I have plastered it, painted it, run its new wires, sanded its floors, and laid the gloss. I learned those skills out west, and all that time I lived out there I never forgot this house, used to pass it as a little boy, never forgot it, and never dreamed of course that one day I would be the master of it (chuckle), that is, if any mortal can be the master of this house, what this house has is a mistress, or even two, and for a time, for a long time. Come, let me show you the library. Though many philosophers, such as Owen and Proudhon, Tolstoy and Bakunin, Durkheim and Marx, Einstein and Schweitzer talk about it as they express different concepts, they all find that mortals have lost their central place, that they have been made an instrument for the purposes of economic aims, that one has been estranged from, and has lost the concrete relatedness to one’s fellow mortals and to nature, that one has ceased to have a meaningful life. I have tried to express the same idea by elaborating on the concept of alienation and by sowing psychologically what the psychological results of alienation are; that mortals regress to a receptive and marketing orientation and ceases to be productive; that they lose their sense of self, become dependent on approval, hence tending to conform and spend most of their energy in the attempt to compensate for or just cover up their anxiety. #RandolphHarris 1 of 15

Human intelligence is excellent, their reason deteriorates and in view of their technical powers they are seriously endangering the existence of civilization, and even of the human race. If we turn to view about the causes for this development, we find less agreement than in the diagnosis of the illness itself. While many are still prone to see the causes of all evil in the lack of political freedom, and especially of universal suffrage, others still stress the significance of economic factors. They believed that the alienation of mortals resulted from their role as an object of exploitation and use. Still spiritual and moral impoverishment is also a precipitating cause of Western mortal’s decay; in addition to repression of one’s instinctual drives and the resulting manifestations. However, what hold true for the causes of society’s infirmary, of course, is true for the remedies by which modern mortal’s defect can be cured. If I believe that the cause of the illness is economic, or spiritual, or psychological, I necessarily believe that remedying the cause leads to sanity. On the other hand, if I see how the various aspects are interrelated, I shall arrive at the conclusion that sanity and mental health can be attained only by simultaneous changes in the sphere of industrial and political organization, of spiritual and philosophical orientation, of character structure, and of cultural activities. The concentration of effort in any of these spheres, to the exclusion or neglect of others, is destructive of all change. #RandolphHarris 2 of 15

In fact, here seems to lie one f the most important obstacles to the progress of humankind. Christianity has preached spiritual renewal, neglecting the changes in the social order without which spiritual renewal must remain ineffective for the majority of the people. The age of enlightenment has postulated as the highest norms independent judgment and reason; it preached political equality without seeing that political equality could not lead to the realization of the fraternity of mortals if it was not accompanied by a fundamental change in the socioeconomic organization. While people stress the necessity for social and economic changes, they neglect the necessity of the inner change in human beings, without which economic change can never lead to the good society. Each of these great reform movements of the last two thousand years has emphasized one sector of life to the exclusion of the others; their proposals for reform and renewal were radical—but their results were almost complete failure. The preaching of the Gospel led to the establishment of the Catholic Church; the teachings of rationalists. The result could hardly be different. #RandolphHarris 3 of 15

Mortals are a unit; their thinking, feeling, and their practice of life are inseparably connected. One cannot be free in one’s thought when one is not free emotionally; and one cannot be free emotionally if one is dependent and unfree in one’s practice of life, in one’s economic and social relations. Trying to advance radically in one sector to the exclusion of others must be necessarily lead to the results to which it did lead, namely, that the radical demands in one sphere are fulfilled only by a few individuals, while for the majority they become formulae and rituals, serving to cover up the fact that in other spheres nothing has changed. Undoubtedly one step of integrated progress in all sphere of life will have more far-reaching and more lasting results for the progress of the human race than a hundred steps preached—and even for a short while lived—in only one isolated sphere. Several thousands of years of failure in isolated progress should be a rather convincing lesson. Closely related to this problem is that of radicalism and reform, which seems to form such a dividing line between various political solutions. Yet, a closer analysis can show that this differentiation as it is usually conceived of is deceptive. There is reform and reform; reform can be radical, that is, going to the roots, or it can be superficial, trying to patch up the symptoms without touching the cases. #RandolphHarris 4 of 15

Reform which is not radical, in this sense, never accomplishes its ends and eventually ends up in the opposite direction. So-called radicalism on the other hand, which believes that we can solve problems by force, when observation, patience and continuous activity is required, is as unrealistic and fictious as reform. The revolution of the Bolsheviks led to Stalinism, the reform of the right wing Social Democrats in Germany, led to Hitler. The true criterion of reform is not its tempo but its realism, its true racialism; it is the question whether it goes to the roots and attempts to change causes—or whether it remains on the surface and attempts to deal only with symptoms. We are discussing the roads to sanity, that is, methods of cure, and we had better pause here for a moment and ask ourselves what we know about the nature of cure in cases of individual mental diseases. The cure of social pathology must follow the same principle, since it is the pathology of so many human beings, and not of an entity beyond or apart from individuals. The conditions for the cure of individual pathology are mainly the following: A development must have occurred which is contrary to the proper functioning of the psyche. In frame of reference of humanistic psychoanalysis, the cause of pathology lie in the failure to develop a productive orientation, a failure which results in the development of irrational passions, especially of incestuous, destructive and exploitative strivings. #RandolphHarris 5 of 15

The fact of suffering, whether it is conscious or unconscious, resulting from the failure of normal development, produces a dynamic striving to overcome the suffering, that is, for change in the direction of health. This striving for healthy in our physical as well as in our mental organism is the basis for any cure of sickness, and it is absent only in the most severe pathology. The first step necessary to permit this tendency for health to operate is the awareness of the suffering and of that which is shut out and disassociated from our conscious personality. In this frame of reference, it refers to the repressed irrational passions, to the repressed feeing of aloneness and futility, and to the longing for love and productivity, which is also repressed. Increasing self-awareness can become fully effective only if a next step is taken, that on changing a practice of life which was built on the basis of the neurotic structure, and which reproduces it constantly. A patient, for instance, whose neurotic character makes one want to submit to parental authorities has usually constructed a life where one has chosen dominating or sadistic father images as bosses, teachers, and so on. One will be cured only if one changes one’s realistic life situation in such a way that it does not constantly reproduce the submissive tendencies one wants to give up. #RandolphHarris 6 of 15

Furthermore, one must change one’s system of values, norms and ideals, so that they further rather than block one’s striving for health and maturity. The same condition—conflict with the requirements of human nature and resulting suffering, awareness of what is shut out, and change of the realistic situation and of values and norms—are also necessary for a cure of social pathology. To show the conflict between human needs and our social structure, and to further the awareness of our conflicts and of that which is dissociated, was the purpose of the previous discussion. However, we still need to further discuss the various possibilities of practical changes in our economic, political and cultural organization. Yet, before we start discussing the practical questions, let us consider once more what constitutes mental sanity, and what type of culture could be assumed to be conductive to mental health. The mentally healthy person is the productive and unalienated person; the person who relates oneself to the World lovingly, and who uses one’s reason to grasp reality objectively; who experiences oneself as a unique individual entity, and at the same time feels one with one’s follow mortals; who is not subject to irrational authority, and accepts willingly the rational authority of conscience and reason; who is in the process of being born as long as one is alive, and considers the gift of life the most precious chance one has.  #RandolphHarris 7 of 15

Let us also remember that these goals of mental health are not ideals which have to be forced upon the person, or which mortals can attain only if one has overcome one’s nature, and sacrifices for one’s innate selfishness. On the contrary, the striving for mental health, for happiness, harmony, love, productiveness, is inherent in every human being who is not born as a mental or moral idiot. Given a chance, these strivings assert themselves forecefully, as can be seen in countless situations. In takes powerful constellations and circumstances to pervert and stifle this innate striving for sanity; and indeed, throughout the greater part of known history, the use of mortal by mortal has produced such perversion. To believe tat this perversion is inherent in mortals is like throwing seeds in the soil of the desert and claiming they were not meant to grow. What society corresponds to this aim of mental health, and what would be the structure of a sane society? First of all, a society in which no mortal is a means toward another’s end, but always and without exception an end in oneself; hence, where nobody is used, nor uses oneself, for purposes which are not those of the unfolding of one’s own human powers; where mortals are the center, and where all economic and political activities are subordinated to the aim of one’s growth. #RandolphHarris 8 of 15

A sane society is one in which qualities like greed, exploitativeness, possessiveness, narcissism, have no chance to be used for greater material gain or for the enhancement of one’s personal prestige. Where acting according to one’s conscience is looked upon a as fundamental and necessary quality and where opportunism and lack of principles is deemed to be asocial; where the individual is concerned with social matters so that they become personal matters, where one’s relation to one’s fellow mortals is not separated from one’s relationship in the private sphere. A sane society, furthermore, is one which permits mortals to operate within manageable and observable dimensions, and to be an active and responsible participant in the life of society, as well as the master of one’s own life. It is one which furthers human solidarity and not only permits, but stimulates, its members to relate themselves to each other lovingly; a sane society furthers the productive activity of everybody in one’s work, stimulates the unfolding of reason and enables mortals to give expression to one’s inner needs in collective art and rituals. #RandolphHarris 9 of 15

Another characteristic of modern people is loneliness. They describe this feeling as one being on the outside, isolated, or, if they are sophisticated, they say that they feel alienated. They emphasize how crucial it is for them to be invited to this part or that dinner, not because they especially want to go (though they generally do go) nor because they will get enjoyment, companionship, sharing of experience and human warmth in gathering (very often they do not, but are simply bored). Rather, being invited is crucial because it is a proof that they are not alone. Loneliness is such an omnipotent and painful threat to many persons that they have little conception of the beneficial values of solitude, and even at times are very frightened at the prospect of being alone. Many people suffer from the fear of finding oneself alone, and so they do not find themselves at all. The feeling of emptiness and loneliness go together. When persons, for example, are telling of a break-up in a love relationship, they will often not say they feel sorrow or humiliation over a lost conquest; but rather that they feel emptied. The loss of the other leaves an inner yawning void. #RandolphHarris 10 of 15

The reasons for the close relationship between loneliness and emptiness are not difficult to discover. For when a person does not know with any inner conviction what one wants or what one feels; when, in a period of traumatic change, one comes aware of the fact that the conventional desires and goals one has been taught to follow no longer bring one any security or give one any sense of direction, when, that is, one feels an inner void while one stands amid the outer confusion of upheaval in one’s society, one senses danger; and one’s natural reaction is to look around for other people. They, one hopes, will give one some sense of direction, or at least some comfort in the knowledge that one is not alone in one’s fright. Emptiness and loneliness are thus two phases of the same basic experience of anxiety. Some people feel like we might be the last generation to walk this Earth—but do not know in which direction to turn. And because of their, their reaction is, strangely enough, a sudden, deep, loneliness. All of mortal’s history is an endeavor to shatter one’s seclusion. Feelings of isolation occur when one feels empty and afraid not simply because one wants to be protected by the crowd. Nor is the longing for others simply an endeavor to fill the void within one’s self—though this certainly is one side of the need for human companionship when one feels empty or anxious. #RandolphHarris 11 of 15

The more basic reason is that the human being gets one’s original experience of being a self out of one’s relatedness to other persons, and when one is alone, without other persons, one is afraid one will lose this experience of being a self. Mortals, the biosocial mammal, not only is dependent on other human beings such as one’s father and mother for one’s security during a long childhood; one like wise receives one’s consciousness of oneself, which is the basis of one’s capacity to orient oneself in life, from these early relationships. Therefore, it is clear to see that mortals need relationships with other people in order to orient themselves. Angels boring? Yes—until they fall! Then the Angel takes on fascination and interest. The dichotomy between devils and Angles was carried on through the Middle Ages, and the word for the diammonic is now clearly demon. The medieval citizens were enthralled by their demons. The medieval citizens were enthralled by their demons, even in the act of condemning them; why else all these gargoyles, beasts laughing and looking sinister, animals of every sort, scampering and climbing up the sides of their cathedrals and Victorian houses, carved in stone by artisans who must have known the daimonic at first hand? However, this did not stand in the way of their using this handy method of condemnation of their enemies as the devil’s party in their wars of religion and particularly in the Albigensian uprising. #RandolphHarris 12 of 15

It seems that it is always mortal’s proclivity to define the outsider, the stranger, the one who differs from one, as the evil one and oneself as on the side of the angel. However, one who enters the sphere of faith enters the sanctuary of life. Where there is faith there is an awareness of holiness. One now becomes gifted with some supernatural power: one has had genius, or even one oneself is a genius. One’s acts do not conform to the norms of accepted behavior, but also one’s work has a superhuman quality that makes it incomparable with the work of other mortals. Therefore the usual categories of good and evil, of useful and useless, do not apply to the genius. What one does and what one suffers is one’s fate. One is not a genius because one is an extraordinary artist, but conversely, one is an artist become one is possessed by genius. Fate guides one to significant meetings and it produces great mortals. To see the experiential justification for this point we have only to recall that greatness consists of being in the right place at the right time; it is an encounter between a mortal of particular qualities and the particular needs of an age. Mortals with talent are seized by the historical situation and hurled to greatness. What concerns one ultimately becomes holy. The awareness of the holy is awareness of the presence of the divine, namely of the content of our supreme concern. #RandolphHarris 13 of 15

Faith’s presence remains mysterious in spite of its appearance. It is discovered in Nature, animate and inanimate, with soul and without soul, something which was only manifested in contradiction, and therefore cannot be grasped under one conception, still less under one word. Only in the impossible did it seem to find pleasure, and the possible it seemed to thrust from itself with contempt. The ancients become aware of something similar. Faith can manifest itself in the most remarkable way even in some animals, it primarily is connected with mortals. It represents a power which is, if not opposed to the moral order of the World, yet at cross-purposes to it; such that one could compare the one to the warp, and the other to the woof. In the most awesome form faith appears when it manifests itself in some human beings. They are not always mortals of superior mind or talents, seldom do they recommend themselves by the goodness of their heart. Yet a tremendous power emanates from them, they possess an incredible force over all other creatures and even over the elements; nobody can say how far their influence will reach. #RandolphHarris 14 of 15

The reason for these effects of the holy is obvious if we see the relation of the experience of the holy to the experience of the ultimate concern. The human hearts seeks the infinite because that is where the finite wants to rest. In the infinite it sees its own fulfillment. This is the reason for the ecstatic attraction and fascination of everything in which ultimacy is manifest. On the other hand, if ultimacy is manifest and exercises its fascinating attraction, one realizes at the same time the infinite distance of the finite from the infinite and, consequently, the negative judgment over any finite attempts to reach the infinite. The feeling of being consumed in the presence of the divine is a profound expression of mortal’s relation to the holy. It is implied in every genuine act of faith, in every state of ultimate concern. Entering the sanctuary means encountering the holy. Here the infinitely removed makes itself near and present, without losing its remoteness. For this reason, the holy has been called the entirely other, namely, other than the ordinary course of things or other than the World which is determined by the cleavage of subject and object. The holy transcends this realm; this is its mystery and its unapproachable character. There is no conditional way of reaching the unconditional; there is no finite way of reaching the infinite. #RandolphHarris 15 of 15

 CRESLEIGH HAVENWOOD

Lincoln, CA | from the low $700s

Now Selling!

 
No appointment needed! Cresleigh Havenwood features four distinct floor plans ranging from 2,293 – 3,377 square feet and offering up to five bedrooms.  Each plan has been thoughtfully designed and includes great features such as single story homes, guest suites, optional offices, garage workshops, and more! Get the most out of your new home with Cresleigh’s All Ready smart home featuring all the connectivity needed to keep your house running. Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes with owned solar included! 

Located off of Virginiatown Road and McCourtney Road, residents of the 83 homesites of Cresleigh Havenwood will benefit from a brand new neighborhood in the charming City of Lincoln. Palo Verde Park, is  just down the street and there’s plenty of recreation to take part in all around town. https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/