke an emotional response from readers through his tone meets Whitney’s challenges to write books that uplift and edify.

“Experience has taught me that it is the heart, not simply the head, we must appeal to, if we wish to stir the soul,” Whitney said. “The intellect may shine, but it is the bosom that burns, and warms into life every movement that is born to bless humanity.”

Anderson achieves this burning of the bosom by writing with a spiritual tone that (usually) feels credible. His prose evokes thoughts similar to those one would have while reading other religious works, despite his book being fiction and not Church-sanctioned material.

The strength of his tone is best illustrated in the pre-mortal existence section of the novel. When Homan is called to leave his spiritual home and enter mortality, Anderson writes:

“He was now to take the step, which, though temporarily downward, would secure him a footing by which to climb to greater heights.”

Each of us made that difficult transition. Anderson uses an authoritative and hopeful tone to remind us why that choice was so necessary, and how we will be blessed with stronger footing because of it.