Success is a drug in itself. When you strive to become somebody and you become that person, it is difficult to give it up. Other persons behave in dubious ways which we do not approve in our family. Many of them play cards, go o movies, smoke, dance, drink, and engage in other activities—some unmentionable. So the best thing to do is to be tolerant of them, since they may not know better, and to keep away from any close communication with them and live your life within the family. “Come ye out from among them and be ye separate” is a good Biblical text to follow. Self-actualizing individuals (more matured, more fully-human), by definition, already suitably gratified in their basic needs, are now motivated in other higher ways, to be called “metamotivations.” This is to say that they have a feeling of belongingness and rootedness, they are satisfied in their love needs, have friend and feel loved and loveworthy they have status and place in life and respect from other people, and they have a reasonable feeling of worth and self-respect. If we phrase this negatively—in terms of the frustration of these basic needs and in terms of pathology—then this is to say that self-actualizing people do not need (for any length of time) feel anxiety-ridden, rootless, or isolated, nor do they have crippling feelings of inferiority or worthlessness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 27
Of course this can be phrased in other ways and this I have done. For instance, since the basic needs had been assumed to be the only motivations for human beings, it was possible, and in certain contexts also useful, to say of self-actualizing people that they were “unmotivated.” This was to align these people with the Eastern philosophical view of health as the transcendence of striving or desiring. It was also possible o describe self-actualizing people as expressing rather than coping, and to stress that they were spontaneous, and natural, that they were more easily themselves than other people. Each of these phrasings has its own operational usefulness in particular research context. However, it is also true that for certain purposes it is best to ask the questions, “What motivates the self-actualizing person?” Clearly we must make an immediate distinction between the ordinary motives of people below the level of self-actualization—that is, people motivated by the basic needs—and the motivations of people who are sufficiently gratified in all their basic needs and therefore are no longer motivated by them primarily, but by “higher” motivations. It is therefore convenient to call these higher motives and needs of self-actualizing persons by the name “metaneeds” and also to differentiate the category of motivation from the category of “metamotivation.” #RandolphHarris 2 of 27
(It is now more clear to me that gratification of the basic needs is not a sufficient condition for metamotivation, although it may be a necessary precondition. I have individual subjects in whom apparent basic-need-gratification is compatible with “existential neurosis,” meaninglessness, valuelessness, or the like. Metamotivation now seems not to ensure automatically after basic-need-gratification. One must speak also of the additional variable of “defenses against metamotivation.” This implies that, for the strategy of communication and of theory-building, it may turn out to be useful to add to the definition of the self-actualizing person, not only [a] that one be sufficiently free of illness, [b] that one be sufficiently gratified in one’s basic needs, and [c] that one be beneficially using one’s capacities, but also [d] that one be motivated by some values which one strives for or gropes for and to which one is loyal.) All such people are devoted to some task, call, vocation, beloved (“outside themselves”). Generally the devotion and dedication is so marked that one can fairly use the old words vocation, calling, or mission to describe their passionate, selfless, and profound feeling for their “work.” We could even use the words destiny or fate. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27
I have sometimes gone so far as to speak of obligation in the religious sense, in the sense of offering oneself or dedicating oneself upon some altar for some particular task, some cause outside oneself and bigger than oneself, something not merely selfish, something impersonal. I think it is possible to go pretty far with the notion of destiny or fate. This is a way of putting into inadequate words the feeling that one gets when one listens to self-actualizing people (and some others) talking about their work or task. One gets the feeling of a beloved job, and, furthermore, of something for which the person is “natural,” something that one is suited for, something that is right for one, even something that one was born for. It should be said that this all seems to hold true for my female subjects even though in a different sense. I have at lease one women subject who devoted herself entirely to the task of being the mother, the wife, the housewife and the clan matriarch. Her vocation, one could very reasonably call it, was to being up her children, to make her husband happy, and to hold together a large number of relatives in a network of personal relations. This she did very well and, as nearly as I could make out, this she enjoyed. She loved her lot completely and totally, never yearning for anything else so far as I could tell, and using all her capacities well in the process. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27
Other women subjects have had various combinations of home life and professional work outside the home which could produce this same sense of dedication to something perceived simultaneously, as both as beloved and also as important and worthwhile doing. In some women, I have also been tempted to thing of “having a baby” as fullest self-actualization all by itself, at least for a time. In this ideal instance, inner requiredness coincides with external requiredness, “I want to” with ‘I must.” I often get the feeling in this kind of situation that I can tease apart two kinds of determinants of this transaction. One can be spoken of as the responses within the person, exempla gratia, “I love babies (or painting, or research, or political power) more than anything in the World. I am fascinated with it…I am inexorably drawn to…I need to…” This we may call “inner requiredness” and it is felt as a kind of self-indulgence rather than as a duty. It is different from and separable from “external requireness,” which is rather felt as a response to what the environment, the situation, requires of the person, as a fire “calls for” putting out, or as a helpless baby demands that one takes care of it, or as some obvious injustice calls for righting. Here one feels more the element of duty, or obligation, or responsibility, or being compelled helplessly to respond no matter what one was planning to do, or wished to do. It is more “I must, I have to, I am compelled” than “I want to.” #RandolphHarris 5 of 27
In the ideal instance, which fortunately also happens in fact in many of my instances, “I want to” coincides with “I must.” I hesitate to call this simply “purposefulness” because that may imply that is happens only out of will, purpose, decision, or calculation, and does not give enough weight to the subjective feeling of being swept along, of willing and eager surrender, or yielding to fate and happily embracing it at the same time. Ideally, one also discovers one’s fate; it is not only made or constructed or decided upon. It is recognized as if one had been unwittingly waiting for it. Perhaps the better phrase would be “Spinozistic” or “Taoistic” choice or decision or purpose—or even will. The best way to communicate these feelings to someone who does not intuitively, directly understand them is to use as a model “falling in love.” This is clearly different from doing one’s duty, or doing what is sensible or logical. And clearly also “will,” if mentioned at all, is used in a very special sense. And when two people love each other fully, then each one knows that it feels like to be magnet and what it feels like to be iron filings, and what it feels like to be both simultaneously. This ideal situation generates feelings of good fortune and also of ambivalence and unworthiness. #RandolphHarris 6 of 27
This model also helps to convey what is difficult to communicate in words, that is, their sense of good fortune, of luck, of gratuitous grace, of awe that this miracle should have occurred, of wonder that they should have been chosen, and of the peculiar mixture of pride fused with humility, or arrogance shot through with the pity-for-the-less-fortunate that one finds in lovers. Of course the possibility of good fortune and success also can set into motion all sorts of neurotic fears, feelings of unworthiness, countervalues, Jonah-syndromes dynamics, et cetera. These defenses against our highest possibilities must be overcome before the highest values can be wholeheartedly embraced. At this level the dichotomizing of work and play is transcended; wages, hobbies, vacation, et cetera, must be defined at a high level. And then, of course, it can be said of such a person with real meaningfulness that one is being one’s own kind of person, of being oneself, or actualizing one’s real self. An abstract statement, an extrapolation out from this kind of observation toward the ultimate and perfect ideal would run something like this: This person is the best one in the whole World for this particular job, and this particular job is the best job in the World for this particular person and one’s talents, capacities, and taste. One was meant for it, and it was meant for one. #RandolphHarris 7 of 27
Of course, as soon as we accept this and get the feeling of it, then we move over into another realm of discourse, id est, the realm of being, of transcendence. Now we can speak meaningfully only in the language of being (“The B-language,” communication at the mystical level, et cetera.). For instance, it is quite obvious with such people that the ordinary or conventional dichotomy between work and play is transcended totally. That is, there is certainly no distinction between work and play in such a person in such a situation. One’s work is one’s play and one’s play is one’s one. If a person loves one’s work and enjoys it more than any other activity in the whole World and is eager to get to it, to get back to it after any interruption, then how can we speak about “labour” in the sense of something one is forced to do against one’s wishes? Such vocation-loving individuals tend to identify (introject, incorporate) with their “work” and to make it into a defining-characteristic of the self. It becomes part of the self. If one asks such a person, id est, self-actualizing, work-loving, “Who are you?” or “What are you?” one often tends to answer in term of one’s “call,” exempli gratia, “I am a lawyer.” “I am an architect.” “I am a psychiatrist.” “I am an artist,” et cetera. #RandolphHarris 8 of 27
Or, if one asks one, “Supposing you were not a scientist (or a teacher, or pilot), then what would you be?” Or, “Supposing you were not a psychologist, then what?” It is my impression that one’s response is apt to be one of puzzlement, thoughtfulness, being taken aback, id est, not having a ready answer. Or the response can be one of amusement, id est, it is funny. In effect, the answer is, “If I were not a father (anthropologist, industrialist), then I would not be me. I would be someone else. And I cannot imagine being someone else.” This kind of response parallels the confused response to the question, “Supposing you were a lawyer rather than a doctor?” A tentative conclusion is then that in self-actualizing subjects, their beloved calling tends to be perceived as a defining characteristic of the self, to be identified with, incorporated, introjected. It becomes an inextricable aspect of one’s being. The task to which they are dedicated seem to be interpretable as embodiments or incarnation of intrinsic values (rather than as a means to ends outside the work itself, and rather than as functionally autonomous). The tasks are loved (and introjected) BECAUSE hey embody these values. That is, ultimately it is the values that are loved rater than the job as such. #RandolphHarris 9 of 27
For these people the profession seems to be not functionally autonomous, but rather to be a carrier of, an instrument of, or an incarnation of ultimate values. For them the profession of, exempli gratia, law is a means to the end of justice, and not an end in itself. Perhaps I can communicate my feeling for the subtle difference in this way: for one human the law is loved because it is justice, while another human, he pure value-free technologist, might love the law simply as an intrinsically loveable set of rules, precedents, procedures without regard to the end of products of their use. Often when a modern person looks at nineteenth-century architecture, it seems like a confusing babble of warning styles. The “modern” movement in architecture, also known as the “International Style,” fostered this view of the nineteenth century by condemning all “historical” styles and ornament. The modernists of the twentieth century disdained all applied decoration. They condemned it as shallow, fake, and contrary to good principles of proportion, honesty of materials and structure, and creative shaping of space, all of which were held to be the proper measures of architecture. In doing this, the modernists were guilty of a present-mindedness and reductionism that caused them to condemn an entire century without bothering understand it. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27
Historical styles had a lot of content to nineteenth-century people. Architects like the Adam brothers in England adopted the new slim and elegant classicism, and it can to be used in the United State of America as well. In England, Adamesque ornament had very little ideological content. It was just decorative. In the United States of America, after the Revolution it came to represent republican government. The new capitol at Washington was filled with Federal-style buildings in direct reference to republican Rome. The Roman classical style was adopted by the revolutionaries in France as well, to symbolize the break with the old monarchy. In time the new Roman style was adopted by Napoleon and made showier and more bombastic to represent the Roman Empire in its new incarnation under the Emperor Napoleon. This was the background, then, in the 1830s. Americans were well acquainted with classicism and associated Roman classicism with the generation of the founding fathers. The nation was turning away from the Eastern seaboard and focusing on the trans-Appalachian West. In 1825, the Erie Canal was opened, encouraging commerce in the West. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27
In 1807, Robert Fulton had demonstrated his steamboat, and by 1830s dozens of steamboats plied the Hudson. In 1830, Peter Cooper displayed his midget engine, the Tom Thumb, and began a transportation revolution in railroads. In 1827, Americans rose up and elected Andrew Jackson president and threw out the last vestige of the Founding Fathers in the person of Jon Quincy Adams. Americans believed the age of Jackson to be the era of the common human, and the 1830s to be an American social revolution. It is no wonder that the elegance and refinement of the Federal style now seemed wrong. The Greek Revival style in America pervaded the smallest details of everyday life. Women wore light muslin dressed with Empire waists and no crinolines. They put their hair up in Greek style. Houses and public building were erected as little temples in small frontier towns in western New York and Ohio and Georgia. The town themselves were named Athens, Syracuse, Troy, and Rome. A lamp to ready by, a fork to eat with, a chair to sit on were all Greek inspired. Why Greek? Because the Greeks invented democracy. However, in classical ties, democracy meant mod-rule, and a republic meant rule by the people. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27
It did not matter that only a small proportion of ancient Greeks actually got to participate in government. It was only during the Enlightenment that the attitude toward the common human changed from “the mob” to the “noble savage,” and democracy became desirable. Sober, serious, understated, and elegant, every parlor is a Parthenon in 1832. How much different could a parlor be from the late Victorian riot of objects and patterns? To Americans, however, democracy was a Greek concept and the rule of the common human was democracy. The Greek Revival in interiors is usually called American Empire, and it was a style admirably suited to the new realities of American life. Empire furniture is usually made of mahogany veneer sheathing substantial monumental shapes. Carving, which has been such a prominent feature of the Federal style, practically disappeared. The furniture achieved its effect of beauty of its surfaces and the drama of its silhouette. A modern viewer might not realize that it is the first mass-produced, machine-made furniture in America. New steam and water-powered sawmills could cut Honduras mahogany into inexpensive veneers. New, machine-tooled casters and nuts and bolts joined bed parts into a whole. New transportation opened larger markets and made large-scale furniture factories profitable. #RandolphHarris 13 of 27
The simplicity of American Empire furniture appealed to the common human of Jacksonian American. The affordable prices also appealed to the common humans as well. Americans saw themselves as noble, honest democrats, founding a new egalitarian system in the wilderness. What better furnishings could there be than simple, sturdy, egalitarian Greek? This feeling was very profound, but fleeting. The country changes so quickly between the 180s and 1850s that new needs had to be met by a new architecture and a new furniture style. It is safe to say that the second most important room in the Victorian home was the dining room, where not only the family gathered, but where social interaction took place among family and visitors. “In the family it should be observed as a rule to meet together at all meals of the day around one common table where the same rules of etiquette should be as rigidly observed as the at the table of a stranger,” said Almon Verney in his Our Homes and Their Adornments. Up to the Elizabethan period, no one room was specifically designated for eating. Meals took place in sitting rooms, kitchens, or hall/entrance ways (which were sizable) in which tables and chairs, or benches, were set up for meals, then removed afterward. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27
Grand mansions, of course, had their banquet halls. It was when a room convenient to the kitchen and pantry evolved, that the dining room, as we know it, came to be. Dining rooms were also public rooms in which the best in furniture and décor was displayed. Typical dining room furniture would be a table, if possible with extensions (an invention that occurred during the Victorian period), dining chair, and a sideboard or chiffonier for storing serving pieces and presenting food. During this period, the dining rose to the most elegant state. Etiquette books prescribing serving and dining behavior down to the smallest detail. Serving pieces and dining utensils had very specific purposes such as pickle tongs, celery dishes, and syllabub-sticks. Sideboards of walnut, oak, or mahogany could include features like carved columns and friezes, pediments, and cornices, and were small works of architecture in themselves. Styles ranged from the intricately carved Jacobean and Gothic or Rococo Revival, to the clean lies of a Sheraton or Chippendale piece. Beginning around the 1860s, the sideboard was the most important piece of furniture in the dining room, equal in relevance to the parlor’s center table. Families with sufficient means had built in sideboards. #RandolphHarris 15 of 27
An 1892 Ladies Home Journal article tells what the sideboard is for, “Several people have asked me about the uses of the sideboard. The drawers are for the silver and cutlery, the closets for wine, if they be used, and often for such things as preserved ginger, confectionary, cut sugar, and indeed, any of the many little things that one likes to have in the dining-room yet out of sight. The water pitcher and other sliver and pretty bits of china can be placed on the sideboard. Cracker jar and fruit dish also belong there. At dinner time the dessert dishes are usually arranged upon it.” Life’s unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves. “Behold, now it came to pass that after the people of Ammon were established in the land of Jershon, yea, and also after the Lamanites were driven out of the land, and their dead were buried by the people of the land—Now their dead were not numbered because of the greatness of their numbers; neither were the dead of the Nephites numbered—but it came to pass after they had buried their dead, and also after the days of fasting, and mourning and prayer, (and it was in the sixteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi) there began to be continual peace throughout all the land. #RandolphHarris 16 of 27
“Yea, and the people did observe to keep the commandments of the Lord; and they were strict in observing the ordinances of God, according to the law of Moses; for they were taught to keep the law of Moses until it should be fulfilled. And thus the people did have no disturbance in all the sixteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And it came to pass that in the commencement of the seventeenth year of the reign of the judges, there was continual peace. However, it came to pass in the latter end of the seventeenth year, there came a man into the land of Zarahemla, and he was Anti-Christ, for he began to preach unto the people against the prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets, concerning the coming of Christ. Now there was no law against a human’s belief; for it was strictly contrary to the commands of God that there should be a law which should bring humans on to unequal grounds. For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve. Now if a human desired to serve God, it was one’s privilege; or rather, if one believed in God it was one’s privilege to serve him there was no law to punish one. However, if one murdered one was punished unto death; and if one robbed one was also punished; and if one committed adultery one was also punished; yea, for all this wickedness they were punished. #RandolphHarris 17 of 27
“For there was a law that humans should be judged according to their crimes. Nevertheless, there was no law against a human’s belief; therefore a human was punished only for the crimes which one had done; therefore, all humans were on equal grounds. And this Anti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the people that there should be no Christ. And after this manner did he preach, saying: O ye that are bound down under a foolish and a vain hope why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye look for a Chris? For no human can know of anything which is to come. Behold, these things which ye call prophecies, which ye say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your fathers. How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall be a Christ. Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. However, behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall be a Christ. Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your skins. However, behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds becomes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27
“And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no more atonement made for the sins of humans, but every human fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every human prospered according to one’s genius, and that every human conquered according to one’s strength; and whatsoever a human did was no crime. And thus one did preach unto then, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms—telling them that when a human was dead, that was the end thereof. Now this human went over to the land of Jershon also, to preach these things among the people of Ammon, who were once the people of the Lamanites. However, behold they were more wise than many of the Nephites; for they took one around, and bound one, and carried one before Ammon, who was a high priest over that people. And it came to pass that one caused the one should be carried out of the land. And one cam over into the land of Gideon, and began to preach unto them also; and here one did not have much success, for one was taken and bound and carried before the high priest, and also the chief judge over the land. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27
“And it came to pass that the high priest said unto him: Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord? Why do ye teach this people that there shall be no Christ, to interrupt their rejoicings? Why do ye speak against all the prophecies of the holy prophets? Now the high priest’s name was Giddonah. And Korihor said unto him: Because I do not teach the foolish traditions of your fathers, and because I do not teach this people to bind themselves down under the foolish ordinances and performances which are laid down by ancient priests, to usurp power and authority over them, to keep them in ignorance, that they may not lift up their heads, but be brought down according to thy words. Ye say that this people is a free people. Behold, I say they are in bondage. Ye say that those ancient prophecies are true. Behold, I say that ye do not know that they are true. Ye say that this people is a guilty and a fallen people, because of the transgression of a parent. Behold, I say that a child is not guilty because of its parents. And ye also say that Christ shall be come. However, behold, I say that ye do not know that he shall be slain for the sins of the World. And thus ye lead away this people after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and according to your own desires. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27
“And ye keep them down, even as it were in bondage, that ye may glut yourselves with the labours of their hands, that they durst not look up with boldness, and that they durst not enjoy their rights and privileges. Yea, they durst not make use of that which is their own lest they should offend their priests, who do yoke them according to their desires, and have brought them to believe, by their traditions and their dreams and their whims and the visions and their pretended mysteries, that they should, if they did not do according to their words, offend some unknow being, who they says is God—a being who never has been seen or known, who never was nor ever will be. Now when the high priest and the chief judge saw the hardness of his heart, yes, when they say that he would revile even against God, they would not make any reply to his words; but they caused that he should be bound; and they delivered him up into the hands of the officers, and sent him to the land of Zarahemla, that he might be brought before Alma, and the chief judge who was governor over all the land. And it came to pass that when we was brought before Alma and the chief judge, he did go on in the same manner as he did in the land of Gideon; yea, he went on to blaspheme. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27
“And he did rise up in great swelling words before Alma, and did revile against the priests and teachers, accusing them of leading away the people after the silly traditions of their fathers, for the sake of glutting on the labours of the people. Now Alma said unto him: Thou knowest that we do not glut ourselves upon the labours of this people; for behold I have laboured even from the commencement of the reign of the judges until now, with mine own hands for my support, notwithstanding my many travels round about the land to declare the word of God unto my people. And notwithstanding the many labours which I have performed in the churches, I have never received so much as even one senine for my labour; neither has any of my brethren, save it were in the judgment-seat; and then we have received only according to law for our time. And now, if we do not receive anything for our labours in the church, what doth it profit us to labour in the church save it were to declare the truth, that we may have rejoicings in the joy of our brethren? Then why sayest thou that we preach unto this people to get gain, when thou, of thyself, knowest that we receive no gain? And now, believest thou we deceive this people, that causes such joy in their hearts? #RandolphHarris 22 of 27
“And Korihor answered him, Yea. And then Alma said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God? And he answered, Nay. Now Alma said unto him: Will ye deny against that there is a God, and also deny the Christ? For behold, I say unto you, I know there is a God, and also that Christ shall come. And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only. However, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these tings are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them? Believest thou that these things are true? Behold, I know that thou believest, but thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye have put off the Spirit of God that it may have no place in you; but the devil has power over you, and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may destroy the children of God. And now Koihor said unto Alma: If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words. However, Alma said unto him: Thou hast ad signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also the holy prophets? #RandolphHarris 23 of 27
“The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator. And yet do ye go about, leading away the hearts of this people, testifying unto them there is no God? And yet will ye deny against all these witnesses? And he said: Yea, I will deny, except ye shall show me a sign. And now it came to pass that Alma said unto him: Behold, I am grieved because of the hardness of your heart, yea, that ye will still resist the spirit of the truth, that thy soul may be destroyed. However, behold, it is better than thy soul should be lost than that thou shouldst be the means of bringing many souls down to destruction, by thy lying and by the flattering words; therefore if thou shalt deny again, behold God shall smite thee, that thou shalt become dumb, that thou shalt never open thy mouth any more, that thou shalt not deceive this people any more. Now Korihor said unto him: I do not deny the existence of a God, but I do not believe there is a God; and I say also that ye do not know that there is a God; and except ye show me a sign, I will not believe. Now Alma said unto him: This will I give unto thee for a sign, that thou shalt be struck dumb, according to my words; and I say, that in the name of God, ye shall be struck dumb, that ye shall no more have utterance. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27
“Now when Alma had said these words, Korior was struck dumb, that we could not have utterance, according to the words of Alma. And now when the chief judge saw this, he put forth his hand and wrote unto Korihor, saying: Art thou convinced of the power of God? In whom did ye desire that Alma should show forth his sign? Behold, he has showed unto you a sign; and now will ye dispute more? And Korihor put forth his hand and wrote, saying: I know that I am dumb, for I cannot speak; and I know that nothing save it were the power of God could bring this upon me; yea, and I always knew that there was a God. However, behold, the devil hath deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: Go and reclaim this people, for they have all gone astray after an unknow God. And he said unto me: There is no God; yea, and he taught me that which I should say. And I have taught his words; and I taught them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind; and I taught them, even until I have much success, insomuch that I verily believed that they were true; and for this cause I withstood the truth, even until I have brought this great curse upon me. Now when he had said this, he besought that Alma should pray unto God, that the curse might be taken from him. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27
“However, Alma said unto him: If this curse should be taken from thee though wouldst again lead away the hearts of this people; therefore, it shall be unto thee even as the Lord will. And it came to pass that the curse was not taken off of Korihor; but he was cast out, and went about from house to house begging for his food. Now the knowledge of what had happened unto Korihor was immediately published throughout all the land; yea, the proclamation was sent forth by the chief judge to all the people in the land, declaring unto those who had believed in the words of Korihor that they must speedily repent, lest the same judgments would come unto them. And it came to pas that they were all convinced of the wickedness of Korihor; therefore they were all converted again unto the Lord; and this put an end to the inequity after the manner of Krihor. And Korihor did go about from house to house, begging food for his support. And it came to pass that as he went forth among the people, yes, among a people who has separated themselves from the Nephites and called themselves Zoramites, being led by a man whose name was Zoram—and as he went forth amongst them, behold, he was run upon and trodden down, even until he wad dead. #RandolphHarris 26 of 27
“And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last say, but doth speedily drag them down to hell,” reports Alma 30.1-60. Various writer bear witness to the majesty and the preciousness of our Anglican Collects. These beautiful Collects, which has soothed the griefs of forty generations of Christians. It is some of the most passionate, proper, and most elegant comprehensive expressions that any language ever afforded with the gifted Iayman, who said that for 1200 years they had been as the manna in the wilderness to devout spirits, and were, next to Scriptures itself, the clearest standards whereby genuine piety might de discerned; and with divines of our own day, who dwell on the stores of exact theology which are laid up in the Collects, and on their power to deliver our worship from incoherency, and to sustain it with strong and satisfying views of the Divine love. It is, indeed, this wonderful blending of strength and sweetness in the Collects, which has called forth so much love and admiration, and has made them such a bound of union for pious minds of different times and countries; even as the same imagery, in regard to their effect, naturally occurs to a bishop of Treves in the sixth century, and to an Anglican poet in the nineteenth. #RandolphHarris 27 of 27
Prayers to the Ancestors—the ancient Celts honoured their ancestors. Most cultures have such a day, and you should use whatever one is right for your ancestry. I have chanted your names each Samian as is my duty. I have offered thanksgiving gifts. I have never forgotten where I came from, and have kept the old ways, as is only proper. I therefore turn in confidence to you, spirits of my Ancestors, and ask your protection for my family and all its property. The ground which we stand, the starter block of our race; the slate on which we write, the pattern behind our lives. You who have lived in the times before us, who laid down the way on which we travel, who established traditions that guide our people, whose blood flows red within us, whose genes have engendered us: a gift for you, a small one in return for the great ones you have given us. Even the greatest, life itself, is your gift to us. A gift, then, from life to the dead. Old Ones who grace our shrine, who grace our line, who grace our lives: we honour you with right living, making you proud of us; the best offering you could receive. However, today a small offering, a token.

Winchester Mystery House
Looking for something fun to do with the family this weekend? Experience the Winchester Mystery House in-person or from the comfort of your own home. Use code WMH13 for a $3.99 rental of the Video Tour, and enjoy $6 access to the 360° Tour! Offers expire tonight.