Television is the test of the modern World and in this new opportunity to see beyond the range of our vision we shall discover either a new and unbearable disturbance of the general peace or a saving radiance in the sky. We shall stand or fall by the television—of that I am quite sure. The new forms of equilibrium by no means constitute a straight line of human improvement. Frequently in history new achievements have led to regressive developments. Many times, when forced to find a new solution, humans run into a blind alley from which one has to extricate oneself; and it is indeed remarkable that thus far in history one has been able to do so. Human’s nature cannot be defined in terms of a specific quality, such as love, hate, reason, good or evil, but only in terms of fundamental contradictions that characterize human existence and have their root in the biological dichotomy between missing instincts and self-awareness. Human’s existential conflict produces certain psychic needs common to all humans. One is forced to overcome the horror of separateness, of powerlessness, and of lostness, and find new forms of relating oneself to the World to enable one to feel at home. These psychic needs are called existential because they are rooted in the very conditions of human existence. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

Existential needs are shared by all humans, and their fulfillment is as necessary for human’s remaining sane as the fulfillment of organic drives is necessary for their remaining alive. However, each of these needs can be satisfied in different ways, which vary according to the differences of one’s social condition. These different ways of satisfying the existential needs manifest themselves in passions, such as love, tenderness, striving for justice, independence, truth, hate, sadism, masochism, destructiveness, narcissism. These are character-rooted passions—or simply human passions—because they are integrated in human’s character. Character is the relatively permanent system of all noninstinctual strivings through which humans relate themselves to the human and natural World. One may understand character as the human substitute for the missing terrestrial instincts; it is human’s second nature. What all humans have in common are their organic drives (even though highly modifiable by experience) and their existential needs. What they do not have in common are the kinds of passions that are dominant in their respective characters—character-rooted passions. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

The difference in character is largely due to the difference in social conditions (although genetically given dispositions also influence the formation of the character); for this reason one can call character-rooted passions a historical category and instincts a natural category. Yet the former are not a purely historical category either, because they are the result of the impact the various historical constellations have on the biologically given conditions of human existence. Reconstruction of the human’s mind may have happened at the beginning of prehistory. The evidence lies essentially in those findings which indicate that humans, perhaps as early as half a million years ago (Peking Man) had cults and rituals, manifesting that one’s concerns went beyond satisfying one’s material needs. The history of prehistoric religion and art (not separable in those times) is the main source for the study of primitive human’s mind. Obviously, I cannot set forth into this vast and as yet controversial territory within the context of the study. We cannot reveal the nature of prehistoric human’s mind unless we have a key with which we can decipher it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

This key, I believe, is our own mind Not our conscious thoughts, but those categories of thought and feeling that are buried in our unconscious and yet are an experiential core present in all humans of all cultures; briefly, it is what I would like to call human’s primary human experience. This primary human experience is in itself rooted in human’s existential situation. For this reason it is common to all human and does not need to be explained as being racially inherited. The first question, of course, is whether we can find his key; whether we can transcend our normal frame of mind and transpose ourselves into the mind of the “original man.” Drama, poetry, art, myth have done this, but not psychology, with the exception of psychoanalysis. The various psychoanalytic schools have done it in different ways; Dr. Freud’s original man was a historical construct of the member of a patriarchally organized human band, ruled and exploited by a father-tyrant against whom the sons rebel, and whose internalization is the basis for the formation of the superego and a new social organization. Dr. Freud’s aim was to help the contemporary patient to discover one’s own unconscious by letting one share the experience of what Dr. Freud believed to be his earliest ancestors. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

Even though this model of original man was fictitious and the corresponding “Oedipus complex” was not the deepest level of human experience, Dr. Freud’s hypothesis opened up an entirely new possibility: that all humans of every period and culture had shared a basic experience with their common ancestors. Thus Dr. Freud added another historical argument to the humanist belief that all humans share the common core of humanity. We are particularly interested in the variety of myths, rituals, and religions. Myths can be ingeniously and brilliantly used as a kay for understanding of the unconscious, and thus builds a bridge between mythology and psychology more systematically and extensively than ever before. The use of our unconscious is a key to the understanding of prehistory. This requires the practice of self-knowledge in the psychoanalytic sense: the removal of a major part of our resistance against the awareness of our unconscious, thus reducing the difficulty of penetrating from our conscious mind to the depth of our core. Provided we are able to do this, we can understand our fellow humans who live in the same culture as we do, also have humans of an entirely different culture, and even a mad human. We can also sense what original humans must have experienced, what existential need one had, and in what ways human (including ourselves) can respond to these needs. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

When we see primitive art, down to the cave paintings of thirty thousand years ago, or the art of radically different cultures like the African or Greek of that of the Middles Ages, we take it for granted that we understand them, in spite of the fact that these cultures were radically different from ours. We dream symbols and myths that are like those men thousands of years ago conceived when they were awake. Are they not a common language of all humanity, regardless of vast differences in conscious perception? Humans felt themselves brutally torn for their environment and isolated in the middle of a World whose measure and laws they did not know; they therefore felt obliged to learn, by constant bitter effort and their own mistakes, everything one had to know to survive. The animals surrounding one came and went, indefatigably repeating the same actions: hunting, gathering, searching for water, doubling or fleeing to defend themselves against innumerable enemies; for them, periods of rest and activity succeed each other in an unchanging rhythm fixed by the needs for food or sleep, reproduction or protection. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

Humans detach themselves from their surroundings; they feel alone, abandoned, ignorant of everything except that one knows nothing. One’s first feeling thus was existential anxiety, which may even have taken them to the limits of despair. Self-awareness and foresight brought, however, the awesome gifts of freedom and responsibility. Humans feel free to execute some of their plans and to leave others in abeyance. They feel the joy of being the master, rather than a slave, of the World and of oneself. However, the joy is tempered by a feeling of responsibility. Humans know that they are accountable for their acts: they have acquired the knowledge of good and evil. This is a dreadfully heavy load to carry. No other animal has to withstand anything like it. There is a tragic discord in the soul of humans. Among the flaws in human nature, this one is far more serious than the pain of child birth. A part of the application of redemption that is a progressive work that continues throughout our Earthly lives. It is also a work in which God and humans cooperate, each playing distinct roles. This part of the application of redemption is called sanctification: Sanctification is a progressive work of God and humans that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

It may be that only one clarification would be useful here, so far as my own understanding of sanctification is concerned. Although it is certainly true that the work or process of sanctifying the apprentice begins immediately in the newly regenerate heart, the “safe” but still “unsound” person, to use language above, is not a condition of settled, pervasive righteousness that is appropriately named “sanctification.” Sanctification in this life will always be a matter of degree, to be sure, but there is a point in genuine spiritual growth before which the term “sanctification” simply does not apply—just as “hot” when applied to a cup of coffee is a matter of degree, but there is a point before which is not hot, even if in the process of being heated. So what shall we say about sanctification in summary? It is a consciously chosen and sustained relationship of interaction between the Lord and one’s apprentice, in which the apprentice is able to do, and routinely does, what one knows to be right before God because all aspects of one’s person have been substantially transformed. Sanctification applies primarily to the moral and religious life, but extends in some measure to the prudential and practical life (acting wisely) as well. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

Sanctification is not an experience, though experience of various kinds may be involved in it. It is not a status, though a status is maintained by means of it. It is not an outward form and has no essential connection with outward forms. It does, on the other hand, become a “track record” and system of habits. It comes about through the process of spiritual formation, through which the heart (spirit, will) of the individual and the whole inner life take on the character of Jesus’s inner life. Several characteristics can serve as marks of those who have become established in their whole being as children of light. One is that whenever they are found to be in the wrong, they will never defend it—neither to themselves nor to others, much less to God. They are thankful to be found out, and they fulfill the proverb, “Reprove a wise human, and one will love you,” reports Provers 9.8. Indeed, when accused of being in the wrong when they are not, they will not defend themselves, but will say only as much as is required to present misunderstanding of the good and to assist those who truly desire to know the facts of the cause. Thus meaning of being justified by grace alone has penetrated to every pore of their being, and they rest there in human relations as well as before God. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

Another of their characteristics is that they do not feel they are missing out on something good by not sinning. They are not disappointed and do not feel deprived. They do not fret because evildoers prosper, and they are not envious toward them (Psalm 37.1). They know that “better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked,” reports Psalm 37.16. This of course is related to the point made earlier that they do not regard sin as something good, but as a slop—which is exactly what everyone knows after engaging in it. Why stick your head, your soul, or your body into that? Another characteristic, following upon these mentioned, is that the children of light are mainly governed by the pull of the good. Their energy is not invested in not doing what is wrong, but in doing what is good. For example, they are not struggling with “Thou shalt not covet,” but rejoicing that others have good things they do. Whatever desires one might have for what is forbidden by God are regarded as ridiculous, not as something to be seriously thought about. The good is the only thing worth considering. Here, life in the path of rightness becomes easy and joyous. That is a characteristic of children of light who are well on their way. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

 I acknowledge that the work of God is easy and pleasant to those who God rightly furnishes with endowments for it. True, those who asset it to be easy to humans, in their common condition, show their imprudence in contradicting the general experience of Heathens and Christians. However, the wisdom of God has ever furnished people with a good persuasion of a sufficient strength, that they might be enabled both to will and do their duty. Do something for someone else, for the sick, unwanted, crippled, heartbroken, aged, or alone. Love God and be dedicated to living His life, not your own. This is holiness. It is the complete surrender of self in obedience to the will and service of God. The acceptance of the will of God. It is the scope of true biblical holiness, which must affect every aspect of our lives. Second, even though the rules may be biblically based, we often end up obeying the rules rather than obeying God; concern with the letter of the law can cause us to lose its spirit. Third, emphasis on rule-keeping deludes us into thinking we can be holy through our efforts. However, there can be no holiness apart from the work of the Holy Spirit—in quickening us through the conviction of in and brining us by grace to Christ, and in sanctifying us—for it is grace that cases us to even want to be holy. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

And, our pious efforts can become ego-gratifying, as if holy living were some kind of spiritual beauty contest. Such self-centered spirituality in turn leads to self-righteousness—the very opposite of the selflessness of true holiness. No, holiness is much more than a set of rules against sin. Holiness must be seen as the opposite of sin. Sin, as the Westminster Confession defines it, is “any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God.” Holiness, then, is the opposite: “conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God.” Conforming to the character of God—separating ourselves from sin and cleaving to Him—is the essence of biblical holiness, and it is the foundational covenant, a central theme running throughout Scripture. The earliest call to holiness came soon after Moses had led Israel out of Egypt and through the parted waters of the Red Sea. Safe at last from the Egyptian army, this unruly horde of humanity—600,000 men accompanied by women and children—camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. There, God called Moses to the mountaintop and instructed him in the laws by which His chosen people were now to live. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

These laws ranged from the all-encompassing Ten Commandments (the first four of which demand unconditional, reverent worship of a holy God) to such detailed ordinances as the means of restitution for stolen animals. When the Israelites accepted God’s covenant with the words, “Everything the Lord has said we will do…we will obey,” God again called Moses to the mountaintop where He made one of the most remarkable promises in the Bible: “I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and…I will dwell among the Israelites.” What a staggering thought! The sovereign God of the Universe promised to pitch His tent, actually to dwell in the midst of His chosen people. Many are tempted to skip over these chapters of Exodus and Leviticus that describe in such detail the construction of the tabernacle, the forms of worship and the like. Altars and acacia word and cubits sound irrelevant today, superseded by the atonement of Christ. However, this is a perfect example of the necessity of taking the Word of God in its entirety. For the prescriptions for the place wherein God was to dwell and be worshipped reveal the very character of God Himself. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

The tabernacle reflects a holy God, a God set apart, unique, utterly unstained by the sin of the World. No wonder God specified rules of cleanliness for those who worshiped there. It was not because He had some obsession with personal hygiene, but because in every way possible His people were to be clean, set apart—holy—as they entered to worship in the place where He, a holy God, actually dwelt. This is indeed the very heart of the relationship God demanded with His people, expressed in the covenant: “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy.” Understanding this basic covenant, the character of God, and what He expects is essential to understanding the New Covenant. For the character of God has not changed, nor has His expectation of holiness from His people. In fact, the same remarkable promise that God made to Moses—that He would pitch His tent and dwell in the midst of His people—is a central theme throughout Scripture. In the familiar passage of John’s gospel, “The Word became flesh, and swelt among us,” the Greek word for dwelt literally means to “pitch a tent.” So now, through Christ, God comes to “pitch His tent” among His people. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

And to carry the theme to its conclusion, John, in describing his apocalyptic vision of the new Heaven and New Earth, writes, “The tabernacle of God is among humans, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people.” Again the word dwell is literally translated to “pitch a tent.” Thus, from Exodus to Revelation we find the identical imagery, a holy God “pitching His tent” among His people: first in the tabernacle, then in Christ and Christ in us, and ultimately in His kingdom. Salvation, therefore, is not simply a matter of being separated from out past and freed from our bondage to sin: salvation means also that we are joined to a holy God. By pitching His tent in our midst, God identifies with His people through His very presence. The reality of a “God who is here”—personal and in our midst—is an extraordinary assurance, one which distinguishes the Judeo-Christian faith from all other religions. However, God demand something in return for His presence. He demands that we identify with Him—that we be holy because He is holy. Holiness is not an option. God will not tolerate our indifference to His central command. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

Moses and Aaron were not permitted to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land because they failed to treat God as holy (Numbers 20.12). Then a long succession of kings failed to respect God’s holiness and the Israelites ended up in captivity again. Therefore, as you see, holiness is the central covenant and command of Scripture, the cardinal point on which the whole of Christianity turns. It is not just for well-known saints like Mother Teresa, but for every believer. What does this mean for us, then, in the real World in which we live every day? God loves more the contemplative life, since He preserves it longer. For it does not end, as the active life does, with the life of the body. The penitent and the innocent are related as exceeding and exceeded. For whether innocent or penitent, those are the better and better loved who have the most grace. Other things being equal, innocence is the nobler thing and more beloved. God is said to rejoice more over the penitent than over the innocent, because often penitents rise from sin more cautious, humble, and fervent. Hence Gregory commenting on these words (Hom. 34 in Ev.) says that, “In battle the general loves the soldier who after flight returns and bravely pursues the enemy, more than one who has never fled, but has never done a brave deed.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

Or it may be answered that gifts of grace, equal in themselves, are more as conferred on the penitent, who deserved punishment, than as conferred on the innocent, to whom no punishment was due; just as a hundred pounds [marcoe] are a greater gift to a poor person than to a kind.” Since God’s will is the cause of goodness in things, the goodness of one who is loved by God is to be reckoned according to the time when some good is to be given one by divine goodness. According therefore to the time, when there is to be given by the divine will to the predestined sinner a greater good, the sinner is better; although according to some other time one is the worse; because even according to some time one is neither god nor bad. To find your way to the major truths it is not enough to use the intellect alone, however, sharpened it ay be. Join intuition to it: then you will have intelligence. However, how does one unfold intuition? By penetrating deeper and hushing the noise of thoughts. Intuition tells us what to do. Reason tells us how to do it. Intuition points direction and give destination. Reason shows a map of the way there. To the inexperienced or ignorant the conclusions of reason and the discoveries of intuition may clash, but to the matured they accommodate an adjust themselves harmoniously. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

If both are on the same plane, we may oppose one thing to another, but not if they are on unequal planes. Intuition is not anti-intellectual but super-intellectual. When intuition guides and illuminates intellect, balances and restrains the ego, that which the wise people called “true intelligence” rises. The intuition never needs to hunger for truth. While the intellect is seeking and starving for it, the intuition already knows and feels it. Intuition is truth drawn from one’s own self, that is, from within, be it a practical or a spiritual truth, whereas intellect squeezes its conclusion out of presented evidence, that is, from without. Calculation may be pushed by the ego to the point of cunning. The first is quite proper to the business World and the mathematical sphere, but in the area of spiritual seeking it as only a limited applicability. The second is quite useless here. What is here of greater worth than both is intuition. However, because this latter faculty is little developed in most people, they have to be content for the time with simple trust. However, this is not a faculty; it is a trait of character. If one put it into the wrong channel, it may mislead a person. Or, if one places it properly, it may serve one well. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

Behind it all is the Great Silence, broken only by the projection of new Worlds and the re-absorption of old ones, the unutterable and unknowable Mystery, unreachable and untouchable by humans. Tiny creature the humans are, with the tiny mind one has, THAT is utterly beyond one. However, from the Grand Mystery, the active God of which this planet Earth is a projection has in turn projected one. Here, communication in the most attenuated intuitive form is possible, even holy communion may be attained. This is the God, the higher power, to whom humans instinctively turn in despair or in aspiration, in faith or in doubt. Sometimes a mere fragment of one’s work is revealed to a chosen prophet in the Cosmic Vision, an awe-filled experience. Sometimes a person is granted a glimpse of the World-Mind. This, if it happens, does so during mediation usually, but not always. It is then both a physical and a mental grace, for the sight is, similar to the brightness of a million suns. We are surrounded by a World which seems both real and outside us. Nothing that we can find in this World corresponds to this idea of God. Are we to assert that it is illusory or that God exists but is remote from this World? The mystic can reply: “I know from experience that the idea is true and the existence is everywhere.” #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

Modern humans look in all sorts of impossible places for an invisible God and will not worship the visible God which confronts one. Yet little thinking is needed to show that we are all suckled at the everlasting heart of Nature. It is easy to see that the source of all life is then the Sun and that its creative, protective, and destructive powers are responsible for the entire physical process of the Universe. However, it is not merely to the entire physical Sun alone that the aspirant addresses oneself but to the World-Mind behind it. One must look upon the Sun as a veritable self-expression and self-expression and self-showing of the World-Mind to all its creatures. The Sun is God’s face appearing in the physical World. Those who love to see the Sun in its mystery-laden risings or witness its equally mystery-laden settings bear outward testimony to an inward relationship. The Sun seen by humans is both their symbol of God’s power, glory, beauty, life, and light, and also the actual indictor of God’s central heart, the Presence Invisible. We must honour the Universal Ruler of things and beings as the daisy flower honours the Sun, for it is also the Source of Life. It is right to venerate the Sun, for without it we could not keep the body alive, could not grow the food we need. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

God who made the World still upholds it. He rules the entire Universe, this great Being, and regulates the Universal laws and destinies of humans. I place myself today in the hands of God, knowing that His protection comes with a price. For those who wish the help of the Holy Trinity must walk in the path of Jesus Christ with all their hearts. This I promise I will do. Even the stones make it clear to me that everything partakes of the nature of God. The buildings that surround me speak of the skills that have been given to us by God in ancient times, that are being given to us in these days, that will always be given to us by the mighty one. Please remind me of this daily, you who give so much! O Lord, the God of America our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in Heaven and on the Earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted supreme above all. Riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou rule over all. In Thy hand is power and might; and it is in Thy power to make great, and to give strength unto all. Therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

Winchester Mystery House

As enshrined in the legend of the “Famous Blue Séance Room,” The Grand Ball Room is without one marring nail in its entire hand-craved elegance. It was never known to its intended gayety because of The Great Earthquake of 1906 halted completion, and caused major damage to the mansion. The bare-brick fireplace forever awaits its Italian marble facing. The mansion contains 160 rooms, of which 110 were once available for viewing. There are 10,000 windows, nine kitchens, and 47 fireplaced built of rosewood, cherry, mahogany, Italian marble, oak, teak, and pipestone; all hand-craved and no two alike. For 38 years, 1884-1922, construction never ceased on the over 24,000 square foot mansion, once standing 9 stories high, but still an impressive five levels. Commonly, 16 carpenters were employed at one time, some having worked for 20 years without change. They produced the largest, most compilated and exclusively private residence in the Untied States of America.

winchestermysteryhouse.com