Walking. I spun around. He was there. Technicolor ghost, black tailcoat, walking as I had been, through the grass, tossing aside the champagne glass, coming on.  Our absolute description of what faith is implies the rejection of interpretations that dangerously distort the meaning of faith. It is necessary to make these implicit rejections explicit, because the distortions exercise a tremendous power over popular thinking and have been largely responsible for alienating many from religion since the beginning of the scientific age. It is not only the popular mind which distorts all the meaning of faith. Behind it lie philosophical and theological thoughts which is a more refined way also miss the meaning of faith. The different distorted interpretations of the meaning of faith can be traced to one source. Faith as being ultimately concerned is a centered act of the whole personality. If one of the functions which constitute the totality of the personality is partly or completely identified with faith, the meaning of faith is distorted. Such interpretations are not altogether wrong because every function of the human mind participates in the act of faith. However, the element of truth in them is embedded in a whole of error. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24

The most ordinary misinterpretation of faith is to consider it an act of knowledge that has a low degree of evidence. Something more or less probable or improbably is affirmed in spite of the insufficiency of its theoretical substantiation. This situation is very usual in daily life. If this is meant, one is speaking of belief rather than of faith. One believes that one’s information is correct. One believes that records of past events are useful for the reconstruction of facts. One believes that a scientific theory is adequate for the understanding of a series of facts. One believes that a person will act in a specific way or that a political situation will change in a certain direction. In all these cases the belief is based on evidence sufficient to make the event probable. Sometimes, however, one believes something which has low probability or is strictly improbable, though not impossible. The causes for all these theoretical and practical beliefs are rather varied. Some tings are believed because we have good though not complete evidence about them; many more things are believed because they are stated by good authorities. This is the case whenever we accept the evidence which others accepted as sufficient for belief, even if we cannot approach the evidence directly (for example, all events of the past). #RandolphHarris 2 of 24

Here a new element comes into the picture, namely, the trust in the authority which makes a statement probable for us. Without such trust we could not believe anything expect the objects of our immediate experience. The consequence would be that our World would be infinitely smaller than it actually is. It is rational to trust in authorities which enlarge our consciousness without forcing us into submission. If we use the word faith for this kind of trust we can say that most of our knowledge is based on faith. However, it is not appropriate to do so. We believe the authorities, we trust their judgment, though never unconditionally, but we do not have faith in them. Faith is more than trust in authorities, although trust is an element of faith. This distinction is important in view of the fact that some earlier theologians tried to prove the unconditional authority of the Biblical writers by showing their trustworthiness as witnesses. The Christian may believe the Biblical writers, but not unconditionally. One does not have faith in them. One should not even have faith in the Bible. For faith is more than trust in even the most sacred authority. It is participation in the subject of one’s ultimate concern with one’s whole being. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24

Therefore, the term “faith” should not be used in connection with theoretical knowledge, whether it is a knowledge on the basis of immediate, prescientific or scientific evidence, or whether it is on the basis of trust in authorities who themselves are dependent on direct or indirect evidence. The terminological inquiry has led us into the material problem itself. Faith does not affirm or deny what belongs to the prescientific or scientific knowledge of our World, whether we know it by direct experience or though the experience of others. The knowledge of our World (including ourselves as a part of the World) is a matter of inquiry by ourselves or by those in whom we trust. It is not a matter of faith. The dimension of faith is not the dimension of science, history or psychology. The acceptance of a probably hypothesis in these realms is not faith, but preliminary belief, to be tested by scholarly methods and to be changed by every new discover. Almost all the struggles between faith and knowledge are rooted in the wrong understanding of faith as a type of knowledge which has a low degree of evidence but is supported by religious authority. It is, however, not only confusion of faith with knowledge that is responsible for the World historical conflicts between them; it is also the fact that matters of faith in the sense of ultimate concern lie hidden behind an assumedly scientific method. Whenever this happens, faith stands against faith and not against knowledge. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24

The difference between faith and knowledge is also visible in the kind of certitude each gives. There are two types of knowledge which are based on complete evidence and give complete certitude. The one is the immediate evidence and give complete certitude. The one is the immediate evidence of sense perception. One who sees a green color sees a green color and is certain about it. One cannot be certain whether the thing which seems to one green is really green. One may be under a deception. However, one cannot doubt that one sees green. The other complete evidence is that of the logical and mathematical rules which are presupposed even if their formulation admits different and sometimes conflicting methods. One cannot discuss logic without presupposing those implicit rules which make the discussion meaningful. Here we have absolute certitude; but we have no reality, just as in the case of mere sense perception. Nevertheless, this certitude is not without value. No truth is possible without the material given by sense perception and without the form given by the logical and mathematical rules which express the structure in which all reality stands. One of the worst errors of theology and popular religion is to make statements which intentionally or unintentionally contradict the structure of reality. Such an attitude is an expression not of faith but of the confusion of faith with belief. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24

Knowledge of reality has never the certitude of complete evidence. The process of knowing is infinite. It never comes to an end expect in a state of knowledge of the whole. However, such knowledge transcends infinitely every finite mind and can be ascribed only to God. Every knowledge of reality by the human mind has the character of higher or lower probability. The certitude about a physical law, a historical fact, or a psychological structure can be so high that, for all practical purposes, it is certain. However, theoretically the incomplete certitude of belief remains and can be undercut at any moment by criticism and new experience. The certitude of faith has not this character. Neither has it the character of formal evidence. The certitude of faith is existential, meaning that the whole existence of mortals is involved. It has, as we indicated before, two elements: the one, which is not a risk but a certainty about one’s own being, namely, on being related to something ultimate of unconditional; the other, which is a risk and involves doubt and courage, namely, the surrender to a concern which is not really ultimate and may be destructive if taken as ultimate. This is not theoretical problem of the kind of higher or lower evidence, of probability or improbability, but it is an existential problem of to be or not to be. It belongs to a dimension other than any theoretical judgment. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24

Faith is not belief and it is not knowledge with a low degree of probability. Its certitude is not uncertain certitude of a theoretical judgment. “Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will for the children of mortals, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him. And if it so be that we are faithful to him, we shall obtain the land of promise; and ye shall know at some future period that the word of the Lord shall be fulfilled,” reports 1 Nephi12-13. The individual’s striving for one’s own gain, in fine, without an equal emphasis on social welfare, no longer automatically brings good to the community. Furthermore, this type of individual competitiveness—in which for you to fail in a deal is as good as for me to succeed, since it pushes me ahead in the scramble up the ladder—raises many psychological problems. It makes every mortal the potential enemy of one’s neighbor, it generates much interpersonal hostility and resentment, and increases greatly our anxiety and isolation from each other. As this hostility has come closer to the surface in recent decades, we have tried to cover it up by various device—by becoming joiners of all sorts of service organizations, from Rotary to Optimist Clubs, by being good fellows, well liked by all, and so on. However, the conflict sober or later burst forth into the open. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24

This is pictured beautifully and tragically in Willie Loman, the chief character in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Willie had been taught, and in turn taught his sons, that to get ahead of the next fellow and to get rich were the goals, and this requires initiative. When the boys steal balls and lumber, though he pays lip-service to the idea that he should rebuke them, is pleased that they are fearless characters and remarks that the coach will probably congratulate them on their initiative. His friend reminds him that the jails are full of fearless characters, but Willie rejoins, “the stock exchange is too.” Willie tries to cover up this competitiveness, like most men of four or five decades ago, by being well liked. When as an old man he is cast into the ask can by virtue of the changing policies of his company, Willie is caught in great bewilderment, and keeps repeating to himself, “But I was the best-liked.” His confusion in this conflict of values—why does what he was taught not work?—mounts up until it culminates in his experiencing  death by suicide. At the grave one son continues to insist, “He had a good dream, to come number one.” However, the other son accurately sees the contradictions which such an upheaval of values leads to, “He never knew who he was.” #RandolphHarris 8 of 24

The second central belief in our modern age has been the faith in individual reason. This belief, ushered in at the Renaissance like the belief in the value of individual competitiveness which we have just been discussing, was magnificently fruitful for the philosophical quests of the enlightenment in the seventeenth century, and served as a noble character for the advances in science and for movements toward universal education. In thee first centuries of our period, individual reason also meant universal reason; it was a challenge to each intelligent person to discover the universal principles by which all mortals might live happily. Psychologically, reason become separated from emotion and will. The splitting up of the personality means that reason was supposed to give then answer to any problem, will power was supposed to put it into effect, and emotions—well, they generally got in the way, and could best be repressed. Lo and behold, we find reason (now transformed into intellectualistic rationalization) used in the service of compartmentalizing the personality, with the resulting repressions and conflict between instinct and id. Reason is supposed to be an attitude toward life in which the mind unites the emotions with ethical goals and other aspects of the whole more. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24

When most people use the term reason, they almost always imply a splitting personality. They ask in one form or another: “Should I follow reason or give way to sensual passions and needs or be faithful to my ethical duty?” In our bourgeois, industrialized society, a mortal’s most effective way of evading the soul is by losing oneself in the herd. This is the particular reaction to the soul which disperses it. We look at the same programs of programs of unethical population control and deviance on television at the same time millions and billions of people all around the World do; or we join the army and defend our nation not for ourselves but for our homeland and for freedom.  This conformism and anonymity relieve us of the burden of the responsibility for our soul urges while insuring their satisfaction. However, they also insure that the soul will remain impersonal. It makes the soul forces unavailable for individual integration; the price the person pays is the forfeiting of one’s chance to develop one’s own capacities in one’s own unique way. The dispersion of the soul by means of impersonality has serious and destructive effects. In New York City, it is not regarded as strange that the anonymous human beings secluded in single room occupancies are so often connected with violent crime and drug addiction. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24

Not that the anonymous individual in New York is alone: one sees thousands of other people every day, and one knows all the famous personalities as they come, via TV, into one’s single room. One knows their names, their smiles, their idiosyncrasies; they bandy about in a “we are-all-friends-together” mood on the screen which invites one to join them and subtly assumes that one does join them. One knows them all. However, one oneself is never known. The individual’s smile is unseen; one’s idiosyncrasies are important to nobody; one’s name is unknown. One remains a foreigner pushed on and off the subway by tens of thousands of other anonymous foreigners. There is a deeply depersonalizing tragedy involved in this. The most severe punishment God could inflict on his people was to blot of their name. “Their names,” God proclaims, “shall be wiped out of the book of the living.” This anonymous mortal’s never being known, this aloneness, is transformed into loneliness, which may then become demonic possession. For one’s self-doubts—“I do not really exist since I cannot affect anyone” –eat away at one’s innards; one lives and breathes and walks in a loneliness which is subtle and insidious. It is not surprising that one gets a gun and trains it on some passer-by—also anonymous to him or her. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24

And it is not surprising that the young people in the streets, who are only anonymous digits in their society, should gang together in violent attacks to make sure their assertion is felt (this is actually a tactic “reporters” from the fake news media use and get away with for disallowing certain stories to air). Loneliness and its stepchild, alienation, can become forms of demon possession. Surrendering ourselves to the impersonal soul pushes us into an anonymity which cause us to become grim soulless mortals; we serve nature’s gross purposes on the lowest common denominator, which means with violence. “I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time. Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again,” reports 3 Nephi 17.2-3. The failure of the Great Promise, aside from industrialism’s essential economic contradictions, was built into the industrial system by its two man psychological premises: that the aim of life is happiness, that is, maximum pleasure, defined as the satisfaction of any desire or subjective need a person may feel (radical hedonism); and that the id, selfishness, and greed, as the system needs to generate then in order to function, lead to harmony and peace. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24

It is well known that people are practicing radical hedonism, which is evident when the city of Sacramento builds a nearly $700 billion sports complex with mostly taxpayer’s money, without allowing the tax payers to vote on it. Subsequently, rents increase drastically and the homeless population increases by 50 percent, while 43 percent of home are experiencing food insecurity. The city leaders are acting like they are of unlimited means, such as the elite of Rome, of Italian cities of the Renaissance, and of England and France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as they try to find a meaning to life in unlimited pleasure. However, while maximum pleasure in the sense of radical hedonism is the practice of certain groups at certain times, it has never been the theory of well-being expressed by the great Masters of Living in China, Africa, India, Japan, the Neat East, and Europe. It is not about how much you make, but what you have left over after all the bills are paid. Pleasure as satisfaction of a desire cannot be the aim of life, because such pleasure is necessarily followed by unpleasure and thus keeps humanity away from its real goal of absence of pain. Factual existence of a desire constitutes an ethical norm. We are concerned with humankind’s optimal well-being (vivere bene). #RandolphHarris 13 of 24

The essential element in our thinking is the distinction between those needs (desire) that are only subjectively felt and whose satisfaction leads to momentary pleasure, and those needs that are rooted in human nature and whose realization is conducive to human growth and produces eudaimonia, well-being. In other words, we are concerned with the distinction between purely subjectively felt needs and objectively valid needs—part of the former being harmful to human growth and the latter being in accordance with the requirements of human nature. The theory that the aim of life is the fulfillment of every human desire was clearly voided when profit ceased to mean profit for the soul (as it does in the Bible). It was never meant to mean material, monetary profit, in the period when the middle class and the President is throwing away not only its political shackles, in exchange for bonds of love and solidarity and believing that we are being for more than just ourselves. Happiness is not the continuous process from one greed to another, nor should people use drugs or medications to give the illusion of happiness. For that kind of satisfaction is of cruel impulses and is illegitimate, precisely because they exist and crave satisfaction. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24

Turning now to studies in the field of industrial psychology, we find a good deal of evidence for the significance of the differentiation between the technical and social aspects of the work situation, and furthermore for the enlivening and stimulating effect of the active and responsible participation of the worker in one’s job. One of the most striking examples of the fact that technically monotonous work can be interesting, if the work situation as a whole permits of interest and active participation has been evaluated. The operation selected was that of assembling telephone coils, work which ranks as a repetitive performance. A standard assembly bench with the appropriate equipment, and with places for give workers was put into a room, which was separated by a partition from the main assembly room; altogether six operatives worked in this room, five working at the bench, and one distributing parts to those engaged in the assembly. All of the people were experienced workers. Two of them dropped out within the first year, and their places were taken by two other workers of equal skill. Altogether, the experiment lasted for five years, and was divided into various experimental periods, in which certain changes were made in the conditions of work. Without going into the details of these changes, it suffices to state that rest pauses were adopted in the morning and afternoon, refreshments offered during these rest pauses, and the hours of work cut by half an hour. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24

Throughout these changes in making the work environment more pleasant, providing refreshments, give more breaks, and letting the employees go home earlier, the output of each worker rose considerably. So far, so good; noting was more plausible then the assumption that increased rest periods and some attempt to make the worker feel better were the causes for an increased efficiency. Then get this, a new arrangement with the workers took place and disappointed this expectation and showed rather dramatic results: by arrangement with the workers, the group returned to the conditions of work as they had existed in the beginning of the experiment. Rest periods, special refreshments, and other improvements were all abolished for approximately three months. To everybody’s amazement this did not result in a decrease of output but, on the contrary, the daily and weekly output rose to a higher point than at any time before. In the next period, the old concessions were introduced again, with the only exception that the people provided their own food, while the company continued to supply gourmet coffee for the morning lunch. The output still continued to rise. And not only the output. What is equally important is the fact that the rate of infirmary among the workers in this experiment fell by 80 percent in comparison with the general rate, and that a new social friendly intercourse developed among the working people. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24

How can we explain the surprising result that the steady increase seemed to ignore the experimental changes in its upward development? If it was not the rest pauses, the tea and coffee, the shortened working time, what was it that made the workers produce more, be more healthy and more friendly among themselves? The answer is obvious: while the technical aspect of monotonous, uninteresting work remained the same, and while even certain improvements like rest pauses were not decisive, the social aspect of the total work situation had changed, and caused a change in the attitude of the workers. They were informed of the experiment, and of the several steps in it; their suggestions were listened to and often followed, and what is perhaps the most important point, they were aware of participating in a meaningful and interest experiment, which was important not only to themselves, but to the workers of the whole factory. While they were at first shy and uneasy, and silent and perhaps somewhat suspicious of the company’s intentions, later their attitude was marked by confidence and candour. The group developed a sense of participation in the work, because they knew what they were doing, they had an aim and purpose, and they could influence the whole procedure by their suggestions. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24

God’s ways are not our ways. They are better than our ways. There will be times when we miss out on an opportunity and cannot understand why. We may be experiencing that right now. Here is the question: Will you stay in faith while you wait to see what God is up to? The startling results of the experiment show that sickness, fatigue and a resulting low output are not caused primarily by the monotonous technical aspect of the work, but by alienation of the worker from the total work situation in it social aspect. As soon as this alienation was decreased to a certain extent by having the worker participate in something that was meaningful to him or her, and in which one has a voice, one’s whole psychological reaction to the work changed, although technically he or she was still doing the same kind of work. Research proves that the social aspect of the work situation has a decisive influence on the attitude of the worker, even though the work process in its technical aspect remains the same. Also, here are some clues as to other characteristics of the work situation which will affect the will to work. A variation in the rate of work in different individuals is dependent upon the prevailing group or social atmosphere, on a collective influence which forms an intangible background and determines the general nature of the reactions to the condition of work. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24

It is to the same point that in smaller-sized working groups, subjective satisfaction and output are higher than in larger working groups, although in the factories compared, the nature of the work process was almost identical, and physical conditions and welfare amenities were of a higher order and much alike. The relationship between group size and morale has also been noted. The nonsickness absence rate was found to be significantly greater among workers in large-sized rooms than among those in smaller rooms accommodating fewer employees. The psychological climate often develops among people working together, personal bonds and interest develop among the working team, and the work situation in its total aspect is much less monotonous than it would appear to the outsider wo takes into account only the technical aspect. However, telling each other off leads to discussions and a waste of time on the job. So it is best to unanimously set apart a time every week for an informal meetings to iron out differences and conflicts. However, the objective is not just better economic setup but a new way of living together, and discussion are bound to lead to the disclosure of basic attitudes. Very soon people will see the necessity of a common basis, or what we call, from then on, our common ethics. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24

Unless there is a common ethical basis, there is no point to start from together and therefore no possibility of building anything. To find a common ethical basis is not easy, because the two dozen workers now engaged are all different: Catholics, Protestants, materialists, Humanists, atheists, Capitalists, and so on. They all examined their own individual ethics, that is, not what they had been taught by rote, or what was conventionally accepted, but what they, our of their own experiences and thoughts, found necessary. They discovered that their individual ethics has certain points in common. They took those point and made them the common minimum on which they agreed unanimously. It was not a theoretical, vague declaration. In their foreword they declared: “There is no danger that our common ethical minimum should be an arbitrary convention, for, in order to determine the points, we rely on life experiences. All our moral principles have been tried in real life, everyday life, everybody’s life.” What they had rediscovered was essentially part of the ten commandments: love thy neighbor, do not kill, do not steal anyone’s good, do not lie, be faithful to thy promise, earn what you desire by working for it, respect others and their property and their liberty, respect thyself. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24

Thou shalt fight first against thyself, all vices which debase mortal, all the passions which hold mortals in slavery and are detrimental to social life: narcissism, avarice, lust, covetousness, gluttony, anger, laziness. Thou shalt also hold that there are goods higher than life itself: liberty, human dignity, truth, justice. It is best for people to pledge themselves to do their best to practice these common ethical minimums in their everyday life. Those who had more exacting private ethics pledged themselves to try to live what they believed, but recognized that they had absolutely no right to infringe on the liberties of others. In fact, they all agreed to respect fully the others’ convictions or absence of conviction to the extent of never laughing at them or making jokes about it. The second discovery the group made was that they craved to educate themselves. They figure out that the time they saved on production could be used for education. Within three months, the productivity of their work grew so much, that they could save nine hours on a forty-eight-how week. What did they do? They used these nine hours for education and were paid for it as for regular work hours. First they wanted to sing well together, then polish their French grammar, then to learn how to read business accounts. From there, other courses developed, all given at the factory by the best instructors they could find. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24

The instructors were paid the regular rates. There were courses in engineering, physics, literature, Marxism, Christianity, dancing, singing, golf and basketball. Their principle is: “We do not start from the plant, from the technical activity of mortals, but from the mortal oneself. In a Community of Work accent is not an acquiring together, but on working together for a collective and personal fulfillment.” The aim is not increased productivity, or higher wages, but a new style of life which far from relinquishing the advantages of the economic revolution of the year 2020 and beyond. In order to live we have to enjoy the products of our labor. One has to be able to educate oneself. One has to pursue a common endeavor within a professional group proportioned to the stature of mortals. One has to be actively related to the whole World. When these requisites are examined one discovers that they amount to a shifting of the center of the problem of living—from making and acquiring things, to discovering, and fostering and developing human relationships. For a civilization of objects to a civilization of persons; better even a civilization of movement between persons. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24

That is the symbol of something special—a free life, a lot of privileges, power, attractiveness. We thus imitate the behavior of others because we want to be like them, to take on their characteristics, and because we are rewarded for out imitation: it pleases us and it pleases them. It is important to remember, however, that a person must be at the right maturational level for a particular behavior if imitation—or any other learning strategy—is to work.  It is also important to remember that children do in fact receive and record what goes on around them, and they learn. They learn by doing over and over again—by repetition—and this doing is often initiated by imitation. They also learn by identification with a parent or relative. They learn by experimenting and testing, that is, by doing and then observing parental response to their actions. Of course, this all applies to emotions and how the parents emote and respond to the child’s feelings, especially the feeling—and expression of anger. Children are extremely perceptive and absorb what goes on around them long before they can talk or even comprehend language. They are like finely tuned receivers that pick up much more than is merely said. They are receptive and attuned to every mood, feeling, and change that goes on in people around them. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24

Children are particularly affected by the way their parents, sisters and brothers feel and act. You may go through some difficulties. You may have been praying, believing for your situation to change for a long time, but you do not see anything happening. God is working behind the scenes right now arranging things in your favor. The answer is already on the way. What is it that you need to keep believing God for? If you will just get your mind going in the right direction and believe you can rise higher, God will restore your family and allow you to do something greater and make your mark on this generation. “I have this faith, that I have shaven. Caught us on my mind, they calling waves to take me away, I will not be back tonight. When I breathe, goes sails we have left behind. My dream will always be mine. Now I feel as years haven not folded. Oh and we are still connected t those days when we were young. Oh, and you are my reflection,” reports Emma Hewitt and Andrew Rayel (My Reflection). Let this take root in your spirit. Because you are a believer, all will be well with you. The surpassing greatness of God’s power is at work in your life. All will be well in your health, career. Get ready because God’s promises are about to come to pass in your life. Keep believing. It your success will get bigger, better, and greater than you ever imagined. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24