It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement—that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life. It is certain that the fewer desires a person has and the less covets, the more easy one is to oneself. The more one loves peace and concord, the more charity one has for one’s neighbor, and the more one shines in real virtue, there is no doubt but that in proportion one is acceptable to God and humans. However, let us be just, what benefit can these things be of, or what Earthly good can they do, to promote the wealth, the glory and Worldly greatness of nations? A legend, typically, is a short story reflecting in a psychological level a symbolic representation of folk belief and collective experiences and serving as a reaffirmation of commonly held values of the group to whose tradition it belongs. The chief characteristic of the system of religion is a consistent dualism which rejects any possibility of tracing the origins of good and evil to one and the same source. Evil stands as a completely independent principle against Good, and redemption from the power of Evil is to be achieved by recognizing this dualism and following the appropriate rules of life. The opposition of God and Matter is seen in the realm of nature as the conflict of Light and Darkness, Truth and Error. The present World, and human beings in particular, presents a mixture of Good and Evil, the result of a breach of the original limits by the powers of evil. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

Out of small things proceeds that which is great. The whole purpose of the founding of the Universe was to separate the two principles and restore the original state of affairs, rendering Evil forever harmless and preventing any future repetition of the intermingling. It is the special task of spiritual beings, the ones who have been brought to the light, to collaborate in this separation. Through the God-sent mind that is in one and that sets one apart from the other creatures, one must become aware of the mixture present in all things. One must thus discover the true meaning and significance of the World and conduct oneself accordingly, in such a way as to avoid any further contamination of the light and promote its release from its mixture with the darkness. The death of the body is thus redemption; and true life is the release of the soul, which is light, from its imprisonment in the body and its return to its true abode. The two primal principles of Light and Darkness, each dwelling in its own realm, coeternal but independent represent very different concepts. Perception of Light excites envy, greed, and hate in Darkness, and provokes it to attack the Light. In response the Father of Greatness calls forth the Primal Man, who arms himself with five powers and descends to battle with the Darkness. He is defeated, however, and the five powers of Darkness devour a part of his light and thus bring the mixture into being. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

In some versions this is explained as part of a deliberate plan to satisfy the powers of Darkness temporarily by the cession of a portion of the light and thus to prevent further attack. The captive portion of light, the armor of the Primal Man, is identified with the soul, which this becomes subject to the affections of Matter. The Primal Man appeals to the Father of Greatness, who sends the Living Spirit to deliver him. The archons, or powers of Darkness, are now overcome (although they do not lose their power of action), and Heaven and Earth are made from their carcasses. From the purest part of the Light in the archons the Sun and Moon are formed, but even so only a small part of the Light has been delivered. A fresh appeal from the powers of the Lights leads the Father of Greatness to send a Third Messenger, whose appearance inspires the Darkness to produce Adam and Eve in the image of his glorious form and to enclose in them the Light still at its disposal. The creation of Eve has a special purpose, in that she is more subservient to the demons and serves as their instrument for the seduction of Adam. Procreation serves the ends of Darkness, since each birth means a further dispersal of the Light, another subject for the realm of Darkness, and a prolonging of the captivity of the Light. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

The powers of Light accordingly send Christ on a mission of revelation to Adam, who is still innocent but subsequently disobeys, is seduced by Eve, and so sets the chain of reproduction in motion. This protracts the drama of salvation, and with it the mission of Christ, into the history of humankind. The cosmogonic myth provides the basis and substructure for ethics and hope of redemption. The ethics are rigorously ascetic: since procreation only prolongs the reign of the powers of darkness, marriage must be rejected. Those who adopt to these principals must abstain from all ensouled things and eat only vegetables, so as to avoid, as far as possible, any injury to the Light. Legends are important to us today for a number of reasons. They have value as literature, offering timeless and universal themes; they give us insight into other times and places; and they help us to see how much humankind had and has in common.  We want to know how we came to be, we want to understand the natural World around us, and we yearn for some deity we can praise and blame. When we learn to trust enough in the wisdom of our own soul to accept how all the various aspects of our personality come together, we discover the miraculous truth that the whole that is in us transcends our individual personality traits. Viewed at a composite, our life has an almost magical coherence and continuity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

The Lord loves you; that is why he has given you commandments and the words of prophets to guide you on your journey through life. One of the best ways to appreciate the wonder of our essential self is to look at our lives as a story—a fairy tale, fable, or epic. Most people confess tat the last vestiges of meaninglessness or futility in their lives are shattered when they crystallize their sense of their best self in this manner. Read your story, and root for the hero. Have compassion for him or her. Have faith in the hero’s ability to attain the much-desired happiness ever after. Honor the valor and persistence of your hero. Look at the amazing feats he or she has accomplished, at the nobility of the goals. Revel in how far this marvelous person has come, from a tiny infant to a fully grown adult, with many skills and accomplishments. Now look at your hero dispassionately and see if you can instruct him or her in the ways that happiness can best be achieved. Sometimes it may help to stop trying to get people to understand your story and understand it yourself. Perhaps your character is taking the wrong path too often. Have your hero’s heroic acts been misplaced? May his or her standards are too high. Write yourself a happy ending. The next time you face a personal challenge, think of yourself as the hero of your own story. Realize that each day gives you the opportunity to make the tale a richer, more rewarding one. Look for opportunities to display your best self wherever you can. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

We live in a time of great challenges and opportunities. As spirit children of Heavenly parents, you are free to make the right choices. When our purpose is to seek God and to discover his will for us, daydreaming is right and acceptable. However, when our inclination is to spend time daydreaming over what we have already been told to do, it is unacceptable and God’s blessing is never on it. God will take the initiative against this kind of daydreaming by prodding us to action. Your best self is the aspect of you that brings out the best in others and the World, that graces ordinary experiences with extraordinary clarity, and that, if the believers are correct, goes with you into the next World. Self-actualized individuals operate on a kind of meta-need level, in which they strove to satisfy their personal, higher-order yearnings for truth, beauty, justice, emotional self-sufficiency, and altruism. Once a person earns the rewards of personal integrity in adulthood, his or her inner desire to benefit others grows stronger. Integrated adults do not merely believe they should help others; they desire to help others in much the same way a thirsty person desires water. Once all personal needs are met, altruism become a basic human trait. When you become more yourself, you have more of yourself to give away. Daydreaming about something in order to do it properly is right, but daydreaming about it when we should be doing it is wrong. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

If you trust the Lord and obey him, he will help you achieve the great potential he sees in you. Drudgery is work that is far removed from anything we think of as ideal work. It is the utterly hard, menial, tiresome, and dirty work. The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with light of God upon it. In some cases, the way a person does a task makes that work sanctified and holy forever. It may be a very common everyday task, but after we have seen it done, it become different. When the Lord does something through us, he always transforms it. When you have (if not constant) access to your best self, amazing things can happen. You are eligible for a kind of genius. You have become open to new ideas, more able to weigh tough options, more creative in the way your approach the problems in your life. You may also begin to get a dose of cosmic truths whose promise makes every moment an adventure. Some people believe that coincidences are fate; other believe that they are evidence of God’s hand reaching out to us. Even if you believe that serendipitous experiences have no meaning at all, why not accept these little gifts as they come your way, and create a welcoming place for them if there appears to be a pattern to their manifestation? We can earn that cosmic present through hard work and perseverance. For some of us, it is not the first time the Universe has rewarded us for our efforts, and, since we have a lot of say in the matter, it will not be the last. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

We are all dedicated to the same purpose: to assist in accomplishing the divine work and glory of God, our eternal Fathers, which is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all humans,” reports Moses 1.39. That is why we are studying the answers to eternal questions, and truths are taught, and ordinances performed so that we can live with an understanding of our divine inheritance as children of God and with an awareness of our potential as eternal beings. The house of the Lord helps us to see the end from the beginning. Just as the temples of God are sacred, so are our temporal bodies. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s,” reports 1 Corinthians 6.19-20. Let us use out own thoughts, our minds and hearts, and our bodies with the respect and dignity worthy of a scared temple given to us by our Heavenly Father. When we live by truths and scriptures, we will be able to do our life’s work with greater wisdom and skill and bear trials with greater courage. We will have the help of the Holy Ghost. We will be worthy to go to the temple to receive holy ordinances. These blessings and many more can be ours. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8