The beginning is hard, and by the end of it they are restless. Part of life is endurance, part of it is motivation. Part of it is incentives and rewards and fun stuff. Part of it is good old-fashioned discipline. You mangle it all together and discover grit and self-control. A person is a certain sort of living organism whose identity depends on its biological organization. On the other hand, a person is also defined as a thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing, in different times and places; which it does only by the consciousness which is inseparable from thinking and essential to it. Further, as far as this consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of the person. People who are shut out from actually participating and making meaning through localized cultural exchange depend mainly on prefab fun to legitimize their lives. Often guidance counseling is based on the assumption that people cannot learn in areas where they do not begin with natural aptitude. A student’s life direction is often decided by his or her talent. Many suffer the tragedy of spending their lives in careers they never truly cared about, all because of some aptitude they happened to demonstrate in high school. In fact, many people adopt the premise that they must tailor their desires to their talents and abilities. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9

The first half of life many people are unable to see that their vocations and hobbies are works in progress that add meaning to their lives, rather than having true value. If individuals suspect that they may have been educated away from their natural inclination toward learning over performance they may get stuck in performance mode. When one remains in performance mode, growth, change, expansion, independence, learning, inventiveness, and self-generated progress all become difficult.  As a result, some people want and need constant stimulation and satisfaction.  Only partly able to establish identity by having a place in a community and being able to reach their peers through the electronic mediums of communication—the tentacles of mass culture—some seek other ways to get into the action and reaffirm their desire to be noticed. Many do as they are told; giving themselves over to the World of popular culture and invite it to make them feel special. The outside World rewards task demonstration, not task question, and both performers and learners base their sense of self-worth largely on how well they perform. Performers tend to focus too much on the things they do well, and shy away from learning situations in which they are sure to experience some short-term failure. They are likely to get stuck in ruts, and often become complacent and bored. This is who so many have become: people who cannot sit still, people who desire ever further immersion in the spectacle. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9

Learners, on the other hand, fail to make the most out of the performance mode, frequently out of fear of boredom, but often out of fear of long-term failure. Most of us know at least one perpetual student who hung out at high school or college long after graduation, or who went on to pursue many degrees, but not a career. Some learner types are career jumpers, trying out many fields of endeavor in order to avoid failure in one; still others stick to one vocation, but follow their own interest to the point that they are not as productive as they could be. Certain learners actually see learning itself as a kind of performance. Learners are often dreamers, unwilling to commit to the complacency of performance. Ironically, natural learners who push themselves to perform (usually in a job) are just as likely as performers to get bored. Organizations succeed by taking the idea of cultural legacies seriously. Some schools have ten-hour days and shorter Summer vacations to prevent kids from losing ground. After school is out there are homework clubs, detention, and sports teams and they even go to school on Saturdays. The extra time allows for a more relaxed atmosphere. The extended time gives the teacher the opportunity to explain things, and more time for the kids to sit and digest everything that is going on—to review, to do things at a much slower pace. We should be wise in explaining and pursuing our positions and exercising our influence. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

Communicate with a curiosity and an appetite for learning. The happiest and most productive people are those who make good use of both their intrinsic interest in leaning and their spontaneous enjoyment of performance. Both task modes—learning and performance—are essential to exceptional competence. It may seem counterintuitive, but when things are done meticulously it allows the teachers and students to get through a lot more.  There is a lot more retention, better understanding of the material. It lets the entire classroom be a little more relaxed. They have time for games. Kids can ask any questions they want, and if the teacher is explaining something, he or she does not feel pressed for time. This allows them to go back over material and not feel time pressure. The extra times gives the teachers the chance to make subjects like mathematics meaningful. These students see the clear relationship between effort and reward so they are not stuck asking, “How does this apply to real life?” Some students who were not good at math have gone on to be accounting majors in college just from spending about 60 percent more time in school each year. That is why certain students from other countries do so well with education because they look at it like a career in their youth and dedicate their time. The same formula goes for the wealthy kids in America, after school many of them have tutors and spend their Summers and Winter breaks in Summer school or intercession and preread the material for the upcoming year. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9

Awkwardness and mistakes produce anxiety (“I may never master the task”), which is compounded if others are concerned over the task competence as well. Whether you are trying to become a competent swimmer or competent actor or competent engineer, the learning mode can bring on feelings of incompetence that then develop into a sense of challenges as performance, with time and effort, improves. We have to focus and continually will to reach goals whether they be material or spiritual. Human beings are easily distracted, fall victim to sin, often quit because of obstacles or tests, and so for us perseverance is a virtue to be cultivated and practiced if we want to achieve our goals. Over and over again we see God not being stopped from loving his people and blessing them. He persevered for centuries in his love for people who might have been considered unlovable. There are days when we get it right; there are stretches where our love perseveres through temptations and obstacles and weak flesh. This should feel good as it is a high point spiritually for a person. Mastery peaks when one is in the performance mode. In the part of task development, the sense of challenge is gradually transformed into a sense of pride. Performing a task you are now good at is exhilarating. The emotional high you feel from success at a difficult job is one of the best gifts life has to offer. “God’s love and mercy for me was present before the creation of the World and he has and will persevere in it, despite the ups and downs of my love, until and beyond the end of time,” reports Ephesians 1.4. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

When people feel dulled and distanced, unengaged and, worst of all, unentertained, that is when they engage in extremist behavior. For an ever-increasing number of people, the harder they work to proclaim their individuality—whether it is through participating in ever-more-extreme popular culture immersions or radically rejecting those programs altogether—the more extreme they feel they have to get. A desire for opportunities to articulate their individuality is the legacy of a popular culture that then tries to satisfy such a desire with ever-more-immersive attractions. These attractions are so extreme and over the top that they make it even harder for many to imagine anything they can do in their daily lives to match that level of intensity. Thereby, they feel even more devalued and distanced from their normal selves. And therein lies the trap: The day comes in every endeavor when one’s masterful performance yields more boredom than exhilaration. Boredom can turn into disenchantment, with its concomitant lack of concentration and desire, and a noticeable decline in mastery and satisfaction. If you go to work like a good boy or girl, you are labelled boring. However, how far does the good boy and good girl need to go to shake off the aura of Corporate Ken or Corporate Barbie? The more extreme culture gets in order to satisfy one’s urge to be immersed and entertained, the more extreme real-life antics meant to attract attention also become. #RanddolphHarris 6 of 9

It is a loop—extreme acts in real life must then be concerted into extreme entertainment, which leads to another round of real-life extremists trying to enter popular culture by being even more extreme than what they see on the television. People become trapped in a cycle of boredom and craving for one-shot celebrity, prompting a culture of “turn it up” which is spun to keep raising the pitch of its own superlatives. Just what are people prepared to do to get their moment in the star light of celebrity? Absolutely anything. No wonder public explosions of rage and mayhem seem more common. Many people turn to extreme acts as a predictable response—a way to get noticed. Extreme action gets noticed on television and the perpetrator can enter the gates of fame. All of this because people are essentially shout out from making meaning through established models of conformity. However, instead of being extreme, if you have reached the place on your present learning curve where increased effort results in diminished returns it is time to change curves. If you do not make it your business to invest in a task with ever evolving challenges (that are safe and productive), the law of entropy will take over and transform what was once an activity that brought you pride and joy into a routine effort devoid of satisfaction. Once you have reached peak levels of mastery in whatever task you choose, you cannot simply go back and start over—you have already developed the skill. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9

People are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions in a constant state of change. When a person confuses what is right from wrong because of mental laziness, in makes one content with superficiality. Once launched upon this convenient path of error, the mind is led further and further along it by certain recurring facts—it is easier for one to overlook than notice gradual changes that are characteristic of certain objects, and changes that occur according to certain smooth and regular patterns, and so many choose to overlook them. Everyone is prone to this error, which therefore acquires the dubious sanction of custom. It is a good thing that God perseveres, because if he did not we would be like those cosmonauts in the movie Apollo 18 who discover dangerous aliens on the Moon and are not allowed to return home. We do that to ourselves with sin and ignorance and neglect. We cut ourselves off from a loving God and become infected, increasingly paranoid, delusional and drift into the darkness and unknown.  What you have to do is to ride the wave of performance as long as it is exciting for you, then move to a new curve. Performers do best if they wait as long as they can, then jump onto a shallow curve that allows them plenty of performance pleasure and little frustration. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

We should live peacefully with others who do not share our values or accept the teachings upon which they are based. Love is the very essence of the gospel.  “Love one another as I have loved you,” reports John 15.12. God reminds us to stay close and reattaches us to himself through his love whenever we begin to drift away and reaches out to rescue us and being us back to safety. We are to live in the World, but not be of the World. We must live in the World because it is like Heaven, whose function is to raise the whole mass by its function and influence. Wise people must turn away from wrath. We should follow after the things that make for peace and speak the truth in love for the wrath of humans is not what the righteous God wants. Even as we seek to be meek and to avoid contention, we must not compromise nor dilute our commitment to the truths we understand. We must not surrender our positions nor our values. The covenants we have made inevitably cast us as combatants in the eternal contest between truth and error. There is no middle ground in that contest. Loving and kindness is required just like the Master will be firm in truth. God transforms us by not letting us remain as we were, but sculpting us into a new creation ready for eternal life with him in Heaven. We should love all people, be good listeners, and show concern for their sincere beliefs. This will never stop; the God of Heaven will always persevere until all is complete. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9