I wish I could blink an eye and restore life. It was a deathless legend when wise people ruled originally, people lived happy lives following nature. At the beginning of the World, there was a charming ideal golden time when people were loving and loved by God. People did not have to suffer death for at the end of the day they were transported to a dreamy Heaven. In the golden age, they Earth brought forth bounteous fruits for them and no one had to suffer labor. Their lives were one of perfect bliss. They weather was agreeable, one could sleep on the plush grass under a tree or build a house. The water was fresh and sparkled and the air was clean, cool, and sweet. Life was totally devoted to God and people have been awakened by His Spirit. There are some people who are totally unemployable in the spiritual realm. We must develop the distinction between things in our power (the power to give or withhold assent and to use external impressions) and things not in our power (external impressions, our body, and the rest of the inexorable World). There is an innate moral predisposition which can be actualized by education of left to decay. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7

The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not. We must give equal weight to the two focuses of Stoic ethics, inward self-control and useful citizenship in the cosmospolis that s that Universe. The goal of Stoicism was to make the personal and political lives of people as orderly as the cosmos. Their love of nature was as superior to local convention or political power, and above all their belief in the autarkeia or autonomy of the virtuous humans was key. They laid down rules for the validation of truth claims. There is in their physics no qualitative difference between God and the rest of the Universe; God is the reason of the World, soul of the World, and the creative aspect of the Universe. The stuff which he informs comes from Him, is sustained by Him, and differs from Him only by being more relaxed and less creative. Living according to the benevolence and orderliness of the Universe produced a consequence of such a life of spiritual peace and well-being; the happy condition of the soul when it resembles God. Having achieved this ultimate goal, one’s life is as autonomous, as uniform, and as benevolent as God Himself. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7

The means to the achievement of this goal was virtue. All the cardinal virtues are of a piece, impossible without the others, and they are basically attitudes, not just actions. One is intelligence (knowing what is good and bad); another is bravery (knowing what to fear and what not to fear); and a third is justice (knowing how to give everyone what properly belongs to his or her); and the fourth, competing with the first for importance in the list, is self-control (knowing what impressions to assent to, what passions to moderate or extinguish). At first, there seemed to be for the Stoic a sharp distinction between the virtuous person (the wise person) and the rest (the fools), but as Stoicism modified its ideas, many things once considered totally indifferent to the wise people came to be spoken of as “advantages” to be used (though not needed). Healthy, property, and honor were among these advantages; their opposites were disadvantages to be avoided (but not at all costs), and the things totally indifferent (adiaphora) to the wise people became things like paying of debt with one piece of money rather than another. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7

Like all other individual nature, Stoics were of service to their fellow creatures, to their family under the Fatherhood of God, the logos spermatikos. Regardless of national conventions or laws, regardless of property, race, rank, or birth, one must always be cognizant of the creative fire each rational being possesses. The virtues of the Stoics was far more than a means to individual spiritual well-being; it was their absolute duty for promotion of a cosmopolis that would be the very image of the rationally ordered physical World. There was a rejection of a dualistic ontology (that there are two sorts of substances, material things and minds) and a defense of a dualism of attributes—physical and mental—combined in a single entity, the embodied mind, which has both physical and mental attributes combined somewhat as the primary and secondary characteristics are united in a material object as it is apprehended in naive perceptual situations. This view of the self entailed a corresponding reanalysis of the mental attitudes of cognition, feeling, and conation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7

The term conative activity covers all psychophysical processes which are directed to a goal (whether anticipated or not.  What could be more natural than for humans, hemmed in by the inexorable realities of labor, pain, sin, and death, to escape in imagination to a lovely wonderland where things are the exact anthesis of the stern condition of primitive life? Such flights of fancy are so very true to human nature. There is nothing easier than getting into the right relationship with God. Conation is divided into practical and theoretical conation. Practical conative activity is directed to producing actual changes in the objects and situations with which the subject has to deal with in the real World. Theoretical conation is directed to the fuller and clearer apprehension of such objects and situation. Speaking of situations, a man was recently disabled in a surfing accident and suffered a spinal cord injury. He was engaged to get married to a young lady, and his injury did not change her feelings towards him. They still plan on getting married. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7

Clearly, that young lady is practicing the Stoic principals and her love and duty to the man she loves overtakes any future hardships, financial, physical, or emotional that they may endure. That is amazing because many people view disabled people as being unnecessary or unwanted and thus is or becomes burdensome. It is nice to see that theory of disabled people as being disposable and undesirable is an expression of the human’s mind capacity to generate myths. The beloved lover is always called happy, and happiness is considered as a well-fleshed indifference to sorrow outside it. Everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the beauty and harmony of the World by showing kindness to all living things and, thereby, supporting the human spirit. That which we freely give to life flows back to us because we are equally part of that life. Like ripples on the water, every gift returns to the giver. What we affirm in others, we actually affirm in ourselves. If you totally abandon yourself to God, He immediately says to you, “I will give your life to you as a prize.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 7

Once we become willing to give love, the discovery quickly follows that we are surrounded by lobe and merely did not know how to access it. Love is actually present everywhere; its presence only needs to be realized. Love expresses itself in many ways. Certainty is the mark of the commonsense of life—graciously part of the spiritual life. Love facilitates healing. It transforms life. Once you become loving, there are certain things you can never do again. Forgiveness is an aspect of love that allows us to see life events from the viewpoint of grace. We forgive ourselves for the errors we made when we were less evolved. In the energy field of love, we are surrounded with love, and that brings gratitude. We are thankful for life and all the miracles of life. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. A soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, God begins to fill our lives with surprises. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit. Love suffers long and is kind. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7