One in moral courage is one who is true to him or herself, and also has physical courage. We all have a conscience, and a conscience is the root of moral courage. A truly brave person will always obey his or her conscience to know what is right and to not do things that are cowardice. Any organism that is to survive must develop habits of behavior that are adequate to satisfy its needs. Such habits are rulers of behavior that prescribe how we should act under given conditions in order to achieve a particular experiential result. Now such habits, when thoroughly adopted, are called beliefs. Since to possess beliefs is to know how to satisfy one’s wants, belief is a pleasant state: doubt, or the absence of beliefs, is an unpleasant state, since one is then uncertain how to act and is unable to attain the desired goals. The organism will therefore seek to escape from doubt and to find belief. The process by which the organism goes from doubt to belief is defined as inquiry. Clearly, there are various methods of inquiry, and the most satisfactory method will be that which leads most surely to the establishment of stable belief—that is, to beliefs that will stand in the long run. In our history we find many examples of high courage. In almost all of America’s wars, patriotism has run high and bombastic rhetoric has inspired citizens to arms. The American Revolution Wars was no exception. At the beginning, men from all walks of life and every class fought in defense of American liberty. Within a short time, however, that began to change. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

 As the war lengthened and its costs increased, men who could afford to do so hired substitutes or arranged to go home, whereas men of less wealth and influence increasingly carried the burden of fights. Some of the wealthy men went home because they needed to protect their family fortunes, and also because medial treatment, whether for wounds or diseases such as smallpox, dysentery, and typhus raged through the camps, and women were not allowed to run family businesses at that time. Casualties poured into hospitals, often overcrowding them beyond capacity. “We have at present upwards of one thousand sick crowded into sheds and labouring under the various and cruel disorders of dysenteries, bilious putrid fevers and the effects of a confluent smallpox; to attend to this large number we have four seniors and four mates, exclusive of myself,” reports Dr. Jonathan Potts, the attending physician at Fort George in New York, United States of America. Surgeons, operating without anesthetics and with the crudest of instruments, threatened life as often as they preserved it. Few understood the causes and treatments of infection. Doctoring consisted mostly of bleeding, blistering, and vomiting (which was deemed of excellent use, by opening and squeezing all the glands of the body and then shaking from the nervous system, the contaminating poison. Over 25,000 soldiers died. Being true to oneself and one’s Maker eventually cost them their lives, but it also ensured of them eternal life and exaltation. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

There was evidenced outstanding courage in the colonies. Could you imagine the courage it took to be a doctor in the war and a soldier, and to face a king whose dominion the record said reached to the end of the Earth? The disruptions of urban life were profound. In September 1776, a fire consumed 500 houses, nearly a quarter of the dwellings, in New York City. About half the town’s inhabitants fled when the British occupation began and were replaced by an almost equal number of Loyalists who streamed in from the surrounding countryside. From the standpoint of the inquiring organism, a belief concerning a particular object is significant because it permits the organism to predict what experiences it will have if it acts toward the object in a given way. Pragmatic beliefs are ideas thought to be true about a situation, which yet forms the ground for the actual employment of means to certain actions. Americans knew the Revolution War was dangerous, and had no other country to migrate to, so they had to seek shelter other areas within their own country, or serve in the war. Many did not want to leave their wives and children behind defenseless. This behavior itself may now be regarded as essence. Americans have become known as a people who protect and/or defend their own and individuals capable of making rational decisions, and will come out victoriously under any circumstances. That is why so many people are proud to be American and want to come to America. In our struggles, we have shown we are brave. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

God gives us the power to try a little harder, to not give up on ourselves when everything seems to beg for our defeat. Americans have become known through the World as honorable people, who have a paradise lifestyle, and are very brave. The meaning of the concept of being American may therefore be given by the set of laws completely specifying the behavior of the Americans under all conditions. These laws are conditional statements relating test conditions to phenomenal results, and such laws, considered as governing behavior, are habits relating action to experiential effect. One of these teachers of the law came and heard them debating, “And they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were people who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted,” reports Alma 53.20. We are all the same way no matter who we are or where we live, no matter what our wealth or position in the World. God really lives and put people in positions of power so they could be noticed and we can emulate these same courageous behaviors in our own lives and homes. Through modern prophets we can come to know the truth, the divine principles which help us live and adjust, which give meaning and direction to our lives. When these divine principles are applied, nothing can defeat us. We cannot cover up who we really are before God’s penetrating gaze. If we are willing, whoever we are, however we are, God will accept us. We cannot give up, no matter what size of our struggles. We are not meant to be fear-haunted and defeated nobodies. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

Many Americans have something deep in their hearts saying that we belong to something higher. And that something higher is an eternal family. We must remember too that our struggles here are not too trivial to interest the Lord. Those of us who follow the developments of astronomy know that lately there has been a big stir in the scientific community about a galaxy prosaically called NGC 1961, which is 220,000 lightyears away. From Los Angeles, California United States of America, NGC 1961 is visible all night because it is circumpolar. It will be highest in the sky shortly before dawn, when it will be lost to the twilight at around 04.22, 26 degrees above your northern horizon. At dusk, it will become visible at around 21.15 (PDT), 16 degrees above your northern horizon. It seems this galaxy has ten times the mass of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and billions of young, hot stars. When we think that our Lord created all that and understands the immensities of space that only boggle our minds, we have difficulty believing that his interest could ever devolve on something as minute as our little pain or concerns. However, the Lord is waiting to help us cope today, and all we have to do is have faith in him, and love God with all our faith and soul. We also must love our neighbor’s as ourselves. Now that we have our freedom, we have forgiven the British and they are our very good friends. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

We must pray in specifics about the problems, little or big, that impede our progress and dull our best dreams and we will find the promise because we are children of God. God will give us the comfort and the counsel that we need, the courage to lift up our heads and face our days with faith and compassion. We should be honored to be in our home country, no matter where that may be. Think how many people in the World would be so honored, to sit in a special meeting with prophets, seers, and revelators. To know who we are is to come to know that we are literally the royal offspring of Deity; and that means we were all born to succeed; in our presxistence we earned a right by our faithfulness and by our commitment to worthy principles to come into mortality in order that we might learn through how to become like our Father, God. That mean, if we understand the gospel correctly, there is not one single failure among us. The lives of many great people will testify that oftentimes they have many failures, and there is no disgrace in falling down; the disgrace is lying there. To get up one more time than we fall is to be a winner. To stay down is to be a loser. “Listen to advice and accept instruction and in the end it will make us wise. Many are the plans in our hearts, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. What people desire is unfailing love, better to be poor than a liar. The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble,” reports Proverbs 19.20-23. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6

We cannot choose to serve God and the World at the same time. Scientific laws are brief formulas representing complex relationships between many phenomena. Their discovery is the work of a creative but disciplined imagination; they are products of the human mind. An external object is a construct; a combination of immediate with past or stored sense-impressions. The distinction between real objects and imaginary ones is that only the real objects depend upon immediate sense impressions. There is a fundamental distinction between perception, the physical association of stored sense impressions, and conception, their mental association. This means that perception is merely the copresentation of impressions, while conception is the recognition of relations. However, the physical and the psychical differ only in degree with relations between sense impressions, although from different standpoints. On the whole, human brains work in the same way, and thus one receives the same sense impressions and forms the same constructs as another. This ensures the universal validity of science. The field of study of the various sciences is, in fact, immediate sense impressions; these are the phenomena which scientific laws relate, so that the field of science is much more consciousness than an external World. The consciousness of others is established by an argument from analogy. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7

We tend to project our sense impressions and to regard them as existing externally to and independently of ourselves, but this is a mistake. The distinction between external and internal is arbitrary and no more than a practical convenience. It is based on distinguishing between the classes of sense impressions, not between sense impression and something else. We cannot assert the existence of causes of sense impressions, but want to leave that open the possibility of such existents. Therefore, we use the term sensation in an unusual way: Sensation is that of which the only knowable side is sense-impression. This is intended to express agnosticism about the causation of sense impressions while allow one to say, “The outer World is for science a World of sensations, and sensation is known to us only as sense-impression.” Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not keeping with a Holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind—placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives us, but what God has given us that is being exhibited in our lives. In our day, we are being admonished in the same manner through apostles and prophets. We are to fear the Lord, serve the Lord, put away Worldly gods, and choose whom we will serve. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7

  Whether war is a greater or lesser evil than the present anarchic World, with its attendant threat of war, is something that needs to be considered. There has to be a way to keep the peace in the World, and people seem to look to certain nations to be the protectors of all people. “Many become emotionless because of great length of war,” reports Alma 62.41. The creation of expedients to keep the peace, such as the League of Nations and collective security, is the most urgent task of the twenty first century. Eventually it will be necessary to declare war illegal and to prosecute countries which resort to it as criminals. Peace must be kept by the maintenance of a military, and the superpower must go beyond this and exercise a kind of condominium over the rest of the World. There seems to be no alternative to the World state, which must in the first instance be imposed by one nation or group of nations; only after the World authority has been in power for a century or so will it feel confident enough to base its power on consent rather than force. No one wants to be control by people who do not recognize human rights, freedom, constitutional values, and the right to own property. And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7

Some scientific concepts are not of immediate sense impressions; for instance, atom and molecule. There are just two possibilities: Science may regard the atom as real and thus capable of being a direct sense impression, or as ideal and this merely a mental conception of assisting them in formulating laws. In contrast, a metaphysical conception is of what is both real and independent of sense perception. Fearing the Lord means to be reverent and to love God and to keep the Lord’s commandments. We show that we serve the Lord by the way in which we live the commandments received from God, by the work we do to help establish the kingdom of God on Earth, and by the way we act towards our neighbor. Putting away Worldly gods means keeping impure thoughts out of our minds, shedding all hateful feelings from our hearts, and ridding our lives of everything which may present the Holy Ghost from being always with us. The most important commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And also, to love your neighbor as yourself,” reports Mark 12.29. There are no commandments greater than these. The Universe is governed day-to-day by rational natural laws, not by the whims of deities. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7

Science is not explanatory but merely descriptive. For instance, Sir Isaac Newton’s law of gravitation is a description in the simplest possible terms of a wide range of phenomena; that is, of the routine of our perceptions. To talk of it as ruling nature is to confuse other sense of law with the scientific sense. Causal statements are records of regular sequences in past experience and cannot assert any necessity in them. Forces, because they are not discoverable in sense experience, cannot be regarded as causes. Force is but a name hiding our ignorance of the explanation of motion. “He (God) stretches out the northern sky over empty space. Suspending the Earth upon nothing,” reports Job 26.7. The idea of necessity is appropriate only to relations between conceptions, not to relations between perceptions. Predictions and knowledge are possible only because we find repetition in our sense impressions. Even so, our knowledge is only probable and should, strictly speaking, be called “belief.” Rivers and springs are fed by water that has evaporated from the oceans and other sources and then has fallen back to Earth as rain snow, or hail. However, the ancient Greeks thought that rivers were fed by underground ocean water, and this is also probable. We have geysers that spit up water from underground, there are underground water tables and aquifers. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7

The mountains rise and fall, and today’s mountains were once under the ocean. “You covered it with deep waters as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains,” reports Psalm 104.6. The whole of sciences involves the distinction between the perceptual and the conceptual. Scientific concepts generally are ideal limits of concepts originating in perception. This is especially obvious in the mathematical treatment of the World. Empirical space and time are modes of perception. Space is a mental expression for the fact that perceptive faculty has separated coexisting sense impression into groups of associated impressions; time indicates the progression of perceptions at a position in space. Neither space nor time is infinite or infinitely divisible, since each must be limited by our powers of perception and discrimination. Conceptual space and time, and the space and time of mathematics, are idealization of their empirical counterparts and do not suffer from their limitations. Some indicate that the Bible reports that the Universe was created in six days with twenty-four hours in each day. However, according to the Bible, God created the Universe in the indefinite past. Also, the days of creation described in Genesis 1.1 reports that the days of creation were epochs whose length is not specified. In fact, the entire period during which Earth and Heaven were made is also called a day. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7

It is also assumed that vegetation was created before the Sun existed to support photosynthesis. Nevertheless, the Bible shows that the Sun, one of the stars that is the foundation of the Heavens was created before vegetation. Diffused light from the Sun reached the Earth’s surface during the first “day,” or epoch, of creation. As the atmosphere cleared, by the third day of creation, the light was strong enough to support photosynthesis. Only later did the Sun become distinctly visible from the surface of the Earth. Also, the Earth could be 5.6, which would explain the days or epochs, but may not have had human life for billions of years. The aim of science is to construct conceptual models of the Universe, devices to assist us in describing the correlation and sequence of phenomena. The failure to recognize this has led scientists to accept definitions of force, mass, atom, and—in the biological sciences—life which are riddled with metaphysical obscurities. Philosophical reports consist in the empiricist elucidation of these fundamental concepts, in an attempt to remove these obscurities. The person who chooses to follow the Lord and who keeps God’s commandments in his or her weaknesses, knows where the strength is. In our strength, we remain humble. In our poverty, we know what our riches are, and in out prosperity, we remember our people with tenderness. A person who can live this way, without fear or hate but with love, is a happy person. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7

We admire those who are specially trained to rescue those in danger. From time to time, as individuals and as a community, we go through periods of crisis and danger. Some arise quickly like a fire. Others are subtle and go almost undetected before they are upon us. Some require heroic action, but most are less spectacular. They way we respond is crucial. Speculation about war and peace as conditions of interstate relations has tended to divide thinkers into two groups—those who regard war as inevitable, perhaps even desirable, and those who consider it an evil capable of being replaced by lasting peace through good will or improved social arrangements. The first group is sometimes described as realist and the second as idealist, but these terms have the drawback that such idealist philosophers (in the ontological sense) as Plato and Hegel often accept was as a permanent condition of human existence. It is therefore proposed here simply to call the first group conservatives and the second abolitionists, though a wide spectrum of opinion clearly exists within each subdivision. God does not change his mind about what is right and wrong. So, even through it sometimes looks like God chooses sides, it is really people who choose whether or not they will be on God’s side. God wants people to be free, so when someone is taking away another person’s freedom, God is on the side of protecting freedom. #RandolphHarris 1 of  10

Ancient Greek thought commonly accepted war between the city-states themselves and between Greeks and barbarians as part of the order of nature. The Greek gods were a warlike breed who had come to power after a brutal struggle with the Titans. Ares was one of their leading figures, but the goddess of peace, Irene, was merely a subordinate deity attendant on the great gods. A view of war was widely prevalent in Greece was that of Heraclitus of Ephesus. Was, Heraclitus taught, was the father of all and king of all, and it was through war that the present condition of humankind, some people free and some enslaved, have evolved. If strife between the warning elements in nature were abolished, nothing could exist; according to Heraclitus, “All things come into being and pass away through strife.” However, that may not be true. One can see that it is due to the power of unit that two opposites in a unity give rise to the existences of things, and it is due to the power of the opposition that two opposites in a unity gives rise to the perishing of one or the other opposite or the mutual transformation of the two. Perhaps all existent things, no matter how they appear to be irrelevant to one another, are materially related in one way or another from considerations of modern physics and modern ecology. #RandolpHarris 2 of 10

In the light of the organismic metaphysics, everything is of course materially related to everything else. In modern physics various categories of interactions between elementary articles are recognized: strong interactions, electromagnetic interactions, weak interactions and gravitational interactions. It is noticed that unity are opposites, and therefore only when these differences become genuine opposites, would they form a unity and this form a harmony in creative sense. Most people, if they take the time to notice, recognize to a certain degree that opposites form a unity. One can see that cool things become warm, and the warm grows cool. That is because life is all about balance. Much how people are starting to notice that warm Summers actually trigger cold Winters. Increasing temperature and melting ice in the Arctic regions are creating more snowfall in the autumn months at lower latitudes, which, in turn affects an atmospheric pattern that leads to colder Winters. Strong warming throughout July, August and September in the Arctic, which continues through the Autumn appears to enhance the melting sea ice. The warmer atmosphere, combined with melting sea ice, allows the Arctic atmosphere to hold more moisture and increases the likelihood of precipitation over areas to the south, which, in the freezing temperatures, will fall as snow. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10

Research also indicates that the average snow coverage in Europe and Asia has increased over the past two decades. Experts also believe that the increased sow cover has an intricate effect on the Arctic Oscillation—an atmospheric pressure pattern in the mid- to high-latitudes—causing it to remain in the negative phase. In the negative phase, a high-pressure system resides over the Arctic region, pushing colder air into mid-latitude regions, such as the United States and Norther Canada, and resulting in colder Winters. There is no doubt that the globe is getting warmer and this will favor warmer temperature in all seasons and in all location. For instance, Austin, Texas USA rarely has a day above 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the Summers in the 1970s, but now they are experiencing temperatures above 90-degree Fahrenheit an average of nearly 40 days out of the year. However, the increasing trend in snow cover has led to regional cooling because the Arctic jet stream takes these wild swings, and when it swings farther south, that causes cold air to reach farther south. These swings tend to hang around for awhile, so the weather we have in the Eastern United States, weather it is cold or warm, tends to stay with us longer. And more extreme Winters characterized by bomb cyclone and polar vortexes will be a more common climate change-induced pattern in the coming years. That is why snow was on the ground in April in New York and why Tahoe is seeing snow last into June. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10

Uncharacteristically cold Winters is just one of the most hard felt effects of climate change as ice starts to melt in the Arctic due to warming temperatures. The Earth is alive and behaves like a living system. Earth’s heat balance is an extremely important factor in what makes the Earth livable. The fact that the Earth can respond to slight changes in the amount of incoming radiation to maintain a fairly stable temperature is a result of the Earth’s energy budget. This phenomenon is also closely connected to flows on the Earth, and the Solar energy to the Earth. Essentially all of the energy the Earth receives is in radiant energy that originates from the Sun. The temperature of the Earth is a balancing act, with greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere contributing to a planet that is inhabitable. This balance of temperature is maintained through several different mechanisms such a regional cooling and warming. All things that are alive are not static, they will change. Just as your hair and your body grows, the Earth also goes through changes. Living life in harmony is about balancing the elements in life around the being so it can live in peace. The best and safest thing is for us to also keep a balance in our lives, acknowledging the greatest powers around us and in us. If we can do that, and live that way, we are really wise people. #RandolpHarris 5 of 10

Balance is inspired to protect us from danger. War is a natural activity, the supreme witness to a nation’s superior quality; a powerful nation should never succumb to the slave morality with its accent on humility, submissiveness, and accepting torture. There are people in the World some consider evil and we need to protect ourselves from them. However, evil is just another term for individuals who are weak and stupid. We all have hope and faith that we will rise to a higher plane. In peace a ruler should not sit with his or her hands folded, but should always be improving his or her state’s military power against the day of adversity. Only through the establishment of a commonwealth—that is, a superior law-enforcing agency to which all people are subject—can peace and civilization be ensured. The state’s first duty is to maintain its power in its relations with other states and to maintain law within its own borders. God does not like war and wants us all to live in peace and maybe someday that will be possible, even on Earth. In the eighteenth century, peace plans were given a new lease of life with the French and German Enlightenment. Jean-Jacques Rousseau took the peace project of the abbe de Saint-Pierre and applied it to the Europe of his own day in A Project of Perpetual Peace (1761), with the insistence that unless the proposed central authority was powerful enough to overawe all the constituent states, the proposal would fail. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10

Jean-Jacques Rousseau recommended the plan to governments on the ground that a single European authority strong enough to enforce peace would also ensure internal stability in the constituent states. He admitted, however, that governments were probably too short sighted to appreciate the merits of the plan. A similar project of European confederation was that of Immanuel Kant, entitled Eternal Peace (1795). Immanuel Kant’s recipe is notable for its claim that the maintenance of peace requires that achievement of constitutional government by the states. The United States of America also saw strong unofficial peace movements which urged the creation of agencies for the arbitration of interstate differences and the equitable settlement of political issues, together with the strengthening and codification of international law. In the atmosphere of harmony that followed the Congress of Vienna and the Great Power of Europe met regularly to deal with threats to peace, while such functional organizations as the European river commissions and the Universal Postal Union dealt quietly with matters of practical concerns to the nations. “Many become hardened because of the great length of war,” reports Alma 62.41. The hope of a permanent international assembly which might develop into a World legislature was held out at the Hague conference, and it seemed likely that the growing stake of nations in peaceful intercourse would soon render war obsolete. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10

American colonies were under British rule and the British were taxing the colonies and making them pay for their defense, but the people were not represented by their government. They first tried to get the British government to recognize their rights. When this did not work, people fought in America’s Revolution War for reasons of fear and ambition as well as principle. Americans colonies where having struggles with England who was in control of the colonies. In the Spring of 1775, the Revolution War had just begun. George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American revolutionary war and served two terms as president from 1789 to 1797.  It was fought on American soil, among the American people. It called men by the thousands from shops and the fields, disrupted families, destroyed communities, spread diseases, and made a shamble of the economy. The started over people being enslaved, the separation of church and state, paper money and debt relief, the regulation of prices, and the toleration of political dissent. There were also arguments over the design of new state constitutions and the shape of a new national government. By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on 4 July 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10

However, as the war raged on a total of 80,000 Americans served in the war, and fought against 56,000 British soldiers.  Hundreds of buildings were burned, crops were uprooted, enslaved Africans were confiscated. Port cities lost nearly half of their population, and the inland communities strained to cope with the thousands of refugees who streamed into them. So many Boston refuges had crowded into Concord, Massachusetts, by July 1775 that they decided to hold a town meeting there! By March 1776, Concord’s population had grown by 25 percent, creating major problems of housing, social order, and public health. In Western New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas, frontier settlement collapsed in the face of British and Indian assaults. The White population along the Mohawk River west of Albany, New York, had declined from 10,000 to 3,500. Due to the warfare in Tryon County, 12,000 farms has been abandoned, 700 buildings burned, thousands of bushels of grain destroyed, nearly 400 women widowed, and 2,000 children orphaned. As a result of the war, 8,000 revolutionary soldiers died from wounds inflicted during battle. 17,000 Revolutionary Soldiers died from disease during the war. 24,000 British soldiers were killed. 25,500 Revolutionary Soldiers were estimated to have been wounded or maimed (most irreparable injury). The war lasted almost 8.5 years, ending in 1783. #RandolpHarris 9 of 10

Therefore, we celebrate Independence Day annually on 4 July, and it is often known as the Fourth of July. It is a day of illumination and the remembrance of freedom and protection under the laws. It is the anniversary of the publication of the declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776. Patriotic displays and family events are organized throughout the United States of America. People have picnics and barbecues, showing a great deal of emphasis on the family and American tradition of political freedom. Many people display the American flag outside of their homes or buildings. The communities arrange the most impressive fireworks that are often accompanied by patriotic music. We celebrate and focus on the many blessings we have in America. It is a way to give thanks to our history, heritage, and people of our country. Above all, Americans express and give thanks for the freedom and liberties fought by the first generation of many of today’s Americans. At that time, African Americans made up 25 percent of the population, and although they were still enslaved, at least 5,000 fought in the military for their country. So be thankful to be American and feel honored that people wanted to make sure you lived freely. “Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight, o’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 10

God is the timeless, the invisible, for us is visible through faith, the intangible, the impassible who for us was made accessible through revelation. The principles of geometry are known instinctively by the heart, and reason employs these principles to establish certain theorems. Both heart and reason yield results that are certain, but by different routes, and it would be ridiculous to require proofs of the heart’s instincts and intuitions or intuitive knowledge of what is proved. The inability of reason to establish first principles serves to humiliate reason, but not to undermine our certainty. The realization of the limitations of reason helps us to recognize our own wretchedness, and the greatness of humans is that one alone is capable of such recognition. We have no assurance of the truth of any first principles apart from faith and revelation except that we feel them within us. This natural feeling is no convincing proof of their truth, since apart from faith we cannot tell whether people were created by a good God, an evil demon, or by chance. “To the LORD your God belong the Heavens, even the highest Heavens, the Earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD sets his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all nations, as it is today. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes,” reports Deuteronomy 10. 14-15 and 17. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5

Know then, proud humans, what a paradox you are to yourself. Humble yourself, weak reason. Silence yourself, foolish nature, earn that humans infinitely surpasses human, and hear from your master your real state to which you do not know. Hear God. The problem of knowledge becomes a religious one. Only through submission to God and through acceptance of his revelation can we gain completely certain knowledge. The greatest achievements in science and mathematics rest on a fundamental uncertainty, since the basic principles employed, know through instinct and intuition, are open to question. Skeptical probings can only reveal the human predicament in its fullest and prepare us to submit and accept a religious foundation of knowledge. To live always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in lie, and can be applied only with some faith. “Yea, and how is it that they have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of humans, if it so be that they exercise faith in the Lord? Ans if it so be that we are faithful to the Lord, we shall obtain the land of promise; and we shall know at some future period that the word of the Lord shall be fulfilled,” reports 1 Nephi 7.12-13. God is uncontained, without needs, incomprehensible, eternal, imperishable, and invisible. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5

God is eternal, without beginning (what begins also ends) or end (what ends is destructible); the Lord therefore ungenerated, uncreated, immutable, and immortal. The Lord has no defects nor needs; he is not contained nor measurable but contains all; God is immobile (he could not move from one place to another); and he is absolutely Wisdom and wholly Mind. God has no name, form, or parts. God is completely transcendent, since the Universe cannot speak of him nor contain the Lord in thought; Go cannot even be called ineffable. The soul is innately immortal, and its reminiscence of the eternal World stems from premortal times. If there is stagnation in our spiritual life, it is important that we get into God’s presence and find out the reason for it. The stagnation could possibly be linked to the fact that we have been interfering in the life of another—advising when we had no right to advise. When we do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through us with the direct understanding of his spirit. To do even the most humbling takes to the glory of God takes the Almighty God incarnate working in us. “Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar. In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror: ‘Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue? Where is the officer in charge of the towers?’ You will see those arrogant people no more, those people of an obscure speech, with their strange, incomprehensible tongue,” reports Isaiah 33.17-19. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5

God sees entirely, knows entirely, hears entirely. Human welfare and an objective perfection are the ends (meaning) of life. The good life is thus grounded in the will, not in feeling. In determining the valid ends of conduct, the individual must be guided by the historical tradition, which may be trusted ultimately to destroy evil and to bring about the survival of the good. Ethical thought involves the problems of evil, of freedom, and of God. Evil is justified in a monistic World, because by overcoming evil we find the way and the will to the good. Although human freedom is real, it is never a motiveless freedom of action. The psychological theory of freedom is correct in finding the ground of free action in the human will or in human’s determining one’s conduct through deliberation and resolution. The metaphysical theory of freedom, which denies that there are causes of the will, must itself be defined. Morality, in its historical development of responsibility and a sense of duty, comes to require a higher will with a right to command and the provides an argument for the existence of a deity who is also implicit in the evolutionary account of nature. “For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but the Lord is unchangeable from all eternity to eternity,” reports Moroni 8.18. The moral law does not consider our weakness as human beings, it simply demands that we be absolutely moral. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5

Principles of ethics are rational in the sense that they arise from the conditions of life. They need not determine one’s metaphysics, but teleological ethics demands an evolutionary teleology in which the purpose of nature is fulfilled in human reason. Mind and body are distinct aspects of a unified All-One, a mental process of which history and nature are the two series of modifications. This identity is affirmed of God in the relationship to nature and to history. Science is limited to the phenomenalistic aspect of nature. Although God enters into interaction with lesser spirits, the concept of personality must be purged of its human limitations before it can be ascribed to God, who is to be thought of rather as a superpersonal source of energy and reason in nature and humans. “Now om who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescrible gift!” reports 2 Corinthians 9.10-12 and 14. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5

Worthiness is achieved through obedience. God represents order, harmony, beauty, and elegance. The Universe is a single connected system. Research into DNA has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce life, that intelligence must have been involved.  Because God alone truly is, all that is must in some sense be God, or at least a manifestation of God. Many Scientist now believe the existence of God is not only possible but probable. From their perspective, an intelligent force predating our Universe initiated creation. God is the creator and that into al created beings have returned. The created Universe is in process of passing from God in his first form to God in his last form. Natura is eternal; the whole process is eternally present; and everything is a theophania, a manifestation of God. God is the immanent cause or goal of nature, distinct from each finite particular only because the Lord includes them all within is own being. The study of nature, even with all its intellectual rigor, is filled with spiritual wonder. Every physical object in this vast Universe, including our human bodies, is built of the light of creation. The divine life which informs everything also informs the human mind and soul, and the soul is immortal because it is part of the divine. Since all events are equally ruled by divine law, miracles are part of Godly rituals. Scientific minds have drawn clear links between this force of intelligence and the spiritual realm. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

The breath of the human knowledge base is increasing exponentially. Our minds, like the Universe, are expanding. The Universe must necessarily be a single all-inclusive system if it is to be intelligible. There is an inward mystical union because something predates our Universe. In recognizing the limitations of the human mind to understand something as transcendent as a God-like force, modern science concedes that such force is actually a much more likely explanation for our beginnings than our minds would have some to believe. And in doing so, echoes the sentiments of metaphysical inquiry across the ages. Nature is entirely the manifestation of the spirit. God is good and independent of all the ordinary contingencies of chance and misfortune. He is capable of completely filling and occupying the mind and is the supreme good. The only knowledge which can satisfy these requirements is the knowledge that the mind is part of the total system of nature and is at one with it when recognizing that everything is as it must be. Felicity is the knowledge of necessity, for if the mind can accept the necessity of its own place in the whole ordering of things, there will be room neither for rebellion nor for complaint. The Universe as a single connected system might be difficult for our human mind because we can only grasp so much; our understanding is limited by our own three-dimensional capacity for thought. And this is quite enlightening. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

We can reflect on our thinking. If nothing else, this concept opens our eyes to the limitations of the human mind and the possibilities that may exist, if would could only perceive them. We might then contemplate the things in our own lives which continue to elude us. Things we do not understand or have stopped questioning. Recognizing the limitations we place on our own minds can help us to see how these thoughts might be holding us back. And how our reality might change if our perceptions could change. For human knowledge is sometimes of the confused kind which does not rise to the rational and scientific explanation of phenomena, let alone to that Scientia intuitiva (intuitive knowledge) by which the mind grasps the whole necessity of things and becomes identical with the infinita idea Dei (infinite idea of God). Freed from all those passions which dominated human actions so long as one did not grasp them intellectually, human beings are moved only by a fully conscious awareness of one’s place in the whole system. It is this awareness that which can also be used to identify as the intellectual love of God. The Universe is one spirit and immense beauty. And we must each create or own meaning. Living with purpose and love. And yes, continue to strive to understand. “The LORD our God is testing us to find out whether we love him with all our hearts and with all our souls. It is the LORD our God we must follow, and him we must revere,” reports Deuteronomy 13. 2-4. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

God and the Universe are identified because the World is the material through which the beings realizes their infinite moral vocation, and the divine is the moral order that includes both the World and the beings. The divine is identified with this ultimate nature of things. The divine is identified with this ultimate distinctionless merging of nature and spirit, a unity more fundamental than any of the differences of the merely empirical World. God himself is in a state of everlasting expansion and contraction, and this constitutes the creation and existence of the World. We are to respect the voice of conscience as the voice of God in the soul of human beings and are encouraged to develop a spirit of free inquiry in all directions. Because God is perfect, the perfectibility of human beings is possible because the voice of God is also in the human heart. The goodness welcomes us kindly as a mortal human in divine company, shakes our hands, and sets our minds at rest by telling us that it is right and just that we should have taken this road. We must now learn both the true and the unreliable beliefs of mortals.  What is clear is that the whole journey is nowhere on Earth, but in the Heavens, and it begins in the realm of darkness and ends in the realm of light. The worth of a soul is its capacity to become as God. The spirit of God will confirm to each of us individually our divine worth.  #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

Order, vanity, misery, boredom, and causes of effects all portray the human condition by showing humanity’s ways of dealing with and reacting to the ordinary World. This tendency to wrongfully identify ourselves. We can find truth and happiness in God. If humans are miserable, vain creatures, unable by our own resources to find first truths from which to derive other, we have to realize that we know truth not only by reason but more so by the year. It is in this latter way that we know first principles, and it is in vain that reason, which plays no part in this, tries to combat them. As children of God, we are all important. If we hold our heads up, our arms our, and walk with the Lord, God will build us, mold us, and magnify us. What a great blessing to be created in the image of God and know of our true potential in and through him! What a great blessing to know that in God’s strength we can do all things. We seek for happiness, but cannot find it apart from religion. It is not unreasonable to believe in God and to seek for religious guidance. We can frequently savor the sweet whisperings of the Holy host verifying the truth of our spiritual worth. Let there be no question about the value of our souls as humans. The whole intent of the gospel plan is to provide an opportunity for each of us to reach our fullest potential, which is eternal progression and the possibility of Godhood. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

Spiritual worth and worthiness are not the same. Spiritual worth means to value ourselves the way the Heavenly Father values, not as the World values us. The secrets of nature are hidden from us, and although it always active, we do not always discover its effects. In the course of time, through experience and understanding, we come to learn more about the natural World. Hence, as more data are accumulated, we should expect to find previously accepted hypotheses replaced by newer ones. Our conclusions about nature are always limited by the amount of experience gathered up to now. In time we seek for truths in terms of our experience and comprehension. What is sought for may be unchanging, but the results of the quest are the variable developments that constitute the history of science. “When you enter the land of the LORD is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices one’s son or daughter in the fire. We must be blameless before God,” reports Deuteronomy 18.9-10 and 13. The Lord assures us that when we have virtuous thoughts, God will bless us with confidence, even the confidence to know who we really are. There has never been a more crucial time to heed the Lord’s words. We acknowledge our Heavenly Father and praise the Lord for his blessings. We then rejoice that we are counted worthy to receive. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6

Religion makes certain claims—that the World is conditioned and dependent, that there is a providence, that there is a side other than that which appears to us. Religious World views often hold that people have a destiny, a predetermined purpose in life. These claims are not put forward as poetry but as truths. Reason may show that science does not conflict with these claims and even that science is unable to consider their truth value. Reason may also point out hints in nature which suggests that these claims are true; reason cannot, however, justify them. These truths differ in kind from those of science and common sense and have their own grounds—the heart and conscience, feeling and intuition. Correlation can be made between various feelings, on the one hand, and religious claims, on the other. Corresponding to the claim that the World is conditioned and dependent is the feeling of the dependence and conditionality of all things. The claim that there is a providence, or teleological order, in things implies that certain value judgments are true and these value judgments rest on feeling and intuition. Corresponding to the claim that there is a beyond is piety—a feeling and intuition, which is bound up with our experience of the beautiful and mysterious, that there is a reality behind appearances. And that makes sense because even on Earth there are life forms and light that we cannot view with our own eyes like ultra violet rays and bacteria, so what else could be here? #RandolphHarris 1 of 7

Many people who are religious very much rely on the technological advancements and medical interventions derived from science. They believe that there are metaphysical forces beyond science at work in the World. At the same time, they also believe that science and technology have limits and they therefore embrace the supernatural, religious qualities in the World. Self-control is at the core of our lifestyle. Psychologists have proposed that religious-inspired practices can benefit mental and physical healthy by helping people exercise self-control. Studies reveal that self-control promotes adaptive psychological functioning because it helps people regulate their emotions and behavior. Religious doctrines typically include prescriptions for taking care of one’s own body (your body is a temple), and support psychological traits that are associated with self-control, such as humility, patience, mindfulness, and compassion. In addition, religious doctrines offer behavioral techniques, including prayer, that can be people regulate their emotions and actions. When people are exposed to religious themes or call to mind their religious beliefs, they are better able to endure discomfort, delay gratification, and follow through on challenging tasks. Higher levels of self-control are associated with lower levels of aggression, and when people are angry and feel the urge to hurt others, their level of self-control determines whether or not they act on these urges. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7

The psychological benefits of religion extend beyond self-control. Religions also helps people find a sense of meaning in life, the feeling that one’s existence has purpose and value. The idea of reality is the reign of purpose from the principle of the dignity of the person which underlies the concept of duty. People can derive meaning from life without religion, but psychological studies indicate that, for many, religion is a major source of meaning in life. Religion also helps people cope with tragedies and other stressors that threaten meaning. The meaning that religion inspires can be of great consequence because people who perceive their lives as meaningful tend to be healthier and live up to an average of four years longer.  The spirit has fundamentally different laws from those of the natural World. In effect, they are the prescriptive laws of logic and ethics rather than the descriptive laws of physics and psychology. Insofar as a spirit determines itself by prescriptive laws, it is free. Spirit is the source of concepts, principles, intuitions, and valuation which cannot be derived from sense experience. And although the spirit develops under the influence of external stimuli, it is something unique in its own right. Spirit cannot be explained by, nor can its occurrence be predicted on, the basis of a consideration of sense experience alone. Spirit and its operation emerge under certain conditions but are not explained by these conditions. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7

The circle of civilization is soon to be completed and the commerce and science are supposed to combined to improve the World to the point where there will no longer exist a need to make war profit. A World in which all people have equal rights and in which leadership depends upon talent and wisdom is superior. We praise God for the regularity of the Universe, and the only suffering mostly comes is caused by social injustice. God grasps the whole-time process instantaneously; for him time and eternity is all one. Our knowledge catches eternity in the fleeting moment, which is both temporal and eternal. The nature of the human frame implies that it is God’s will for us to be happy in this life as well as in the next. Virtue is doing good to humankind, in obedience to the will of God and for the sake of everlasting happiness. Allegiance to God’s will and a desire for everlasting happiness are sufficient grounds for moral obligation. Moral obligation follows from the command of a superior, which is made persuasive by the prospect of a reward. We discover the will of God by consulting either Scripture or the light of nature, both which lead to the same conclusion. The will of God with regard to any action may be found by inquiring into its tendency to promote or diminish the general happiness. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7

Promoting the general happiness requires paying attention to the general consequences of our actions. The general consequence of any action may be estimated by asking what the consequences would be if the same sort of actions were generally permitted. No special faculty is required to enable us to have moral knowledge. Morality does not require a moral sense, nor an intuitive perception of right and wrong, nor any other innate nor instinctive capacity. All that is required for the foundation of morality is that each person have the wit to see that certain actions are beneficial to oneself. Then the sentiment of approbation that naturally arise when these actions benefit one will continue to accompany one’s perception of these actions when they benefit someone else. Thus the custom of approving certain actions is begun, and children, who learn everything by imitating their elders, carry it on. “And, we ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things. And it is the faith which we have had on things which our king has spoken unto us that has brought us to this great knowledge, whereby we do rejoice with such exceedingly great joy. And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things,” reports Mosiah 5.3-4. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7

Grant the possibility that God has destined his human creators for a future state and that the Lord will acquaint human beings with our destiny. “In one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal World, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one. For every person receives the wages of one whom the individual listened to obey, and this according to the words of the spirit of prophecy; therefore let it be according to truth,” reports Alma 3.36-27. If these possibilities are granted, then the need for miracles is clear, for they are the certification of revelation. The credibility of the Christian revelation hangs, therefore, on the issue of whether its miracles are genuine. Miracles on which Christianity is based (including those of the Old Testament) are genuine; and indeed the only genuine miracles are those of Christianity. A miracle must be exceptions to Universal experience or they would not be miracles. The real issue is whether there is a test for the reliability of the witnesses who reported an event that necessarily only they could have experienced. Such a test in our observation of whether the person who reports a miracle will cling to his or her report at the risk of one’s comfort, happiness, and even their mortality. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7

The original witnesses of the Christian miracles pass this test, since they labored and suffered in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of those. Hospitality for miracles is not as broad as we think. The miraculous event must be in support of a revelation that is important to human happiness. Mere wonders are thus ruled out; we also hold out against any event that may be resolved into a false perception and against any report that is guilty of exaggeration. The distinguishing mark of a human being is self-consciousness, and the moral aim of life is self-realization, which is expressed in perpetual self-development. The driving force being this development is the individual’s sense of limitation. An important mode of moral action is self-sacrifice, which is a genuine diminishing of one’s possessions or powers. “The Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles,” reports 1 Nephi 17.51. Something real is being created in the ritual of keeping the covenants of God. The only abiding reality is God himself, and the Lord’s order comes to us moment by moment. We are continually in touch with the reality of God. The more a person knows of the inner life of God’s most mature saints, the more one sees what God’s purpose really is. If we are not stretching our faith, you are not accessing everything God has in store. We must realize God is infinite and through God anything is possible, and we will see God do extraordinary things. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7

We assume that the fabrications of power all around us are genuine, and we fall victim to them. The youthful spirit of idealism, the melting pot, everyone has a chance, all people are equal—these tenets of the American ideal not only cast a dark shadow, the also make power seem undesirable to many people. It gets repressed as shadow material, and as a result many power struggles take place in secret, in an underhanded way. The word sin comes from a root meaning to miss the mark, and this despite human being’s high origin and nature, some continually miss the mark. Humans are meant to be noble, and are ordinarily less than such; meant to be generous, they seek their own. Created more than animal, humans often skin to be nothing else. Yet, never in these missings is human’s misstep required. Freedom has always been unquestioned. The first recorded act of human beings was an act of free choice. In eating Eden’s forbidden fruit, Adam and Ever were, it is true, seduced by the snake, but they had the power to refuse. The snake merely tempted them; it is clearly a story of human freedom. Inanimate objects cannot be others than they are; they do what their natures determine them to do.  Human beings once created makes or breaks themselves. They create their own destiny through their choices. “Cease to do evil, learn to do good,” reports Isaiah 1.16-17—for human beings only does this injunction hold. “I have set before you life and death…therefore choose life,” reports Deuteronomy 30.19. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

Even in the World, immense and ringed by mighty powers of nature, humans can walk with the confidence of a child in a home in which he or she is fully accepted. Our concept of God is a God that loves human beings and other creatures as his beloved children. God is the one than whom there is nothing superior. God is not defined as the most perfect being that there is, but a being than whom no more perfect is even conceivable. God gives us power, encouragement, and blessings. “I have made the Earth rich, and behold it is my foundation, wherefore, again I will stand upon it. And I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land of flowing milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord comes; and I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you seek it with all your hearts. And this shall be my covenant with you, you shall have it for the land of your inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children forever, while the Earth shall stand, and you shall possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 38.17-20. God is the most adequate conceivable object of worship; there is no possibility of another reality beyond the Lord to which he is inferior or subordinate and which would thus be an ever more worthy recipient of human’s devotion. The Lord has demonstrated throughout the generations that when the inhabitants of the Earth remember him and are obedient to his direction, he will bless them not only with spiritual blessings, but with material abundance as well. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

Thus metaphysical ultimacy and moral ultimacy coincide; one cannot ask of the most perfect conceivable being, as one can of a first cause, necessary being, unmoved mover, or designer of the World (supposing such to exist) whether people ought to worship him. The scriptures contain many evidence of the Lord’s willingness to prosper his people with the riches of the Earth when they demonstrate that they will use this abundance prudently, with humility and charity, always acknowledging the source of their blessings. Just as a triangle necessarily includes among the defining attributes of a triangle that of having its three internal angles equal to two right angles, so the idea of a supremely perfect God necessarily includes the attribute of existence. Consequently we can no more think, without contradiction, of a being than whom no more supremely perfect is even conceivable which lacks existence than of a triangle which lack three sides. When the lives of the people are in harmony with the Lord’s will, all of the essential factors that produce the blessings God deigns to give to his children seem to come into line. Love and harmony prevail. Even the weather, the climate, and the elements seem to respond. This will allow us to live in our families and as people, we will live as one, seeking each other’s good. It is by imitation, far more than by precepts, that we learn everything, and what we learn thus, we acquire not only more effectually, but more pleasantly. When people are free to do what they please, they usually imitate each other. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

The Holy Ghost brings back memories of what God has taught us. And one of the ways God teaches us is with his blessing; and so, if we choose to exercise faith, the Holy Ghost will bring God’s kindness to our remembrance. We can test that in prayer today. We can follow the command, “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things,” reports Doctrines and covenants 59.7. There is a great tendency for us in our prayers and in our pleadings with the Lord to ask for additional blessings. However, sometimes we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received. We enjoy so much. If we exercise our faith, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, we will find that memories of other blessings will flood into our mind, which will allow us also to learn by insight. Psychologists, for a long time, have found insight puzzling, partly because they cannot identify this sort of learning and it seems almost mystical, which it might be. Insight is like a sudden flash of light flooding into a darkened room, a quick and spontaneous illumination that provides the answer to the problem we are working on. It is has been called the “Aha! Experience,” because we frequently see the answer flash and shout out our surprised joy. Insight is most useful in our struggles of life experiences, puzzles, mazes, math problems, logic problems, and other complicated bits of thinking. As we express our gratitude, our prayers may take a little longer than usual, and insight and remembrance will come. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

Those of us who keep a book of remembrance are more likely to keep the Lord in commemoration in our daily lives. Insight and freedom from conflict’s grip are obtained by bringing the misleading model that distorts one’s thinking to the conscious foreground, by making quite clear in detail how our thought is governed by it, and by giving us a proper view of the nature of, for example, our knowledge of other minds. Thus, Wisdom’s first aim is to induce and sharpen philosophical perplexity by showing how it arises precisely out of the sort of position that is at first sight the most attractive to us. Journals are a way of counting our blessings and of leaving an inventory of those blessings for our posterity. As we start to write, we could ask ourselves, “How did God bless me today?” If we do that long enough and wit faith, we will find ourselves remembering blessings. And sometimes, we will have gifts brought to our mind which we failed to notice during the day, but which we will then know was a touch of God’s hand in our lives. Only then will we see psychological statements and the ways in which we know of the existence of other people’s thoughts and feelings in all their idiosyncrasies and in all their similarities to other statements and to other ways knowing things. Until this is done, we cannot be entirely freed from our tendency to see things are they are not. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

As may be deduced, Wisdom’s writings about other minds are almost as much about induction, the past, the perception, philosophy of science, and so on as they are about other minds. From the scriptures we learn that all of us existed as spirits, literally spirit children of our Father in Heaven, before we were born in the flesh. All were not of equal intelligence; some were more obedient and faithful than others, and as a result they merited special blessings and were chosen for very special missions here on Earth. From the scripture we can identify some of these chosen individuals, starting with Michael who was referred to as the Archangel, one of high rank in the spirit World. He was chosen to be Adam, the first man, to stand forever under the Father and the Son at the head of the human family.  Even the Word of Wisdom was given for a principle with a promise. Those who receive their endowments and receive this high knowledge, make covenants with God that they will observe the instruction given and carry them out in their daily lives. Blessings will follow those who accept the truth, practice it, and live the gospel as they should. We must never be careless about the sacred and eternal nature of the covenants that we enter into the temples, so we do not place our eternal future in jeopardy. We all have our free agency; but none of us have the free agency to determine the consequences of the choices that we make, because we will be held accountable and be responsible for our acts. There is no conceivable means of checking up on the conclusion of the argument from analogy. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6