Our personal intelligence is everlasting and divine.

“Our personal intelligence is everlasting and divine.” Thus speaks Russell M. Nelson, a man of both science and spirit, who beheld in the mind of humankind the reflection of eternity itself. In these few words, he reveals a truth as ancient as the stars—that the intelligence within us, the sacred flame of awareness, does not perish with the body, nor fade with the years. It is everlasting, for it springs not from dust, but from the eternal source of life. And it is divine, for it carries within it the imprint of the Creator’s own mind, the echo of that first great thought that called the universe into being.

The ancients, too, knew of this mystery. The sages of Greece called it the Nous, the divine intellect that bridges mortal thought and cosmic wisdom. The prophets of the East spoke of Atman, the inner self that is one with the Infinite. Even in the modern age, when men chart the stars and measure the atoms, this truth remains—there is a light within the human soul that no instrument can weigh, no shadow can extinguish. It is that which dreams, reasons, loves, and yearns; it is the immortal thread that binds the human to the divine.

Consider the story of Socrates, condemned to drink the hemlock for questioning the ignorance of his city. When his friends wept at the thought of his death, he smiled and said, “The soul is immortal.” To him, the end of the body was but the beginning of a greater journey, for the intelligence that reasoned and sought truth could not simply vanish. “Nothing truly good,” he said, “can be taken from a good man, neither in life nor after death.” His calm was not born of denial but of understanding—that his essence, the knowing spark within, belonged to eternity.

So too did Russell M. Nelson, a man of healing hands, recognize this same truth in a modern tongue. As a surgeon, he held the human heart in his grasp and saw its delicate mechanisms. Yet he also saw beyond flesh and blood—to that unseen divine intelligence that governs life, thought, and purpose. The body might decay, but the light that animates it is eternal. He knew that the true miracle is not in the beating of the heart, but in the consciousness that loves, creates, and seeks the good. This is the essence of divinity within each soul.

If our intelligence is everlasting, then we must live as beings destined for eternity, not prisoners of the moment. We must feed the mind not with noise and triviality, but with truth, compassion, and wonder. The thoughts we choose, the wisdom we seek, and the kindness we show—these shape the soul that endures beyond the grave. To waste one’s mind on hatred or vanity is to darken what was meant to shine forever. To cultivate understanding, to learn, to forgive—this is to honor the divine spark within us.

There is power in remembering that each soul you meet bears the same eternal flame. The beggar and the king, the scholar and the child—all carry within them that divine intelligence, though veiled by circumstance or pain. When you speak, speak to that light. When you love, love through that light. For to see the divine in another is to awaken it in yourself. The wise know that divinity is not far from man—it breathes within him, waiting to be recognized.

Therefore, let this be your lesson, O listener of truth: Guard your mind as you would guard a sacred temple. Fill it with what uplifts and purifies. Seek knowledge not for pride, but for growth; wisdom not for dominance, but for service. When doubt or despair come, remember the words of Nelson—your intelligence is everlasting and divine. You are not a fleeting shadow, but a spark of the eternal fire. Live, then, as one who carries the light of God within—learning endlessly, loving deeply, and shining without fear into the vastness of time.