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It is Important to Have a Vivid Curiosity About the World We Live in
If God does not bring it, the Earth will not give it. In the mystical experience the soul is emptied and wholly lost in God, but this is actually not conceived as a union with the Godhead. The soul and God remain distinct in substance, although they are joined by the glue of love. Through man’s love flowing up to God and through the downward movement of God’s grace, the two become united. We can purify ourselves through prayer and be illuminated by the divine mercy, which will allow us to gain a continuing union with God through love. This love is nourished by concentrating upon God, to the exclusion of mutable things. Great things are brought about and burdens are lightened through the efforts of many hands anxiously engaged in a good cause. In the American Midwest, the size of a typical family farm is 450 acres of land. Americans, thousands of years ago, were encouraged and inspired through their cooperative energy to transform the barren desert wasteland into the fertile valleys we have today. We are the beneficiaries of their collective vision and industry. However, things were not always easy for them. Sometimes their tools would break and they would be so low on food that they would have to spend days in bed, packing their bodies tightly in order to stay warm and eat less food. They weaken themselves deliberately. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Human hibernation was a physical and economic necessity. Lowering the metabolic rate prevented hunger from exhausting supplies. Only when our testimony transcends what is in our mind and burrows deep into our heart will our motivation to love and to serve become like unto the Savior’s. A belief in work ought to be a thing of beauty. Virtually every success story involves someone or some group working harder than their peers. Bill Gates was addicted to his computer as a child. So was Bill Joy. The Beatles put in thousands of hours of practice in Hamburg. Joe Flom ground away for years, perfecting the art of takeovers, before he got his chance. Working really hard is what successful people do, and the genius of the culture from that hard work give people a way to find meaning in the midst of great uncertainty and poverty. Without cohesive nations and tribes that we can become fully attached to, we become creatures of longing and dissatisfaction. Today, our lives are dictated by memories of things past rather than by the perception of things present. We have often elected those who promised a return to a former, superior moral order. We must exemplify in our lives specific virtues, such as an attitude of gratitude, a longing for learning, a devotion to discipline, and a willingness to work. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
Our yearning for moral order makes us want to connect with leaders who actually articulate how we might get there and what we might have to sacrifice to attain the comfort that comes with collective moral purpose. Our choices are always given to us in some sense, and as long as they are going to be given, why not have them given to us by God, by traditions that hold warehouses of stored wisdom, rather than by Gallup polls? Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God. We are relentlessly searching for something meaningful and seeking to flee the ravages of globalism and conformist individualism through the reclaiming of righteous and simple ways. In any community of Saints, we all work to serve each other in the best way we know how. Our work has a higher purpose because it is work to bless others and build the Kingdom of God. We all have life events that, when we recall them years later, acquire new and important meaning. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
The revival of interest in basic institutions (such as family and community), and the search for historical roots are all signs of a search for more secure moorings and longer-lasting values in a shifting World. The urge to return to the ole ways, the old tribes and localities, is the urge to protect oneself in an era when everything and everyone is up for grabs. The joiner finds momentary or even lifelong peace and comfort. Safely ensconced, this individual is buffered from society, becomes permanently somebody. We are blessed with a great and noble heritage that offers a pathway to truth that veers dramatically from the so-called ways of the World. We need to remind ourselves about the value of our heritage so we do not underestimate its worth. Stand tall, stop hiding in the corners, and proclaim the treasured teachings of our common heritage, not with a spirit of pride or boasting but with a spirit of confidence and conviction. Something about which many of us are most proud is how our forefathers, through their faith in God and their industry and perseverance, turned places that nobody wanted into beautiful cities. Our Father in Heaven has given all of his children everything they have—their talents, their abilities, their material goods—and has made them stewards over these blessings. Let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. One that loves not knows not God; for God is love. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
It is our understanding of the principle of love that encourages us to give generously. May the Lord continue to bless us with the desire to love one another. Work is just as important to the success of the Lord’s economic plan as the commandment to love our neighbor. The courage to pursue the main mission in life, which is to love well, and to stay healthy and true to that commitment no matter how difficult it might be. When we risk being ourselves, we can master our greatest interpersonal fears. At the same time, we forge healthier, more rewarding alliances with others. Caring, concern, and a healthy connection to the people in our lives may be the strongest indication that we are well-adjusted, mature adults. In a survey seeking information on what contributes most to psychological well-being during adult years, almost 70 percent of the survey respondents rated their families as the most important thing in their lives at present; slightly more than one-third felt their jobs were most important. When asked what experiences from the past were most beneficial, respondents ranked marriage and family first and second. A loving family is, for most of us, the place where we feel comfortable in disclosing ourselves, where we care enough to exercise compassion during conflict, where we can risk being autonomous in relating, and where we are first called upon to find our sources of personal power. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
It is within our families—whether they be made of blood bonds or never emotional bonds—that we can most easily learn the lessons of interpersonal effectiveness, which carry over into every relationship we undertake. Although confronting our shortcomings in relationships is painful and embarrassing at times, the alternative is worse: people in midlife who do not work at better relationships end up isolated and disenfranchised from themselves. In contrast, people who hone their capacity to be first-class relaters reap unanticipated benefits. Increased ease with others, greater happiness with ourselves, and a deeper understanding of humanity are the bonus prizes of interpersonal effectiveness. The rewards garnered are also the basis for spirituality; connection with others is the first step toward the connection with the greater whole that united us all. Interpersonal effectiveness is also a key component of personal integrity, which is defined in part by how much we respect the integrity, which is defined in part by how much we respect the integrity of others. Most important, as we continue to grow and mature as adults, strong interpersonal skills ensure that we attract warm, caring people as our companions on the journey of life. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Some of Us are Half in the Rural Sleepy Island World and Half in the Hyperactive City Mindset
God is beyond good and evil. We think of pollution as a chemical poisoning, but the soul can be poisoned through the ear. We might be aware of the value of scents and aromas as well. In the beginning of the sixth century, there were writings that has a wide impact upon medieval mysticism. The negative theology expounded in them was not merely the result of logical difficulties involved in the ascription of ordinary predicates to God but, more importantly, was geared to the expression of the contemplative’s inner experience of a darkness clearer than light. Thus the highest state of Christian blessedness was increasingly identified with contemplation, and mysticism became the pattern after which eternal life was conceived. The fall of Adam brought about a rupture in the cosmos; the Shekinah, or Divine Presence, became exiled from the En-Sof (which is understood as God prior to his self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual realm and can also be known as the Endless One, unending, infinity). No longer does the Presence pervade the whole World; it appears intermittently here and there—for instance, in ancient Israel—and has continued to be especially associated with some people. The aim should be to bring about a reunion of the En-Sof with the Shekinah (which is also known as the Earth and represents the oral law and the oral law is the source of the spirit of every living being). #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
Since the human soul contains some of the Sefiroth, the individual experience of such a reunion will have its cosmic effects and help to restore Universal harmony. Consequently, the mystical life was given a dramatic and central place in the operations of the Universe. Reincarnation is supposed to give humans ever fresh chances of living the pure life and is supposed to provide a framework for the punishment of those who had transgressed because too much fertilizer, or the right amount applied at the wrong time, could be as bad as too little. Adam is a Universal being who before the Fall embraced the Universe, then in an ideal state. With his fall, the material World was created, and the light of his divine nature was fragmented into the parks that illuminate the myriads of living souls. In the final consummation, all will be reunited. Asceticism and the practice of kavannah—concentrated devotion in all one’s acts—were the means of purifying the soul. Social conditions may have helped the growth of such doctrines, for the emphasis on meekness, love, and a quiet interior life were well adapted to the unhappy outer circumstances of the people, and Messianic hope gave the contemplative cosmic role. Spiritual leaders stress being righteous because it is thought to be the best way to channel God. Salvation can be attained through prayer and pious acts. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
Many say God speaks in numbers. It is important to teach human beings to store digits in a memory loop that runs longer than two seconds. It is good to teach children in school to memorize seven numbers at a time and then repeat those numbers to increase the numerical memory capacity loop. By teaching young children to play games with numbers, by age five they can be ahead of their peers by a year in their most fundamental math skills. This will allow them to perform addition more easily. Also, the attitude one takes towards math makes a huge difference. Instead of being a rote learning thing, there is a pattern one can figure out. There is an expectation that it is sensible. For fractions, instead of saying three-fifths, it might be better understood if we say out of five parts take three. That is telling you conceptually what a fraction is. It is differentiating the denominator and the numerator. This will take away the bafflement and allow a child to hold more numbers in their heads and do calculations faster because the way a fraction actually is will be expressed in a language that corresponds exactly to what is being asked. And it may make math more enjoyable, which will may students try a little harder and take more math calluses and be more willing to do their homework in kind of a virtuous circle. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
When you live in a community where everybody knows everybody, invisibility is banished. In the larger anonymous society of being cities and suburbs, one has to know something to make an active effort. One has to win, know how to assert oneself in the competition for limited resources—and not only once, but day after day. With the disappearance of traditional society and its preconditions and in the absence of the preordained, unquestioned, often enforced ties of earlier times, people are constantly forced to articulate their individuality and existence as a way to manufacture bonds and connections for networking and notoriety. The pressure of needing to constantly justify and give notice of one’s existence is ameliorated by living in (comparatively) closed society. Some researcher believe that the intrinsic nature of the child, some inborn predilection to attach or separate from others, is more important than the role played by the primary caretaker in this personality-defining scenario. Being able to let go of Mom and tolerate the anxiety of doing so puts infants in an entirely new relationship alignment, not only with their mothers, but with everyone else who matters to them. There is a close connection between the ability to feel and tolerate this anxiety and the ability to enter mutually gratifying relationships. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
Coping with separation anxiety means giving away some of our power over the valued other, some of our need to be in charge, and some of our insistence on gratifying our own wishes. In letting go of our basic selfish motives, we learn the rudiment of altruistic caring and relating. Cultivation of the spiritual life, whereby a foretaste of the beatitude of the blessed in Heaven can be gained. Thus the ultimate destiny of human beings is seen in contemplative terms, and it is thought possible to anticipate tis destiny by a regulated life withdrawn from the World. Those who gravitate toward over connectedness, seek undue amounts of reassurance or control in relationships, and may act domineering—or overprocess their feelings and opinions—in an effort to avoid the painful experience of rejection or abandonment. They seem to think that if others just understood their point of view, no separation would have to occur. However, research and practical observation confirms that overusing detachment in relating is a power, but dysfunctional attempt to quell anxiety of a different form. Complete withdrawal is a strong indication that the individual is so afraid of being engulfed by the other person’s point of view or emotional state that running away appears to be the only solution. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
Distancing is a last-ditch effort to maintain sense of self. Individuals who make this type of interpersonal mistake report having been cared for by clingy, overly dependent adults while in their formative years, and having learned to temporarily turn off their attachment to, and concern for, their extremely needful associates. Matthew never felt that he had a life of his own. He always felt people needed him to experience everything that the could not have for themselves, so he always felt the pressure to be out there in the World living life for them. However, at the same time, he was always getting the message never to leave them. Needless to say, Matthew lacked any opportunity to observe a close loving relationship between two adults. He described feeling suffocated at times by people’s emotional need. His response was, overtime, to pull back each time he started to get close to a potential partner. In this way, he avoided the possibility of anyone needing him, threatening to suffocate him, or trying to take over his life. His ambivalence for each new partner, enacted by always finding flaws that allowed him to escape, was a continuing act of loyalty and submission to the people of his past. By never committing to a relationship, Matthew never left the people who needed him behind for someone else. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
It is important to be willing to risk being rejected or engulfed, whichever is more frightening to you. When you risk experiencing the pain that your coping method was designed to avoid, you eliminate you need to use it. In simple terms, if you can tolerate being rejected, you will not have to maintain attachments at all costs, and if you can handle being engulfed, you need not withdraw from situations in order to survive them intact. Only after you have come to terms with the possibility of abandonment or obliteration can you be truly assertive in voicing your true thoughts and emotions. Though it might appear that this problem, which is essentially emotional in nature, can be solved with private inner work, the dysfunction was born in the interpersonal crucible, and it is there that it must be resolved. What you gain from tolerating the anxiety of being rejected, relinquishing your overreliance on attachment, and becoming more separate or distant when the situation warrants is a greater sense of autonomy and the ability to survive real or potential rejections; less tolerance for being abused by others; a willingness to stand up for your own needs; and a greater sense of relationship balance, marked by increased sensitivity to the attachment-separation needs of others. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
Some people enjoy not just the quiet of the giant cedars and many hidden beaches in the country living because they hunger for the old lifestyle, and this is as close as they can get to the instant recognizability of yesteryear’s small town. The clock is turned back. The nobody can be somebody just by existing. The roles—town drunk, town loon, town rabble-rouser, town gossip, town genius, town beauty queen, or the town’s most eligible bachelor—provide identities that would otherwise have to be carefully maintained and retooled and projected. Perhaps this is why small towns always seem so sleepy and nonchalant. They are protected from the perpetual necessity of narrative reinvention. Many of us seek, either consciously or unconsciously, to replicate this idea of the small town. We yearn for the collective intimacy of the tribe and the crew, yet grove on the anonymity and solitude cyberspace. Conversely, many people do not wish to totally abandon the city. Some of us are half in the rural sleepy island World and, at least mentally, half in the hyperactive city mindset. On the island, with its many highly intelligent, World-weary, conservative-minded residents, we get the best of both Worlds: small town recognition without small-town provincialism. Downshifting people with an underlying longing for a tradition that will not limit their individuality embody an increasingly common mindset. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
Some people are separated from the crowd who are unhappy with their lives because some individuals actually act on their longings of the greater, popular-infused society while being effortlessly recognized as a member of a tiny and exclusive community. Most people are unable to relocate out of the influence of the fast paced and largely anonymous urban centers. As a result, many try to capture the sense of downshifting in other ways. The trend reveals itself in movements like Slow Food—and international group that preaches slow cooking, traditional ingredients and customs, gardening, and nostalgia for a past of villages and farms and ancestral banquets. They prefer the sound of brooms and a rake to the loud, polluting motors of the leaf blowers that wake them up every single day, even on sleep-in Saturday. These people want to save indigenous crops from the single-crop focus of modern agribusiness, and develop more local farms and family operations before all of the land is selfishly developed. They talk about a fund to help new farmers set up their operations while the seniors can share enough knowledge of the old ways to replicate the successful farming techniques of a time before fertilizer and pesticide. There is a nostalgic element to having at least one plantation style farm to represent the community. #RandolpHarris 9 of 10
It is easy to overlook the obvious, persistent indications of soul, in this case the fantasies and longing for harmony, where the blue ride yawns its greatness. Working class, middle class, and wealthy people from the city are desperately casting about for an identity that comes close to the values of a mom-and-pop business of a simpler time and this mirrors society’s desire for real substance and meaning in a technology-driven chimera. Because we hunger for the old lifestyle, we fake it for a while. What do you think country-western music and rhythm and blues is all about? Dolly Parton, Aaliyah, Anita Baker, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Boyz II Men, the Marvin Gaye. You hear them everywhere, on every channel in the Panhandle, because we need it now more than ever—to convince ourselves that we are still cowboys and cowgirls. Lord, accept us in penitence. Lord, leave us not. Lord, led us not into temptation. God, grant us good thoughts. God, grant us tears and remembrance of death and compunction. Lord, grant us the thought of confessing our sins. God, grant us humility, chastity, and obedience. Lord, grant us to love thee in our hearts. God, grant us to love thee with all our mind and soul, and always to do thy will. Lord, protect us from certain people, and passions, from every other harmful thing. Lord, thou know thou actest as thou wilt; may they will be also in me, a sinner, for blessed at thou forever. Amen. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
Our Wishes and Dreams Fare Better When We Have a Little Courage
Our wishes and dreams fare so much better when we have a little courage—courage to stand up for our beliefs, courage to face the unknown, courage to be successful. In our confusing, constantly shifting age, more and more of us long for the traditions of a supposedly simpler time. Though we many not join fundamentalist religions, trade in our cars for horses and buggies, or set off to foreign lands, we cannot help but occasionally think that times were better when our values and our lifestyles were protected by restrictive codes governing behavior. Being bridled, or yielding obediently to restraint, is necessary for our personal growth and progression. There was a prison program where wild horses were being tamed by people who were serving time in prison. As the inmates formed friendships with the horses, they learned or reaffirmed patience, controlling tempers, respect for others, and the value of working within a system. As they watched the horses learn to be obedient to their commands and guidance, the inmates realized how they could have avoided terrible mistakes that had put them in prison. Obedience to righteous principles and learning who is trustworthy would have offered the inmates freedom from social infirmary, shame, degradation, and feelings of guilt and regret. Some people took the view—if you want to treat us differently, we will act differently. However, like the horses, the people serving time can still learn, progress, and achieve. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
When you wish, dream, and so, a successful outcome is directly related to your willingness to take a risk. We hear many persuasive voices demanding freedom from restrictions, particularly from moral restraints. However, we learn from the history of the Earth that any successful society has had boundaries. There is an unsettling yearning for the past simplicity many experience when confronted by the vagaries and complexities of the new conformity. Here, the small town looms large as the bastion of a simpler, better time when values were shared and people worked together to uphold the sanctity of family and community. In the Heavenly small town, no one was out of place, no one was taking Prozac, everyone had a role and a purpose. The ideal town provided a dream like relief from freedom through effortless recognition. It is hardly surprising that the simple life of the small town looms so large in our imagination. Currently, in our free society, it seems to have become daunting. People are actually begging the government to take away their rights and do away with laws. They want the government to dictate every aspect of their lives because the more freedom we have, the more troublesome and threatening it seems. People today are not so much concerned with the need to belong to a community as with the liberation from the compulsion of constantly having to choose and decide. Where freedom becomes a cage, many chose the freedom of a cage. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The meaning of the word liberty is difficult to circumscribe. The World has never had a good definition of the term. We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not mean the same thing. With some, the word liberty may mean for each person to do as he or she pleases with oneself and the product of one’s labor. While with others liberty may mean for some people to do as the please with other people and the product of other people’s labor. Yet, the sweets of liberty about which we usually speak may be classified as political independence, economic freedom, and free agency. We should also strive for a freedom of the soul. “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 121.45. One who enjoys such liberty is free indeed. One is possessed of perfect liberty. Some people are seeking an escape from a society that compels loneliness by placing the highest values on individual achievement. They seek to be born again into yesterday, stripped of their fears and uncertainties, protected from the ravages and confusions of the shape-shifting present. We get so tired of having the same problems over and over that we finally admit there may be other ways of solving the problems. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Until we mature, most of us remain entrenched in our own behavior patterns, likely, as the saying goes, to try harder instead of smarter. In fact, studies have shown that adult humans are the only creatures that will stick to a problem-solving technique that has lost its effectiveness. In contrast, countless animal-conditioning experiments with chickens and elephants show that after a certain number of attempts to jump a barrier, escape confinement, even avoid a painful electrical shock, the animals will give up trying. We humans do get credit for persistence, if not for hardheadedness. Our problem is that we are going about it wrong. Our animal friends, on the other hand, are often completely incapacitated by failure. If the experimenter removes the barrier, boundaries, or electrical field, for example, animals still make no effort to achieve their original goal, even though goal attainment is now possible. Waiting for circumstances to change, however, is not usually a good option for humans seeking conflict resolution. It is not likely that some “experimenter” will magically render our previously unsuccessful communication efforts suddenly effective. Think of it as buying the lottery tickets of human interaction; it is possible, but highly unlikely, that you will resolve anything without changing your approach. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Frankly, if we do not take a fresh look at communications problems as we mature, there is a good chance we never will: although senior adults can learn new communications skills, the prognosis for achieving great strides in interpersonal effectiveness diminishes significantly after a certain age. Researcher who study relationship trends among older adults often cite age-related declines in physical ability, which may hinder motivation, as well as deeply ingrained communication habits, as the major deterrents to improving relationships in later stages of adulthood. Many people tend to adopt a relating style that worked for them as children, and stay with it forever. Naturally, this creates a strong desire to escape the pressures of constantly creating individuality. The trend whereby people abandon high stress lifestyles in favor of lives centered on family and community provides a sense of enlightenment, freedom, maturity, and individuality. Downshifting is happening because millions of Americans are recognizing that, in fact, their lives are no longer in sync with their values. The money and the consumption-identity line has started to seem meaningless. In wake of the dot-com bubble burst, many people who would have been millionaires from their experience in computer science technology sought simpler lives by moving to a quiet town, opening a business and taking on new careers is an example of downshifting. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Inspired by great food and New York Culture, one post-dot-com Columbia University MBA holder decided to open a hot-dog stand in Brooklyn, New York USA. The idea was created to give a classic New York staple the quality and love it deserves. Using fresh ingredients, organic meats, freshly baked buns, and fancy mustards to produce a hot dog people could feel good about eating. Similarly, Assaf Tarnopolsky, a Wharton Business School graduate who took his post-dot-com career in the direction of crepes initially sweated and encountered some setbacks that were part of any start up, but he and his partner always reminded themselves that they have a great concept and an incredible product. And that without taking risks, success would be out of reach instead of around the corner. They have since expanded and are now known as the “West Coast Crepe King.” Still risk can produce so much anxiety that you begin to wonder why you are pursuing a passion in the first place. Anxiety is a natural, deeply felt response to being emotionally or physically separated from things or people we have learned to count on. You will not always be able to explain your courage—to others or to yourself. And after overcoming a significant trial, someone might ask you, “How on Earth did you accomplish that?” You might not know yourself, but deep inside you know it was by the grace of God. God did not bring you this far to let you go. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Because you are an adult, sometimes it is important to be meticulous. Instead of trying to do too much at once, think of the strides you will make by sampling a little courage one until you get comfortable because when you deny your dreams a voice, you quell any hope for turning what you want into what is yours. Once you decide that your wishes and dreams should come out to play, you are likely to make some discoveries. Some will be stunning, others puzzling, but all will intrigue. Some people take time off from work after they realize they are work obsessed city types who have become battered down by stress and obligation and are so focused on the money they make that it starts to deteriorate their bodies. Deblekha Guin took a temporary time out on a small island. She bought a nice house with cathedral ceilings. She knew moving to a small rural community was the smartest thing she had ever done because she had the opportunity to articulate what she felt and how she felt. Deblekha feel a sense of belonging in this community. She felt something and felt a part of something. It was the type of place if you had a cold someone would take care of you and everyone blended in. There is a close connection between the ability to feel and tolerate anxiety and the ability to enter mutually gratifying relationships. Pour out your soul in thanksgiving. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
God is Up in His Ivory Shower!
When people are talking to people, it is important that one darn sure understands what is going on. Cultural legacies matter—they are powerful and pervasive and they persist, long after their original usefulness has passed. However, do not assume that legacies are an indelible part of who we are. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good and edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers,” reports Ephesians 4.29. If we are honest about where we come from and are willing to confront those aspects of our heritage that do not suit the professional World, we can change. We can and should participate in continuing civil dialogue, especially when we view the World from differing perspectives. When we understand what it really means to be a good person—when we understand how much culture and history and the World outside of the individual matter to professional success—then we do not have to throw up our hands in despair at other people when they make mistakes. We have a way to make success out of the unsuccessful. “A soft answer turns away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger,” reports Proverbs 15.1. Although it is important to be frank about a subject we would all too often rather ignore, a soft answer consists of a reasoned response—disciplined words from a humble heart. Words that may be firm in information can be soft in spirit. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Why are we so squeamish? Why is the fact that each of us comes from a culture with its own distinctive mix of strength and weaknesses, tendencies and predispositions, so difficult to acknowledge? Who we are cannot be separated from where we are from—and when we ignore that fact, accidents happen. You can imagine how frustrating it can be when people are all thinking furiously, trying to square their assumptions about a person or situation they know nothing about. There exists today a great need for people to cultivate respect for each other across wide distances of belief and behavior and across deep canyons of conflicting agendas. It is impossible to know all that informs our minds and hearts or even to fully understand the context for the trials and choices we each face. Even intelligent individuals have trouble with the group mentality trap. In order to avoid the hazards of hardheadedness and self-interest in a group setting where the issues at hand may appear to be impossible to solve, we need to understand a genuine dialogue that will free individuals to do their best thinking. When each person feels that his or her opinions and emotions are taken seriously, the intelligence of a group or community can move beyond the intelligence quotient of any of the individuals, into the collective genius. Learning to relate to the person behind the opinions by shifting to a more beneficial point of view is the most effective way of ending the conflict. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
When a person is trying to express to you what is going on, it is never a good idea to compare and contrast their situation with someone you think who has a more difficult time. Whatever the person talking to you is going through has nothing to do with comparing their situation to someone else’s. They are trying to explain what is going on with them and get some kind of empathy or advice. Sometimes we need to fully own the limits of our own imperfections and rough edges in communicating with others, and practice with tender regard for another’s experience what we are thinking. Hearing someone who has it harder does not and should not make us feel better. It would be like a struggling adult talking about their situation and someone saying, “Well, when your father was twenty-one he has a successful career, a house in the hills, and a brand-new car.” And it is like, that is nice, but there may be something someone is trying to express about their situation that has nothing to do with a comparison. They may be looking for help on how to deal with something they think is personal. Rising above our own feelings requires an unselfish generosity, the kind of generosity that contributes to happiness. Everyone has a different lifestyle and other people’s failures of successes have nothing to do with one’s situation. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
It is sometimes like because people, even if they are older, get together in groups and because they have had a hard life, they want to take it out on someone who was rising above the doom and gloom and mistakes others made with their life. And when they finally bring that person down and that person is suffering, they want that individual to know that they have had a hard life and why should you have it any different. It is like seeing you suffer makes them feel better, and they want to blame you for their problems. Typically as we age, empathy for another person’s perspective comes easier than it does during earlier periods, but not always for some. Research on healthy adult development reveals that one key characteristic of maturity is the increased capacity to respect and even embrace another person’s point of view. Vast improvements in relationships are made when we can move beyond our rigid ideas and attempt to encounter others as people, not positions. Perhaps most exciting are the community—even global—implications of simply getting to know each other before we attempt to “solve” problems. “For the Lord sees not as people see; people look at the outside appearance, but God look at the heart,” reports 1 Samuel 16.7. It does not matter who is more right. What matters is listening to each other an understanding the other’s perspective. The willingness to see through each other’s eyes will transform corrupt communication in ministering grace. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Western communication has what linguists call a transmitter orientation—that is, it is considered the responsibility of the speaker to communicate ideas clearly and unambiguously. However, there is something beautiful in the subtlety of the exchange in Eastern culture, in the attention that each party must pay to the motivations and desires of the other. It is civilized, in the truest sense of that word: it does not permit insensitivity or insensitivity or indifference. However, high-power distance communication works only when the listener is capable of paying close attention, and it only works if the two parties in a conversation have the luxury of time, in order to unwind each other’s meanings. It does not work in high finance when time is an issue and people are exhausted and trying to get a situation taken care of before a deadline. Speaking through grace and compassionate language when the cultivated gift of the Holy Ghost pierces our hearts with empathy for the feelings and context of others. It enables us to transform hazardous situations into holy places. God looks upon our hearts and cares what we are thinking. It is also important to understand that sometimes people have had discussions in the past, and they only reason they may revisit them is because some third-party steps in with their opinions. So people who have had a discussion in the past understand what the other is saying and does not have to go into much detail. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
And, frankly, sometimes people just need to mind their own business and keep their opinions to themselves, especially if you start trying to power force in a situation that has nothing to do with you and there is clear evidence that your influence has made the situation much worse. No one asked for your opinion, no one asked for your help and if you had followed the law all the pain and suffer and decades of corrective action and millions of dollars would not have been spent trying to correct a problem you created by trying to force your influence over a situation that was under control. People are not here to have their faith questioned and challenged. We are here to remind ourselves that we are not alone, to reaffirm centuries-old traditions with like-minded souls from around the World. We are not brainwashed, we are not being forced, we are all confirmed, we are doing this on our own. The Church does not make mistakes. We are all sinners, we are not perfect, we cannot expect anyone to be perfect like God, but it is important to show respect and not try to force your situations or ways onto others, especially when they can have fatal and lifelong impacts. Sometimes when people are watching you, they cannot help but feel jealous because you believe in something; it is more than they can say. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
When you follow a leader, a code, a God, and it give your life meaning not by seeking to attain control of someone else’s narrative and reshaping, but through the opposite: by relinquishing it; we shall go one pursuing the path which the Lord has marked out before us. We have the right to influence who gets elected, what gets taught in schools, what gets sold in stores, and what rights we have in order to make decisions about our own bodies in lives. You cannot own a person and try to control their lives by using political forces. You cannot assume you know more than a person does about their products when you are not an expect. America is a law of lands and we have a capitalistic system because other systems can be very dangerous and deadly, as they do not respect human lives nor freedom of choice. America used to be a different World, where slavery was legal and everyone can see how deadly and dangerous it is when people do not have the freedom to make choices about their own lives, bodies, health and occupations. “Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; of both in Heaven and in the Earth, and under the Earth; things which must shortly come to pass; thing which are at home; things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 88.78-80. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
God in Fact Produced Intelligibility, a Lifting of Mystery?
The moral sense is an influencing motive in our pursuit of virtue and our avoidance of vicious behavior, and it plays a part in our bestowal of praise and blame. In the twenty-first century, many people seem to be on a quest for individuality that itself is more a product of the power relations of an essentially conformist and elaborately micromanaged society than an authentic expression of true human need. This is our World: focus groups, elaborate surveillance, and single televised entertainment events beamed simultaneously into billions of homes, much like the historical wedding of Prince Harry and Princess Meghan Markle. Every aspect of our life is watched over, chronicled, legislated, recorded, and turned into a massive database on the likes, needs, habits, desires, and activities of the modern human. How did we get ourselves into this paradoxical state? Because someone wanted to psychologically control large groups of people. The masses were also characterized as an intrinsically dangerous, unpredictable, and irrational rabble. And because of and despite their volatility, crowds could be manipulated. Whatever be the ideas suggested to crowds, they can only exercise effective influence on condition that they assume a very absolute, uncompromising, shape. Gustave Le Bon, the father of mass psychology and patron saint of propaganda, had a clarion call that would come to affect the future billions: Dumb it down! #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
It has been observed in criminology that most criminals are just copy cats lacking innovation. Gabriel Tarde, a criminologist, believed society to be a group of beings who are apt to imitate one another. The masses are supposedly sleepwalking through life, noting that society is imitation and imitation is a kind of somnambulism. The French media critics like Legrand du Saulle and Despine, warned against the moral contagion in which the press publicizes crimes and sensational stories that are immediately imitated. Hysteria is an emotional disturbance that manifests in a variety of physical symptoms, such as blindness, anesthesia, or paralysis. These symptoms are produced by the subconscious functions that are dissociated from normal awareness. People essentially are susceptible to sentiment—they will copy whatever they are shown are told. Conformity is the distinctive quality of the mass human. They conform because they are suggestible. Once suggestible, people submit to idea and emotions of which they were unaware, rising up from the depths of their psyche. Half asleep, some individuals plunge into the mysterious World of dreams, which they take for reality. These people copy automatically, obey somnabulistically, and together with the rest, flows with the human tide. They must be withdrawn from the resistance of the censorship. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
The crowd is a beat that wants only to be fed—and will eat anything—and that is why it is so easy to manipulate mass culture. Leaders and tycoons of industry have also been instructed to ignore what the people in the crowd might actually want by pronouncing that crowds are by nature crazy and hysterical. It followed that the crowd was open to manipulation for the crowd’s own good. The crowd, faceless and sometimes dangerous, must be picked apart, studied, made to obey. This is something that is seen particularly in California, which has a lack of affordable housing, high energy rates, and extremely expensive gas, people are not protesting for rent control, affordable housing, or a living wage. Instead, they are fighting to add more people to the situation who are not Americans and unlawfully entered the country. The most pressing issue in California, according to many democratic leaders and their followers is making illegal immigration legal, while legal Americans struggle to get by. Notice how the morning papers mornings news shows set the agenda for the day’s conversation so the sheep can be sheared even as they gaze. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
However, we have a challenge to rise above the plateaus we have been on. Life was purposefully designed to place us in circumstances where we can be individually tested and where, by the exercise of the agency God has given us, we can determine what our future possibilities will be. “We are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient to humans. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all humans, or to choose captivity and death,” reports 2 Nephi 2.27. The more frustrated you become; failing to find common ground usually results in the use of force—crying, yelling, stomping, physical battle. However, crying or aggression rarely solves the problem and usually escalates tension. “We have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for ourselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law according to the commandments which God has given,” reports 2 Nephi 2.26. Every person many act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency given unto him or her, that every people may be accountable. When we understand what right and wrong are, we are in a position to exercise our freedom in making choices. In so doing, we must stand accountable for our decisions, and we cannot escape the inevitable consequences of these choices. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
Physicists have found that by changing their expectations of the manner in which particles and waves will move they can actually cause these subatomic events to shift course. In other words, not even the laws of nature are immune to the power of perception. (Incidentally, these experiments are further support of the importance of visualization in achieving what you want.) By our very endowment as children of an Eternal Father, we have had implanted within our souls the urgency to be free. If perception is so powerful that it can change energy patterns, it is not something you want to ignore. It is natural for us to want to be accountable for our own fates, because there is a whispering within us confirming that this accountability is absolutely essential to the attainment of our eternal destiny. The existence of laws, regulations, and procedures has never been sufficient to compel people to obey. Productive obedience comes through the exercise of free will. Conflict not only enables us to improve the situation at hand, it also provides learning opportunities that makes us better people. All that it usually requires to improve any relationship is for one of the parties to shift into a more conciliatory, compassionate, and curious view of other people. When one individual in a conflict is able to see the opponent as a worthwhile person with worthwhile opinions, resolution almost always occurs. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
Learning to respect one’s adversary is crucial to conflict resolution. The first step toward negotiation is to separate the person from the problem. In other words, do not confuse how you feel about the person (or the person’s behavior) with how you view the issue. Conflict resolution is always more likely when you can be generous enough to extend your opponent the recognition and respect that the person seeks from you. (You should only forgo this approach is your adversary is operating out of evil motives. And while evil motives do exists, they are much less frequently a factor then we presume.) Since we tend not to respect the opinions of people whom we consider unlikable, we need to learn to view our opponent not as unattractive, unpleasant person, but as an individual who possesses a combination of traits—some of which cause us to react optimistically, some negatively, some neutrally. It is only when we can see our opponents as real, multidimensional people that we can hope to build the other critical ingredient of conflict resolution: trust. Respectful listening builds trust, and when we trust people, we feel comfortable negotiating with them. The more you can learn about your opponent, the better able you will be to bring respect and trust to the situation. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
From the Renaissance and Enlightenment emerges this idea of human rights, of a humankind in which each person deserves to be free and uplifted. The Enlightenment ideal of individual human dignity, which is now enshrined in society gives life to essential freedoms. However, if we allow ourselves to accept dependency and regulation and cease valuing independence and self-accountability, then we are vulnerable to the forces that destroy freedom. Then the one thing we no longer own, we cannot possess, it will not be able to be charged on MasterCard and protected through hiring private security, are our values, thoughts, and integrity. These are assets compromised and invaded by the paradoxical creation of a herd-like individuality. If righteousness is judged primarily by the degree to which one responds to programmed activity, then a condition develops within which opportunities for progress decline. The resulting tragedy affects the mortal potential of human beings and has a profound effect on our eternal possibilities as well. Programmed behavior cannot produce the level of spiritual development required to qualify one for eternal life. A necessary range of freedom and self-determination is essential to one’s spiritual development. With an understanding of correct principles and intrinsic desire to apply them, one must be motivated within oneself to do many good things of one own free will; for, as the revelation says, the power is in one wherein that individual in an agent unto oneself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
Lord, Heavenly King, comforter, spirit of truth, have compassion and mercy on us, and pardon our unworthiness, and forgive us all the sins that we committed today, and not only humanly but even worse than a beast—our sins, known and unknown, from our youth and from evil suggestions, and from our brazenness, and from boredom. If we have sworn by your name or blasphemed it in in thought, blamed or reproached anyone, or in our anger have detracted or slandered anyone, or grieved anyone, or if we have got angry about anything, or have told a lie, if we have slept unnecessarily, or if a beggar has come to us and we despised or neglected him or her, or if we have troubled our people or quarreled with them, or if we have condemned anyone, or have boasted, or have been proud, or lost our temper with anyone, or if when standing in our prayer our minds have been distracted by the glamour of this World, of if we have had depraved thoughts or have overeaten, or have drunk excessively, or have laughed frivolously, or have thought evil, or have seen the attraction of someone and been wounded by it in our heart, or said indecent things, or made of our people’s sin when our own faults are countless, or been neglectful of prayer, or have done some other wrong that we cannot remember—for we have done all this and much more—have mercy, Lord and Creator, on us, your children. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
Dear God, please absolve and forgive and deliver us in your goodness and love for human beings, so that, lustful, sinful and wretched as we are, we may lie down and seep and rest in peace. And we shall worship, praise, and glorify your most honourable name. Lord, deprive us not of your Heavenly joys. God, deliver us from eternal torments. Lord, if we have sinned in mind or thought, in word or deed, forgive us. God, deliver us from all ignorance, forgetfulness, cowardice and stony insensibility. God, deliver us from ever temptation. Lord, enlighten our hearts, which evil desire have darkened. God, we being human have sinned, but you being the generous God, have mercy on us, knowing the sickness of our souls. Lord, please send your grace to our help, that we may glorify your name. God, write our names in the book of life, and grant us a good end. God, even though we may not have done anything good in your sight, yet grants us by your grace to make a good start. Lord, sprinkle into our hearts the dew of your grace. Lord of Heaven and Earth remember us and accept us. A careful balance must be maintained between which is ordered for the welfare of the group and that which is reserved for the conscience and incentive of the individual. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
The Process is Called Repentance and the Destination is Forgiveness
Our ability to succeed at what we do is powerfully bound up with where we are from. Power is embodied in the systems themselves, each institution capable of regenerating elsewhere, should it be cut off. Power and knowledge directly imply one another. There is no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time power relations. Each of us have his or her own distinct personality. However, overlaid on top of that are tendencies and assumption and reflexes handed down to us by the history of the community we grew up in, and those differences are extraordinarily specific. A soul inhabits a person and brings him to existence, which is itself a factor in the mastery that power exercises over the body. The soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy; the soul is the prison of the body. The soul is created by the confluence of power and knowledge—religious institutions, government, ideologies. As a result, the soul is corrupted, trapped in its time, an instrument of a political anatomy. In the popular culture lexicon, we understand the reverse to be true. Everything from religion to mass culture will tell you that the body may be enslaved in the gulag, the concentration camp, the assembly line, or the faceless cubicle, but the soul inevitably sets the body free. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
However, we are free to alter our surface personality and our surface circumstances. We can surgically improve our looks, we can—as rapper E40 supposedly did—exchange a life of hardship and challenges with popular fame and riches. Yet, because our souls are subjected and bound o the system we live in, any surface change we perform is always within the confines of intense bureaucracy and regulation. What we cannot do is truly articulate a freedom devoid od the constraints of society. What we can do is evoke an individuality that has not already been implanted in us by a combination of state-sanctioned regulations and the wish-fulfillment fantasies of our popular culture. Ideas such as the freedom of the soul and the individualist rebel are, essentially, built into the system. There is no clear way to move outside the system, because everything we know is the system. The Power Distance Index (PDI) is concerned with attitudes toward hierarchy, specifically with how much a particular culture values and respects authority. To measure it, you ask questions like: How frequently, in your experience, does the following problem occur: employees being afraid to express disagreement with their managers? To what extent do the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally? How much are older people respected and feared? Are the power holders entitled to special privileges? #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
What we inherit and absorb from our society is not necessarily up to us. In low-power distance index countries, power is something of which power holders are almost ashamed and they will try to underplay. A Swedish (low PDI) university official stated that in order to exercise power he tried not to look powerful. Leaders may enhance their informal status by renouncing for symbols. Some will take a street car to work or trading a mansion for an apartment. Whenever it appears, issues and values are being sorted out deep in the soul, and all we can do is try not to identify with the emotions and simply let the struggle work itself out. Every individual is partly someone else, there is always something else in an individual besides oneself. The persons we live among give us certain social function and force to fulfill it. They attribute a particular character to us and often educate us in order that we preserve this character. This is how the individual has been colonized. This might explain why so many people seem to have a similar ambition gnawing a hole in their cerebellum from inside out. So it is that we love and hate our celebrities, collect the details of their lives the way an entomologist watches a rare species of butterfly. However, people increasingly seem to want to pin our celebrities to the specimen tray, more than they want to observe the in the wild. They want to rip off their wings and glue them to their own backs. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
Each of us encounters unique challenges meant for growth. Also, our own bad choices can put more barriers in the path. Because your nonverbal modes of communication give you away, others know—sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously—when what you say or do is not in keeping with your feelings. If what you say (or do) and how you feel are clearly different, you are sending incongruent messages. Observers will usually focus on the negative. Defensive cover-ups, no matter how well motivated, make the listener feel terrible, while disturbing messages shared with heartfelt soul evoke feelings of respect and appreciation for the speaker’s candor under tough circumstances. However, many people shy away from expressing their true feelings because they do not want to be perceived as whining or complaining all the time. If you find yourself pulling back for the same reason, first ask yourself why you are second-guessing everybody else’s reaction to you. Perhaps you are underestimating the ability of other people to empathize. The other factor to consider is why you feel sad, angry, or fearful. Speaking from the heart does not guarantee a pleasant discussion, but it does ensure that the interchange will be more emotionally satisfying for everyone involved. It also lay the ground work for a more permanent resolution of any conflict and opens the door for the pinnacle of interpersonal relations: intimacy. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
We have the capacity to smooth out the way, to fill in the depressions, and to beautify our course. The process is called repentance; the destination is forgiveness. If you have ignored warnings and your life has been damaged or disabled by a rough road, there is help available. Through that help you can renew and rebuild your damaged life. You can start over again and change your course from a downward, twisting, disappointing path to a superhighway to peace and happiness. Every incorrect choice we make, every sin we commit is a violation of eternal law. That violation brings negative results we generally soon recognize. There are also other consequences of our action which we may not be conscious. They are nonetheless real. They can have a tremendous effect on the quality of our life here and most certainly will powerfully affect it hereafter. We can do nothing of ourselves to satisfy the demands of justice for a broken eternal law. Yet, unless the demands of justice are paid, each of us will suffer endless negative consequences. Each of us has made mistakes, large, or small, which if unresolved will keep us from the presence of God. The Redeemer can settle your individual account with justice and grant forgiveness through the merciful path of repentance. Full repentance is absolutely essential for the Atonement to work its complete miracle in your life. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
By understanding the Atonement, you will see that God is not a jealous being who delights in persecuting those who misstep. He is an absolutely perfect, compassionate, understanding, patient, and forgiving Father. He is willing to entreat, counsel, strengthen, lift, and fortify. God so loves each of us that through that atonement we can live in a World where absolute justice reigns in its sphere so the World will have order. However, that justice is tempered through mercy attainable by obedience to the teachings of the gospel. Which of us is not in need of the miracle of repentance? Whether your life is lightly blemished or heavily disfigured from mistakes, the principles of recovery are the same. The length and severity of the treatments are conditioned to fit the circumstances. Our goal surely must be forgiveness. The only possible path to that goal is repentance. There Lord will not come to redeem his people in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins. Obedience and faith in the Savior give you power to resist temptation. In the same way that we learn more from doing than watching, we learn more about someone else’s experience by feeling the way they felt than by hearing all the facts and figures of their story. When we build our foundation on the Redeemer, when the adversary shall send forth his mighty winds, when all his hail and his might storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drop and drag you. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
Study and ponder to determine how serious the Lord defines your transgression to be. That will bring healing sorrow and remorse. It will also bring a sincere desire for change and a willingness to submit to every requirement for forgiveness. Abandon you sin because this is an unyielding, permanent resolve to not repeat the transgression. By keeping this commitment, the bitter aftertaste of that sin need not be experienced again. Also, repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression and daily repentance is not pleasing in the sight of God. It is also important to pay restitution for your sin. You must restore as far as possible all that which is stolen, damaged, or defiled. Willing restitution is concrete evidence to the Lord that you are committed to do all you can to repent. This will help you develop an emotional lexicon to use when communicating with others. This expanded emotional self-awareness guides you to make choices that coincide with your deepest emotions, not just those on the surface. Operating on the level of soul gives new dimension to the substance and sizzle of what you say; it is usually the missing link from communication gone awry. Do not wall yourself off from true intimacy by allowing only so much of your true self to be seen. The more you reveal of yourself, the more you will be able to connect with other human beings. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Bonds born of soulful exchanges create profoundly intimate moments. Open yourself up to others and, as you begin to reap the benefits of vulnerability, you will find that others become more open with you. Full obedience to God brings the complete power of the gospel into your life with strength to focus on the abandonment of specific sins. “I was in the most bitter pain and anguish of soul; and never, until I did cry out unto the Lord for mercy, did I receive a remission of my sins. However, I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul,” reports Alma. That means we must trust God and trust his teachings. Even serious transgression can be overcome. When repentance is full and one has been cleansed, there comes a new vision of life and its glorious possibilities. How marvelous the promise of the Lord: “Behold, one who has repented of one’s sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.” The Lord is and ever will be faithful to his words. Dear God, enlighten our minds with the light of understanding of your Holy Gospel. Enlighten our souls with the love of your compassion and enlighten our hearts with the supremely glorified eternal spirit. God how us your miracles, please. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Never Forget Who You Are—God is Your Eternal Father and He Loves You!
Perceptions and assumptions can be very dangerous and unfair. There are some people who may fail to reach out with friendly smiles, warm handshakes, and kind words. Communication can alone create a great community. However, few in the Western World today would describe their surroundings as a community, let alone a great community. We are connected—yes. Joined together by the glow of the television screen, the blare of the car-radio stereo, the brush of arms as strangers sit next to each other in crowded movie theater. We are also connected by the self-esteem movement’s message, dispensed on daytime television, taught in schools, embedded in every popular entertainment. Ironically, what we seem to most want is to replicate our celebrities because there are universal experiences, feelings, emotions, and so you sense the commonality. At the same time each person’s stories have a little twist that makes their story individual. Yet, managers usually delve into the psyches of their performers, seeking to define personality and micro-manage behavior. And at the same time, people who admire celebrities want to be real, but they have no sense of what real experience might feel like because they have grown up or are now growing up cradled by popular culture and prefab fun, they are part of a World where real is relative, where everything is performance. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
We may all be independent, but are we really free in a society where we can only commit to ourselves? One of the hardest thing for many to recognize is how truly strong they already are and how others silently respect them. People have great confidence in you. You do not need to compromise your standards to be accepted by good friends. The more obedient you are, the more you stand for true principles, the more the Lord can help you overcome temptation. You can also help others because they will feel your strength. Let them know about your standards by consistently living them. No one intends to make serious mistakes. They come when one compromises his or her standards to be more accepted by others. You be the strong one. You be the leader. Choose good friends and resist peer pressure together. Work at keeping your thoughts clean by thinking of something good. And above all, do not feed thoughts by reading or watching things that are wrong because sometimes people are tempted until they act them out. Sometimes people will not succeed—they will not right themselves—until they acknowledge the importance of their cultural legacy. We believe in being true. How very important it is to be true to ourselves. Each of us has a thing we call conscience. We know the difference between right and wrong. We know when we have done the right thing, ad experience a sense of happiness. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
To be true to ourselves means being an example of righteous living in all situations and circumstances. Mitigated speech is any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the meaning of what is being said. We mitigate when we are being polite, or when we are ashamed or embarrassed, or wen we are being deferential to authority. If you want your boss to do you a favor, you do not say, “I will need this by Monday.” You mitigate. You say, “Do not bother, if it is too much trouble, but if you have a chance to look at this over the weekend, that would be wonderful.” In a situation like that, mitigation is entirely appropriate. In urgent and dangerous situations, it can be a problem because people may not see the severity of what you are trying to communicate. In combatting mitigation, it is important to communicate clearly and assertively. It is okay to challenge people if you think something has or will go terribly awry. Still, we can strive for that spirited, light-hearted perspective that allows us to be thankful for the roller-coaster ride of existence. Adults who are willing to come out of themselves can find greater satisfaction in their relationships—with less conflict, better communication, and a stronger feeling of connection—than they did before. Many also report greater happiness overall. Be honest in your lives. Honesty is the best policy. “Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet” reports Exodus 20.15, 17. We must be true to ourselves in matters of personal virtue. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
Every human interaction has the potential to being great joy or great pain, sometimes both at the same time. When we look back at our lives from the vantage point of a mature adult, we realize that our most vivid and meaningful memories are of other people and the way we felt when we were with them. The soul needs an intense, full-bodied spiritual life as much in the same way the body needs food. Most of us enter our later decades firm in the belief that relating to other people—emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually—is the most powerful solace we have in a beautiful but uncertain World. The soul needs spirit, but our spirituality also needs soul—deep intelligence, a sensitivity to the symbolic and metaphoric life, genuine community, and attachment to the World. Our strengths and weaknesses seem to manifest themselves most strongly when we are thrown into the emotional cauldron with someone else. The natural turning inward as we mature gives life deep self-awareness that necessitates renegotiation of some important relationships; the new perspective garnered may even portend the end of certain emotional attachments. No matter how convinced we are that the struggle to relate to others is worthwhile, it can be daunting to consider that we still have lessens to learn. We cannot afford to be tainted by moral sin. Take care to be as patient with yourself; the direct evidence of failure you get with other people may be more hurtful than the missteps you make while working on yourself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
The most exciting aspect of interpersonal work is how much just one little change can affect your relationship. Relish the feelings you get from being with others, from comforting them and being comforted by them. Be true to yourself and the best you have within you, and your respect for yourself will increase. Know that yours is a divine birthright. Cultivate a good opinion of yourself. Others may make cutting remarks concerning you. This is only a sign of their ignorance and not of your qualities. Increase your capacity to learn from others with the neglected art of listening. And be sure to share your joy with others who will appreciate it. How you feel about a situation is every bit as important as your understanding of that situation. What you say about what happens is only half a description unless you articulate your emotions as well. When are not operating as whole human beings unless we are willing to reveal our true feelings. It provides wonderful opportunities for socializing with those of your own kind. Our desire should be to be happy, and that your lives be challenging and satisfying, that we be saved from pitfalls falls of evil that could destroy us, and that we be kind to people. Only 7 percent of our impact on other people comes through the actual words we use to communicate; a vast 93 percent of the way others perceive us is based on our tone of voice, facial expression, and body language. Be sure to treat others gently, too; they are probably confused and feel like they are in a new terrain. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
Talking to You is Like Casting Pearls into Wine
There are some among us who are unhappy with their lives because they have wanted to achieve a measure of greatness in this life, but now feel they have failed in some fundamental way. We have concern for those who have worked hard and who have lived righteously but think—because they have not achieved in the World or in the Church what others have achieved—that they have failed. Sixteen-year-old Rachel write: I want the thrill the happiness and the fun like I see in movies. I want to give people the joy of seeing me in movies like y movie heroes did with me!!! I figured out that I am tired of just dreaming about doing something, I am sick of looking for a regular job, I know that nothing but acting interests me, I feel life slipping by, and that something is missing feeling begins to dominate me all day and night. In that statement, Rachel reminds us that we are not talking in abstract here, but a lot of people have dreams, goals, and aspirations they feel are their birthright. We live in a World that seems to worship its own kind of greatness. And to become a celebrity, for example, and sell the most of one thing to as many people as possible, the system, much like other industries, must be exclusionary. Big money is made when a billion people are all interested in the same product. This is far more likely to occur wen those billion people have only five hundred highly successful stars, or other good and services to choose from. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The tight control over access to creative product stifle dissent—aesthetic and political—along with the bulk of our generally mainstream aspirations. Visualization on physical vigor works by taking on the mental trappings of our goal, and we come closer to our goal. What is so exciting about emotions is when you come to know yourself well, you can use your thoughts to shape your emotions just as your emotions have shaped your thoughts. We also can experience a whole symphony of dominant and nondominant feelings at once. Being able to feel happy and sad, hopeful and despairing at the same time is the hallmark of mature emotional response. People who seem capable of this emotional dichotomy in their younger years are those who have undergone and overcome huge hurdles—war survivors, World-class athletes, people who as children suffered severe emotional hardship. This expansion in emotional capacity, coupled with our ability to trigger emotions through our behavior, gives us a chance to feel the way we choose to feel instead of being locked into some kind of emotional trap by the dictates of our brain chemistry. Realizing that we are one with all people, we affirm that there is a silent power flowing through us, which blesses and heals and prospers, makes happy and glad our pathway. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
When we realize that the World is made up of people like ourselves, we bless the World and affirm that it shall come under the divine government of Good, under the divine providence of love, and under the divine leadership of the supreme intelligence. For this is God’s kingdom, and the power, and the glory are forever. Because we are being constantly exposed to the World’s definition of success and greatness, it is understandable that we might frequently find ourselves making comparisons between what we are and what others are, or seem to be, and also between what we have and what others have. Although it is true that making comparisons can be beneficial and may motivate us to accomplish much good and improve our lives, yet we often allow unfair and improper comparisons to destroy our happiness when they cause us to feel unfulfilled or inadequate or unsuccessful. There are people who believe that all organized competition is lame. Whatever one’s belief is, we have to learn the value of continuing in righteousness. Increasing our ability to regulate our emotions and choose which ones will dominate our experience is a prize of maturity well worth earning. A little practice in manipulating our own biochemistry will help us immeasurably in balancing the pleasure and pain that are part of life. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Imagine being ale to distance yourself enough from your feelings of fury and betrayal to come up with a solution that is practical and emotionally satisfying. Sometimes we give in to the overwhelming evidence that the World is confusing, and that things do not always (or often) go our way, that we are just one little piece of the human pie. Most of us find we can give our concerns a kind of hierarchy: having a healthy family is more important than having a healthy bank account. We may also find ourselves more capable of taking disappointments in stride, and more willing to try new approaches to the way we run our lives. Some of us, however—especially those of us who have had to work very hard to make things go our way—have a difficult time letting go of the adolescent and young-adult tendency to hone in on areas of emotional turmoil. In other words, we take life too seriously, especially when it comes to issues involving strong emotional content—like a spouse’s infidelity. Life’s journey is not traveled on a highway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by challenges and perseverance. Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed: the courage to say no, the courage to say yes. Decisions do determine destiny. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be. The battlefields of war witness acts of courage. Some are printed on pages of books or contained on rolls of film, while others are indelibly impressed on the human heart. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
There are powerful forces in our lives much like the unseen currents of the ocean. These forces are real. We should never ignore them. Humor, like anything else, can be taken too far. Laughing off what bothers you can also be a way of denying your most troubling feelings. They key is to use humor as a tool for gaining perspective, not as a crutch. The other limitation of humor is that for people just learning to use humor as a perspective enhancer, certain situations do not seem to lend themselves to laughs, or even irony. Dr. Freud believed that the ability to create humor from our lives was one of the best ways people could triumph over tragedy. This has lead to people in modern times using sordid events—such as massacres, natural disasters, plane crashes, and like life—as fodder for the Monday-morning joke at the office (“Have you heard the one about…”) is a good example of how humor can help us cope with situations too terrible for us to fully comprehend. However, it is much wiser and better for people to accept the simple truths of the gospel and to accept by faith those things which one cannot understand. There are many currents in this Earthly life—some safe and others not. Mature adults, whose sense of self is typically much stronger than in earlier years, tend to be more secure, less likely to use humor to attack or manipulate than they may have in the past. Their senses of humor are fun-loving, principled, and self-deprecating rather than biting and hostile toward others. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
If anyone has a lack of wisdom, ask of God, who gives to all people literally, and it shall be given to you. By asking sincere questions and by seeking divine answers, we learn as we increase in knowledge and wisdom, there is a divine source—one who knows all things, the end from the beginning. All things are present before God. The scriptures testify that God does not walk in crooked paths, neither does he vary from that which he has said. On this mortal journey we must never think that our choices affect only us. All-Ruler, Word of the Father, God, thou who art perfect, never in your great mercy leave us, but abide in us. Deliver us not to the revolt of the serpent and leave us not to the will of the adversary, do not let the seed of corruption rest in us. Lord, adorable God, Holy King, guard us asleep by the unwaning light, your holy spirit, by whom you did sanctify your disciples. Lord, grant us, your salvation on our beds. Enlighten our minds with the light of the understanding of your holy gospel. Enlighten our souls with your love. Enlighten our hearts with the purity of your word. Enlighten our bodies with your passionless passion. Keep our thoughts in your humility. And rouse us in good time to glorify you, for you art supremely glorified, with your eternal life, and your most holy spirit forever. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
We Are Players in the System Who Control Our Own Destiny and Our Own Fun?
We want to believe that we are not prisoners of our ethnic histories. Resistance creates both the opposition and the forward movement in life. Friction, or resistance, is an interesting phenomenon. Without this force, a person or vehicle could not move about, or if already in motion, could not be stopped except by collision. The law of friction or resistance that we think of as only applying to science seems to find application in our personal lives. The afflictions and sorrows that have or will come to us because of the competitive World we live in will ultimately result in good. “Thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine affliction for thy gain,” reports 2 Nephi 2.2. Many people endure hardship pursuing their dreams. In the United States, some 37,500 cinema screens feature about 500 movies a year: 500 movies a year for a population of 325 million people. The average cost of making and marketing each movie is around $89 million. China has adopted a Western-style idealization of fame. China’s best-known movie directors now have 20-something young girls who have become famous overnight. The power of those role models is boundless. When Zhang Yimou held a star search contest for the leading role in his next film, a staggering one hundred thousand hopefuls turned up for the audition. However, in China, just as in Hollywood, the star machine mostly churns out broken dreams. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
There was one hopeful, a nineteen-year-old girl who had been eating just one meal a day to save money to get to Beijing for the audition. Upon arrival she discovered that her application had been rejected, and she never even got to try out for the part. Still, society’s ever-more-powerful need to be seen and heard through mass culture means that we can accept any degradation of our culture, so long as it continues to promise us access. We will accept any lowering of standards, any perversions of information into entertainment, any invasion of our private mental space, so long as it seems that pop culture is on the verge of giving us what we have been promised: recognition. Pop star popularity is traded like virtual stock, with an artist’s shares going up or down in value as his or her popularity index crests and wanes. We came to mortal life to encounter resistance. It was part of the plan for our eternal progress. Without temptation, sickness, pain, and sorrow, there could be no goodness, virtue, appreciation for the well-being, or joy. The law of opposition makes freedom of choice possible; therefore, our Heavenly Father has commanded his children to choose God this day, and serve the Lord God who made you. As we look back in retrospect, we see that it was because of the opposition encountered in our early history that our progress has been made possible. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
Many years ago, the southern newspaperman Hodding Carter reported on how as a young man he served on a jury. The case before the jury involved an irascible gentleman who lived next door to a filling station. For several months he has been the subject of various jokes played by the attendants and the miscellaneous loafers who hung around the station, despite his warnings and his notorious short temper. One morning, he emptied both barrels of his shotgun at his tormentors, killing one, maiming another permanently, and wounding a third. When the jury was polled by the incredulous judge, Hodding Carter was the only juror who recorded his vote as guilt. As one of the others put it, “He wouldn’t of been much of a man if he hadn’t shot them fellows.” Only in a culture of honor would it have occurred to the irascible gentleman that shooting someone was an appropriate response to a personal insult. And only in a culture of honor would it have occurred to a jury that murder—under those circumstances—was not a crime. The reason is that allowing someone to disrespect you and suffering in pain would ordinarily produce behaviors that would hurt your chances for survival, not help them. Out of that caldron of persecution and heartache, the Lord answered many soul-cries. And if you endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
There is some truth to the idea that when we love and hate we do so in a rush of neurochemicals that flow through our entire systems. If you want to understand what happened in those small towns in Kentucky in the nineteenth century, you have to go back into the past—and not just one or two generations. You have to go back two or three or four hundred years, to a country on the other side of the ocean, and look closely at what exactly the people in a very specific geographic area of that country did for a living. Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social demographic condition that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing our attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our World without them. Groups of people living in circumstances pretty similar to their ancestors’ act a lot like their ancestors. Once a chemical is released by one cell and received by another, the process sparks an electrical impulse in the receptor neuron, and the whole sequence is repeated until it culminates in a feeling. Scientists have not only linked certain brain chemicals to certain feelings, they have also determined that brain cells are specialized to such an extent that they send and receive only certain of these mood-producing chemicals. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
People from the northern part of the United States, when they have been insulted, usually treat the incident with amusement. They laugh it off. Their handshakes are unchanged. And their levels of cortisol usually go down, as if they are unconsciously trying to defuse their only anger. However, when you insult a southerner, they get angry because it is a culture of honor and words and actions and reputations are extremely important. Their cortisol and testosterone levels elevate. Their handshakes get more firm. And they tend to become more offensive. What we are seeing is the culture of honor in action: the southerners react like Wix Howard did when Little Bob Turner accused him of cheating at poker. Even though, many generations later, these southerners might me in the middle-class or wealthy, they still have a strong urge to demand the respect they are due. Northerners tend to give off displays of anger, up to a certain point, at which they level off. However, southerners are much less likely to be angry early on. Yet, at some point they catch up to the northerners and shoot past them. They are more likely to explode, much more volatile, much more explosive. How are these kinds of attitudes passed down from generation to generation? Through social heritance. The same way as accents persist over time. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Whatever mechanism passes on speech patterns probably passes on behavioral and emotional patterns are well. Our brains do not receive only one chemical bath. Each emotion is instead accompanied by a kind of biochemical cocktail. When, for example, your body gets a dose of the stress hormone ACTH (which triggers anger and fear in response to a perceived threat), it also gets a rush of what are called beta endorphins. Endorphins, the mood-elevating and pain-buffering opiates of the brain, are one thousand times more potent than their synthetic cousin morphine. So when your body is folded with the chemicals of fear and rage, it has also flooded itself with the biochemical ingredients of pain relief and euphoria. It is clear that endorphins can serve as a window into our evolutionary past. In the past is a World most of us are lucky enough never to have encountered, and environment in which we must fear a host of natural predators that could kills us at any moment. What would you do to protect yourself and survive? People from the south adopted a culture of honor. People in the north typically did not endure conditions as harsh. “If you are called to pass through tribulation, know that all these things shall give you experience, and will be good for you,” report Doctrines and Covenants 122:5,7. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Court’s Over and Ever’ Body Can Go, We Ain’t Agoin’ to Have Any Court Here this Term, Folks!
No other feeling in the soul of the human can bring the joy and happiness than that of knowing you are doing all you can to become righteous. Decision virtually fall into place when you make feelings part of the equation. We live in a time when many men and women do not prescribe morality to their actions, and so they believe that what they do has only social consequences. In this they deny God, and they also deny that things are either right or wrong. The word righteousness is a most interesting and unique word. It is an umbrella word that spreads out and covers all the attributes of God. A person, then, who is righteous is Godly or Godlike. Right and wrong do exist and ae opposite to each other. The actions of humankind do have moral consequences. There is currently an immigration debate going on in American about border security. It is relevant to look at the reality of the issue. For instance, in 1819 Harlan County was founded by eight immigrant families from the Northern regions of the British Isles. They had come to Virginia in the eighteenth century and then moved west into the Appalachians in search of land. The county was never wealthy. For its first one hundred years, it was thinly populated, rarely numbering more than ten thousand people. The first settlers kept pigs and herded sheep on the hillsides, scratching out a living on small farms in the valleys. They made whiskey in backyards stills and felled trees, floating them down the Cumberland River in the spring, when the water was high. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
Until well into the twentieth century, getting to the nearest train station was a two-day wagon trip. The only way out of town was up Pine Mountain, which was nine steep miles on a road that turned on occasion into no more than a muddy, rocky trail. Harlan was a remote and strange place, unknown by the larger society around it, and it might well have remained so but for the fact that two of the town’s founding families—the Howards and the Turners—did not get along. The patriarch of the Howard clan was Samuel Howard. He built the town courthouse and the jail. His counterpart was William Turner, who owned a tavern and two general stores. Once a storm allegedly blew down his fence to the Turner property, and a neighbor’s cow wandered onto their land. William Turner’s grandson Devil Jim shot the cow dead. The neighbor was too terrified to press charges and fled the country. Another time, a man tried to open a competitor to the Turners’ general store. The Turners had a word with him. He closed the store and moved in Indiana. Eventually the county was in an uproar because there were so many murders over insults, cheating in card games, and as retaliation. Harlan, Kentucky was not in harmony. Wix Howard killed Little Bob Turner over a game of poker. When a group of Tuners insulted Mrs. Howard. She told her son Wilse Howard, and the following week he exchanged gunfire with another of the Tuner’s grandsons, young will Turner, on the road to Hagan, Virginia. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
That night, one of the Turners and a friend attacked the Howard home. The two families then clashed outside the Harlan courthouse. In the gunfire, Will Turner was shot and killed. A contingent of Howards then went to see Mrs. Turner, the mother of Will Turner and Little Bob Turner to ask for a truce. She declined: “You can’t wipe out that blood,” she said, pointing to the dirt where her son had died. Things quickly went from bad to worse. Basically, the two families kept ambushing each other and killing them and their friends. It started off as one or two at a time and spiraled out of control until groups of six or more were being killed in rapid succession. And the rate at which the Howards and the Turners were killing one another was almost identical to clashes in other small towns up and down the Appalachians. In the famous Hatfield-McCoy feud on the West Virginia-Kentucky border not far from Harlan, several dozen people were killed in a cycle of violence that stretched over twenty years. And there were several other well known feuds such as: the French-Eversole feud in Perry County, Kentucky, in which twelve were killed. There was the Martin-Tolliver feud, in Rowan County, Kentucky, in the mid-1880, which featured thee gun-fights, three ambushes, and two house attacks, and ended in a two-hour gun battle involving one hundred armed men. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
There was also the Baker-Howard feud in Clay County, Kentucky, which began in 1806, with an elk-hunting party gone bad, and did not end until 1930s, when a couple of the Howards killed three Bakers in an ambush. There were other less known feuds, but you get the point, it was violent and deadly. The Kentucky legislator Harry Caudill once looked in a circuit court clerk’s office in one Cumberland Plateau town and found one thousand murder indictment stretching from the end of the Civil War, in the 1860s, to the beginning of the twentieth Century—and for a region that never numbered more than fifteen thousand people and where many violent acts never even made it to the indictment stage. Harry Caudill reported of a murder trial in Breathitt County—Bloody Breathitt, as it came to be known—that ended abruptly when the defendant’s father, a man of about fifty with a huge handle bar whiskers and two immense pistols, walked up to the judge and grabbed his gavel: The feudist rapped the bench and announced, “Court’s over and ever’ body can go. We ain’t agoin’ to have any court here this term, folks.” The red-faced judge hastily acquiesced in this extraordinary order and promptly left town. When the court convened at the next term the court and sheriff were bolstered by sixty militiamen, but by then the defendant was not available for trial. He had been slain from ambush. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
When one family fight with another, it is a feud. When lots of families fight with one another in identical little towns up and down the same mountain range, it is a pattern. What was the cause of the Appalachian pattern? The region was plagued by a particularly virulent strain of culture honor. Cultures of honor have to make it clear, through their words and deeds, that they are not weak. They have to be wiling to fight in response to even the slightest challenge to their reputation—and that is what a culture of honor means. It is a World where a person’s reputation is at their center of their livelihood and self-worth. So why was Appalachia the way it was? It was because of where the original inhabitants of the region came from. The so-called American backcountry states—from the Pennsylvania boarder south and west through Virginia and West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, and the northern end of Alabama and Georgia—were settled overwhelmingly by immigrants from the World’s most Ferocious cultures of honor. They were Scotch-Irish—that is, from the lowlands of Scotland, the northern countries of England, and Ulster in Northern Ireland. The borderlands—as this region was known—were remote and lawless territories, much like a lot of South America, that had been fought over for hundreds of years. The people of the region were steeped in violence. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
The people that colonized the violent Appalachia region were herdsmen, scraping out a living on rocky and infertile land. They were clannish, responding to the harshness and turmoil of their environment by forming tight family bonds and placing loyalty to blood above all else. And when they immigrated to North American, they moved into the American interior, to remote, lawless, rocky, and marginally fertile places (as California has become) like Harlan that allowed them to reproduce in the New World the culture of honor they had created in the Old World. To the first settlers, the American backcountry was a dangerous environment. The territory was without established government or rule of law. This is the same direction California is going by becoming a sanctuary state. The triumph of a culture of honor helps to explain why the pattern of criminality in the American South had become so distinctive. Murder rates higher than in the rest of the country. However, crimes of property and stranger crimes—like muggings—are lower. In contrast to the South, California is becoming a culture of shame and experiencing high crimes of all kinds because people feel entitled to disregard the law and do whatever they want to do because the governor and many of the cities mayors support illegal immigration and selective enforcement of the laws. In the South, violence was not for economic gain. It was personal. You fought over honor. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
In righteousness there is great simplicity. In every case that confronts us in life there is either a right way or a wrong way to proceed. If we choose the right way, we are sustained in our actions by the principles of righteousness, in the which there is power from the Heavens. If we choose the wrong way and act on that choice, there is no such Heavenly promise nor power, and we are alone and destined to fail. The light of the spirit is organized as a communication system to transmit concepts of truth into the minds of the children of God. The Holy Ghost, by the way of the spirit, will enlighten our minds and give us clarity of understanding of concepts of truth if we obey the laws which govern the use of this spirit. This is the way that our Father in Heaven teaches us right from wrong. If we are willing to learn his ways and follow them, we will never have to guess, but we will always know for sure the difference between right and wrong. In righteousness there is the fulfillment of faith and hope. Every blessings that God has promised his children is predicated upon obedience to his laws and commandments. Obedience to his laws and commandments is what makes us righteous, and that righteousness qualifies us to be worthy of promised blessings. To get beyond your pain, you have to move through—not around—it. Your feelings are a lot easier to take care of once you let them inside and make them live by your rules instead of letting them run around you in circles begging to be fed. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
When you connect yourself consciously to your feelings, your thoughts and speech become anchored in your emotional experience. You are sizing up a situation in light of how you feel about it, not judging others. This approach improves your communication skills, because when you speak in terms of what you want or need, others listening without becoming defensive. Each of us lives with his or her own situation. There are challenges with health, economy, literacy, singleness, loneliness, oppression, abuse, transgression, and a never-ending list of existing conditions. The solution to all these challenges is righteousness. If we act upon God’s laws and commandments, we will be forgiven of our disobedience and become more righteous; thus repentance leads us to righteousness. Eternal God and King of all creation, who hast granted us to arrive at this hour, forgive us the wins that we may have committed today in thought, word and deed, and cleanse, Lord, our humble souls from all defilement of flesh and spirit. And grant us, Lord, to pass the sleep of this night in peace, that when we rise from our beds we may please your most holy name all the days of our life and conquer our flesh and the fleshless foes that war with us. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
And deliver us, Lord, from vain and frivolous thoughts, and from evil desires which defile us. For thine is the kingdom, the power and glory, now and forever and to the ages of ages. The value of virtue has been given a symbolic color, like the other values. The color of virtue is gold because gold is pure. It shines. It is soft, not harsh or brash. It is precious. Gold must be refined. As we live pure and virtuous lives, we will be refined by our lives experiences, and as we trust in the Lord and draw closer to him, he will make our hearts as gold. In order to be virtuous and remain virtuous, we must be true to our divine identity and establish patterns of thought and behavior based on high moral standards. These standards are eternal and do not change. We are not common. We are not ordinary. We are children of God. In order to reach our sublime destiny, we need each other, and we need to be unified. We need, as the Lord counseled, to uphold honest, wise, and good people wherever they are found and to recognize that there are among all sects, parties, and denominations those who are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. There will be a time when righteousness will come down from Heaven, and truth will be sent forth out of the Earth to bear, once more, the testimony of our Savior and his atoning mission. Wherever we live in the World, we have been molded as a people to the instruments of the Lord’s peace. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
