It occurred to me with uncommon strength that I had grown too fond of all these people, and I was impressed that the Japanese invented ice cream that can stand at room temperature for an hour without melting. I hear it is popular and  gorgeous treat.  The concept of mental health depends on our concept of the nature of mortals. The needs and passions of mortals stem from the peculiar condition  of their existence. Those needs which mortals shares with the animals—hunger, thirst, need for sleep and physical intimacy—are important, being rooted in the inner chemistry of the body, and when they remain unsatisfied, they can become all powerful. (This holds true, of course, more of the need for food and sleep than of physical intimacy, which is not satisfied never assumes the power of the other needs, at least not for physiological reasons.) However, even their complete satisfaction is not a sufficient condition for sanity and mental health. These depend on the satisfaction of those needs and passions which are specifically human, and which stem from the conditions of the human situation: the need for relatedness, transcendence, rootedness, the need for a sense of identity and the need for a frame of orientation and devotion. The great passions of mortals, their lust for power, their vanity, their search for truth, their passion for love and fellowship, their destructiveness as well as their creativeness, every powerful desire which motivates mortal’s actions, is rooted in their specific human source, not in the various stages of their libido. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

Mortal’s solution to their physiological needs are, psychologically speaking, utterly simple; the difficulty here is a purely sociological and economic one. Human’s solution to their mortal needs are exceedingly complex, it depends on many factors and last, not least, on the way one’s society is organized and how this organization determines the human relations within it. The basic psychic needs stemming from the peculiarities of human existence must be satisfied in one form or other, unless mortals are to become insane, just as one’s physiological needs must be satisfied lest one die. However, the way in which the psychic needs can be satisfied are manifold, and difference between various ways of satisfaction is tantamount to the differences between various degrees of mental health. If one of the basic necessities has found no fulfillment, insanity is the result; if it is satisfied but in an unsatisfactory way—considering the nature of human existence—considering the nature of human existence—neurosis (either manifest or in the form of a socially patterned defect) is the consequence. Mortals have to relate themselves to others; but if they do it in a symbiotic or alienated way, they lose their independence and integrity; they are weak, suffers, become hostile, or apathetic; only if one can relate oneself to others in loving ways does one feel one with them and at the same time preserve their integrity. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

Only by productive work does one relate oneself to nature, becoming one with her, and yet not submerging in her. As long as mortals remain rooted incestuously in nature, family, clan, one is blocked from developing one’s individuality, one’s reason; one remains the helpless prey of nature, and yet one can never feel one with her. Only if one develops one’s reason and one’s love, if one can experience the natural and the social World in a human way, can one feel at home, secure in oneself, and the master of one’s life. It is hardly necessary to point out that of two possible forms of transcendence,destructiveness is conducive to suffering, creativeness to happiness. It is also easy to see that only a sense of identity based on the experience of one’s own powers can give strength, while all forms of identity experience based on the group, leave people dependent, hence weak. Eventually, only to the extent to which one grasps reality, can one make this World one’s own possession; if one lives in illusions, one never changes the conditions which necessitate these illusions. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

Critical has to do with a crisis. The Chinese characters for the word “crisis” are actually made up of the pictograms for two works, “dangerous”and “opportunity.” A crisis, in the Eastern perspective, is a dangerous opportunity. It may be that we can find some useful insight here as we assess the matter of crises. For instance, a critical conflict situation may be that moment in time, full of threat, full of risk, yet full of potential, that provides a turning point, a crossroad encounter, a chance to try something new or untried. Some of the conflict we encounter are strong reminders that parts of the self are not working harmoniously, that we are not together. One of the things we humans often do, mostly because we do have choices in so many things, is to get ourselves into messed-up situations. In our attempts to give meaning and significance to our lives, we often do things that are at cross-purposes. We make two dates or appointments for the same times, often for places that are miles apart! Say for the same one thing (“I am going to stay home and catch upon my work.”) and do another (“Well, okay, I will meet you for just one Harvey Wall Banger.”). We have a strong urge to commit an act (tell a person off) and we do the opposite (nod agreement). These are some of the things we do that illustrate what we call “self-defeating actions.” #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

What happens, of course, is that our motivations run headlong into each other or into something else. “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley,..” Scottish poet Robert Burns tells us, and how right he is. Our plans, no matter how well-planned, often go “a-gley” or fall flat on their faces. The conflict that described for us are partly to blame. Yet, we find too many people who enter into self-defeating situations for reasons. Some of these are unconscious. Now, as much choice-making as any of us can do, there are still some decisions that seem to make themselves, or get made for us by others or by circumstances. Though we have much control, there is still a lot of chance or circumstance at work. Things happen, people change, and times change. Circumstantial conflicts are all about. At the unconscious level there are many motivations working that a person may be unaware of. We have to acknowledge that things like Repression do operate. Repression is one of those unconscious operations that Dr. Freud and his followers called defense mechanism. The purpose of these mechanisms is to guard the fragile personality from ideas, thoughts, experiences and behaviors that might to damage. Sleep is sometimes considered a defense against conflict. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

Amnesia is also another way people defend against conflict, as any soap operas like Criminal Minds, Dynasty, All American, Law and Order SVU, Supernatural, S.W.A.T, Manifest, Midnight Texas, Blue Bloods, Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, Poldark, New Amsterdam, Black Lighting, Big Little Lies, All in the Family and many others will attempt to show. Common forgetfulness is often a repression of an experience that is threatening or beyond control at the time it occurs. Placing blame outside oneself, various compulsions—defense mechanisms come in many forms. Nonebeing in the form of the threat of loss of self in the group has not yet appeared. Self-affirmation within a group includes the courage to accept guilt and its loss of self in the group includes the courage to accept guilt and its consequences as public guilt, whether one is oneself responsible or whether somebody else is. It is a problem of the group which has to be expiated for the sake of the group, and the methods of punishment and satisfaction requested by the group are accepted by the individual. Individual guilt consciousness exists only as the consciousness of a deviation from the institutions and rules of the collective. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

Truth and meaning are embodied in the traditions and symbols of the group, and there is no autonomous asking and doubt. However, even in a primitive collective, as in every human community, there are outstanding members, the bearers of the traditions and leaders of the future. They must have sufficient distance in order to judge and to change. They must take responsibility and ask questions. This unavoidably produces individual doubt and personal guilt. Nevertheless, the predominant pattern is the courage to be as a part in all members of the primitive group. “For since the beginning of the World have not mortal heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath any eye seen, O God, besides thee, how great things thou hast prepared for one that waiteth for thee,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 133.45. God is in his work to being pass the salvation and exaltation of his children. Our desire is that faith in the Heavenly Father’s plan and in the Savior’s redeeming mission might increase the Earth and that God’s everlasting covenant might be established. Our only objectives are to facilitate continuing conversation to the Lord and to love more completely and serve more effectively our human, plant, animal, and others beings in our family. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

 The purpose and purification, the happiness and joy, and the continuing conversion and protection that come from yielding our hearts unto God and receiving his image in our countenances cannot be obtained merely by performing and checking off all the spiritual things we are supposed to do. Rather, the power of the Savior’s gospel to transform and bless us flows from discerning and applying the interrelatedness of its doctrine, principles, and practices. Only as we gather together in one all things Christ, with firm focus on him, can gospel truths synergistically enable us to become what God desires us to become and endure valiantly to the end. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a magnificent tapestry of truthfully framed and woven together. As we learn and link together revealed gospel truths, we are blessed to receive precious perspective and increased spiritual capacity through eyes that can see the Lord’s influence in our lives and ears that can see the Lord’s influence in our lives and ears that can hear his voice. And the principle of gathering together in one—even in him—can assist us in changing the traditional checklists into a unified, integrated, and complete whole. “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing,” Zephaniah 3.17. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8