Victorian writers who tried, in different ways, to work out a humanistic morality capable of satisfying the deep human needs that they thought the antiquated religiously based morality could no longer satisfy, understood that hereditary and social influences on character are heavily emphasized, as is the effects one’s repeated actions or evasions will have on one’s own character and hence on one’s future actions. The morality that springs from this view is primarily one of sympathy and compassion. The complexity and obscurity of motives and the mixture of good and evil in personality and deed are constantly displayed by an individual’s behavior, speech, and actions. To know what one ought to do in particular cases, one must rely ultimately on one’s deepest feelings when these are enlightened by sympathy and by knowledge of circumstances and consequences. Wrongdoing is usually traces to stupidity, callousness, or thoughtlessly excessive demands for personal satisfaction, rather than to deliberate malice or personal satisfaction. Vice and crime are shown as eventually bringing retribution, but the reward of virtue is at best the peace that comes with acceptance of one’s lot. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9

 Renunciation and patient selflessness are chief virtue (behavior showing high moral standards). God cannot give until one asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. As redemption creates the life of God is us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption—it creates and it satisfies. I do not like to be alone, as much as I give out. And I do not want to be alone at this moment. I do not think you know much about what I do. I love paintings. I love the soft colors. I love the sailboats and all the agreeable people, people in fancy clothes. There is a sweetness to paintings. I suspect they soothe people’s nerves. At the time, living on a small estate in Rixdorf, near Berlin in Germany, I gathered around myself a circle of free spirits (including my brother) and we frequented Berlin cafes. Five Elephant Coffee & Cake Shop was one of my favorite. Around my brother, I would be decadent and treat myself to a slice of Kasekuchen and an ice latte, so delicious. It would bring back wonderful memories. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9

That twinge of Autumn again in my beloved heart. I closed my eyes. I cleared my mind of all random images. I called out to my father and the dessert reminded me of the myths he told me about a tribe of all beings, tender of bone, ancient, simple, tangled with my fledgling, unknown to the World of records, history and location essential to the sanity of those I love. Guidance. Mistakes I have made with my fledgling, spiraling out of control. Father, give to me your wisdom, your keen hearing, your vision. Where are the tall creatures? I am your loyal subject. More or less. I send my love. Would he answer? I did not know. My father is an intelligent person who does great things for others and settled into a life of benevolence, as it is the only feasible way of achieving lasting good.  Kasekuchen always reminded me of him. He brought one home when I was five, and I did not care much for it as a child for it was not sweet, but I grew to love it, and it reminded me of times we spent together. He taught me that religion, arts, laws, and intellectual activity—is the conscious expression of the total culture, the whole way of life. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

Special pleading can be pure, and can replace blindness with true conceptions, and can bring about the fundamental change in human consciousness that would really be liberating. History will, by its own logic, bring about the transformation which no deliberate program can institute: what criticism has destroyed in thought today, history will destroy in fact tomorrow. These means can be justified by means of a metaphysic of consciousness, according to which the World is a projection of the ego. Matter is the as yet unclarified aspect of the World; evil social conditions are the product of uncritical and self-alienated principles. Christianity, for example, freed the ego from its thralldom to the material World, but only through an alienation of spirit from matter that had in its turn created a new burden. However, once Christianity’s historical roots are exposed, its self-alienating power is broken; hence the importance of criticism. The same must be done with other forms of human bondage: revolutionary programs which do not reach to the roots of consciousness are futile. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9

Any statement of fact is true or false in virtue of some existing state of affairs in the World. Several current and various reform movements are insufficiently radial. The urban and sports agitation for political rights, for example, should be encouraging students to study and earn good grades so they can improve their futures. Instead of protesting, which could get them in trouble. People would have so much more sympathy and understanding if students around the World, stopped playing sports and video games and formed study groups and prayer groups and their grades improved significantly. The real problem is economic class behavior. Social conditions can be changed by changing people’s minds. These protest are getting people talking, but the disruption that they are causing is deemed to generally be too eccentric to be relevant. In many cases the truth-value of a statement is determined by appealing to the truth-values of certain other statements because most conflict seems destructive given how poorly conflict is typically managed in groups. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

When conflict spirals out of control it is destructive. Reaction to injustice by interference in the form of verbal abuse, physical abuse, murder, and vandalism may be incompatible with your perceived goals because it is perceived as destructive conflict. Destructive conflict is characterized by domination, escalation, retaliation, competition, defensiveness, and inflexibility. Participants lose sight of their initial goals and focus on hurting their adversary. If a proposition contains expressions standing for complexes, the sense of the proposition will depend upon the truth of other propositions describing these complexes. When you see that you are engaging in petty, even infantile, tactics to win an argument, you are getting less than smart. Becoming physically and verbally aggressive moved the conflict into destructive territory. This does not mean that you can never raise your voice, express frustration, or disagrees with others. Conflict can remain constructive even when discussion becomes somewhat contentious. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9

When conflict becomes more emotional than reasonable, however, when you cannot think straight because you are too consumed by anger, then conflict has become destructive. I understand how people can be frustrated because we are living in an age where some people in positions create conflict for no other means, but to be evil and hurt others, and when you call it to their attention they ignore you, threaten you, or pretend they do not understand what is going on and continue with the hurtful behavior. However, it is your job to rise above this futile behavior. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we just will learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses. #RandolphHarris7 of 9

The principal focus is on trying to achieve a solution between struggling parties that is mutually satisfactory to everyone. Resolution suggests settling conflict or terminating the struggle, as if ending conflict by any means is always desirable. However, since conflict can be an essential catalyst for growth in a system, resolving conflict is not necessarily desirable. In some instances, increasing conflict may be requires to evoke change. Human rights demonstrators purposely provoke conflict to challenge racism. Women who file sexual harassment lawsuits provoke conflict in order to end an evil. These classes of statements provide an unshakeable, indubitable foundation. However, I believe more in conflict management. Managing conflict implies no end to the struggle. Although some conflict episodes do end with a group and are therefore resolved, conflict overall in a system is a continuous phenomenon varying only in intensity. Management of conflict also implies no judgment on the goodness or badness of struggles in general. Communication is central to conflict in groups. Our communication can signal that conflict exists, it can create conflict, and it can be the means for managing conflict constructively or destructively. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

Many of the driving forces of modern society—especially its false emphasis on profit, its substitution of exploitation of men and things for right use, and its general adoption of commerce as the central human concern—are in fact hostile to any Christian life in the World. Once you have put someone on notice and made and effort to resolve the situation and let them know several times that they are causing you harm, then that leaves them open to penalties. When we compromise, we lower our expectations and goals. When compromising, we give up something to get something. Compromising is choosing a middle ground. Half a loaf is better than starvation—not in all circumstances, but certainly in some. Christianity can foster many valuable emotions and all actions must be for the glory of God. What we do will have good effect on future generations and we shall be remembered by them with love as there is a sufficient motive to virtue and a sufficient replacement of the belied in personal immortality and personal reward. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9