Sanity is expensive. Imperfection action is better than perfect inaction. There is no immediate guarantee that the good human may not become a vicious one. The evolutionary arc does not rise with utter smoothness; there are strayings aside, fallings down, and erratic jags. However, there is an ultimate guarantee that the experiences of life are so ordained as to open the eyes and direct the will of every human at some point, and to repeat this process at intervals until one does so of one’s own spontaneous accord. Easy hops about perpetual progress and shallow optimism about scientific improvement are alike going to be frustrated so long as the higher development of a human oneself is less valued. Things and information are accumulated. This is naively called progress, although the human who uses them is as bad as before—as one’s inability to stop warring clearly shows. The mere movement in time does not automatically bring progress. If left to their own capacity, many would fall back and fail to grow. However, life or Nature does not have them unassisted like that. For there is the World-Idea, the vital spark, the germ born of World-Mind, the mental picture held by the higher power, which pushes each living cell to fulfill itself. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

However, there is also ignorance, opposition, and deterioration. Humans must make their contribution and, in the end, does so. One has to. As the World-Idea unfolds, one gets more self-control and gains self-knowledge until one discovers God. There is no choice in the matter, ultimately, although there is immediately. The entire human race will have to traverse the course chalked out for it, will have to develop the finer feelings the concrete intellect, the abstract intellect, the balance between the different sides. If humans do not seek to do so now, it is only a question of time before they will be forced to do so later. Humans will be redeemed and saved. This is not mere pious wishful thinking but ineluctable destiny. If this redemption and this salvation were not eventually possible and inescapably certain, the divine World-Idea could not be realized. It is easier to transform a wilderness into a garden flourishing with plant and flowers than to transform humanity into a special race. I may seem a very extravagant attempt to the sceptics to destroy reason by argument and ratiocination; yet is this the grace scope of all their enquiries and disputes. They endeavour to find objections, both to our abstract reasonings, and to those which regard matter of fact existence. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

The chief objection against all abstract reasoning is derived from the ideas of space and time; ideas, which, in common life and to a careless view, are very clear and intelligible, but when they pass through the scrutiny of the profound sciences (and they are the chief object of these sciences) afford principles, which seem full of absurdity and contradiction. No priestly doctrines and covenants, invented on purpose to tame and subdue the rebellious reason of humankind, ever shocked commonsense more than the doctrine of the infinite divisibility of extension, with its consequences; as they are pompously displayed by all geometricians and metaphysicians, with a kind of triumph and exultation. A real quantity, infinitely less than any finite quantity, containing quantities infinitely less than itself, and so on in infinitum; this is an edifice so bold and prodigious, that it is too weighty for any pretended demonstration to support, because it shocks the clearest and most natural principles of human reason. However, time and life, evolution and experience will all combine to transform humanity int a spiritual race. The movement up to higher levels will be slow and painful, the maturation of human character retarded and halting, but they will be sure because they are written in the fate of humans. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

Set, in the Egyptian religion, was the Destroyer, the leader of the powers of darkness, the opposer of Life and the adversary of aspiring humans; hence he was turned into Satan by the Christians, into Shai’tan by the Israelites. However, just as Set was defeated in the end, his power broken and his submission as a penitent accepted, so humans, the prodigal son, will return and will be saved, despite one’s sins. The covenant has been made: there is ultimate hope for all. The World-Idea is operative on ever level. It invites savage humans to outwit their fellow animals by beginning to use brain-power through arrows, slings, and primitive traps; at a higher level to compete with fellow humans and rise economically and socially by using the same power; at a still higher level to reduce sufferings and self-made miseries by practising control over self and avoidance of injury to others; then, at a still higher level, to discover and nurture their spiritual nature. Humans are what they are. We have only to look around and see how the great Avatars have not much saved the human species. It is still more or les what it was a thousand years ago. If those humans of light and power could not change the masses, how can others do so? Is this a doctrine of hopelessness? No! #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

Despite themselves, humans will have to change, but it will be under the inexorable pressure of the World-Idea, which will be their teacher, their guide, and their enlightener, because it is the expression of the World-Mind. As the two interact—the human purpose and the World-Idea—each human slowly unfolds one’s intelligence, which is the fusion of intellect with intuition, and this culminates in Enlightenment, the ultimate and revelatory Insight. The movement upward from the ego’s “me” to the real “I” consciousness is as sure as the movement of the planets themselves. Human life does not escape the working of divine law. Human though, feeling, and actin all fall within its circle. The law is unalterable and absolute, universal and sure. Even when its operation is quite unseen and unknown, it always operates because the development of human entities is a part of its own reason for existence. In the end, and whatever one’s heredity or environment may predetermine and irrespective of one’s own free choices, the development as well as the history of humans must move in obedience to the World-Idea. What that is is known in its completeness only to the World-Mind, but sudden or fleeting glimpses of some tiny part of it have come to a few seers. Yet these perceptions have been received, recorded, and handed down as tremendous revelations—and quite rightly. The affections are movers of the will as well as of the appetite. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

Indeed, their influence is at times so direct and so great as to overpower the will. This happens whenever the appetite wins imagination away from reason. Affective and emotional states furnish the materials for striking, irresistible images of desirable action. A human stirred up beyond reason is clearly “perturbed;” and the perturbations and distempers of the affections are regarded as the diseases and infirmities of the mind. It may be fitly said that if the affection, as winds, do not put it into tumult and perturbation, the mind in its own nature will be temperate and staid. If any, the affections, then, would seem to play a minor role in the life of the temperate, rational, and philosophic person. It is clear, however, that the affections play an essential role in the life of the human of action. They can be called upon to move the will quite properly and legitimately. For educated humans in the Elizabethan and Jacobean times, this point is well illustrated by Thomas Vicary: “acts of loving, fearing, et cetera, commonly called by the name of affections (I speak with submission to better Judgments) are only the motion [movers] of the will, by which it gorth forth to the embracing of its object which is good, which considers in the general nature is loved, considered as in the fruition is delighted in; considered in the future as attainable, if with ease is desired; if with difficulty, is hoped for; if the will or these affections be fixed on their proper object, there is no danger in the excesse. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

Whenever reason has had its chance to decide what is the right thing to do, when deliberation has taken place and the will must say yes or no, the affections may well unite with the imagination to urge the course of right reason, thus bringing to bear the full resources of the human being for the moving of the will. In fact, in the lives of practical humans the dry light of reason alone does not usually secure action, country to what Stoic disciples believe. When relied upon solely as an agent of action, for that matter, nor does virtue secure good conduct. In reality, their virtues are moderators: they restrain it, they limit it, they govern it, they amplify it not. They give excellent form to the mind, but they take away much of its natural vigour. However, the affections make the mind heroical, give it power to exceed itself, and fascinate and bind others. The affections are the motions [movers] of the mind, and the virtues need them. A rational prudence takes its vigour from fear and wonder; it finds temperance in modesty, fortitude in indignation. In general, all virtues take measure, power, and strength from the affections. It is probably that the affections, on their part, exert their influence through the spirits. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

The affections (no doubt) do make the spirits more powerful and active; and especially those affections which draw the spirits into the eyes: which are two, love and envy. The general physiological principle is that the spirits, in all passions, resort most to the parts that labour most, or are most affected. The physiological evidences of the passions, for example, fear causes paleness, trembling, the standing of the hair upright, starting, screeching. Joy, sorrow (grief and sadness), fear, anger, envy, compassion, shame, love, and hope are all emotions. However, fear and hope are the predominant affections. Laughter is intellectual, not emotional; it is scarce (properly) a passion, but hath one’s source from the intellect; for in laughing there ever precedeth a conceit of somewhat ridiculous; and therefore it is proper to humans. The impact of the affections upon the will—and upon human’s conduct—produce more good than harm. If a human could recognize the, know their natures, and learn their proper uses, the affections would become the servant of reason, not the master of reason. The compulsion exercised by the World-Idea is a secret obscure one, but it may become clearer and plainer as events unfold and experience increases. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

The achievement of these goals is not left to the effects of chance or the whims of humans. It is the half-hidden, half-declared purpose of Nature, and as such is quite compulsive. The mass of people are like blind worms wriggling through the Earth. They toil but do not know the real value of their labours is not in the passages they make for air and moisture or in the fertile mould they carry to the soil’s surface. No!—it is in the evolutionary consequences within themselves. They have tried and tried to find their own substitute for the higher-than-animal life, but it is ordained that satisfaction of the physical needs of the human species is not enough to give them fulfilment, and not that not even the satisfaction of their cultural needs can do so. They are forced in the end to push onward and upward. Life is governed by its own mysterious laws, driven in certain directions by it own mysterious momentum, conformed to a hidden scheme by its own mysterious quality. Nature is significant. The human entity is not just drifting. It will certainly arrive somewhere. Human beings are not only what their past births have made them but also, in the most popular and least accurate language, what God has made them. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

We have to pass from prattling about human’s long-past Fall to declaring their newly possible Rise. It is time to take a better view of humans, and certainly of their prospects. All good tings that exist, God wills to be. If therefore God’s will imposes necessity on things willed, it follows that all good happens of necessity; and this there is an end of free will, counsel, and all other such things. The divine will imposes necessity on some things willed but not on all. The reason of this some have chosen to assign to intermediate causes, holding that what God produces by necessary causes is necessary; and what God produces by contingent causes contingent. This does not seem to be a sufficient explanation, for two reasons. First, because the effect of a first cause is contingent on account of a second cause, from the fact that the effect of the first cause is hindered by deficiency in the second cause, as the sun’s power is hindered by a defect in the planet. However, no effect of a secondary cause can hinder God’s will from producing its effect. Secondly, because if the distinction between the contingent and the necessary is to be referred only to secondary causes, this must be independent of the divine intention and will; which is inadmissible. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

It is better therefore to say that this happens on account of the efficacy of the divine will. For when a cause is efficacious to act, the effect follows upon the cause, not only as to the thing done, but also as to its manner of being done or of being. Thus from defect of active power in the seed it may happen that a child is born unlike its father in accidental points, that belong to its manner of being. Since then the divine will is perfectly efficacious, it follows not only that thing are done, which God wills to be done, but also that they are done in the way the He wills. Now God wills some things to be done necessarily, some contingently, to the right ordering of things, for the building up of the Universe. Therefore to some effect God has attached necessary causes, that cannot fail; but to others defectible and contingent causes, from which arise contingent effects. Hence it is not because the proximate causes are contingent that the effects willed by God happen contingently, but because God prepared contingent causes for them, it being His will that they should happen contingently. By the words of Augustine we must understand a necessity in things willed by God that is not absolute, but conditional. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

For the conditional statement that is God wills a thing, it must necessarily be, is true. From the very fact that nothing resists the divine will, it follows that no only those things happen that God wills to happen, but that they happen necessarily or contingently according to His will. Consequents have necessity from their antecedents according to the mode of the antecedents. Hence things effected by the divine will have that kind of necessity that God wills them to have, either absolute or conditional. Not all things, therefore, are absolute necessities. Recognizing this, humanity will within a certain time—not in our time—humbly submit as it once did in prehistoric times to rulers guided by true self-actualized and adopt the higher forms of government inspired by the true facts of life. Philosophers will then not be merely the witnesses of their age but also its activators. Then only will humanity at last prevent outer war, even through its own moral nature will still need much more growth. With that recognition, Nature herself will grow kindlier and the area of other forms of human suffering will diminish noticeably. Even though we will reach a higher kind of civilization one day, human differences will continue to express themselves. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

Nobler and wiser types of humanity, standing at loftier altitudes of consciousness, will begin to emerge from the mass. If they are all too few today they will be more numerous tomorrow. We are very far from the true humans which are destined to become, the evolved masterpieces of Nature. We possess only rare inklings of the say when the ego’s “I” will be transformed into God’s I-ness. The waves of life have moved across other planets before arriving on this Earth and, when this has outserved its usefulness, will move on again. The inhabitants of each planet belong to different stages of evolution: some higher and some lower. This applies not only to the human inhabitants but also to the animal and even the plant inhabitants. They pass in great waves from one planet to another at certain stages of this evolution, going where they can find the most appropriate conditions either for expression of their present stage or for the stimulation of their next immediate stage. Consequently the stragglers and the laggards who fall behind pass to a planet where the conditions are of a lower nature, for there they are more at home. On the other hand, the pioneers who have outstripped the mass and can find no conditions suitable for their further development pass to a planet in a higher stage. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

Where life meaning is lacking, performance is at a premium. If it is successful, “performance”—in art or sports, for example—creates the illusion of meaning for a magical moment. Performance presupposes an artificial context in which some portions of life, action, or experience is present as a whole, meaningful, unique, flowing—transcendent to ordinary existence. This may be in some area of art, or in sports, or in politics. Unfortunately, it may also be in religion, or in the intimate relations of life. However, in these latter areas, performance is not really valued unless it deals effectively with life and reality as a whole and does not presuppose an artificial context. Otherwise the performance is a shame. Here performance really must mean competence and must eliminate illusion. Mere “acting” will not do. If we see how fanaticism comes in, it will further help us to understand the reality of soul in life. Fanaticism—in art, politics, sports, or religion, to names some of the main kinds—is the result of inherently meaningless lines becoming obsessed with performance and then trying to take all of their existence into it. Being a fan of…is treated as something deep and important. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

 Because those of us who do this do not have a whole soul directing their lives toward good, rooted in God, they allow a “flow” they find outside themselves to take over their thoughts, feelings, behaviour, and social relations. That flow intoxicates them. They absolutize the flow and no longer subject it to ordinary tests of truth, reality, and tried-and true human values. Thus winning of a championship by a city team can lead to looting, burning, and death. Romantic/pleasures of the flesh relationships can play the same obsessing role, as can “success,” leading to workaholic absorption. All of these are reflections of a nonfunctional or broken or recessive soul with inadequate resources to deal with the whole human life. The nonfunctioning soul falls easy pray to the mob and to pressures from others. It is the source of the “other-directed person” and “the lonely crowd” that are so prominent today. So it really does not matter what our theories are, or how “modern” we may be. If only by the shambles left behind when it departs, Soul will always reassert itself as a reality. What tyrants prey upon is the soul, as have all the great twenty-first century destroyers—or rather upon the loss of soul and the revenge that loss take upon the masses. Similarly for those who produce the wasteland of contemporary pop culture, for the local news to Jerry Springer. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

Those who deny the soul, perhaps for what they regard as the most overwhelming of scientific and philosophical reasonings, still have to live a life, and they need to find the resources for it. If they cannot deal with that need in terms of a healthy soul, they still have to deal with it in some terms. What shall those terms be? They have to find them in one way or another, and not always are equal. The soul will strike back. Our life is eternal, and this knowledge helps us to make correct choices and comforts us in times of mourning. That eternity does not begin after this life but mortality is a crucial part of eternity. When they seem to be at the crossroads, uncertain as to which way they wanted to go, I sometimes have said to my friends that “Today is the beginning of eternal happiness or eternal disappointment for you.” To know that life is eternal is a wonderful blessing. We have lived as spirits before we came to Earth, and our spirits will continue living after we die. Our comprehension of this life is that it is eternal life—that we are living in eternity today as much as we ever will live in eternity. Our belief is that we lived before we came here; that which is intelligence, that which is spirit, did not have its beginning in this life. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

We believe that we received a spiritual tabernacle before we came into this World. That spiritual body was sent to this World, and here it received a physical tabernacle, the body which we see. The physical portion that we see is of Earth, Earthly. “The first human is of the Earth, Earthly: the second human is the Lord from Heaven,” reports 1 Corinthians 15.47. When our lives go out, that portion which leaves the body, is spiritual, and it never dies. The physical tabernacle lies in the tomb—it is a portion of the Earth—but the intelligence that God has placed within it, that which has power to reason and to think, that which has power to ding and to speak, knowns no death; it simply passes from this sphere of eternal life, and awaits there the physical purification of the physical tabernacle, until the time it will be reunited with this tabernacle, which will be glorified, even as the body of our risen Lord was glorified, if we have lived to be worthy of it. Life is real, Life is earnest, and the gave is not the goal. The spirit that inhabits the tabernacle is immortal. It lives beyond the grave. The body decays and returns to Earth but the spirit lives on. I am thankful that there has been revealed to us and made pain in this latter-day that this life is not the end, this is but a part of eternity. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

If we take advantages of our privileged in this mortal life and do not abuse them, we will eventually come to know that this is but a stepping stone to a greater and more desirable condition. Our purpose here on Earth is to prepare ourselves to live with our Heavenly Father. This lifetime is not given to us as a pastime. There is a solemn purpose in our creation, in the life that God has given to us. Let us study what that purposes is, that we may progress and obtain eternal life. We believe that we are on Earth because we kept our first estate and earned the privilege of coming to this Earth. We believe that our very existence is a reward for our faithfulness before we came here, and that we are enjoying on Earth the fruits of our efforts in the spirit World. We also believe that we are sowing the seed today of a harvest that we will reap when we go from here. Eternal life is to us the sum of pre-existence, present existence, and the continuation of life in immortality, holding out to us the power of endless progression and increase. With that feeling and that assurance, we believe that as humans are, God once was, and as God is, humans may become. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

Being created in the image of God, we believe that it is not improper, that it is not unrighteous, for us to hope that we may be permitted to part take of the attributes of deity and, if we are faithful, to become like unto God; for as we receive of and obey the natural laws of our Father that govern this life, we become more like Him; and as we take advantage of the opportunities placed within our reach, we prepare to receive greater opportunities in this life and in the life that is to come. What a happy people we should be with the knowledge we have that this probation is not to prepare us to die, but to live; that our Father’s desire for us is that we may avoid every error and receive every truth, and by applying truth in our lives become more like God, and become worthy to dwell with Him. Prayers are an important introduction to our religion. They contain principles of belief and guides for conduct, and provide a healthy example of the proper relationship between God and people. Through them, children and adults may first come to experience the sacred, something that will sustain them through their whole life. Do not just pray for your children; then pray with them. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

May God walk besides me and my loved once through their lives, guiding our steps into the way proper to us, guiding our us along the sacred path. Dwelling in the shelter of the Most High, abiding under the protection the Almighty, I say of the Lord: “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the destructive pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under His wings shall you take refuge; His truth is a shield and armour. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flied by day; of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction that ravages at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. You shall behold with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your fortress, and the Most High your refuge, no evil shall befall you, neither shall any plague come near your home. For God will give His Angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways. They shall bear you upon their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and asp, you shall trample on the young lion and serpent. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

Cresleigh Homes

This year, let’s hit ‘reset’ on décor we aren’t satisfied with anymore and brighten up our spaces! Learn all about it in today’s blog. Link in bio. 🙌 https://cresleigh.com/blog/

Cresleigh Meadows is now selling! Found just north of Feather River Boulevard, Cresleigh Meadows is home of the largest neighborhood in Plumas Ranch as well as the popular Bear River Park. With four floor plans available, ranging from approximately 2,000 – 3,500 square feet offering, three to five bedrooms, we are certain you will find the home that fits your needs and lifestyle.

Popular design elements include open floor plans, large kitchen islands, and flex spaces are staples in Cresleigh homes. Additional game rooms, bedroom space and three-car garages provide other custom possibilities.

Gain the freedom of large home sites and the extra space and flexibility with Cresleigh Riverside. Homeowners will love the convenient commuter access to nearly Sacramento and Yuba City.

Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Go. https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-meadows-at-plumas-ranch/

Cresleigh offers award-winning, single-family homes, built with Cresleigh’s commitment to quality, value and craftsmanship. Enjoy a warm and welcoming neighbourhoods, perfect for families of all ages. #CresleighHomes