Nature, like mind, always does whatever it does for the sake of something, which something is its end. Never take a description of the origin of an idea for a definition, or an account of the mental and physical conditions through which we become conscious of a proposition for a proof of it. A proposition may be thought, and again it may be true; never confuse these two things. We must remind ourselves, it seems, that a proposition no more ceases to be true when I cease to think of it than the Sun ceases to exist when I shut my eyes. Self-observation (or introspection) is the way to establish the truth by reducing it to the subjective element of an intimate pathway into one’s own mind, body, and spirit. It allows us to experience new levels of self-awareness, and by so doing to live more conscious, harmonious lives. Because of our conditioning and education most of us live our lives as unconscious automatons. Oblivious to our own real potential, our essence, we are totally identified with our personality, our self-image, and with whatever thoughts, feelings, images, daydreams, or sensations capture our attention at the moment. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7

Many believe that we are masters of ourselves, seldom noticing our own inner fragmentation and our lack of will and choice as a result of this fragmentation. We lose ourselves at every moment in one or another aspect of our lives, out of touch with the remarkable wholeness that is our birthright. Psychology will become the foundation of philosophy that allows us to heal ourselves and see who we truly are. Logic, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of law, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of education are all little more than psychology or applied psychology. With all of the concepts of the philosophical disciplines, only what is formed in the human soul according to these laws are understood with certainty and clarity, then a certain and clear knowledge of those disciplines is likewise achieved in seeking the transcendental ground of truth—the objective validity of human knowledge. This marks both a return to and a great improvement of the soul. The soul is a whole of which spirit and mind are attributes and emerge only gradually. And there are rational and irrational parts of the soul. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7

Reason, spirit, and desire represent different levels of being alive. The rational soul is some kind of active agency which inhibits the body for a brief period. The rational soul inhabits the head because the head is round (the most perfect shape and, hence, an appropriate place for the seat of reason) and the part of the body nearest the Heavens. As like can be known only by like, the soul, in its rational aspect, must also be eternal. The rational soul makes contact with the brain, which are conceived of as a kind of marrow encased in the skull. The irrational soul makes contact with the marrow of the spinal cord in its body sheath. The better part of the irrational soul, spirit, inhabits the heart and functions in such manifestations of life as energy, courage, and ambition; the worse part, desire, functions below the diaphragm, in appetite, nutrition, and reproduction. The rational and irrational parts affect each other through the liver, which acts as a sort of mirror of thought. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7

In sleep the soul is shut up, and its motion subsides. A few agitations remain, however, and produce dreams. Usually dreams are the expressions of desires which are suppressed. The good person controls one’s desires sensibly and so is not unduly disturbed by them in sleep. In sleep the rational soul, if not troubled by irrational desires, can attain truths not otherwise revealed. The human body receives an impression from without and responds with an inner motion. Some parts of the body—for instance, the hair and the nails—are subject to shock but do not respond with inner movements. Sense organs, however, are good conductors of motion. Thus, hearing, for instance, is the end product of a kind of shock. By means of air in the cavities of the body a blow is transmitted through the ears to the blood and brain and then to the soul. Knowledge does not consist just in sensation but in the activity of the soul in relation to what is transmitted. The transmission is complicated by the intervention of memory, imagination, feeling, and association, all of which act as intermediaries between reason and sensation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7

There is a very intimate connection between the soul and body which is a particular case of the more general relationship between for and matter. The soul is the first actuality of a natural body furnished with organs. If the eye were an animal, eyesight would be its soul, this being the form or capacity of the eye. To speak of soul is to speak of a capacity or propensity to function in a certain way which depends on a certain bodily structure, or it is to speak of the actual exercise of such a capacity or propensity, which is the second kind of actuality. Thus, anger, for instance, can be the appetite of returning pain for pain or the boiling of the blood around the heart, depending on whether the dialectician or the physical scientist is considering it; there is always a biological and a psychological account to be given. Body and soul are a particular case of the more general correlatives, form and matter. When speaking of theoretical reason rather than practical reason, the distinction between matter and form is again exemplified in that reason is both passive and active. However, the active reason comes from without and is divine. It is like the helmsman in a ship. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7

The heart is the seat of life, sensation, and motion. In the transmission of sensation to the heart and in the vitality which flows from the heart, the connatural spirits play an important role. They are thought of as a kind of inner air quite distinct from the outer air which we breathe. Closely associated with the blood, they act as a universal internal medium for the transmission of sensation. Once love has been acknowledged as our Source of all supply—our Being, this is the real secret of prosperity. Love always returns in the form we can use best—its value always being greater than the value we ascribed to the gift we gave. And it is easy to love the loveable. Love, once accepted in whatever form, converts itself into the help one really needs—finds its way into one’s heart and begins to open what was hardened until then, and slowly the object of affection discovers one own Being as the Source. Love gives unto itself and is extended and increases. Besides the specific senses there is sensus communis, which is not a sixth sense but a generic power of sensation as such provides unity for the sensitive soul in its particular manifestations. Love is thus destined as joy accompanied by the idea of an external cause.  #RandolphHarris 6 of 7

There is beauty here, indeed. If we allow it to be so, our experience of life on Earth can be Heaven on Earth. A reviving personality must be nourished with another kind of new communication—communication with people. Besides opening yourself to the riches of art and knowledge, you must also open yourself to the riches of new friendships, particularly to those which can reinforce your newly expanded interest. What God places on us allows us to transform something negative into something excellent. No power on Earth or in Hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility. You will see that your burden is then lightened by the sense of companionship. God is the place of the World and the whole system of thinking. Everything is a mode or modification of God. Thus, nothing can be adequately explained unless its occurrence can be deduced from principles applying to the system as a whole. Human beings, as part of nature, must exhibit the general characteristics of modifications of God or nature. They must be determined within a system; they must have a mental and physical aspect’ and they must exhibit conatus, or the striving to persist within their own being. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7