Play that song again. You keep playing it and you keep singing it. If her spirit’s wandering, she will hear it and it will comfort her. The problem of human’s existence is unique in the whole of nature; humans have fallen out of nature, as it were, and are still in it; they are partly divine, partly terrestrial; partly infinite, partly finite. The necessity to find ever-new solutions for the contradictions in one’s existence, to find ever-new solutions for the contradictions in one’s existence, to find ever-higher forms of unity with nature, one’s fellow humans and oneself, is the source of all psychic forces which motivates humans, of all one’s passions, affects and anxieties. Humans are not content if only their physiological needs—their hunger, thirst, and intimacy—are satisfied. These instinctual needs are not sufficient to make a person happy; they are not even sufficient to make a person sane. The archimedic point of the specifically human dynamism lies in this uniqueness of the human situation; the understanding of human’s psyche must be based on the analysis of human’s needs stemming from the conditions of one’s existence. The problem,then, which the human race as well as each individual has to solve is that of being born. We are the offspring of God, and God in these last days has seen fit to place of in communication with himself. “Establish peace throughout the land, that there should be no wars, not contentions, no stealing, nor plundering, nor murdering, nor any manner of iniquity,” reports Mosiah 29. 14. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11

Physical birth if we think of the individual, is by no means as decisive and singular as it appears to be. It is, indeed, an important change from intrauterine into extra uterine life; but in many respects the infant after birth is not different from the infant before birth; it cannot perceive things outside, cannot feed itself; it is completely dependent on the mother, and would perish without her help. Actually, the process of birth continues. The child begins to recognize outside objects, to react affectively, to grasp things and to coordinate one’s movements, to walk. However, birth continues.The child learns to speak, it learns to know the use and functions of things,it learns to relate itself to others, to avoid punishment and gain praise and liking. Slowly, the growing person learns to love, to develop reason, to look at the World objectively. One begins to develop one’s powers; to acquire a sense of identity, to overcome the seduction of one’s senses for the sake of an integrated life. Birth then, in the conventional meaning of the word, is only the beginning of birth in the broader sense. The whole life of the individual is nothing but the process of giving birth to oneself; indeed, we should be fully born, when we die—although it is the tragic fate of most individuals to die before they are born. When we consider the visions of eternity, and contemplate God and our own destiny in the economy of Heaven the Angles rejoice in blooming hope and immortal glory. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11

From all we know about the evolution of the human race, the birth of a human is to be understood in the same sense as the birth of the individual. When a person has transcended a certain threshold of minimum instinctive adaption, one has become elevated; but when one was as helpless and unequipped for human existence as the individual infant is at birth. The birth of human beings began with the first members of the species homo sapiens, and human history is noting but the whole process of this birth. It has taken human beings hundred of thousands of years to take the first steps into human life; humans went through a narcissistic phase of magic omnipotent orientation, through totemism, nature worship, until human beings arrived at the beginnings of the formation of conscience, objectively humanly love. In the last four thousand years of human’s history, one has developed visions of the fully born and fully awakened human, visions expressed in not too different ways by the great teachers of human in Egypt, China, India, Palestine, Greece and Mexico. True position before God, Angels, and people allow humans to soar above all things of time and sense and burst the cords that bind humans to Earthly objects. “The Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of humans, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him,” reports Mosiah 29.20. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11

 The fact that human’s birth is primarily a negative act, that of being thrown out of the origin aloneness with nature, that one cannot return to where one came from, implies that the process of birth is by no means an easy one. Each step into one’s new human existence is frightening. It always means to give up a secure state,which was relatively known, for one which is new, which one has not yet mastered. Undoubtedly, if the infant could think at the moment of the severance of the umbilical cord, one would experience the fear of dying. A loving fate protects us from this panic. However, at any new step, at any new stage of our birth, we are afraid again. We are never free from two conflicting tendencies: one to emerge from the womb, from the lower form of existence into a more human existence, from bondage to freedom; another return to the womb, to nature, to certainty and security. In the history of the individual, and of the race, the progressive tendency has proven to be stronger, yet the phenomena of mental illness and the regression of the human race to positions apparently relinquished generation ago, show the intense struggle which accompanies each new act of birth. In one point of view, humans appear very poor, weak, and imbecile, and very insignificant: in another point of view, humans appear wise, intelligent, strong, honorable,and exalted. It is just in the way that one looks at humanity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 11

The three types of anxiety are interwoven in such a way that one of them gives the predominant color but all of them participate in the coloring of the state of anxiety. All of them and their underlying unity are existential, i.e. they are implied in the existence of humans as human, one’s finitude, and one’s estrangement. They are fulfilled in the situation of despair to which all of them contribute. Despair is an ultimate or boundary-line situation. One cannot go beyond it. Its nature is indicated in the etymology of the word despair: without hope. No way out into the future appears. Nonbeing is felt as absolutely victorious. However, there is a limit to its victory; nonbeing isfelt as victorious, and feeling presupposed being. Enough being is left to feel the irresistible power of nonbeing, and this is the despair within the despair.The pain of despair is that a being is aware of itself as unable to affirm itself because of the power of nonbeing. Consequently it wants to surrender this awareness and its presupposition, the being which is aware. It wants to get rid of itself—and it cannot. Despair appears in the form of reduplication,as the desperate attempt to escape despair. If anxiety were only the anxiety of fate and death, voluntary death would be the way out. The courage demanded would be the courage not to be. The final form of ontic self-affirmation would be the act of ontic self-negation. People are changeable in their opinions, thoughts, reflections and actions.  #RandolphHarris 5 of 11

However, the despair is also the despair about guilt and condemnation. An there is no way of escaping it, even by ontic self-negation. Death by suicide can liberate one from the anxiety of fate and death—as some know. However, it cannot liberate from the anxiety of guilt and condemnations, as the Christians know. This is a highly paradoxical statement, as paradoxical as the relation of the moral sphere to ontic existence generally. However, it is a true statement, verified by those who have experienced fully the despair of condemnation. It is impossible to express the inescapable character of condemnation in ontic terms, that is in terms of imaginings about the immortality of the soul. For every ontic statement must use the categories of finitude, and immortality of the soul would be the endless prolongation of finitude and of the despair of condemnation (a self-contradictory concept, for this finis means end). The experience, therefore, that death by suicide is noway of escaping guilt must be understood in terms of the qualitative character of the moral demand, and of the qualitative character of its rejection. Guilt and condemnation are qualitatively, not quantitatively, infinite. They have an infinite weight and cannot be removed by a finite act of ontic self-negation.This makes despair desperate, that is, inescapable. There is “No Exit” from it #RandolphHarris 6 of 11

The anxiety of emptiness and meaninglessness participates in both the ontic and the moral element in despair. Insofar as it is an expression of finitude it can be removed by ontic self-negation: This drives radical skepticism to death by suicide. Insofar as it is a consequence of moral disintegration it produces the same paradox as the moral element in despair:there is no ontic exit from it. This frustrates the suicidal trends in emptiness and meaninglessness. One is aware of their futility. In view of this character of despair it is understandable that all human life can be interpreted as a continuous attempt to avoid despair. And this attempt is mostly successful. Extreme situations are not reached frequently and perhaps they are never reached by some people. The purpose of an analysis of such a situation is not to record ordinary human experiences but to show extreme possibilities in the light of which the ordinary situations must be understood. We are not always aware of our having to die, but in the light of the experience of our having to die our whole life is experienced differently. In the same way the anxiety which is despair is not always present. However, the rare occasions in which it is present determine the interpretation of existence as a whole. As children of God, we did not originate from chaotic mass of matter, moving or inert, but came forth possessing, in an embryonic state, all the faculties and powers of God. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11

Humans stand proudly erect as the head of all creation and the representative of God on Earth. However, we still possess only the powers that belong to humans. This may be why some people avoid human interaction by acing inferior. There is a large number of people who passively allow the power people to succeed, if only because they have chosen to wear the mask of weakness. The motives, as before, as mixed. Some do this as a defensive maneuver. Take the following example: Elizabeth is 35 years of age, and a mother of two. She has a good mind, many talents, but seems tremendously inferior in social situations. It is hard to know if she is inferior, feels inferior, or just plays inferior. Her husband, George, is a competent, someway domineering, middle-class businessman. He has a great need to be right most of the time, and Sarah lets him be right as often as he needs to be. She will make mistakes, fumble, proclaim her inabilities, and general act as if she were the weakest, most ineffective, most helpless person in the World. George seems to enjoy being needed, being competent, being right. Elizabeth is an example of the person who portrays The Weakling. George needs to be strong and competent, and Elizabeth is going to see to it that he comes off as just that. What is Elizabeth’s motivation? In her childhood, she found that boys liked girls who acted weak and helpless. This became a necessary role for her to play, she thought. Even when she found boys who liked girls to be competent and themselves, she felt more comfortable with The Weakling role. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11

Others know that the person who portrays a weak and innocuous role will not be attacked. It is a very effective defense. Very few people will attack someone who is lying down, looking totally defenseless. And think of all the sky, non aggressive people who are allowed to go their own way because nobody perceives them as threatening, if they are perceived at all! The Weakling is often a manipulative and very aggressive person in hiding. You may recall the character of Uriah Heep in Dickens’ David Copperfield. Heep, wringing his hands and proclaiming his ‘umbleness managed to get into powerful situation, without others knowing much about it .Usually we find that a person plays The Weakling as a ploy to put aggressors off guard. When an aggressor lets down his guard in the face of a no contest plea, The Weakling walks off with some advantages. It is an effective technique for manipulating people, but it is also a sneaky and limited way of living one’s life. There is also Sweet Georgia Brown—this woman who never utters a discouraging word. She is always smiling, always cordial, always has a kind and friendly word. She has millions of sweet, wonderful friends, but none of then know her any deeper than her sweet face and smile. She is able of letting people see her mask and no more. #RandolphHarris 9 of 11

Underneath, she is full of anger and bitterness. She resents being a woman, not because of anything intrinsically wrong with womanhood, but because she has to be the kind of woman people expect. She wears a mask of sweetness because it fits the stereotype of docile, affectionate, good woman she had been expected to grow into. She has resented her brother being able to live their own lives, go where they pleased, when and with whom they pleased. She had had to help her mother. When she did grumble, she was spanked and told she was not being ladylike. A lady, she was informed, accepted with good grace what life had to offer her. Enough spankings and enough rejections had accompanied her few exhibitions of assertiveness that she soon learned to tuck that part of her away and be just what her mother and aunts expected her to be. Since there were enough people outside her family who also responded optimistically to this role, it became easier and easier to play. Soon, it was the only self she could really portray well. Many people, male and female alike, play this nice guy or sweet Georgia role. It is easier to be liked and loved than to struggle to be significant or respect. Incidentally, many common stereotypes are perpetuated by the people who are best descried by them simply because they will not or cannot take the trouble to declare themselves as full human beings. Passivity, sweetness or compliance are easier than asserting individuality. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11

There are also people who avoid human interaction by acting aggressive. There is a group of people, also partial actualizers, who exhibit hostile or sour faces toward everything and everyone. They often act like bullies, some actually hurting people, and others act more like bulldogs; they just look mean. The effect is the same. Distance. Nobody will risk crossing them or trying for any closer relationship. A few of these people are deeply warm and human on the inside, but they hide their vulnerability behind a rough exterior. No doubt they have learned the hard way that exposed sensitivity, like Achilles’ heel, is a natural target for the arrows of exploiters. On the Supernatural TV Series, Dean Winchester, while actually a humanitarian, wore a mask that said, “Do not get too close,and do not try to get to know me. I will play a professional role, but the man inside is private property.” As readers and viewers well know, the warmth often showed through in private moments. Many others who specialize in this rough-hewn exterior, in and out of fiction, are usually much kinder than their bark would indicate. Occasionally, as in bullying types, there is little or no kindness lying dormant. The bluff for these hurt or rejected people serves to protect others as well as themselves from their underlying fear and hostility. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked,” reports Luke 12.48. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11

Happy Thanksgiving!