God has unlimited goodness, knowledge, and power. The omnipotence of God requires that he should be able to do what we would understand as being logically impossible, and thus the eternal truths are dependent on God’s will. The concept of self-preservation as well our interpretative concept self-affirmation, if taken ontologically, posit a serious question. What does self-affirmation mean if there is no self, e.g. in the inorganic realm or in the infinite substance, in being-itself? Is it not an argument against the ontological character of courage that it is impossible to attribute courage to large sections of reality and to the essence of all reality? Is courage not a human quality which can be attributed even to higher beings only by analogy but not properly? Does this not decide for the moral against the ontological understanding of courage? In stating this argument one is reminded of similar arguments against metaphysical concepts in history of human thought. Concepts like the World soul, microcosmos, instinct, the will to power, and so on have been accused of introducing subjectivity into the objective realm of things. However, these accusations are mistaken. They miss the meaning of ontological concepts. It is not the functions of these concepts to describe the ontological nature of reality in terms of the subjective or the objective side of our ordinary experience. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10

A human’s power is nothing in comparison to that of one’s maker. Indeed, a person is helpless to do anything expect sin unless one is assisted by the power and grace of God—God works in us both to will and to do.  It is the function of an ontological concept to use some realm of experience to point to the characteristics of being-itself which lie above the split between subjectivity and objectivity and which therefore cannot be expressed literally in terms taken from the subjective or the objective side. Ontology speaks analogously. Being as being transcends objectivity as well as subjectivity. However, in order to approach it cognitively one must use both. And one can do so because both are rooted in that which transcends them, in being-itself. It is the light of this consideration that the ontological concepts referred to must interpreted. They must be understood not literally but analogously. This does not mean that they have been produced arbitrarily and can easily be replaced by other concepts. Their choice is a matter of experience and thought, and subject to criteria which determine the adequacy or inadequacy of each of them. This is true also of concepts like self-preservation or self-affirmation, if taken in ontological sense. It is true of every chapter of an ontology course. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10

God knows what will come to pass, but his knowing does not cause anything to happen. Both Self-preservation and self-affirmation logically imply the overcome of something which, at least potentially, threatens or denies the self. There is no explanation of this something in the minds of some. If everything follows by necessity from the nature of the eternal substance, no being would have the power to threaten the self-preservation of another being. Every thing would be as if it is and self-affirmation would be exaggerated word for the simple identity of a thing with itself. Self-affirmation and self-preservation are powerful and part of growth. Therefore, the will does not strive for something it does not have, for some object outside of itself, but wills itself in the double sense of preserving and transcending itself. This is its power, and also its power over itself. Will to power is the self-affirmation of the will as ultimate reality. Life in this term is the process in which the power of being actualizes itself. However, in actualizing itself it overcomes that in life which, although belong to life, negates life. One could call it the will which contradicts the will to power. Life has many aspects, it is ambiguous. Its ambiguity most typically in the last fragment of the collection of fragments which is called the Will to Power. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10

Courage is the power of life to affirm itself in spite of this ambiguity, while the negation of life because of its negativity is an expression of cowardice. We can develop a prophecy and philosophy of courage in opposition to the mediocrity and decadence of life in the period which is to come. It is your dearest Self, your virtue what is good. The Self has itself, but at the same time it tries to reach to itself. Life is that special substance. The truth of virtue is that the Self is in it and not an outward thing. Courage is the affirmation of one’s self it is virtue altogether. The self whose self-affirmation is virtue and courage is the self which surpasses itself. Life creates life loves and what is has created is the will to power which is more than life. Life, willing to surpass itself, is the good life, and the good life is the courageous life. It is the life of the powerful soul and the triumphant body whose self-enjoyment is virtue. Such a soul banishes everything cowardly; it says: bad—that is cowardly. However, in order to each such a nobility it is necessary to obey and to command and to obey while commanding. This obedience which is included in commanding is the opposite of submissiveness. The latter is the cowardice which does not dare to risk itself. The submissive self is the opposite of the self-affirming self, even if it is submissive to a God. It wants to escape the pain of hurting and being hurt. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10

God’s views of all things from the perspective of eternity—the simultaneous and complete possession of infinite life. In such a conception there is no suggestion of succession in time, and God must thus see all things in a manner similar to that in which we view things spread out in a given moment. The obedient self, on the contrary, is the self which commands itself and risks itself thereby. In commanding itself it becomes its own judge and its own victim. It commands itself according to the law of life, the law of self-transcendence. The will which commands itself is the creative will. It makes a whole out of fragments and riddles of life. It does not look back, it stands beyond a bad conscience, it rejects the spirit of revenge which is the innermost nature of self-accusation and of the consciousness of guilt, it transcends reconciliation, for it is the will to power. In doing al this the courageous self is united with life itself and its secret. One acts voluntarily and freely, then, in doing what one wills, prefers, or chooses. The unconscious is the master of every fate and the captain of every soul. The courage to look into the abyss of nonbeing in the complete loneliness of one who accepts the message that we have to manifest God in our daily lives has the experience of courage and proves to be an outstanding key for the ontological approach to reality. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10

 God is not deceiver; hence, we may conclude that we are not systematically misled with respect to those things which we have a strong natural tendency to believe and, accordingly, we are not misled in supposing that there is both a part and an external World. One of the faults in the way most of us think is the strong tendency to dichotomize, to divide things up into mutually exclusive opposites. If work is viewed as a curse, not working is viewed as a blessing. Mainly we view work as a necessary evil and our leisure time and days off as the necessary and balancing good. Partly because we still hold onto the Work-Sin Ethic and partly because of this dichotomous way of thinking, play takes on the interesting character of being something earned, a reward for working so hard. Most of us do not know how to use leisure time or play in a creative and restorative way. For some the reward comes from sleeping late on days off, refusing to do anything in the way of labor, avoiding chores or tasks, and resenting people or things that interfere with just laying about the house. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10

A few people occupy themselves with eating or drinking or smoking too much on their days off. Reward mechanisms take many forms, and for all that people may resent immature behavior, they fail to recognize that their work as rewardable at all is a juvenile attitude. Work in the general sense need not be such a drag as to engender this necessarily to escape into activities that are merely different without necessarily being pleasant or fun. Therefore, in order to discuss attitudes toward play, we must first consider attitudes toward work as play. There are lot of examples of work that must be considered nothing more than drudgery. However, it is possible to note that there are many people who are capable of finding enjoyment, even fun, it the most menial or tedious kinds of work. How? Possibly the answer, complex as it is, lies not in the nature of the work experience, but in the person doing the work. The person who brings to one’s work, ether ditch-digging or book-writing, a sense of personal expression is likely to enjoy one’s work. To actually be able to see work as an outgrowth of selfhood makes it more enjoyable. Many people report that their work is considered a chance to demonstrate their personal sense of selfhood. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10

People who take their work as an expression of themselves find work that enables them to test out certain skills or that gives them an opportunity to explore other, often hidden, skills. They take on new tasks, or do old tasks in new ways, because it is a form of self-expression. Any job, no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time, becomes a challenge in some sense. There is an increasing tendency on the part of aware people to seek out work that is meaningful to them and to whomever they work for. Many are unwilling to take just any job simply to earn money or job security. They recognize that in a complex and highly varied society such as ours there are thousands of different kinds of work, with some of the less traditional jobs and the newer ones offering individuals new chances to explore and express their selfhood. However, how does playfulness enter into working? It can be artificially inserted by those who try to find aspects of the work that are enjoyable, stimulating, fun. Or the work or the particular task may be visualized as a game. One of the advantages of playing at work is that overly self-absorbed people can learn not to take themselves quite so seriously, to be so concerned about how they look, or what others think or feel about them that they literally sit in judgment on themselves. #RanolphHarris 8 of 10

People who criticize themselves for the type of work they do or let the judgments of others get to them about their personal job or career choice are demonstrating a lack of confidence or self-liking. They are too dependent on external validation of their selfhood to be in the same category with self-actualizing people. Better than artificially creating games or play is attitude-changing. Work and play are not absolute polar extremes. Most jobs are situations that include relaxation and drudgery, challenge and monotony, delight and disgust, exhilaration and tedium, inspiration and irritation, fulfillment and frustration, self-satisfaction and service. The creative, self-actualizing people is capable of experiencing all of these and growing from them. It is important to feel motivated and inspired in your career. Without the drive to excel, your performance will lack passion and, in turn, your company may suffer. Productivity allows one to work in the most efficient manner, which makes room for downtime and encouraged work-life balance. If one is passionate about one’s, one is likely to take an active interest in learning every aspect of the business. Many people are too afraid to follow their dreams and do what they love, but keep in mind it is important that we challenge ourselves so we can achieve our vision. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10

Testimony is personal knowledge, based up the witness of the Holy Ghost, that certain facts of eternal significance are true. The Holy Ghost is the messenger for the Father and the Son and the teacher of and guide to all truth. This, by the power of the Holy Ghost we may know the truth of all things. The knowledge and spiritual conviction we receive from the Holy Ghost are the results of revelation Seeking for and obtaining these blessings require a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ. A personal testimony also brings responsibility and accountability. “Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every person,” report Doctrine and Covenants 84.85. Therefore, let naturally occurring times happen where one can have a conversation and testify of specific blessings one has received during the course of relatively routine activities of that day, which is one of the reasons Sunday Dinner is so important to many God loving families. The truth is the scripture has always been a source of direction for many and Sunday Dinner is a time the family uses to illuminate the needs and better understand each other in a supportive and secure environment. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10