Given the human condition, it is very important to retain the way that Christ’s message has been institutionalized; at the same time we should urge a revival of concern for the substance of this message and a revitalization of the church through the correction of as many abuses as possible and the encouragement of scholarly and moral efforts to recapture the original Christian Spirit. Otherwise, we fear that the frail human World might be torn entirely asunder. God is indescribably more than our creaturely concepts can represent. The origin of things in a process is an emanation from God, in whose essence creates participate insofar as they truly are. Nature is the unifying notion of systems. The term stands for the totality (universitas) of reality, comprising both God and the World of creatures in which he manifested. God is one comprehensive reality in which all limited and transitory realities participate. Nature which creates and is not created is God on his eternal reality, the primary principle of all things. God is self-existent and unchanging, the uncaused Cause of the World. God aloe truly is, and all other beings exist only as dependent upon participating in him. Nature which is both created and creative consists on archetypes of exemplary causes of creation existing in the divine mind. God is the end goal of the creative process, God with his creatures perfectly reunited to him, God becomes all. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

 God is the ultimate source of all things concrete, individual things and events. Therefore, God is concrete, and individual in the highest degree. The demand for a thing-in-itself is the basis of all our ideas and it is inescapable. The nature of the thing-in-itself in the will. A thing as it is in itself, is not perceived or interpreted, incapable of being known, but only inferred from the nature of experience. There are a multiplicity of possible conceptions and consequent perceptions (and vice versa) of a thing, not just one. And therefore, we cannot speak of the reality of a thing unless we contrast reality with illusion—rather than contrast a conception of the thing with the thing as it is in itself, independent of humans. Just because you turn out the light does not mean that whatever the light shone on is no longer there. We also know with certainty that we are immersed in God and that is he actively present in our lives, and God is actively engaged in the lives of everyone around us. Coming to know this deeply is a personal journey that we arrive at and sometimes with different understandings. Reality consists of the manifestations of one force, the will, which uses consciousness as an instrument like freedom from it, for only there does the mind achieve a state akin to permanency which is foreign to the general manifestation of the will. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

The space and time of which we are conscious are continuous; the division of it into things and processes is due to the intellect, which carries out the division according to our biological needs. We have expectations which take us beyond the immediate sensations because of the associations built up in experience between our immediate sensations and ideas of permanent possibilities of sensation. These analytical distinctions are of considerable importance in dealing with equality as a moral and social ideal. Thomas Jefferson’s claim that all humans are created equal cannot be rebutted by pointing to the obvious fact that some are taller, stronger, or more clever than others. The claim is intelligible only as a prescription, as saying that there is some respect, at least, in which no difference ought to be made in the treatment or consideration given to all people, whatever differences there might be in their qualities and circumstances. Virtue closes the door to no one; it is open to all, the freeborn, the people, people who ignore the law, and the king, neither family nor fortune determines its choice—it is satisfied with the genuine human being. All souls have equality in the sight of God. If we cannot end our differences, at least we can help make the World safe for diversity. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

Despite the fact that we have inequality in society, all people are alike in possessing reason, or a soul, or some other essentially human characteristic or nature, by virtue of which they can equal. The difficulty, however, is to find an important characteristic that all people possess in precisely the same degree, so that whatever differences their other inequalities might justify, this fundamental equality would wake them equal qua human. And if one could identify such a characteristic, what would follow from it? If all people are alike in having souls, in what respect should they therefore be treated alike? After all, God is widely believed to punish wicked souls and reward virtuous ones. The universal equality can often be reduced to the principle that all people ought to be equally considered. This does not mean that there is any respect in which they are all alike and by virtue of which they should all be treated alike; it is rather a principle of procedure: that all people are to be treated equally, despite all of their differences, until a case has been made for saying that some particular difference between them is relevant to the matter at hand. The onus proof rests on whoever wants to make distinctions. And up to a point this might be said to be implicit in the notion of rational decision, because it would be irrational, within a given class of cases, to treat some differently from others if no relevant grounds could be found for distinction between them. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

The boundaries of moral consideration are enlarged in practice by awakening sympathy and imagination; moral reasons presuppose an initial more concern. However, the notion of acting with good reason does not in itself rule out any inequality of treatment, for it may always be possible to argue that there is some relevant differences between members of a given class. The purpose of this equality of rights is to ensure equality of freedom and opportunity: the equal right od all people to live the kind of life that seems good to them. Equality of opportunity to be oneself, to live as one pleases. This is attractive, but it hardly touches the problem of what s to be done wen what pleases on person interferes or competes with what pleases another. Nor does it cope with the diversity of inclinations—can one be said to have, on a given income, and equal opportunity to become a collector of Picassos’ or seashells? Sometimes one must pummel humankind with paradoxes; then, perhaps, it will notice some truths. We also wonder if equality of opportunity requires differential provisions, so that the chance of fulfillment matches the aspiration? Does it envisage open competition or a disability? Every individual’s view of where his or her own interests lie should be given equal consideration. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

The ideal or universal equality requires that the inequalities of nature be mitigated or rectified. By this view, precisely because people are born with superior talents or social advantages can claim no merit on that account, it should be the aim of social policy to compensate for such advantages by differentiating between people to redress the balance. It is of course true that modern states concerned with equality commonly do provide special amenities, such as wheel chairs for the crippled or hearing devices for those who need assistance hearing, to bring naturally disabled people up to some minimum standard of well-being. However, an account in terms of meeting needs or deficiencies is more accurate than one in terms of rectifying inequalities, for the policy is not so much to remedy a disability that one person suffers in comparison with another (wheel chairs are not mean to enable people who cannot walk to compete in races wit runners) as to provide necessary to one’s well-being, understood in the light of some presupposed standard of what a good life requires. This standard will no doubt be governed by the advantages commonly enjoyed by most people in the community, so that in an affluent society a person will be take to have more needs than in a less affluent one; however, the claim will still be grounded on one’s own needs and interests, not on the greater advantage enjoyed by the more fortunate. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

Even though the eternal roles of people differ, we do not want people to be silent partners or limited partners in that eternal assignment. A system is said to be unequal only if the differences in privileges are considered unjustifiable because they are irrelevantly grounded or because the qualifications for assuming a rule are unduly restrictive (for instance, if being from a certain country is necessary for avoiding obeying all the laws). These ideals change their focus over time. Equality before the law in eighteenth century France meant ending the disabilities of the members of the third estate as compared with the privileges of the nobles and clergy. Today it may mean abolishing racial disabilities, such as exist in South African law, or seeing that prejudice does not interfere with the administration of the law (the problem of some cities in California and across the United States of America). It may also mean eliminating the advantages of wealthy litigants over less affluent ones, by public legal assistance schemes, or making certain that on one is prevented by poverty from getting a fair trial. Equality very rarely means treating everyone alike; usually it means getting rid of one system of distinctions and replacing it with another. Thus, equality of opportunity in education hardly ever means giving everyone exactly the same education; rather, it means eliminating some hitherto determining factor such as ability to pay school or university fees and substituting a test of proficiency.  #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

More ambitiously, it might aim at a system with various arrangements, each meant for an appropriate grade of intelligence or type of aptitude. Those who call this equality do so on the grounds that the treatment accorded to each is equally appropriate to one’s requirements. The more anxiously a society endeavours to secure equality of consideration for all its members, the greater will be the differentiation of treatment which, when once the common human needs have been met, it accords to the special needs of different groups and individuals among them. The greater the equality of consideration, the greater the differentiation in treatment. If the latter is not called inequality in treatment it is because the word inequality has acquired, in this sort of context, a pejorative force; inequalities have come to mean indefensible differences in treatment. Where spiritual things are concerned, a pertaining to all of the gifts of the Spirit, with reference to the receipt of revelation, the gaining of testimonies, and the seeing of visions, in all matters that pertain to Godliness and holiness and which are brought to pass as a result of personal righteousness—in all these things all people stand in a position of absolute equality before the Lord. In the end, the whole World of creatures—including fallen humans, redeemed through the incarnation of the Word—is to achieve fulfillment in union with God. In that union creatures are not to be simply reabsorbed into God, but will be transmuted and spiritualized.  #RandolphHarris 8 of 8