In the heroic struggle to be someone, to make life work and to find happiness, things we do may inflict wounds on something much deeper than me. The very foundation of existence can be affected, and so infirmary and ailments arise as from some profound, mysterious place, very much as a divine apparition. We know that the battle for the right to live happily through the will to live rightly is half won when we have correctly diagnosed the trouble. And if we have been walking down a road that leads nowhere, where the trail runs out and stops, all we have to do is reverse our steps and remember that the power which took us down the wrong road can just as easily lead us back on the right one. Pursuing divinely appointed responsibilities in righteousness, unity, and equality will prepare us to meet God. It is eternity-shaping. We know who we are and we know what God expects of us. God has armed us with righteousness, in his power, and with great glory. The ceremonies of dedication may be rehearsal, but no mortal language can describe the Heavenly manifestations of these memorable days. The soul exists because its nonexistence would lead to an absurdity. It would be wrong to pretend that this is something absolutely everybody does not stop to think about—of that the mind-body problem, as modern philosophers conceive of it, is a burning issue for all human beings. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

Still, I doubt in this contemplation of mortality that there is anybody who has not at least noticed that there really is a puzzle here, hardly a person who has not observed that their own mental life is on the face of it too good to be true, and therefore, I would guess, hardly anyone who has not been drawn to dualism as at least some sort of a solution. Ordinary people are likely to get not a little outside cultural help. We have to plough the furor for ourselves, clearing our minds of every external influence before finding the answers to the puzzle. As I am sure you realize, the whole trend of modern psychology and neuroscience is in fact totally antithetical to dualism and will not admit to there being even a hint of paranormal interaction between the mind and the brain. While the problem of consciousness remains a problem even for the experts, ordinary people can be forgiven for supposing that they have (and always have had) the essence of the answers already in their pockets: the simple, easily graspable, patently obvious, and metaphysically comforting idea that mind and body belong to different spheres and may in principle lead relatively independent lives, even while the mind has effects on the body and the body effects on the mind. Once a person has arrived at this dualist model of what it is to be a human being, it is certain to be a powerful enabler of paranormal beliefs across the board. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

Angels appear to some, while a sense of divine presence is realized by many, and each heart is filled with joy inexpressible and full of glory. This life is the time for all of us to prepare to meet God. After an individual has arrived at this model of what goes on quite naturally inside of oneself when one wills, acts, perceives, and so on, the way is open to legitimizing paranormal action in the World beyond. The case of mind-over-matter interactions occurring within the brain ought perhaps to be regarded as exceptional. If things can happen inside of the brain, why not outside? In fact could it not be argued that, compared to what happens every day inside our heads, when our minds lead our bodies the amazing dances that they do that are considered miraculous, once we admit that mind-over-matter effects can and do occur in a single case, the absolute taboo on non-physical causation has been broken. The World is then the paranormal’ oyster. Several professional parapsychologists have openly acknowledged that it is their faith in mind-body dualism that justifies and motivated their search for paranormal phenomena in general. Parapsychologist alone constitute a professional group where dualism is still the most popular assumption. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

Normally, psychic phenomenon (psi) arises from the fact that mind can directly influence matter and matter mind. These interactions usually would be confined to the mind-brain system where they would be going on all the time. Once in a while, however, they may spill over into the environment and it is only then that they would count as paranormal within the terms of the accepted definition. If psi phenomena occur we must adopt some other conception of the way the mind works, for example that the mind generates ideas and that these ides somehow fulfill themselves in the real Word. This many smack uncomfortably of magic but only observation can tell us whether or not such magic is a fact. Probably everyone will half agree with this “only observation can tell.” However, it is strongly suspected that for many people it is nonetheless their basic belief that the mind must be magic to be a mind at all that encourages them, to begin with, to go out and look. For me personally, life can be difficult, but I keep my faith in God and keep praying and praying and keeping my faith because I have seen God do wonderful things in my life, and people have so much faith in his power and have these amazing testimonies about how God has helped them. I feel that there are much greater things in store for my life because that is what is reported in the scripture, and I want my testimony. I want to be able to see my dreams come to fruition and be able to lift someone else up by telling them how my faith in God got me here. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

And I believe that by focusing on God every day, it creates a kind of mind storm where he is all around you and active in your life, and you can feel the Sun is about the shine. In your heart, when you have faith in God and are living right, you just know he is going to turn your pain into blessings. As for people who violate the covenants of chastity, who abuse spouses or offspring [or, for that matter, anyone else] will one day stand accountable before God. It takes less energy to live constructively than it does to live destructively. It takes no energy to have faith, while fear devastates such energy we have. It takes no energy to love; it is hate that is destructive. It does not take mental or physical energy to be happy, but unhappiness and morbidity consumes so much energy that it devitalizes us mentally and physically. It does not take mental of physical energy to build up hope; it is despair that blocks us. All it takes is faith. As we look around, we see the devastation of wickedness and addiction at every turn. If, as individuals, we are really concerned about the Savior’s ultimate judgment of us, we should seek repentance. It sometimes seems strange that life should have delivered such power into our keeping, such a will and imagination, and then let us alone to make the great discovery for ourselves. Sometimes we wonder why God did this? God never made any mistakes and never can. This is the only way he could have created us as free people, for the very idea of freedom carries with it the obligations of ignorance and the rewards of understanding. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

And now it is high time that we awake from our sleep and come back to a direct and intimate relationship to the power greater than we are and to a law of God acting creatively on our prayers of affirmation, our meditations of faith, and our hymns of praise. The science of the mind conspires with us because it has lead us back through the dim and dark caverns of our own thinking to the original source of our being, which it has hesitated to call God but which it knows is a power greater than we are. No one can travel the new road for us but ourselves. Science may put up a sign: This is the way; walk in it. So we must take our journey into the promise land. A person without a spiritual conviction cannot hope to make the same use of the creative power of our though as the one who has it. We must deliberately play with the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, that the Kingdom of God is within. We must reorganize our thought on this basis, taking as our central theme the conviction that pure spirit is every at the center of our being. We should keep the door of our thoughts open to the invisible guest who would enter with us. God is the resurrection and the life. One may end one experience and be born into another in this World. We are learning how to do this by mentally letting go of the old and taking hold of the new. We know that the spirit triumphs over everything, love is all-conquering, joy becomes supreme. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6