Purity is not innocence—it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. The art of conversation consists of the exercise of two fine qualities. You must originate, and you must sympathize; you must possess at the same time the habit of communicating, and the habit of listening. Because of the field of philosophical perplexity is virtually limitless, any one of the “cans” is a possible source of trouble to the philosopher. However, several of them (especially the “cans” of ability, opportunity, and possibility), have proved exceptionally potent in bewitching the philosophical imagination, mainly in connection with the age-old problem of free will. This problem is partly generated by the conviction that a person can be said to perform an action freely only if one did not have to perform it but one could have done something else instead. A conviction of this kind tends to generate a problem because if the metaphysical thesis of determinism is intelligible, tenable, and applicable to human actions, it becomes doubtful whether it is every true that a human can do anything other than what one does do, at least in the sense of “can” in probability or inclination, opportunity, or possibility. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

Everything that is, is possible. There is nothing else in the World so big as power-strength. If you have that, you can get everything else. However, if you have it, and do not use it, then it rusts and decays on your hands. It is like a thoroughbred horse. You cannot keep it idle in the stable. If you do not exercise it, you lose it. The “can” of ability—how can the ability sense of “can” bear on the free will issue has received perhaps the largest share of attention in the recent literature, possibly because it questions about a human’s abilities are often so crucially relevant in moral context. Yet the decisive points about abilities in this connection are easily stated. In all of the subsenses of the “can” of ability, there is an essential distinction between the possession of an ability and the exercise of that ability. To show that a person lacks an ability is more complicated than to show that he or she does not exercise it. A failure to perform a certain action implies that an individual lacks the corresponding ability only if both one wants, wills, intends, or chooses to perform that action and one’s failure is to perform it occurs in relevantly normal conditions. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

Power to the powerful is the law. This fact has tempted philosophers (for instance Nowell-Smith) to analyze “He can” (in the sense of ability) as meaning “He will if….” Important difficulties with such hypothetical analyses have been pointed out by philosophers, but it has not been shown that there is anything wrong with the line of thought that prompted these analyses—namely, that our use of “can” in this sense is built on the idea that a human need to do what one can do and that in order to find out what one can do, we must find out what one will do if, in relevantly normal conditions, one wants, wills, intends, and so forth to do certain things. This line of thought is not, moreover, inconsistent with determinism, since determinism does not imply that is, under appropriate conditions, I wanted and were to try to perform an alternative action, I should certainly fail. On the contrary, it is presumably only because a measure of determinism does hold that my trying, in certain circumstances, to perform a particular action is likely to meet with consistent success.  #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

When we enter upon a devious course, we think we shall have it in our powers when we will to return to the right path. Clearly, aging is a developmental process within the limits of finitude. We are born, we grow, we mature, we decline, and we then go to Heaven or Hell. Like a trajectory there is an initial blast-off, an arching height, and a final descent. More precisely, aging focuses upon the later stages of the life cycle. The “integrated” personality type represents the optimum personality. The person usually functions well, he or she has a complex inner life. One is intact intellectually and is competent personally. There is a flexibleness, a mellowness, a maturity that characterizes one’s activities and satisfactions. This higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through a higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” When God elevates you by His grace into Heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. In spite of all this, it still seems possible to argue that, given determinism, a human cannot do other than what one does do in the sense that any alternative actions on one’s part is physically impossible. A claim of this sort is, however, false if taken literally, since what is physically possible simpliciter need be consistent only with the laws of nature, not consistent with the laws of nature and certain initial conditions. If, however, the claim is to be taken in a slightly different way—namely, that it is conditionally physically impossible for the individual to perform some other actions—then it is entirely unexceptionable if the thesis of determinism is tenable and applicable to human actions. The reason for this is simply that the notion of conditional possibility is a technical one, definable by reference to determinism: Roughly, “A conditionally physically possible” is by definition equivalent to “Nothing has happened that physically determines non-A.” #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

Within the “integrated” type personality, there is also a “reorganizer” who competently enjoys a broad range of activities. He or she stays young, remains active, finds substitute involvements as limitations appear, and refused to grow old. The only way a servant of God can remain true is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This sense of expectation will give out life the attitude of youthful vigor wonder God wants us to have. Being ready for God requires that we have an intense spiritual reality. Because one is to make sense of conditional physical possibility by reference to determinism or something like it, it is clear that the hard-fought question whether determinism rules out human freedom is not the questions whether determinism rules out the conditional possibility of human’s doing other than what one does do. There is, in fact, little that is controversial about the last question; it gets an analytic “Yes.” What is controversial is the question whether the sense of “can” involved in the morally relevant query “Can that individual do otherwise?” is to be understood as the “can” of conditional possibility. Be careful that you do not become a hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right with God before you worship God yourself. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

For if, both libertarians and sophisticated fatalists seem to think, this “can” is of basic moral significance, then free actions are possible only if determinism is false, untenable, or inapplicable to human actions. If, on the other hand this sense of “can” is not the one that does concern us or should concern us when in a moral context, we wonder whether a person can do other than what one does do—the opinion of the “reconcilers” of the empiricist tradition—then there is, perhaps, no incompatibility between determinism and human freedom after all. The more we love, the more we “can” love. Love is limitless. Love produces love. That is why psychiatrists recommend having healthy human relationships with parents, spouse, grandparents, kin, group members, workers, and church members, or having a loving pet. Love passion and joy of love will enter your heart and this love prolongs life because the energy of love has the capacity to heal our bodies and create life satisfaction. People who are satisfied with their lives find pleasure in daily activities. Life is being meaningfully met, through successful goal accomplishment, positive self-image, happy and optimistic attitudes and moods. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of scripture, like jabbing them in the heart with a wooden stake, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit? While there are very fewer makeup and breakup dramas, the distancer keeps holding back, never really capable of letting himself or herself get close to a partner. The ambivalent distancer never seems to find the elusive perfect love, yet never gives up the quest. One may briefly partner with someone, then quickly move on to better opportunities. The ambivalent distancer can also stay within a relationship but strays repeatedly toward other objects of desire outside the committed relationship as a way of defending against a deeper connection with one person.  This form of distancing can be maddening for everyone involved. People feel vulnerable and have a fear of closeness, are chronically restless, and have a pervasive dissatisfaction.  #RandolphHarris 8 of 8