Strange, when you come to think of it, that of all the countless folk who have lived before our time on this planet not one is known in history or legend as having died of laughter. The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a person’s foot long enough to enable one to put the other somewhat higher. Do not compromise yourself. You are all you have got. If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success. If you do not, you have achieved half your failure. If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not falling down, but the staying down. “Treasure the pain; treasure what you have, including fear. Treasure it because if we do not live this life, if we do not live it to the fullest year after year and century after century, well, then we die,” (Page 32, The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice). To understand each faculty is to grasp first the nature of the faculties in general, and their relationship to each other and the divisions of knowledge. The fundamental relationship among the faculties is that of knowledge to action. Understanding, reason, and imagination yield contemplative knowledge and memory recorded and recalled it. Knowledge is a state or condition of the human being that constitutes a potential for action. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

In any instance of rational behaviour, action came about when an individual, confronted with the need to choose among alternatives, brought one’s knowledge to bear in ways that controlled appetite and directed one’s will. Rational conduct is thus knowledge actualized. Practical knowledge, on the other hand, is a state or condition built up chiefly through experience. It becomes rational to the extent that knowledge affected experience. The best division of human learning is that derived from the three faculties of the rational soul, which is the seat of learning. History is properly concerned with individuals, which are circumscribed by place and time. For though Natural History may seem to deal with species, yet this is only because of the general resemblance which in most cases natural objects of the same species bear to one another; so that when you know one, you know all. All this relates to the Memory. Philosophy discards individuals; neither does it deal with the impressions immediately received from them, but with abstract notions derived from these impressions; in the composition and division whereof according to the law of nature and fact its business lies. And this is the office of work of reason. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

The sense, which is he door of intellect, is affected by individuals only. The images of those individuals—that is, the impression they make on the sense—fix themselves in the memory. These the human mind proceeds to review and ruminate; and thereupon either simply rehearses them, or makes fanciful imitations of them, or analyses and classifies them. Wherefore from these three fountains, Memory, Imagination, and Reason, flow these three emanations, History, Poesy, and Philosophy. I consider history and experience to be the same things, as also philosophy and the sciences. These faculties or powers had as their vehicle the motions of spirits. Each faculty modulated, shaped, and figured spirit movement in ways peculiar to it: some of the ancients, who in too eagerly fixing their eyes and thoughts on the memory, imagination, and reason, have neglected the faculty of thinking [or cogitation], which holds first place in the work of contemplating and considering [id est, in the work of conception]. For one who remembers and also one who recollects, is thinking; one who imagines, is thinking; one who reasons, is thinking; and in a word the spirit of a human, whether prompted by sense of left to itself, whether in the functions of the understanding, or of the will and affections, dances to the measure of thoughts. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

The context of the passage makes clear that by nature the souls of all living creatures are in infinite and endless motion, the human soul having its own mode of motion That which is in motion is spirit. It seems evident, then, that thinking is a general mode of spirit activity in the rational soul and that the faculties designate distinctive types of motion. Thinking is like a radio carrier wave which is modulated according to the tasks it does. The faculties are types of modulation. Although we speculate much about the spirit, the physical basis of mental life, very speak very little about the anatomical location of mental activity. We are aware of the medical lore which locates the faculties in the ventricles of the brain. That arrangement of the intellectual faculties (imagination, reason, and memory) according to the respective ventricles of the brain is not entirely destitute of error. Yet, it is known that the cognition of humans is in their head, but we also know the heart and the gut seem to have intellectual abilities as well. Primary learning is the acquisition of rather simple connections between events, based largely on sensory input and simple messages from other parts of the body. The simpler the organism, the more simply and easily these connections are made—the faster, too, and the more enduringly. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

Mature learning, on the other hand, depends a great deal on meaning, that is on relating the current sensory input to what is already known. And what is already known is stored in the association areas in very complex ways. So, the more complex the organism, the slower the incorporation of new sensory input into the existing frame or context. We know this from other forms of organization. How hard it is to get some change introduced into bureaucracy, and how hard it is for us outsiders to talk to those inside—insiders like to talk to each other. Only the higher beings have the capacity to learn through the use of concepts and symbols. The first learning of primates is extremely slow, and very different from that at maturity. Human meticulousness in the learning process is due to the very complexity of which our thinking is ultimately capable: primitive animals learn fast; complex, patterned, configurational learning comes later and takes longer. To appreciate the nature of more central functioning, it now becomes important to distinguish between two parts of the cortex (the surface of the brain). Some cells here are connected directly with the sensory nerve-cells bringing messages about the environment or the state of the body; other cells are mainly connected with each other; this is the distinction between the sensory cortex and the association cortex, respectively. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

This distinction between sensory and association cortex enables us to speculate about how environmental, peripheral, sensory control over behaviour differs from the higher achievements of some animals: more central controls over behaviour, even amounting to purposive behaviour. Verbal and nonverbal feedback are strategies thar are most rudimentary forms of vivification. First, let us consider the verbal modality. There are two basic ways to provide verbal feedback—noting and tagging. Noting alerts clients to initial experiences of resistance; tagging acquaints them with those that follow. Some examples of noting are observations such as, “This issue seems really difficult for you,” and “You appear to be distracted right now.” Some examples of tagging are, “Whenever we discuss this topic, you seem to want to change it,” and “There you go again, preferring to argue rather than face your life.” Because I am trying to alert rather than shock, I sometimes find I necessary to temper my appraisals. For example, I might say to a client just beginning treatment: “I wonder if I am pushing too hard right now. Maybe you can begin again where you feel comfortable.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

 I also try to acknowledge the potential fallibility of my feedback; this helps clients to direct themselves to the relevant issues. “My observation my have been off base here,” I might remark. Or I might say, “I wonder if we could suspend my observation for a bit, see how it feels to us at a later time.” I find that use of nonverbal feedback to be particularly elucidating to clients. Whereas verbal feedback appears to animate predominately conscious domains of clients’ resistance, nonverbal feedback seems to clarify primarily subliminal barriers and domains. By mirroring a client’s crossed arms, for example, unless they are posing for a studio picture, I am able to help one see how unexpectedly guarded one has been about a particular topic; by echoing a client’s sense of being “choked up,” I am able to appraise one of one’s “suffocating” relationship. Resistances sometimes seem like broken records to clients, endlessly duplicating a theme. While the vivification process can often amplify that sense of repetitiveness, it can also provide fresh opportunities to transcend it. I try to alert clients to these possibilities and to subtle changes in their patterns of defensiveness. For example, I might refer an intellectualized client to one’s sudden use of the pronoun “I,” or direct a client who chronically suppresses one’s sadness to an abruptly formed teardrop. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

The idealized image might be called a fictitious or illusory self, but that would be only a half truth and hence misleading. The wishful thinking operating in its creation is certainly striking, particularly since it occurs in persons who otherwise stand on a ground of firm reality. However, this does not make it wholly fictitious. It is an imaginative creation interwoven with and determined by very realistic factors. It usually contains traces of the persons genuine ideals. While the grandiose achievements are illusory, the potentialities underlying them are often real. More relevant, it is born of very real inner necessities, it fulfills very real functions, and it has a very real influence on its creator. The process of operating in its creation are determined by such definite laws that a knowledge of its specific features permits us to make accurate inferences as to the true character structure of the particular person. However, regardless of how much fantasy is woven into the idealized image, for the neurotic oneself it has the value of reality. The more firmly it is established the more one is one’s idealized image, while one’s real self is proportionately dimmed out. This reversal of the actual picture is bound to come about because of the very nature of the functions the image performs. Every one of them is aimed at effacing the real personality and turning the spotlight on itself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

Looking back over the history of many patients we are led to believe that its establishment has often been literally lifesaving, and that is why the resistance a patient puts up if one’s image is attacked is entirely justified, or at least logical. As long as one’s image remains real to one and is intact, one can feel significant, superior, and harmonious, in spite of the illusory nature of those feelings. One can consider oneself entitled to raise all kinds of demands and claims on the basis of one’s assumed superiority. However, if one allows it to be undermined one is immediately threatened with the prospect of facing all one’s weaknesses, with no title to special claims, a comparatively insignificant figure or even—in one’s own eyes—a contemptible one. More terrifying still, one is faced with one’s conflicts and the hideous fear of being torn to pieces. That this may give one a chance of becoming a much better human being worth more than all the glory of one’s idealized image, is a gospel one hears but for a long time means nothing to one. It is a leap in the dark of which one is afraid. With so great a subjective value to recommend it, the position of the image would be unassailable if it were not for the huge drawbacks inseparable from it. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

The whole edifice is in the first place extremely rickety by reason of the fictitious elements involved. A treasure house loaded with dynamite, it makes the individual highly vulnerable. Any questioning or criticism from outside, any awareness of one’s own failure to measure up to the image, any real insight into the forces operating within one can make it explode or crumble. One must restrict one’s life lest one be exposed to such dangers. One must avoid situations in which one would not be admired or recognized. One must avoid tasks that one is not certain to master. One may even develop an intense aversion to effort of any kind. To one, the gifted one, the mere vision of a picture one might paint is already the master painting. Any mediocre person can get somewhere by hard work; for one to apply oneself like very Tom, Dick, and Harry would be an admission that one is not the mastermind, and so humiliating. Since nothing can actually be achieved without work, one defeats by one’s attitude the very ends one is driven to attain. And the gap between one’s idealized image and one’s real self widens. One is dependent upon endless affirmations from others in the form of approval, admiration, flattery—none of which, however, can give one any more than temporary reassurance. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

One may unconsciously hate everyone who is overbearing or who, being better than one in any way—more assertive, more evenly balanced, better formed—threatens to undermine one’s own notions of oneself. The more desperately one clings to the belief that one is one’s idealized image, the more violent the hatred. Or, if one’s own arrogance is repressed, one may blindly admire persons who are openly convinced of their importance and show it by arrogant behaviour. One loves in them one’s own image and inevitably runs into severe disappointment when one becomes aware, as one must at some time or other, that the gods one so admires are interested only in themselves, and as far as one is concerned care only for the incense one burns at alters. Tracing out and enabling helps clients to trace out the consequences of their resistances and enabling them to be resistant are two other ways to catalyze productive change. I have often found it helpful for client invested in smallness, for example, to detail the dullness, routine, and oppressiveness that they foresee in their lives. I have found it equally useful for inflated clients to peer into their unsettling futures. While such strategies may acutely frustrate certain clients, they can also alert them to present opportunities, which can head off their nightmarish fantasies. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

Ambivalent clients can also benefit from the strategy of tracing out. Experientially detailing the pros and cons of a situation or anticipating the meaning of remaining ambivalent have all helped my clients to substantively reassess their predicaments. One of the most interesting and ironic features of vivification is that when all else fails, just allowing the client to resist can be the most salient remedy. When I worked with highly resistive (nonviolent) children, for example, I found that divesting of a given treatment plan was more effective, frequently, than pressing for a particular strategy. Highly resistive adult clients also respond favourably to such divestitures. When such clients are allowed to simply be their withdrawn, grandiose, or intractable selves, they will frequently begin to relinquish those dispositions. For example, I suggested to one intransigent client that she just “be that way,” and that she could use her time as she wished. At first she agreed and diverted us to another topic. As time went on, however, it became clear that she felt uncomfortable with this arrangement. When I worked with her to stay present to that discomfort, she acknowledged how infuriated she had become with herself and how tired she had become of treating herself like an invalid. It was then that she recommitted to change. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

Vivifying or modeling desired behaviour is another way to catalyze resistant clients. By forming an alliance with the part of a client that could be, the therapist can tacitly underscore who that client is; the contrast between the two can invigorate the client to transform. I once told a client who was about to give up on herself, for example, that I was not about to give up on her, and that I would form an alliance with the part of her that believed. Although little changed at first, she gradually realized how absurd her hopelessness had been. As long as I can be of help to you, I will work with you. You not only have permission without condemnation to express your struggle to be; you have prior experiences, from the greatest authority (God), of your own rights and your own being. You are a person with your own rights. To make covenant with God, is impossible, but by deep prayer of such as God speaks to, either by revelation supernatural, or by his lieutenants that govern under Him, and in His Name; for otherwise we know not whether our covenants be accepted, or not. And therefore they that vow anything contrary to any law of nature, vow in vain; as being a thing unjust to pay such a vow. And if it be a thing commanded by the law of nature, it is not the vow, but the law that binds them. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

Christianity is holding that human beings are somehow good apart from God and therefore capable of saving themselves, even saving themselves by merit. The fear of many is that if you do not hold human beings to be, essentially and as such “rotten,” and forever so, you are thereby committed to the view that they are, as such, essentially good and therefore righteous and meritorious. This is a field of battle fought over by Pelagius and Augustine many centuries ago and repeatedly revisited through Christian history. It involves many important issues, which cannot be fully dealt with here. We must keep clear, however, that it is the worth of the human beings, not their righteousness, which is tied to their nature. Things of great value can still be lost and often are; and to be of great values does not mean one is not lost, but is saved and safe. “Depravity” does not, properly, refer to the inability to act, but to the unwillingness to act and clearly the inability to earn. Everyone must be active in the process of their salvation and transformation to Christlikeness. This is an inescapable fact. However, the initiative in the process is always God’s, and we would in fact do nothing without His initiative. Yet, that initiative is not something we are waiting upon. The ball is, as it were, in our court. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

God has invaded human history and reality. Jesus Christ has died on our behalf, is risen, and is now supervising events on Earth toward an end that He will certainly bring to pass, to the glory of God. The issue now concerns what we will do. The idea that we can do noting is an unfortunate confusion, and those who sponsor it never practice it, thank goodness. If we—though well-directed and unrelenting action—effectually receive the grace of God in salvation and transformation, we certainly will be incrementally changed toward inward Christlikeness. The transformation of the outer life, especially of our behaviour, will follow suit. That too is an inescapable fact. “No good tree produced bad fruit,” reports Luke 6.43. However, this means both goodness and ability in union with God, not apart from Him—not independently, on our own. The transformation of the inner being is as much or more a gift of grace as is our justification before God. Of course neither one is wholly passive. (To be forever lost you need only do nothing. Just stay your course.) However, with reference to both justification and transformation, “boasting is excluded” by the law of grace through faith (Romans 3.27-31; Ephesians 2.1-10). #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

In fact, we consume the most grace by leading a holy life, in which we must be constantly upheld by grace, not by continuing to sin and being repeatedly forgiven. The interpretation of grace as having only to do with guilt is utterly false to biblical teaching and renders spiritual life in Christ unintelligible. Hopefully, it will now be clear that our inner (and therefore outer) being can be transformed is not only possible, but has actually occurred to a significant degree in the lives of many human beings; and it is necessary if our life as a whole is to manifest one’s goodness and power, and if we as individuals are to grow into the eternal calling that God places upon each life. God is the only who has no beginning. Now whatever has a beginning, is not eternal. Therefore God is the only one eternal. Eternity truly and properly so called is in God lone, because eternity follows on immutability. However, God alone is altogether immutable. Accordingly, however, as some receive immutability from Him, they share in His eternity. Thus some receive immutability from God in the way of never ceasing to exist; in that sense it is said of the Earth, “it shall stand forever,” as reported in Ecclesiastics 1.4. Again, some things are called eternal in Scripture because of the length of their duration, although they are in nature corruptible things; thus Psalms 75.5 the hills are called “eternal” and we read “of the fruits of the eternal hills.” Deuteronomy 33.15. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

Some again share more fully than others in the nature of eternity, inasmuch as they possess unchangeableness either in being or further still in operation; like the Angels, and the blessed, who enjoy the Word, because “as regards that vision of the Word, no changing thoughts exist in the Saints,” as Augustine says. Hence those who see God are said to have eternal life; according to that text, “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God,” excreta (Jn. 17.3). There are said to be many eternities, accordingly as many share in eternity, by the contemplation of God. The fire of Hell is called eternal, only because it never ends. Still, there is change in the pains of the lost, according to the words “To extreme heat they will pass from snowy Psalm “Their time will be forever,” reports Psalms 80.16. Necessary means a certain mode of truth; and truth, according to the Philosopher, is in the mind. Therefore, in this sense the true and necessary are eternal, because they are in the eternal mind, which is the divine intellect alone; hence it does not follow that anything is eternal besides God. Be present, O Lord, to Thy suppliants, and graciously protect those who place their whole trust in Thy mercy; that being cleansed from the stain of sin, they may continue in holy living, and being sufficiently supplied with temporal blessings, may attain the inheritance of Thy promises; though Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

Grant us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, always to seek Thy kingdom and righteousness; and of whatsoever Thou seest us to stand in need, mercifully grant us an abundant portion; through Jesus Christ our Lord. “For behold, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto my father (Lehi), yea; even in a dream, and said unto him: Blessed art thou Lehi, because the things which thou has done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy life. And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness. And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him. And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness. And he came down by the borders near the shore of the Red Sea; and he traveled in the wilderness in the borders which are nearer the Red Sea; and he did travel in the wilderness with his family, which consisted of my mother, Sariah, and my elder brothers, who were Leman, Lemuel, and Sam,” reports 1 Nephi 2.1-5. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

Sovereign Lord, when clouds of darkness, atheism, and unbelief come to me, I see thy purpose of love in withdrawing the Spirit that I might prize him more, in chastening me for my confidence in past successes, that my wound of secret godlessness might be cured. Help me to humble myself before Thee by seeing the vanity of honour as a conceit of human’s minds, as standing between me and thee; by seeing that thy will must be done, as much in denying as in giving spiritual enjoyments; by seeing that my heart is nothing but evil, mind, mouth, life void of thee; by seeing that sin and Satan are allowed power in me that I might know my sin, be humbled, and gain strength thereby; by seeing that unbelief shuts thee from me, so that I sense not thy majesty, power, mercy, or love. Then possess me, for thou only art good and worthy. Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin, Satan did not play in tempting me to it, I do not play when I sink in deep mire, for sin is no game, no toy, no bauble; let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against. When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me, by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but that in Christ I am reconciled, made alive, and satisfied; that I am feeble and unable to do any good, but that in Hum I can do all things; that what I now have in Christ is mine in part, but shortly I shall have it perfectly in Heaven. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19

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