If we are to keep our feet on the ground, we must put some responsibility on our shoulders. Cherishing humanity is the mark of a civilized society. The best security blanket the World can have is beings who respect each other. It is important that we unite in the mightiest, the biggest arms race in history, a race to put our arms around the ones we love, around all our family. Let us embrace humanity with the love, courage, hope, respect, education, opportunity, and let the imperatives of our arms race fix our global priorities so that no being in the World shall in effect be denied the right to dream. For the lesson we teach today is not confined to the walls of our homes, once it is implanted in the hearts and the minds of the community, it can change the World. Yesterday you may have been discouraged, but today you see something you did not see before. Maybe this is what yesterdays are for. In the business World, financially troubled companies forced into bankruptcy have two options, popularly knows as Chapter 7 and Chapter 11, after the respective chapters in the federal bankruptcy code. Chapter 11 deals with what we could call a temporary bankruptcy. This option is chosen by a basically healthy company that, given time, can work through its financial problems. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18

Chapter 7 is for a company that has reached the end of its financial rope. It is not only deeply in debt, it has no future as a viable business. It is forced to liquidate its assets and pay off its creditors, often by as little as ten cents on the dollar. The company is finished. It is all over. The owners or investors lose everything they have put into the business. No one like Chapter 7 bankruptcy. How many of us declare spiritual bankruptcy and what kind? I suspect many of us declare temporary bankruptcy. Having trusted in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, sometimes we lose faith because life seems hard and unfair, and we take sometime to sulk. However, then we are reminded that humans have free will and that Jesus Christ paid our debt of sins and secured for us the gift of eternal life. And that God has been working overtime to protect of from snares in life. There is nothing more we can do to earn our salvation, but behave righteously and follow the golden rule, which is to treat others like we want to be treated. Therefore, we subtly and maybe even unconsciously revert back to a working relationship with God in our Christian lives. We recognize that our best efforts can get us into Heaven, and they earn God’s blessings in our daily lives. After becoming more spirituality enlightened, we do away with obvious sins, and we see some beneficial changes in our lives. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18

As a result of our increased faith and righteous behavior, we emerge from bankruptcy and pay our own way in the Christian life. It seems this sacred doctrine of faith is not a science. For every science proceeds from self-evident principles. However, sacred doctrines proceeds from articles of faith which are not self-evident, since their truth is not admitted by all: “For all beings not have faith,” reports 2 Thessalonians 3.2. Therefore sacred doctrine is not a science. And because we have faith, if we lost our faith for good, that would be Chapter 7 bankruptcy, something that it permanent. However, it is not our place to judge others who do not believe in God, we must never force our belief system on to others. Saving faith is begotten, nourished, protected, and strengthened because it is a sacred doctrine. Even when we backslide in our spiritual faith, or we fail to do what we should have done, we have not forfeited all blessings from God for some undetermined period of time. We are legalistic by nature, and we know that if we ask for forgiveness and repent, God will forgive us and add to our faith more virtues such as goodness, knowledge, self-control, and love. And we find the Bible is filled with exhortations to do good works and pursue the disciplines of spiritual growth. There is a time in our lives when we are saved. “For it is by grace you have been saved,” reports Ephesians 2.8. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18

Sanctification is our growth in Christlikeness. It is a progressive experience covering our entire Christian lives from salvation to glorification. Glorification occurs at the time we depart from this life to be with Christ. (Glorification actually achieves its complete fulfillment at the resurrection, of course, but even now those who are with Christ are described as “the spirits of righteous beings made perfect,” reports Hebrews 12.23.”) That is why sacred doctrine is nobler than a science for it deal with eternal bliss, to which is an ultimate end. All true Christians readily agree that justification is by grace through faith in Christ. And if we stop to think about it, we agree that glorification is also solely by God’s grace. Jesus purchased for us not only forgiveness of sins (justification) but also eternal life (glorification). Our concept of the Christian life is a justification based on grace, Christian life based on grace, and glorification based on grace. That is, the entire Christian life from start to completion is lived on the basis of God’s grace to us through Christ. The Christian’s total debt has been paid by Christ. The law of God and the justice of God have been fully satisfied. The debt of our sins has been marked “Paid in Full!” God is satisfied and so are we. We have peace with God, and we are delivered from a guilt conscience. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18

We are brought into God’s Kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace. Grace is God’s free and unmerited favor shown to guilty sinners who deserve only judgment. It is the love of God shown to the unlovely. It is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him. Grace stands in direct opposition to any supposed worthiness on our part. To say it another way: Grace and works are mutually exclusive. “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace,” reports Paul in Romans 11.6. Our relationship with God is based on either works or grace. There is never a works-plus grace relationship with God. Furthermore, grace does not first rescue us from the penalty of our sins, furnish us with some new spiritual abilities, and then leave us on our own to grow in spiritual maturity. “Rather, one who began a good work in you [by His grace] will [also by His grace] carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,” reports Philippians 1.6. Therefore, after beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to obtain your goal by human effort? #RandolphHarris 5 of 18

A characteristic of the person who is living the process of the good life appears to be an increasing trust in one’s organism as a means of arriving at the most satisfying behavior in each existential situation. Again, let me explain what I mean. In choosing what course of action to take in any situation, many people rely upon guiding principles, upon a code of action laid down by some group or institution, upon the judgment of others (from wide and friends to Emily Post), or upon the way they have behaved in some similar past situation. Yet, as I observe the clients whose experiences in living have taught me so much, I find that increasingly such individuals are able to trust their total organismic reaction to a new situation because they discover to an ever-increasing degree that if they are open to their experience, doing what “feel right” proves to be a competent and trustworthy guide to behavior which is truly satisfying. The person who is fully open to one’s experience would have access to all of the available data in the situation, on which to base one’s behavior; the social demands, one’s own complex and possibly conflicting needs, one’s memories of similar situations, one’s perception of the uniqueness of this situation, and so on. The data would be very complex indeed. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18

 However, one could permit one’s total organism, one’s consciousness participating, to consider each stimulus need, and demand, its relative intensity and importance, and out of this complex weighing and balancing, discover that course of action which would come closest to satisfying all one’s needs in the situation. An analogy which might come close to a description would be to compare this person to a giant electronic computing machine. Since one is open to one’s experience, all of the data from one’s sense impression from one’s memory, from previous learning, from one’s visceral and internal states, is fed into the machine. The machine takes all of these multitudinous pulls and forces which are fed in as data, and quickly computes the course of action which would be the most economical vector of need satisfaction in this existential situation. This is the behavior of our hypothetical person. The defects which in most of us make this process untrustworthy are the inclusion of information which does not belong to this present situation, or the exclusion of information which does. It is as when memories and pervious learnings are fed into the computations as if they were this reality, and not memories and learnings, that erroneous behavioral answers arise. Or when certain threatening experiences are inhibited from awareness, and hence are withheld from the computation or fed into it in distorted form, this too produces error. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18

However, our hypothetical person would find one’s organism thoroughly trustworthy, because all of the available data would be used, and it would be present in accurate rather than distorted from. Hence one’s behavior would come as close as possible to satisfying all one’s needs—for enhancement, for affiliation with others, and the like. In this weighing, balancing, and computation, one’s organism would not by any means be infallible. It would always give the best possible answer for the available data, but sometimes data would be missing. Because of the elements of openness to experience, however, any errors, any following of behavior which was not satisfying, would be quickly corrected. The computations, as it were, would always be in process of being corrected, because they would be continually checked in behavior. Perhaps you will not like my analogy of an electronic computing machine. Let me return to the clients I know. As they become more open to all of their experiences, they find it increasingly possible to trust their reactions. If they feel like expressing anger they do so in a safe and constructive manner and find that this comes out satisfactorily, because they are equally alive to all of their other desires for affection, affiliation, and relationship. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18

My clients are surprised at their own intuitive skill in finding behavioral solutions to complex and troubling human relationships. It is only afterward that they realize how surprisingly trustworthy their inner reactions have been in bring about satisfactory behavior. It appears that the person who is psychologically free moves in the direction of becoming a more fully functioning person. One is more able to live fully in and with each and all of one’s feelings and reactions. One makes increasing use of all one’s organic equipment to sense, as accurately as possible, the existential situation within and without. One makes use of all of the information one’s nervous system can thus supply, using it in awareness, but recognizing that one’s total organism may be, and often is, wiser than one’s awareness. One is more able to permit one’s total organism to function freely in all its complexity in selecting, from the multitude of possibilities, that behavior which in this moment of time will be most generally and genuinely satisfying. One is able to put more trust in one’s organism in this functioning, not because it is infallible, but because one can be fully open to the consequences of each of his or her actions and correct them if they prove to be less than satisfying. It is human’s own fault, however, if through failure to seek spiritual guidance or understanding, none is vouchsafed to one. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18

Jesus told of, “As, and it shall be given unto you.” When the pupil is ready, the Master appears. This means that such is the wonderful sensitivity of the mind, such is the reality of telepathic power, that when a being’s search for truth has reached a crisis, one will meet the being who or the source which can best resolve that crisis. However, the crisis itself must be filled with uncertainty and doubt, with helplessness and despair before the mysterious forces of God will begin to move toward one’s relief. It should seem to one them most momentous consequence that is shall be brought to a satisfactory end, if life in the future is to have any meaning for one at all. There must be a sense of inner loneliness so acute that the outer loneliness compares as nothing with it. There must be no voice within one’s World which can speak to one’s condition. This critical period must fill one’s mind with exaggeration of its own self-importance to such an extent as to blot out every other value from life. It will be at such an opportune moment, when one’s search for truth will be most intense and the required preparation for meeting its bearer most complete, that the bearer oneself will arise and bring into one’s night the joyful tidings of dawn. The influence of such a being or source at such a period is incalculable. If we recall the rare hours when we encountered the best persons, we there found ourselves. God’s greatest gift is a Teacher. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18

The seeker knows at last that even if one has not found the truth, one is at least on the way to finding it. One has begun to find harmony with oneself. If the strong yearning for truth be absent, a being may meet a thousand masters of the quest but one will neither recognize them for what they are nor experience any exaltation in their presence. This yearning must indeed be as strong as the hunger of a starving being or the desperation of a traveler lost in the desert. One’s desperate need drives one to go in search of help wherever one can find it. In obedience to this inner urge one should take a path which will lead one to the friendship of the few enlightened beings living in one’s time and bring one to their presence. As a result one is more able to experience all of one’s feelings, and is less afraid of any of one’s feelings; one is one’s own sifter of evidence, and is more open to evidence from all sources; one is completely engaged in the process of being and becoming oneself, and thus discovers that one is soundly and realistically social; one lives more completely in this moment, but learns that this is the soundest living for all time. One is becoming a more fully functioning organism, and because of the awareness of oneself which flows freely in and through one’s experience, one is becoming a more fully functioning person. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18

Any view of what constitutes the good life carries with it many implications, and the view I have presented is no exception. I hope that these implications may be food for thought. One is free—to become oneself or to hide behind a façade; to move forward or to retrogress; to behave in ways which are destructive of self an others, or in ways which are enhancing; quite literally free to live or die, in both the physiological and psychological meaning of those terms. Yet as we enter this field of psychotherapy with objective research methods, we are, like any other scientist, committed to a complete determinism. From this point of view every thought, feeling, and action of the client is determined by what preceded it. There can be no such thing as freedom. The dilemma I am trying to describe is no different than that found in other fields—it is simply brought to sharper focus, and appears more insoluble. This dilemma can be seen in a fresh perspective, however, when we consider it in terms of the definition I have given of the fully functioning person. We could say that in the optimum of therapy the person rightfully experiences the most complete and absolute freedom. One wills or choose to follow the course of action which is the most economical vector in relationship to all the internal and external stimuli, because it is that behavior which will be most deeply satisfying. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18

However, this is the same course of action which from another vantage point may be said to be determined by all the factors in the existential situation. Let us contrast this with the picture of the person who is defensively organized. One wills or chooses to follow a given course of action, but finds that one cannot behave in the fashion that one chooses. One is determined by the factors in the existential situation, but these factors include one’s defensiveness, one’s denial or distortion of some of the relevant data. Hence it is certain that one’s behavior will be less than fully satisfying. One’s behavior is determine, but one is not free to make an effective choice. The fully functioning person, on the other hand, not only experiences, but utilizes, the most absolute freedom when one spontaneously, freely, and voluntarily chooses and wills that which is also absolutely determined. I am not so naïve as to suppose that this fully resolves the issue between subjective and objective, between freedom and necessity. Nevertheless it has meaning for me that the more the person is living the good life, the more one will experience a freedom of choice, and the more one’s choices will be effectively implemented in one’s behavior. I believe it will be clear that a person who is involved in the directional process which I have termed “the good life” is a creative person. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18

Because one who is living the good life is a creative being, with one’s sensitive openness to one’s World, one’s trust of one’s own ability to form new relationships with one’s environment, one will be the type of person from whom creative products and creative living emerge. One would not necessarily be “adjusted” to one’s culture, and one would almost certainly not be a conformist. However, at any time an in any culture one would live constructively, in as much harmony with one’s culture as a balanced satisfaction of needs demanded. In some cultural situations one might in some ways be very unhappy, but one would continue to move toward becoming oneself, and to behave in such a way as to provide the maximum satisfaction of one’s deepest needs. Such a person would, I believe, be recognized by the student of evolution as the type most likely to adapt and survive under changing environmental conditions. One will be able to creatively make sound adjustments to new as well as old conditions. One will be a vanguard of human evolution. When dealing with the World, one holds no self-image of a flattering kind to buttress one’s ego, in which one prefers to remain inconspicuously—unless a particular work of service withdraws one outwardly from this humility. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18

Those who are deceived too quickly by appearances to take the trouble to try and penetrate them may find one a cold being. However, the truth is that one has feeling, not passion. There is dynamic power within one, but it is always impersonal and always calm. It is never used to gratify personal vanity or egoistic aggression. The self-actualized being knows more secrets than one ever tells, and knows, too, how to keep them well. The self-actualized being hears the answers of Life to the questions of humans where the latter hears nothing. It is impossible to forget the unflattering dignity of such a being, in whom all those littleness which betray mediocrity have been submerged and dissolved forever. Here at last is a being who stand out from the herd become of one’s essential goodness and complete integrity, one’s fine insight and lonely dignity. Faith and a disciplined mental life are not natural enemies. A well-formed mind held a place of honor. And it is believed that the Christian mind could be the best mind. Because the World we live in is full of influences that would shape the way we think—and consequently how we act and live—we need more rigorous discipline to be Christians and thinking people, not less. Love your God with all your mind in its spiritual formation line. Thought brings things before our minds in various ways (including perception and imagination) and enables us to consider them in various respects and trace out their interrelationships with one another. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18

Thought is that which enables our will (or spirit) to range far beyond the immediate boundaries of our environment and the perceptions of our sense. Though it one consciousness reaches into the depths of the Universe, past, present, and future, by reasoning and scientific thinking, by imagination and art—and also be divine revelation, which comes to us mainly in the form of thought. Feeling inclines us toward or away from things that come before our minds in thought. It involves a tone that is pleasant or painful, along with an attraction or repulsion with respect to existence or possession of what is thought of. How we feel about food, automobiles, relationships, positions, and hundred of other things illustrates this point. Notice that feeling and thought always go together. They are interdependent and are never found apart. There is no feeling without something being before the mind in thought and no thought without some optimistic or pessimistic feeling toward what is contemplated. What we call indifference is never a total absence of feelings, good or bad, but simply an unusually low degree of feeling, usually negative. The connection between thought and feeling is so intimate that the mind is usually treated as consisting of thought and feeling together. I shall do so here. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18

Of course the mind thus understood—or understood in any way you like—is a quite complicated aspect of the person, with numerous subdivisions built into both thought and feeling. In the ruined soul, the mind becomes a fearful wilderness and a wild intermixture of thought and feeling, manifested in willful stupidities, blatant inconsistencies, and confusions, often to the point of obsession, madness, or possession. This condition of mind is what characterizes our World apart from God. Satan, the prince of this World, hold sway over it. O Glorious, holy, Almighty God, Who being ever pitiful to the manifold wanderings of humankind, didst doubtless for this end guide the Magi, who dwelt in dark superstition, by the light of a star to Thy sacred cradle, that Thou mightiest kindle al beings who were walking in their own errors with the desires of knowing Thee; kindle us also, we pray Thee, with the saving ardour of love for Thee, that we who have already known Thee by The gracious illumination, may be enabled to cleave to Thee forever. Grant, O Almighty God, that we may be able continually to shake off the yoke of Egyptian servitude and sin, and to appear before Thy Majesty in our Heavenly country; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant, O Lord, to Thy faithful people that they may enter on the venerable solemnity of this fast with fitting piety, and go through it with undisturbed devotion; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolpHarris 17 of 18

Grant us, O Lord, to enter on the service of our Christian warfare with holy fasting; that as we are to fight against spiritual powers of wickedness, we may be fortified by the assistance of self-denial; through Jesus Christ our Lord. O God, Who by The Word dost marvelously work out the reconciliation of humankind; grant, both be subjected to Thee with all our hearts, and be united to each other in prayer to Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. O God, Who in Thy deep counsel and foresight for humankind, hast appointed holy fasts, where by the hearts of the weak might receive salutary healing; do Thou purify our souls and bodies, O Saviour of body and soul, O loving Bestower of eternal happiness! through Jesus Christ our Lord. We beseech Thee, O Lord, let Thy gracious favour carry us through the fast which we have begun; that as we observe it by bodily discipline, so we may be able to fulfill it with sincerity of mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant to us, O Almighty God, that by the annual exercise of Lenten observances we may advance in knowledge of the mystery of Christ, and follow His mind by conduct worthy of our calling, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. We beseech Thee, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the assistance of Thy grace; that being intent, as becomes us, on fasting and prayer, we may be delivered from bodily and spiritual enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. “Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie,” reports Ether 3.12. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18  

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