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The Thoughts from Many Hearts Might be Revealed!
The strongest is never enough to be master of all the time, unless one transforms force into right and obedience into duty. Hence the right of the strongest, a right that seems like something intended ironically and is actually established as a basic principle. However, will no one explain this word to me? Force is a physical power; I fail to see what morality can result from its effects. To give in to force is an act of necessity, not of will. At most, it is an act of prudence. In what sense could it be a duty? Let us suppose for a moment that there is such a thing as this alleged right. I maintain that all the results from it is an inexplicable mish-match. For once force produces the right, the effect changes places with the cause. Every force that is superior to the first succeeds to its right. As soon as one can disobey with impunity, one can do so legitimately; and since the strongest is always right, the only thing to do is to make oneself the strongest. For what kind of right is it that perishes when the force on which it is based ceases? If one must obey because of force, one need not do so out of duty; and if one is no longer forced to obey one is no longer obliged. Clearly then, this word “right” adds nothing to force. It is utterly meaningless here. Obey the powers that be. If that means giving in to force, the precept is sound, but superfluous. I reply it will never be violated. All power comes from God—I admit it—but so does every disease. Does this mean that calling in a physician is prohibited? If a brigand takes me by surprise at the edge of a wooded area, is it not only that case that I must surrender my purse, but even that I am in good conscious bound to surrender it, if I were able to withhold it? After all, the pistol he holds is also a power. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
Let us then agree that force does not bring about right, and that one is obliged to obey only legitimate powers. Studies of speech content and depression have generally focused on topics and themes that emerge in the discourse of people with depression. A married couple with a depressed partner is more likely than a nondepressed couple to express dysphoric feelings and negative well-being verbally, to talk more about well-being, to ask questions about well-being, and (in the case of the depressed partner) to engage in negative self-evaluation. Depressed spouses have also reported being more verbally aggressive and less constructive in problem solving—a view corroborated by their nondepressed spouses—when engaged in marital interaction. When depressed students were asked to get acquainted with another student, they emitted fewer statements that reflected an optimistic appraisal of their partners, and made more directly negative statements than their nondepressed peers. Similar findings of negative verbal content among depressed speakers were obtained in studies of interactions with strangers, unstructured interviews, 10-minute monologues, telephone conversations with confidants, and psychotherapy sessions. Likewise, depressed individuals communicate self-devaluation, sadness, and general negativity to their interpersonal partners. It now appears that negative verbal content is especially pronounced in interactions between depressed people and intimate others. In addition, depressed subjects are more inclined to emit unsolicited self-disclosures, and are more like to disclose following a partner self-disclosure, then were the nondepressed subjects. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
This indicates not only that depressed subjects self-disclose more than their nondepressed counterparts do, but that their timing of these disclosures is often inappropriate and the content is often negative. The timing of disclosures tend to be inappropriate because they are often provided in the absence of any utterance from the partner that solicits such information (exempli gratia, “How have you been?”). This finding is noteworthy, in that self-disclosures have been shown to be a key ingredient in the rejection of depressed persons by others. As might be expected, the depressed subjects rated the negative topics as more appropriate for discussion than the nondepressed subjects did. Human beings use facial expressions, both consciously and unconsciously, to send information to others about their emotional states and attitudes. Most available evidence indicates that depressed people are less facially animated than nondepressed people, except when it comes to conveying sadness through the face. This trend is very evident. However, both depressed subjects and nondepressed subjects controls evidence similar abilities to self-regulate a happy facial state when requested to do so; however, when no instructions were offered, the controls spontaneously assumed a happy expression, whole the depressed subjects showed no evidence of a happy expression. Depressed people also have higher incidence of corrugated brow, squinting or closed eyes, and turned-down mouth, and were more frequently judged as looking “depressed.” People who are unaware of negative affective states in others may continue to engage in aversive behaviours, such as excessive reassurance seeking. This may serve only to further produce rejection from others, making the reassurance increasingly difficult to obtain, and thereby perpetuating depressive symptoms. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
Furthermore, hyposensitive may be a consequence of protracted depression. If depressed people elicit rejection from others over a period of time, some may develop hyposensitive as a means of preserving social interaction and avoiding social isolation. Thus some depressed people may learn to ignore signs of negative affect in others. These may be the cases of depression that are the most intractable. Because looking while speaking is a behaviour associated with confidence and status, it is likely that depressed people’s negative feelings about themselves precipitate this gaze avoidance. Undoubtedly, this lack of eye contact does not give other people a good impression. Depressed individuals are also more likely to hold their head in a downward position than nondepressed persons. Many of the things that people normally do to indicate interest, attention, and enthusiasm in conversation, such as smiling, making eye contact, speaking in an animated tone, and using gestures, are often lacking in the interpersonal communication of depressed people. The inhibited use of these behaviours, which are often treated as microindicators of social skills, is consistent with the self-reports and observer ratings of depressed people’s social skills. The extent to which the inhibited interpersonal behaviour of depressed people reflects true skills deficits (id est, inability to use these skills) or a lack of motivation has yet to be precisely determined. It is clear that people with depression are less motivated to communicate with other people. This may at least partially explain why depression is associated with restricted communication behaviour. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
Evidence from vastly divergent sources converges to suggest that many people with depression have documentable problems with social skills. However, there is at least some evidence to support three different potential relationships between social skills and depression. First, social skills deficits may be a causal antecedent to depression. Poor social skills make it difficult to secure beneficial reinforcement through social interaction, and equally difficult to avoid punishing responses in social contexts. People with poor social skills have a difficult time making a good impression on others, and instead often come across as inept, uninterested, and dull. The resultant abundance of punishing social response and absence of beneficial social reinforcement are thought to contribute to eventual depression. Lower social skill scores are predicted in worsening of depressive symptoms. Yet, the covariation between poos social skills and depression may be explained by other possible relationships. A second possibility is that poor social skills are a consequence of depression. Many of the symptoms of depression have implications for inhibited production of skilled social behaviour. For example, depression is generally accompanied by a number of psychomotor symptoms that entail slowed and delayed motor behaviours. These psychomotor tendencies include slowed speech, long response latencies, diminished eye contact, and increased nervous gesturing (id est, adaptors of body-focused gestures). These are the same behaviours that are considered indicative of poor social skills. Still, not all evidence conclusively supports the hypothesis that poor social skills follow depression, but enough evidence exists to suggest that it is a likely explanation for at least some cases. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
Only those people who have poor social skills, and who experience events and outcomes that they perceive as stressful, are predicted to develop depressive symptoms. It is therefore the combination of poor social skills and negative life events that is thought to produce depressive distress. The reasoning behind this model is that people with good social skills can marshal the kind and quantity of social support that will be effective for coping with stressful event. On the other hand people with poor social skills are expected to experience more stressors, and be less able to secure assistance and social support for dealing with those stressors when they do occur. There is also an indication that the relationship between stressful life events and depression is strongest amongst those with the poorest social skills. On the other hand, those with high social skills scores exhibit a relationship near zero between stressful life events and depression. In other words, poor social skills make people vulnerable to the development of depression when faced with stressors, whereas good social skills produced a prophylactic effect in the face of stressors. A diverse collection of research findings shows that people with depression often have concomitant problems with social skills. Three theoretical explanations for this association have been offered: Poor social skills are a causal antecedent to depression, depression leads to a deterioration of social skills and/or poor social skills create a vulnerability to depression. The evidence associated with these hypotheses is just beginning to emerge, and thus far there is at least some supportive evidence for each. These findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between social skills and depression. There is every reason to believe that the nature of this relationship is not the same for all people with depression. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
Being happy is not the result of a carefree life, but of a careful effort to recognize the Lord’s hand in our lives. When we do so, we cannot help but feel the love God had for us. Expressing daily gratitude will allow one to enjoy one’s own bouquet of Heavenly blessings. “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,” reports Hebrews 12.1-2. God has an individual plan for each of our lives. Just because something works for someone else does not necessarily mean it will work for everyone. If one makes a mistake of trying to copy others, one may become frustrated, depressed, and will waste a lot of time and energy. In addition, one may also miss the things God has in store for one to do. The most important thing in life is to do the best you can. Stand firm, and hope in God. Words are just words. They fly through the air, airy aerialists that they are. However, if they are harsh words, they land on one’s head with a thud. No, no lumps, but yes, lot of pain. If one deserved the lumps for something one did, think how willingly one would reform in order that the pain would stop. However, if you are not conscious of having done a wrong, then think how one can turn the pain to one’s spiritual advantage. Even if one could not survive an all-out war of words, one could put up with a few verbal volleys for a while without making a big deal out of it. However, how can these little darts pierce you to the heart unless you are a carnal human who pays more attention to what the carny human says about one. That is because one is afraid of being despised; one does not want to be reprehended for one’s excesses, and so one seeks refuge under an arbour of excuses. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
Granted, you will face enormous pressure to do what everyone else is doing, to try to please everybody and meet all their expectations. If you are not careful, though, your life can become a blur, a pale imitation rather than an original. However, you do not have to please everyone else; you need to please only God. The truth is, if you are going to live life at your pace and become successful, you may not be able to mee other people’s expectations. Spend more time on introspection, and you will find—surprise!—that even now, after some years away from the World, the World is still very much alive in you; in fact, you are still doing what Humankind thinks quite fashionable. You cannot be everything to everybody. You will have to accept the fact that some people may not like you. Everybody is not going to agree with every decision you make. You probably will not be able to keep every person in your life happy. However, you cannot let the demands, pressures, and expectation from others stop you from doing what you know God wants you to do. Why do you refuse to come down from your marble pedestal and be confronted with your faults? It just stands to reason that you are not a truly humble Devout, nor from the look of you a Devout truly silenced to the World, nor does the World appear crucified to you—I can tell by your eyes. There are the characteristics that Paul stressed to the Galatians 6.14. “But far be if from me to glory [in anything or anyone] except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), through Whom the World has been crucified to me, and I to the World!,” reports Galatians 6.14. When you face difficult decisions or uncertain choices, it helps to seek counsel from someone you respect. Certainly, as the Bible says, “there is safety in a multitude of counselors,” reports Proverbs 24.6, and we should not be stubborn. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
We should always stay open and be willing to take advice. However, after you have prayed about something and looked at all the options, be bold enough to make a decision that is right for you. If you are trying to please everybody else by doing things you do not really want to do, so you will not hurt someone’s feelings or because you are trying to keep everybody happy, you will be cheating yourself and everyone around you. You can run yourself in circles trying to be something that you are not, and you will run the risk of missing out on God’s best for your own life. “Nevertheless, in public worship, I would rather say five words with my understanding and intelligently in order to instruct others, than ten thousand word in a [strange] tongue (language),” reports 1 Corinthians 14.19. Look here now, my dear friend, gather the most malicious words in the dictionary, then imagine they all apply to you. How would you react? You could scream! You could howl! Or you could think, What harm can they do? Especially if I shrug them off. After all, they weigh as little as a tittle and have not enough pluck to pluck a hair from your head. And no one has a more accurate hair count than God. “But not a hair of your heard shall perish,” reports Luke 21.18. A Devout whose heart is not in the monastery and does not have God in one’s sights is an easy target for a vituperous word. On the other hand, the Devout who had shared confidence with God and has no appetite to be one’s own human will be able to stand down all verbal abuse. God is the Judge, Knower of All Secrets. God knows all the ins and outs of every human act. God knows the wrongdoer as well as the wrong done. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
The wrong itself comes by way of God, and God permit it to happen. Why? “The thoughts from many hearts might be revealed,” reports Luke 2.35. God will sentence the guilt and the innocent in public; God have tried them already in His chambers. The testimony of Humankind often falls short of the truth. God’s judgement, on the other hand, is always true. It will stand and will not be reversed on appeal. The record is not available to the general public; only a few have access. The transcripts have been read for errors, omissions, emendations, and so on. None found; none needed. When the foolish among us hear this, they get that milky, faraway look in their eyes as if to say that Truth, whatever else she may be, just is not fair. Therefore, whenever you need a quick decision, come to God. In no instance rely on your own judgement. As the Book of Proverbs put it (12.21), the just person will not be confused or confounded because “whatever happens to one will come from God.” Even though some unjust charge is brought against you, you should not pay much attention to it. Best thing to do is to shrug it off. If a charge against you is resolved when someone believable witnesses come forward, you should not throw a victory part for a hundred of your closet friends. “I read the hearts and loins of Humankind,” rightly said God’s John in the book of Revelation (2.23), and God does not pass judgement the way Humankind does; John put down these words when God was in the temple (7.24). Sometimes on Earth, one can get too much advice. Conflicting opinions can cause confusion. People often reflect on their own lives and what they have and will do, so their opinion may not even reflect you. Often someone found guilty in an Earthly court is praised for one’s conduct by the Celestial Court. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
Follow your own heart in light of God’s Word and do what you feel is right and good for you. Father, thank You, for giving me the interpersonal confidence to be me. Please help me to run my race and to not be concerned about what other people expect of me. As long as You are pleased with me, I am happy! O Lord God, Just Judge, strong and patient, You know the fragility and depravity of Humankind Hence, be my strength and my total trust. Conscience is not enough for me. You know what I do not know. And so I ought to humbly accept Your penance for my eyer transgression. Act forgivingly toward me every time I commit a sin of omission, and yet again please grant me more and more grace of sufferance. Your copious mercy is better for my obtaining indulgence than Your justice against my defending my conscious. “I am not conscious of anything bad I have done,” as Paul wrote in First Corinthians 4.4; nevertheless I cannot justify my behaviour in this. The reason? Remove mercy from the equation, as the Psalmist once said (143.2), and no living creature will every be justified in Your sight. The divine procession can be derived only from the actions which remain within the agent. In a nature which is intellectual, and in the divine nature these actions are two, the acts of intelligence and of will. The act of sensation, which also appears to be an operation within the agent, takes places outside the intellectual nature, nor can it be reckoned as wholly removed from the sphere of external actions; for the act of sensations is perfected by the action of the sensible object upon sense. It follows that no other procession is possible in God but the procession of the Word, and of Love. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
Power is the principle whereby one thing acts on another. Hence it is that external action points to power. Thus the divine power does not imply the procession of a divine person; but is indicated by the procession therefrom of creatures. As Boethius says (De Hebdom.), goodness belongs to the essence and not to the operation, unless considered as the object of the will. Thus, as the divine procession must be denominated from certain actions; no other processions can be understood in God according to goodness and the like attributes except those of the Word and of love, according as God understands and loves His own essence, truth and goodness. God understands all things by one simple act; and by one act also He wills all things. Hence there cannot exist in Him a procession of Word from Word, nor of Love from Love; for there is in Him only one perfect Word, one perfect Love; thereby being manifested His perfect fecundity. Most questers experience this momentary elation, this cosmic paean of exultation, at some time. In some the wish to re-experience it becomes a craving which cases them to lose their balance, to be repeatedly depressed and unhappy at its loss. Thus what was intended to increase their happiness becomes a source of further misery! If one is young in the life of the Spirit, ignorant of its laws and inexperienced in its ways, one may take the fading of the Glimpse amiss. One may complain too long or bemoan too much, thus inviting that dread experience, the dark night of the soul. One’s own great joy in the glimpse is natural and inevitable, but if one clings to it to the point where it is succeeded by great disappointment when the glimpse disappears, then it is merely another mood of the personal ego. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
In that case one will certainly be left feeling empty when it leaves one, and one probably be troubled by the thought that something has gone wrong. It is a common mistake among those who have this glimpse for the first tie, and even for the second time, to expect it to last forever. However, when they find that it has no more immortality than the other experiences of the human mind, they suffer needlessly, not understanding, bewildered. To bestow this glimpse upon someone with no previous preparation of it, with an undeveloped psyche and an imperfect character, someone too backward spiritually to profit properly by it, may be to bestow a dangerous gift. It is likely to be misused as it is certain to be misconceived. If the experience is not fully understood, or if it comes to one quite unprepared for it, or if it comes too prematurely, it may be half-misunderstood and its teaching half-misconceived. In that case the will to act may become paralysed, the mind over-conscious of futility and evanescence. These holy visitations ought not to make one conceited or proud or fatten one’s ego or make one lose one’s wits. If they do, one is in spiritual danger so that what ought to be a blessing becomes a curse. These visitations of higher presence may deceive one into thinking that one has reached a higher degree than one really has. If so, one may expect their light and strength to abide permanently with one. In that case one may plunge into emotional reactions of gloom and disappointment when they ebb. It would be better for one to receive them gratefully as well as to regard their passing as tests of one’s resignation to the higher self and of one’s trust that its inner working is not mistaken. It knows quite well what It is doing in and for one. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
To have had the glimpse and yet to ignore it in subsequent life, or to utilize it only for the purpose of exalting the ego, s deliberately to tell a lie to oneself, consciously to be unfaithful to truth. When a person gets this experience without guidelines and in total surprise, within a family living in the common ignorance of such matters, one may let bewilderment come to destroy the new lucidity. After the glimpse has passes away—and a warning that it usually odes so is needed by beginners—either thankfulness for the visitation or discouragement by its loss may set in. One waits for an inner event that shall be thrilling and spectacular. One does not wait for one that shall be as gentle, as silent, as the fall of dew, so of course one is disappointed and falls into some kind of negative thoughts. Such moments are so precious that, when they are found to be irretrievable, a deep melancholy often settles on a human. Since people are not accustomed to these glimpses, they are easily swept off by the first few into emotional extravagances. One approaches these moods with delight but remembers them with despair. They are cored with happiness yet one feels frustrated by their evanescence. A wiser attitude understands that there is no need to grieve because the flash has gone, the ecstasy faded, the light shut out again. It knows that the Overself is still within one, even though these emotional or egoistic reactions try to trick one into believing otherwise. The Lord declares the purpose and contributions of one’s labours are “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of humans,” reports Moses 1.39. If the contributions that you can make in a career are negligible or dishonourable, then the career itself is in question. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
Employment is a necessary part of our lives on Earth; it gives us the means to provide for our families. Work is also an important gospel principle. It fosters growth and develops us. God condemns idleness and encourages us to “do many good things of our own free will,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 58.27. The Lord not only wants us to provide for our families but to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause,” Doctrine and Covenants 58.27. Good employment is important for us to better provide for our families and to serve faithfully in the Church. But flextime, while widely publicized, is only a small part of the general restricting of time that the Third Wave carries with it. We are also seeing a powerful shift toward increasing night work. This is occurring not so much in the traditional manufacturing centers like Akron or Baltimore, which have always had a lot of workers on night shifts, but in the rapidly expanding services and in the advanced, computer-based industries. The modern city, is a Gorgon that never sleeps and in which a growing proportion of citizens work outside the [normal] diurnal rhythms. Across the board in the technological nations the number of night workers now runs between 15 to 25 percent of all employees. Even more dramatic has been the spread of part-time work—and the active preference for it expressed by large numbers of people. Approximately 33 percent of Americans work part-time. For Walmart, more than 500,000 workers are part-time hourly associates. In all, there are nearly one voluntary worker for every three full-time workers in the United States of America, and part-time work force has been growing rapidly. So far has this process advances that a study by researchers at Georgetown University suggested that in the future almost all job could be part-time. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
Entitled Permanent Part-Time Employment: The Manager’s Perspective, the study covered 68 corporations, more than half of which already used part-timers. Even more noteworthy is the fact that the percentage of unemployed workers who want only part-time work has doubled in the past twenty years. This opening up of part-time jobs is particularly welcomed by women, by the elderly and semi-retired, and by many young people who are willing to settle for a smaller paycheck in return for time to pursue their own hobbies, sports, or religious, artistic, or political interests. What we see, therefore, is a fundamental break with Second Wave synchronization. The combination of flextime, part-time, and night work means that more and more people are working outside the nine-to-five (or any fixed schedule) system, and that entire society is shifting to round-the-clock operations. New consumer patterns, meanwhile, directly parallel changes in the time structure of production. Note, for instance, the proliferation of all-night supermarkets. “Will the 4 A.M. shopper, long considered a hallmark of California kookiness, become a regular feature of life in the less flamboyant East?” ask The New York Times. The answer is a resounding “Yes!” A spokesman for a supermarket chain in the eastern United States of America says his company will keep its stores open all night because “people are staying up later than they used to.” The Times feature writer spends a night at a typical store and reports on the varied customers who take advantage of the late hours: a truck driver whose wife is ill shops for one’s family of six, a young woman on her way to a postmidnight date pops by to purchase a greeting card, a man up late with a sick daughter rushes in to buy her a toy banjo and stops to pick up a hibachi as well, a woman drops by after her ceramics class to do the week’s shopping, a motorcyclist roars up at 3.00 A.M. to buy a deck of cards, two men straggle in at dawn on their way to go fishing. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
Mealtimes are also affected by these changes and are similarly desynchronized. People do not all eat at the same time, as most of them once did. The rigid three-meal-a-day pattern is broken as more and more fast-food shops spring up, serving billions of meals at all hours. Television watching changes, too, as programmers devise shows specifically aimed at “urban adults, night workers, and just plain insomniacs.” Banks, meanwhile, give up their celebrated “bankers’ hours.” Manhattan’s giant Citibank runs television commercials for its new automated banking system: “You are about to witness the dawn of a revolution in banking. This is Citibank’s new twenty-four-hour service…where you can do most of everyday banking anytime you want. So if Dean Winchester wants to check his balance at the crack of dawn, he can do it. And Sam Winchester can transfer money from saving into checking anytime he wants to…You know and I know that life does not stop at three P.M. Monday to Friday. The Citi never sleeps.” If, therefore, we look across the board at the way our society now treats time, we find a subtle but powerful shift away from the rhythms of the Second Wave and toward a new temporal structure in our lives. In fact, what is happening is a de-massification of time that precisely parallels the de-massification of other features of social life as the Third Wave is in effect. What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in the forest, at night, cherished by this wonderful, unintelligible, perfectly innocent speech, the most comforting speech in the World, the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges, and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows! Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, this rain. As long as it talks, I am going to listen. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18
We need not deny the presence of evil in the World in order to deny its permanence. It is here, but it is only a transient thing. moreover, it exists not as a personified power like Satan, nor as a subtle unseen opponent of everything divine, but only as a condition of ignorance in the human mind and as a passing phase of its evolution. In short, it is merely a way of human thinking and it will disappear when deeper thinking reveals the why and wherefore of things. It lasts only as long as the dominance of the ego lasts. The prehistoric animals are now totally gone and the only monster to be found on Earth today is MAN. His history is splashed with war and hate and crime. There would appear to be little of the angel in him so far. Prayer is the ultimate way to awaken the God-Power. It also cancels evil karma of the past and allows the consciousness to dwell only in the immediate moment. This is something like The Eternal Now sensed by the philosopher and gives the self-actualized a kind of peace, a freedom from cares and fears. O hear to the herald of sure salvation, I hear my Beloved, His voice is nigh, He comes with his myriads of hovering angels, on the Mount of Olives to stand and cry. The herald comes—be the trumpet sounded, beneath His tread He knocks—at His radiant glance the hill-side shall half from the eastward be rent and reft. Fulfilled is His ancient prophetic saying, the herald is come with saints around; by all upon Earth shall a still small voice to the uttermost islands be heard resound. The seed He begot and the seed He reared hath been born as a child from its mother’s womb. However, then hath travailed and who brought forth, and a similar thing hath been told to whom? The perfectly Pure hath achieved this marvel, what mortal hath seen such a wondrous way? Salvation, Redemption in one united, the Earth bringing forth in a single day! #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
Cresleigh Homes
Welcome home. 🥰 Could this exterior be your view each day? We think so!
Appearances are deceiving; it’s actually one of our larger floorplans! You’ll see 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths once you cross that threshold. The Meadows Residence 1 is a great example of thoughtfully designed, single story living.
Residence One at Cresleigh Meadows holds 2,054 square feet of single story living. The open concept design includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two car garage plus workshop. Through the charming front porch enter into the foyer, where two secondary bedrooms lead off to a Jack and Jill bathroom.
The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters. The great room is spacious and full of natural light. The Owner’s suite is nestled in the rear of the home separate from the secondary bedrooms, providing maximum privacy. Enjoy a spa like experience in the Owner’s bathroom with a large walk in shower and large soaking tub.
Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Google Mini to help connect everything together!
Who Can Read the Future?
Even if we do have a whiff of what is to come, the future can still hurt and maim. However, if we do no prepare for what many happen, then we will all suffer the gravest consequences. Wherefore, why have I not, a Devout who has firsthand knowledge of one’s own wretchedness, prepared better? Why have I relied so heavily on others more than I? Often times, Devouts are thought of as, or declared to be, Angels. In reality, we are only humans, and all too fragile humans at that. Problems such as martial distress, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, and loneliness are all understood within this paradigm as they by-products of maladaptive cognitive patterns. These cognitions include attributions for various events, memories of past situations and encounters, and expectations for the future. Adherents of the cognitive paradigm treat psychological problems with psychotherapy that attempts to challenge and correct maladaptive cognitions, in order to help a client see the self and World in a more realistic (and, ideally, more beneficial) light. Cognitive approaches still figure very prominently in our understanding of many mental health problems and in the ways they are treated. Attributional accounts of loneliness argue that lonely people often blame themselves for interpersonal failures, thus reducing their motivation to remedy their undesirable interpersonal situations. This attributional tendency, combined with negative expectations and evaluations of other people, serves to maintain an unfortunate interpersonal life for a lonely person. Furthermore, for others, exposure to an individual who models the problematic behaviour, and is rewarded for doing so, can lead to the acquisition of the problem behaviour by an observer (exempli gratia, the child or parent with the problematic behaviour). #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
The observer is thought to hold cognitive representations of the behaviour in one’s mind, which then becomes the eventual stimulus for producing the behaviour in the absence of the model. A hypothesis such as this clearly draws on cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychological problems draws on principles of both cognitive and behavioural therapies—focusing on cognitive patterns, attributional styles, and maladaptive expectations, along with engaging in pleasant activities and learning to disassociate punishing responses with otherwise functional behaviours (exempli gratia, experiencing extreme nervousness when going to a party). Advocates of the biological paradigm explain mental health problems with an appeal to such factors as depletion or excesses of various neurotransmitters, genetic predispositions and vulnerabilities, disturbed endocrine functioning, and irregular anatomical structures of function in the brain. The causes and consequences of mental illness is often due to the misfortunes of life from which arise deprivation of love, poverty, family quarrels, ill-judged choice of a partner in marriage, [and] unfavourable social circumstances. Psychological problems are patterns of inadequate and inappropriate action in interpersonal relations. Depression, for example, is a chiefly destructive process. It cuts off impulses to integrate constructive situations with others. Only destructive situations are maintained, and these are extremely stereotyped. What a person does in any social situations is a function of at least two factors: First of all, one’s multilevel personality structure; and the activities and effect of the other one, the person with whom one in interacting. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
Students of interpersonal communication will immediately recognize the transactional and dyadic conceptualization inherent in the explanation of behaviour in social context. This conceptualization moves the locus of attention from purely internal psychological structures to the intersection of the self and the other. Social-interaction and interpersonal school tells of that among those seeking psychological treatment, the underlying problems usually turn out to be interpersonal in nature—frequently having the form, “I cannot (do something interpersonal).” Distressed and dysfunctional interpersonal relations are inextricably entwined with psychological distress. Because the World population has nearly tripled and many more people are being born with psychological problems and their parents do not see the need to have these problems addressed, it may be the group, and not the individual who has interpersonal problems. The majority group may have a deviant mental condition. Also, with religion being removed from government institutions and society, and declining church attendance, many people are not longer taught the Ten Commandments, so they have no guidelines as to how to behave. Therefore, the interpersonal approach suggests that treatment of psychological problems will be most effective when the social context is examined and modified. The focus of therapy is not on the individual, but on one’s important relationships with other people. Thus interpersonal therapy may involve the spouse, friends, and family members, in addition to the person who presents with the problem. Sometimes clients need to be taught how to improve the communication with other people, with the goal of building more desirable relationships. This can be achieved through social skills training. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
Interpersonal psychotherapy is a very well-developed and useful technique for treating psychological problems. Scientists have discovered that people often react in consistent and predictable patterns to a person with certain psychological problems. In such cases, it is impossible to overlook the powerful effect of such wide spread reactions on the mentally distressed individual. It is most intriguing to learn that other people often exhibit behaviour toward the ill individual that is itself sometimes reflective of psychosocial disturbances. Such observations inevitably lead to the question of which came firs: the psychopathology, or the harsh, odd, or ambiguous behaviours of others in the social environment? Another area of attention in the interpersonal paradigm is the architecture of current and past interpersonal relationships with significant others. There is almost always trouble to be found in the terrain of interpersonal relationships with people who are or will become psychologically distressed. There is clear support for the notion that these troubled relationships somehow contribute to the development and course of the psychopathology. What a tragedy it would be to go through life as a child of the King in God’s eyes, yet as a lowly peasant in our own eyes. “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it,” John 14.13-14. Although interpersonal problems conceptually and empirically distinct, these disorders have a common correlate: disturbed and dysfunctional relationship with other people. Perhaps as a function of their inherently social nature, the well-being of most humans is inextricably entwined with the well-being of their interpersonal relations. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
When interpersonal relationships sour, when the ability (and/or motivation) to communicate and interact with others fails to develop or deteriorates, and when behavioural reactions from other people stressful, mental health begins to break down. Is something similar going on in your life? Is your self-image so contrary to the way God sees you that you are missing out on God’s best? God sees you as successful. However, you may see yourself as a failure. Family-of-origin experiences play a powerful role in creating and/or maintaining psychological problems. Looking back at the childhoods of people with psychological problems, one often finds poor family cohesion, neglect, abuse, parental overinvolvement or overprotection, hostility and criticism, and even parental modeling of dysfunctional behaviour and attitudes. Most of these family processes have been implicated in multiple psychological problems. For example, parental abuse and neglect appear to be relatively childhood experiences for people who later go on to develop depression, social anxiety, personality disorders, and substance use disorders. Similarly, excessive family cohesion (either too high or too low) can be found in the families of people with social anxiety, eating disorders, and substance use disorders. Obviously, the social environment in which a child develops a sense of self and relation to other people has an immense impact on not just current, but future, psychological well-being. When these family relations decompose into neglect, abuse, overprotectiveness, and excessive hostility and criticism, the probability of a child’s developing psychological problems increase dramatically. Psychological problems invariably damage the happiness of the marriage. Symptoms of these problems are very taxing for spouses—often to such an extent that spouses exhibit psychological problems of their own. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
At the same time, the deterioration of a marriage can precipitate a number of psychological problems, such as depression, alcoholism, and loneliness. Findings on family-of-orientation experiences again reinforce the notion that psychological problems spill over into immediate family relationships, and appear to be yoked to the quality of these relationships. Often times friendships and or intimate partner relationships are quite simply lacking for people afflicted with depression, social anxiety, personality disorders, and eating disorders. One interpersonal phenomenon that may inhibit the development of such relationships is rejection. Numerous studies show that people with psychological problems such as schizophrenia, eating disorders, depression, and social anxiety incite rejection from others. Even when personal relationships are available to an individual with a psychological problem, they are often characterized by turbulence and conflict. Findings on general personal relationships bring badly needed attention beyond past and present family issues. The most fundamental building blocks of personal relationships, verbal and nonverbal communication behaviours, are seriously alerted by psychological distress. In the case of problems such as depression, social anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and substance use disorders, these communication problems are often studies under the rubric of “social skill deficits.” Social skills involve the ability to communicate with other people in ways that are appropriate and effective. The involve the knowledge of what behaviours are appropriate, the capability to exhibit these behaviours, and the motivation to mobilize and apply that knowledge and behavioural repertoire. You may have been hurt in your life, or maybe made wrong choices. However, if you have honestly repented and done your best to do right since then, you no longer have to live with guilt and shame. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
You may not have achieved the pinnacle of success, but do not let the physically, mentally or spiritually cripple you. You standing in life does not change God’s covenant with you. You are still the child of the Most High. God still has great things in store for you. Be bold and claim what belongs to you. “Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” reports Psalm 139.23-24. I know it is not because of my goodness that Your kindness is extended, O God, but because of the covenant relationship I have been blessed to inherit. Please help me to better understand Your grace and Your goodness as I take my place at You table. Thank You, Father, for making a place for me! “Do not copy the behaviour and customs of this World, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God want you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is,” reports Romans 12.2. Many social, physical, and emotional problems stem from the fact that people do not like themselves. They are uncomfortable with how they look, how they talk, or how they act. They do not like their personality. They are always comparing themselves with other people, wishing they were something different. Major depressive disorder is a pervasive illness with a lifetime risk of 10-25 percent for women and 5-12 percent of men. Among certain segments of society, such socially disadvantaged women, lifetime prevalence can be as high as 33 percent. In any given year 5 percent of the population, or approximately 15.5 million people, will be afflicted with major depression. This disorder is associated with a dangerously high mortality rate, as 4-6 percent of its victims die by suicide. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
Major depressive episodes are marked by the following symptoms: severely depressed mood, diminished interest in any activities, significant weight loss or gain, sleep disturbance, psychomotor agitation, intellectual disability, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, and guilt, difficulty concentrating, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideation. For a formal diagnosis, these symptoms must be evident for a period of at least 2 weeks, but for many people with depression they may last months or even years. The interpersonal context of depression has drawn a great deal of empirical that excessive reassurance seeking is an issues that elicits feelings of interpersonal rejection, perhaps because of emotional contagion (id est, they make other people feel sad, depress, and hostile). The general personal relationships of people with depression are often lacking or distressed, contributing to a high comorbidity with loneliness. The family-of-origin experiences of people with depression are marked by relatively high rates of neglect, abuse, low parental care, and even signs of rejection from parents. The family-of-orientation experiences associated with depression are characterized by very high rates of material distress and parenting problems. Again, there is remarkable comorbidity between depression and loneliness. However, you can be happy with who God made you to be, and quit wishing you were someone or something different. If God wanted you to look like anyone else, He would have made you look like them. If God had wanted you to have a different personality, He would have given you that personality. Do not compare yourself to other people; learn to be happy with who God made you to be. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
People with depression consistently evaluate their own social skills on such inventories more negatively than nondepressed people do. Consequently, it has been suggested that depressed people’s negative views of their social skills may be part of a more generalized negative self-evaluation bias. For instance, depressed people hold negative views of themselves and distort feedback from the environment in ways that are unfavourable. Although self-rating of social skills are undoubtedly contaminated by this bias, depressed people’s general tendency to evaluate themselves negatively does not fully account for the self-report social skills deficits often noted to be associated with the disorder. However, God does not want a bunch of clones. He likes a variety, and one should not let people pressure one or make one feel badly about oneself because one does not fit their image of who one should be. Be an original, not a version of someone else. Dare today to accept the person God made you to be and then go out and be the best you that you can be. God has given us all different gifts, talents, and personality for a reason. One only needs God’s approval. However, certainly, one should always be open to wise counsel. Do not be foolish and rebellious. Nor will you lose your liberty by focusing more on your spiritual life. Yet, we never have permission to live an ungodly life. However, we do have God’s permission to be successful, confident, and not allow outside pressure to mould us into something or someone we are not. Be secure in who you are. People with depression do not use paralinguistic behaviours with the same degree of “skill” as nondepressed people. Studies of the temporal aspects of paralanguage indicate that people who are depressed speak more slowly than nondepressed people do. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
In fact, pause and duration is so powerfully linked to depression that many have argued for it as an indicator of an individual’s degree of depression. Investigation of speech production indicates that people with depression generally speak more quietly, and with more silences, and hesitancies, than nondepressed persons. When prompted by a topic, people with depression have more difficulty producing speech than nondepressed control do. There is evidence to suggest that people with depression speak in a monotonous tone and with lower pitch than nondepressed persons do. Depressed people are very skilled at communicating sadness and despair paralinguistically. However, they may be less concerned about cultural display rules that often proscribe the outward display of such emotional states. Alternatively, depressed people may be unable to mask their negative affects paralinguistically, since vocal cues such as pitch, speech rate, and intonation are difficult to control. “Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men; they devise mischiefs in their heart; continually they gather together and stir up wars,” reports Psalms 140.1-2. God does not want us to be depressed. He wants us to enjoy life. God went to great lengths to make sure that each of us is an original. We should not feel badly because our personalities, tastes, hobbies, or even spiritual proclivities are not the same as another person’s. Some people are outgoing and energetic; others are timid and more laid-back. Some people like to wear suits and ties; other people like to wear jeans and a tee shirt. The only person that has to accept you for who you are is God. Have an attitude that you are going to enjoy the person God made you to be. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
Humankind’s worst enemy is itself. The enemies of Humankind are the members of its own household. Nor is there necessarily any truth in the Devout who finds a prophet, a messiah, behind every shadow. “Look, here He is! Oops! Where the devil did He go? He is over there now!” Matthew on You in Your last discourse (24.23). I learned this lesson to my loss. Would that I be goose in the future, and not just a gull for every bit of juicy gossip! Watch it, watch it, watch it. That is what someone says to me as one entrusts a secret. Keep to yourself what I am about to tell you. And so I do, but while I keep my lips sealed and believe I am keeping a secret, one does not hold one’s tongue. One wags it all over the house, betraying oneself and me, and then, before I can berate one, one is off to another monastery. From cautionary tales like this and the incautious people who tell them, protect me, O Lord. Do not let me fall into their hands, and do not let me repeat such a gaff ever again. Grant that I may speak in a straightforward manner, not with a forked tongue. What ai am unwilling to put up with others, I should avoid at all costs myself. A tangle of “not’s.” Not to say bad things about good people. Not to believe bad things about these very same people. Not to spread a shaggy story about someone else. Not to reveal my inmost secrets to anyone else but You, O Lord, now and always the Inspector General of Hearts. Not to be swept away by every barrage of verbiage, but simply to desire all esoterica and exoterica to be regulated according to the Divine Pleasure! #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
How can Devouts and Celestial Grace enjoy safe conduct? They must flee human contact. They must avoid the winsome things of this World. However, they should always be on the lookout for the things that will bring them closer to the next World. Many a humble soul has died the death when someone’s outdated their virtuous life and held it up for public praise! Grace grows best under a bridge where it is dank and dark. On the bridge itself, it would be tromped by every itinerant temptation, tramped by very mercenary troop. Take the case of the frustrated parents. Second Wave civilization, as we saw, synchronized daily life, trying the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness, of work and play, to the underlying throb of machines. Raised in this civilization, the parents take for granted that work must be synchronized, that everyone must arrive at work at the same time, that rush-hour traffic is unavoidable, that meal times must be fixed, and that children must, at an early age, be indoctrinated with time-consciousness and punctuality. They cannot understand why their offspring seem so annoyingly causal about keeping appointments and why, if the nine-to-five job (or other fixed-schedule job) was good enough in the past, it should suddenly be regarded as intolerable by their children. The reason is that the Third Wave, as it sweeps in, carries with it a completely different sense of time. If the Second Wave tied life to the tempo of the machine, the Third Wave challenges this mechanical synchronization, alters our most basic social rhythms, and in so doing frees us from the machine. Once we understand this, it comes as no surprise that one of the fastest-spreading innovations in industry during the 1970’s was “flextime”—an arrangement that permits workers, within predetermined limits, to choose their own working hours. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
Instead of requiring everyone to arrive at the factory gate or the office at the same time, or even at pre-fixed staggered times, the company operating on flextime typically sets certain core hours when everyone is expected to show up, an specifics other hours as flexible. Each employee may choose which of the flexible hours one wishes to spend working. This means that a “day person”—person whose biological rhythms routinely awakens one early in the morning—can choose to arrive at work at, say, 8.00 A.M., while a “night person,” whose metabolism is different, can choose to start working at 10.00 A.M. or 10.30 A.M. It means that an employee can take time off for household chores, or to shop, or take a child to the doctor. Groups of workers who wish to go bowling together early in the morning or late in the afternoon can jointly set their schedules to make it possible. In short, time itself is being de-massified. The flextime movement began in 1965 when a woman economist in Germany, Mrs. Christel Kammerer, recommended it was a way to bring more others into the job market. In 1967 Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, the “Deutsche Boeing,” discovered that many of its workers were arriving at work worn out from fighting rush-hour traffic. Management gingerly experimented by allowing 2,000 workers to go off the ridge eight-to-five schedule and to choose their own hours. Within two years all 12,000 of its employees were on flextime and some departments had even given up the requirement for everyone to be there during core times. In some 2,000 German firms, the national concept of rigid punctuality had vanished beyond recall. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
The reason was the introduction of Gleitzeit; id est, sliding or flexible hours. At one time, more than 5,000,000 employees in Germany were on one or another form of flextime, and the system was being used by 22,000 companies with an estimated 4,000,000 workers in France, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and Great Britain. In Switzerland, 15 to 20 percent of all industrial firms had switched to the new system for all or part of their work force. Multinational firms (a major force for cultural diffusion in today’s work), exported the system from Europe. Nestle and Lufthansa, for example, introduced it to their operations in the United States of America. According to a report by the American Management Association, 74 percent of all U.S. companies use flextime. Within a few years, it is projected that number will be 90 percent due to the pandemic. Among the American firms using flextime systems are such giants as Scott Paper, Bank of California, General Motors, Bristol Myers, and Equitable Life. Some of the more moss-backed trade unions—preservers of the Second Wave status quo—have hesitated. However, individual workers, by and large, see flextime as a liberating influence. Says the manager of the London-based insurance firm: “The young married women were absolutely rapturous about change-over.” A Swiss survey found that fully 95 percent of affected workers approve. Thirty-five percent men—more than women—say they now spend more time with the family. One mother working for Boston banks was on the verge of being fired because—although a good worker in other respects—she was continually turning up late. Her poor attendance record reinforced racist stereotypes. However, when her office went on flextime she was no longer considered late. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
It also turned out, reported sociologist Allan R. Cohen, “that she had been late because she had to drop her son in a day-care center and could just never get to the office by starting time. Employers, for their part, report higher productivity, reduced absenteeism, and other benefits. There are, of course, problems with any innovation, but according to the American Management Association, survey only 2 percent of the companies trying it have gone back to the old rigid time structure. One Lufthansa manager summed it up succinctly: “There’s no such thing now as a punctuality problem.” Humans are born free, and everywhere they are in chains. One who believes oneself the master of others does not escape being more of a slave than they. How did this change take place? I do no know. What can render it legitimate? Were I to consider only force and the effect that flows from it, I would say that so long as a people is constrained to obey and does obey, it does well. As soon as it can shake off the yoke and does shake it off, it does even better. For by recovering its liberty by means of the same right that stole it, either the populace is justified in getting it back or else those who took it away were not justified in their actions. However, the social order is a scared right which serves as a foundation for all other right. Nevertheless, this right does not come from nature. It is therefore founded upon convention. The most ancient of all societies and the only natural one, is that of the family. Even so children remain bound to their father only so long as they need him to take care of them. As soon as the need ceases, the natural bond is dissolved. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
Once the children are freed from the obedience they owed the father and their father is freed from the care he owned his children, all return equally to independence. If they continue to remain united, this no longer takes place naturally but voluntarily, and the family maintains itself only by means of convention. This common liberty is one consequence of the nature of humans. Its first law is to see to one’s maintenance; its first concerns are those one owes oneself; and, as soon as one reaches the age of reason, since one alone is the judge of the proper means of taking care of oneself, one thereby becomes one’s own master. The family therefore is, so to speak, the prototype of political societies; the leader is the image of the father, the populace is the image of the children, and, since all are born equal and free, none give up their liberty except for their utility. The entire difference consists in the fact that in the family the love of the father for his children repays him for the care he takes for them, while in the state, where the leaders does not have love for his peoples, the pleasure of commanding takes the place of this feeling. Grotius denies that all human power is established for the benefit of the governed, citing slavery as an example. His usual method of reasoning is always to present fact as a proof of right. Learned research on public right is often nothing more than the history of ancient abuses, and taking a lot of trouble to study the too closely get one nowhere. A more logical method could be used, but no one more favourable to tyrants. According to Grotius, it is therefore doubtful whether the human race belongs to a hundred humans, or whether these hundred humans belong to the human race. This is Hobbes’ position as well. On this telling, the human race is divided into herds of cattle, each one having its own leader who guards it in order to devour it. #RandolohHarris 16 of 19
Just as a herdsman possesses a nature superior to that of one’s herd, the herdsmen of men who are the leaders, also have a nature superior to that of their peoples. According to Philo, Caligula reasoned thus, concluding quite properly this analogy that kings were gods, or that peoples were beasts. Caligula’s reasoning coincides with that of Hobbes and Grotius. Aristotle, before all the others, had also said that he took the effect for the cause. Every human born in slavery is born for slavery; nothing is more certain. In their chains slaves lose everything, even the desire to escape. They love their servitude the way the companions of Ulysses loved their degradation. If there are slaves by nature, it is because there have been salves against nature. Force has produced the first slaves; their cowardice has perpetuated them. I have nothing about King Adam or Emperor Noah, father of three great monarchs who partitioned the Universe, as did the children of Saturn, whom sone have believed they recognize in them. I hope I will be appreciated for this moderation, for since I am a direct descent of these princes, and perhaps of the eldest branch, how am I to know where, after the verification of titles, I might not find myself the legitimate king of the human race? Be that as it may, we cannot deny that Adam was the sovereign of the World, just as Robinson Crusoe was sovereign of his island, so long as he was its sole inhabitant. And the advantage this empire had was that the monarch, securely on his throne, had no rebellions, wars, or conspirators to fear. The evolution of each ego, of each entity conscious of a personal “I,” passes through three stages through immense periods of time. In the first and earliest stage, it unfolds its distinct physical selfhood, acquires more and more conscious of the person “I,” and hence divides and isolates itself from other egos. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
The ego is seeking to differentiate itself from them. It feels the need to asset itself and its interests. This lead inevitably to antagonism towards them. Its movement towards externality, a movement which must inevitably end in its taking the surface or appearance of things for reality, that is, in materialism. Here it is acquisitive. In its second and intermediate stage, it unfolds its mental selfhood and hence adds cunning to its separative and grasping tendencies, with intellect expanding to its extreme point. Here it is inquisitive. However, midway in this stage, its descent comes to an end with a turning point where it halts, turns around, and begins to travel backward to its original source. In the third stage, the return towards its divine source continues. Its movement is now toward internality and—through meditation, investigation, and reflection—it ultimately achieves knowledge of its true being: its source, the Overself. And as all egos arise out of the Overself, the end of such a movement is one and the same for all—a common center. Conflicts between them cease; mutual understanding, cooperation, and compassion spread. Hence, this stage is unitive. The central point of the entire evolution is about where we now stand. Human attitudes and relations have reached their extreme degree of selfishness, separateness, struggle, and division, have experience the resulting exhaustion of an unheard-of World crisis, but are beginning to reorient themselves towards an acknowledgement of the fundamental unity of the second stage and then abruptly begins to vanish from human life altogether. The separatist outlook must cease. Most of our troubles have arisen because we have continued beyond the point where it was either useful or needful. The unequal state of evolution of all these egos, when thrown together into a conglomerate group on a single planet, is also responsible for the conflicts which have marked humankind’s own history. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
These egos stand on different steps of the ladder all the way from savagery to maturity. The backward ego naturally attacks or preys on the advanced one. This, the purely self-regarding ego, which was once an essential pattern of the evolutionary scheme—a necessary goal in the movement of life—becomes with time a discordant ingredient of that scheme, an obstructive impediment on that movement. If humanity is to travel upward and fulfill its higher destiny, it can do so only by enlarging its area of interest and extending its field of consciousness. It must, in short, seek to realize the Overself on the one hand, to feel its oneness on the other. The ego’s misapprehension of its own nature and misuse of its own capacities, create one form of evil. There are other forms. O Lord, one tiny bity of water rests on the palm of my hand. I bring it to you and with it I bring the whole ocean. This tiny drop has the power to ease the burning thirst of humans; when spread on the Earth, to give life to the seed and the future harvest; when poured on the fire to quench the blaze. A tiny drop of water can cleanse the whole of my impurity when blessed by your forgiveness. However, O Lord, more than all this, tiny drop of water passed over my head is the symbol of my birth in You. Thou Worker of deliverance alone! Turn to them, hear the words that mount to Thee; God of salvation, justify Thine own. O God of salvation, save Thou us! List to the surging voices of Thy throng, open the Earth, let help spring forth, O Thou delighting not in evil; Saviour strong! O God of our salvation, save Thou us! Open for us the gates of Heaven, we crave: open for us Thy goodly treasure now; ah! strife prolong not endlessly, but save! O God of our salvation, save Thou us! #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
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When are You Going to Face the Real World?
The good and the bad are all part of the World-picture, although their proportions vary as the time-wheel turns around. It is the function of such opposing forces, environments, or persons to compel one to negotiate them properly, or suffer the consequences. Often what manages to get the public eye ends up with little or no spiritual profit. However, just as often what the public eye fails to notice is of the greatest possible spiritual importance. It would be a totally unobservant or totally theoretic person who denied the presence of evil, but it would be an ill-informed one who did not perceive that its life and power are circumscribed. I hope I shall not be misunderstood for saying that I saw clearly how the physical expression of evil is a necessary prerequisite to the spiritual redemption from evil. For what the sinner does is after all only an outcome of what one thinks. If the doing of wrong actions will, by the higher law of recompense, bring one ultimately the physical punitive consequences of those actions, they will also bring one—and again ultimately—the thought that the two are inseparably connected together. This is a step—admittedly only a first step—toward that repentance and that purification which make redemption possible. The notion that the God-Power is engaged in a desperate struggle with an evil power, that God calls on humans to give His help and that the outcome of this warfare depends to any extent on such help—this notion is a ridiculous one. My experience of life and observation of others have taught me that there is no situation in which you will find good alone present without some concomitant evil. To look for undiluted good is utopian, unrealistic, and self-deceptive. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
The procession of love in God ought not to be called generation. In evidence whereof we must consider that the intellect and the will differ in this respect, that the intellect is made actual by the object understood residing according to its own likeness in the intellect; whereas the will is made actual, not by any similitude of the object willed within it, but by its having a certain inclination to the thing willed. Thus the procession of the intellect is by way of similitude, and is called generation, because every generator begets its own like; whereas the procession of the will is not by way of similitude of the object willed within it, but by its having a certain inclination to the thing willed. Thus the procession of the intellect is by way of similitude, and is called generation, because every generator begets its own like; whereas the procession of the will is not by way of similitude, but rather by way of impulse and movement towards an object. So what proceeds in God by way of love, does not proceed as begotten, or as son, but proceeds rather as spirit; which name expresses a certain vital movement and impulse, accordingly as anyone is described as moved or impelled by love to perform an action. All that exists in God is one with the divine nature. Hence the proper notion of this or that procession, by which one procession is distinguished from another, cannot be on the part of this unity: but the proper notion of this or that procession must be taken from the order of one procession in God takes its name from the proper notion of will and intellect; the name being imposed to signify what its nature really is; and so it is that the Person proceeding as love receives the divine nature, but is not said to be born. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
Likeness belongs in a different way to the word and to love. It belongs to the word as being the likeness of the object understood, as the thing generated is the likeness of the generator; but it belongs to love, not as though love itself were a likeness, but because likeness is the principle of love. Thus it does not follow that love is begotten, but that the one begotten is the principle of love. We can name God only from creatures. As creatures generation is the only principle of communication of nature, procession in God has no proper or special name, expect that of generation. Hence the procession which is not generation has remained without a special name; but it can be called spiration, as it is the procession of the Spirit. The awful fact of innate evil, the hideous mystery of innate sin, must be recognized and faced. We cannot make bad humans into good humans; but Nature, Life, with millions of years at her disposal, can. Evil arises where the good is still undeveloped from its latency, but sometimes it is the distortion of the good. We will understand this problem better when we understand that the presence of good and evil in the Universe does not signify a division of power but a division of thought. Thought is the cause; thought is the cure. Satan can pretend to be an Angel of Light. There are adepts in evil who hide their real aim behind an outward show of altruistic purpose. These secret purposes disguise themselves in a convenient form, and if no other is convenient they will even use some open purpose which stands in total opposition to them. They emerge in the most unlikely and unlooked-for places. The evil in human relations springs from the ignorance in human beings. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
As each one brings the principle of truth into one’s own consciousness, one brings it into one’s relations with others as a result. The love which accompanies it denies birth to cruelty, anger, and lust or dissolves any which already exist. Although it is perfectly true that divine goodness is at the heart of things, it is no less true that demonic evil is on the surface of things. The followers of simple cults which stubbornly try to see only the goodness and not the evil, which deny things as they are and indulged wishful thinking, have themselves and their leaders to blame when disaster awakens them to the errors in the map they are following. They would do better to arouse themselves, while there is yet time, to keep a soundly balanced attitude, neither falling over to one side or the other overmuch, yet always remembering that superphysical experience between the incarnations is disproportionately good and free from evil, by contrast with physical plane experience. Let us not insult human reason by denying human evil. In any universal arrangement or personal situation, there is either gross disorder, with its consequent turmoil trouble and suffering, or there is real order, with its harmonious co-operation with the divine will working outward from the divine center—be it humans’ heart or the sun’s rays. The great ills (miscalled evils) of bodily life, such as disease and poverty, are often forced upon one by an implacable fate. However, it would be a delusion to class them always with the great evils of mental life, such as hate and cruelty. For their control is frequently beyond one’s power, and their course may have to be endured, whereas sinful thoughts and their resultant deeds are not independent of one’s control and may be avoided. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
Why is it that people are dazzled with this-Worldly thingamajigs? Well, unless they come to their right minds soon, they will amuse themselves to death. When right principles, theories, or concepts are taken up by the wrong persons, they become wrong themselves—because misused, falsified, prevented. Suffering is not always an evil. It is often educative. All evil is then seen to spring from separativeness, which is a stage inevitable to all creatures as they follow the line of unfoldment. Evil therefore is the adverse element in Nature. Humans can conquer it in one’s mind by conquering separativeness and realizing the All as oneself. At the same time one discovers that the whole creation is really a mental one, hence like but not the same as a dream; and if one keeps awake to the Static Reality whilst in the midst of the Earthly dream, the whole World becomes merely a school for educating consciousness. The suffering, evil, and the like are transient aspects leaving permanent results. The wedding of Heaven and Earth can never be brought about, since the Perfect and the Imperfect are incompatibles. However, they can be brought into some sort of equilibrium, into better balance, so that life in the World would not be as bad as it is. Those who ignorantly believe that God needs their help to ensure His triumph over evil in the World, have yet to learn that this triumph has been eternally accomplished already. The human being who can affect this situation either by helping or hindering does not exist. It is a disturbing concept which holds that man’s goodness seldom becomes actualized without the presence of, and struggle against man’s evil. If men engaged themselves more in asking not “What is good and what is evil?” but rather “What is the Highest Good?” the first question would get itself answered automatically and peace would then follow anyway. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
When the evil in humans is washed out, one will find in all its goodness the original stuff of which one is made—beneficent to all, a joy to oneself. However, because we affirm that the powers of evil will destroy themselves in the end, this must not be mistaken to mean that we may all sit down in smug complacency. We ought not to make this an excuse for inaction. On the contrary, it should inspire us to stronger efforts to preserve the noblest things in life from their attack. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good humans do nothing. The night’s darkness shelters the evil forces, the sun’s brightness tells us where the divine ones are centralized. “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4.19. As God’s children, we are able to live an abundant life. That is acceptable. In fact, we should even expect to be blessed. Indeed, it is as important to learn how to receive a blessing as it is to be willing to give one. If you come from a poor environment, or do not have a lot of material possession, that is fine. God has many blessings in store for you. However, all the good things in life are not material. Yet it is nice to also have material comforts. Therefore, do not allow the image of lack and limitation become the motion picture you constantly play in your head. It is good to be humble, but seeing yourself prospering is also healthy. One should seek to rise to new levels of success. Start looking through the eyes of faith and keep that image of happiness and success in your heart and mind. You may not be as affluent as you like, at the moment, but with hard work, dedication, education, and payer, anything is possible. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
God has called for human help, and no one is coming. We are his last resort! How often on Earth has God put His trust in a human being, even in a Devout, and yet been disappointed! However, then again how often has God found a helping hand where He had no reason to expect one? The conclusion? Vain is the hope for consistency in human behaviour. However, God is always consistent; if the Psalmist has it right (37.39), then the Just are always saved. Only God can find the good in everything that happens to us. Left to ourselves, we are infirm and unstable, falliable and fallable. The Christ Holy Bible and Book of Mormon clearly shows that God takes pleasure in prospering His children. As His children prosper spiritually, physically, and materially, their increase brings God a sense of satisfaction that we can only imagine. If I introduced Leo and Annie to you, and they went to school with no shoes on, had holds in their clothes, and dirt under their fingernails, you would probably say, “That man is not a god father. He does not take good care of his children.” Indeed, my children’s poverty would be a direct reflection on me as their day. Just like a governor who brags about having the 5th largest economy in the World and over a twenty-five-billion-dollar surplus, but has the highest homeless population in the developed World. Perhaps, taxes are so high people cannot afford to live? Perhaps the people need a rebate of some of their money? Perhaps there should be a record number of affordable housing units going up on undeveloped land? Perhaps taxpayer funded sports arenas could be converted into affordable lofts? #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
Nonetheless, when we go through life with a poverty mentality, it is not glorifying to God. It does not honour His great name. No, God is honoured and pleased when we develop a prosperous mindset. God wants to supply every need you have, and He will! With that being said, do not expect much from your politicians. Do not turn to the news for answers. Pick up the Bible, go to church and pray to God for all that you seek. God, I thank You that You have better things in store for me than I would even choose for myself, that Your dream for me is even grander than my dream for myself, and Your resources are inexhaustible! Devouts like me keep a good monastic muzzle on ourselves in everything we say or do. However, will that caution and circumspection really prevent us from being axed and battleaxed? All I know, O Lord, is that whoever confides in You and “speaks from a simple heart”—a characteristic much favoured in the Wisdom of Solomon (1.1)—does not fall so easily. Oh, he will slip—he is bound to—but God will come to his rescue or, at the very least, God will offer one some help. That is because God does not desert whoever has put one’s hope in Him for the Long Haul. A rare find is the faithful friend who preserves through all the ups and downs of friendship. God is the most faithful of friends, O Lord, and without You there is no such thing as Friendships. “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the World that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, not be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life,” reports John 3.16. The spiritual event, the mystical experience, is there but its presentation to the conscious mind—manipulated by one’s personal tendencies to an extent which exaggerates their importance—creates a mixed result. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
However, the glow of this transcendence lingers in the heart for long after its actual manifestation. It suffuses one with unearthly happiness and fills one with solemn reverence. When this mood is fully upon one, one may find it hard to talk to anyone for some time afterward. One emerges from the experience feeling surrounded by peace and protected by supernormal powers. The glimpse vanishes, slowly with a few, quickly with most, leaving its effects in one’s recognition of greater possibilities in life and grander ones in oneself. One comes back from the glimpse not only renewed in grace but purged in character, not only less egoistic but more detached, hence calmer. It is only a mood, of course, and may vanish in a few minutes, hours, or days. However, whereas most other moods pass from memory and are unrecallable, this kind is unforgettable. This wonderful and memorable experience, call it Void or call it God, will for some time afterwards become a kind of background to the events of one’s life and to one, oneself. Illumination arising from suffering seems to last longer than that arising from happiness because the latter is easier to lose. One is likely to become careless with that which comes from happiness. Whatever the height reached, the glory felt during the glimpse, one still lives on as a human being after it has passed. Thoughts reappear, ordinary emotions are felt again. The uplifted consciousness falls back, the rapturous moments pass away. One must then revert to the ordinary animal-intellectual life of everyday, to all the human implications of one’s existence. Why try, vainly, to deny them? #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
One has seen some truth and may want to share it. However, in what manner can one communicate that which is not intellectually measurable? If the glimpse does not last, is a human discovers, or rather comes back to find, that one still is human, one should be pleased that it came at all. It is not easy and it may need a long period of practice and remembrance, but something of this afterglow may be kept and retained even amid the turmoil of the World’s work. In those glorious enchanted moments which immediately succeed the glimpse, almost anything seems possible. The glimpse comes to be treasured in memory as something very precious and quite unique, most intimate and not freely talked about with others. Slowly and dimply one will become aware of one’s surroundings and one’s body. Little by little one will struggle back to them as if from some far planet. The recovery of consciousness will be only intermittent at first, only in brief snatches achieved with difficulty. However, later it will be heled and kept for longer periods until it remains altogether. The afterglow of this experience may be a sensation of its curative power, leaving nerves and heart healed of their troubled negative conditions, or of it purifying power, leaving the mind freed of its undesired and undesirable thoughts. The glimpse leaves an afterglow of truth, a reassurance of support. One’s heart will be warmed and one’s will moved as a consequence of this experience. The test will come when one has to descend from the mountain-peck of mediation into the valleys of prosaic everyday living. Can one adjust the greatness one has seen and felt to this smaller narrower World or will one lose it therein? #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
The closer one comes to the Overself the more reticent one becomes about it. Even though the glimpse is so impressive, the subsequent activities of the day put it out of one’s mind until one is able to relax, perhaps at bedtime. When the spark of inspiration fades out, new ideas often go with it, of if they come, the power to utilize them escapes one. If the glimpse slips away from the greater calm, where does it go? Into the ever-active outward-turned thinking movement. From this inner World of Essence we descend to the outer World of Experience. “For every wrongdoer hates (loathes, detests) the Light, and will not come out into the Light, but shrinks from it, least one’s work (one’s deeds, one’s activities, one’s conduct) be exposed and reproved. However, one who practices truth [who does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that ones works may be plainly shown to be what they are—wrought with God [divinely prompted, sone with God’s help, in dependence upon Him],” reports John 3.20-21. Once there was a holy soul, St. Agatha, a wealthy girl who had vowed her virginity to Christ in the third century. As the official record of her martyrdom showed, she was brutally tortured and died in prison, but not before dropping this pearl of spiritual wisdom: “My mind is grounded and founded in Christ.” If only that were your sentiment also, then your every fear would not sting so, nor every unkind word stab. While the missionaries were on their trip westward, Joseph and his friends were busy in New York doing the Lord’s work. Parley Pratt’s nineteen-year-old brother, Orson, was much interested in Christ’s work in the latter day and went to Joseph requesting that he seek the Lord to know what his work would be. Joseph prayed earnestly in behalf of this young man. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
By revelation given in November, Jesus Christ said: “My son Orson, hearken and hear and behold what I, the Lord God, shall say unto you. Blessed are you because you have believed, and more blessed are you because you are called of me to preach my gospel; to lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance unto a crooked and perverse generation; preparing the way of the Lord for His second coming. The time is soon at hand, that I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory, and it shall be a great day at the time of my coming. Therefore prophesy and it shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost; and if you are faithful, behold, I am with you until I come.” In December Sidney Rigdon and his friend, Edward Partridge, traveled from Kirtland to New York to visit Joseph Smith and to learn more about the church. Joseph prayed to know in what manner they might serve. After much prayer, the Son of God said: “Listen to the voice of the Lord your God…I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the World. Behold, verily, verily I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers and prepared thee for a great work. I have heard thy prayers and prepared thee for a greater work. Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. And it shall come to pass, that there shall be a great work in the land…and I will show miracles, signs and wonders, unto all those who believe on my name. And whoso shall ask it in my name, in faith, they shall cast our devils; they shall heal the sick; they shall cause the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
“And the time speedily cometh that great things are to be shown forth unto the children of humans; but without faith shall not anything be shown. I haven sent forth the fullness of my gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph. Wherefore watch over one that one’s faith fail not, and it shall be given by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, that knoweth all things; and a commandment I give unto thee, that thou shalt write for him. And the Scriptures shall be given even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect; for they will hear my voice, and shall see me. Lift up your hearts and be glad; your redemption draweth nigh. Fear not, little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come.” At about the same time this revelation came for Sidney Rigdon, a revelation was received directed to Edward Partridge, in which the Christ said: “I say unto you, my servant Edward, that you are blessed, and your sins are forgiven you, and you are called to preach my gospel. You shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you he peaceable things of the kingdom. And you shall declare it with a loud voice, saying, Hosanna, blessed be the name of the most high God.” In a revelation given to Joseph in June, 1830 (Doctrine and Covenants 22), the Lord had explained that Moses had been told that men would one day take away many of the words which Moses and others had written, but that God would raise up another man who would give the words back to the people. By this God meant that parts of the Bible which Moses and others had written would be left out of the Scriptures or be lost, and another man would be inspired by God’s Spirit to know what had been omitted or lost and put them back in the Bible. This man was to be Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon was to help him. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
Sidney Rigdon was a student of the of the Bible, having spent years in its study. He had an unusual understanding of the Scriptures and at one time had resigned as minister because the church of which he was pastor did not teach according to the Bible. Truly the Lord had prepared him for a greater work. As Joseph and Sidney Rigdon worked together, God inspired them by his Holy Spirit that they might understand the things they read in the Bible. When two or more Scripture passages conflicted, God helped them to know what was right. The prophecy of Enoch is one book which is mentioned in the Bible but which had been omitted, apparently having been lost. Enoch was the righteous human who built the perfect city of Zion which was taken to Heaven. Enoch lived many hundreds of years before Jesus’ time. God made it known to Joseph Smith by his Holy Spirit what the prophecy of Enoch contained, and as God inspired his mind, he wrote about it. Joseph Learned that Enoch built the city of Zion where all were of one heart and mind and lived in righteousness. Enoch had been shown a vision in which he saw everything that was to happen to the World in the future. He saw Noah who built an ark to save the few righteous people from the flood which destroyed the wicked ones. He saw the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, who was born in a manger, and who came to show people the right way to live. He saw this Son of God crucified on a cross, and a great storm. He saw him raised from the dead and ascend into Heaven. In his visions Enoch saw the time when Jesus’ gospel would again return to the Earth. He saw the righteous gathered from all over the Earth to place called Zion, and to this place Enoch saw the Son of God come to live for a thousand year. The Lord has shown Enoch all things, even to the end of the World. Enoch saw the righteous people receive great joy, and the wicked ones fear God’s judgment against them. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
God directed Joseph to put this lost book—the prophecy of Enoch—into the Holy Scriptures so it might be of help to those who study it to understand about God and his purpose. If they understood, they might become better people than they could otherwise be. This prophecy has also been included in the Doctrine and Covenants as Section 36. Joseph and Sidney Rigdon were working hard on the Inspired Version of the Scriptures when they received instructions by revelation in which the Lord said: “Behold, I say unto you, that it is not expedient in me that ye should translate any more until ye shall go to the Ohio. Ans again a commandment I give unto the church, that it is expedient in me that they should assemble together at the Ohio, against the time that my servant Oliver Cowdery shall return unto them. So Joseph and Sidney Rigdon laid aside their work on the Inspired Version of the Scriptures to preach and strengthen the church, and to prepare for an assembly of the Saints at Kirtland. The wonder of the human soul which, even surrounded by the depravity and folly of today, can still aspire nobly and think loftily, would be quite puzzling did we not know the dual nature of the human entity and the divine nature of the laws which govern it. So long as separate egos exist—separate from the cosmic ego in their own view, that is—so long will their ignorance produce what we call evil. The ego, let loose upon the World, uninstructed and unbridled, cannot in the final reckoning benefit the World. To talk of service, without wisdom or character, may squander its goodwill in egoistic mire. Note too that the resources of commerce and industry, far from making the tax more endurable through an abundance of money, only make it more burdensome. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
I will not dwell upon a very obvious point, namely that, although a greater or lesser quantity of money in a state can give it more or less credit outside the state, it in no way alters the real fortune of the citizens and does not make them any more or less comfortable. However, I must make two important remarks. First, unless the state has extra commodities and the abundance of money comes from export trade, only the commercial towns are aware of this abundance, and the peasant only become relatively poorer. Second, since the price of everything increases with the increase in money, taxes must be increased proportionately, so that the famer finds oneself under a great burden without having greater resources. It should be noted that the tax on lands is actually a tax on its product. While everyone agrees that nothing is so dangerous as a tax on grain paid by the buyer, how is it we do not see that it is a hundred times worse if this tax is paid by the farmer oneself. Is it not the most direct method possible of depopulating the homeland, and thus in the long run of ruining it? For there is no worse scarcity for a nation than that of humans. Only the true statesman can rise one’s sights above the financial objectives of imposing greater taxes. Only one can transform onerous burdens into useful regulations of public administration. Only one can make the people wonder whether such establishments have for their purpose the good of the nation rather than the production of taxes. Duties on the importation of foreign merchandise which the local people are eager to have but which the homeland does not need; on the exportation of domestically produced merchandise of which the homeland has none to spare and which foreigners cannot do without; on the product of useless and excessively lucrative arts; on the entry into towns of pure luxuries, and in general on all luxury items will all achieve this twofold purpose. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
It is by means of such taxes, which ease the burden of poverty and place the onus on wealth, that one must prevent the continual increase in the inequality of fortunes, the subjection of a multitude of workers and useless servants to the rich, the multiplication of idle people in the cities, and the desertion of rural areas. It is important to place a proportion between the price of thing and the duties imposed on them such that the greediness of private individuals is not too strongly tempted by the size of the profits to commit fraud. Moreover, smuggling must be made difficult by singling out merchandise that is more difficult to conceal. Finally, it is appropriate for the tax to be paid by the one who uses the thing taxed rather than the one who sells it, to whom the quantity of the duties with which one is charged would provide greater temptations and means of committing fraud. This is the usual practice in countries where the taxes are the heaviest and the best paid in the World. The merchant pays nothing. Only the buyer pays the duty, without any murmuring or sedition resulting, for since the provisions necessary for life, such as rice and grain, are completely exempt, the people are not oppressed and the tax falls only on the wealth. Moreover, all these precautions ought to be dictated not so much by the fear of smuggling as by the attention the government ought to pay to protecting private individuals from the seduction of illegitimate profits, which, after having turned them into bad citizens, would waste no time turning them into dishonest people. Let heavy taxes be levied on livery servants, carriages, mirrors, chandeliers and furnishings, on fabric and gilding, on the courtyards and the gardens of law makers, on public entertainment of all kinds, and on the idle processions, such as those of buffoons. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
In sort, on that group of objects of luxury, amusement and idleness that catch everyone’s eye and that can scarcely be hidden, since their whole purpose is to be on display, and they would be useless if they should fail to be seen. There is no cause for fear that the proceeds of such taxes would be arbitrary, since they are imposed only on things that are not absolutely necessary. It shows a poor knowledge of humans to believe that human who have once been seduced by luxury can ever renounce it. They would a hundred times rather renounce necessities, preferring to die of hunger than of shame. The increase in their expense is only a new reason for sustaining it, when the vanity of displaying oneself as wealthy will reap its reward from the price of the things as well as the expanse of the tax. As long as there are rich people, and the state cannot contrive a revenue less onerous and more secure than one based on this distinction. Would you rather have the state getting revenue only by taxing them life out of its citizens, or allow them to compete on a limited basis with private industry, which may result in them becoming more economical? For some reason, industry would have nothing to suffer from an economic order that enriched the public finances, revitalized agriculture by relieving the farmer, and imperceptibly brought all fortunes close to that intermediate level of wealth which constitutes the true force of a state. I confess it could happen that these taxes might contribute to making some fashions come and go more quickly; but it would never happen without substituting others on which the worker would earn a profit without the public treasury taking a loss. In short, suppose the spirit of the government was constantly to levy all taxes on the superfluities of the rich, one of two things might happen. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
Either the rich would remove their superfluities to turn them into something useful, which would redound to the profit of the state, in which case, the imposition of taxes would have produced the effect of the best sumptuary laws. The expenses of the state will of necessity have diminished with those of private individuals; and the public treasury in this way would not receive less than it would thereby gain for having to pay out less. Or, if the rich do not cut back on any of their extravagances, the public treasury would have, in tax proceeds on these extravagances, the resources it was seeking in order to provide for the real needs of the state. In the first case, the public treasury is enriched by reducing expenditures. In the second case, it is enriched by the useless expenditures of private individuals. Let us add to all this an important distinction in the matter of political right, and to which governments, jealous of doing everything by themselves, should pay great attention. I have said that since personal taxes and taxes on absolute necessities attack the right to property and consequently the true foundation of public society, they are always subject to dangerous consequences, if they are not established with the express consent of the people or its representatives. It is not the same for duties on things whose use can be forbidden. For then, since the private individual is absolutely constrained to pay, one’s contributions can be reckoned as voluntary. Thus the individual consent of each of the contributions takes the place of the general consent, and even presupposes it in a certain way. For why would the people be opposed to any tax levy that falls only on whoever wants to pay it? It would appear to me certain that whatever is not prescribed by the laws or not contrary to mores and that the government can forbid, it can permit a payment of a duty. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
If, for example, the government can forbid the use of carriages, a fortiori it can impose a tax on carriages, a wise and useful way to blame their use without terminating it. Then one can view the tax as a type of fine, whose proceeds compensate for the abuse it punishes. Someone may perhaps object that since those called impostors, that is, those who impose or invent the taxes, are in the class of the rich, they will not take care to spare others at their own expense and to burden themselves in order to relieve the poor. However, such ideas must be rejected. If in each nation those to whom the sovereign commits the government of the peoples were, in virtue of their position, the enemies of the state, it would not be worth the trouble to inquire what they should do to make people happy. In millions of middle-class homes a ritual drama is enacted: the recently graduated son or daughter arrives late for dinner, snarls, flings down the wants ads, and proclaims the nine-to-five jobs, and the mother, exhausted and depressed from paying the latest batch of bills, are outraged. They have been through this before. Having seen good times and bad, they suggest a secure job with a big corporation. They young person sneers. Small companies are better. No company is best of all. An advanced degree? What for? It is all a terrible waste! Aghast, the parents see their suggestions dismissed one after another. Their frustration mounts until, at last, they utter the ultimate parental cry: “When are you going to face the real World?” Such scenes are not limited to affluent homes in the United States of America or even Europe. Japanese corporate moguls mutter in their sake about the swift decline of the work ethic and corporate loyalty, of industrial punctuality and discipline among the young. Even in Russia middle-class parents face similar challenges form youth. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
Is this just another case of epater les parents—the traditional generational conflict? Or is there something new here? Can it be that young people and their parents are simply not talking about the same “real World”? The fact is that what we are seeing is not merely the classical confrontation of romantic youth and realistic elders. Indeed, what was once realistic may no longer be. For the basic code of behaviour, containing the ground rules of social life, is changing rapidly as the onrushing Third Wave. We saw earlier how the Second Wave brought with it a “code book” of principles or rules that governed everyday behaviour. Such principles as synchronization, standardization, or maximization were applied in business, in government, and in a daily life obsessed with punctuality and schedules. Today a countercode book is emerging—new ground rules for the new life we are building on a de-massified economy, on de-massified media, on new family and corporate structures. Many of the seemingly senseless battles between young and old, as well as other conflicts in our classrooms, boardrooms, and political backrooms are, in fact, nothing more than clashes over which code book to apply. The new code book directly attacks much of what the Second Wave person has been taught to believe in—from the importance of punctuality and synchronization to the need for conformity and standardization. It challenges the presumed efficiency of centralization and professionalization. It compels us to reconsider our conviction that bigger is better and our nations of “concentration.” To understand this new code, and how it contrasts with the old one, is to understand instantly many of otherwise confusing conflicts that swirl around us, exhausting our energies and threatening our personal power, prestige, or paycheck. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
Prayer and focus on God is important for Spirit-Energy. This also helps the concentration of thoughts. The refusal to study the Bible or pray is short-sighted, narrow-minded, and unjustified, for this lays some foundation for the mental and higher planes of existence. Devotion to God is not concerned only with gaining abnormal physical power as the opponents seem to believe, but also with gaining physical health, freedom from sickness, abundant vitality, and especially a purified nervous system and disciplined instincts. God can bestow youthful elasticity to the body, and He will give deeper, more refreshing sleep; also, one passes into sleep more quickly. The steadiness which prayer provides has an effect on the consciousness, to, and it is an indirect means of attaining the requisite concentration, and ultimately, because of the effect on the interaction of heart and brain, the requiste inhibition of thiking. Thus, the art of prayer for self-healing and self-control has come to be traditionally handed down to the present day. Bakerman God, I am your living bread, strong, Bakerman God. I am your low, soft, and being-shaped loaf. I am your rising bread, well-kneaded by some divine and knotty pair of knuckles, by your warm Earth hands. I am bread well-kneaded. Put me in fire, Bakerman God, put me in your own bright fire. I am warm, warm as you from fire. I am white and gold, soft and hard, brown and round. I am so warm from the fire. Break me, Bakerman God. I am broken under your caring Word. Drop me in your special grace. The while for water we entreat Thee now, athirst as willows by the waterside, the pouring forth of old, remember Thou! O God of our salvation, save Thou us! These bearings boughs held upward in the way they sprout from Earth; these burdened by their plea, O answer, when in sudden need they pray. O God of our salvation, save Thou us! #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
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The Awareness of Human Destructiveness Bursts!
Many humans, at one time, were primarily isolated, but enter relationships with members of the human family in order to satisfy their striving for please. Many of the relationships were sought after and conceived in a way that resemble relations in the marketplace. Each was only concerned with the satisfaction of one’s needs, but it is precisely for the sake of this satisfaction that one had entered into relations with others who offer what one needs, and need what one offers. Each living cell is supposed to be endowed with the two basic qualities of living matter, Eros (love) and the striving for death. We are struck by the significance of the possibility that the aggressiveness may not be able to find satisfaction in the external World because it comes up against real obstacles. If this happens, it will perhaps retreat and increase the amount of self-destructiveness holding sway in the interior. Impeded aggressiveness seems to involve a grave injury. It really seems as though it is necessary for us to destroy some other thing or person in order not to destroy ourselves, in order to guard against the impulsion to self-destruction. A sad disclosure indeed for the moralist! However, the most powerful impeding factor of all and one totally beyond any possibility of control is the death instinct. In theory of death instinct, the awareness of human destructiveness bursts forth in full strength, and destructiveness becomes the one pole of existence which, fighting with the other pole, Eros, forms they very essence of life. Destructiveness becomes a primary phenomenon of life. It is true that evil forces do exist but not true that they exist on the highest level. Insight into the ultimate sees the not. Evil is certainly present, plain to sight and unpleasant to experience, but it is not altogether, nor only what it seems. It is really an appearance, and reconcilable with the benign source of good. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
Eros, present in every cell of living substance, has as its aim the unification and integration of smaller units into the unity of humankind. This is love that does not involve pleasures of the flesh, also known as the “love instinct”; love is identified with life and growth, and—fighting with the death instinct—it determines human existence. Humans are no longer conceived of as primarily isolated and egotistical, as l’homme machine, but as being primarily related to others, impelled by the life instincts which make one need union with others. Life, love, and growth are one and the same, more deeply rooted and fundamental then pleasures of the flesh and other pleasures. The change is vision shows clearly in this new evaluation of the Christian biblical commandment, “Though shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Anything that encouraged the growth of emotional ties between humans must operate against war. These ties may be of two kinds. In the first place they may be relations resembling those toward a loved object, though without having an aim for pleasures of the flesh. There is no need for psychoanalysis to be ashamed to speak of love in this connection, for religion itself uses the same words: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” This, however, is more easily said than done. The second kind of emotional tie is by means of identification. Whatever leads humans to share important interests produces this community of feeling, these identifications. And the structure of human society is to a large extent based on them. Why is history such a record of wars, oppressions, exploitations, invasions, and persecutions? Why have all the saviours, avatars, prophet, and saints succeeded only with individual humans here and there, not with the mass of humankind? #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
Is the religious dream of universal goodness nothing more than a dream? It is not a help but a self-deception to ignore the double polarity of existence, the yin-and-yang in the Universe, the shadow-self in humans. Only outside of religion, in the philosophic realm of the ultimate being, the Unique, the Real, where the entire World itself is cast out, can we talk of friction-free consciousness, and only in the deepest meditation can we share it. Although the experience is a temporary one, the peace in it so passes the understanding that “the Kingdom of Heaven” is its fit name. Here indeed is the Good raised to its highest degree. Here is a demonstration that human evil is but privation of good. What may be true on the ultimate level—the non-existence of evil, the reality of the Good, the True, the Beautiful—becomes false on the level of duality. Here the twofold powers, the opposites, do not exist, do hold the World in their sway. To deny relative evil here is to confuse different planes of being. The human who would deliberately harm one’s fellows for one’s own ends is a sinner. Evil arises only when an entity goes astray into the delusions of separateness and materialism, and thence into conflict with other entities. There is no ultimate and eternal principle of evil, but there are forces of evil, unseen entities who have gone so far astray and are so powerful in themselves that they work against goodness, truth, and justice. However, by their very nature such entities are doomed to eventual destruction, and even their work of opposition is utilized for good in the end and becomes the resistance against which evolution tests its own achievements, the grindstone against which is sharpens humans’ intelligence, the mirror in which its shows one one’s flaws. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
The lower nature in incurably hostile to the higher one. It prefers its fleeting joys with their attendant miseries, its ugly sins wit their painful consequences, because this spells life to it. Everything and everyone has a negative side. One could fill up a lifetime looking for and finding it. One could go on grumbling, criticizing, ranting, and hating. However, there is also the beneficial side of it. The philosophical attitudes seeks deeper, keeps calmer, for it finds equilibrium on another plane. The descent from faith in Holy Spirit to faith in unholy spirits happens to those who are either too weak to remain at such a high altitude or too incapable of rising from a sensate view of existence. Evil can take every form, even that of the guru, the quest, and the leaner. Some yeas ago someone asked me, “What about absolute evil?” The answer is this: with Confucius we say that sin is due to ignorance, and with Pythagoras that evil is due to the absence of good. Ignorance leads to selfishness and extreme ignorance leads to extreme selfishness, which in turn leads to extreme evil. Now, all these are relative conditions and pass away in time as the person leans one’s lessons though the series of experience and corrects one’s mistake during reincarnations. There cannot be an absolute evil because there is only one Absolute Power, one God, one Supreme Being; and it is this which inspires the highest goodness know to humans when one discovers its presence, through the Overself, in one’s heart. In that sense only I said there was an absolute good. The pairs of opposites exist only in the finite, relative, and limited World. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
There is no opposite to the Supreme Power in the timeless and infinite World, no Satan with whom God is in everlasting conflict. However, on its own level, Mind knows neither good nor bad. There is only IS-ness. It seems that there is evil in the World, but why? What bad humans have done is to let their evil grow like a noxious weed too large and their good too little, whereas good humans have cultivated a high proportion of goodness. There is no absolute evil. It is truer to talk of absolute god for that is there first. Why? Because God is there first. Humans came later and broke the divine laws little by little. They created their own evil consequences. Or for different reasons they harm others and have later to suffer for it. Humans were once looked at as machines driven by chemical processes: feelings, affects and emotions were explained as being caused by specific and identifiable physiological processes. Most of hormonology and of the neurophysiological findings of the last decades were unknown to these humans, yet with daring and ingenuity they insisted on the correctness of their approach. Needs and interests for which no somatic sources could be found were ignored, and the understanding of those processes which were not neglected followed the principles of mechanistic thinking. The model of human behaviour could be repeated today in a properly programmed computer. One develops a certain amount of tension which at a certain threshold has to be relieved and reduced, while this realization is checked by another part, the ego, which observes reality and inhibits relief when it conflicts with the needs for survival. This Freudian robot would be similar to Isaac Asimov’s science-fiction robot, but the programming would be different. Its first law would be not to hurt human beings, but to avoid self-damage or self-destruction. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
However, the new theory does not follow this mechanistic “physiologizing” model. It is centered on a biological orientation in which fundamental forces of life (and its opposite: death) become the primal forces of motivating humans. The nature of the cell—that is, of all living substance—becomes the theoretical basis for a theory of motivation, not a physiological process that goes on in certain organs of the body. The new theory was perhaps closer to a vitalistic philosophy than to the concept of the German mechanistic materialists. What motivated Dr. Freud to postulate the death instinct? One factor was probably the impact of the First World War. He, like many other humans of his time and age, had shred the optimistic vision so characteristic of the European middle class, and saw oneself suddenly confronted with a fury of hate and destruction hardly believable before August 1, 1914. From there, Dr. Freud became a man preoccupied with death. He thought of dying every day, after he was forty; he had attacks of Todesangst (“fear of death”), and sometimes he would add to his “goodbye”: “You might never see me again.” One might surmise that Dr. Freud’s disposition would have impressed him as a confirmation of his fear of death, and thus contributed to the formulation of death instinct. This preoccupation with death grew in intensity and led him to a concept in which the conflict between life and death was at the center of human experience, rather than the conflict between the two life-affirmative drives, pleasures of the flesh and ego drives. To assume that humans need to die because death is the hidden goal of one’s life might be considered a kind of comfort destined to alleviate one’s fear of death. And it is true, when people’s lives are in danger and they lack security that they learn not to fear death. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
It seems likely that many hearts in American society have waxed cold since September 11, 2001, when there was an attack on American soil that claimed the lives of over 3,500 people. Many people were too young to realize how devastating it was at the moment, but I believe the tragedy affected everyone much like Dr. Freud was confronted with the fury of hate and destruction from August 1, 1914. Acts on war in your homeland make people realize that life is not promised and it can have a psychological impact. “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see,” reports Hebrews 11.1. Begin today to believe that what you have hoped for is going to happen, that good things are on their way. Notice, faith has to do with the unseen World. You may not be able to perceive anything beneficial happening in your life with your natural eyes today. In fact, everything may be falling apart—your finances, your health, your business, your relationships with your family and friend. All kind of problems may be on the horizon. However, do not be discoursed, turn your focus to the supernatural World, look to God and Jesus Christ for solutions and know that your harmony and peace will be restored. The World tells you that you need to live out loud and seeing is believing. However, God says seek ye the Kingdom of Heave first, and all these things will be added to you. Look through your Heavenly eyes of faith, and once you confirm something by faith, it will manifest in the physical World. What do you do when you see others being honored or elevated? You could feel bad about their feeling good. Or you could consider these as occasions for your feeling good about feeling bad. Why? #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
If only you knew it, the contempt of humans on Earth should not cause you to shed a single tear. What should you do? Direct your heart toward God in Heaven. In the past, many men did not view woman as equals with men, but some did. Overall, there was a patriarchal bias. However, the very essence of the Platonic myth is that male and female were once one and were then divided into halves, which implies, of course, that the two halves are equals, that they form a polarity endowed with the tendency to unite. Eros (love) aims at complicating life and preserving it, and hence is also conservative, because with the emergence of life an instinct is born which is to preserve it. However, we must ask, if it is the nature of the instinct to re-establish the earliest state of existence, inorganic matter, how can it at the same time tend to re-establish a later form of existence, namely life? Well, according to Plato’s report in the Symposium concerning the original unity of man who was then divided into halves by Zeus, after this division, each desiring his other half, they came together and threw their arms about one another eager to grow into one. The living substance at the same time of its coming to life was torn apart into small particles, which have ever since endeavoured to reunite through martial union and procreation. These instincts, in which the chemical affinity of inanimate matter persisted, gradually succeeded, as they developed through the kingdom of the protists, in overcoming the difficulties put in the way of that endeavour by an environment charged with dangerous stimuli—stimuli which compelled them to form a protective cortical layer. These splintered fragments of living substance in this way attained a multicellular condition and finally transferred the instinct for reuniting, in the most highly concentrated form, to the combination of two souls. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
So it is no wonder so many people feel so fractured and incomplete. Their living substance was torn apart. Do you see things getting better in your life? Or are you just drifting along, accepting whatever comes your way? “I know I was not going to get that Cresleigh Havenwood House Residence 4. Noting good ever happens to me.” “This is just my lot in life. I knew I would never get that BMW 750Li with Xdrive.” “I knew I would never be blessed.” In the face of God’s blinding glory, many of us have to be blinkered. Perhaps that is why, without our peripheral vision, we are so easily hoodwinked by Vanity. If I assess myself correctly, never has an injury been done to me by another creature, and hence I have no right, at least not yet, to make a ruckus against God, my Righteous if Riotous Lord. Why? Because I have sinned against God frequently and gravely. Deservedly, therefore, should every creature pick up one’s pike against me. So it is only reasonable to conclude that confusion and contempt are my just due. Yours, however, is praise, honour, and glory. And in the light of these considerations, unless I prepare myself—by being looked down upon by every giraffe, outsped by every gazelle, overlooked by every gryphon—I can be neither pacified and stabilized interiorly, spiritually illuminated, nor fully one with God. Do not limit God with your small thinking. Have extraordinary vision for your life and live with faith and expectancy. You will be surprised that you will become what you believe. Some of the reasons are blessings are delayed in the fulfillment of the promise for year after year, is simply the fact that we cannot see it through our eyes of faith. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
Is God trying to do something out of the ordinary in your life? Be sure to get into agreement with God. Do not tell God the reasons why things cannot happen. All the time God is trying to plant new seed of success inside of us. He is showing us that if we do not conceive in our hearts through faith, it will never come to pass. “The things which are impossible with humans are possible with God,” reports Luke 18.27. Let that word plant faith inside of your heart. You do not have to figure out how God is going to solve your problems, but turn the situation over to God. God can do what human beings cannot or will not do. God is supernatural. If you can put your trust and confidence in the Lord, God will surely bring it to pass. If you can see the invisible, God will do the impossible. In God, the love of a friend should stand. God is Ever-living, Everlasting Truth, your friend will not shed a tear if you live of die. It is because of God that love of a friend should stand. It is because of God that one should be loved, that is to say, everyone who is seemed good to you and who is very dear in this life. Without God the love of friendship will not have the strength to last. Nor is the love of friendship true and clear unless God is an integral part of it; that is as His Augustine described it in his Confessions (4.4). Which is another way of saying, you ought to be dead to two-person friendships, especially when the other person is another creature. However, when the other person is God, then something odd happens. The closer you approach God, the farther you recede from every friendly solace. Also the higher you ascend to God, the deeper you descend into yourself and the viler you appear to yourself. I want to get a grander vision for my life, Father, and then live it out with faith and expectancy, knowing that I will become what I believe. Today, I will focus on You, who You are and what You can do in and through me. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
Whoever attributes good to oneself only makes it more difficult for oneself to receive the grace of God. Why? Because, as the spiritual wisdom echoing Proverbs (3.34), Psalms (55.22), and First Peter (5.5) has it, the grace of the Holy Spirit always seeks the humble heart. To annihilate yourself, to empty yourself of all created love—that is what you ought to do. And what I ought to do is fill that very same space with a very great grace. When you warm to the wonderfulness of the created World, the Creator’s respect for you begins to cool. Because of the Creator, if for no other reason, learn how to conquer yourself in all things. Do that, and you will have the strength to reach out to Divine Knowledge. However slight it may be, unruly love and irregular respect delay, even detour, your spiritual progress. The anal libido has a deep affinity to the death instinct. Now, controlling and possessing are certainly tendencies opposite of loving, furthering, liberating, which form a syndrome among themselves. However, “possession” and “control” do not contain the very essence of destructiveness, the wish to destroy, and hostility toward life. No doubt, the anal character has a deep interest in and affinity to feces as part of their general affinity to all that is not alive. Feces are the product finally eliminated by the body, being of no further use to it. The anal character is attracted by feces as one is attracted by everything that is useless for life, such as dirt, death, decay. We can say that the tendency to control and possess is only one aspect of the anal character, but milder and less malignant than hatred of life. Eros (love), therefore is looked upon as the biologically normal aim of development, while the death instinct is seen to be based on a failure of normal development and in this sense a pathological, though deeply rooted striving. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20
If one wants to entertain a biological speculation one might relate anality to the fact that orientation by smell is characteristic of all four-legged mammals, and that the erect posture implies the change from orientation by smell to orientation by sight. The change in function of the old olfactory brain would correspond to the same transformation of orientation. In view of this, one might consider that the anal character constitutes a regressive phase of biological development for which there might even be a constitutional-genetic basis. The anality of the individual could be considered as representing an evolutionary repetition of a biological human functioning. The theoretician arrives at the conclusion that humans have only the alternative between destroying oneself (slowly, by illness) or destroying others; or—putting it in other words—between causing suffering either to oneself or to others. The humanist rebels against the idea of this tragic alternative that would make war a rational solution of this aspect of human existence. An alternate is repression of the instinctual demands, which are the development of culture and civilization. Some people say the Europeans created such a successful society because they learned the art of self-control. The repressed instinctual drive was “sublimated” into valuable cultural channels, but still at the expense of full human happiness. On the other hand, repression led not only to increasing civilization but also to the development of neurosis among the many in whom the repressive process did not work successfully. Lack of civilization combined with full happiness or civilization combined with neurosis and diminished happiness seemed to be the alternative. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
The contradiction between the death instinct and Eros confronts humans with a real and truly tragic alternative, a real alternative because one can decide to attack and wage war, to be aggressive, and to express one’s hostility because one prefers to do this rather than to be sick. That this alternative is a tragic one hardly needs to be proven. Something very remarkable, which we should never have guessed and which is nevertheless quite obvious. What happens to the aggressor when one renders one’s desire for aggression innocuous? One’s aggressiveness is introjected, internalized; it is, in point of fact, sent back to where it came from—that is, it is directed toward one’s own ego. There it is take over by a portion of the ego as super-ego, and which now, in the form of “conscience,” is ready to put into action against the ego the same harsh aggressiveness that the ego would have liked to satisfy upon other, extraneous individuals. The tension between the harsh super-ego and the ego that is subjected to it, is called by us the sense of guilt; it expresses itself as a need for punishment. Civilization, therefore, obtains mastery over the individual’s dangerous desire for aggression by weakening and disarming it and by setting up an agency within one to watch over it, like a garrison in a conquered city. The transformation of destructiveness into a self-punishing conscience does not seem to be as much as an advantage as it may seem to imply. According to this theory of conscience, it would have to be as cruel as the death instinct, since it is charged with its energies, and no reason is given why the death instinct should be “wakened” and “disarmed.” #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
Rather, it would see that the following analogy expresses the real consequences of this thought more logically: a city that has been ruled by a cruel enemy defeats one with the help of a dictator who then sets up a system that is just as cruel as that of the defeated enemy; and this, what is gained? The instinct of destruction, moderated and tamed, and, as it were, inhibited in its aim, must, when it is directed toward objects, provide the ego with the satisfaction of its vital needs and with control over nature. This is a good example of sublimation; the aim of the instinct is not weakened, but it is directed toward other socially valuable aims, in this case the “control over nature.” This sounds, indeed, like a perfect solution. Humans are freed from the tragic choice of destroying either others or themselves, because the energy of the destructive instinct is used for the control over nature. However, we must ask, can this really be so? Can it be true that destructiveness becomes transformed into constructiveness? What can “control over nature” mean? Taming and breeding animals, gathering and cultivating planets, weaving cloth, building Cresleigh Homes, manufacturing pottery and many more activities including the construction of Ultimate Driving Machines, railroads, airplanes, skyscraper: al these are acts of constructing, building, unifying, synthesizing, and, indeed, if one wanted to attribute them to one of the two basic instincts, they might be considered as being motivated by Eros rather then the death instinct. With the possible exception of killing animals for their consumption and killing humans in war, both of which could be considered as rooted in destructiveness, material production is not destructive but constructive. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
As a result of a little speculation, we have come to suppose that this instinct is at work in every living creature and is striving to bring it to ruin and to reduce life to its original condition of inanimate matter. Thus is quite seriously deserved to be called a death instinct, while procreation is the instinct represented by the effort to live. The death instinct turns into the destructive instinct when, with the help of social organs, it is directed outwards, on to objects. The organism preserves its own life, so to day, by destroying an extraneous one. Some portion of the death instinct, however, remain operative within the organism, and we have sought to trace quite a number of normal and pathological phenomena to this internalization of the destructive instinct. We have even been guilty of the heresy of attributing the origin of conscience to the diversion inwards of aggressiveness. If this process is carried too far, you will notice that it is by no means a trivial matter; it is possibly unhealthy. On the other hand if these forces are turned to destruction of the external World, the organism will be relieved and the effect must be beneficial. This would serve as a biological justification for all the ugly and dangerous impulses against which we are struggling. It must be admitted that they stand nearer to Nature than does our resistance to them for which an explanation also needs to be found. When the good is absent, the evil is present. The cynic who denies the existence of the good, the dreamer who denies the existence of the evil—each ignores the other half of life as evidence in history and in the World around one. When we go to the roots—that is what “radically” literally means—and discover that a great deal of our conscious thinking only veils our real thoughts and feelings and hides the truth; most of our conscious thought is a sham, a mere rationalization of thoughts and desires which we prefer not to be aware of. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
This is revolutionary because it leads people to open their eyes to the reality of the structure of the society they live in and hence to the wish to change it in accordance with the interests and desires of the vast majority. Much of the liberal middle class was suspected of being neurotic because their liberation of pleasures of the flesh is largely part of the ever-increasing consumerism. If people are taught to spend and spend, rather than, as in the nineteenth century, to save and save, if they were transformed into “consumers,” one had not only to permit but encourage consumption of pleasures of the flesh. It is after all the most simple and the cheapest of all consumption. Conservatives used to have a strict code of chastity and liberty of pleasures of the flesh lead to an anticonservative revolutionary attitude. If anything, historical development has shown that liberation of pleasures of the flesh has served the development of consumerism and weakened political radicalism. What more people really want is not to become more human, more free, more independent—that would mean more critical and revolutionary-minded—but they want to suffer no more than the average member of their class. They hardly see a really happy person, only a few people who have succeeded in being relatively satisfied with their lot, especially if they are successful and admired by others. Naturally, quite a few people, having a sympathetic listener to talk to, feel better, aside from the fact that as years go by experience in living makes the average person improve one’s lot, except those who are too sick to learn from experience. The contemporary capitalist society is considered to be the highest, most developed form of social structure. It is because all other social structures are more primitive or utopian, and not really successful. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
An ever-growing number of people have become aware that capitalist society is just one of innumerable social structures and is neither more nor less “real” than the societies of Central African tribes. The invention of artillery and fortifications has in our times forces the sovereigns of Europe to reestablish the use of regular standing troops to guard their fortresses. Yet however, legitimate the motives, there is reason to fear that the effect will be no less fatal. It will be no less necessary to depopulate the rural areas in order to raise armies and garrisons. To maintain them it will be no less necessary to oppress the peoples. And these dangerous establishments have in recent times been growing so rapidly in all of our part of the World, that no one can foresee anything but the imminent depopulation of Europe, and sooner, or later, the ruin of the people who inhabit it. Be that as it may, it should be noted that such institutions necessarily subvert the public domain, leaving only the wearisome resources of subsidies and taxes, which remain for me to discuss. It would be remembered here that the foundation of the social compact is property, together with its first condition that each person should be maintained in the peaceful enjoyment of what belongs to one. It is true that by the same treaty each person at least tacitly obliges oneself to be assessed for public needs. However, since this commitment cannot hard the fundamental law and presumes that contributors acknowledge the evidence of need, it is clear that to be legitimate, this assessment should be voluntary. It is not based on a private will, as if it were necessary to have the consent of each citizen, who should pay only as much as one pleases. This would be directly contrary to the spirit of the confederation. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
Rather, it should be through the general will, by majority vote, and on the basis of proportional rates that leave no room for an arbitrary imposition of taxes. This truth (that taxes can be legitimately established only by the general consent of the people or its representatives) had generally been recognized by all the philosophers and jurists who have any reputation in matters of political right. While some of them have established maxims that appear contrary, it is easy to see the private motives that moved them to do so. They stipulate so many conditions and restrictions that it all boils down to exactly the same thing. For whether the people can reuse it or whether the sovereign should not demand it, is a matter of indifference as far as right is concerned. And if it is only a question of force, it is utterly pointless to inquire what is or is not legitimate. The contributions levied on the people are of two kinds: real taxes (levied on things) and personal taxes (paid by the head). Both are called taxes or subsidies. When the people sets the amount it pays, it is called a subsidy; when it grants the entire proceeds of an assessment, it is a tax. In The Spirit of the Laws we find that a head tax is more in keeping with servitude, while a real tax is more suited to liberty. This would be incontestable, were everyone’s head share equal. For nothing would be more disproportionate than such a tax. It is especially in an exacting observance of proportions that the spirit of liberty consists. However, if a head tax is exactly proportioned to the means of private individuals and is thus at once both and personal, it is the most equitable and, as a result, the one best suited to free humans. At first these proportions appear quite easy to observe, because, being relative to each person’s position, the indications are always public. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
However, besides the fact that greed, influence-peddling, and fraud know how to leave no evidence behind, it is rare that an account is taken of all the elements that should enter into these calculations. First, one ought to consider the relationship of quantities according to which, all things being equal, someone who has ten times more goods than someone else should pay ten times more. Second, one ought to consider the relationship of use, that is, the distinction between what is necessary and what is superfluous. Someone who has only the bare necessities of life should not pay anything at all. Taxing someone who has superfluities can, in time of need, be extended to everything over and above the necessities of life. To this one will declare that, given one’s rank, what would be superfluous for a human of inferior standing is necessary for one. However, that is a lie. For humans of superior standing have two legs, just like a cowherd, and, like the cowherd, has only one stomach. Moreover, this alleged necessity of life is so little necessary to one’s standing that, if one knew how to renounce these things for some worthy cause, one could only be respected more. The people would prostrate themselves before a minister who would go on foot to the council because one had sold one’s Ultimate Driving Machines when the state had a pressing need. Finally, the law does not demand magnificence of anyone, and propriety is never reason against right. A cultivated human of taste and feeling can find much that is beautiful in nature and art; and if one is also a moral idealist, one will find much that is good and virtuous in human life and experience. However, it would be incomplete to stop there and ignore the fact that there is also around us much that is base, dark, and even evil. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
The two sides put together form a complete observation. However, it is only the mystics and philosopher who can see—because it requires a deeper penetration than the intellect and the sense can give—that the dark side deals with the World of appearances, a World which is fleeting and ephemeral, whereas the good side and the beautiful side is merely a hint of that other World closer to Reality. Evil is a very real problem in this World of time and space. Evil forces exist and must be fought with all our strength. Nevetheless the Power out of which all things and all entities come is a beneficent one. Love is its radiation. There is no evil and no pain in it. They begin only on the lower level of separation and differentiation. Wild air, World-mothering air, nestling me everywhere, that each eyelash or hair girdles; goes home betwixt the fleeciest, frilest-flixed snowflake; that is fairly mixed with riddles, and is rife in every least thing is life; this needful, never spent, and nursing element; my more than meat and drink, my meal at every wink; their air, which, by life’s law, my lung must draw and draw now but to breathe its praise. Please give rain. We are the pure who camped by water. For Jacob’s sake who set the rods in water, O speed us! He strained and rolled the stone from off the water. Please give rain! Blest heirs to Torah’s quickening water, O save us! To win for them and for their offspring water. Please give rain! Today as then we cry for water. For Moses’ sake who found his people water, O speed us! He smote the rock and lo! out gushed the water. O save us, mighty God! Please give us rain! Our sires sang round the well of water. O save us! Because of Moses at Meribah’s water, O speed us! At Thy command he gave the thirsting water. O save us, mighty God! please give rain! Thy holy servants poured Thee water. O save us! For Thy chief minstrel’s sake who longed for water, O speed us! Yet turned and made libation with the water, O save us, mighty God! Please give rain! Four plants we wave that love the water, O save us! For American’s sake, the home of living water, O speed us! The parched Earth open to the Heavens’ water, O save us, mighty God! #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
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If God Gets Up and Leaves Forever, Why Should We Shed a Tear?
When we call something “Supernatural,” we mean that it is something which invades, or is added to, the great interlocked event in space and time, instead of merely arising from it. On the other hand this “Supernatural” part is itself a created being—a thing called into existence by the Absolute Being and given by Him a certain character or “nature.” We could therefore say that while “supernatural” in relation to this Nature (this complex event in space and time) it is, in another sense, “natural”—id est, it is a specimen of a class of things which God normally creates after a stable pattern. There is, however, a sense in which the life of this part can become absolutely Supernatural, id est, not beyond this Nature but beyond any and every Nature, in the sense that it can achieve a kind of life which could never have been given to any created being in its mere creation. If we consider it in relation not to humans, but to angels, the distinction will, perhaps, become clearer. (It does not matter, here, whether the reader believes in angels or not. I am using them only to make the point clearer.) All angels, both the “good” ones and the bad or “fallen” ones which we call devils, are equally “Supernatural” in relation to this spatio-temporal Nature: id est, they are outside it and have powers and a mode of existence which it could not provide. However, the good angels lead a life which is Supernatural in another sense as well. That is to say, they have, of their own free will, offered back to God in love the “natures” He gave them at their creation. All creatures of course live from God in the sense that He made them and at every moment maintains them in existence. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
However, there is a further and higher kind of “life from God” which can be given only to a creature who voluntarily surrenders oneself to it. This life the good angels have and the bad angels have not: and it is absolutely Supernatural because no creature in any World can have it by the mere fact of being the sort of creature it is. As with angels, so with us. The rational par of every human is supernatural in the relative sense—the sense in which both angels and devils are supernatural. However, if it is, as the theologians say, “born again,” if it surrenders itself back to God in Christ, it will then have a life which is absolutely Supernatural, which is not created at all but begotten, for the creature is then sharing the begotten life of the Second Person of the Deity. Christian writers use “spirit” and “spiritual” to mean the life which arises in such rational beings when they voluntarily surrender to Divine grace and become children of the Heavenly Father in Christ. It is in this sense, and in this sense alone, that the “spiritual” is always good. A regenerate human will find one’s soul eventually harmonized with one’s spirit by the life of Christ that is in one. Hence Christians believe in the resurrection of the body, whereas the ancient philosophers regard the body as a mere encumbrance. And this perhaps is a universal law, that he higher you rise the lower you can descend. Humans are a tower in which the different floors can hardly be reached from one another but all can be reached from the top floor. You are probably quite right in thinking that you will never see a miracle done: you are probably equally right in thinking that there was a natural explanation of anything in your past life which seemed, at the first glance, to be “rum” or “odd.” #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
God does not sake miracles into Nature at random as if from a pepper-caser. They come on great occasions: they are found at the great ganglions of history—not of political or social history, but of that spiritual history which cannot be fully known by humans. If your own life does not happen to be near one of those great ganglions, how should you expect to see one? If we were heroic missionaries, apostles, or martyrs, it would be a different matter. However, why you or I? Unless you live near a railway, you will not see trains go past your windows. How likely is it that you or I will be present when a peace-treaty is signed, when a great scientific discovery is made, when a dictator commits suicide? That we should see a miracle is even less likely. Nor, if we understand, shall we be anxious to do so. Nothing almost sees miracles but misery. Miracles and martyrdoms tend to bunch about the same areas of history—areas we have naturally no wish to frequent. Do not, I earnestly advise you, demand an ocular proof unless you are already perfectly certain that it is not forthcoming. Religious ideas are illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest and most urgent wishes of humankind. The secret of their strength lies in the strength of those wishes. As we already know, the terrifying impression of helplessness in childhood aroused the need for protection—for protection through love—which was provided by the father; and the recognition that this helplessness lasts throughout life made it necessary to cling to the existence of a father, but this time a more powerful one. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
Thus the benevolent rule of a divine Providence allays our fear of the danger of life; the establishment of a moral World-order ensures that fulfillment of the demands of justice, which have so often remained unfulfilled in human civilization; and the prolongation of Earthly existence in a future life provides the local and temporal framework in which these wish-fulfillments shall take place. Karl Marx, viewed religion in socioeconomic terms—as an opiate for the oppressed masses, who without the hope of a pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by would despair of compensation for their suffering. Some even explain religion in evolutionary terms; sociobiologist E. O. Wilson boasts, “We have come to the crucial stage in the history of biology when religion itself is subject to the explanations of the natural sciences. Theology is not likely to survive as an independent intellectual discipline.” Psychology has made great strides in understanding many other important aspects of human experience—sleep, pleasures of the flesh, and hunger—so why not investigate religious behaviour as well? What psychological function does religion serve? Imagine that God’s activity is not merely an occasional intervention in a Universe from which God is otherwise remote, but rather something more basic. Imagine that falling in love, having a child, or achieving good fortune could simultaneously be understood as entirely the outcome of natural processes and also as God’s loving handiwork. Explaining a belief does not explain it away. The truth of a belief is logically distinct from its psychological function. To see why, imagine at some point in the future we were to achieve a complete understanding of why some people are believers in God. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
The psychology of religion has finished its business and is ready to close up shop. Imagine also that we have by that time come to a full understanding of why some people are atheists. It is no chore at all to imagine explanations of atheism that parallel those proposed to explain them. Perhaps, for example, atheism is psychological wish fulfillment by prideful humans who lack the intellectual humility necessary to acknowledge a being infinitely greater than themselves. Perhaps for others atheism has socioeconomic motivations—a resistance to believing religion’s teachings regarding the value of all human life and the claims of the poor upon one’s material possession, which are then, a busy cluster of research studying “the psychology of unbelief” (the actual title of a book published some years ago). One can even envision a day when someone might say that atheism itself is subject to the explanations of the natural sciences and is therefore not likely to survive as a credible intellectual idea. However, hold it (here we rise to the defense of atheism as well as theism): if both belief systems are explained, as would happen if psychology had answered all its questions, that cannot mean they are both false. Either God exists or God does not exist, so one of these beliefs must be true. The point can be extended to any other belief or attitude: knowing why you believe something says nothing about its truth or falsity. To know why someone does or does not believe in extraterrestrial beings does not tell us whether such beings exist. To know how someone has been persuaded that a vegetarian diet is healthiest and how someone else has been persuaded that a nonvegetarian diet is healthiest does not decide which diet is, in fact, healthiest. To know the biological, psychological, social, and economic factors that lead one person to become a devout believer and another a nonbeliever does not tell us whether God, in fact, exists. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
The refusal to modify people’s behaviour by a planned use of reinforcers does not really increase people’s freedom and dignity; rather, it abandons them to the whims of other controls, for better or, more often, for worse. Likewise, parents who are reluctant to impose their values on their children are in effect conceding their children, for better or for worse, to competing influences—television, music, and peers. In truth, however, few parents retreat from persuasive efforts on matter they really care about. We do not leave it to our children to decide for themselves (or under the influence of other persuasive forces) whether it is better to be honest or deceitful, kind or cruel, helpful or hostile. On such matters we all, unapologetically is sometimes ineffectively, do everything we can to socialize our children into what we believe to be right. It is primarily on matters that we ourselves do not really care that much about that we leave our children to work things out for themselves. Nevertheless, we welcome every advance toward truth, every refutation of falsehood, every approximation of reality that is more faithful to the known data. We do so believing that all truth is God’s truth and that our ultimate allegiance is to God alone rather than to the dictates of tradition or human authority. Neurotheology offers an interesting exploration of brain activity associated with spirituality, but no evidence regarding God’s existence. However, as you know, for instances, houses do not just manifest themselves, they need a creator and raw materials. Let us therefore submit ourselves to the incoming tide of science, and welcome it. Indeed, to all of God’s revelation, in whatever forms it comes. Let us be assured that God is the author of whatever truth is revealed, however surprising or unsettling it might be. Let us remember that it is therefore not just our right to freely pursue truth, but our religious duty. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
It is, indeed, part of what it means to worship God not only with our hearts, but with our minds. Many are those who have committed their hearts to Jesus; fewer are those who have also committed—through disciplined study and inquiry—their minds. “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep [in death]. For this we declare to you by the Lord’s [own] word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede [into His presence] or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep [in Him in death]. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living ones who remain [on the Earth], shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord! Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words,” reports 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18. Independently of the public domain, which remits to the state in proportion to the probity of those who supervise it, were on one to have had sufficient knowledge of the whole force of the general administration, especially when it is limited to legitimate means, one would be astonished at the resources leaders have for anticipating all the public needs without touching the goods of private individuals. Since they are the masters of the state’s entire commerce, nothing is easier for them than to direct it in a manner that provides for everything, often without them appearing to have been involved. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
The distribution of commodities, money and merchandise in just proportions according to time and place is the true secret of finances, and the source of their riches, provided those who administer them know how to be far-sighted enough and on occasion to take an apparent present loss so as really to obtain immense profits at some time in the distant future. When one sees a government paying duties instead of receiving them for the export of grain in years of plenty and for its import in years of scarcity, one needs to have such facts before one’s eyes to think them true; and if they had happened long ago, they would have merited being classed with novels. Suppose that, to prevent scarcity in bad years ne were to propose the establishment of public warehouses. In many countries, would not the maintenance of so useful an establishment serve as a pretext for new taxes? In Geneva, such granaries, established and maintained by a wise administration, are a public resource in bad years and the state’s chief revenue at all times. Alit et ditat [it nourishes and enriches] is the fine and just inscription one reads on the façade of the building. To show here the economic system of a good government, I have often turned my eyes toward the wisdom and happiness I would like to see reign in every country. If one examines how the needs of a state grow, one will find that this often arises in the same way as do those of private individuals: less by a true necessity than by an increase in useless desires, and that expenditures are increased for the sole reason of having a pretext for increasing income. Thus, the state would occasionally gain from not being rich, and such apparent wealth is essentially more burdensome than poverty itself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
It is true one can hope to hold peoples in a stricter dependence by giving them with one hand what one has taken away from them with the other, and this was the style of politics Joseph used with the Egyptians. However, this vain sophism is all the more fatal to the state in that the money does not return to the same hands it left. Such maxims only serve to enrich the idle with spoils taken from useful humans. The taste for conquests is one of those most obvious and dangerous causes of this increase. This taste, often engendered by another sort of ambition than the one it seems to proclaim, is not always what it appears to be, and its true motive is not the seeming desire to increase the nation but rather the hidden desire to increase the authority of the leaders at home, with the help of the increase in size of the troops and under the cover of the diversion created in the minds of citizens by wartime objectives. What is at least very certain is that nothing is as oppressed or as miserable as conquering peoples, and even their successes serve only to increase their miseries. Even if history did not teach us this, reason would suffice to show us that the larger a state is, the heavier and more burdensome will its expenditures become. For all the provinces are required to furnish their share of the expenses of the general administration, and, in addition, each province is required to spend the same amount for its own particular administration that it would if it were independent. Add to this the fact that all fortunes are made in one place and consumed in another. This eventually upsets the equilibrium of production and consumption, impoverishing a great deal of the country to enrich a single town. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
Another source of the increase in public needs is linked to the preceding one. There may come a time when the citizens, no longer considering themselves interested in the common cause, would cease to be the defenders of the homeland, and when the magistrates would prefer to command mercenaries rather than free humans, if only to use the former at a sustainable time and place to subjugate the latter more effectively. Such was the state of Rome at the end of the Republic and under the emperors. For all the victories of the first Romans, just like those of Alexander, had been won by brave citizens who knew how to give their blood to their country in time of need, but never sold it. Marius was the first who, in the Jugurthine War, dishonoured the legions by introducing free humans, vagabonds and other mercenaries. Having become enemies of the peoples who they were assigned to make happy, the tyrants established regular standing armies, in appearance to contain foreigners and in actual fact to oppress the inhabitants. To raise these troops, farmers had to be taken away from their land; the lack of their services decreased the quality of the provisions, and maintaining these troops required the imposition of taxes which in turn increased food prices. The first disorder caused the people to murmur. Repressing them required the troops to be multiplied, and consequently the misery. And the more despair increased, the more one was constrained to increase it again to prevent its effects. On the other hand, these mercenaries, whose value could be determined on the basis of the price at which they sold themselves, were proud of their debasement, held in contempt the laws by which they were protected, as well as their comrades whose bread they ate, and believed it a greater honour to be Caesar’s satellites then Rome’s defenders. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
And given as they were to blind obedience, their task was to have their swords raised against their fellow citizens, ready to slaughter them all at the first signal. It would not be difficult to show that this was one of the principal causes of the ruin of the Roman Empire. “Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will],” reports 1 Thessalonians 5.18. Those brought up in the Second Wave civilization have a difficult time thinking of institutions as good corporate citizens. We find it hard to think of a hospital as having economic as well as medical functions, a school as having political as well as educational functions—or a corporation as having powerful non-economic or “trans-economic” functions. That recently retired exemplar of Second Wave thinking, Henry Ford II, insists that the corporation “is a specialized instrument designed to serve the economic needs of society and is not well equipped to serve social needs unrelated to its business operations.” However, while Ford and other defenders of the Second Wave resist the redefinition of the production organization, many firms are, in fact, altering both their words and their policies. Lip service and public relations rhetoric often substitute for real change. Fancy promotional brochures proclaiming a new era of social responsibility very often camouflage a robber-baron rapacity. Nevertheless, a fundamental “paradigm shift”—a reconceptualization—of the structure, goals, and responsibilities of the corporation is taking place in response to new pressures brought by the Third Wave. The signs of this change are numerous. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
Amoco has had 150 years of keeping America moving and helping to drive the U.S. economy. This leading oil company states, that “it is the policy of our company, with respect to plant locations, to supplement the routine economic evaluation with a detailed exploration of the social consequences. We look at many factors, among them the impact on the physical environment, the impact on public facilities, and the impact on local employment conditions, particularly with respect to minorities.” Amoco continues to weight economic considerations most heavily, but it assigns importance to other factors as well. And where alternative locations are similar in economic terms but “different in terms of social impact,” these social factors can prove decisive. In the event of a merger proposal, the directors of Control Data operates. And while other companies have been racing into the suburbs, Control Data has deliberately built plants in inner city areas of Washington, St Paul, and Minneapolis, to help provide employment for marginalized members of the community and to help revive urban centers. The corporation states its mission as “improving the quality, equality, and potential of people’s lives”—equality being an unorthodox goal for a corporation. In the United States of America, the advancement of women and people who are non-European American has become a long overdue matter of national policy, and some companies go as far as to reward their managers financially for meeting “affirmative action” targets. At Pillsbury, a leading food company, each of its three product groups, at one time, had to present not only a sales plan for the following year but a plan relating to the hiring, training, and promotion of women and minority group members. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
Executive incentives are linked to the attainment of these social goals. At AT&T all managers are evaluated annually. Fulfillment of affirmative actions objectives counts as part of a positive appraisal. At Chemical Bank in New York, 10 to 15 percent of a branch manager’s job performance appraisal is based on her or his social performance-sitting on community agency boards, making loans to not-for-profit organizations, hiring and upgrading marginalized groups. And the Gannet chain of newspapers, chief executive Allen Neuharth brusquely tells editors and local publishers that “a major portion” of their bonuses will “be determined on the basis of progress in these…programs.” Similarly, in many top corporations we see a distinct upgrading of the states and influence of executives concerned with the environmental consequences of corporate behaviour. Some now report directly to the president. Other companies have set up special committees on the board of directors to define the new corporate responsibilities. This social responsiveness of the corporation is not all substance. Some of this is pure public relations, of course. Some is self-serving. However, much of it actually does reflect a changed perception of corporate functions. Grudgingly, therefore, driven by protests, lawsuits, and fear of government actions as well as by more laudable motives, managers are beginning to adapt to the new conditions of production and are accepting the idea that the corporation has multiple purposes. “For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong either to the night or darkness,” reports 1 Thessalonians 5. 5. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
When times get tough—as they often do—or things do not go your way—as they sometimes do not—please keep on believing in God. What has Humankind done that God should respond with His grace? Reward us for not doing a thing, and we will see no reason to change. We are a hopeless lot. So, if God gets up and leaves forever, why should we shed a tear? But we will. If God does not give us what we want or ask for, who else will? Certainly I can think about this in verity and come up with a few mouthings. O Lord, I am nothing. O Lord, I can do nothing. O Lord, I find no good in myself. O Lord, there is nothing I do not need. O Lord, I am headed nowhere. Odd but true. And unless God gives us a helping hand and prop up our sagging spirits, we will just end up feeble, faltering wrecks. “You, however,” God, O Lord, “are always Yourself, and You remain as such for eternity,” said the Psalmist (102.27). That is to say, You are good, You are just, according to the standards of both spiritual and Earthly wisdom. However, I, who am proner to regress than progress, find it hard to stay long in one state of soul. As the Prophet Daniel saw in one of his visions (4.16), so I see myself passing from one stage to another in my life, and I am never in one phase long enough to establish a firm hold. “I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus,” reports Philippians 1.6. When discouragements come or when people tell you that your dreams are never going to come to pass, you are never going to be happy, and you can never change, boldly remind yourself who is at work in your life. God is turning things around in your favour. God is opening doors of opportunity for you. He is restoring relationships; He is softening people’s hearts toward you. God is completing what He started. You may not see anything happening with your natural eyes, but you must believe that in the unseen World, God is at work on your behalf. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
One thing I have noticed. My spiritual condition quickly improves when God stretched His hand to help. Be a believer, but be careful what you believe. If you go around with a victim mentality, thinking that you do not deserve the blessings of God, only focused on what is going wrong, you perceived faults, and always sad and blue and hurting, you are setting yourself up to live a dismal life. Society may in fact be doing you wrong, there may be nothing wrong with you. Others may just be jealous of who you are. Therefore, start seeing yourself as more than a conqueror, well able to succeed, strong in the Lord, the head not the tail, the successful self-actualizer, not the victim and you will reach a new level of fulfillment. Another thing I noticed is that sometimes God comes to the help of us human beings even without our having to ask. However, where I ask. Stop moving! Stand still! I am turning my head every which way, and I still cannot catch a sight of God. Only in God alone will my heart find conversion and quiescence. And may my face brighten up like Hannah’s after a prayer! A tender moment in First Samuel (1.18). Dare today to start believing in God for greater things. God does not want you to drag through life, barely making it. He does not want you to have to dig through the sofa cushions looking for change, trying to come up with enough money to pay for food and shelter, transportation, to pay your bills, or to worry about how you are going to send your children to school today and college in the future. God does not want you to be unhappy in your marriage. It is not His preference for you to live in perpetual pain. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
When, if follows, if one knows well enough to dump every consolation known to Humankind in our continuous pursuit of devotion and the Devotions of devotion, why do we have to ask, as Jeremiah did right at the beginning of his Lamentations (1.2), “Is there no one who can console me?” That being said, we must have high hopes for God’s grace and will exult when it comes. God wants us to have a good life, a life filled with love, joy, peace, and fulfillment. That does not mean it will always be easy, but it does mean it will always be good. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him. You can dare to believe Him for a better marriage. Start believing Him for better health. Believe for joy and peace and happiness. Start believing for increase and abundance. As often as good stuff happens to me, I give my thanks to God, whence everything comes. I, however, am vanity and “nothingness before God,” if I may echo the Psalmist (39.5), a quack, a quondam, a quisling. I would like to boast, but I do not have anything to boast about. Whence can I find something to boast about? Why do I seek to be thought well of? Are not my desires just droppings? And is not all this World Vanity gone mad? Maybe you have endured terrible disappointments. Unspeakable negative things may have happened to you, to the point that you have ceased believing for anything good to occur in your life. You have lost your dreams. You are drifting through life, taking whatever comes your way. You may be tempted to tell yourself, “I have been living this way too long.” I am never going to get any better. I have prayed, I have believed, I have done everything I know how to do. Nothing has changed. Nothing is working I might as well give up. My life is over.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
Glory at its emptiest is disease at its sickest, Vanity at its noisiest. That is because it draws a Devout’s attention away from the One True Glory and denudes one of Heavenly Grace. Here is an example of what can happen. A Devout is quite pleased with oneself for what one has been able to accomplish outside the monastery walls; that is to say, one has made so many friends among the rich and famous. Now I know that makes God nervous, my Joyful if sometimes Jealous Friend, and I do not want God to think I do not know why. Why? Because one spends one’s time in the unhappy pursuit of false celebrity instead of the happy pursuit of True Virtue. However, there is True Glory and Holy Exaltation to boast in You and not in oneself, to rejoice in You name, not in one’s own virtue, and certainly not to take delight in any creature, except insofar as it has something to do with You. No matter how many setbacks we have suffered, or how rich and famous we become, God still has a great plan for our lives. We must get our hopes up. If we do not have hope, we will not have faith. And if we do not have faith, you cannot please God, and you will not see His power revealed in your life. Keep hope alive in your hearts. Never give up on your dreams. Do not allow discouragement or another setback to keep you from believing what God says about you. You are never too far gone with God. Some people say, “It is too late. My life is in too big of a mess; you cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” However, God can take a mess of stones and make the most magnificent statue. There is True Glory and Holy Exaltation to boast in You and not in oneself, to rejoice in God’s name, not in one’s own virtue, and certainly not to take delight in any creature, except insofar as it has something to do with God. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18
May God’s name be praised, not mine. May God’s work be magnified, not mine. May God’s Holy Name be blessed, and may no praise from human mouths be attributed to me. God is my glory, God is the exultation of my heart. In God I shall exult all day long; Psalmist again (89.16). As Paul wrote in Second Corinthians, “All I have are my infirmities—precious possessions of all” (12.5). The Jews people hoped to find glory from among their tribes. However, the sort of glory I require “comes from God alone”; that is as God said on a Sabbath in Jerusalem, and as John wrote it down (5.44). Every alp, every medal, every decoration, when compared to God’s eternal glory, is mean, not to say meaningless. My Truth, my Mercy, my God—Blessed Trinity! To You alone be braised, honour, virtue, and glory forever and ever. “Father, I close to be a believer rather than a doubter. Today, I will live with faith, trusting You for everything I need, knowing that even when tough times come, You will see me through. Now this day, my Sun Father, now that you have come out standing to your sacred place that from which we draw the water of life prayer meal—here I give unto you. Your long life, your old age, your waters, your seeds, your riches, your power, your strong spirit, of all these, to me may you grant. O God, save, yea, save, we beseech Thee. O save, O forgive, O send prosperity; yea, please save us, God of our stronghold. Please give rain. Thy lieges pour their hearts as water, O please save us! For Abram’s sake who went through fire and water, O please speed us! In courtesy he gave the angels water, O please save us, mighty God! Please give rain! For us to pass was cleft the water. O please save us! For Isaac’s sake on mountain bound for slaughter, O please speed us! He turned and digged his people wells of water. O Please save us, mighty God. Please give rain! We are the pure who camped by water. O please save us! #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
Cresleigh Homes
We’re hosting Thanksgiving this year! 🍂Can’t pass up the opportunity to fill our gorgeous island at the Brighton Station Residence 3 home with turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Gotta get moving on our fall decor; pumpkin carving is on the agenda this week! 🎃
Residence Three at Brighton Station boasts 2,757 square feet in this expansive two story home. There are four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and a three car garage!
The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, quartz counters, and large walk in pantry. The openness in the design allows the Great Room and kitchen to interact with each other seamlessly.
This home comes with an en suite bedroom on the first floor making it ideal for guests, or multi-generational living. https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/residence-3/
It is so Remarkable You Have the Ability Become What You Believe!
Dreams can be wish fulfillments, dreams can express mere anxiety, but dreams can also—and this is the important point—express deep insights into oneself and into others. In order to appreciate this function of dreams, some consideration concerning the differences between the biological and psychological functions of sleeping and waking maybe useful. In the waking state thoughts and feelings respond primarily to challenge—the task of mastering our environment, changing it, defending ourselves against it. Survival is the task of waking humans; one is subject to the laws that govern reality. This means that one has to think in terms of time and space. While we sleep, we are not concerned with bending the outside World to our purposes. We are helpless, and sleep, therefore, has rightly been called the “brother of death.” However, we are also free, freer than when awake. We are free from the burden of work, from the task of attack or defense, from watching and mastering reality. We need not look at the outside World; we look at our inner World, are concerned exclusively with ourselves. When asleep we may be likened to a fetus or a corpse; we may also be likened to angels, who are not subject to the laws of “reality.” In sleep the realm of necessity has given way to the realm of freedom in which “I am” is the only system to which thoughts and feelings refer. Mental activity during sleep has a logic different from that of waking existence. As indicated before, sleep experience need not pay attention to qualities that matter only when one copes with reality. If I feel, for instance, that a person is a coward, I may dream that one changed from a man into a chicken. This change makes sense in terms of what I feel about the person, not in terms of my orientation to outside reality. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17
Sleep and waking life are the two poles of human existence. Waking life is taken up with the function of action, sleep is freed from it. Sleep is taken up with the function of self-experience. When we wake from our sleep, we move into the realm of action. We are then oriented in terms of this system, and our memory operates within it; we remember what can be recalled in space-time concepts. The sleep World has disappeared. Experiences had in it—our dreams—are remembered with great difficulty. The situation has been represented symbolically in many a folktale: at night ghosts and spirits, good and evil, occupy the scene, but when dawn arrives, they disappear, and nothing is left of the intense experience. Consciousness is the mental activity in our state of being preoccupied with external reality—with acting. (The qualities of consciousness are determined by the nature of action and by the survival function of the waking state of existence.) The unconscious is the mental experience in a state of existence in which we have shut off communications with the outer World, are no longer preoccupied with action but with our self-experience. The unconscious follow from the nature of this mode of existence. The “unconscious” is the unconscious only in relation to the “normal” state of activity. When we speak of “unconscious” we really say only that an experience is alien to that frame of mind which exists while we act; it is then felt as a ghostlike, intrusive element, hard to get hold of and hard to remember. However, they day World is as conscious in our sleep experience as he night World is in our waking experience. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17
The term unconscious is customarily used solely from the standpoint of everyday experience; and thus I fails to denote that both conscious and unconscious are only different states of mind referring to different states of experience. It will be argued that in the waking state of existence, too, thinking and feeling are no entirely subject to the limitations of time and space; that our creative imagination permits us to think about past and future objects as if they were present, and of distant objects as if they were before our eyes; that our waking feeling is not dependent on the physical presence of the object nor on its coexistence in time; that, therefore, the absence of the space-time system is not characteristic of sleep existence in contradistinction to waking existence, but of thinking and feeling in contradistinction to acting. This welcome objection permits me to clarify an essential point in my argument. We must differentiate between the contents of thought processes and the categories employed in thinking. Rational thought processes in the waking state are subject to categories which are rooted in a special form of existence—the one in which we relate ourselves to reality in terms of action. In my sleep existence, which is characterized by lack of even potential action, categories are employed which have reference only to my self-experience. The same holds true of feeling. Whatever I feel, in the waking state, with regard to a person whom I have not seen for twenty years, I remain aware that one is not present. If I dream about the person, my feeling deals with the person as if one were present. But to say, “as if one were present” is to express the feeling in “waking life” concepts. In sleep existence there is no “as if”; the person is present. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17
Humans have a deep need to explains themselves, why one does or feels something. This is generally observed and recognized fact, usually called rationalization. If we dislike somebody, for instance, we are not satisfied with carrying this feeling but we strive to make it appear as a reasonable consequence of certain facts; thus we endow the disliked person with qualities, real or often invented, which make our dislike appear to be reasonable. The same course holds true in the case of liking or admiring a person, and can be found in its most obvious form in the mass enthusiasm for certain leaders or the mass dislike for members of certain classes or races. Dreams, on the other hand, are the result of an inherent tendency to bend feelings to the requirements of reasonableness. While we are asleep, we are not occupied with managing outer reality. We do not perceive it and we do not influence it, nor are we subject to the influences of the outside World on us. From this it follows that the effect of this separation from reality depends on the quality of reality itself. If the influence from the outside World is essentially beneficial, the absence of this influence during sleep will tend to lower the value of our dream activity, so that it will be inferior to our mental activities during the daytime when we are exposed to the beneficial influence of outside reality. However, are we right in assuming that the influences of reality is mainly a beneficial one? May it not be that it is so harmful and that, therefore, the absence of its influence tends to bring forth qualities superior to those we have when we are awake? #RandolphHarris 4 of 17
In speaking of the reality outside ourselves, reference is not made primarily to the World of nature. Nature as such is neither good nor bad. It may be helpful to us or dangerous, and the absence of our perception of it relieves us, indeed, from our task of trying to master it or of defending ourselves against it; but it does not make us either more stupid or wiser, better or worse. It is quite different with the human-made World around us, with the culture in which we live. Its effect upon us is quite ambiguous, although we are prone to assume that it is entirely to our benefit. Indeed, the evidence that cultural influences are beneficial to us seems almost overwhelming. What distinguishes us from the World of animals is our capacity to create culture. Is, then, the human-made reality outside ourselves not the most significant factor in the development of the very best in us, and must we not expect that, when deprived of contact with the outside World, we regress temporarily to a primitive, animal-like, unreasonable state of mind? Much can be said in favour of such an assumption, and the view that such a regression is the essential feature of the state of sleep, and thus of dream activity, has been held by many students of dreaming from Plato to Freud. From this viewpoint dreams are expected to be expressions of the irrational, primitive striving in us, and the fact that we forget our dreams so easily is amply explained by our being ashamed of those irrational and criminal impulses which we express when we are not under the control of society. Undoubtedly to some extent, this interpretation of dreams is true, but the question is whether it is altogether true or whether the negative elements in the influence of society do not account for the paradox that we are not only less reasonable and less decent in our dreams but that we are also more intelligent, wiser, and capable of better judgment when we are asleep than when we are awake. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17
Our dreams do not only express irrational desires but also deep insights and the important task of dream interpretation is to decide when the one and when the other is the case. Take the heart from those of the heroes of faith who exemplify Godly qualities. If we are most troubled by the small-mindedness of those whose lives seem to deny the good-news message of love, peace, and reconciliation, we are also most encouraged by those whose lives bear witness to the power of deep faith. It was a young Martin Luther King Jr. who sermonized in Montgomery, Alabama, that “standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the World…The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.” Only through spiritual transformation, he said, “do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the World in a humble and loving spirit. Such hope has empowered other heroes to fight tyrannical governments. It is no accident that the only open challenge to the totalitarian state has come from humans of deep religious faith. For in their faith they are vindicated as immoral souls, and from this enhancement of their dignity they find reason why they must offer a perpetual challenge to the dominion of humans over humans. Whenever our adversaries will demand of us obedience contrary to the orders of the Gospel, we must resist. I do not know of any race, I would know of human beings. The Romanian pastor Laszlo Tokes, who, having protested the brutal oppression by his country’s dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, suffered being banned, harassed, beaten, and stabbed. Finally his people formed a protective human chain around his church and parsonage, igniting a revolution that in three days swept the country and toppled Ceausescu. #RandolphHarris 6 of 17
It is rare indeed that a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but sometimes people come as close to it as we can imagine. This is what we must emulate through a life that is empowered by prayer, Bible reading, and mediation. Being God-controlled in thought, judgment, actions, and words are fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit teachings us to display: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Again, what troubles us most about Christianity is not so much the philosophical puzzles as the seemingly un-Christian behaviour of so many of us Christians. However, then again, what inspires us most is the witness of unpretentious lives empowered by faith. We have to be able to testify to the peace and love that can flow from lives touched by grace. People have to be able to encourage others in times of uncertainty, discouragement, and self-pity to keep on—to fight the fight, to finish the race, to keep the faith. To that end, My dear Devout, you ought to tend diligently. That is to say, in every place and in every act, whether occupation or diversion, you should feel more comfortable with yourself and in command of yourself. Everything should be under your control, and not the other way around. You should be the lord and tailor of your own actions, not the slave or mercenary. You should be above it all and a true Christian, enjoying the lottery and the liberty of being a child of God. Keep an eternal perspective. “It shall be done to you according to your faith,” reports Matthew 9.29. Our expectations wield tremendous power and influence in our lives. We do not always get what we deserve, God always gives us more than we deserve. We also receive what we believe. Unfortunately, this principle works as strongly in the negative as it does in the positive. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17
Many people tend to expect the worst. Some people have had their faith broken by corruption and oppression and are in the process of healing from expecting the best, but having things not in their favour. Others expect defeat, failure, and mediocrity. And usually get what they expect; they become what they believe. However, you can believe for good things just as easily as you can expect the worse. It is possible to believe for more, to see yourself performing at increasingly higher levels in every area of life. The key is to expect good things from God. When you encounter tough times, do not expect to stay there. Expect to come out of that trouble. When business gets a bit slow, do not assume you will go bankrupt; do not make plans for failure. Pray and expect God to bring you more profitable business. “Repent (think differently; change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct), for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” reports Matthew 3.2. Know that low expectations will destroy your situation; your own thinking will bring you down. Instead, ask God for wisdom, and change what you expect. Quit expecting to fail, and start believing that you are going to succeed. The fabric of the Universe was created by the Lord God and cut and sewn by the Great Tailor Himself, having this meticulosity about everything in its place, not a frill our of place. Whatever the onslaught, you must stand firm, let the smoke and din of battle settle, and see what actually happened, not what you would have liked to happen. That is to say, do everything you can to make an accurate assessment of everything you saw and heard. In this, you would have common cause with the Great Moses. When bedeviled with problems and perils he could not handle, he fled to the Tabernacle, as the Exodist reported it (33.8), where he consulted with the Lord. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17
What did he learn? Never ever to shut his eyes and ears to the Divine Response! And Moses never did. No wonder he left the Tabernacle refreshed, much wiser on many accouns concering the present and the future. And so should you. That is to say, you should flee to the secret garden of your heart, there to impore Divine Help more intensely. That is what God advised in His Matthew’s Gospel (6.6). God will help you, bu you have to cast he deciding vote. Let God use this situation for your good. Know that God is going to bring you out of this stronger than ever before. Do not agree to be defeaed. You are conspiring with the enemy by opening the door and allowing destructive thoughs, words, actions, and attitudes to dominate your life. On the other hand, if you will get into agreement with God, if you will stay focused on your possibilities, your faith can cause God to show up and work supernaturally in your life. Your faith wil help you overcome your obstacles and allow you to reach new levels of success. However, it is up to you. It depends on your outlook. Are you going to focus on your problems, or will you focus on your God? Always bring your case to God. He will dispose of it well when the Final Court sits. Do not worry. God will straighten things out. Just the thought of that should give you the strength to go on making spiritual progress now. Believe beyond that shadow of a doubt that the Lord can heal you. Know that God is able. Trust God and have confidence in God. Faith can turn any situation around. No one can have faith for you. Other people can pray for you, they can believe for you, the can quote the Scripture to you, but you must exercise faith for yourself. If you are depending on somebody else to keep you happy, or to encourage you, or to get you out of trouble, you will live in perpetual frustration and disappointment. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17
Humankind gets so antsy about acquiring jus one more bauble, one more bangle. Odd thing, though. When they actually have it in their hands, there is always something wrong with it. It has this desperate flaw. That is to say, their affections play with it, then get tired of it. And it is off again on a not-so-merry chase from one unsatisfied desire to another. Therefore, when in comes to desirables, two conclusions. Obviously, one should leave the maxiatures alone. Not too obviously, the same goes for the miniatures. The truly spiritual activity of Humankind is saying no to self. The result? Abnegated Man. He is denuded himself of all material things, but still he has managed to be a breezy sort and quite secure in his own self-esteem. The Ancient Enemy, on the other hand, is a nervous, queasy sort, a skulker, always on the prowl; that is as Peter’s Firs Letter described him (5.8). Everyone he meets on the road he considers a perfect target. He never lets up, even in the field. Day and nigh he beats the bushes to arouse the unsuspecting and drive them toward invisible nets and covered traps. What is the defense? “Watch and pray,” God said in Matthew, “that you enter not into temptation,” (26.41). Take charge of your life and decide, No matter what comes against me, I believe in God. I am going to have an optimistic outlook for my life. What you believe has a much greater impact on your life than what anybody else believes. Become what you believe. Are you believing that God can help you to rise above your obstacles, to live in health, abundance, healing, and victory? Remember, you will become what you believe. Father, I believe You are able to do amazing things in my life, far beyond what I can even understand. No matter what comes my way today, I will exercise my faith and believe for spectacular things that will honour You. #RandolphHarris 10 of 17
We see what appears to be evil rampant in the World, especially in this century, but it is not absolute evil. It is destined to disintegrate and vanish. How can you be so sure? Because if humans grow, they come to the truth. If one does not then, one loses one’s adulthood for a time. One’s evil goes with one. The human who lives in the truth lives in ethereal light, beautiful peace, even if the shadows are there. One sees on deeper levels where evil cannot penetrate and where the senses of unevolved humans cannot extend. If you are not able to know the great truths for yourself, then believe in them. There is that in humans which repeatedly works against their finer aspirations, which provides them with opposition. Upon this anvil one’s character is hammered out, shaped, and developed. So soon as a being limits interests and welfare to its own self exclusively, so soon is it bound to become into conflict with other beings. Thus evil originates through the first being’s ignorance, not through the presence of an absolute and eternal principle of evil. Where there is total ignorance there is total self-love. From this proceed all negativity, sensuality, indulgence, and discord. Where there is total knowledge there is total turning to the eternal IS. From this proceeds harmony, optimism, goodwill. Where hate and cruelty comes to excess, there is denial of the divine principle and reversal of the twofold truth. Where attention and attraction are partly turned to the THAT WHICH IS, there is sharing of mind and will between good and evil. The universal pretense of evil to be good and the occasional presence of some good in most evil create confusion or bewilderment in many minds and lead to wrong judgment in other minds. #RandolpHarris 11 of 17
Is there any absolute way of distinguishing good from evil? The Russian Staretz Silouan, of Mount Athos, thought there was—that however good an end might seem, if the means used to attain it was bad, then it was to be rejected. It is easy for us to see falsehood intended to lead others to act against their own welfare could be such a bad means, as also could malicious cruelty. Not to see the World as it is, with all its depravity and malice, is to be a fool, even if one happens to be a saint as well. The philosopher, like the ordinary human, sees its actuality but, unlike the ordinary human, is no stained by it. Moreover, one sees also the goodness and aspiration and, more importantly, the divine World-Idea. Evil is something which humans encounter on their journey to Good. Evil doing is what one expresses when still far from one’s destination. The redefinition is not a matter of choice but a necessary response to five revolutionary changes in the actual conditions of production. Change in the physical environment, in the lineup of social forces, in the role of information, in government organization, and in morality are all pounding the corporation into a new, multifaceted, multipurposeful shape. The first of these new pressures springs from the biosphere. In the mid-1950’s, when the Second Wave reached its mature stage in the United States of America, World population stood at only 2.75 billion. Today it is over 7.4 billion. In the mid-1950’s the Earth’s population used a mere 87 quadrillion of Btu of energy a year. Today 167.93 quadrillion Btu. In the mid-50’s, our consumption of a key raw material like zinc was only 2.7 million metric tons a year. Today it is 13.49 million tons a year. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17
Measured any way we choose, our demands on the planet are escalating wildly. As a result the biosphere is sending us alarm signals—pollution, desertification, signs of toxification in the oceans, subtle shifts in the climate—that we ignore at risk of catastrophe. These warnings tell us we can no longer organize production as we did during the Second Wave. Because the corporation is the main organizer of economic production, it is also a key “producer” of environmental impacts. If we want to continue our economic growth—indeed if we wish to survive—the managers of tomorrow will have to assume responsibility for converting the corporation’s environmental impacts from negatives into positives. They will assume this added responsibility voluntarily or they will be compelled to do so, for the changed conditions of the biosphere make it necessary. The corporation is being transformed into an environmental, as well as an economic, institution—not by do-gooders, radicals, ecologists, or even government bureaucrats, but by a material change in the relationship of production to the biosphere. The second pressure springs from a little-notice change in the social environment is now far more organized than before. At one time each firm operated in what might be termed underorganized society. Today the socio-sphere, especially in the United States of America, has leaped to a new level of organization. It is packed with a withering, interacting mass of well-organized, often well-funded, associations, agencies, trade unions, and other groupings. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17
In the United States of America today, some 1,370,000 companies interact with well over 90,000 schools and universities, 330,000 churches, and hundreds of thousands of branches of 13,000 national organizations, plus countless purely local environmental, social, religious, athletic, political, ethnic, and civic groups, each with its own agenda and priorities. It takes 144,000 law firms to mediate all these relationships! In this densely crowded socio-sphere, every corporate action has repercussive impacts not merely on lonely or helpless individuals but on organized groups, many of them with professional staffs, a press of their own, access to the political system, and resources with which to hire experts, lawyers, and other assistance. In his finely strung socio-sphere, corporate decisions are closely scrutinized. “Social pollution” produced by the corporation in the form of unemployment, community disruption, forced mobility, and the like is instantly spotted, and pressures are placed on the corporate to assume far greater responsibility than ever before for its social, as well as economic, “products.” A third set of pressures reflects that changed info-sphere. Thus, the de-massification of society means that far more information must be exchanged between social institutions—including the corporation—to maintain equilibrial relationships among them. Third Wave production methods further intensify the corporation’s hunger for information as raw material. The firm thus sucks up data like a gigantic vacuum cleaner, processes it, and disseminates it to other in increasingly complex ways. As information become central to production, as “information manager” proliferate in industry, the corporation, by necessity, impacts on the informational environment exactly as it impacts on the physical and social environment. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17
The new importance of information leads to conflict over the control of corporate data—battles over disclosure of more information to the public, demands for open accounting (of oil company production and profit figures, for example), more pressures for “truth in advertising” or “truth in lending.” For in the new era, “information impacts” become as serious a matter as environmental and social impacts, and the corporation is seen as an information producer as well as an economic producer. A fourth pressure on the corporation arises from politics and the power-sphere. The rapid diversification of society and the acceleration of change are everywhere reflected in a tremendous complexification of government. The differentiation of society is mirrored in the differentiation of government, and each corporation must therefore interact with more and more specialized units of government. These units, badly coordinated and each with its own priorities, are, moreover, in a perpetual turmoil of reorganization. In the past there was no Environmental Production Agency or any others. Many of these organizations are relatively new. Every company thus finds itself increasingly ensnarled in politics—local, regional, national, or even transnational. Conversely, every important corporate decision “produces” at least indirect political effects along with its other output, and is increasingly held responsible for them. Finally, as Second Wave civilization wanes and its value system shatters, a fifth pressure arises, affecting all institutions—including the corporations. This is a heightened moral pressure. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17
Behaviour once accepted as normal is suddenly reinterpreted as corrupt, immoral, or scandalous. Thus the Lockheed bribes topple a government in Japan. Gulf Oil’s chairman is forced to resign in the wake of a bribery scandal. The reluctance of Distillers Company in Britain to repay the victims of Thalidomide adequately, the failures of McDonnell Douglas with respect to the DC-10—all trigger tidal waves of moral revulsion. The ethical stance of the corporation is increasingly seen as having a direct impact on the value system of the society, just as significant to some as the corporation’s impact on the physical environment or the social system. The corporation is increasingly seen as a “producer” of moral effects. These five sweeping changes in both the material and non-material conditions of production make untenable the Second Wave school-book notion that a corporation is nothing but an economic institution. Under the new conditions the corporation can no longer operate as a machine for maximizing some economic function—whether production profit. The very definition of “production” is being drastically expanded to include the side, as well as the central, effects, the long-range as well as the immediate effects, of corporate action. Put simply, every corporation has more “products” (and is now held responsible for more) than Second Wave managers ever had to consider—environmental, social, informational, political, and moral, not just economic products. The purpose of the corporation is thus changed from singular to plural—not just as the level of rhetoric or public relations but at the level of identity and self-definition as well. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17
In corporation after corporation we can expect to see an internal battle between those who cleave to the single-purpose corporation of the Second Wave past and those who are ready to cope with the Third Wave conditions of production and to fight for the multipurpose corporation of tomorrow. Thank you Father for your free gift of life. Because it is through this life that you draw near to us every day. It is with this life that you constantly bless us. Our Father, bless this life today. With your power enter into it. Make this life a worthy thing. A thing that carries your blessing. Let it become a reminder of your love. A reminder of life without end. Please make the life of these people to be baptized like you have requested in the Holy Bible. A thing that shines for the sake of people. A think that shines for your sake. Father, please heed this sweet life. Please make their life also sweet smelling. A thing sweet smelling that raises to God. A holy thing. A thing fitting for you. For those who sought in exile for Thy face, who knew Thy secret, who to gather grace and shun defilement, ate but pulse and water—save them that call Thee, grieving from heir place, save them, our Father. For one who witnessed wisdom’s light arise, the ready scribe of yore, who made us wise with outspread truth like spaces wider of water—O save that once full city, when she cries Save us, our Father. For their sake who with all their soul this day have come to pour their heart out and to pray, begging from Thee Thy rains of mighty water—save them who sang to Thee upon their way, save them, our Father. For their sake who have said: “Thy name be blest,” thine heritage, the sons of Thy behest, longing for Thee like land that faints for water—save them for who so long Thou seekest rest, Save them, our Father. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17
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The Muted Voice Had a Richness to it that Made a Greatly Enhanced Grace!
Accidental symbols have no intrinsic relationship to that which it symbolizes. Let us assume that someone has had a saddening experience in a certain city; when one hears the name of that city, one will easily connect the name with a mood of sadness, just as one would connect it with a mood of joy had one’s experience been a happy one. Quite obviously here in nothing in the nature of the city that is either sad or joyful. It is the individual experience connected with the city that makes it a symbol of a mood. The same reaction could occur in connection with a house, a street, a dress, certain scenery or anything once connected with a specific mood. The picture in the dream represents this mood, the city “stands for” the mood once experienced in it. Here the connection between the symbol and the experienced symbolized is entirely accidental. As a result, we need associations of the dreamer in order to understand what the accidental symbol means. Had one not told us about the experience one had in the city of which one dreamed or about the connection between the person one dreams of one’s experiences with this person, we could not possibly understand what these symbols mean. The universal symbol, on the contrary, is one in which there is an intrinsic relationship between the symbol and that which it represents. Take, for instance, the symbol of fire. We are fascinated by certain qualities of fire in a fireplace. First of all, by its aliveness. It changes continuously, it moves all the time, and yet there is constancy in it. It remains the same without being the same. The fire gives the impression of power, of grace and lightness. Fire is as if it were dancing and had an inexhaustible source of energy. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
When we use fire as a symbol, we describe the inner experience characterized by the same elements which we notice in the sensory experience of fire: the mod of energy, lightness, movement, grace, gaiety—sometimes one, sometimes another of these elements being predominate in the feeling. However, fire can also be destructive and devastatingly powerful; if we dream of a burning house, fire symbolizes destructiveness not beauty. Similar in some ways and different in others is the symbol of water—of the ocean or of a stream. Here, too, we find the blending of constant movement and ye of permanence. We also feel the quality of aliveness, continuity and energy. However, there is a difference; where fire is adventurous, quick, exciting, water is quiet, slow, and steady in a river or lake. The ocean, however, can also be as destructive and unpredictable as fire. The universal symbol is the only one in which the relationship between the symbol and that which is symbolizes is not coincidental but intrinsic. It is rooted in the experience of the affinity between an emotion or thought, on the other hand, and a sensory experience, on the other. It can be called universal because it is shared by all humans, in contrast not only to the accidental symbol, which is by its very nature entirely personal, but also to the conventional symbol (as for instance a traffic signal), which is restricted to a group of people sharing the same convention. The universal symbol is rooted in the properties of our bodies, our senses, and our minds, which are common to all humans, and therefore not restricted to individuals or to specific groups. Indeed, the language of the universal symbol is the one common tongue developed by the human race. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
There are many dreams in which the censorship consists of nothing but the poetic and symbolic language in which the content is expressed, but this is a “censorship” only for people with little poetic imagination. For those with a natural sense of poetry, the symbolic nature of a dream language can hardly be explained as censorship. In the following I quote a dream which can be understood even without any association and where there are no elements of censorship. On the other hand, we can see that associations brought up by the dreamer enrich our understanding of the dream: A lawyer, twenty-eight years of age, wakes up and remembers the following dream which he later reports to the analyst: “I saw myself riding on a white charger, reviewing a large number of soldiers. They all cheered me wildly.” The first question the analyst asks his patient is rather general: “What comes to mind?” “Nothing,” the man answers. “The dream is silly. You know that I dislike war and armies, that I certainly would not want to be a general.” And in addition, “I also would not like to be the center of attention and to be stared at, cheering or no cheering by thousands of soldiers. You know from what I told you about my professional problems how difficult it is for me to plead a case in court with everybody looking at me.” The analyst answers: “Yes, but it does not do away with the fact that this is your dream, the plot you have written and in which you assigned yourself a role. In spite of all obvious inconsistencies, the dream must have some meaning and must make some sense. Let us begin with your associations to the dream contents. Focus on the dream picture, yourself and the white charger and the troops cheering—and tell me what come to mind when you see this picture.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
“This memory is certainly interesting. Tell me more about your liking for that picture and your interest in Napoleon.” “I can tell you a lot about it, but I find it embarrassing. Yes, when I was fourteen or fifteen, I was rather shy. I was not very good in athletics and kind of afraid of tough kids. Oh, yes, now I remember an incident from that period which I had completely forgotten. I liked one of the tough kids very much and wanted to become his friend. We had hardly talked with each other, but I hoped that he would like me, too, if we would get better acquainted. One day—and it took a lot of courage—I approached him and asked him whether he would not like to come to my house; that I had a microscope and could show him a lot of interesting things. He looked at me for a moment, then he suddenly started to laugh and laugh and laugh. “You sissy, why don’t you invite some of your sisters’ little friends?” I turned away, choking with tears. At that time I read voraciously about Napoleon; I collected pictures of him and indulged in daydreams of becoming like him, a famous general, admired by the whole World. Was he no small of stature, too? Was he no also a shy youngster like myself? Why could I not become like him? I spent many hours daydreaming; hardly ever concretely about the means to this end but always about the achievement. I was Napoleon, admired, envied, and ye magnanimous and ready to forgive my detractors. When I went to college I, I had got over my hero worship and my Napoleon daydreams; in fact I have not thought of this period for many years, and certainly have never spoken to anyone about it. In kind of embarrasses me even now to talk to you about it.” #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
“’You’ forgot about it, but the other you, that which determines many of your actions and feelings, well hidden from your daytime awareness, is still longing to be famous, admired, to have power. That other you spoke up in your dream last night; but let us see why just last night. Tell me what happened yesterday that was of importance to you.” “Nothing at all; it was a day like any other. I went to the office, worked to gather legal material for a brief, went home and had dinner, went to a movie and went to bed. That’s all.” “That does not seem to explain why you rode on a white charger in the night. Tell me more about what went on at the office.” “Oh, I just remember…but this cannot have anything to do with my boss—the senior partner of the firm—for whom I collected the legal material, he discovered a mistake I had made. He looked at me critically and remarked, ‘I am really surprised—I thought you would do better than that.’ For the moment I was quite shocked—and the thought flashed through my mind that he would not take me into the firm as a partner later on as I had hoped he would. However, I told myself that this was nonsense, that anyone could make a mistake, that he had just been irritable and that the episode had no bearing on my future. I forgot about the incident during the afternoon.” “How was your mood then? Were you nervous or kind of depressed?” “No, not at all. On the contrary, I was just tired and sleepy. I found it difficult to work and was very glad when the time came to leave the office.” “The last thing of importance during that day, then, was your seeing the movie. Will you tell me what it was?” “Yes, it was the film Juarez, which I enjoyed very much. In fact, I cried quite a bit.” “First at the description of Juarez’s poverty and suffering and then when he had been victorious; I hardly remember a movie which moved me so much.” #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
“Then you went to bed, fell asleep, and saw yourself on the white charger, cheered by the troops. We understand a little better now why you had this dream, do we not? As a boy you felt shy, awkward, rejected. We know from our previous work that this had a general deal to do with your father, who was so proud of his success but so incapable of being close to you and of feeling—to say nothing of showing—affection and of giving encouragement. The incident you mentioned today, the rejection by the tough kid, was only the last straw, as it were. Your self-esteem had been badly damaged already, and this episode added one more element to make you certain that you could never be your father’s equal, never amount to anything, that you would always be rejected by people you admired. What could you do? You escaped into fantasy where you achieved the very things you felt incapable of achieving in real life. There, in the World of fantasy where nobody could enter and where nobody could disprove you, you were Napoleon, the great hero, admired by millions and—what is perhaps the most important thing—by yourself. As long as you could retain these fantasies you were protected from the acute pains that your feeling of inferiority caused you while you were in contact with the reality outside yourself. Then you went to college. You were less dependent on your father, felt some satisfaction in your studies, felt that you could make a new and better beginning. Moreover, you felt ashamed of your ‘childish’ daydreams, so you put them away; you felt you were on the way to being a real man. However, as we have seen, this new confidence was somewhat deceptive. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
“You were terribly frightened before every examination; if there was a young man around, you felt that no girl could really be interested in you; you were always afraid of your boss’s criticism. This brings us to the day of the dream. The thing you tried so hard to avoid had happened—your boss had criticized you; you began to feel again the old feeling of inadequacy, but you pushed it away; you felt tired instead of feeling anxious and sad. Then you saw a movie which touched upon your old daydreams, the hero who became the admired saviour of a nation after he had been he despised powerless youngster. You pictured yourself, as you had done in your adolescence, as the hero, admired, cheered. Do not you see that you have not really given up the old retreat into fantasies of glory; that you have not burned the bridges that lead you back to that land of fantasy, but start to go back there whenever reality is disappointing and threatening? Do not you see this fact, however, helps to create the very danger you are so afraid of, that of being childish, not an adult, not being taken seriously by grown-up men—and by yourself?” A modern mystic, the late William Wirt Winchester, was told from within, “Because I love you, I have given you demons since the beginning of your life, so that you would feel how dependent you are on Me.” The Overself knows what you are, what you are, what you seek, and what you need. “Ask not for healing, or longevity, or prosperity; ask only to be free!” exclaimed Vivekananda. The Overself does not have the power to heal the diseases of the body by its Grace, but whether that Grace will be thus exercised or not is unpredictable. It will do what is best for the individual in the ultimate sense, not what the ego desires. For the Divine Wisdom is back of everything every time. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
Spiritual healing does not necessarily follow automatically upon the giving of complete faith. Nor does it necessarily follow upon the voluntary cleansing of the emotional nature. There are other factors involved in it. The place of suffering and sickness in the World-Idea is one of them. For those aspirants who will be satisfied with nothing short of achieving the Highest, the need of transcending the ego takes precedence over everything else, even over the body’s healing. It is impossible either to guarantee or to predict what would happen in any individual case. If one tries to get the Truth simply as a means to achieve the healing, the difficult is that the Truth eludes one. One has therefore to seek Truth and leave one’s fate to it, which will always work out for the best, materially or otherwise. Continued ill health is a great trial. The very fact that an individual has been forced to endure a life of endless suffering will surely lead one to realize that Worldly life yields littler—if any—real satisfaction or happiness, and that it is necessary to seek it in something Higher, in the Quest of the true Spiritual Life, or in God. Somewhere, sometime, this need of one’s will call forth an answer. People are attracted toward these cults either because they are in desperate need of physical healing or because they are in need of spiritual healing, or because they see in these doctrines an opportunity to satisfy both spiritual aspiration and material needs by a single faith and effort. They are trying to make the best of both Worlds. To be able to attain the Kingdom of Heaven and to gain prosperity or curse disease along with it is certainly a most attractive benefit. However, unfortunately it is also a little too good to be true. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
We would all like to have it, but can we have it. What did Jesus Himself say about this point? He said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.” The word of greatest importance in this sentence is the word “first.” If you wish to employ the help of a higher power and feeling, then you must first give your thought, your first devotion, your first reverence, your first love to that higher power and not to any lesser thing, such as material gain or even physical cure, as the price of your worship. New Thought and Christian Science should correct their errors, for some of the things which they label as “negative” may not be so at all. It is divine love which sanctions losses, sickness, poverty, and adversities. They are not to be regarded as enemies to be shunned but rather as tutors to be heeded. Through such blows the ego may be crushed and thus allow truer thoughts to fill the emptied space. If their end and effect is to close the mind’s door to light, even pleasure and prosperity may deal a human wore blows than the so-called negatives can deal one. All inner healing depends ultimately upon the operations of grace for its effectiveness. For grace is guided by wisdom and it is not always wise for a human to be healed quickly or even at all. In the case of certain characters, good health may be but a gate to dubious activities leading to worse ills that would befall them. There are times when the Overself’s grace may manifest even in the ugly form of illness! #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
If its entry into the everyday consciousness is blocked or twisted by materialistic scepticism, animalistic obsessions, inherited complexes, or excessive extroversion, it may forcibly make its way through them. The body may then be stricken down with sickness until such time as the blockage or distortion is removed. Ramana Maharshi one told us the story of a man whom he had seen when he himself was a young man. This man was crippled, could not use his legs, and had to crawl. An old man suddenly appeared before him and commanded, “Get up and walk!” The cripple was so excited that he automatically rose up and found himself able to walk properly. When he looked round to see this strange benefactor, the man had vanished. The healing was permanent. The point here is first, not whether the vision was subjective or objective, but that the healer did not even have a familiar identity, was not recognized as a Christian saint or Hindu god, and second, that the sufferer was stimulated into having enough faith o obey the command to believe he was healed already; it was not a matter of time. A woman came for an interview who had exhausted all patience with her husband and announced that she was about to leave him. He was an alcoholic of the worst kind. I asked her to be patient with him, not to leave him, but to give him a further chance. Then I went into silence for her. An hour or two after her return homer, her husband made his first and last attempt at suicide. It failed and he was stopped before he could do any serious harm to his body. Then he fell into a deep sleep for a very long time. He awoke feeling better in every way but still despondent. A few weeks later the desire to drink left him completely and never returned. He was cured. “A miracle has happened,” was his wife’s comment in a letter. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
Dorothy Kerin was almost instantaneously restored to health and freed from diabetes and tuberculosis. Moreover, her wasted flesh filled out and a gastric ulcer vanished within an hour. At the same time she saw a vision of Jesus Christ, Mary, and the Angels. St Michael the Archangel, illustrious leader of the Heavenly army, defends us in the battle against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the World of darkness and the spirit of wickedness in high places. He comes to the rescue of humankind, whom God has mad in His own image and likeness, and purchased from Satan’s tyranny at so great a price. Holy Church venerates you as her patron and guardian. The Lord has entrusted St. Michael to the task of leading the souls of the redeemed to Heavenly Blessedness. He entreats the Lord of peace to cast Satan down under our feet, so as to keep him from further holding humans’ captive and doing harm to the Church. St. Michael carries our prayers up to God’s throne, that the mercy of the Lord does quickly come and lay hold of the beast, the serpent of old, Satan, and his demons, casting him in chains into the abyss, so that he can no longer seduce the nations. It is perfectly true that the divinity within humans will shelter, feed, and clothe one materially, as it will also do spiritually, provided one looks for it, submit oneself to its guidance, and obeys its promptings. However, it is also true that the selfsame divinity may strip prosperity and possessions from a human’s shoulders and lead one into the cold waters of destitution, and this because it has begun to make its presence felt in one’s life. It may do this or it may not, depending on individual circumstances and the human’s degree of attachment to material possessions, but whatever it does will be wise and needful. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
The healing power issues from an infinite source. There is no kind of disease which it may not cure; but it can do so only within the conditions imposed by the nature of the human body itself. When it seems that you and your physicians have exhausted all methods, read the Christian Bible, and allow a great mental stillness and inner indrawing to come over you. Then realize that the ego has to confess its total failure and cast itself on the mercy of the higher power in humiliation and prayer. Come to the understanding that one or one’s physicians are competent to cure whatever aliment you are facing, the correct way is to disbelieve that and to look to the Overself alone for healing. Continue with your medical treatment, but realize that it is God who will heal you through your various treatments. See that the stillness is its grace, that this quietness is its power. If only one will relax and let it enter, it will best cure you. So surrender to it and soon it will be healed. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do,” reports Ephesians 2.10. Some mysterious advice. Lose yourself, and what you will find? God. Stop dead in your tracks! Do not make another move! Another choice is not necessary. No need to consult your own self-interest. Do these, and you will regain all the self-worthy you thought you had lost forever! You may not always control your temper as you know you should. You may disobey God’s Word, or slip and say things you wish you had not said. Please seek forgiveness from God and from anyone you may have offended, but do not go around beating yourself up, living in condemnation. As long as you are pressing forward, you can hold your head up high, knowing that you are a work of progress, and God is in the process of changing you. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
Fall on your face when you are following God, but do not flounce right up. Down is better than up, and a new shipment of grace will arrive on your doorstep tomorrow. How often does God want one to give up, surrender oneself? As often as one moves without His permission. Please do not misunderstand. God does not condone wrongdoing, and we should not either. However, do not become so focused on your faults that you cannot enjoy who God made you to be. You have got to be happy with who you are right now and accept yourself, faults and all. Your sense of value is not based on your achievements, how well you preform, how somebody else treats you, or how popular or successful you are. Your sense of value extends from the fact that you are a child of the Most High God. As His unique creation, you have something to offer this World that nobody else has, that nobody else can be. At first blush, there is more cause for alarm in the findings of the religion-prejudice studies. American church members have tended to be more radically prejudiced than nonmembers, and those professing traditional Christian beliefs have expressed more racial prejudice than those with less traditional beliefs. Perhaps it should not shock us, for throughout history religion has provided convenient excuses—indeed, powerful justifications—for all sorts of cruelty. For the dehumanization of slavery and apartheid. For the subordination of women. The beautiful medieval town of St. Andrew, where these words are being written, was the ecclesiastical center of early Protestantism in Scotland. In the year 1643 alone—the midpoint of a 150-year reign of terror in St. Andrews and its environs—forty terrified women were judged by church elders to be witches and consigned to torture and death. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
These women and the St. Andrews martyrs who preceded them at the time of the Reformation remind us that behind religious fanaticism evil sometimes lurks. Jesus therefore reserved some of his strongest condemnation for the self-righteous religious folk of this say. From His time to ours, “not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord,” speaks for God. As Pascal lamented, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” It is vital that you accept yourself and learn to be happy with who God made you to be. If you want to truly enjoy your life, you must be at peace with yourself. Many people constantly feel badly about themselves. They are overly critical of themselves, living with all sorts of self-imposed guilt and condemnation. No wonder they are not happy; they have a war going on inside. And if you cannot get along with yourself, you will never get along with other people. These are people who can start a fight in an empty house. The place to start is by being happy with who God made you to be. God wants small thing, big things, it makes no difference. What God is saying is our chiefest possession is self-love, and on the Heavenly Market it has no value. Hence, in every situation God wants us to be found stripped of our self-love. Otherwise, how can we be His, and He be ours? Disrobe your ego and leave your ego on the floor. The quicker you do this, the better the hold you will have on the situation. And the fewer your conditions and the sincerer your attitude, the more you will please God and the more you will gain for yourself. You may not be perfect—nobody is! Sure, you have some flaws—we all do! Every person has a weakness. Even the great men and woman of the Bible make mistakes. They all had shortcomings, but that did not stop God from loving them, blessing them, and using them to accomplish great deeds. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
In spite of your imperfection, to be truly free, you must have a healthy respect for yourself. Religion’s links with prejudice seem paradoxical. Religion makes prejudice and it unmakes prejudice. The unmaking of prejudice is suggested first by studies of church members; in nearly every one of more than two dozen studies, faithful church members and attenders exhibited less prejudice than irregular attenders. Second, those for whom religion is an end in itself (who agree, for example, with the statement “My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole approach of life”) typically express less racial prejudice than those for whim religion is more a means to other ends (who agree, for example, that “A primary reason for my interest in religion is that my church is a congenial social activity”). Third, ministers and priests—who presumably are more religiously committed and motivated than most people—have also generally been more supportive of civil rights efforts than have their own laypeople. So it seems that among the churched, the devout exhibit less prejudice and deeper feelings of human brotherhood and sisterhood than the nominally religious, who are somewhat more likely to rationalize prejudice with the assistance of religion. We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. What, then, might be our response to bigots and love the bigotry? Hate the sin and love the sinner. Hate the bigotry and love the bigot. Be intolerant of intolerance, despise lovelessness, detest injustice, and remember: “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
Throughout or lives, God is continually forging us. They key to future success is to not be discouraged about your past or present while you are in the process of being “completed.” The Christian Bible indicates that one goes from glory to glory as we are being transformed into God’s image. Whether you realize it or not, right now God is moving you onward toward greater things. The path of righteousness gets brighter and brighter. Some make the Unconditional Surrender in public, but in their hearts they have retained certain private conditions; that is to say, they do not put their trust wholly in God. You can usually tell who they are because they take every precaution not to be caught with an empty buttery. Others offer themselves up whole and entire right from the starter. After some time, however, bullied and sullied by temptation, they return to their old ways. Baby steps, not manly strides, that is about the only spiritual progress they make after that. They live life that has little to do with freedom of heart or grace of friendship. Which is just another ways of saying, they have not really surrendered themselves fully and sacrificed themselves daily to God. Without continued acts like these, a friendship has no roots, let alone any fruits. As you go through your day, when you are tempted to get discouraged, remind yourself that according to God’s Word, your future is getting brighter; you are on your way to a new level of glory. You think you have a long way to go, but you need to look back at how far you have already come. You may not be everything you want to be, but thank God that you are not what you used to be. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
It is one of my favourite sayings, and I know I have bored you to tears with it many times. Indulge me just once more. Lose yourself, surrender yourself, and you will enjoy great internal peace. It is amazing, o God, that although You know me better than anyone, You continue to love me, faults and all. I know I cannot earn Your love, Father, so let me learn to enjoy it, to embrace it, and reflect it to others. I will give up all my stuff for God. We must stand tall and strong for God, and we will get His attention. We will be free in heart and darkness will no longer frighten us. It is important that we despoil ourselves of everything we possess, and stand here in baptismal beauty, with no possessions and no prepossessions. And follow Jesus. From this day on, make an agreement to live eternally for God. Then will slip away all the airy elephants, all the evil roughhouse, all the needless needlings. Then also will unbridled fear quiet down and unruly love come home to roost. “All who keep His commandments [who obey His orders and follow His plan, live and continue to live, to stay and] abide in Him, and He in them. [They let Christ be a home to them and they are the home of Christ.] And by this we know and understand and have the proof that He [really] lives and makes His home in us: by the [Holy] Spirit Whom He has given us,” reports 1 John 3.24. Some people seem obsessed with putting other down; they talk negatively about someone you love, or something you are passionate about. You cannot always ignore negative input, but do not let other people, systems, or circumstances influence your estimation of value. “One who commits sin [who practices evildoing] is of the devil [takes one’s character from the evil one] for the devil has sinned (violated the divine law) from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the words the devil [has done],” reports 1 John 3.8. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
Unfortunately, you may have gone through some traumatic, painful experiences in which somebody mistreated you, used you, or rejected you. Maybe your husband or wife walked out on you and you and you went through a bitter divorce. Maybe a good friend or a parent, or your entire family turned on you for no reason, and you now feel alone and worthless. Perhaps your childhood experiences have left you living with feelings of guilt and shame. It is possible that you even convinced yourself that the negative things that happened in your past are all your fault, that you deserve nothing but doom and gloom, drama chaos, pain and suffering, guilt and condemnation. However, nothing could be father from the truth. “Everyone who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for [that is what] sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violation of God’s law by transgression or neglect—being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will),” reports 1 John 3.4. You cannot allow your self-esteem and your sense of value to be determined by how other people treat you. The Holy Bible tell us that God accept us even if the World rejects us. There is a glimmer of hope reflected in your eyes. The Lord will adopt you as His very own child. God will never reject you. He always accepts you. Do not allow the rejection of other people to cause you to reject yourself. Maybe you live with someone who is verbally abusive. Let that loose rap go in one ear and out the other. Constantly remind yourself that you are made in the image of Almighty God. Remind yourself that He has crowed you with glory and honour, that you are God’s own master piece. Do not let other people play games with your mind, deceiving you into thinking that your value has depreciated. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
You may feel that your dreams have been shattered by the choice you are your guardians have made. May you feel trapped in the devil’s trap, but there is hope! God wants to appreciate your sense of value. God wants to be a new record on the player, a new song in your heart; He wants to full you with love, faith, success, and light. God wants you to know that you are loved more than you can imagine, and He can turn your broken truths and shattered dreams into something beautiful. Hold your head up high, knowing that God is in control and He has a great plan and purpose for your life. “Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the World. By his you may know (perceive and recognize) the Spirit of God: every spirit which acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [actually] has become man and has come in the flesh is of God [has God for its source],” reports 1 John 4.1-2. Your life may not have turned out exactly as you had hoped, but the Bible says that God’s ways are better and higher than our own ways. No matter what you go through in life, no matter how many disappointments you suffer, you will always be the diamond of God’s eyes. He will never give up on you. “Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He who live in your is greater (mightier) than one who is in the World,” reports 1 John 4.4. I thank You, Father, that You see not just where I am today, but the potential for where I can be tomorrow. Even if other people reject me, I know that I am accepted in Heavenly places. I know that I am wholeheartedly accepted by You! #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
Hail Mother, who are the Earth, hallowed by thy soil, rocks and flora that nourish and support all life. Blessed be thy wind that gives us breath and thy waters that quench, bathe and refresh all living things. Holy Earth—as one—we praise your majesty, grace and wonder. We cast out every unclean spirit, every satanic power, every onslaught of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect, in the name and by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. We command you, begone and fly far from the Church of God, from the souls made by God in His image and redeemed by the precious blood of the divine Lamb. No longer dare, cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute God’s Church, to strike God’s elect and to sift them as wheat. For Most High God commands you, He to whom you once proudly presumed yourself equal; He who will all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. God the Father commands you. God the Son commands you. God the Holy Spirit commands you. Christ, the eternal Word of God made flesh, commands you, who humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, to save our race from the perdition wrought by your envy; who founded His Church upon a firm rock, declaring that the gates of hell should never prevail against her, and that He would remain with her all days, even to the end of the World. The sacred mystery of the cross commands you, along with the power of all mysteries of Christian faith. The exalted Virgin Mary, Mother of God, commands you, who in her lowliness crushed your proud head from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception. The faith of the holy apostles Peter and Pau and the other apostles commands you. The blood of martyrs and the devout prayers of all holy men and women command you. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
Therefore, accursed dragon and every diabolical legion, we adjure you by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God, by God, who so loved the World that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life; to cease deluding human creatures and filling them with the poison of everlasting damnation; to desist from having the Church and hampering her freedom. Begone, Satan, father and master of lies, enemy of man’s welfare. Give place to Christ, in whom you found none of your works. Give way to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, which Christ Himself purchased with His blood. Bow down before God’s mighty hand, tremble and flee as we call on the holy and awesome name of Jesus, before whom the denizens of hell cower, to whom the Heavenly Virtues and Powers of Dominations are subject, who the Cherubim and Seraphim praise with unending cries as they sing: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. For his sake who did play and dance and sing, who taught the Law with sound of pipe and string, who, thirsting sore, poured out to Thee the water—save those who trust salvation Thou wilt bring, save them, our Father. For his sake whom a whirlwind once did bear to Heaven, whose seal turned back Thy wrath, whose prayer drew fire from Heaven, which licked up dust and water—save her, O God, whose eyes are fountains fair, save her, our Father. For him who served his Lord in deed and thought, on whom twofold the spirit fell; who sought a minstrel ere the ditches filled with water—save them that sand: “Lord, who such deeds hath wrought?” Save them, our Father. For his sake, swift to do the word from Thee, who bid Thy sheep repent, and set them free from the blasphemer, staying founts of water—Save America, beautiful and fair to see, Save her, our Father. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
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More Wonders of the Invisible World
Witchcraft is one of the most hidden works of darkness. And California had its full share of obscurity. People groping their way in the dark are unlikely to be either stable or judicious, and thus it is hardly surprising that much of the legends about witchcraft are violent and partisan. The Devil improves the darkness of this affair to push us into a blind man’s buffet, and we are even ready to be sinfully, yea, hotly and madly mauling one another in the dark. Some people want to contact the dead and consider seances, but they are dangerous because it is easy for a gate to be opened and something evil to come along with the spirit you want to contact. There is an old urban legend about “Bloody Mary.” If you chant “Bloody Marry” thirteen times into a mirror in a dark room, her spirit will appear. Some say she will prophesize for you, other versions say she will attack you. Historically, Bloody Mary was a nickname for Mary I of England, who suffered several miscarriages. She was also alleged to be a witch and was burned at the stake. Divination by mirror has been practiced in nearly all cultures for as long as mirrors have been around. Before that, any reflective surface, especially still water, was used to prophesy or catch a glimpse of the future. In many of these legends, the danger is that while you are trying to catch a glimpse of your future, you might also see some aspect of Death. Tradition also holds that at the moment of death, all the mirrors in the house should be covered so hey do not trap the departing spirit. Ancient Greeks and Native Americans believed that the reflection contained the soul, and could be capture by water. #RandolphHarris 1 of 14
It is bad luck to break mirrors because they are reflections of the soul, and also because they hold the future. That is why the seven years of bad luck occurs, you have broken your future. Many of the persons confessing these myths are witches by their own confession and have therefore abjured God and Chris, and given themselves up to the Devil, the Father of Lies. And what credit is to be given to the testimony of such against the lives of others? Many historians believe these early American legends are important and endeavor that the complete history of secret California witchcrafts and possessions might not be lost. The preservation of that history might in a be a singular benefit unto the church and unto the World, which makes many solicitous about it. Mrs. Winchester, who has been strangely visited by some shining spirits during the construction of her mansion, believed they were good Angels in her opinion of them. She intimated several things unto her friends, whereof some were to be kept secret. She also said that a new storm of witchcraft would fall upon the country to chastise the iniquity that was used in the willful smothering and covering of the last, and that many fierce opposites to the discovery of witchcraft would be thereby convinced. Many people are looking to acquire authentic, single-family Victorian homes because they believe in the renaissance of witchcraft and these homes possess souls, spirit, ghost, hidden occult symbol, and are supposedly spiritual nexuses. They are a power source to contacting the other World. #RandolphHarris 2 of 14
All spirits have something in common, but it matters who they are haunting. It matters what their traditions were when they were alive. In many Native American legends, they have thousands of Gods, and each of them had attendant monsters and demons. Pishachas are beings who haunt places where violent deaths have occurred. They eat human flesh and are supposed to be the sons of anger. They haunt cemeteries and places where cremations have taken place and can change their shape and become invisible. Sometimes they attack and eat their victims, in other instances they possess them and drive them insane. It is believed because there was some covenanting with the Devil they had committed and it was an unpardonable sin, that sin of which the scriptures said we must not pray for. Sometimes anyone who was not in a proper covenant with God was considered to be a witch. Witches are known to change into rabbits, cats, other familiar animals. Halloween costumes are a surviving remnant of the belief that transformed witches would be abroad before All Hallow’s Eve. Some of the Indian Powows [id est, pries-magicians] in this country during the 17th century, having received the Gospel and given good evidence of a true conversion to God in Christ, had with much sorrow of heart declared how they had, whilst in their Heathenism, by the hands of Evil Angels murdered their neighbours. A Nagual is a human being, a Shaman, who has acquired the power to shapeshift. Some Nagual have vampire qualities, changing into bats or owls to drain blood; in other cases the nagual is a respected and feared member of the community. In some places nagual are said to attack Indians who have too much contact with mestizo or Anglo populations. #RandolphHarris 3 of 14
There are myriad instances of witchcraft both in history and in the Bible, but some of the demonologists personal experiences are remarkable enough to make us wish they had given a more detailed account of the. In referring to Balaam, the biblical conjurer of familiar spirits, one of them said, “we have seen and know such wizards among the Heathen in our own land.” If I meant anything, it was that a ghost story would have a great pull over other ghost stories if one could see the person it happened to. One does get rather provoked at never coming across him or her. In April, nearly fifteen years after the Winchester Mansion opened for tour, it was a clear spring day, with no fog or half-lights about, and it was not yet four o’clock in the afternoon—not very ghost-like circumstances, you will admit. I had come home early from my club—it was a sort of holiday time with me just then for a few weeks—intending to get some letters written which had been on my mind for some days, and I had sauntered into the library of the mansion, a pleasant, fair-sized room lined with books, on the first floor. Before setting to work I sat down for a moment or two in an easy-chair by the fire, for it was still cool enough weather to make a fire desirable, and began thinking over my letters. No thought, no shadow of a thought of Mrs. Winchester was present with me, of that I am perfectly certain. The door was on the same side of the room as the fireplace; as I sat there, half facing the fire, I also half faced the door. I had not shut it properly on coming in, I had only closed it without turning the handle, and I did not feel surprised when it slowly and noiselessly swung open, till it stood right out into the room, concealing the actual doorway from my view. #RandolphHarris 4 of 14
If you think of the door as just hen acting like a screen to the doorway, you will perhaps understand the position better. From where I say I could not have seen anyone entering the room ill he or she had got beyond the door itself. I glanced up, half expecting to see someone come in, but there was no one; the door had swung open of itself. For the moment I sat on, with only the vague thought passing through my mind, “I must shut I before I begin to write.” However, suddenly I found my eyes fixing themselves on the carpet; something had come within their range of vision, compelling their attention in a mechanical sort of way. What was it? I rubbed my eyes and the wavy something that kept gliding, rippling in, gradually assumed a more substantial appearance. It was—yes, I suddenly became convinced of it, it was rippled of soft silken stuff, creeping in as if in some mysterious way unfolded or unrolled, not jerkily or irregularly, but glidingly and smoothly, like little wavelets on the sea-shore. And I sat there and gazed. I sat there still, as if bewitched, or under some irresistible influence, I cannot tell, but so it was. And it—came always rippling in, till at last it began to rise as it sill came on, and I saw that a figure, a tall graceful woman’s figure, was slowly advancing, backwards of course, into the room, and that the waves of pale silk—a very delicate shade of pearly grey I think it must have been—were in fact the lower portion of a long court-train, the upper part of which hung in deep folds from the lady’s waist. She moved in—I cannot describe the motion, it was not like ordinary walking or stepping backwards—till the whole of her figure and the clear profile of her face and head were distinctly visible, and when at last she stopped and stood there full in my view just, but only just beyond the door, I saw—it came upon me like a flash, that she was no stranger o me, this mysterious visitant! #RandolphHarris 5 of 14
I recognized, unchanged I seemed to me since the day, twenty-five years ago, when I had last seen her, the beautiful features of Mrs. Winchester. I should not have said unchanged. There was one great change in the sweet face. You remember my telling you that one of Mrs. Winchester’s greatest charms was her bright sunny happiness—she never seemed gloomy or depressed or dissatisfied, seldom even pensive. However, in this respect the face I sat there gazing at was utterly unlike Mrs. Winchester’s. Its expression, as she—or “it”—stood there looking, not towards me, but out beyond, as if at someone or something outside the doorway, was of the profoundest sadness. Anything so sad I have never seen in a human face, and I trust I never may. However, I sat on, as motionless almost as she, gazing at her fixedly, with no desire, no power perhaps, to move or approach more nearly to the phantom. I was not in the least frightened. I knew it was a phantom, but I felt paralyzed and as if I myself had somehow got outside of ordinary conditions. And there I sat—staring at Mrs. Winchester, and there she stood, gazing before her with that terrible, unspeakable sadness in her face, which, even though I felt no fear, seemed to freeze me with a kind of unutterable pity. I do not know how long I had sat thus, or how long I might have continued to sit there, almost as if in a trance, when suddenly I heard the front-door bell ring. It seemed to awaken me. I started up and glanced round, half-expecting that I should find the vision dispelled. But no; she was still there, and I sank back into my seat just as I heard my brother coming quickly upstairs. #RandolphHarris 6 of 14
He came towards the library, and seeing the door wide open walked in, and I, still gazing, saw his figure pass through that of Mrs. Winchester in the doorway as you may walk through a wreath of mist—only, do not misunderstand me, the figure of Mrs. Winchester till that moment had had nothing unsubstantial about it. She had looked to me, as she stood there, literally and exactly like a living woman—the shade of her dress, the colour of her hair, the few ornaments she wore, all were as defined and clear as a real person, or perhaps became so again as soon as my brother was well within the room. He came forward, addressing me by name, but I answered him in a whisper, begging him to be silent and to sit down on the seat opposite me for a moment or two. He did so, though he was taken aback by my strange manner, for I still kept my eyes fixed on the door. I had a queer consciousness that if I looked away it would fade, and I waned to keep cool and see what would happen. I asked George in a low voice if he saw nothing, but though he mechanically followed the direction of my eyes, he shook his head in bewilderment. And for a moment or two he remained thus. Then I began to notice that the figure was growing less clear, as if it were receding, yet without growing smaller to the sight; it grew fainter and vaguer, the colours grew hazy. I rubbed my eyes once or twice with a half idea that my long watching was making them misty, but it was not so. My eyes were not at fault—slowly but surely Sarah Winchester, or her ghost, melted away, ill all trace of her was gone. #RandolphHarris 7 of 14
I saw again the familiar pattern of the carpet where she had stood and the objects of the room that had been hidden by her draperies—all again in the most commonplace way: but she was gone, quite gone. Then George, seeing me relax my intense gaze, began to question me. I told him exactly what I have told you. He answered, as every common-sensible person of course would, that it was strange, but that such things did happen sometimes, and were classed by the wise under the head of “optical delusions.” I was not well, perhaps, he suggested. Been overworking? Had I not better see a doctor? However, I shook my head. I was quite well, and I said so. And perhaps he was right, it might be an optical delusion only. I had never had any experience of such things. “Poor” Mrs. Winchester I cannot help calling her. I heard of her indirectly, and probably, but for the sadness of her story, I should never have heard it at all. It was a friend of her husband’s family who had mentioned the circumstances in the hearing of a friend of mine, and one day something brought round the conversation to old times, and he startled me by suddenly enquiring if I remembered Sarah Winchester. I said, of course, I did. Did he know anything of her? And then he told me. She was dead—she had died some months after a long and trying illness, the result of a terrible accident. Something happened one evening when dressed for some grand entertainment or other, and though her injuries did not seem likely to be fatal at the time, she had never recovered the shock. “She was so pretty,” my friend said, “and one of the saddest parts of it is she could have not been any older than twenty when she passed away in 1922. She was such a sweet and bright lady.” #RandolphHarris 8 of 14
We all thought the she had finished construction of her mansion and moved up north to build another one. I did not tell him my story, for I did not want it chattered about, but a strange sort of shiver ran through me at his words. Not everyone was in agreement that the specters in the Winchester mansion had all been angry spirits or a delusion of the Devil. It having been represented to us that a most horrible witchcraft or possession of Devils hath invested several towns in Our Province of California under your government, and that divers persons have been convicted of witchcraft, like the Prison’s of the River, in Sacramento, California; some whereof have confessed their guilt, but others being of a known and good reputation these proceedings had caused a great dissatisfaction among our good subjects, for which reason you have put a stop thereunto until Our Pleasure should be known concerning the same, We therefore until Our Pleasure should be known concerning the same, We therefore approving of your care and circumspection herein have thought fit to signify Our Will and Pleasure, as We do hereby will and require you to give all necessary directions that in all proceedings against persons accused for witchcraft or being possessed by the Devil the greatest moderation and all due circumspection be used, so far as the same may be without impediment to the ordinary course of justice within Our said Province. And so We bid your very heartily farewell. Given at the Winchester Mansion the 15th day of April, 1947, in the fifth year of Our Reign. By Her Majesty’s Command. #RandolphHarris 9 of 14
Although the topic of witchcraft was now explosively controversial in California, nobody was to deny that people practiced it, and there was still some interest in investigating it. There are therefore references to it in many of the sermons in the 19th century. However, after the Winchester mansion was opened for tour, the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Winchester was thought to be paranormal and a circular letter was sent by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company to investigate the collection of more instances of “remarkable providences” (these would include unusual natural phenomena as well as the preternatural). Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings in the Winchester mansion, on stones in the basement on the walls in the dressing room, in the monstrous or marvelous paintings in forbidden areas of the mansion which interpret to the mystical the inspired secrets of Mrs. Winchester, in the cryptic emblems of her old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practiced at reception by this secret society, there were found indications of a doctrine which was everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed. It is likewise to be understood, those who are desirous to raise any souls of the dead, ought to select those places wherein these kind of souls are most known to be conversant; or by some alliance alluring the souls into their forsaken bodies, or by some kind of affection in times impressed in them in their life, drawing the souls to certain places, things, or persons; or by the forcible nature of some place fitted and prepared to purge or punish these souls: which places for the most part are to be known by he appearance of visions, nightly incursions, and apparitions. #RandolphHarris 10 of 14
Mrs. Winchester lists convincing evidence that her experience of witchcraft extended well beyond what she had committed to writing: I know a young man who had gone so far as to get ready a Covenant with Satan, written all of it in his own blood. However, before the signing of it, the sinful, I was made the happy instrument of his deliverance. As soon was this man was left alone in the mansion, the devil, imagining that he had found the right moment for breaking his courage, incontinently roused up his own chosen vessel, who appeared to have reposed longer than usual. Having beheld this from afar, he grew stiff with terror by reason of his being alone; but soon recovering his courage, and no place of refuge being at hand, he valiantly withstood the onset of the fiend, who came rushing upon him with a terrible noise, and he struck the axe which he wielded in his hand deep into his body. On receiving this wound, the monster groaned aloud and turning his back, fled with a rapidity not at all inferior to that with which he had advanced, while the admirable man urged his flying foe from behind, and compelled him to seek his own tomb again; which opening of its own accord, and receiving its guest from the advance of the pursuer, immediately appeared closed again. Hence it is that the souls of the dead are not to be called up without blood or by the application of some part of their relict body. In the raising therefore of these shadows, we are to perfume with new blood the bones of the dead, and with flesh, eggs, milk, honey, and oil, which furnish the soul with a medium apt to receive its body. Gosh, it must be terrible to know you witnesses something, but that you will never be able to remember it or tell anyone about it. #RandolphHarris 11 of 14
I know a woman whose brother was tortured with a cruel, pricking, incurable pain in the crown of his head, which continued until there was found with her a puppet in wax, resembling him, with a pin pricked into the head of it, which being take out her recovered immediately. He goes on about demons. A demon killed his wife, he says, and just expects me to believe it. However, what he looks like to me is someone who let grief turn him into a monster. Whatever happened to his wife, it does not excuse what he had done. He attacks, kills, then springs away before anyone can react. Wicked sorceries have been practised in the land, and, in the late inexplicable storms from the invisible World thereby brought upon us, we were left by the just hand of Heaven unto those errors whereby great hardships were brough upon innocent persons, and (we fear) guilt incurred which we have all cause to bewail with much confusion of face before the Lord. We confess that we ourselves were not capable to understand nor able to withstand the mysterious delusions of the Powers of Darkness and Prince of the Air, but were, for want of knowledge in ourselves and better information from others, prevailed with to take up with such evidence against the accused as on further consideration and better information we justly fear was insufficient for the touching the lives of any, whereby we fear we have been instrumental with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon ourselves and this People of the Lord the guilt of innocent blood, which sin the Lord saith in scripture He would not pardon (2 Kings 24.4), that we suppose, in regard of His temporal judgments. #RandolphHarris 12 of 14
I know a person who, missing anything, would use to sit down and muter a certain charm, and then immediately by an invisible hand ben directly led unto the place where the thing was to be found. turquoise carvings placed in Native American graves to attract good spirits and guard the grave. Also, turquoise tied onto a bow was supposed to make you shoot more accurately. The body of saints often times cannot be found when their graves are dug up because their bones were frequently interred in the cornerstones of cathedrals, so their spirits would guard the holy location. Unwilling sacrifices would be more likely to become angry spirits instead of guarding. Canaanites sacrificed infants and put them in the foundations of houses and temples. “At the cost of his first-born shall he se up its gates,” reports Joshua 6.26. Bones were discovered in the basement of the original farm house that was engulfed as part of this estate during the expansion. Sightings of Hell Hounds date back to 1888. Some reports say the creatures are threatening. The Victorian parklike grounds seem to breed sightings of big wolf creatures or beast at night. Since the legends have been uncovered, many people have reported seeing a big black wolf and two men walking around the Winchester mansion at night, even when it is closed. Four kids and a police officer allegedly disappeared after climbing the gate to get a closer look one night. Nearly 134 years of sightings. These people are probably sadly deluded and mistaken, their minds are more likely disquieted and distressed, and we do therefore humbly beg forgiveness, first of God for Christ’s sake for this error, and pray that God would not impute the guilt of it to ourselves nor others. And we also pray that we may be considered candidly and aright by the living suffers as being then under the power of a strong and general delusion, utterly unacquainted with and not experienced in matters of that nature. #RandolphHarris 13 of 14
I know a woman who upon uttering some words over very painful hurts and sores did use instantly to cure them, unto the amazement of the spectators. Now, thought I, if this wretch can effectually employ Devils to cure hurts, why may not she to cause them also, which is the worst that the witches do? The matter being so dark and perplexed as that there is no present appearance that all God’s servants should be altogether of one mind in all circumstances touching the same and believing the Devil’s accusations. These practices and principles have been the beginner and procurer of the sores afflictions, not to Llanda Villa only, but to this whole country, that did ever befall them. It should be noted in passing that Llanda Villa’s attorneys have concluded that these peoples visions and afflictions are due to illness caused by demonic possession. No specters evidence may be hereafter accounted valid or sufficient to take away the life or good name of any person or persons within this province. God hath a controversy with us about what was done in the time of the witchcraft. I fear that innocent blood hath been shed, and that many have had their hands defiled therewith. Public acknowledgement of guilt, and humiliation for it, and the more particularly and personally it is done by all that have been actors, the more pleasing it will be to God and more effectual to turn away his judgments from the land, and to prevent his wrath from falling upon the persons and families of such as have been most concerned. Moreover, if it be true, as I have been often informed, that families of such as were condemned for supposed witchcraft have been ruined by taking away and making havoc of their estates and leaving them nothing for their relief, I believe the whole country of lies under a curse to this day, and will do till some effectual course be taken by our honored governor and Supreme Court to make them some amends and reparations. #RandolphHarris 14 of 14
Winchester Mystery House
Get in the Halloween spirit and celebrate the first weekend of October 2021 at the Winchester Mystery House! Our All Hallows’ Eve tickets are selling fast so be sure to grab them while you can 👻
🎟️link in bio. winchestermysteryhouse.com
Do Not Threaten the Eternal Crown–This Money Came from His Family’s Estate!
If the populace were to govern itself and there were nothing interposed between the administration of the state and the citizens, they would have to assess themselves on occasion, in proportion to the public needs and the abilities of private individuals. And since no one would ever lose sigh of the payment or the use of funds, neither fraud nor abuse could slip into the management of them. The state would never be weighed down with debts, nor would the populace be crushed by taxes; or at least the assurance of how it would be used would console the people for hardship of the tax. However, things cannot happen this way; and however limited a state may be, the civil society is always too populous to be capable of being governed by all its members. Public funds must necessarily pass through the hands of the leaders who all have over and above the interest of the state, their own private interest, which is not the last to be heard. The populace, for its part, perceiving the leaders’ greed and ridiculous expenditures more than public needs, grumbles about seeing itself despoiled of necessity to furnish someone else with superfluities. And when once these manoeuvres have embittered it to a certain degree, the most honourable administration would utterly fail to reestablish confidence. If contributions are voluntary, in such circumstances, they produce nothing. If hey are forced, they are illegitimate. And the difficulty of a just and wise economy lies in the cruel alternatives of allowing that state to perish or attacking the sacred right to property which is its underpinning. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
The first thing to be done by the founder of the republic, after the establishment of the laws, is to find a sufficient fund for the maintenance of the magistrates and other officers, and for all public expenditures. If it consists of money, and public domain, if it consists of land, this fund is called aerarium or fisc. And the latter is far preferable to the former for reasons that are not hard to see. Anyone who has reflected enough on this matter could hardly be of any other opinion than the of Bodin, who views the public domain as the most upright and the most secure of all the means of providing for the needs of the state. It is worth noting that Romulus’ first concern in the division of the lands was to set aside a third of the land for this use. I confess that it is not impossible for the proceeds of a badly administered state to be reduced to nothing. However, it is not of the essence of the domain to be administered poorly. Prior to any use that fund, it ought to be assigned or accepted by the assembly of the people or the estates of the country, which should then determine its use. After this solemnity which renders this fund inalienable, it changes its nature, as it were, and its revenues becomes so sacred that diverting the least amount to detriment of its destination is not only the most infamous of all thefts but a crime of high treason. It is a great dishonour for Rome that the integrity of the quaestor Cato had been a subject of conversation, and that an emperor, on rewarding a singer’s talent with a few crowns, needed to add that money came from his family’s estate and not from the state’s. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
However, if there are not many like Galba, where will we find Catos? And once vice is no longer a cause for dishonour, what leaders will be scrupulous enough to refrain from getting their hands on the public funds left to their discretion, and not eventually fool themselves by pretending to confuse their vain and scandalous dissipations with the glory of the state, and the means of extending their authority with those of increasing its power? It is above all in this delicate part of the administration that virtue is the only effective instrument, and that the integrity of the magistrate is the only restrain capable of containing one’s greed. Books and all the ledgers of managers seems less to reveal their infidelities than to cover them up. And prudence is never as prompt at imagining new precautions as knaves are at eluding them. Therefore forget about the ledgers and papers, and place the finances in faithful hands; this is the only way to have them faithfully administered. Once the public fund is established, the leaders of the state are rightfully its administrators, for this administration constitutes a part of the government, always essential, though not always equally so. Its influence increases in proportion to the decrease of the influence of the other parts of the government. Once could say that a government has reached its final degree of corruption when the only thing left of its sinews is money. For since every government constantly tends toward diminution, this reason alone shows why no state can subsist if its revenues do not constantly increase. The first experience of the necessity of this argument is also the first sign of the interior disorder of the state. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
And the wise administrator, in giving though to finding money in order to see to present need, does not neglect to seek the distant cause of this new need, just as a sailor, on seeing water flood his vessel, does not forget, while working the pumps, to take steps to find and plug the leak. From this rule flows the most important maxim of the administration of finances, which is to work with much greater care to prevent needs than to augment revenues. However, diligent one might be, help that comes only after the misfortune took place, and more slowly, always leaves the state in distress. While one gives thought to the remedy for one problem, another problem is already making itself felt, and the resources themselves produce new difficulties. Thus in the end the nation is thrown into debt, the populace is downtrodden, the government loses all its vigour and it spends a great deal of money doing not much of anything. I believe it was from this great and well established maxim that the marvels of ancient governments flowed, which did more with their parsimony than ours do with all their treasures. And it is perhaps from this that the standard meaning of the word economy is derived, which denotes more the wise management of what one has, than the means of acquiring what one does not have. What deepens the identity crisis of the corporation still further is the emergence, against this already unsettling background, of a Worldwide movement demanding not merely modest changes in this or that corporate policy but a deep redefinition of its purposes. In the United States of America, public anger at corporations is beginning to well up at a frightening rate. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
A study by Harvard Business School whose findings sent tremours throughout the corporate World, revealed about half of all consumer polled believe they are getting worse treatment in the marketplace than they were a decade earlier; three fifths say that products have deteriorated; over half mistrust product guarantees. A worried businessman said, “It feels like siting on a San Andreas fault.” Worse yet, growing numbers of people are not simply disenchanted, irritated or angry, but irrationally and erratically afraid of new technologies and business ventures. Public confidence in American corporation is lower than at any time since the Great Depression. American business and the accounting profession are being called on the carpet for a kind of zero-based rejustification of just about everything we do. Corporate performance is being measured against new and unfamiliar norms. Similar tendencies are visible in Scandinavia, Western Europe, and even, sotto voce, in the socialist industrial nations. In Japan, as Toyota’s official magazine puts it, “A citizens’ movement of a type never before seen in Japan is gradually gathering momentum, one that criticizes the way corporations disrupt everyday life.” Certainly corporations have come under scorching attack at other times in their history. Much of today’s clamour of complaint, however, is crucially different and arises from the emerging values and assumptions of Third Wave civilization, not the dying industrial past. Throughout the Second Wave era corporations have been seen as economic units, and the attacks on them have essentially focused on economic issues. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
Critics assail corporations for underpaying working, overcharging customers, forming cartels to fix prices, making shoddy goods, and a thousand other economic transgressions. However, no matter how violent, most of these critics accept the corporation’s self-definition: they share the view of the corporation as an inherently economic institution. Today’s corporate critics start from a totally different premise. They attack the artificial divorce of economics from politics, morality, and the other dimensions of life. They hold the corporation increasingly responsible, not merely for its economic performance but for its side effects on everything from air pollution to executive stress. Corporations are thus assailed for asbestos poisoning, for using poor, marginalized, rare and/or oppressed populations as test subjects, for distorting the development of the non-industrial World, for racism, sexism, for secrecy and deception. They are pilloried for supporting unsavory regimes or political parties, from the fascist generals in Washington D.C and the racists in Sacramento to the Community party controlling the State of California and the mostly fake news media. What is at issue here is not whether such charges are justified—all too often they are. What is far more important is the concept of the corporation they imply. For the Third Wave brings with it a rising demand for a new kind of institution altogether—a corporation no longer responsible simply for making a profit or producing goods but for simultaneously contributing to the solution of extremely complex ecological, moral, political, racial, sexual, and social problems. Instead of clinging to a sharply specialized economic function, the corporation, prodded by criticism, legislation, and its own concerned executives, is becoming a multipurpose institution. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
God sees your good moves. Do not fear the judgment of Humankind, My dear Devout, especially when your conscience judges you innocent and returns a verdict of not guilty. Rather, cast your heart firmly in the Lord. Your Heavenly Father does not dwell on the times you reached the point where you were so unhappy and without hope that you could not feel any worse. “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace,” Ephesians 6.14-15. You need the breastplate of God’s approval. Every morning, no matter how you feel, no matter what you may have done wrong the day before, you can get up and says, “Father, I thank You that You approve me, and that You are pleased with me. I thank You that I am forgiven. I know that I am a friend of God.” If you will do that, you will be amazed at what begins to happen. God will change your whole self-image, and remove the heavy load of guilt and condemnation will be lifted off you. God will restore your joy, and bless you with the ability to go out and enjoy your day with a Godly attitude. However, when the tongue of another stings, know two things. First, that something good and blessed may actually have happened. Second, that your trust in God as opposed to yourself cushioned the blow. Putting on the breastplate of God’s approval does not happen automatically; it is something we must do. Just as we put on our clothes every morning, we need to get up and consciously put on God’s approval. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
One of the worst mistakes we can make is to go through life disapproving of ourselves. Nothing will plunge you into defeat any quicker than being negative and critical toward yourself. “I do not know why I cannot do anything right?” “Why can I not get over this habit?” “How come I can not break this cycle of oppression and poverty?” Many people can blither and blather, but they are no more convincing at the end of an hour than at the beginning. Of course, satisfying everybody is never really possible. As the Great Paul reported in First Corinthians, he strove to do it in the Lord (10.33), and the Lord made him all things to all men (9.22). Nevertheless, he thought it pretty small beer when he received good reports from his peers (4.3). Paul did about as much as any one person could do for the edification and salvation of others. However, try though he did, he knew that he could not prevent himself from offending others. The best remedy was to commit himself totally to God, who knew all his strengths and weaknesses. With Patience and Humility as his only allies, then, he was able to defend himself against whatever mouthings came from the thinking crowd and whatever hurlings came from the drinking crowd. And there was another reason why he responded; his silence could be interpreted, at least in the minds of the weak, as admission of guilt. God sees in you what He made you to become. He knows you can live up to your full potential. God did not create anyone to fail. He will keep working on you and make you into the person he wants you to be. God can see your heart, but humans look at the outside. You have gifts and talents that nobody else has. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
Stop thinking about what you cannot do and look at what you can do. If I may use the words of God’s Isaiah (51.12), who are you that you should fear Mere Mortal Man? He is here today but gone tomorrow. If I may use the words of God’s First Maccabist (2.63). Fear God, yes, but do not lose your water over humanmade terrors. What real harm can insults or injuries do you? The tout or the lout who specializes in this sort of behaviour actually does more harm to oneself than to you. And that is in this life; in the next, there is nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. The judgment of God awaits one, no matter who one is; Paul assured the Romans of that (2.3). The remedy? Put God in first place. And do not waste time and energy tossing quarrelsome words about. Good advice from Paul in his Second to Timothy (2.14). However, what happens in the present moment if you do not succumb to concussion and suffer contusion you do not deserve? First off, do not get indignant, and do not threaten your eternal crown by outbursts of all, God the One who will rescue you from all confusion. And God is the One who will reward you according to your just deserts. God’s Paul assured the Romans of that (2.6), and so He assures you. The Scripture says, “Be confident of this. He that began a good work in you will continue to perform it until it is perfectly complete,” reports Philippians 1.6. God is never going to quit working on us. He is not going to get halfway through and say, “I am tired of dealing with you.” “You keep making that same mistake.” “You have got so many faults, I have had it with you.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
No, God is going to keep working on you until you are more valuable than all the diamonds in the Universe. In fact, you already are! You just have to come into your full potential and you will see what God already sees about you. Therefore, keep persevering. Do not allow the devil to keep replaying your mistake, distorting your legacy, slandering your character. One day the legendary artist Michelangelo was standing in front of a huge rock. With his hammer and chisel, he was working on the rock, in the beginning stages of sculpting it into a piece of art. He knew it was going to be a long, drawn-out process. Somebody came along and said, “What are you doing wasting your time working on that big piece of junk?” Michelangelo said, “There is a beautiful angel trapped in this rock, and I am doing my best to let him out.” The master artist saw something that other people could not see because they did not have the talent and the skill and the vision to create. Michelangelo’s David state is what he ended up creating and it has captivated the World for centuries. It is considered one of art history’s major master pieces. The fine detail make it look like a 17-foot-tall marble made with the perfect body, gorgeous hair, and the exquisite facial features known to man. It was all formed from a single block of marble between 1501 and 1504, and weighs six tons. The sculpture portrays David, a biblical figure. In a particularly well-known narrative (1 Samuel 17), David battles Goliath, a colossal Philistine. Against all odds, an unarmored David knocks down his enemy. The statue of David symbolizes unwavering courage, unexpected strength, and biblical perseverance that a nation should see in itself. And that is what God sees in us. One may have made a lot of mistakes, but stay focused on what you can become and God will get you where you need to be. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
God sees you are a valuable son or daughter whom He created in His own image. He is not done working on your yet. God loves you, He approves of you, and God’s approval is something He put in you before the foundation of the World. It is not based on your achievements or performance. It is based solely on the fact that you are His child and He sees the best in you. God accepts you. God approves you. There is nothing you can do and there is nothing anybody else can do that will ever change your value in God’s eyes. Father, I thank You that You have already accepted and approved of me. I may not be perfect, but I am trying, and I am going out today with my head held high, knowing that You are in the process of changing me. Four missionaries—Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson—knew they must leas their new friends in Kirtland and continue their journey westward to preach to the Indians. Doctor Frederick G. Williams, who had been baptized at Kirtland, went with them. They stopped several days and preached to the Wyandotte Indians in Ohio. On December 20, 1830, they left Cincinnati, Ohio, by boat to go to St. Louis, Missouri. Because the weather turned cold and ice blocked the river, their boat docked at Cairo, Illinois, and these men walked two hundred miles to St. Louis. This was not unusual. Many travelers walked in those says. They had walked most of the way from New York and people along the way opened their homes to give them food and shelter. God had sent them on a mission to preach to the Lamanites (Indians), and they were anxious to reach the western land. The winter was very cold, and there would be no boat to western Missouri until spring, but not one of them suggested waiting until spring. They walked. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
The worst snowstorms the country had ever seen raged through Missouri as these men walked the two hundred and fifty miles from St. Louis to Independence. Many mornings it was twelve degrees below zero, and it snowed day after day until the snow was four feet deep. There were few roads in those days. Though sometimes there were trials the humans could follow, most of the time they walked in knee-deep snow across trackless land. At times they walked days before they saw a house. They carried their extra clothing, books, and food on their backs. Their food consisted of frozen bread and pork, and at time the bread was so frozen they could bite off only pieces of the outside crust. However, they kept going and God was with them. Their mission was inspired by Jesus Christ, and they were protected and happy even though it was difficult journey. They arrived in the tiny western Missouri town of Independence on January 31, 1831, after walking nearly a month in the terrible winter storms. Two of the men immediately started a tailor shop in Independence, where they made clothing. Three of them, including Oliver Cowdery and Parley Pratt, crossed into Kansas which was Indian territory, to take the angel message to the Lamanites. There they were taken to the chief of the Delaware Indians, a man who had long been the chief and was called the Great Grandfather. He was seated on a sofa of furs, skins, and blankets before a fire in the center of his two-room cabin. The chief welcomed the missionaries and motioned for them to sit down on blankets and robes. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
The Indian women brought a tin pan full of beans and corn cooked together. This tasted very good, but there was just one wooden spoon so the man had to take turns eating. One of the Indians understood English, and he could interpret what the missionaries said to the old chief. The men told the chief about the Book of Mormon and asked him to call a council of his Indians. At first the chief refused, but after they explained more about the book, he was interested and called his Indians together. Within an hour forty Indians came and shook hands with the missionaries and sat around them. Oliver Cowdery then talked to them in the words they could understand. “Chief and members of the council,” he said, “we are glad to talk to you as our native brothers and friends. We have come a long way from the rising sun to being you glad news, across he rivers and through the deep snows so you might know the things which will do the native man good as well as the pilgrims. “Once the natives were many, and the land from the rising to the setting sun was theirs, for the Great Spirit gave it to them. There were no pilgrims then, but now the natives are few, they are por and the pilgrims many. “Thousands of moons ago when the native man lived in peace in this land, the Great Spirit talked with them and taught them his law and his will. They wrote these things in a book which was written on plates of gold and handed down from father to son for many ages. The people were wealthy and strong and mighty. However, they became wicked and killed each other. They killed the wise men and the prophets of the Great Spirit, and tried to destroy the book. The Great Spirit was angry and would speak to them no more. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
“The Great Spirit commanded Mormon and Moroni—their last wise men and prophets to hide the book in the Earth so it might be saved. He promised that later it would be given to the pilgrims who would come to the land that they might again bring it to the native man so they might learn the Will of the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit promised that if the native man would receive the book and learn the things written in it and do them, they would be happy again and live in peace. Then the native man would become great with plenty to eat and good clothes to wear, and find favour with the Great Spirit and be His children.” Oliver then explained how Joseph Smith had prayed to the Great Spirit, and how the angel told him about the book. It was written in the language of the native man’s forefathers so that young man could not read it. However, the angel gave him a way to translate the book so it could be written on paper, and be printed, and now there were thousands of copies of the book. Oliver gave the chief a Book of Mormon. The Indians talked this over in their own language. Then the chief said the missionaries, “We are truly thankful to our pilgrim friends who have come so far to tell us the good news of our forefathers. It makes us feel glad in here,” and he placed his hand over his heart. The Indian chief promised they would build a council house where the missionaries could teach the Indians. Several of the Indians could read, and they were given copies of the Book of Mormon. The Indians were so interested that the government men in charge of the Indians were distributed. They forbade the missionaries to preach to the Indians any more and ordered them to leave the Indian country. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
The three men then returned to Independence to preach to pilgrim men, some of them who believed and were baptized. Though the missionaries could not preach again these Indians, they felt they had accomplished much as now Indians in New York, in Ohio, and in Kansas had heard the story of heir forefathers. They hoped they might teach them more at a later time. The next month Parley Pratt was sent back to New York to reports on their work and to get more copies of the Book of Mormon, because they had given away all they had brought with them. The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father; and He is distinct from the Son, according to the words, “I will ask My Father, and He will give you another Paraclete,” reports John 14.16. Therefore in God another procession exists besides the procession of the Word. There are two processions in God; the procession of the Word, and another. In evidence whereof we must observe that procession exists in God, only according to an action which does not tend to anything external, but remains in the agent itself. Such an action in an intellectual nature is that of the intellect, and of the will. The procession of the Word is by way of an intelligible operation. The operation of the will within ourselves involves also another procession, that of love, whereby the object loved is in the lover; as, by the conception of the word, the object spoken of or understood is in the intelligent agent. Hence, besides the procession of the Word in God, there exists in Him another procession called the procession of love. There is no need to go out infinitude in the divine processions; for the procession which is accomplished within the agent in an intellectual nature terminates in the procession of the will. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
All that exists in God, is God; whereas the same does not apply to others. Therefore the divine nature is communicated by every procession which is not outward, and this does not apply to other natures. Though will and intellect are not diverse in God, nevertheless the nature of will and intellect requires the processions belonging to each of them to exist in a certain order. For the procession of love occurs in due order as regards the procession of the Word; since nothing can be loved by the will unless it is conceived in the intellect. So as there exists a certain order of the Word to the principle whence He proceeds, although in God the substance of the intellect and its concept are the same; so, although in God the will and the intellect are the same, still, inasmuch as love requires by its very nature that it proceeds only from the concept of the intellect, there is a distinction of order between the procession of love and the procession of the Word in God. Many additional-more perplexing—studies have accumulated on the links between religion and altruism and between religion and prejudice. Most of the studies of altruistic behaviour have observed people’s willingness to help in minor emergencies—to mail an addressed lost letter found on the sidewalk, to call the garage for a stranded motorist who just spent her only spare change calling the wrong number, to assist someone in an adjacent room who was heard to fall off a ladder. However, there is no evidence that [highly religious people] are any more likely than he less religious to help someone in need. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
The more religious may see themselves as more helpful and caring; they may even been seen this way by others. However, when it comes to action, there is no evidence that they are more helpful. Other research asks, Who are the long-term altruists? Who gives most generously of time and money? Most of America’s top philanthropists are religious: Jewish, Mormon, Protestant, and Catholic. And most attribute their philanthropic urges at least in part to their religious background. It is not just the superrich and generous. Americans who said they never attended church or synagogue reported giving away 1.1. percent of their incomes. Weekly attenders were two and a half times as generous. This 24 percent of the population gave 48 percent of all charitable contributions. The other three-quarters of Americans gave the remaining half. Follow-up surveys in 2015, 2020, and 2021 confirmed the faith-philanthropy correlation. A half dozen national surveys also reveal that faith is linked to volunteerism. Charitable and social-service volunteering was reported by 28 percent of those who rated religion “not very important” in their lives and by 50 percent of those who rated it “very important.” People who think Godliness unrelated to goodliness might also want to consider: Who most often adopts children? Who sponsors the nation’s food pantries and soup kitchens? Who first took medicine into the developing World and opened hospitals? Who sheltered orphans? Who spread literacy and established schools and universities? And who led movements to abolish the slave trance, end apartheid, and establish civil rights? Let no one be smug. It is true that many are good without God, that many believers go to sleep behind bars each night, and that toxic religion can undergird terrorism. #RandolphHaris 17 of 18
Yet the accumulating evidence indicates that, in general, faith tethers self-interest and nurtures character. Godliness and goodliness do seem more than typographically linked. Ice mountain melted ages ago, and made this ridge, this place changes. Now we are rooted in it, we of the old ones, we of the new ones from afar; oatgrass meadow, dougals fir thicket, we are rooted in the ridge of changes in the time of changes. The winds carry strange smells; this is a day of change. Great ones above and below, please bless us! O shining One above, please feed us with your light! O soft ones, sky darkeners, please wash us with your raindrops! O powers above us, bless us with your gift, for we reach up to you, branching wood and sap. O Earthmother from whom we grow, sandy gravel into whom our roots branch wood and sap deep down, bless us in our night-sleep, in our death and decay. Please bless us, dark Earth as we give back that which we have received as we make a forest of blessing a ridge of blessing for the future to grow upon. For those of old who went Thy wars to fight whole-hearted, in their hands Thy saving might; chosen when gathering in their palms the water—save them for ever faithful in Thy sight, save them, our Father. For him, that only son, who crushed the foe, sacred from birth, a Nazarite to grow, for whom from out a jaw-bone gushed forth water—Save! even for Thine holy name save now! Please save us, our Father. For his sake who is favour yet grew on when through their sinfulness the throngs had gone; who, turning men from sin, spake: “Now draw water”—please save her more fair than America when she shone, please save her, our Father. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
Cresleigh Homes
Dining in the big house or the small house tonight? We’ll be serving fruit snacks and goldfish crackers in the small house…😂
The best floorplans include space for all the indoor and outdoor fun your family needs! We’re loving the open, spacious flow of the Mills Station Residence 4 home!
Residence Four at Mills Station boasts 2,692 square feet in the largest home in the community. The open concept design includes four bedrooms, three and one half bathrooms and a two car garage plus workshop.
The Home Hub, located off the entry, can be used as a study, office, or kids play room. The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters and opens onto the spacious great room.
Upstairs you’ll find the Owner’s retreat, two bedrooms, and the loft perfect for a game room or TV lounge. The Owner’s retreat is spacious and inviting with a large bedroom and spa like bathroom featuring a free-standing soaking tub, walk-in shower, dual vanities, and large walk-in closet.
Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Google Mini to help connect everything together! https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-4/
Scatter the Peoples Who Want War!
Cyclamens were my wife’s favourite flowers and I reproached myself for so rarely remembering to being her flowers, which was what she liked. Forgetting is very often determined by an unconscious purpose and it always enables one to deduce the secret intentions of the person who forgets. A young woman was accustomed to receiving a bouquet of flowers from her husband on her birthday. One year his token of his affection failed to appear, and she burst into tears. Her husband came in and had no idea why she was crying till she told him that today was her birthday. He clasped his hand to his head and exclaimed: “I am sorry, but I had quite forgotten. I will go out at once and fetch your flowers.” However, she was not to be consoled; for she recognized that her husband’s forgetfulness was proof that she no longer had the same place in his thoughts as she had formerly. This lady, Bianca, had met my wife two days before, and told her that she was feeling quite well and enquired after me. Some year ago she had come to me for treatment. A flower is a symbol of love, Eros, friendship and joy. Although we may not be perfect, God wants us to feel God about ourselves. He knows we are going to make mistakes, but he is not focusing on our mistakes and weaknesses, but what we did right. God is pleased with His creation. As long as we preserver, making a point to do as well as we can, we can be confident, having faith that God is leading us to success. However, there are times in our lives when we may be a bit sad, tired, and overcome by problems. Maybe some of us are experiencing some bad habits we need to let go of, but do not become overwhelmed by guilt and condemnation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 16
Sometimes things in life may wreak havoc with our affections. What is true today is false tomorrow—that sort of thing. Will you or nill you, that is the rhythm of life, so long as you shall live. You are happy one moment; the next thing you know, you are sad. At peace, then in an uproar. Fervent, then tepid. Studious, then stupid. Serious, then supercilious. However, the wise person who is well instructed in the ways of the spirit is not swayed by the huffs and puffs of the Mutables. One pays little attention to the flips and flops of affections within. Nor does one care from which corner of the chart the wind of instability blows. All one does is bend one’s mind to the task at hand; that is to say, to make progress toward the vowed and desired destination. How can one remain firm of purpose through the topsy-turvy of a lifetime? Simply by placing one eye on the intention and the other eye on the Lord. Repent and make an hones effort to change and know that God is in the process of helping you achieve your goals. The purer the eye of intention, the longer the glass through which it peers. However, even the long glass, pure as its intention is, will dawdle at the middle distance when something delightful presents itself. A dipping caravel, for example, laden with cloth and silk, sugar and diamonds, heading for Antwerp. Self-seeking leaves strawberry makes on the soul, and rare is the person without them. Self-seeking always damages the sight of the soul, and rare is the person who has the vision one was born with. Always aim the lens in the right direction and focus it at the farthest point. That is where you will find God. If not, try cleansing the lens. #RandolphHarris 2 of 16
Because if you are constantly at strife within yourself, feeling you are not good enough, your spiritual progress will be thwarted. You may not be the best at the things you set out to do, but what matters is that you are trying. Living with a heavy heart, feeling down about yourself will keep you from becoming the success that God want you to be. You have to learn to love yourself as you are. For no one on this planet is perfect. We all have things in our lives we need to improve upon. Do not go wasting your time and affection on wordlings whose only thought is to stack high and deep the things of the World. Instead, praise God with great reverence and great warmth. When I feel God next to me, everything seems to go swimmingly. However, when I think God is out and about, I plummet like a rock. God brings the heart to tranquillity and certain festival joyfulness. Pleasure with God near, how sweet it is! Please with God nowhere to be found, how brief it is! Pleasure for us Devouts can be had, only if the Lord has something to do with it. Either that, or God’s grace has to be an ingredient somewhere in the mix, perhaps a soupcon of sapience. When one of us has a moment of happiness with God, it has an unexpected effect. The res of creation seems to have this pleasant patina on it. Who is there in the World to whom God has not already been a cause of delight? Alas, there are quite a few. They are the Worldly wise and the fleshly wise, but when it comes to God’s wisdom, they are noways wise. Paul advised the Romans on this very point (8.6). However, wherever they are, Vanity runs riot, and Death hands in the air. And where are Your followers, O Lord? If anywhere, they are off the beaten path making their way through bog and fen; that is to say, up to their hips in Contempt of the World and Mortification of the Flesh. #RandolphHarris 3 of 16
However, why are these last, at least by some, generally recognized as the truly wise persons in this World? Because they have made the pilgrimage from Vanity to Verity, Flesh to Spirit. God has found them, and under the guise of good they find God in creation and praise Him so for all the good in creation. How different, how wildly different, are the pleasures of Creator from the pleasures of the creature! They are as different as Timelessness from time, Uncreated Light from created light. Sadly, many people do not really like themselves They have a war raging within. They are constantly thinking or speaking negatively about themselves. They feel guilty, inferior, they cannot get along with other people. We must learn to accept ourselves, faults and all, if we want to go to a higher level. We have come to grips with the fact that we are going to have some weakness. We will always have some imperfections throughout our lives. When we do not live up to our own unrealistic expectations, we need to give ourselves a break, and not to be so hard and critical on ourselves. Keep in mind that God love you because He made you and He knows everything about you. When an individual learns to overcome being so hard on themselves and others is when God will take one to a new level of success, as He is constantly changing you for the best. When people do not accept themselves and the imperfections they cannot change, they go through life feeling wrong on the inside. That affects how a person’s self-image and how they see the World. This will have an impact on your relationships with others and God. #RandolphHarris 4 of 16
Now, we do not have to accept our mistakes, we can keep trying to change for the better. The most important thing is to have a good heart and be what is righteous. Know that God is still refining people as long as they are on this Earth. Understand God loves you and is pleased with you. My prose begins to turn to prayer. O Perpetual Light, transcending all source of created light! Let the ragged lightning bolt from the sky, search the nooks and crannies of my soul. Purify, glorify, clarify, vivify—with all Your powers—my spirit that it may cling to You with joyful hugs. Oh, when will this blessed and desirable moment come, when we will see each other face to face?! That is the sort of moment Paul wrote about to the Colossians, where everyone—Greek and Jew, slave and slaver, circumcised and uncircumcised, civilized and not so civilized—all are one in Christ (3.11). Why hast it not happened already? How much longer do I have to wait? Up to this point in my sad life, there lives, in a shack out back, the Old Man Paul’ Letters speak of; that is to say, the unregrenerate human who is climbing all over the Cross, but has yet to learn which side is up; one says one’s dying to oneself and to the World but, if one is, it is the longest death scene since Prometheus on the rock! Paul wrote something similar to the Romans (6.6). Up to this point the itch outlasts the scratch; concupiscence attacks the defenses within—Paul to the Galatians (5.17); the quiet kingdom of my heart is aflame with war and the fumes of war. If I may use the words of Psalmist. But You, O Lord, who “dominate the power of the sea, and mitigate the roll of the wave,” (89.9), rise up and help me (44.26). “Scatter the peoples who want war” (68.30). #RandolphHarris 5 of 16
Pulverize them with the engine of Your virtue. Dazzle them with You wonders, I beg You, and Your powerful right hand will be glorified, as Jesus son of Sirach would say (36.6). Why do I want You to do all this? Because there is no other hope our refuge for a boke like me, except in You, my Lord God. Father, sometimes I have a hard time seeing myself the way You see me, so please remind me occasionally through Your Word, or through messages in everyday life. Thank You for making me special, for this royal blood flowing through my veins, and for no giving up on me when I make mistakes or wrong choices. Please keep changing me, making me better, more like You. “O LORD you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, an You are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have beset me and shut me in—behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me. Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it. Where could I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there. If I take the winds of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be [the only] light about me. Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb. #RandolphHarris 6 of 16
“I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colours] in the depths of the Earth [a region of darkness and mystery]. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet here was none of them. How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts o me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You. If You would [only] slay the wicked, O God, and the men of blood depart from me—who speak against You wickedly, Your enemies who take Your name in vain! Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And am I not grieved and do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; they have become my enemies. Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” reports Psalm 139.1-24. Every religion can point to those who exemplify its aspirations. Christianity can point to its Martin Luther Kings and Sarah Winchesters, and Mother Teresas, its Albert Schweitzers, and William Randolph Hearsts, and Desmond Tutus, its contribution to the spread of hospitals and universities and to the abolition of slavery. #RandolphHarris 7 of 16
Yet for many people the most troubling thing about Christianity is some deep philosophical problem. For reasons many of you may recalled, we can live peaceably with impenetrable philosophical puzzles. What troubles us is something more concrete: the behaviour of many people who count themselves as disciples of the one who taught, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” and even “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Every religion is plagued by those who exploit it or their own purposes or embarrass and defame it by their behaviour. Thus every skeptic, and indeed every believer, can point to those whose lives suggest that religion is a sham—those who profess the love of Christ and practice hate, who preach honesty and fail to reports all their income, who proclaim the unity of the church and attack people whose doctrines or values differ from their own, who promote selflessness and are vain to the core, who pretend concern and could not care less. Can the irreligious not be moral? Thus responded skeptics after Senator Joseph Lieberman recalled George Washington’s warning “never to indulge the supposition that ‘morality can be maintained without religion.’” Is America more civil and moral than secular Scandinavia? the skeptics asked. The Swedes may skip church, but they take better care of their poor and their elderly and provide a higher percentage of the national budge to humanitarian efforts than we do. Creation of the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives rejoiced the God-and-goodness debate. The canard that Godliness and goodliness are linked in any way but typographically must be taken on faith, for no evidence supports it. #RandolphHarris 8 of 16
Some Christians have given Christianity a bad name. And then came September 11, 2001. The “insane courage” that enabled this horror supposedly came from religion. If a martyr’s death is equivalent to pressing the hyperspace button and zooming through a wormhole to another Universe, it can make the World a very dangerous place. To fill a World with religion, or religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. There was perhaps a warped religious idea of martyrdom and the afterlife was at work on those ill-fated flights. And it may be true, that religion at its worst can be toxic and superstitious—which is something healthy religion must ever be vigilant about (much as science is vigilant about pseudoscience). However, anecdotes aside—“I can counter the believer-terrorist with believer-humanitarians,” responds the believer—what does the evidence show? Medicine, twisted, can kill people. However, we would want to further evidence before deciding whether medicine is bad. The vivid examples—the worst and the best—capture our attention but do not decide the issue: Do self-professed Christians more than others tend to display the fruit of the Spirit, or their opposites? Is the Christian religion a source more of compassion or intolerance? The extremes—the churchgoing civil rights activists and the churchgoing extremist groups—cancel each other out. So it remains for dispassionate research with ordinary people to help us decide the issue. The evidence shows, first, that faith-rooted values give many people a reason to behave morally when no one is looking. Religions encourage people to seek meaning beyond everyday existence. #RandolphHarris 9 of 16
Religion people exhort people to purse causes greater than their personal desires. The opposed orientation, self-indulgent materialism, seeks happiness in the pursuit and consumption of material goods. In one U.S. national survey, frequent worship attendance predicted lower scores on a dishonesty scale that assessed, for example, self-serving lies, tax cheating, and failing to report damaging a parked car. Moreover, in cities where more than nine in ten people are church members, you can more readily leave your car unlocked than in Seattle, where fewer than a third are. Even the eighteenth-century French writer Voltaire, to whom Christianity was an “infamy” that deserved crushing, found the influence of faith useful among the masses. “I want my attorney, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in God,” he wrote, because “then I shall be robbed and cuckolded less often.” He once silenced a discussion about atheism until he had dismissed the servants, lest in losing their faith they might lose their morality. The University of Pennsylvania criminologist Byron Johnson examined forty religion-delinquency studies, including hi own. His conclusion: “Most delinquent acts were committed by juveniles who had low levels of religious commitment. Those juveniles whose religiosity levels were in the middle to high levels committed very few delinquent acts.” Even when controlling for other factors such as socioeconomic level, neighbourhood, and peer influences, kids who went to church were seldom delinquent. Self-described Christians in the Western World also engage in much less promiscuity of pleasures of the flesh, much less drug and alcohol abuse, and much less violent crime and delinquent behaviour. Because religion-morality links are correlational, the direction of cause and effect is sometimes ambiguous. Nevertheless, such findings hint that when the church is clear and forceful in its ethical prescriptions, it may be influential. #RandolphHarris 10 of 16
The statement in St. Mark that He sat down at the right hand of God we must take as a metaphour: it was indeed, even for the writer, a poetical quotation, from Psalm CX. However, the statement that the holy Shape went up and vanished does not permit the same treatment. What troubles us here is not simply the statement itself but what (we feel sure) the author meant by it. Granted that there are different Natures, different levels of being, distinct but not always discontinuous—granted that Christ withdrew from one of those to another, that His withdrawal from one was indeed the first step in His creation of the other—what precisely should we expect the onlookers to see? Perhaps mere instantaneous vanishing would make us most comfortable. A sudden break between the perceptible and the imperceptible would worry us less than any kind of joint. However, if the spectators say they saw first a short vertical movement and then a vague luminosity (that is what “cloud” presumably means here as it certainly does in the account of the Transfiguration) and then nothing—have we any reason to object? We are well aware that increased distance from the centre of this planet could not in itself be equated with increase of power or beatitude. However, this is only saying that if the movement had no connection with such spiritual events, why then it had no connection with them. Movement (in any direction but one) away from the position momentarily occupied by our moving Earth will certain be to us movement “upwards.” To say that Christ’s passage to a new “Nature” could involve no such movement, or no movement at all, within the “Nature” he was leaving, is arbitrary. #RandolphHarris 11 of 16
Where there is passage, there is departure; and departure is an event in the region from which the traveller is departing. All this, even on the assumption that the Ascending Christ is in a three-dimensional space. If it is not that kind of body, and space is not that kind of space, then we are even less qualified to say what the spectators of this entirely new event might or might not see or feel as if they had seen. There is, of course, no question of a human body as we know it existing in interstellar space as we know it. The Ascension belongs to a New Nature. We are discussing only what the “joint” between the Old Nature and the new, the precise moment of transition, would look like. However, what really worries us is the conviction that, whatever we say, the New Testament writers meant something quite different. We feel sure that they thought they had seen their Masters setting off on a journey for a local “Heaven” where God sat in a throne and where there was another throne waiting for Him. And I believe that in a sense that is just what they did think. And I believe that, for this reason, whatever they had actually seen (sense perception, almost by hypothesis, would be confused at such a moment) they would almost certainly have remembered it as a vertical movement. What we must not say is that they “mistook” local “Heavens” and celestial throne-rooms and the like for “spiritual” Heaven of union with God and supreme power and beatitude. You and I have been gradually disentangling different senses of the word Heaven throughout this essay. I may be convenient here to make a list. Heaven can me the unconditional Divine Life beyond all Worlds. Blessed participation in that Life by created spirit. #RandolphHarris 12 of 16
The whole Nature or system of conditions in which redeemed human spirit, still remaining human, can enjoy such participation fully and forever. This is the Heaven Christ goes to “prepare” for us. The physical Heaven, the sky, the space in which Earth moves. What enables us to distinguish these senses and hold them clearly apar is not any special spiritual purity but the fact that we are the heirs to centuries of logical analysis: not that we are sons to Abraham but that we are sons to Aristotle. We are not to supposed that writers of the New Testament mistook Heaven in sense four of three for Heaven in sense two or one. You cannot mistake a half sovereign for a sixpence until you know the difference between them. In their idea of Heaven all these meanings were latent, ready to be brought out by later analysis. They never thought merely of the blue sky or merely of a “spiritual” Heaven. When they looked up at the blue sky they never doubted that there, whence light and heat and the precious rain descended, was the home of God: but the other hand, when they thought of one ascending to Heaven they never doubted He was “ascending” in what we should call a “spiritual” sense. The real and pernicious period of literalism comes far later, in the Middle Ages and the seventeenth century, when the distinctions have been made and heavy-handed people try to force the separated concepts together again in wrong ways. The fact that Galilaean shepherds could not distinguish what they say at the Ascension from that kind of ascent which, by its very nature, could never been seen at all, does not prove on the one hand that they were unspiritual, nor on the other that they saw nothing. #RandolphHarris 13 of 16
A human who really believes that “Heaven” is in the sky may well, in one’s heart, have a far truer and more spiritual conception of it than many modern logicians who could expose that fallacy with a few strokes of one’s pen. For one who does the will of the Father shall know the doctrine. Irrelevant material splendours in such a man’s idea of the vision of God will do harm, for they are not there for their own sakes. Purity from such images in a merely theoretical Christian’s idea will do no good if they have been banished only by logical criticism. The experience is neither an abstract supposition nor an intellectual series of thoughts. It is felt in quite intimate and very personal way. It is immeasurably more convincing than any thought-series could be, however plausible and logical they were. One knows of what divine stuff one is inwardly made, in what starry direction one is daily going, and on what self-transforming task one is constantly working. It can only reveal to one or two facets of its nature at each glimpse. The power can touch one’s will, and the grace can move one’s heart, but that is all. Humans are so wrapt in themselves that even when the glimpse happens, they look at the experience as their own, in origin occurrence and result. They seldom look at it from the other side. For it also an attempt by the Overself first to reveal Itself, second to communicate with them. One’s outlook becomes more spacious, one’s understanding more lucid, one’s intuition more immediate. In those revelatory moments the “I,” the essence of personality, is found to be only the thought of itself. It is the difference between trying to know and actually knowing. To see this truth for the first time is to experience something which will be long remembered. #RandolphHarris 14 of 16
To find some higher meaning in one’s personal existence is to fortify one’s will and to buttress one’s ideals; to ascertain the fact that there is a link between this Universe of time and space with a Mind which is above both, is to experience an indefinable satisfaction. While the glimpse these comes a curious feeling of absolute certitude, happy certitude, utter doubtlessness. The truth is there plainly before one and deeply sensed with one. This experience of the ultimate oneness of all things of one’s own part in that oneness is, of course, well known in mystical experience—especially in nature mysticism but also in some kinds of religious mysticism, and certainly in philosophic mysticism. The first effect is to make one feel that one is not alone, that the Universe is behind one and that one does not need to be crushed by anxieties, worries, and fears—all pertaining to the little self. Such an experience is indeed an excellent counter to them. The fact is that all actual enlightenment is self-enlightenment; it is given to a human by oneself, that is, by one’s own best self. It is generally brief, but enough to provide a glimpse of that self and a touch of its revelatory energy. They are “glimpses of the eternal” and “peeps into timelessness,” a development which we could not get as animals but only as humans. It is then only that human, interwoven with the World-Mind, deep in holy happy adoration, is sure. A glimmering of what it means to see with the intelligence that there is a Higher Power and that is plays a role in human affairs not less than in the Universe’s, come to one. We read in the Bhagavad Gita of Arjuna’s cosmic vision. He was given a glimpse of a part of the universal order, the World-Design, the World-Idea. Other who have had this glimpse saw other parts of it, such as he evolution of the center of consciousness through the animal into the human kingdom, an evolution which is recapitulated in a very brief form by an embryo in the womb. #RandolphHarris 15 of 16
Consciousness may expand into infinity or contract into a point. Some have had this experience through mystical meditation and others through physical chemical drugs, but the point is that they are temporary experiences of the fact that we live in a humanmade World, that the time orders and space dimensions are mental constructs and are alterable, that consciousness is the basic reality, that it can assume many different forms, and that ordinary, average human consciousness is merely one of those forms. This tells us why the insights of the seers like Jesus differed so greatly from those of ordinary human beings. With a glimpse comes revelation. One feels that one belongs to an immortal race, that there is an inner Reality behind all things, and that the ultimate source is a beneficent one. By means of this light in one’s mind, one will begin to understand scriptures, all the World’s scriptures, with a new ease. What would the World be, once bereft of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. For one above one’s brethren set to shine:–yet we but a fourth of Judah’s line—whereof it is said “His buckets flowed with water”—so save not, Lord, for our sake, but for Thine, save now, our Father. For one more meek than all humans and more true, whose merit brought down manna on the dew, chosen redeemer, drawn from out of the water—save her that ever looketh forth anew, save her, our Father. For one who was as angels are above, who, meetly clad, did in Thy precincts move in holiness, all purified with water—save her, O Lord, her that is sick with love, save her, our Father. For that glad prophetess who danced before the camp, to them whose heart was sad and sore, for whom there rose and sank a well of water—Save them that dwelt in goodly tents of yore save them, our Father. #RandolphHarris 16 of 16
Cresleigh Homes
Don’t let the outside fool you…this home may be a single story, but it boasts nearly 2600 square feet! That is larger than many traditional two-story homes. Riverside Residence 2 is one of our favorite models.
Best of all, your new home comes with a smart home package including video doorbell and digital deadbolt for the front door. You’ll have to see it!
Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a three car garage all come included in this home. The layout if an entertainer’s dream with large kitchen and working island, dining room connected through the butler’s pantry, and a large great room overlooking the ample rear yard. https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-riverside-at-plumas-ranch/residence-2/
And if the house has too much space for you, one could always convert one of the bedrooms into a wardrobe.
Randolph Harris II International Institute 