Randolph Harris II International

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Still Let Me Dive into the Joy I Seek—For Yet the Past Doth Prison Me!

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Any time friends have to be careful of what they say to friends, friendship is taken on another dimension. While the intellect argues waveringly at length, the intuition affirms confidently in an instant. While the one gropes among the appearances and shadows of truth, the other walks straight toward the truth. Ordinarily, ample time is needed to accumulate data and deliberate properly before the correction decisions or judgments can be made. None of this is necessary to make them intuitively, for the intuition itself operates out of time and beyond thought. An intuitive idea is quite different from one derived from the customary process of logical thinking. Unless it is distorted or muddled by the individual oneself, it is always reliable. Can we say that of an intellectual idea? The best wisdom of a human does not come out of acuteness of thinking; it comes out of depth of intuition. It suits our hypertrophied and hybristic modern consciousness not to be mindful of the dangerous autonomy of the unconscious and to treat it negatively as an absence of consciousness. The hypothesis of invisible gods or daemons would be, psychologically, a far more appropriate formulation, even though it would be an anthropomorphic projection. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

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However, since the development of consciousness requires the withdrawal of all the projections we can lay our hands on, it is not possible to maintain any non-psychological doctrine about the gods. If the historical process of World despiritualization continues as hitherto, then everything of a divine or daemonic character outside us must return to the psyche, to the inside of the unknown human, whence it apparently originated. The materialistic error was probably unavoidable at first. Since the throne of God could not be discovered among the galactic systems, the inference was that God had never existed. The second unavoidable error is psychologism: if God is anything, he must be an illusion derived from certain motives—from will to power, for instance or from repressed pleasures of the flesh. These arguments are not new. Much the same thing was said by the Christian missionaries who overthrew the idols of heathen gods. However, whereas the early missionaries were conscious of serving a new God by combating the old ones, modern iconoclasts are unconscious of the one in whose name they are destroying old values. Nietzsche thought himself quite conscious and responsible when he smashed the old tablets, yet he felt a peculiar need to back himself up with a revivified Zarathustra, a sort of alter ego, with whom he often identifies himself in his great tragedy Thus Spake Zarathustra.  #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

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Nietzsche was no atheist, but his God was dead. The result of this demise was a split in himself, and he felt compelled to call the other self “Zarathustra” or at times, “Dionysus.” In his fatal illness he signed his letters “Zagreus,” the dismembered god of the Thracians. The tragedy of Zarathustra is that, because his God died, Nietzsche himself became a god; and this happened because he was no atheist. He was of too positive a nature to tolerate the urban neurosis of atheism. It seems dangerous for such a man to asset that “God is dead”: he instantly becomes the victim of inflation. Far from being a negation, God is actually the strongest and most effective “position” the psyche can reach, in exactly the same sense in which Paul speaks of people “whose God is their belly,” (Phil. 3.19). The strongest and therefore the decisive factor in any individual psyche compels the same belief or fear, submission or devotion which a God would demand from humans. Anything despotic and inescapable is in this sense “God,” and it becomes absolute unless, by an ethical decision freely chosen, one succeeds in building up against this natural phenomenon a position that is equally strong and invincible. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

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If this psychic position proves to be absolutely effective, it surely deserves to be named a “God,” and what is more, a spiritual God, since it sprang from the freedom of ethical decision and therefore from the mind. Humans are free to decide whether “God” shall be a “spirit” or a natural phenomenon like the craving of candy from a person with a sweet tooth, and hence whether “God” shall act as a beneficent or a destructive force. However, indubitable and clearly understandable these psychic events or decisions may be, they are very apt to lead people to the false, unpsychological conclusion that it rests with them to decide whether they will create a “God” for themselves or not. There is no question of that, since each of us is equipped with a psychic disposition that limits our freedom in high degree and makes it practically illusory. Not only is “freedom of the will” an incalculable problem philosophically, it is also a misnomer in the practical sense, for we seldom find anybody who is not influenced and indeed dominated by desires, habits, impulses, prejudices, resentments, and by every conceivable kind of complex. All these natural facts function exactly like an Olympus full of deities who want to be propitiated, served, feared, and worshipped, not the individual owner of this assorted pantheon, but by everybody in one’s vicinity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

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Bondage and possession are synonymous. Always, therefore, there is something in the psyche that takes possession and limits or suppresses our moral freedom. In order to hide this undeniable but exceedingly unpleasant fact from ourselves and at the same time pay lip-service to freedom, we have got accustomed to saying aporetically, “I have such and such a desire or habit or feeling of resentment,” instead of the more veracious “Such and such a desire or habit or feeling of resentment has me.” The later formulation would certainly rob us even of the illusions of freedom. However, I ask myself whether this would not be better in the end than fuddling ourselves with words. The truth is that we do not enjoy masterless freedom; we are continually threatened by psychic factors which, in the guise of “natural phenomena,” may take possession of us at any moment. The withdrawal of metaphysical projections leaves us almost defenceless in the face of this happening, for we immediately identify with every impulse instead of giving it the name of the “other,” which would at least hold it at arm’s length and prevent it from storming the citadel of the ego. “Principalities and powers” are always with us; even if we would, we have no need to create them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

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It is merely incumbent on us to choose the master we wish to serve, so that one’s service shall be our safeguard against being mastered by the “other” whom we have not chosen. We do not create “God,” we choose him. Though our choice characterizes and defines “God,” it is always human-made, and the definition it gives is therefore finite and imperfect. (Even the idea of perfection does not posit perfection.) The definition is an image, but this image does not raise the unknown fact it designates into the realm of intelligibility, otherwise we would be entitled to say that we had created a God. The “master” we choose is not identical with the image we project of him in time and space. He goes on working as before, like an unknow quantity in the depth of the psyche. We do not even know the nature of the simplest thought, let alone the ultimate principles of the psyche. Also, we have no control over its inner life. However, because this inner life is intrinsically free and not subject to our will and intentions, it may easily happen that the living thing chosen and defined by us will drop out of its setting, the human-made image, even against our will. Then, perhaps, we could say with Nietzsche, “God is dead.” Yet it would be truer to say, “He has put off our image, and where shall we find him again?” #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

The interregnum is full of danger, for the natural facts will raise their claim in the form of various—isms, which are productive of nothing but anarchy and destruction because inflation and human’s hybris between them have elected to make the ego, in all its ridiculous paltriness, lord of the Universe. That was the cast the case with Nietzsche, the uncomprehended portent of a whole epoch. The individual ego is much too small, its brain is much too feeble, to incorporate all the projections withdrawn from the World. Ego and brain burst asunder in the effort; the psychiatrist calls it schizophrenia. When Nietzsche said “God is dead,” he uttered a truth which is valid for the greater part of the World and it is characteristic of their behaviour. They choose to serve idols such as the fake news, pleasures of the flesh, and other such objects. People are influenced by that statement it not because he said so, but because they want it to be a widespread psychological fact to justify the dysfunction of humanity, and not take responsibility for their own maleficent actions. A way to just give up trying to life right. So the consequences are not long delayed, it created a catastrophe. The life of Christ is understood by the Church on the one hand as an historical, and on the other hand as an eternally existing, mystery. This is especially evident in the sacrifice of the Mass. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

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From a psychological standpoint, the view of the reality of Christ can be translated as follows: Christ lived a concrete, personal, and unique life which, in all essential features, had at the same time an archetypal character. This character can be recognized from the numerous connections of the biographical details with Worldwide myth-motifs. These undeniable connections are the main reason why it is so difficult for researchers into the life of Jesus to construct from the gospel themselves factual reports, legends, and myths are woven into a whole. This is precisely what constitutes the meaning of the gospels, and if one tried to separate the individual from the archetypal with a critical scalpel, they would immediately lose their character of wholeness. The life of Christ is no exception in that not a few of the great figures of history have realized, more or less clearly, the archetype of the hero’s life with its characteristic changes of fortune. However, the ordinary human, too, unconsciously lives archetypal forms, and if these are no longer valued it is only because the prevailing psychological ignorance. Indeed, even the fleeting phenomena of dreams often reveal distinctly archetypal patterns. God who made the World still upholds it. He rules the entire Universe, this great Being, and regulates the Universal Laws of humans. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

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The World-Mind brings our Universe into being and governs it, too. The enormous number of objects and creatures which appear through Its agency, through Its power and wisdom, cannot be limited to what is visible alone, and must fill a thinking person with wonder at the possibilities—a wonder which Plato said must be the beginning of philosophy. The Infinite Intelligence knows and controls all things, all situations. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shalt not fall on the ground without your Father,” (Matthew 10.29) puts simply that an infinite intelligence controls the entire Universe, and that it is as present in the smallest event as in the greatest. This is the Power that carries everything along, every entity, and which provides the Universe with its continuity. In the sense that the World-Mind is the active agent behind and within the Universe, it is carrying the whole burden of creation; it is the real doer carrying us and our actions too. There is a Mind which keeps that planets in their allotted orbit and the lives of humans in their largely self-earned destines. The World-Mind is God as universal intelligence and creative power. The World-Mind is Divine Ideation, the First Intelligence, the Universal Wisdom. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

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We are frequently informed by religious and mystical sources that God is Love. It would be needful for those who accept this statement to balance and complete it by the affirmation that God is Pure Intelligence. Love is not the ultimate but only an attribute of the ultimate. The intelligence which works so untiringly in the World around us knows what to do without having to prepare a plan. It does not need to think in the way human beings think. Being infinite, its wisdom is infinite. The Intelligence which formulate the World-Idea is living and creative—in short, Divine. The so-called laws of nature merely show its workings. If the divine did not have real being, with all its attributes of consciousness, intelligence, power, and love, we ourselves would not exist. Those who cannot comprehend the infinite of intelligence behind the World around them can hardly be expected to comprehend that it has an independent existence as an attribute of pure Spirit. The World-Mind holds in one eternal thought the entire World-Idea. The World-Mind knows and experiences everything and everyone. It also knows the Supreme non-thing, the Real, while knowing the illusoriness of the cosmos. The World-Mind knows all because it is eternally in all. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

The mental activity of the World-Mind is not, and cannot be, an unconscious process. In the elemental, the mineral, and even the plant kingdom this may seem to us to be so; but if the first act of mentation which began the evolutionary process was not done unawares, then the entire project of the entire cosmos, at all the different stages of this process, also cannot be unknown, at any moment and in any point, to the World-Mind. In its own mysterious way, the World-Mind is all-embracing, aware of everything, every entity and every activity. The World-Mind is not only Lord and Governor of the World but also Lord and Governor of the illusion which makes the World so vivid to the unenlightened; that is, It is Itself the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing, Conscious of the Real. If that one Mind were behind all, only then could it be possible that One Mind could comprehend all. The World-Mind is common to all human minds and is the field of their interaction, and the notion that A and Be are independent and isolated minds are superficially correct but fundamentally fallacious. There is a common ground of mind, a hidden linkage, and the ideas of one can be transmitted to the other, albeit often unconsciously. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

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No event could be outside the knowledge of God, no entity could be beyond the power of God. Were the World-Mind beyond, because outside, the finite Universe, then it would be limited by that Universe and thus lose its own infinitude. However, because it includes the Universe completely within itself while remaining completely unlimited, it is genuinely infinite. World-Mind is neither limited nor dissipated by its self-projection in the Universe. If World-Mind is immanent in the Universe, it is not confined to the Universe; if it is present in every particle of the All, its expression is not exhausted by the All. Inexplicable and incomprehensible though the fact must be to the human intellect, the One infinite Mind never loses its own character even though it is seemingly incarnated into the myriad forms of an evolving Universe, never loses itself in them. It is a wisdom expressed through the World-Idea, but not confined to it. Amid all this apparent self-division into innumerable selves, the World Mind remains as intact and inviolate as ever it was. When we think of holiness, great saints of the past like Francis of Assisi or George Muller spring to mind—or contemporary gains of the faith like Mother Teresa. However, holiness is not the private preserve of an elite corps of martyrs, mystics, and Nobel prize winners. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

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Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and the things we do, hour by hour, day by day. You are going to be all right. God loves you. People love you. You are surrounded by a community who is praying for you. You are going to be all right. The good news of Jesus Christ is that such God’s love is available to all.  Holiness is obeying God—loving one another as He loved us. God is the Judge, the lover of all, and Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant. If a person is not ready to live by them, beliefs are not worth much. We must live by love, the law of kindness brought to light by the Gospel. What is this good for? To make all who receive it enjoy God and themselves: to make them like God; lovers of all; contented in they lives; and crying out at their death, in calm assurance, “O grave, where is they victory! Thanks be unto God, who gives me the victory, through my Lord Jesus Christ.” Holiness is obeying God—sharing His love, even when it is inconvenient. No talk here of the crushing burden of piety, as it has been called of religion as a life sentence instead of life. Our walk with Christ, well learned, is a burden only as wings are to a bird or the engines are to an airplane. The mature children of the light are like their Master. They know God and his Word, they think straight, and they live in the truth, because every essential dimension of the being has been transformed to serve God: heart, soul, mind, and strength. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

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Holiness is obeying God—finding ways to help those in need. “Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise—sensible, intelligent people; making the very most of the time—buying up each opportunity—because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is,” reports Ephesians 5.15-17. Heroism is an extraordinary feat of the flesh; holiness is an ordinary act of the spirit. One may bring personal glory; the other always gives God the glory. The sure standard for holiness is Scripture. There God makes clear what He means by holy living or, as theologians call it, the process of sanctification. Then Ten Commandments, from which all other commandments flow, are the beginning; they apply today as much as they did when God engraved them on tablets of stone for Moses. Next, the life of Jesus provides holiness in the flesh; in His persevering self-denial, His unqualified obedience of the Father’s will, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit in His daily life, Jesus remains our example. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

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Then Paul gives explicit guidelines. Consider just this sampling of injunctions: Lay aside falsehood and speak the truth. DO not let the sun go down on your anger. Let one who steal, steal no longer but work. Let no unwholesome word come from your mouth. Be rid of bitterness and wrath and malice. Be kind to each other, forgiving. Walk in live. Be careful so you will not even be accused of immorality, greed, or any impurity Engage not in silly or coarse or filthy talk. Do not practice idolatry in any form nor associate with those who do. Abstain from immorality dealing with pleasures of the flesh and conquer lustful passions. Do not lead weaker humans to sin. Things we should practice: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Things we should avoid: Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, strife, outbursts of anger, drunkenness, jealousy. The faithful must become weary in doing good. A human reaps what one sows. The quest for holiness, then, should begin with a search of the Scriptures. Holiness consists in think as God thinks and willing as God wills. That thinking and willing is a process requiring discipline and perseverance and is a joint effort: God’s and ours. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and sanctifies. However, that does not mean we can sit back, relax, and leave the driving to God. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

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God expects—demands—that we do our part. Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves—on God’s grace and on our will to be holy. Understanding this joint responsibility makes clear what is otherwise one of the most troublesome areas for many Christians, found in Paul’s letter to the church at Rome where on one hand he says we are dead to sin and in the next verse exhorts us not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. Why should we turn away from sin that is already dead? The answer to this seeming contradiction underscores the joint responsibility for sanctification. We are dead to sin because Christ died to sin for us. He settled the ultimate victory. However, as we live day by day, sin still remains a constant reality. Though God gives us the will to be holy, the daily fight requires continuing effort on our part. Fighting off sin is like beating back continuing guerrilla attacks. Holy living demands constant examination of our actions and motives. However, in doing so we must guard against the tendency to focus totally on self which is easy to do—especially as the culture’s egocentric values invade the church. In fact, this self-indulgent character of our times is a major reason the topic of true holiness is so neglected today by Christian teachers, leaders, writers, and speakers. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

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We have perhaps, unconsciously substituted a secularized self-centered message in the place of true holiness. For when we speak of “victory” in the Christian life, we all-too-often mean personal victory—how God will conquer sin for us (at least those sins we would like to be rid of—those extra ten pounds, that annoying habit, maybe a quick temper). This reflect not only egocentricity but an incorrect view of sin. Sin is not simply the wrong we do our neighbour when we cheat one, or the wrong we do ourselves when we abuse our bodies. Sin, all sin, is a root rebellion and offense against God, it is cosmic treason. We must understand that our goal as believers is to seek what we can do to please God, not what He can do for us. Personal victories may come, but they are a result, not the object. True Christian maturity—holiness, sanctification—is God-centered. So-called victorious Christian living is self-centered. It is time for us Christians to face up to our responsibility for holiness. Too often we say we are defeated by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated; we are simply disobedient. If we stopped using the terms “victory” and “defeat” to describe our progress in holiness, it might be well. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

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The Christian life begins with obedience, depends on obedience, and results in obedience. We cannot escape it. The orders from our commander-in-chief are plain: “Whoever has my commandments and obeys them, one is the one who loves me.” Loving God—really loving Him—means living out His commands no matter what the cost. God is real. Put your faith in the God of the Bible, not the God you made up in your head. Holiness is obeying God. Please listen to me, you who grant wisdom: The stories that have been told about you from the times when our race was young have taught me that you are the clearest of thinkers and the best at deciding the proper path. I find myself now with a choice to make and I do not know how to make it. Without a clear road before me, then, I turned you for help. Path-Maker, Way-Shower, God, what should I do? I ask that you please give me a sign to help me decide. Please some to me with clear counsel; please come to me with advice. Please come to me, whether in a dream, or in the chance remark of a stranger, or in my own deliberations. May my decision reflect your calm wisdom, and my life become thereby a pleasure for you to see. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

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You alone are the Lord. God, you have made Heaven the Heavens of Heavens with all their host, the Earth and all that it contains, the seas and all that is in them. God, you reserve them all; and the host of Heaven render homage unto Thee. You art the Lord God, who did choose Abram You did bring him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham, finding his heart faithful before Thee. God, you made the covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittie, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, and Thou has fulfilled Thy words; for Thou art righteous. And Thou did see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and did hear their cry by the Red Sea; and did perform signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land, knowing that they dealt arrogantly against them. Thus did Thou make Thy name great to this day. Thou did divide the sea before them, so that they crossed the sea on dry land, whereas their pursuers did Thou cast into the depths like a stone into mighty waters. The Lord is highly exalted. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is y God, and I will glorify Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is triumphant in battle, the Lord is His name. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19

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Rancho Cordova, CA |

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