God is beyond good and evil. We think of pollution as a chemical poisoning, but the soul can be poisoned through the ear. We might be aware of the value of scents and aromas as well. In the beginning of the sixth century, there were writings that has a wide impact upon medieval mysticism. The negative theology expounded in them was not merely the result of logical difficulties involved in the ascription of ordinary predicates to God but, more importantly, was geared to the expression of the contemplative’s inner experience of a darkness clearer than light. Thus the highest state of Christian blessedness was increasingly identified with contemplation, and mysticism became the pattern after which eternal life was conceived. The fall of Adam brought about a rupture in the cosmos; the Shekinah, or Divine Presence, became exiled from the En-Sof (which is understood as God prior to his self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual realm and can also be known as the Endless One, unending, infinity). No longer does the Presence pervade the whole World; it appears intermittently here and there—for instance, in ancient Israel—and has continued to be especially associated with some people. The aim should be to bring about a reunion of the En-Sof with the Shekinah (which is also known as the Earth and represents the oral law and the oral law is the source of the spirit of every living being). #RandolphHarris 1 of 10

Since the human soul contains some of the Sefiroth, the individual experience of such a reunion will have its cosmic effects and help to restore Universal harmony. Consequently, the mystical life was given a dramatic and central place in the operations of the Universe. Reincarnation is supposed to give humans ever fresh chances of living the pure life and is supposed to provide a framework for the punishment of those who had transgressed because too much fertilizer, or the right amount applied at the wrong time, could be as bad as too little. Adam is a Universal being who before the Fall embraced the Universe, then in an ideal state. With his fall, the material World was created, and the light of his divine nature was fragmented into the parks that illuminate the myriads of living souls. In the final consummation, all will be reunited. Asceticism and the practice of kavannah—concentrated devotion in all one’s acts—were the means of purifying the soul. Social conditions may have helped the growth of such doctrines, for the emphasis on meekness, love, and a quiet interior life were well adapted to the unhappy outer circumstances of the people, and Messianic hope gave the contemplative cosmic role. Spiritual leaders stress being righteous because it is thought to be the best way to channel God. Salvation can be attained through prayer and pious acts. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10

Many say God speaks in numbers. It is important to teach human beings to store digits in a memory loop that runs longer than two seconds. It is good to teach children in school to memorize seven numbers at a time and then repeat those numbers to increase the numerical memory capacity loop. By teaching young children to play games with numbers, by age five they can be ahead of their peers by a year in their most fundamental math skills. This will allow them to perform addition more easily. Also, the attitude one takes towards math makes a huge difference. Instead of being a rote learning thing, there is a pattern one can figure out. There is an expectation that it is sensible. For fractions, instead of saying three-fifths, it might be better understood if we say out of five parts take three. That is telling you conceptually what a fraction is. It is differentiating the denominator and the numerator. This will take away the bafflement and allow a child to hold more numbers in their heads and do calculations faster because the way a fraction actually is will be expressed in a language that corresponds exactly to what is being asked. And it may make math more enjoyable, which will may students try a little harder and take more math calluses and be more willing to do their homework in kind of a virtuous circle. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10

When you live in a community where everybody knows everybody, invisibility is banished. In the larger anonymous society of being cities and suburbs, one has to know something to make an active effort. One has to win, know how to assert oneself in the competition for limited resources—and not only once, but day after day. With the disappearance of traditional society and its preconditions and in the absence of the preordained, unquestioned, often enforced ties of earlier times, people are constantly forced to articulate their individuality and existence as a way to manufacture bonds and connections for networking and notoriety. The pressure of needing to constantly justify and give notice of one’s existence is ameliorated by living in (comparatively) closed society. Some researcher believe that the intrinsic nature of the child, some inborn predilection to attach or separate from others, is more important than the role played by the primary caretaker in this personality-defining scenario. Being able to let go of Mom and tolerate the anxiety of doing so puts infants in an entirely new relationship alignment, not only with their mothers, but with everyone else who matters to them. There is a close connection between the ability to feel and tolerate this anxiety and the ability to enter mutually gratifying relationships. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10

Coping with separation anxiety means giving away some of our power over the valued other, some of our need to be in charge, and some of our insistence on gratifying our own wishes. In letting go of our basic selfish motives, we learn the rudiment of altruistic caring and relating. Cultivation of the spiritual life, whereby a foretaste of the beatitude of the blessed in Heaven can be gained. Thus the ultimate destiny of human beings is seen in contemplative terms, and it is thought possible to anticipate tis destiny by a regulated life withdrawn from the World. Those who gravitate toward over connectedness, seek undue amounts of reassurance or control in relationships, and may act domineering—or overprocess their feelings and opinions—in an effort to avoid the painful experience of rejection or abandonment. They seem to think that if others just understood their point of view, no separation would have to occur. However, research and practical observation confirms that overusing detachment in relating is a power, but dysfunctional attempt to quell anxiety of a different form. Complete withdrawal is a strong indication that the individual is so afraid of being engulfed by the other person’s point of view or emotional state that running away appears to be the only solution. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10

Distancing is a last-ditch effort to maintain sense of self. Individuals who make this type of interpersonal mistake report having been cared for by clingy, overly dependent adults while in their formative years, and having learned to temporarily turn off their attachment to, and concern for, their extremely needful associates. Matthew never felt that he had a life of his own. He always felt people needed him to experience everything that the could not have for themselves, so he always felt the pressure to be out there in the World living life for them. However, at the same time, he was always getting the message never to leave them. Needless to say, Matthew lacked any opportunity to observe a close loving relationship between two adults. He described feeling suffocated at times by people’s emotional need. His response was, overtime, to pull back each time he started to get close to a potential partner. In this way, he avoided the possibility of anyone needing him, threatening to suffocate him, or trying to take over his life. His ambivalence for each new partner, enacted by always finding flaws that allowed him to escape, was a continuing act of loyalty and submission to the people of his past. By never committing to a relationship, Matthew never left the people who needed him behind for someone else. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10

It is important to be willing to risk being rejected or engulfed, whichever is more frightening to you. When you risk experiencing the pain that your coping method was designed to avoid, you eliminate you need to use it. In simple terms, if you can tolerate being rejected, you will not have to maintain attachments at all costs, and if you can handle being engulfed, you need not withdraw from situations in order to survive them intact. Only after you have come to terms with the possibility of abandonment or obliteration can you be truly assertive in voicing your true thoughts and emotions. Though it might appear that this problem, which is essentially emotional in nature, can be solved with private inner work, the dysfunction was born in the interpersonal crucible, and it is there that it must be resolved. What you gain from tolerating the anxiety of being rejected, relinquishing your overreliance on attachment, and becoming more separate or distant when the situation warrants is a greater sense of autonomy and the ability to survive real or potential rejections; less tolerance for being abused by others; a willingness to stand up for your own needs; and a greater sense of relationship balance, marked by increased sensitivity to the attachment-separation needs of others. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10

Some people enjoy not just the quiet of the giant cedars and many hidden beaches in the country living because they hunger for the old lifestyle, and this is as close as they can get to the instant recognizability of yesteryear’s small town. The clock is turned back. The nobody can be somebody just by existing. The roles—town drunk, town loon, town rabble-rouser, town gossip, town genius, town beauty queen, or the town’s most eligible bachelor—provide identities that would otherwise have to be carefully maintained and retooled and projected. Perhaps this is why small towns always seem so sleepy and nonchalant. They are protected from the perpetual necessity of narrative reinvention. Many of us seek, either consciously or unconsciously, to replicate this idea of the small town. We yearn for the collective intimacy of the tribe and the crew, yet grove on the anonymity and solitude cyberspace. Conversely, many people do not wish to totally abandon the city. Some of us are half in the rural sleepy island World and, at least mentally, half in the hyperactive city mindset. On the island, with its many highly intelligent, World-weary, conservative-minded residents, we get the best of both Worlds: small town recognition without small-town provincialism. Downshifting people with an underlying longing for a tradition that will not limit their individuality embody an increasingly common mindset. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10

Some people are separated from the crowd who are unhappy with their lives because some individuals actually act on their longings of the greater, popular-infused society while being effortlessly recognized as a member of a tiny and exclusive community. Most people are unable to relocate out of the influence of the fast paced and largely anonymous urban centers. As a result, many try to capture the sense of downshifting in other ways. The trend reveals itself in movements like Slow Food—and international group that preaches slow cooking, traditional ingredients and customs, gardening, and nostalgia for a past of villages and farms and ancestral banquets. They prefer the sound of brooms and a rake to the loud, polluting motors of the leaf blowers that wake them up every single day, even on sleep-in Saturday. These people want to save indigenous crops from the single-crop focus of modern agribusiness, and develop more local farms and family operations before all of the land is selfishly developed. They talk about a fund to help new farmers set up their operations while the seniors can share enough knowledge of the old ways to replicate the successful farming techniques of a time before fertilizer and pesticide. There is a nostalgic element to having at least one plantation style farm to represent the community. #RandolpHarris 9 of 10

It is easy to overlook the obvious, persistent indications of soul, in this case the fantasies and longing for harmony, where the blue ride yawns its greatness. Working class, middle class, and wealthy people from the city are desperately casting about for an identity that comes close to the values of a mom-and-pop business of a simpler time and this mirrors society’s desire for real substance and meaning in a technology-driven chimera. Because we hunger for the old lifestyle, we fake it for a while. What do you think country-western music and rhythm and blues is all about? Dolly Parton, Aaliyah, Anita Baker, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Boyz II Men, the Marvin Gaye. You hear them everywhere, on every channel in the Panhandle, because we need it now more than ever—to convince ourselves that we are still cowboys and cowgirls. Lord, accept us in penitence. Lord, leave us not. Lord, led us not into temptation. God, grant us good thoughts. God, grant us tears and remembrance of death and compunction. Lord, grant us the thought of confessing our sins. God, grant us humility, chastity, and obedience. Lord, grant us to love thee in our hearts. God, grant us to love thee with all our mind and soul, and always to do thy will. Lord, protect us from certain people, and passions, from every other harmful thing. Lord, thou know thou actest as thou wilt; may they will be also in me, a sinner, for blessed at thou forever. Amen. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10