There is always room at the top. (When advised not to become a lawyer, since the profession was overcrowded.) Emotions are not as simple as the description of them just given may sound. They often gang up on us. If we simply felt one feeling at a time, emotions might be easier to deal with. However, it is not unusual at all for a person to experience several emotions at once or one right after another. To people who are comfortable with the emotions, being deluged with feelings is not a serious problem. However, to those who are unused to feeling much or who do not like or want emotions, such an experience may be like an attack of illness. Sometimes it is necessary to control strong emotions, at least temporarily. How do we do it? If we are aware that some emotions get out of hand or that other people may be more frightened of our emotional responses than we are, how do we deal with this? The traditional ideal of many societies is to hold back strong or unpleasant emotions for the sake of others. However, feelings held in are likely to come out in some way—often an inappropriate one, such as sarcasm. So we are really not doing the other person much of a favour by trying to cover up our feelings. They will come out anyhow. And even if they did not, some consideration has to be given to the emotional balance of the person with the feelings! #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
The movies have portrayed the strong, silent hero for years, but what is this person really like? How comfortable is one with oneself and others? Before it is accepted further, this ideal should be carefully examined. We are often made uncomfortable by our own strong feelings of those we find in other people. Many of us still do not know what to do when someone cries. Very often, people crying out of grief, fear, exhaustion, or depression are more in need of a sympathetic listener or shoulder to cry on than of hearing “right words.” Sometimes we handle these feelings best by just letting them happen, by accepting them happen, by accepting the, and by helping others realize that they are not alone, that others have similar feelings, and that nobody thinks badly of them for their emotions. What are the factors that account for the persistence and elaboration of cruelty? The sadistic person does not want to destroy the one who one attaches oneself, but because one cannot live one’s own life must use the partner for a symbiotic existence. This is definitely true, but it still does not sufficiently explain why a person is compulsively driven to tamper with the lives of others, or why the tampering takes the particular forms that it does. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
If we regard sadism as a neurotic symptom, we must start, as always, not by trying to explain the symptom but by seeking to understand the structure of the personality that develops it. When we approach the problem from this angle we recognize that nobody develops pronounced sadistic trends who has not a profound feeling of futility as regards one’s own life. Poets intuitively sensed this underlying condition long before we were able to dig it out with our prodding clinical scrutiny. In the case of both Hedda Gabler and the Seducer, the possibility of ever making something of themselves or their lives was a more or less closed issue. If under these circumstances a person cannot find one’s way to resignation, one of necessity becomes utterly resentful. One feels forever excluded, forever defeated. Hence one start to hate life and all that is optimistic and beneficial in it. However, one hates it with the burning envy of one who is withheld from something one ardently desires. It is the bitter, begrudging envy of a person who feels that life is passing one by. “Lebensneid,” Nietzsche called it. One does not feel that others have their own sorrow, too: “they” sit at the table while one goes hungry: “they” love, create, enjoy, feel healthy and at ease, belong somewhere. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
The happiness of others and their “naïve” expectations of pleasure and joy irritate one. If one cannot be happy and free, why should they be so? One cannot forgive them their happiness. One must trample on the joy of others. One’s attitude is illustrated by they store of the teacher doomed by tuberculosis who spits on his pupil’s sandwiches and is elated at his power to crush them. That was a conscious act of vindictive envy. In the sadist the tendency to frustrate and to crush the spirit of others is as a rule deeply unconscious. However, the purpose is the same sinister one as that of the teacher: to impart one’s suffering to others; if others are as defeated and degraded as one, one’s own misery is tempered in that one no loner feels oneself the only one afflicted. Another way one alleviates one’s gnawing envy is by “sour grapes” tactic, mastered to such perfection that even the trained observer is easily deceived by it. As a matter of fact, one’s envy is so deeply buried that one oneself would deride any suggestion of its existence. One’s focusing upon the painful, burdensome, or unattractive side of life is thus not only an expression of one’s bitterness but even more of one’s intertest in proving to oneself that one is not missing anything. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
One’s constant faultfinding and devaluating stem in part from this source, the effort to create an illusion that one’s life is full and complete. One will take note, for instance, of the one part of a beautiful woman’s body that is not perfect. Coming into a room, one’s eyes will be arrested by the one colour or piece of furniture that does not match the rest. One will pick out the one flaw in an otherwise good speech. Similarly, whatever is wrong in other persons’ lives or in their characters or in their possible motivations will loom large in one’s mind. If one is sophisticated one will ascribe this attitude to one’s being sensitive to imperfections. However, the fact is that one turns one’s searchlight on these alone, leaving everything else in the dark. Although one succeeds in assuaging one’s envy and discharging one’s resentment, one’s devaluating attitude in turn gives rise to a permanent feeling of disappointment and discontent. If one has children, for instance, one thinks primarily of the burdens and obligations that go with them; if one has no children one feels that this most important human experience has been denied one. If one has no relations in pleasures of the flesh one feels deprived and is concerned about the dangers of continence; if one has relations in pleasures of the flesh one feels humiliated by them and ashamed of them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
If one has an opportunity to make a trip, one chafes under the inconveniences; if one cannot travel one deems it a disgrace to have to stay at home. Since it does not occur to one that the sources of one’s chronic discontent could lie within oneself, one feels entitled to impress upon others how they fail one and to make ever greater demands whose fulfillment can never satisfy one. The bitter envy, the tendency to devaluate and the resulting discontent account to some extent for certain of the sadistic trends. We understand why the sadist is driven to frustrate others, to inflict suffering, to find fault, to make insatiable demands. However, we can appreciate neither the extent of one’s destructiveness nor one’s arrogant self-righteousness until we consider what one’s hopelessness does to one’s relation to oneself. While one violates the most elementary requirements of human decency, one at the same time harbours within oneself an idealized image of particularly high and rigid moral standards. One is one of those (we have spoken of them before) who, despairing of ever being able to measure up to such standards, have consciously or unconsciously resolved to be as “bad” as possible. One may succeed in being “bad” and wallow in it with a kind of desperate delight. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
However, by doing so the chasm between the idealized image and the actual self becomes unbridgeable. One feels beyond repair and beyond forgiveness. One’s hopelessness becomes deeper and one develops the recklessness of a person who has nothing to lose. As long as this condition persists it is factually impossible for one to assume a constructive attitude toward oneself. Any direct attempt to make one constructive is doomed to futility and betrays ignorance of one’s condition. One’s self-loathing reaches such dimensions that one cannot take a look at oneself. One must fortify oneself against it by reinforcing an already existing armour of righteousness. The slightest criticism, neglect, or absence of special recognition can mobilize one’s self-contempt and so much be rejected as unfair. One is compelled, therefore, to externalize one’s self-contempt, to blame, berate, humiliate others. This, however, throws one into the toils of a vicious circle. The more one despises others the less is one aware of one’s self-contempt—and the self-contempt grows more violent and merciless the more hopeless one becomes. To strike out against others is then a matter of self-preservation. The process is illustrated by the example of a person who accused her husband of indecision and wanted to tear herself to pieces when she realized that she was really furious at her own indecision. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
In this light we begin to appreciate why it is imperative for the sadistic person to disparage others. And we can see now, too, the inner logic of one’s compulsive and often fanatical drive to reform others, or at least to reform the partner. Since one oneself cannot measure up to one’s idealized image, the partner must do so; and the merciless rage one feels toward oneself is vented on the partner for any failure in this direction. One may ask oneself sometimes: “Why do I not leave one alone?” However, it is apparent that such rational considerations are of no avail as long as the inner battle persists and is externalized. One usually rationalizes the pressure one exerts on the partner as “love” or interest in the partner’s “development.” Needless to say, it is not love. However, neither is it an interest in the partner’s development along one’s own lines, in accordance with one’s own inner laws. In reality one tries to enforce upon the partner the impossible task of realizing one’s—the sadist’s—idealized image. The righteousness which one had to develop as a shield against self-contempt permits one to do so with smug assurance. An understanding of this inner struggle provides us also with a better insight into another more general factor inherent in sadistic symptoms: the vindictiveness that often seeps through every cell of the sadist’s personality like a poison. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
One is and must be vindictive because one turn one’s violent contempt for oneself outward. Since one’s righteousness prevents one from seeing one’s share in any difficulty that arises one must feel that one is the one who is abused and victimized; since one cannot see that the source of all one’s despair lies within oneself one must hold others responsible for it. They have ruined one’s life, they have to make up for it—they have to take what is coming to them. It is this vindictiveness, more than any other factor, that kills within one all feelings of sympathy and mercy. Why should one have sympathy for those who have spoiled one’s life—and in addition are better off then he or she is? In individual instances the desire for revenge may be conscious; one may be aware of it, for example in reference to one’s parents. One is not aware, however, that it is a pervasive character trend. However, in considering the rationale for God-centered worship, we must begin with the realization that worship is the number one priority of the Church. Jesus’ famous statement in John 4.23 that the Father seeks worshipers is unparalleled, for nowhere in the entire corpus of Holy Scripture do we read of God’s seeking anything else from a child of God. God desires worship above all else. Thus, every human who calls oneself a Christian must understand that worship is the ultimate priority of one’s life. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
Worship is what God wants from you and from me. Jesus hallowed and substantiated this in His chiding of busy, frenetic Martha, who was so critical of her sister’s sitting at Jesus’s feet: “Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her,” Luke 10.41-42. A look at the massive emphasis on worship in the Old Testament reveals God’s mind on worship’s priority. Exodus devotes twenty-five chapters to the construction of the Tabernacle, the locus of divine worship. Leviticus amounts to a twenty-seven-chapter liturgical manual. And the Psalms are a spectacular 150-chapter worship hymnal. Divine worship has always been the occupation and sustenance, the priority, of the believing soul. Since Christology is the answer of the Christian Church to human’s universal quest for the Unconditional, such an answer will be adapted to the several planes of human existence. From the point of view of theology there are several such levels, each providing a vantage-point from which one may look at the Christian answer. Each, in its sphere, is valid; and this validity is delimited by the scope of that sphere. This is to say that Christian tradition has seen the rise of several Christologies or that Christology has developed several aspects and several formulas. These may, or may not, be contradictory. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
A second level of truth corresponds to the next plane of existence, that of history. Our experience is conditioned by historical circumstances. History has developed a culture which has profoundly influences both or conscious thinking and our subconscious psyche. The Christian answers has precisely been couched in historical terms. Christ is presented as a historical person. This will therefore provide a second point of view: Christology as historical. A third level of truth corresponds to the largely artificial distinction, in humans, between one’s intellectual activity and other elements of their personality. In terms of beliefs, Christianity has been embodied in strict and ridge covenants. These have an intellectual appeal and must be grasped rationally. We shall therefore study Christology as stringent and precise. Finally, another analysis of human behaviour sees a human as an ethical being, whose convictions, principles and assumptions prompt one to adopt definite standards of conduct. Morality is not served from assent. On the contrary, it expresses faith in the realm of ethical behaviour by cloaking the Christian answers in the garments of moral principles. A study of Christology should thus devote some time to Christology as ethical. These points of view, or levels of truth, provide the structure for further discussions. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside is own without bias. The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to Earth unheeded. Faith is a kind of knowledge, inasmuch as the intellect is determined by the believer, but from the vision of Him who is believed. Thus as far as faith falls short of vision, it falls short of the knowledge which belongs to science, for science determines the intellect to one object by the vision and understanding of the principles. Jacob denounces the love of riches, pride, and unchastity—people may seek riches to help their fellow humans—the Lord commands that no human among the Nephites may have more than one wife—the Lord delights in the chastity of women. About 544-421 Before Christ. “The words which Jacob, the brother of Nephi, spake unto the people of Nephi, after the death of Nephi: Now, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, according to the responsibility which I am under to God, to magnify mine office with soberness, and that I might rid my garments of your sins, I come up into the temple this day that I might declare unto you the word of God. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
“And ye yourselves know that I have hitherto been diligent in the office of my calling; but I this day am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls than I have hitherto been. For behold, as yet, ye have unto me, and know that by the help of the all-powerful Creator of Heaven and Earth I can tell you concerning your thoughts, how that ye are beginning to labour in sin, which sin appeareth very abominable unto me, yea, and abominable unto God. Yea, it grieveth my soul and causeth me to shrink with shame before the presence of my Maker, that I must testify unto you concerning the wickedness of your hearts. And also it grieveth me that I must use so much boldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children, many of whose feelings are exceedingly tender and chaste and delicate before God, which thing is pleasing unto God; and supposeth me that they have up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul. Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
“However, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict commands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the piercing eye of the Almighty God. Wherefore, I must tell you that truth according to the plainness of the word of God. For behold, as I inquired of the Lord, thus came the word unto me, saying: Jacob, get thou up into the temple on the morrow, and declare the word which I shall give thee unto this people. And now behold, my brethren, this is the word which I declare unto you, that many of you have begun to search for gold, and for sliver, and for all manner of precious ores, in the which this land, which is a land of promise unto you and to your seed, doth abound most plentifully. And the hand of providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that you have obtained many riches; and because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they. And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. However, he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
“O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with one glance of his eye he can smite you to the dust! O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls! Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. However, before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and afflicted. And now, my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbour, and persecuted him (or her) because you were proud in your hearts, of things which God hath given you, what say ye of it? Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his commandments and glorify him forever. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
“And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this pride. And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you. However, the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives, and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not human among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; for I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Host, or cursed be the land for their sakes. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
“For if I will, saith the Lord of Host, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things. For behold, I the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the humans of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Host. And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done. Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds,” reports Jacob 2.1-35. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves. Christ our Lord and God, being of His own free will made like unto mortals throughout the whole day of this life, showed unto Thee a body undefiled; and being the fitting Expiator of the ancient offence, exhibited a Soul pure and untouched by sins; and also commanded that as often as His Body and Blood should be received, a Commemoration should be made of the Lord’s Passion, which we now make, and proclaim the eternal glory of Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord and God; and pray Thee to bless this Sacrifice with Thy blessing, and to sprinkle it with the dew of the Holy Spirit, that it may be to all who receive it a pure, true, and legitimate Eucharist; through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord and God. O Christ, all Thy ways of mercy tend t and end in my delight. Thou didst weep, sorrow, suffer that I might rejoice. For my joy Thou hast sent the Comforter, multiplied Thy promises, shown me my future happiness, given me a living fountain. Thou art preparing joy for me and me for joy; give me more than I can hold, desire, or think of. Measure out to me my ties and degrees of joy, at my work, business, duties. If I weep at night, give me joy in the morning. Let me rest in the thought of Thy love, pardon for sin, my title to Heaven, my future unspotted state. I am an unworthy recipient of Thy grace. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
I often disesteem Thy blood and slight Thy love, but can in repentance draw water from the wells of Thy joyous forgiveness. Let my heart leap towards the eternal sabbath, where the work of redemption, sanctification, preservation, glorification is finished and perfected forever, where thou wilt rejoice over me with joy. There is no joy like the joy of Heaven, for in that state are no sad divisions, unchristian quarrels, contentions, evil designs, weariness, hunger, cold, sadness, sin, suffering, persecutions, toils of duty. O healthful place where none are sick! O happy land where all are kings! O holy assembly where all are priests! How free a state where none are servants expect to Thee! Bring me speedily to the land of joy. “However, after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to Heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on,” reports Revelations 11.11. This is verily and indeed the Body and Blood of Emmanuel our God. Holy Things for holy persons. There is One holy, One Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Thou Who camest into the World to save sinners, of whom I am the chief—I confess to Thee like the robber, Remember me, Lord, in Thy kingdom. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
MILLS STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH
Rancho Cordova, CA |
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Randolph Harris II International 