Do Any Human Beings Ever Realize Life While they Live it? —Every, Every Minute?

You do not change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall. The ceremonies of the ROMAN CATHOLIC religion may be considered as instances of the same nature. The devotees of that superstition usually plead in excuse for the mummeries, with which they are upbraided, that they feel the good effect of those external motions, and postures, and actions, in enlivening their devotion and quickening their fervour, which otherwise would decay, if directed entirely to distant and immaterial objects. We shadow out the objects of our faith, say they, in sensible types and images, and render them more present to us by the immediate presence of these types, than it is possible for us to do, merely by an intellectual view and contemplation. Sensible objects have always a grater influence on the fancy than any other; and this influence they readily convey to those ideas, to which they are related, and which they resemble. I shall only infer from these practices, and this reasoning, that the effect of resemblance and a present impression must concur, we are abundantly supplied with experiments to prove the reality of the foregoing principle. We may add force to these experiments by other of a different kind, in considering the effects of contiguity as well as of resemblance. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

It is certain, that distance diminishes the force of every idea, and that, upon our approach to any object; though it does not discover itself to our senses; it operates upon the mind with an influence, which imitates an immediate impression. The thinking on any object readily transports the mind to what is contiguous; but it is only the actual presence of an object, that transports it with a superior vivacity. When I am a few miles from home, whatever relates to it touches me more nearly than when I am two hundred leagues distant; though even at that distance the reflecting on any thing in the neighbourhood of my friends or family naturally produces an idea of them. However, as in this latter case, both the objects of the mind are ideas; notwithstanding here is an easy transition between them; that transition alone is not able to give a superior vivacity to any of the ideas, for want of some immediate impression. No one can doubt but causation has the same influence as the other two relations of resemblance and contiguity. Superstitious people are fond of the relics of saints and holy humans, for the same reason, that they seek after types or images, in order to enliven their devotion, and give them a more intimate and strong conception of those exemplary lives, which a devotee could procure, would-be the handiwork of a saint. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

And if the saint’s clothes and furniture are ever to be considered in this light, it is because they were once at one’s disposal, and were moved and affected by one; in which respect they are to be considered as imperfect effects, and as connected with one by a shorter chain of consequences than any of those, by which we learn the reality of one’s existence. Supposed, that the son of a friend, who had been long dead or absent, were resented to us; it is evident, that this object would instantly revive its correlative idea, and recall to our thought all past intimacies and familiarities, in more lively colours than they would otherwise have appeared to us. This is another phenomenon, which seems to prove the principle above-mentioned. We may observe, that, in these phenomena, the belief of the correlative object is always presupposed; without which the relation could have no effect. The influence of the picture supposes, that we believe our friend to have once existed. Contiguity to home can never excite our ideas of home, unless we believe that it really exists. Now I assert, that this belief, where it reaches beyond the memory or senses, is of a similar nature, and arises from similar causes, with the transition of thought and vivacity of conception here explained. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

When I throw a piece of dry wood into a fire, my mind is immediately carried to conceive, that is augments, not extinguishes the flame. This transition of thought from the cause to the effect proceeds not from reason. It derives its origin altogether from custom and experience. And as it first begins from an object, present to the senses, it renders the idea or conception of flame more strong and lively than any lose, floating reverie of the imagination. That idea arises immediately. The thought moves instantly towards it, and conveys to it all that force of conception, which is derived from the impression present to the senses. When a sword is levelled at my chest, does not the idea of wound and pain strike me more strongly, than when a glass of cranberry juice is presented to me, even though by accident this idea should occur after the appearance of the latter object? However, what is there in this whole matter to cause such a strong conception, except only a present object and a customary transition to the idea of another object, which we have been accustomed to conjoin with the former? This is the whole operation of the mind, in all our conclusions concerning matter of fact and existence; and it is a satisfaction to find some analogies, by which it may be explained. The transition from a present object does in all cases give strength and solidity to the related idea. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

Here, then, is a kind of pre-established harmony between the course of nature and the succession of our ideas; and though the powers and forces, by which the former is governed, be wholly unknown to us; yet forces, by which the former is governed, be wholly unknown to us; yet our thoughts and conception have still, we find, gone on in the same train with the other works of nature. Pre-established harmony refers to the fact that as there can be no interaction between one entity or substance and another, whether in perception or action, God must create each entity or substance and another, whether in perception or action, God must create each entity in the Universe so hat its state arises from itself and yet in complete harmony or conformity with the states of all other things. For example, two clocks. They can be in perfect agreement, not because they mutually influence each other, nor because they are continually adjusted, but because they are manufactured so skillfully that keeping the same time is guaranteed. Custom is that principle, by which this correspondence has been effected; so necessary to the subsistence of our species, and the regulation of our conduct, in every circumstance and occurrence of human life. Life is an unanswered question, but let us believe in the dignity and importance of the question. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

Had not the presence of an object instantly excited the idea of those object, commonly conjoined with it, all our knowledge must have been limited to the narrow sphere of our memory and senses; and we should never have been able to adjust means to ends, or employ our natural powers, either to the producing of good, or avoiding of evil. Those, who delight in the discovery and conceptional of final causes, have here ample subject to employ their wonder and admiration. A final cause is a structure common to members of a species, which helps to make intelligible the changes of the members and which answers the question: What is the end or goal of the thing? The concept was frequently applied to the Universe itself, and it was maintained that the Universe had an end state of goals toward which it was heading. I shall add, for a further confirmation of the foregoing theory, that, as this operation of the mind, by which we infer like effects from like causes, and vice versa, is so essential to the subsistence of all human creatures, it is not probable, that it could be trusted to the fallacious deductions of our reason, which is slow in its operations; appears not, in any degree, during the first five years of infancy; and at best is, in every age and period of human life, extremely liable to error and mistake. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

It is more comfortable to the ordinary wisdom of nature to secure so necessary an act of the mind, by some instinct or mechanical tendency, which may be infallible in its operations, may discover itself at the first appearance of life and thought, and may be independent of all the laboured deductions of the understanding. As nature has taught us the use of our limbs, without giving us the knowledge of the muscles and nerves, by which they are actuated; so has she implanted in us an instinct, which carries forward the thought in a correspondent course to that which she has established among external objects; though we are ignorant of those powers and forces, on which this regular course and succession of objects totally depends. Yet, we can recognize an imaginative product. Suppose a person had been thinking about a problem of practical conduct, had been turning it over in mind, analyzing it for some time. Then, intending to advise someone else, “This will be evil for you.” The speech would be that of reason. Suppose furthermore, another statement emerged: “Your enemies will be glad of this.” The speech would be that of imaginative or insinuative reason. The entire difference between reason and imaginative reason is this illustrated. The case invited interpretation. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

In the first place, the idea or thought-aspect of the first statement is, strictly speaking, the work of reason, and the appearance of the statement to ear or eye is the work of the imagination. We have already observed that the act of representing entails verbal imagery and that verbal imagery constitutes the sensory accompaniment of thought. Yet unlike the sense of image, the image that imagination creates for reason, or with reason, is the embodiment of thought, not of sensations. We must try to see what imagination was supposed to do when it did ore than embody the work of reason, when it joined with reason and moved from “This will be evil for you,” to “Your enemies will be glad for this.” The illustration of discourse, assigned to the art of rhetoric, consisted in applying the dictates of reason to imagination. To illustrate reason is to illuminate it. So imagination may bring illumination to the support of reason, and in the case before us the second statement by be more illuminating than the first in a literal, no figurative, way. The imagination, however, does more than light up abstractions. It fills out, amplifices, and ornaments reason. This it does, not as unneeded froth and embellishment, for fun and frolic, but as something necessary to assist communication and secure understanding. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

The word ornament applied to the process of illustrating is being used in the old sense of equipment. Clothes ornament the person because they render the body fit for civilized life. Imagination ornaments reasons because it makes the organ, the body, of discourse fit to influence conduct. When teamed with reason, inventive, creative activity prompted rhetorical occasions, imagination is responsible for that feature of argument and example we recognize as fitting and appropriate. The effect of that which is fitting is insinuative; it opens human’s minds, as if one were fitting a key into a lock. In teaming up with reason, the imagination also invents something we term a type, fable, parable, and similitude. One kind of poetry, the parabolical, is typical history, and it, like rhetoric, teaches us by illustration. It is produced when imagination joins with memory. The implication is that when persuasion, rather than instruction, is at issues, imagination works with reason and produces the same kind of product. Accordingly, imaginative creativity in both poetry and rhetoric is the same in kind, though its consequences may be different. In illuminating the creative role of imagination, we can be no more clear and precise simply because we have not been more descriptive and explicit. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

Perhaps these are so notoriously difficult to influence because of the powerfully suggestive effect emanating from the archetype. Consciousness is fascinated by it, held captive, as if hypnotized. Very often the ego experiences a vague feeling of moral defect and then beaves all the more defensively, defiantly, and self-righteously, thus setting up a vicious circle which only increases its feeling of inferiority. The bottom is then knocked out of the human relationship, for, like megalomania, a feeling of inferiority makes mutual recognition impossible, and without this there is no relationship. It is easier to gain insight into the shadow than into the anima (the part of the psyche that is directed inward, and is in touch with the subconscious) or animus (a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will). With the shadow (unconscious aspect of the personality, the unknown side), we have the advantage of being prepare in some sort by our education, which has always endeavoured to convince people that they are not one-hundred-per-cent pure gold. So everyone immediately understands what is meant by “shadow,” “inferior personality,” et cetera. And if one has forgotten, one’s memory can easily be refreshed by a Sunday sermon, one’s wife, or the tax collector. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

With anima and animus, however, things are by no means so simple. Firstly, there is no oral education in this respect, and secondly, most people are content to be self-righteous and prefer mutual vilification (if nothing worse!) to the recognition of their projections. Indeed, it seems a very natural state of affairs for humans to have irrational moods and women irrational opinions. Presumably this situation is grounded on instinct and must remain as it is to ensure that the Empedoclean game of hate and love of the elements shall continue for all eternity. Nature is conservative and does not easily allow her courses to be altered; she defends in the most stubborn way the inviolability of the preserves where anima and animus roam. Hence it is much more difficult to become conscious of one’s anima/animus projections than to acknowledge one’s shadow side. One has, of course, to overcome certain moral obstacles, such as vanity, ambition, conceit, resentment et cetera, but in the case of projections all sorts of purely intellectual difficulties are added, quite apart from the contents of the projection which one simply does not know how to cope with. And on top of all this there arises a profound doubt as to whether one is not meddling too much with nature’s business by prodding into conscious things which it would have been better to leave asleep. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

Although there are, in my experience, a fair number of people who can understand without special intellectual or moral difficulties what is meant by anima and animus, one finds very many more who have the greatest trouble in visualizing these empirical concepts as anything concrete. This shows that they fall a little outside the usual range of experience. They are unpopular precisely because they seem unfamiliar. The consequence is that they mobilize prejudice and become taboo like everything else that is unexpected. So if we set it up as a kind of requirement that projections should be dissolved, because it is wholesomer that way and in every respect more advantageous, we are entering upon new ground. Up till now everybody has been convinced that the idea “my father,” “my mother,” et cetera, is nothing but a faithful reflection of the real parent corresponding in every detail to the original, so that when someone says “my father” one means no more and no less than what one’s father is in reality. This is actually what one supposes one does mean, but a supposition of identity by no means brings that identity about. This is where the fallacy of the enkekalymmenos (“the veiled one”) comes in. The fallacy, which stems from Eubulides the Megarian, runs: “Can you recognize your father?” Yes. “Can you recognize this veiled one?” No. “This veiled one is your father. Hence you can recognize your father and not recognize him.” #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

If one includes in the psychological equation X’s picture of one’s father, which one takes for the real father, he equation will not work out, because the unknown quantity one has introduced does not tally with reality, X has overlooked the fact that one’s idea of a person consists, in the first place, of he possibly very incomplete picture one has received of the real person and, in the second place, of the subjective modifications one has imposed upon this picture. X’s idea of one’s father is a complex quantity for which the real father is only in part responsible, an indefinitely larger share falling to the son. So true is this that every time one criticizes or praises one’s father one is unconsciously hitting back at oneself, thereby bringing about those psychic consequences that overtake people who habitually disparage or overpraise themselves. If, however X, carefully compares one’s reactions with reality, one stands a chance of noticing that one has miscalculated somewhere by not realizing along ago from one’s father’s behaviour that the picture one has of him is a false one. However, as a rule X is convinced that he is right, and if anybody is wrong it must be the other fellow. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

Should X have a poorly developed Eros (the personification of love; the function of relationship), one will be either indifferent to the inadequate relationship he has with his father or else annoyed by the inconsistency and general incomprehensibility of a father whose behaviour never really corresponds to the picture X has of him. Therefore X thinks he has every right to feel hurt, misunderstood, and even betrayed. One can imagine how desirable it would be in such cases to dissolve the projection. And there are always optimists who believe that the golden age can be ushered in simply by telling people the right way to go. However, just let them try to explain to those people that they are acting like a dog chasing its own tail. To make a person see the shortcomings of one’s attitude considerably more than mere “telling” is needed, for more is involved than ordinary common sense can allow. What one is up against here is the kind of fateful misunderstanding which, under ordinary conditions remains forever inaccessible to insight. It is rather like expecting the average respectable citizen to recognize oneself as a criminal. I mention all this just to illustrate the order of magnitude to which the anima/animus projections belong, and the moral and intellectual exertions that are needed to dissolve them. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

How easily we go wrong! The simple power of thought (idea, images, information, inferences) is so great that it gives rise to many practical plans for remedying the human situation outside of Christ and obedience to him. One great World religion, for example, is based entirely upon the effects on emotion, will, and body of focusing the mind in certain ways and coming to “enlightenment.” Many variants of the Christian tradition follow what is, at bottom, the same path (Christian Science Unity, Science of Mind, “Course on Miracles,” and on and on.) Within the multifloral field of psychological therapy, what is called “cognitive therapy” is based largely upon the power of “thoughts” or “words”; and classical psychotherapy (Dr. Freud) pays constant tribute to that power, as do its offshoots. “Unconscious” thoughts and images are, in such views, still thoughts or images, and may become heavily charged with powers over the body and spirit. Those who would understand and practice spiritual formation in the way of Jesus Christ should not deny the power of thought just because some people make religion of it and would use it as a basis for helping and healing with no reference to Christ. Breakfast is a good idea, and I do not play to give it up because Hindus practice it. For effectual spiritual formation in Christ we must have a realistic understanding and utilization of the powers of thought. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

Indeed, it is a bad idea to deny any reality, of which the great power of thought over life is one. Rather, we should carefully inquire what “thought” is, and what can really—no hype!—by accomplished by thought and by practice based solely on its natural efficacy. And then we should thoughtfully and prayerfully look into whether such practices actually are sufficient to meet the human need for spiritual formation. Especially, are they really equivalent to or better than spiritual formation in the way of Christ, wen it is correctly and fully practiced? The biblical way of personal transformation must be set in clear contrast to other ways, even if they utilize what looks like biblical language. Honesty and thoroughness is required. Many “alternative” paths of human help and healing offer themselves today only because Jesus’ formation is not widely and powerfully available to human beings—or even known about. The transformation of our thought life by taking on the mind of Christ—his ideas, images, information, and patterns of thinking—opens the way to deliverance of every dimension of the human self from the oppressive powers of darkness. Lord of the Pathway, to you I call; Lord of the Pathway, who crushes all obstructions, I call you in my hour of need, I lift my voice to you. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

O God, by Whose command the order of all time runs its course; look graciously upon me Thy servant, who Thou hast been pleased to promote to the order of the Presbyterate; and that my service may be pleasing unto Thee, do Thou mercifully preserve in me Thy gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. “And it came to pass that the Amalekites and Amulonites and the Lamanites who were in the land of Amulon, and also in the land of Helam, and who were in the land of Jerusalem, and in fine, in all the land round about, who had not been converted and had not taken upon them the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, were stirred up by the Amalekites and by the Amulonites to anger against their brethren. And their hatred become exceedingly sore against them, even insomuch that they began to rebel against their king, insomuch that they would not that he should be their king; therefore, they took up arms against the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. And their hated became exceedingly sore against them, even insomuch that they began to rebel against their king, insomuch that they would not that one should be their king; therefore, they took up arms against the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. And the king died in that self-same year that the Lamanites began to make preparations for way against the people of God. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

“Now when Ammon and his brethren and all those who had come up with him saw the preparations of the Lamanites to destroy their brethren, they came forth to the land of Midian, and there Ammon met all his brethren; and from thence they came to the land of Ishmael that they might hold a council with Lamoni and also with his brother Anti-Nephi-Lehi, what they should do to defend themselves against the Lamanites. Now there was not one soul among all the people who has been converted unto the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war; yea, and also their kind commanded them that they should not. Now, these are the words which one said unto the people concerning the matter: I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the traditions of our wicked fathers. And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have opened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites. And behold, I also thank my God, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our sins, and of the many murders which we have committed. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

“And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed. And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and take away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son. And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do (as we were the most lost of all humankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain. Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren. Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords again they can no more be washed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

“And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he had made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he had made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations. Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God a the last day, or at the day we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords of the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby. And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we try to bury them deep in the Earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall go out to our God and shall be saved. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

“And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these slayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of human’s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the Earth. And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to humans, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of human’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labour abundantly with their hands. And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace. And it came to pass that their brethren, the Lamanites, made preparations for war, and came up to the land of Nephi for the purpose of destroying the king, and to place another in his stead, and also of destroying people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi out of the land. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

“Now when the people saw that they were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the Earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword. And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God. Now when the Lamanites saw that their brethren would not flee from the sword, neither would they turn aside to the right hand or to the left, but that they would lie down and perish, and praised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword—now when the Lamanites saw this they did forbear from slaying them; and there were any whose hearts had swollen in them for their brethren who has fallen under the sword, for they repented of the things which they had done. And it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war, and they would not take them again, for they were stung for the murders which they had committed; and they came down even as their brethren, relying upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

“And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we had no reason to doubt but what they were saved. And there was not a wicked person slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people. Now the greatest number of those of the Lamanites who were slew so many of their brethren were Amalekites and Amulonites, or wo were of the order of Nehor, but they were actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel. And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and this their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things,” reports Alma 24.1-30. Omipotens et misericors Deus, Qui sacerdotum ministerio ad Tibi seriendum et supplicandu uti dignaris; quaesumus immensam clementiam Tuam, ut quidquid modo visitamus visites, quid-quid benedicimus benedicas, sitque ad nostrae humilitatis introitum….fuga daemonum, Angeli pacis ingressus. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23