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Eschatology is the study of the end times. It\u2019s hard to read much of the New Testament, Book of Mormon or even Doctrine and Covenants without noticing how much is focused on the end of the world. As some have recently noted<\/a>\u00a0a common refrain in the Church since it\u2019s early days is how the end times are always nigh. In the 19th century many Mormons thought the Jesus would come before the 20th century. When I was a kid, we were constantly told we were a generation prepared for the last days. Most people thought a conflict between the USSR and America was inevitable. While all the apocalyptic movies from the 80\u2019s now seem quaint (despite a resurgent Mad Max last year) it really was a time when people fully expected the end of the world.<\/p>\n Is this pessimism though? I\u2019m not sure it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First it\u2019s almost impossible to read the Gospels without noticing that eschatology is central to Christ\u2019s message. I remember when I first encountered Hugh Nibley when young, it was his writings on eschatology<\/a> that really caught my eye. Of course from a Mormon perspective most of Jesus\u2019 eschatological concerns were soon fulfilled. The rebellions of the more zealous pharisee movement led to a small civil war and brutal Roman reprisals. Many Christians, perhaps due to eschatological warnings, fled Jerusalem before the starvations and slayings started. The temple was, as foretold, destroyed. A few decades later with yet an other Jewish uprising the temple site was fully destroyed and Jerusalem razed and rebuilt to become the Roman city of Aelia Capitolina<\/a>. Also from a Mormon perspective, while Roman persecutions persisted the greatest end was the \u201cfleeing of the Church into the wilderness.\u201d (Rev 12:6) This end was the removal of priesthood authority and many doctrines of the gospel. The apostasy began perhaps not long after the end of the Bar Kochba revolt<\/a>\u00a0and the re-scattering of Israel.<\/p>\n I bring up this century of turmoil after Jesus simply to note that in many ways the end times were fulfilled, even if not quite in the way Jews or Christians expected. Yet, when we look at the many examples of eschatological literature from before the exile (starting with Isaiah) through the return from the Babylon exile up through the Christian eta, one thing seems clear. It\u2019s not just about future events.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eschatology\u2019s primary focus isn\u2019t the future destructions but the change in mindset of the believer to their present world. That is eschatology isn\u2019t just a warning of the future, nor a demand to stay on guard. It is a fundamental shift of our mindset.<\/p>\n Somewhat ironically my favorite example of eschatology comes not out of the Christian tradition but Buddhist tradition. A Zen koan goes as follows:<\/p>\n A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.<\/p>\n Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That being in a state where the end is present in a way one can not escape changes how we see life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n