He works so hard. He suffers. He thinks. He has already traveled to Asia and Eastern Europe this year, and he will soon be going to Toronto and Guatemala and Mexico. I do not know how he can do these things. Imagine how the World itself could be transformed for good if every person lived up to their true potential, converted in the depth of one’s soul, a true and faithful commitment to build the kingdom of God. Courage is self-affirmation in-spite-of, that is in spite of that which tends to prevent the self from affirming itself. Nonbeing is the loss of self of the human soul. Courage, however, is usually described as the power of the mind to overcome fear. The effect of this awakening of at least the educated groups to an awareness of their own anxiety, and a permeation of the public consciousness by ideas and symbols of anxiety. Today, it has become almost a truism to call our time an age of anxiety. This holds equally for American and Europe. It is conceivable that in the light of an ontology of courage some fundamental aspects of anxiety may become visible. The first assertion about the nature of anxiety is this: anxiety is the state in which a being is aware of its possible nonbeing. However, it is not the abstract knowledge of nonbeing which produces anxiety, but the awareness that nonbeing is a part of one’s own being. It is not the realization of universal transitoriness, not even the experience of the death of others, but the impression of these events on the always latent awareness of our own having to die that produces anxiety. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10

Anxiety is finitude, experienced as one’s own finitude. This is the natural anxiety of human as human, and in some way of all living beings. It is the anxiety of nonbeing, the awareness of one’s finitude as finitude. The ensouled body is in communion with the body of the World and finds its healthy in that intimacy. Never say that it is not God’s will to give you what you ask. Do not faint and give up, but find out the reason you have not received; increase the intensity of your search and examine the evidence. “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statues of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward,” reports Psalm 19.7-11. We must train our eyes to look with compassion and appreciation. Soul is never far from attachment to particulars; a soulful body exercise will always lead us toward an affectionate relationship to the World. Human’s humor is one of their most important traits in the face of the tensions and pressures exerted on them. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10

The ability to laugh is crucial for crucial for a person’s mental health. When we relate to our bodies as having soul, we attend to their beauty, their poetry and their expressiveness. The person who can laugh at oneself is further along the road to self-respect and appreciation. To be able to kid oneself at times is not only a tension reliever, but it promotes a kind of necessary objectivity. There is a proper balance between extremes of objectivity (when the person never gets involved in anything) and subjectivity (where everything is directed at you and everybody is pointing at or talking about you). It might work like this: A young girl of 14 years of age is trying very hard to enhance her singing abilities. She has a good voice, knows music, and has made a number of public performances. However, she is extremely shy about her musical abilities because she has a soft voice, a falsetto. For instance, if her vocal teacher tells her that she should practice a particular section a few more times, sometimes her eyes fill with tears, because of some of the criticism she had received from others, and she thinks the teacher is implying she is not any good and has no future in music. She mentioned this, crying, in psychology class one day, and a male student innocently quipped that her sensitive nature and soft voice would make her a successful Rhythm and Blues singer. The rest of the class laughed and the young lady got up and left the room. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10

In talking with her about it later, her psychology instructor tried a simple tack. Although he rarely tells his students what they ought to do he told her that sensitivity to such remarks, to any kind of criticism, would make life in the entertainment field very difficult for her and that she ought to consider a strategy to deal with some of the unpleasant things that may come her way. He asked her if she felt she had the firm commitment to follow through in such a competitive business. The girl was being asked to stand back from her extreme subjectivity and evaluate some realities. The girl came to see the psychologist three days later, pointed a brave finger at him, and said he had given her somethings she spent time pondering about, and asked him what could he share with her about the music and the rigors of the profession that may help her with longevity in the industry. He turned her around and told her to continue, but to watch herself in a chamber of mirrors, and think about how you want people to see you and how you look and sounds. The girl had displayed a great deal of growth in discovering that when she took herself so seriously she looked like a diva. The way our unconscious mind works, we are actually attracted to—moved psychologically toward—what we think about. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10

For that reason, when we encounter the inevitable barriers on our way to our goal, we will tend to look at the situation from the winner’s. Before we select a long-term goal, we should try to visualize how we can improve our performance. In everyday life, the ability to catch ourselves being too serious, bearing all the World’s burdens, saving the human race, helps us relieve some of the built-up tension through laughter. Laughter has other uses and meanings. For some it is the tension release chosen when they recognize the futility of trying harder. For example, a person may beat one’s head against the symbolic brick wall in trying to communicate with another individual. One may have to acknowledge that the communication may not take place with this person, or with the set of words, or in tis particular time or place. If one can then laugh it off, one finds oneself better equipped to experience similar frustration and, once the tension is released, may discover a more successful tactic. “Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes. At the time of your appearing you will male them like a fiery furnace. In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up, and his fire will consume them. You will destroy their descendants from the Earth, their posterity from humankind. Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed,” reports Psalm 21.8-11. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10

Laughing at the misfortunes of others is sometimes a form of sadism, wherein some pleasure is gained from observing the difficulties of others. Sometimes it is an acknowledgment of how much we identify with another person and how close a call we have had in not being the target or object of the misfortune. “There but for the grace of God go I,” is frequently uttered with amusement. Most laughter is a kind of reflex behavior that occurs when we recognize the irony in situations. Life is full of littler ironies. Humor enables us to safely experience them, or vicariously to go through them a second or third time. There are many incongruous things about life, too. We laugh at them partly because there may be something objectively humorous or absurd in them, but mostly because we really do not know what else to do. There are unmanageable. We cannot do very much to change or utilize them. Like the incongruity of environmental pollution. We construct a society that depends on industry. The industry converts raw materials into product and waste. The waste is disposed of, and it often clogs the very environment we are trying to improve. We take a fishing pole and try to get back to nature during an afternoon of fishing. However, the waters are filthy and the fish are diseased or dead. When we realize the vicious circle that has brought us to it, most of us have to shake our heads and laugh at the folly of humanity. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10

This point can be illustrated by the fact that various New York City newspapers not long ago suggested in all seriousness that to force the city’s electric power plant to consider cutting down on its air pollution everyone in the city should, on a specific night, refuse to turn on their lights and use candles instead. Many people were in favor of this dramatic boycott but almost no one saw the absurdity of over eight million people burning candles cutting down on smog—even with smokeless candles! (No one also considered how busy the fire department would be.) This type of humor, the acknowledging of the absurdities of human behavior, is the healthy kind of humor that the self-actualizing person experiences. One does not enjoy the hostile humor that laughs at those with limited physical and mental capabilities, the less affluent, nor the less fortunate. Sick and Cruelty jokes do not make one laugh; there is too much tragedy or sadness in them. It is in the absurd lengths to which some people carry their behavior that one finds humor. One of our jobs in becoming full-fledged adults is to embrace the pain we could not afford to feel during our younger years. Allowing oneself to live the unexperienced pain of the past is the only way to unclog our emotional system and live in the present. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10

Some laughter is hostile. Many of the best comedians today are capable of biting satire. They select a person or a stereotype of a person and make one the subject of their humor. When we laugh at them, we make a commentary on our own feelings about the objects of the joke, or how we feel about the situation in which we live, or about ourselves. Satire has always been an effective tool for directing hostility toward a person or group. Ans the satirist has a certain protection or immunity from retaliatory hostility. Jonathan Swift’s children’s tale, Gulliver’s Travels, is a biting satire on the British Empire and was protected by virtue of its being put in fictionalized form. Many people have never been aware of its original purpose. Nor are we aware of the political satire in most Mother Goose nursery rhymes we all learned as children. If the subject of satire feels the sting and is tempted to retaliate or at least get angry, the satirist’s easy response s “What is the matter? Dude, you cannot take a joke?” Being able to take a joke is an example of good sportspersonship. Pity the satirist, though. One may be a person who is unable to come out openly with his or her hostility and deal with it, mature person to mature person. Therefore, be gentle, patient, and loving with yourself. Explore ways to feel safe while experiencing and expressing the full rage of your emotions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10

This is not to say that satire is not effective in terms of social change. Many political cartoonists get their point across to politicians better than all the constituent cards and letters could ever do. Political satire is rather ingenious. However, it is obvious that the satire, however subtle it may be, is meant to express some kind of hostility or resentment toward what is being depicted. Laughter is good one one’s mental health. Honest joy, open amusement, pure innocent delight are all aspects of well-developed selfhood. We are letting the Child in us come out to play. The Adult in us is too often serious, stuffy, objective, busy with data-processing of daily existence. The Parent is us is often busy with the data-processing of daily existence. The Parent in us is often busy judging what we do as right or wrong, good or evil, appropriate or inappropriate. The Child, which is the remnant of simple, basic, sensual open personhood, is vital to our fullest development. It is in the play activities, like sports, hobbies, art, dating, eating, and dancing, that we experience this very important part of us. Each of the three—Child, Adult, and Parent—is necessary, but none more than the other. Fortunate is the person who can watch a cartoon on TV and experience it as funny (Child), entertaining and diverting (Adult), and good (Parent). #RandolphHarris 9 of 10

Laughter is one of the ways in which we relax and re-create the self. The things we find humorous may vary, but the experiences of humor, of pleasure of enjoyment are extremely important and must be cultivated for the fullest experience of living. We live in times of great opportunities. God seeks to enlist soul who diligently go about the work of building the kingdom of those—those who, when faced with opposition and temptation, declare in their hearts that they are doing great work and cannot come down. When faced with ridicule and reproach, people of God proclaim, “I am doing great work and cannot come down.” Our Heavenly Father seeks those who refuse to allow the trivial to hinder them in their pursuit of the eternal. “Speak the truth in love,” reports Ephesians 4.15. Keep it mind, do not criticize another person’s feelings or try to change them. Only the person who has the feelings can change them. We can help most by listening and empathizing. We can show empathy by supportive listening—eye contact, nobs, pats, or hugs. Think for a moment what could be accomplished in our personal lives, in our professional lives, in our families, in our wards and branches. Think of how the kingdom of God could progress throughout the Earth. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10