A face devoid of love or grace, a hateful, hard, successful face, a face with which a stone would feel as thoroughly at was as were they old acquaintances—first time together thrown. Most of us have poured out our hearts in angry, accusatory, plaintive, or sad letters after people have betrayed or abandoned us. Doing so almost always makes us feel better, even if we never send them When you write to yourself, you do not have to worry about other people’s judgment—you just listen to your own thoughts and let their flow take over. Later, when you reread what you wrote, you often discover surprising truths. Jurisprudence and law would become quite meaningless if people were not entitled to seek the causes of various unwanted events such as violent deaths, fires, and accidents. The same is true in such areas as public health, medicine, military planning, and, indeed, every area of life. No one doubts the battle against malaria began with the search for the cause of it, and measures then taken against it have all been aimed at eliminating its cause or moderating its effects by the introduction of their causal factors. This is typical of the way humans manage their practical affairs, great and small, in dealing with their environment. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

Who has not found the Heaven below will fail to find it above. God’s residence is next to mine, His furniture is love. The law of cause and effect does not hide in the realm of the unexpected when intelligent beings go looking for it. It is true that the concept of causation is theoretically difficult one, beset with many problems and the source of much metaphysical controversy, but the suggestion that it can be dispensed with is extreme. It is quite common to refer to objects or substances as causes. Thus, one says that malaria is caused by certain mosquitoes, that the Earth is warmed by the Sun, and so on. Most writers on the subject agree, however, that causes and effects are ordinarily changes in the states of things or substances. Succumbing to malaria, for instance, is change, and it is caused, not by a mosquito as such, but by being bitten by a certain mosquito, which is also a change or event. More precisely, it is caused by the changes wrought in the body by certain microscopic organisms transmitted by mosquitoes. The Earth is not warmed by the Sun as such, but, rather, certain parts of the Earth are warmed by becoming turned toward the Sun, and these again are changes or events.  #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

When the mind is dissatisfied, whether upon the grounds just or unjust, it ever views objects through an exaggerated medium. Have you ever seen the Sun set? You may think you have. Yet, in reality, we know the Sun does not set. Instead, our viewing angel changes as the Earth turns, until the Sun is obscured by the horizon. The unchanging persistence of a state, such as a constant fever, might be explained by another persistent state, such as the continuing presence of malarial organisms in the blood, and this, too, would be a casual explanation. You may be in pain today. Maybe you have suffered a loss, been through a disappointment. That is not the end. God still has a plan. Do not sit around focusing on your hardships. Do not let bitterness and discouragement set the tone for your life. God want you to identify with better human qualities such as wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Different strengths contribute to each virtue. The virtue humanity, for example, includes the strengths bravery, persistence, integrity, and vitality. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

There are many different ways that past relationships can affect you in a negative way and change your personal character. The repetition of being the one who feels repeatedly rejected in a relationship may create a self-image of “victim” that clouded the underlying distancing issues you have carried with you into each relationship. It is vital to understand how your past relationships have shaped how you respond in the present. If you do not understand this, you may go on to experience a series of disappointments that can lead only to deeper despair and greater self-blame. However, looking at your past is not easy. Having the experience of failed relationships can create the avoidance patter of running away from healthy relationships, too. The fear of beginning a new relationship can become greatly intensified by failed relationship attempts. Some people who have been hurt before react to failed relationships by becoming more extreme in their avoidance patters. Others use the experience of being physically and emotionally wounded to sharpen their weapons, the hurtful characteristics they have learned, against subsequent partners or would-be partners. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

If recollecting were forgetting, then I remember not; and if forgetting, recollecting, how near I had forgot! And if to miss were merry, and if to mourn were gay, how very blithe the fingers that gathered these to-day! Results have nothing to do with the moral guilt or blamelessness of one who brings them about; they depend solely upon the thing done, whatever it may happen to be. The moral guilt or blamelessness in like manner has nothing to do with the results. Many a criminal is made by pondering over the fate of some predecessor in guilt. There is a fascination in the dark and forbidden, which, strange to say, is only lost in fiction. No one is more inclined to murder one’s nephews, or stifle his wife, after reading Richard the Third or Othello. Certain assumptions underlie our behavior as we act without an awareness of what is affecting our personality. People tend to act in ways to reduce their anxiety. Failures to communicate successfully in past relationships can cause people to set up rigid rules for their new relational efforts. This can happen when someone feels inadequate, attacked, or betrayed in an earlier relationship. Manifest no distrust, or you may invite the danger you appear to apprehend. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

I felt a clearing in my mind as if my brain had split; I tried to match it, seam by seam, but could not make them fit. The thought being I strove to join unto the thought before, but sequence raveled out of reach like balls upon a floor.  Self-awareness is not a sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. How we behave with each other is patterned with a high degree of probability but not inevitable. Be sure to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Focus on Christian values, which means having life directions, such as spending time with friends and loved one, receiving education, and being kind and compassionate to other. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. If we will come to God, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it. Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. When we are compassionate, we acknowledge the suffering of another being, having a desire to alleviate that suffering, and taking some kind of action or expressing the intention to reduce the suffering. Slight sufferings make us captious; great ones, humane and benevolent. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6