The great secret of managing the mind of a human being is to find employment for it. God is in all things, and with the idea of God’s transcendence, the idea is that God is above all things. God is not the unity of all things, but rather that which makes all things into a unity; as such, God is not an abstraction, but a real individual, unchangeable, eternal, and independent. The nature of God is manifest in our consciousness. God, or the One, stands in the same relation to the manifold produced by it as does our mind to its thoughts, feeling, and decisions. Our consciousness pictures the Absolute One. To be realistic, one has to take into account that to choose to devote one’s life to reaching enlightenment in our society is uncommon and relatively rare. The goal of society in general is to succeed in the World, whereas the goal of enlightenment is to transcend beyond it. In this psychology, humans are indeed considered a composite of our inner and outer sense. Moral awareness is basic to the human constitution, and it is only during the course of historical development that morality and religion become connected and interdependent. The great aim is to understand Christian ethics as the supreme manifestation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

There are chords in the human mind. What we study are the manifestations of a grown and growing morality in religious, social, and political consciousness. The point of reference for an understanding of the moral person is no longer the will as such, but morality as realizing itself through persons in history. Discovering rational truth is a basis of a happy life. Only true knowledge can tame the passions, which are the source of error and therefore of unhappiness. Knowledge comes only from the senses, but purely sensible knowledge called imagination is passive, approximate, and relative, and must be governed by rigid precepts. Reason abstracts from imagination, producing universal and strict concepts. The intellect considers things as they exists in themselves; that is, it penetrates their real nature and connects in one whole the real thing and its sensible and abstract representations. Reason operates by analysis, intellect by synthesis. The exceptional life becomes so by virtue of context and meaning whereby choice sets up a hierarchy of values which motivates all activities. The difference between the ordinary and the exceptional life is primarily one of context. To value love above gain is already such a major shift of attitude that transforms life. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

Only intellectual knowledge can reach the truth and be communicated. Falsehood arises when intellect works like imagination. The criterion of truth is what can be conceived—that is, ideas insofar as they may be connected or not connected with one another. This criterion does not rest simply on an abstract rule to be applied in each case, but on the possibility of connecting ideas in a comprehensive system. The intellectual faculty is the source of logical truth. However, metaphysical truth comes from experience, and it is truth insofar as it has been deduced from experience by reasoning conforming to logical standards, and insofar as it is confirmed through evident experiments. Intellectual knowledge operated by elaborating simple concepts, or definitions; by deducing simple properties, or axioms, from them; and by connecting the definitions in all possible ways to produce theorems. That definition is real compliance with Heaven’s will and imitation of the ancients. It is a knowledge of causes that enables us to reproduce the object. To do so is for the people to follow the sovereign, and for the sovereign to follow Heaven. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

It its highest stages, intellectual knowledge is knowledge of the natural World. Science is a whole, and should conform to the methodological ideal of mathematical clarity. Physics is the foundation of the other sciences. By demonstrating the rationality and necessity of all events, physics leads us to recognize divine providence. Human freedom arises from the command of God. Heaven is inherently good and benevolent, and so is the sovereign. His virtuous rule will be marked by order and harmony in the Universe. Heaven sends catastrophes (such as floods and fires, Earthquakes and mountain slides) and anomalies (such as comets, eclipses) to warn humans. When this goes unheeded and no changes are made, Heaven would frighten the people with prodigies. If people are still unawed, ruin and destruction will finally befall the empire. And, first, let us inform ourselves well what those sins are from which we ought to abstain. And here we must not take our measures from the maxims of the World, or the practices of those whom in charity we account good people. The phenomena of the World of nature, trapped in unprogressive cycles of birth and death. The infinite variability and indeed the perfectibility of humankind. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

Most people have very light apprehensions of these things, and are not sensible of any fault, unless it be gross and flagitious, and scarce reckon any so great as that which they call preciseness: and those who are more serious, do many times allow themselves too great latitude and freedom. In the past and in the future, as knowledge and experience accumulate human’s reason, passions and freedom permit one to escape from the repetitive cycles of external nature. Movement and change give rise to new relationships, and this all experience is instructive; even passion and error, calamity and evil providentially contribute to humankind’s advance. Indeed, the ambitions and the vices of humans and the barbarities of warfare, however, morally reprehensive, may often rescue humankind from stagnation or mediocrity. However, how much pride and vanity, and passion and honour; how much weakness, and folly, and sin, does every day show itself in many people’s converse and behaviour? It may be they are humbled for it, and striving against it, and are daily gaining some ground: but then the progress is so small, and their failings so many, that we have need to choose a more exact pattern. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

Pain of the mind is relieved by an abstraction of solid thought. The vital medium of progress is the process of human communication. Ideas deriving from sensations are developed through the use of signs, pictures, and especially language, by which knowledge and experience are transmitted and augmented from generation to generation. Since above all it is the human of genius who can grasp the implications and make articulate the lessons of experience, it is society’s duty to encourage natural genius and to heed its advice. Moral circumstances, such as the cultivation of genius, are more important in determining the extent and nature of progress than are such physical circumstances as climate. Every one of us must answer for oneself, and the practices of others will never warrant and secure us. It is the highest folly to regulate our actions by any other standard than that by which we must be judged. Progress is uneven through human’s history. Moreover, it varies necessarily in the different areas and aspects of human activity, such as science, technology, morality, and the arts. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

Progress in the arts, for example, is always radically limited to nature of humans, since the goal of the arts is pleasure aloe, whereas speculative scientific progress has the anthropomorphic or supernatural, the abstract or speculative, and the empirical—mathematical. If ever we would cleanse our way, it must be by taking heed thereto according to the word of God; and that word which is quick and powerful. Many people are not aware of the forces of error and evil in the World, but the pat and in the happier future. The historical continuity so much stressed in the scriptures in fact ruled out any immediate, thorough renovations of humankind. The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the World. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. The heart loves repose and the soul contemplation, but the mind needs action. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; God is getting me to the place where I will be able to accomplish my dreams faster. So do not go around talking about how big your problems is, or how you will never make it. God’s gracious hands are on you. You have the favor factor, so do not keep dwelling on everything you lack, the mistakes you have made, or the greater talents of the competition. You are just looking in the natural, at what you can conceive right here and right now, but the power of God, the miracles he can produce go beyond your talent, education or ability, they are supernatural. Focus on what it looks like when God finally gets you that career, degree, acting job, or singing career you want. Can you describe what that looks like? How might God bring opportunities into your life that are greater than you can imagine? Believe in your heart that you are meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8

The Winchester Mystery House

Come and enjoy the architectural and social history of a unique 19th century mansion. A tour through The Winchester Mystery House tells the story of Mrs. Winchester and the various ways the house has been utilized from the time it was built. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/