Give me a laundry-list and I will set it to music. There are only two families in the World, my grandmother used to say, the Haves and the Have-nots. When the self is conscious of the many rich possibilities of insight and development that are open to them, true freedom is achieved. It is the attempt to reach beyond human thought into the realm of Being. Love and intelligence are related to freedom, and they are the most concrete as well as the most creative things in the World. They make us feel the difference between vice and virtue; they excite and regulate our sentiments; and so they can but bend our hearts to the love of probity and true honour. The future survival of humanity is predicated upon our ability to relate within equality. If we are to move beyond the most superficial aspects of social change, we must root our internalized patterns of oppression within ourselves. Now we must recognize differences among people who are our equals, neither inferior nor superior, and devise ways to cultivate each others’ difference to enrich our vision and our joint struggles. Wholeness and commonality are acts of will and creativity, rather than passive discovery. No one should make you feel inferior because they have an occupation that seems to be more prestigious. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

A character disorder means automatic, well-rehearsed ways of being with people in the World. These ways aim at manipulation of other people and concealment of one’s spontaneous experiencing from self and others. Reclaim that part of your heritage from which you have been disinherited, and use it as a source of strength and self-confidence. Deny that disenfranchised aspect of your being that feels powerless, vulnerable and, moreover, rightly felt. The theory of Black slavery was based on the notion that Black people are beings without will or personality, defined by irrationality, incompetence, lack of control, and unattractiveness. In contrast, others are supposed to be seen as having wisdom, control, and aesthetic beauty which signified the slave law. However, we must use the past to understand it and learn that there is more than one standard of beauty and know that the World is changing. Our choice is ultimately not to deny our heritage or our identity as Americans, but to recognize both of them, and in so doing to acknowledge guilt as well as innocence. Education, in the classical sense, implies being exposed to great questions that a person as posed and seriously wrestling with answers that have been offered throughout history. Questions like, “What does it mean to be human? What is good; what is true; what is just; what is beautiful?” This kind of education never ends. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

Out of questing life, an individual develops the kind of philosophy of life which seems to be a defining characteristic of a good human. Another defining characteristic of a good person is one that is continuously concerned about and open to one’s own personal growth. A trained nitwit does not grow anymore.  You do not have to have a good education to earn a living, or get results as a good engineer, because you limit what you do. If you are an engineer, and you are lousy with people, you get your secretary to do all the negotiating of contracts. You just deal with bridges and stone. There is room for technical training to improve competence in human transactions. However, how elegant to have this technical training mediated by a growing, educated person rather than by moral imbeciles. One of the easiest things to do is to slide away from authenticity and slide away from your commitment to be helpful to others. We can all help equality and the feminist movement move beyond its fascination with essentialism through the recognition that wholeness of the self and commonality with others are asserted (if never completely achieved) through creative action, not realized in shard victimization. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

Feminist theory at present, especially feminist legal theory, tends to focus on women as passive victims. For example, for some, women have been so objectified by men that the miracle is how they are able to exist at all. Women are the victims, the acted-upon, the helpless, until radical enlightenment they are somehow empowered to act for themselves. This story of woman as victim is meant to encourage solidarity by emphasizing women’s shared oppression, thus denying or minimizing difference, and to further the notion that women’s commonality lies in their shared victimization by men, but this directly reflects male supremacist thinking. Sexist ideology teaches women that to be female is to be victim. Moreover, the story of woman as passive victim denies the ability of women to shape their own lives, whether for better or worse. It also may thwart their abilities. Some people are unwilling to look father than commonality of victimhood for fear of jeopardizing the comfort of shared experience. However, it may have been helpful to get these stories out when they were being suppressed and no one had any idea that they were so common and that they kept them quiet to create a culture of victims and make people feel like trouble for reaching for help. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

Yet it is important to be careful because women who rely on their victimization to define themselves may be reluctant to let it go and create their own self-definitions. Another issue that may arise is that women may not grow and may want to seek vengeance on innocent people. Therefore, therapy is often a great way to move beyond the victimization. At the individual level, women have had to learn to construct themselves in a society that denied them full selves. With the growth of large organizations calling for skills in personal relations, the womanly art of status enhancement and the emotion work that it requires has been made more public, more systematized, and more standardized. It is performed by largely middle-class women in largely public-contact jobs. Jobs involving emotional labour comprise over 33 percent of all jobs. However, they form only 25 percent of all jobs that men do, and over 50 percent of all jobs that women do. Many of the jobs that call for public contact also call for giving service to the public. Because there are more women than men in service jobs (21 percent compared with 9 percent), there are “hidden injuries” of gender attached to those of class. Once women are at work in public-contract jobs, a new pattern unfolds: they receive less basic deference. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

That is, although some women are still elbow-guided through doors, chauffeured in cars, and protected from rain puddles, they are not shielded from one fundamental consequence of their status: their feelings are accorded less weight than the feelings of men. As a result of this status effect, a sales representative is one sort of job for a woman and another sort of job for a man. For the man the principal hidden task is to maintain his identity as a man in a gender-neutral occupation and occasionally to cope with tough customers. For a woman, the principal hidden task is to deal with the status effect: the absence of a social shield against the displaced anger and frustration of customers. How, then, does a woman’s status influence how she is treated by others? More basically, what is the prior link between status and the treatment of feelings? High-status people tend to enjoy the privilege of having their feelings noticed and considered important. The lower one’s status, the more one’s feelings are not noticed or treated as inconsequential. The doctrine of feelings is another double standard between the two sexes. The code of chivalry is said to require protection of the weaker by the stronger. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

Yet, a boss may bring flowers to his secretary or open the door for her only to make up for the fact that he gets openly angry at her more often that he does at a male equal or superior, and more often than she does at him. The flowers symbolize redress, even as they obscure the basic maldistribution of respect and its psychic cost. The feelings of women may be discounted in two ways: by considering them rational but unimportant or by considering them irrational and hence dismissible. If women do not hold their emotions, they are pegged as emotional, unstable, and all those terms that have always been used to describe women. However, typically, when a man expresses anger, it is deemed rational, or understandable anger, anger that indicates not weakness of character but deeply held convictions. When women express an equivalent degree of anger, it is more likely to be interpreted as a sign of personal instability. It is believed that woman are more emotional, and this very belief is used to invalidate their feelings. That is, the woman’s feelings are seen not as a response to real events but as reflections of themselves as emotional women. The doctrine of feelings is basically saying that women have a weaker claim to the right to define what is going on; less trust is placed in her judgments; and less respect is accorded to what she feels. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

Relatively speaking, it more often becomes the burden of women, as with other marginalized persons, to up hold a minority viewpoint, a discredited opinion. To make up for either way of weighing the feelings of the two sexes unequally, many women urge their feelings forward, trying to express them with more force, so as to get them treated with seriousness. However, from there the spiral moves down. For the harder women try to oppose the doctrine of feelings by expressing their feelings more, the more they come to fit the image awaiting them as emotional. Their efforts are discounted as one more example of emotionalism. The only way to counter the doctrine of feelings is to eliminate the more fundamental bond between gender and status. Although feminist are correct to recognize the powerful force of seer physical coercion in ensuring compliance with patriarchal hegemony, people must also come to terms with the ways in which women’s culture has served to enlist women’s support in perpetuating existing power relations. However, at another level, the recognition of the role of creativity and will in shaping their lives is liberating, for it allows society to acknowledge and celebrate the creativity and joy with which many women have survived and turned existing relations of domination to their own ends. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

Works of literature like Beloved, The Color Purple, The Joy Luck Club, Song of Solomon, and Sexual Harassment of Working Women by Catharine A. MacKinnon, among others, do not linger on women’s victimization and misery; though they recognize their pain, they ultimately celebrate their transcendence. On a collective level this emphasis on will and creativity reminds us that brides between women are built, not found. The discovery of shared suffering is a connection more illusory than real; what will truly bring society together and keep it together is the use of effort and imagination to root out and examine their differences, for only the recognition of women’s differences can ultimately being the feminist movement and egalitarianism to strength. However, I do not think authenticity necessarily makes you happy; because when you are authentic, presumably, you are also open. You reveal yourself more and receive more consequences to this, some of which can be very hurtful. Also, in the mode of openness, you feel things more acutely, you feel the happiness more vividly. As you will also feel the pain more keenly. It is a matter of choice. Which is it better to be, a zombie who does not feel anything very much, neither joy nor pain, or a poet, who feels great joy and great agony? #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

If one is an authentic coward, one should not complain about the price one must pay for this safety. Neurotics complain about the price one must pay for safety. They withdraw from authenticity to be safe; but being withdrawn, they experience loneliness, boredom, or the dread of being found out. When a neurotic suffers goes to a therapist to get help with one’s anxiety and loneliness, one calls them symptoms. They seem to be connected with the individual’s withdrawal. If an individual can discover some hidden truth, which may contribute to the instruction of posterity, they aim at the approbation of the learned and the wise. However, several special dangers in this area should be specifically noted and guarded against. The first is pride and overconfidence in idea, images, or bits of information simply because they are “ours” or “mine” and I am (we are) in the habit of relying on them. This danger is not limited to our thoughts of God, but it is unfortunately common there. It takes the form of pride of doctrine, practice, and tradition. “I did it myyyyy way,” Frank Sinatra sang, to the gratification of millions who took him to be expressing their own proper “American” attitude. However, Christians often sing with misplaced satisfaction, “We did it ourrrr way!” Ourrrr way is not necessarily right or good or even “better.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

Of course, doing things the way we want to is not necessarily wrong or worse either. However, we must be aware of the special danger of holding onto the contents of our thought life mainly because they are ours and therefore “obviously correct.” Arrogance of doctrine or tradition is still arrogance. It is one of the things God hates, and not just in others. “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech,” reports Proverbs 8.13. It was first on the list of sins of Sodom, and it was what made possible the “abominations” more commonly associated with that place. “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. There I did away with them as you have seen,” Ezekiel 16.49-50. A second danger, associated with the first, is that of simple ignorance of fact. A repeated story in Christian history is of those who have set out to prove the falsity of the way of Christ and wound up being His followers. This is, in nearly every case, simply because, in their quest, they were forced to examine facts and to thin carefully about them. Therefore, a young atheist cannot be too careful about what one reads and must steadfastly protect one’s ignorance. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

However, even the followers of Jesus fall into patterns of willing ignorance about important matters, including possible objections to faith in Christ and the beliefs and practices of others who are devoted to Christ. In fact, if we are to use our minds rightly, we must live in an attitude of constant openness and learning. Before we make judgments on any serious matter, have we looked into the facts of the case and have we carefully considered all their bearings? This is especially important with reference to those we disagree with or think we disagree with. A third great danger in the thought of life of the disciple is allowing our desires to guide our thinking: especially the desire to prove we are right. This goes hand in hand with intellectual self-righteousness and is often associated with the desire to have the approval of others in our crowd. Often a good starting point when trying to help those who do not believe in God or accept Christ as Lord is to get them to deal honestly with the question: Would I lie for there to be a God? Or, would I like it if Jesus turned out to be Lord? This may help them realize the extent to which what they want to be the case is controlling their ability to see what is the case. And we believers should be keep the question of how we want things to be, with respect to certain issues, in the margin of our consciousness as we conduct our thought life. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

We must try to remain aware of how our desires may influence how we perceive things, as well as our patterns of thought and interpretation. Many a bitter conflict among Christians could be avoided in this way. It is an essential part of humbleness of mind which is indispensable to the mind of Christ in us. “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another; have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider quality with God something to be used to one’s own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!,” reports Philippians 2.1-8. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” reports Colossians 3.12. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

We should make it a rule never to try merely to prove that we are right. The fourth and final great danger has to do with the images that we admit into our minds. These may be images of intellectual authority or images of financial well-being or images of the macabre and horrible or images of power (domination) and pleasures of the flesh, and so on. Our present American culture boasts of complete freedom in what one sees, says, and hears. Many professing Christians are paralyzed or even destroyed by adopting this freedom as a lifestyle. For they allow images into their mind that eventually overwhelm them. If we allow everything access to our mind, we are simply asking to be kept in a state of mental turmoil or bondage. For noting enters the mind without having an effect for good or evil. You may say, “I want to be open to thin of anything, imagine anything, have all feelings, see everything. What do you think freedom of thought is all about? This is America!” Well, then you must take the consequences. You cannot choose conditions and reject the consequences. Even the bill of rights cannot change that. If you choose to step off the roof, you cannot then choose not to hit the ground. The mind (the person and all its dimensions) has laws just as rigorous as gravity. The mind has cliffs. Cliffs of fall. Hold them cheap who never hung thereby.  #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

If God’s eyes are too pure to behold evil, we had better think it might be wise for us to look away as much as is feasible—even if it is called “entertainment.” “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?,” reports Habakkuk 1.13. We are to abhor evil and cleave to that which is good, and the foundation for doing that lies in where we choose to place our minds. The power to choose our thoughts is, as we said at the outset, our most basic freedom, our first and primary freedom, and we must use it well. There are many things we need not see and are better off not seeing—though, if you wish, you have a “right” to see them. Anyone who thinks that if I have a right to do X it is good for me to do X, simply has not thought deeply about the matter. Paul’s wise counsel, by contrast, was, “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things, reports Philippians 4.8. Make no mistake; this is a fundamental and indispensable part of our spiritual formation in Christ. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

Images, in particular, are motivational far beyond our conscious mind, and they are not under rational control. We must take care that we are nourished constantly on good and Godly ones, without necessarily being able to see and say what is wrong with the others. “What is wrong” with them well may be something we cannot bring before our consciousness, but which works in the depths of our soul and body as an instrument of forces beyond ourselves. To ensure a righteous judgment, the Saviour’s atoning sacrifice will clear away the underbrush of ignorance and the painful thorns of hurt caused by others. The more we understand about the Saviour’s supernal gift, the more we will come to know, in our minds and in our hearts the truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls. God himself atones for the sins of the World, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also. The Father’s plan of mercy—what the scriptures also call the plan of happiness or the plan of salvation—could not be accomplished unless all the demands of justice were satisfied. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

Although the Saviour has power to mend what we cannot fix, He commands us to do all we can to make restitution as part of our repentance. Our sins and mistakes displace not only our relationship with God but also our relationship with others. Sometimes our efforts to heal and restore maybe as simple as an apology, but other times restitution may require years of humble effort. Yet, for many of our sins and mistake, we simply are not able to fully heal those we have hurt. The Saviour will mend all that we have broken. And He will also mend us if we turn to Him in faith and repent of the harm we have caused. He offers both of these gifts because He loves all of us with perfect love and because He is committed to ensuring a righteous judgment that honours both justice and mercy. “And it came to pass that after king Limhi had made an end of speaking to his people, for he spake many things unto them and only a few of them have I written in this book, he told his people all the things concerning their brethren who were in the land of Zarahemla. And he caused that Ammon should stand up before the multitude, and rehearse unto them all that had happened unto their brethren from the time that Zeniff went out of the land even until the time that he himself came up out of the land. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

“And he also rehearsed unto them the last words which king Benjamin had taught them, and explained them to the people of king Limhi, so that they might understand all the words which he spake. And it came to pass that after he had done all this, that king Limhi dismissed the multitude, and caused that they should return every one unto his own house. And it came to pass that he caused record of his people from the time that they left the land of Zarahemla, should be brought before Ammon, that he might read them. Now, as soon as Amon had read the record, the king inquired of him to know if he could interpret languages, and Ammon told him that he could not. And the king said unto him: Being grieved for the afflictions of my people, I caused that forty and three of my people should take a journey into the wilderness, that thereby they might find the land of Zarahemla, that we might appeal unto our brethren to deliver us out of bondage And they were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a long which was covered with bones of humans, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of ever kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

“And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold. And behold, also, they have brought breastplates, which are large, and they are of brass and of copper, and are perfectly sound. And again, they have brought swords, the hilts thereof have perished, and the blades thereof were cankered with rust; and there is no one in the land that is able to interpret the language or the engravings that are on the plates. Therefore I said unto thee: Canst thou translate? And I say unto thee again: Knowest thou any one that can translate? For I am desirous that these records should be translated into our language; for, perhaps, they will give us a knowledge of a remnant of people who have been destroyed, from whence these records came; or, perhaps, they will give us a knowledge of this very people who have been destroyed; and I am desirous to know the cause of their destruction. Now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no human can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should perish. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

“And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called seer. And behold, the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahemla is the man that is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from God. And the king said that a seer is greater than a prophet. And Ammon said that a seer is a revelator and a prophet also; and a gift which is greater can no human have, except one should possess the power of God, which no human can; yet a human may have great power given one from God. However, a seer can know things which are past, and also of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known. Thus Go has provided a means that humans, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore one becomes a great benefit to one’s fellow beings. And now, when Ammon had made an end of speaking these words the king rejoiced exceedingly, and gave thanks to God, saying: Doubtless a great mystery is contained within these plates, and these interpreters were doubtless prepared for the purpose of unfolding all such mysteries to the children of humans. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

“O how marvelous are the words of the Lord, and how long does he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of humans; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them! Yea, they are as a wild flock which fleeth from the shepherd, and scattereth, and are drive, and are devoured by the beast of the forest,” reports Mosiah 8.1-21. Blessed Spirit of God, four evils attend my ministry—the devil treads me down by discouragement and shame arising from coldness in private meditation. Carelessness possesses me from natural dullness and dimness of spirit; because in the past I have met with success and been highly regarded, so that it does not matter if I have now failed. Infirmities and weakness are mine from want of spiritual light, life and power, so that souls have not been helped, and I have not felt Thee to be near. Lack of success has followed even when I have done my best. However, Thou has shown me that the glory of everything that is sanctified to do good is not seen in itself, but in the source of its sanctification. Thus my end in preaching is to know Christ, and impart His truth; my principle in preaching is Christ Himself, whom I trust, for in Him is fullness of spirit and strength; my comfort in preaching is to do all for him. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22

The first task of a genuine guide is not to flatter the seeker but to criticize one, not to let one remain ignorantly in the grip of one’s unrecognized weaknesses but to point them out relentlessly to one. Please help me in my work to grow more humble, to pick something out of all providences to that end, to joy in Thee and loathe myself, to keep my life, being, soul, ad body only for Thee, to carry my heart to Thee in love and delight, to see all my grace in Thee, coming from Thee, to walk with Thee in endearment. Then, whether I succeed or fail, nought matters but Thee alone. O God, Who restores us unto eternal life by Christ’s Resurrection, fulfill the ineffable mystery of Thy loving-kindness; that when our Saviour shall come in His majesty, as Thou hast made us to be regenerated in Baptism, so Thou has made us to be clothed with a blessed immortality; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ. O God, Whom redemption comes to us, and adoption is bestowed, loo upon the works of Thy mercy; that unto those who are regenerated in Christ may be vouchsafed both an eternal inheritance and a true freedom; though the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and everlasting God, please bring us to the fellowship of Heavenly joys; that Thou may vouchsafe an entrance into Thy kingdom to those that are born again of the Holy Ghost, and that the lowly floc may reach that place whither the mighty Shephard hath gone before; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22

With a couple of perfectly-placed bookshelves and your desk centered in your Flex Space CEO-style, you  will catch yourself saying “Ooo” every time you walk by. 😯 Or maybe that’s just you reading the painting out loud. Either way, we’re big fans.

The floor plan and video walkthrough for #BrightonStation Residence 2 are available on our website. Link in bio. 👉 https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/residence-2/
Please hear us, O Almighty God; and as Thou hast bestowed on Thy family the perfect grace of Baptism, so do Thou dispose their hearts to the attainment of eternal bliss; though Jesus Christ our Lord.
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