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I Know the He Exists Somewhere in Silence—He Has Hid His Rare Life from Our Gross Eyes
I flashed on Deacon last night in my clutches, my questions to him coming angrily as accusations. He knew nothing about any Totality of Salvation, did he? Why, I had already figured that out, had I not? That when I drifted to Earth, in my fantasy, as Saint William Randolph, I had to leave behind a certain Heavenly Knowledge. One can remember an event, an action, a person, a place, a feeling, a procedure, a line of verse, a melody, or a person’s name. One can remember doing such and such, seeing such and such, or thinking such and such. And one can remember where something is, when a certain event happened, why something happened, who did a certain thing, how to do something, and how something looks, sounds, or feels. Although memory is commonly said to be of the past, one can remember facts about the future (I just remembered that there will be a meeting tomorrow), facts about the present (I just remembered that the debate is going on right now), scientific laws and generalizations, and timeless truths of logic and mathematics. What in the name of Heaven is going on? A stinging hurt spread through me, over my face, my skin. I had never felt anything quite like it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 12
Deacon was back there, in the shadows, laughing cruelly, collecting just a seam of the light along the edge of his face and form. I felt his strength recede, and his eyes misted. A glowing fire was quelled, and I had not done it, and an ever-present grief enfolded it. A protective surge rose in me and the wild fantasies reigned again inside of me as if no one else was present. Behind me the ghost whispered contemptuously, “You are not a gentleman, you never were!” I muttered all the obscenities I knew in French and English in a tight whisper. Some people seem to view eternity as a continual existence through time, but others believe it is a timeless present. Despite the variety of uses, philosophers writing on memory have tended, until recently, to concentrate on those uses of “remember” in which it takes its object an expression referring to a particular past event or action. While they have paid some attention to memory of facts (memory that such and such), they have generally restricted this attention to memory of facts about remembering events. Thus they have tended to ignore, or rule out of consideration, cases in which the fact remembered is about the remote past (for example, the fact that Brutus stabbed Caesar), or about the future. #RandolphHarris 2 of 12
For to say that a person remembers an event (and hence to say that he or she remembers a fact about an event, or otherwise came to know of it, at the time of its occurrence, and this implication limits the possible objects of event-memory to past events and actions occurring within the lifetime of the rememberer. And of course it is only such events and actions that one can remember having witnessed or done. I went up high in the air. I traveled fast—faster than a ghost, or so I figured. I drifted about the city of Rocklin, lulled by its lights and its voiced. I wondered how Ava would handle this power, if she would be weeping again. I let myself believe there were no ghosts who could touch me up here or anywhere if I used all my considerable powers, no ghosts who could make me afraid. I said No to hunger. I said to thirst Be still. I slipped down silently into the realm of my fellow creatures. I caught sight of Deacon in the driveway, pulling behind him a pile of suitcases, all dependent upon one huge rectangular bag equipped with excellent little wheels. He was whistling a melody by Chopin and walking very briskly, and I fell into stride beside him. #RandolphHarris 3 of 12
“You are the most dashing man on the street, Little Brother,” I said. “What is with all the suitcases?” “Are you going to let us stay at the house, Beloved Boss?” he asked. His eyes were fired with love. In our short acquaintance, I had never seen him so happy. In fact, I had never seen him happy before at all. “What do you think?” he asked. “Do we crowd you? Do you want us out?” “Not at all, I want you there,” I replied. “I should have told you.” We walked along together, me trying to keep up with his long legs. Ava was in the bedroom, working on the computer we bought at Sunset, first thing she had to have. She was recording every experience, every sensation, every subtle distinction, ever revelation. The notion of the past enters into the notion of memory in another way, for it is true in general that remembering involves having previously learned or acquired knowledge of what one remembers. However, it should not be supposed that when a person is said to remember a fact about an event in the remote past or the future—that is, about an event to which one cannot have been a witness—what one really remembers is learning (for example, reading or being told) that fact; it commonly happens that one remembers a fact without having any recollection of the occasion on which one learned it. #RandolphHarris 4 of 12
Memory of acts (what has been called factual memory) cannot be reduced to memory of events experienced or witnessed by the rememberer (what has been called personal memory), and not all cases of factual memory are cases in which the remembered fact is a fact about a remembered event or action. However, the concealing memory may be connected with the impression it conceals, not only through its contents, but also through contiguity of time; this is the contemporaneous or contiguous concealing memory. How large a portion of the sum total of our memory belongs to the category of concealing memories, and what part it plays in various neurotic hidden processed, these are problems into the value of which I have neither inquired, nor shall I enter here. I am concerned only with the emphasizing the sameness between the forgetting of proper names with faulty recollection and the formation of concealing memories. At first sight, it would seem that the diversities of both phenomena are far more striking than their exact analogies. There we deal with proper names, here with complete impressions experienced either in reality or in thought; there we deal with a manifest failure of the memory function, here with a momentary disturbance—for the name just forgotten could have been reproduced correctly a hundred times before, and will be so again from tomorrow on. #RandolphHarris 5 of 12
Here we deal with lasting possession without a failure, for the indifferent childhood memories seem to be able to accompany us through a great part of life. In both these cases, the riddle seems to be solved in an entirely different way. There is the forgetting, while here it is the remembering which excites our scientific curiosity. It was fun walking along the street again. Feet on the Summer pavements with the heat of the Sun still rising from them. Reese was talking about how she wished she could get rid of some female. I pondered the matter, perhaps for the first time. A body could not survive being dumped in the Honey Island Swamp in the Pearl River Wildlife area. Too many gators. It made me smile bitterly to remember that once others had tried to dispose of me in just the same way. But this poor dead female had lacked my resources when she tumbled down into darkness. Her soul had fled to the Totality of Salvation, of course. We walked on together through a crush of valiant tourists. The town was drippingly hot. Local legend has it that Honey Island Swamp in Louisiana scares people who dare to venture down the road after nightfall and park along the road, reports claim ghost, believed to be slaves from nearby plantations, may jostle vehicles and leave their handprints on windows. #RandolphHarris 6 of 12
The temperatures in the area are said to drop, an indication of a paranormal presence. This swamp is also the home of the legendary Honey Island Swamp monster, which has from time to time been known as the Tainted Keitre. The creature is described as bipedal, seven feet (over two meters tall), with gray hair and yellow eyes. The story goes that a four-story mansion of antebellum fashion once stood on the land in the 1870s, the owner was notorious for beating the enslaved people, both African Americans and European Americans. There was speculation that he was from a race of slave masters from another planet. One day, Charles Deslondes, on the 1882-acre plantation, tried to convince the master to stop beating them leaving deep scars in their backs, and if he would be their friend they would tell him something that might change his life. The slaves warned that he should watch his wife at night because they found a wild boar with its throat gashed out. The evening after the owner received the message, the couple went to bed as usual and the wife, near midnight, slipped outside into the rain to sneak below to the home’s prison to visit the slaves. As the slave she was fond of moved to embrace her, you could hear the chains restricting him rattle in the night air. The next morning, he was hanged high on one of the property’s 500-year-old oak tree and buried below it. #RandolphHarris 7 of 12
Years later, the house sank with the owner, Manuel Andry in it. Legend has it that he was eaten alive by gators and the property turned into a swamp. No records survive to tell us what Charles said the final minutes before the mansion sank, but some suspect he used a powerful voodoo curse and that Manel Andry some how became the swamp monster we hear about these days. Here we seal with lasting possession without a failure, for the indifferent childhood memories seem to be able to accompany us through a great part of life. The riddle seems to be solved in an entirely different way. There it is the forgetting, while here it is the remembering which excites out scientific curiosity. After deeper reflection, one realized that, although there is a diversity in the psychic material and in the duration of time of the two phenomena, yet these are by far outweighed by the conformities between the two. We deal with the failure of remembering; what should be correctly reproduced by memory fails to appear, and instead something else comes as a substitute. We are justified in saying that the diversities in material, in duration of time, and in the centering of both phenomena serve to enhance our expectation, that we have discovered something that is important and of general value. #RandolphHarris 8 of 12
This generality purports that the stopping and straying of the reproductioning function indicates more often than we suppose that there is an intervention of a prejudicial factor, a tendency which favors one memory and, at the same time, works against another. The subject of childhood memories appears to me so important and interesting. What vibe did you get in your secret soul? Good ghost? Bad ghost? Hmm, well, good, obviously. Trying to tell us we have Andry genes. Trying to save us, trying to keep us from breeding some awful mutations, which occurs now and then in the family. A benign ghost. I have told you the whole story. A benign ghost and an awful mutation. Has Reese mentioned the mutation? The lost child? Then I stretched out on my bed. Satin tufted tester above me. Satin counterpane below. Fairly shadowy. I turned my face into the down pillows, of which I always had a sizeable heap, and with all my muscles sort of scrunched up against the modern World. I believe we accept too indifferently the fact of infantile amnesia—that is, the failure of memory for the first years of our lives—and fail to find it in a strange riddle. We forget of what great intellectual accomplishments and of what complicated emotions a child of four years is capable. #RandolphHarris 9 of 12
We really ought to wonder why the memory of later years has, as a rule, retained so little of these psychic processes, especially as we have every reason for assuming that these same forgotten childhood activities have not glided off without leaving a trace in the development of the person, but that they have left a definite influence for all future time. Yet, in spite of this unparalleled effectiveness they were forgotten! This would suggest that there are particularly formed conditions of memory (in the sense of conscious reproduction) which have thus far eluded our knowledge. It is quite possible that the forgetting of childhood may give us the key to understanding of those amnesias which, according to our newer studies, are possessed at the basis of the formation of all neurotic symptoms. Suddenly, there was an agitation in me so greater that only lying alone, scrunched up on the bed, could comfort me. Sleep. Sleep, but I could not. And I had to see if the ghost would come. A clock ticked somewhere. A clock with a painted face and curlicue hands. Not a huge clock. A clock that with its whole soul knew only how to tick and might tick for centuries, maybe had ticked for centuries, a clock to which people would look, and which people would dust, and which people wound with a key, and which people might come to love. #RandolphHarris 10 of 12
There was a clock somewhere in this house, perhaps in the back parlor, the only piece of all this furniture that could talk. I heard it. I knew what it was saying. Its code was lovely to me. Of these retained childhood reminiscences, some appear to us readily comprehensible, while others seem strange or unintelligible. It is not difficult to correct certain in regard to both kinds. If the retained reminiscences of a person are subject to an analytic test, it can be readily ascertained that a guarantee for their correctness does not exist. Some of the memory pictures are surely falsified and incomplete, or displaced in point of times and place. The assertions of persons examined, that their first memories reach back perhaps to their second year, are evidently unreliable. Motives can soon be discovered which explain the disfigurement and the displacement of these experiences, but they also demonstrate that these memory lapses are not the result of a mere unreliable memory. Powerful forces from a later period have moulded the memory capacity of our infantile experiences, and it is probably due to these same forces that the understanding of our childhood is generally so very strange to us. The recollection of adults, as is known, proceeds through different psychic material. #RandolphHarris 11 of 12
Some recall by means of visual pictures—their memories are of a visual pictures—their memories are of a visual character; other individuals can scarcely reproduce in memory the partly sketch of an experience; we call such persons auditifs and moteurs in contrast to the visuels. These differences vanish in dreams; all our dreams are preponderatingly visual. However, this development is also found in the childhood memories; the latter are plastic and visual, even in those people whose later memory lacks the visual element. The visual memory, therefore, preserves the type of the infantile recollections. Only my earliest childhood memories are of a visual character; they represent plastically depicted scenes, comparable only to stage settings. “And it was by faith that these three disciples obtained a promised that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith. And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God. And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad,” reports Ether 12.17-19. #RandolphHarris 12 of 12
Desire’s Perfect Goal Should Not Disenthrall Thy Soul—Here is a Star, there is a Star, Some Lose Their Way!
The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned. Love would conquer all, of course, but one has to know when it is there first. Glaucus was a fisherman. One day he had drawn his nets to land and had taken a great many fishes of various kinds. So he emptied his nets and proceeded to sort the fishes on the grass. The place where he stood was a beautiful island in the river, a solitary spot, uninhabited, and not used for pasturage of cattle, not visited by anyone but himself. On a sudden, the fishes, which had been laid on the grass, began to revive and move their fins as if they were in the water; and while he looked on astonished, they one and all moved off to the water, plunged in, and swam away. He did not know what to make of this, whether some god had done it, or some secret power in the herbage. “What herb has such a power?” he exclaimed; and gathering some of it, he tasted it. Scarce had the juices of the plant reached his palate when he found himself agitated with a longing desire for the water. Glaucus could no longer restrain himself, but bidding farewell to Earth, he plunged into the stream. The gods of the water received him graciously and admitted hi to the honour of their society. They obtained the consent of Oceanus and Tethys, the sovereign of the sea, that all that was mortal in him should be washed away. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
A hundred rivers poured their waters over Glaucus and then he lost all sense of his former nature and all consciousness. When he recovered, he found himself changed in form and mind. His hair was sea-green, and trailed behind him on the water; his shoulders grew broad, and what had been thighs and legs assumed the form of a fish’s tail. The sea-gods complimented him on the change of his appearance, and Glaucus fancied himself rather a good-looking personage. One day, Glaucus saw a beautiful maiden Scylla, the favourite of the water-nymphs, rambling on the shore, and when she had found a sheltered nook, laving her limbs on the clear water, he fell in live with her. Glaucus showed himself on the surface, spoke to the maiden, saying such things as he thought most likely to win her to stay; for she turned to run immediately on sight of him, and ran till she had gained a cliff overlooking the sea. Here she stopped and turned round to see whether it was a god or s sea animal, and observed with wonder his shape and colour. Glaucus, partly emerging from the water and supporting himself against a rock, said, “Maiden, I am not monster, nor sea animal, but a god; and neither Proteus nor Triton ranks higher than I. Once I was a mortal, and followed the sea for a living; but now I belong wholly to it.” #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
Then he told the story of his metamorphosis, and how he had been promoted to his present dignity, and added, “But what avails all this if it fails to move your heart?” Glaucus was going on in this strain, but the maiden, Scylla, turned and hastened away. Glaucus was in despair, but it occurred to him to consult the enchantress, Circe. Accordingly he repaired to her island. After mutual salutations, Glaucus said, “Goddess, I entreat your pity; you alone can relieve the pain I suffer. The power of the herbs I know as well as any one, for it is to them I owe my change of form. I love Scylla. I am ashamed to tell you how I have sued and promised to her, and how scornfully she has treated me. I beseech you to use your incantations, or potent herbs, if they are more prevailing, not to cure me of my love—for that I do not wish—but to make Scylla share it and yield me a like return.” To which Circe replied, for she was not insensible to the attractions of the sea-green deity, “You had better pursue a willing object; you are worthy to be sought, instead of having to seek in vain. Be not different, know your own worth. I protest to you that even I, goddess though I be, and learned in the virtue of plants and spells, should not know how to refuse you. If Scylla scorns you, scorn her; meet one who is ready to meet you half way, and thus make a due return to both at once.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
However, Glaucus replied, “Sooner shall trees grow at the bottom of the ocean, and seaweed on the top of the mountains, than I will cease to love Scylla, and her alone.” The goddess Circe was indignant, but she could not punish him, neither did she wish to do so, for she liked him too well; so she turned all her wrath against her rival, poor Scylla. She took her plants of poisonous powers and mixed them together, with incantations and charms. Then she passed through the crowd of gamboling beasts, the victims of her art, and proceeded to the coast of Sicily, where Scylla lived. There was a little bay on the shore to which Scylla used to resort, in the heat of the day, to breathe their air of the sea, and to bathe in its waters. Here the goddess poured her poisonous mixture, and muttered over it incantations of mighty power. Scylla came as usual and plunged into the water up to her waist. What was her horror to perceive a brood of serpents and barking monsters surrounding her! At first she could not imagine they were a part of herself, and tried to run from them and to drive them away; but as she ran she carried them with her, and when she tried to touch her limbs, she found her hands touch only the yawning jaws of monsters. Scylla remained rooted to the spot. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
Scylla’s temper grew as ugly as her form, and she took pleasure in devouring hapless mariners who came within her grasp. Thus she destroyed six of the companions of Ulysses, and tried to wreck the ships of Aeneas, till at least she was turned into a rock, and as such still continues to be a terror to mariners. Mistakes are a deliberately wrong choice in the contest between what is clearly good and what is clearly bad is sin. We all want a partner, but some want one to the point of it being a pathology. Many people knowingly or unknowingly force a relationship due to an addiction of love. If one is honest with oneself, and know that one has nothing in common with their focus of their intertest, such as different goals, different lifestyles, and different hobbies, and the person is not attracted to the individual pursing a relationship, this is a clear indication that they do not like you in a romantic way, much like how Scylla was not in the least bit interested in Glaucus. Yet, Glaucus could not take no for an answer and ended up running her like, and the rage she experienced ruined the lives of others. Absolutely imagine if you had people dragging you into things you did not want to be part of, and you will understand why this is not a healthy thing to do. It is never a healthy thing to do. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
People who think they can learn from their mistakes have a different brain reaction to mistake than people who think intelligence is fixed. One major difference between people who think intelligence is malleable and those who think intelligence is fixed is how one responds to mistake. When one makes a mistake, the best thing to do is to try to learn from it and figure it out. Conversely, some people who think they cannot gain intelligence will not take the opportunities to learn from their mistakes, and they usually employ defense mechanisms to justify their behaviour so they do not feel guilt or remourse. Defense mechanisms are psychological maneuvers that operate below the surface of one’s awareness (they are unconscious) to protect one from emotional pain or distress. The most familiar one is probably denial. Denial allows one to dismiss a painful reality so that one can go on acting as if a situation or event is not true—because one does not want to admit it is true. Transgression is different from being overtaken in a fault. Both sins and mistakes can hurt us and both require attention. People who try to force relations, often end up feeling insecure, hurt, and betrayed for no reason. Then these individuals start questioning themselves as to why they are never good enough for the person they are interested in. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
There should be no license for sin, but mercy should go hand and hand with reproof. Though it may be hard to admit, there comes a time when one just needs to cut their losses and leave a person alone. The progression of a romantic relationship cannot be formed. It must evolve naturally, over time. Impatient, insecure, or damaged people try to force relationships. Mortal make these kinds of mistakes all the times. However, these things are on an essentially predetermined course. A fool is a person lacking judgment or prudence. The Saviour used the term fool to characterize the lesson in this parable about the rich man who built greater barns to store his abundant fruits and goods and then said to his soul, “Thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,” reports Luke 12.19. The distinction between sins and mistakes is important to our actions. We have seen some very bitter finger pointing. All of us make mistakes, and some of us very serious ones. Any thoughtful person feels a kind of failure because one’s sins or moral failure. One does not get clean by rolling in the mire. One does not get clean and whole by brooding unduly over the past, although we can certainly learn from our mistake. There is no strength in weakness; there is no strength in sin; and we do not overcome our mistake and our sins by fighting them directly. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
If people dwell upon them too much, they may succumb to their sins. The avoidance of guilt can be addictive, too. Guilt-avoidance has become a drug of choice for many people, because it is so pleasurable, almost intoxicating, to think of oneself as morally pure. Those who are addicted to guilt-avoidance are usually a bit inconsistent. They avoid the guilt themselves, but they do not mind imposing a bit of it—maybe even a lot of it—on others. It can be immensely pleasurable to notice the flaws of others while ignoring your own. However, that is a sin, too. All things considered, we are on a safer ground when we focus on our own sins, not those of others. At least this is how we process theologians see things. We believe that when we harm others, or fail to act in ways that prevent them from being harmed, we violated something deep within the nature of nature. We have violated an Eros toward life’s flourishing that is divine. In sinning against others, we sin against God. It takes courage to stand up. The freedom to be different. The freedom to take guilt and make something beautiful of it. Humans have the freedom to turn guilt into love. Few gifts are more desirable than a clear conscience—a soul at peace with itself. Only God can heal a troubled soul. However, if we want God to forgive us, we must follow the procedure he has given to us. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
Confession is a necessary requirement for complete forgiveness. It is an indication of true Godly sorrow. It is part of the cleansing process—the starting anew requires a clean page in the diary of our conscience. Confessions should be made to the appropriate person who has been wronged by us and to the Lord also. In addition, the nature of our transgression may be serious enough to require a confession to God in prayer. “Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whoever transgressed against me, him shall you judge according to the sins which he or she has committed; and if he or she confess his or her sins before thee and me, and repents in the sincerity of one’s heart, that person one shall forgive, and I will also forgive that individual,” reports Mosiah 26.29. Remember, it is complete deliverance from the tortures of a guilt-ridden soul that we seek. Repentance is not easy. Godly sorrow brings one to the depth of humility. This is why the gift of forgiveness is so sweet and draws the transgressor so close to the Saviour with a special bond of affection. Full repentance liberates the individual with joy unspeakable. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
Any type of open and truthful disclosure reduces stress and helps individuals come to terms with their behaviour. It is not coincidental that some of the most powerful people or institutions in may cultures encourage people to confess their transgressions. And there is strong evidence that writing about upsetting experiences or dark secrets can benefit your mental and physical well-being. Similar to religious confessions, expressive writing encouraged individuals to explore their deepest thoughts and feelings about upsetting experiences. For such emotional purges to work, people must be completely honest with themselves. Putting emotional turmoil into words changes how we think about it. Giving concrete form to secret experiences can help categorize them in new ways. Talking or writing about a disturbing event helps us to understand it better. And things we do not understand cause greater anxiety. Once we are able to express our upheavals, we tend to ruminate about them less, freeing us up to focus on others thing. Dozens of studies have also shown that expression is linked to less stress and improved sleep and cardiovascular function. Also, better sleep is associated with enhanced immune function and better general health—which correlates with better mental health, too. Confession can help people get through difficult times. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
Poor Little Heart Did they Forget thee, Did they Forsake thee–Frail Little Heart, I Would Not Break thee!
Our nations may very well have reached a point where it is working feverishly to control infirmaries that we ourselves are causing. You forget my father is a doctor. Plans are afoot! Itineraries are set, tickets are bought, rooms at the Langham in London are booked, and I am ready to step on that boat. The question is, dear babe, are you ready? Surely you are just as curious as I am to see who is at the other end of that pen-and-paper. You are both scientist and artist, realist and dreamer. Curiosity is your middle name. True love does exist in the World. Although we are far away from each other, nothing can change our sincere friendship. Our hearts are connected though we are far from each other. I care for you and you care for me. Let me say lightly, babe, I miss you much. Be still my beating heart! Can it be true? Babe is going to brave the ocean for me? If all goes well, we should be arriving in Edinburgh on the sixteenth. I know I will not be able to wait a moment longer than that. The seventeenth at noon? St. Mary’s Cathedral on York Place? For many days, our sensitive hearts have tried to memorize too many things, but suddenly we look back, only to find that we remember nothing but the face of a comrade-in-arms who has gone with us through months and years. Happiness is not hidden in the satiation, but in the yearning. I always ask you how far it is from the eyes to the heart. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
What happened, babe? I thought we had a deal. Did that ferry prove too much for you? You are lucky I am not one to hold a grudge. However, do you realise that, at the very least, you owe me an explanation! One that does not involve a ravaging water horse. This trip has been great. Harry and I have had years to catch up on. He has not been the best of correspondents and, you may be surprised to hear, neither have I. You seem to inspire something special that makes me never run out of things to say. No matter where you go, no matter how long you are away, I will wait, wait and wait. Harry has got himself a sweetheart, Meghan, a demure young lady who writes the most saccharine verse. I met her: very polite and extremely beautiful. She spent half the time discussing the weather and the price of tea in precise, clipped accent and the other half trying to get Harry enjoy a delectable cuisine in one of the kitchens in her parents’ vast house. She is only eighteen, so no matter how much the rest of his anatomy was telling him otherwise, his head cooled long enough for him to decide not to pop the question just yet. He is heading back to the States to start medical school and a saving account. In the meantime, he hopes (although not too ardently!) that she develops at least on other skill or passion aside from trying to maneuver him into the kitchen at every opportunity. Harry believes that Meghan will be faithful, and we drank a toast to her. #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
The cities we visited were lovely, but, truth to tell, I could have been back in Folsom and it would have been fine, as long as I was with Harry. Does that sound overly sentimental? He has started drinking coffee and writing poetry (is everyone a poet these days?). Aside from that, he is the same old Harry, and we felt like little boys. I am sure there were some occasions where we acted like little boys too. We are getting ready to board the ship, but I wanted to write to I could mail this before I left Great Britain. I more souvenirs to buy before we leave. I asked Tennessee what he wanted me to bring him back from my trip and he firmly requested an Italian pony. I do not think a pony would fit in my stateroom (that is what I get for sailing second class!), but how could I refuse the wishes of my favourite little boy? Harris is going to send one more cable to Meghan and has offered to drop this letter by the post office for me so I will be looking for a letter full of fervent explanations and humble apologies from you! No more secretes, babe! May bright Sunshine, youthful vigour, beautiful appearance and comfortable smile belong to you forever! Wishing you would stretch out your hands and accept my best wishes. May the flowers of happiness be fragrant in your future days. #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
Very few people want to be lonely. Most try to find love. No one really wishes to live in constant interpersonal chaos or to be the cause of frequent disruptions of human relationships. Loneliness is ultimately an internal, subjective human experience. Therefore, in order to effectively combat its lethal influence, medicine must adopt techniques and approaches that go beyond the current scientific-objective approach of infirmary. Medicine must move beyond science to deal with this problem. We must use scientific objectivity to hep us understand human relationships as a philosophical attitude widely shared in our society that is causing rather than alleviating loneliness. Some people find that they are satisfied by the sheer pleasure of being in the midst of activity. They need to be around people, to absorb that colour and vitality of lives being actively lived. Many people want to feel like they are part of the human race. To feel that their lives are worthwhile, others need to participate in something larger than themselves. And not everything is about finding romance nor romantic love. People need to know that somewhere, at least for a few hours a week, their presence is expected and their efforts make a difference. People with disabilities are especially influential, as hardships in life are not easily forgotten. It is not about someone having power over one nor feeling like a victim, but the fact that your body has limitations that take time and effort to overcome, if ever. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
People with disabilities learn so much throughout their life lessons that able-bodies people rarely get to experience, but still they are seen as the biggest competition for some, so much so that they intentionally sabotage their lives, do things to make their injuries worse, or cause them to suffer from new injuries. Some disabled people are fear so much that people actually take time to make fun of them in an effort to lower their self-esteem. In fact, there was once this lady who used to work at a mental hospital and she admitted they used to beat up people with mental disabilities for fun because no one would believe them. Once you label someone as crazy, and get people to agree with you, no one will believe a thing they say, so the thought is one could get away with doing outlandish things to them because no one would believe stuff like that happens in this day and age. Having a physical or mental disability is definitely difficult, but it is also one of the richest classrooms a human can experience, too. I always recommend, no matter how good you think you are or how successful you believe yourself to be, it is always a good idea to look around at the competition. Many people tend to look at someone coming up as their biggest competition, so they can feel better about themselves, and they will try to crush that person’s dreams in the process and make life harder for them so they can retain their false sense of security. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
And sure, there are a lot of successful people without college degrees, and they may have obtained great material success, sometimes at the cost of others, but if your mind is not in the right place, and you have to lie, cheat, and steal to get where you are, that is a form of a mental disability. Also, sometimes it is best to look up to see how far you have to go to be successful and try to aim to do as good as someone who is on another echelon. True happiness is really possible in a broken body, but most people say they would rather die than live with a disability. That is because most able-bodied cannot imagine being happy if their body was every permanently broken. However, there is no reason why one should sit back and vegetate because one has physical limitations. There is meaning in what we do. However, until we manage to redefine our purpose this way, our days may lose their momentum and our spirits may yield to lassitude. For reasons sometimes unknown, some people are born with physical limitations. Specific parts of the body may be abnormal. Regulatory systems may be out of balance. And all of our bodies are subject to infirmary and aging. Nevertheless, the gift of a physical body is priceless. Without it, we cannot attain a fulness of joy. Our chronological age also misleads us. We can be deceived by numerical certainty into believing that the sum of our lived years tells us something absolute and incontestable about ourselves. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
A perfect body is not required to achieve a divine destiny. In fact, some of the sweetest spirits are housed in frail frames. Great spiritual strength is often developed by those with physical challenges precisely because they are challenged. Such individuals are entitled to all the blessing that God has in store for his faithful and obedient children. “Eventually the time will come when each spirit and body shall be reunited again in perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame,” reports Alma 11.43. If healing does not come in mortal life, it will come thereafter. Just as the gorgeous monarch butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, so will spirits emerge. The handiwork of God is manifest with respect to disabled people in many ways. It is demonstrated in the miraculous way in which individuals are able to adjust and compensate for their limitations. Occasionally, other senses become more functional and substitute for the impaired ability in a remarkable way. They, too, are in a life of progression, and new things unfold for them each day as with us all. They can be extraordinary in their faith and spirit. Some are able, through their prayers, to communicate with the infinite in a most remarkable way. Many have a pure faith in others and a powerful belief in God. They can give spiritual strength to others around them. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
The hardest thing with people with physical limitation is they may miss when they were able to do things. When they were able to work certain jobs and make money and move around like they pleased. However, laughter and spirituality brings people back to the present moment, to the sheer fact of continuing to be alive and viewing the spectacle around us. It heals the spirit by easing loneliness, rejection, or embarrassment. We are called to represent the Saviour. Our voice to testify becomes the same as his voice, our hands to life the same as his hands. We are taught to love and accept all of our Father’s children. Our goal is to fully extend the blessings of the gospel to everyone. “By this shall all people know that they are my disciples, if they have love for one another,” reports John 13.35. The love and understanding of the Saviour included all people in all their circumstances. We can follow his perfect example by increasing our own understanding and acceptance of those whose challenges seem great. Patience can help an individual emotionally get over physical inabilities in certain occasions. And remember, before you make fun of a person with a disability or take advantage of them, remember anyone can become disabled by accident. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
The wisdom here is to never forget we are all imperfect physical beings, and never think we are exempt. Since having a special needs, whether they are dietary or whatever, can be rather stressful, we can learn early on to not let our stress levels get too high. If we did, none of us would make it past 40. We are confronted with crazy things all the time, so we learn to prioritize what is really worthy freaking out over. There are ways to what we require to help us with our special needs, and for it could be as easy as adding Activia drinkable yogurt into their diet. That is why so many of us seem so peaceful. When you have special needs, you pretty much can enjoy being exactly who you want to be since fitting in with the popular crowd may not be possible anyway and embracing this can be one of the most freeing feelings ever. One does not need to fit in to feel good about oneself or think one belongs. One belongs to oneself, and that is amazing. You are a child of God and your Father loves you just the way you are. You never know what someone with special needs is capable of. Celebrate the qualities of open-mindedness, resilience, a sense of wonder, and enthusiasm as the most valuable possession of our species, to be cherished, nurtured, and cultivated. People who evince agelessness in their manner of living are those who have retained child-like qualities throughout adulthood or have manages to accomplish their recovery. A sense of humour can protect one from stress. It is a question of mind over matter. If you do not mind, it will not matter. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
Perhaps ultimately, and in the deepest sense, humor works by rallying, and being a manifestation of, the will to live. While not necessarily a learning disability, nor a physical disability, Asperger’s syndrome kept Bram Cohen firmly rooted in a World of patterns, puzzles, and computers. This was a big asset when he created BitTorrent, a disruptive technology that lets people transfer huge amounts of information over the Internet. BitTorrent also raised $34 million in capital. Bram Cohen also won Times’s award of 100 Most Influential People, and an award from MIT Technology Review TR35 for being one of the top 35 inventors in the World under age 35. There are also people living with hidden physical disabilities and they face discrimination daily because their physical limitations. We must live in a little, little World. We shall be content with that and cultivate it and make the best of it. It is necessary, and not in the least shameful, to take pleasure in good food, gentle simples, fruit-trees in bloom, waltzes. When we truly behold our lives, we behold the glory, wonder, and majesty of God. Regardless of physical limitations or the challenge of circumstances, our souls are endowed naturally with divine potential that is infinite and eternal. Much of life consists of shedding all that interferes with the expression of our uniqueness. Our individual voice is always distinctive; the difficulty lies in finding what we are, free of artifice. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
Another story of innovation and triumph is Ralph William Braun. He was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at just six years of age. However, he had the will to overcome the challenges his special needs presented him as well as any other obstacles life put in his path. Doctors told him he would never be independent. Ralph lost his ability to walk. At a young age, he set his mind to engineering the first battery-powered scooter. From there he designed the world’s first wheelchair lift, installed in an old postal Jeep and complete with hand controls. Necessity is the mother of invention, and Ralph’s physical limitations only served to fuel his determination to live independently and prove to society that people with special needs can participate fully and actively in life. Braun started “Save-A-Step” manufacturing in 1963 to build the first motorized scooter. In 1966 Braun created the first wheelchair accessible vehicle, by creating a wheelchair platform lift and hand controls that were added to an old postal van. In 1970, Ralph added wheelchair platform lifts to full-sized vans. “Save-A-Step” was incorporated under a new name, The Braun Corporation, in 1972. He became known as the father of mobility. Ralph William Braun passed away a few years ago, but was worthy over $18 million USD. So, keep your dream no matter what. “Press forward, having perfect brightness of hope,” reports 2 Nephi 17.55. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
No calamity is greater than not knowing what is enough. No fault is worse than wanting too much. Whoever knows what is enough has enough. Babe, babe, you sure did a funny thing. I am not angry at you because I traveled across an ocean to meet you. That is why I shared those stories with you. Did you ever stop to think perhaps I worked about the same “what-ifs”? Avoiding a face-to-face meeting was to my advantage. You would not see how big my feet are or how clumsy I am when off the dance floor. I think you have a good opinion of me now (aside from my taste in jackets, I suppose). After all, I am devilishly handsome. Wickedly cleaver. Witty and utterly brilliant. Why would I want to jeopardize that? All those illusions could have vanished the moment we said hello. However, for the elusive chance to meet you…all of those apprehensions pale in comparison. I wanted in St. Mary’s Cathedral to meet you, babe. I really wish I knew a good joke or an amusing story to tell you. Have you heard from your husband? Do you know yet if he is being sent overseas? At least you can rest assured that you are safe. I am thankful for that. And, babe, it is probably a breach of etiquette to say so, but my heart breaks to hear that you lost your baby. I wish I knew the right words, but know that I hold them in my heart. “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” reports Isaiah 54.13. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
You know, you never mentioned your husband before. I suppose I knew you were married, being a “Mrs.” and all, but you never talked about him. Funny, since we have talked about pretty much everything else. Please keep me updated. I can read the reports in the newspaper, but, from way across the ocean, it is hard to know what is really happening over there. I am here for you. It is important to replace exterior authority with inner illumination by God’s spirit. The deep spiritual meaning of the Bible (outer World)—which is allegorical, not historical but typological, full of contradictions and merely testimonial to the eternal truth—can be comprehended only by those who have already accepted the Inner Word: Unless we listen to the word of God within ourselves, we can make nothing of the Scripture for everything can be decked and defended with texts. Since all people descended from Adam, access to the Holy Spirit is equal. The act of faith is neither blind nor a will to believe, but arises out of the immediate awareness both of oneself as free and of a transcendence of oneself. Faith is thus both the condition and the result of the subject’s freedom, and all theoretical and practical activity has its source in this freedom. Truths have a different starting point and find a different expression, but their content—Being—is eternal. Our Heavenly Father is always available to us. He adapts to our level of understanding. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
Their Beautiful Show Will Entertain the Centuries When I am Long Ago
I do not know how to bless you with my expecting heart. May we meet occasionally in the voyage of life and have a warm smile at the moment you suddenly glance back at me. I went out shopping today. While walking, I turned a corner and was confronted with a street packed fully of bookshops. It was a cultural haven with a series of new independent bookstores. You may laugh, but even if I were to have let my imagination run loose, I never would have conjured up an image of an entire block filled with nothing but books. It was an iconic street corner in an iconic neighbourhood that was bustling with pedestrian traffic. I knew that I was treading on hallowed ground, so to speak. This had to be the community’s nucleus. The neighbourhood is so deeply rooted in literary traditions and what is happening in the World. Brick and mortar bookstores hold the possibility of the unexpected. It is so much different than ordering books online because you have to already know what you are looking for and what you want, but when you walk into an independent book store, there seems to be miles and miles of different books, some new, some used, some rare. There are so many rows and subject to walk through. One can pick up a book, get a feel for it, and then buy it. It is so much more pleasant to have that hands-on experience. I was little shy when I first started going to the bookstore because I probably do not look like their typical reader, and would go there often, buying three books a month, which might be considered an unusual amount of material to consume each month. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
However, I love books because they open the mind and teach people things and have idea that many have never heard of before. You would love the sense of superstitions and mystery in the independent bookstores, I felt like I was stepping into a Harry Potter movie, or meeting with Buffy and Giles in the library. Even the corporate bookstores have a cool vibe. They remind me of stepping into a movie theater or a laboratory. And people who frequently these places are typically polite. Books are amazing, after all, words are but pictures of our thoughts. “The Great British Baking Show” influenced. me to cheat on y diet and eat an entire lemon meringue pie all by myself over two days, it was delicious. I saw it at Safeway for $5.99 and wanted to judge it for myself. Life inevitably tends to organize into systems of life that are organic or Institutional. Philosophy helps to transform existing life systems. People assess these explications practically, in terms of their productiveness for life or for a particular life system. Each person chooses a life system, but one does not choose one simply for oneself. Every act of such choosing inevitably involves other people. There is so escape for any person from this social involvement. However, it leaves one to wonder, does the personality change across the entire life course, and are those changes due to intrinsic maturation or major life experiences? Personality traits may be characterized as internal dispositions and tendencies to behave, think, and feel in consistent ways. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
Moreover, personality traits are conceptualized by many to represent stable and enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that become increasingly solidified throughout adulthood. There is usually a mean-level of changes for several personality traits during key developmental persons. Thus, personality may be aptly described as a dynamic individual difference variable that exhibits both stability and change over the life course. Genes and environments also contribute to rank-order stability and change in personality from late adolescence to early adulthood. Life is a process, an evolution; it cannot be contained within the boundaries of any philosophy or life system. The strains and the stresses created when life breaks its established boundaries raises the deep need for a new philosophy or new philosophies, and inevitably people develop them. Every significant new philosophy is more comprehensive and clearly defined than any past philosophy. The elaboration of new philosophies comes only through action (i.e., activism), through which a person’s relentless affirmation of life—and affirmation which recognizes both the good and evil inherent in life. Adulthood represents a turbulent period of adjustment marked by a host of significant life changes. Demographically, individuals undergo a series of closely spaced and formative life events (e.g. leaving home, matriculating into colleges, starting careers and families. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
Psychologically, the significance of these adjustments may run deeper as individuals begin to define their identities and make commitments to various paths and roles in life. Significant psychological upheaval during this period is usually due to the fact that no significant philosophy is ever purely intellectualistic, for life is more than an idea or a theory. At its best, life is creative energy bursting into expression and molding past and present experience into a higher, more spiritual unity and order. Life is neither noological nor psychological nor cosmological; its basis and meaning are to be found in humans. One developmental construct that has been linked to these phenomena, and therefore may broaden our knowledge of their underlying mechanisms, is personality traits. Patterns of stability and change can be operationalized in multiple ways with each index of change revealing a unique perspective on personality development during emerging adulthood. Rebelliousness declines from adolescence to adulthood, while mean-level increases in law abidance, congeniality, diligence, generosity, orderliness, and leadership over this person. There are also an observed mean-level increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness and mean-level declines in neuroticism in a sample of students assessed at the beginning and end of college. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
Life in humans is self-conscious; as such, it goes beyond the subjective individual to bind together all conscious beings. Through this transcendence, it becomes the independent spiritual life, or human beings reaching through action toward the absolute truth, beauty, and goodness. This independent spiritual life is attained only as personality is developed, but it is never a final achievement, since it is always a process that evolves as history. It is not rooted in the external World but in the soul, and it manifests itself more and more completely as the soul becomes independent of this World, self-willed yet subordinate to the ultimate trinity of truth, beauty, and goodness. These ultimates are not theoretical abstractions; they are concrete human experiences that push humans beyond cosmic nature to something transcendentally spiritual. Humans have their beginning in nature, but through their soul evolve beyond it. One’s soul raises questions such as “Why?” and “Whence?” and opposes nature at all points. One’s soul seeks to become timeless and above nature, even as it feels helpless in the grasp of nature. In spite of this feeling of helplessness, it continues to seek freedom—a freedom realized through the creation of a consistent philosophy that makes possible human’s physical and spiritual survival. This is not something intrinsic to itself but a means, or organ, of life itself. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
The need for a new philosophy arises from two social conditions—modern human’s drive for a broader, freer, cleaner life, a life of greater independence and spiritual spontaneity and one’s drive for a naturalistic culture, which limits all its activity to the World around us. There is a normative trend toward growth and maturity during the transition into adulthood. Moreover, there is a mean-level increase in conscientiousness, emotional stability, and (to a lesser extent) agreeableness beginning in young adulthood. Maturity in the context of personality development, may be broadly defined as successful adjustment and adaptation to the demands of one’s life, as well as the capacity to form healthy interpersonal relationships. This is denoted by high self-control and responsibility, high agency and social efficacy, and low neuroticism, aggression, and other aversive emotional states. Furthermore, we expect a similar pattern of increasing maturity in personality from late adolescence to early adulthood. Also, the eternal contribution of Christianity offers a religious affirmation of universal redemption. However, redemption must be combined with new elements of faith if Christianity is to help give birth to the new spiritual philosophy needed by humans. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
Individuals who are most mature in late adolescence change the least over time, whereas those exhibiting the inverse profile change the most in a direction towards growth and maturity. Genes and environment contribute to stability and change during the transition from late adolescence into early adulthood. Given that individuals are continuing to develop psychologically and neurobiologically during this period, it is conceivable that genetic factors may also contribute to change during emerging adulthood. Such findings suggest that personality, like other developmental processes, is partly regulated by the unfolding of genetic processes over time, which become expressed during key developmental periods. There is also a pattern of normative chance when we look at assessment of stability for the personality of late adolescence to early adulthood. There are major declines in aggression, alienation, stress reaction, and there are a mean-level increases in control, harm avoidance, achievement, social potency. Most profiles were of individuals at age 17, grouped due to the fact this is when they begin to exhibit reliable change, until age 24 to examine the extent to which heritability is consistent over time, and assess the extent to which genetic and environmental variance in personality plays a factor. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
It has been seen that a naturalistic culture imposes false limitations upon human’s essential spirituality. When profiling youth, most scientists do not consider their comprehensive background, and they group people based on the likely hood of traits people with certain dispositions may display, but single parent household, ethnic background, and level of education are not always good indicators because we have people who are of mixed background, and although they come from a single parent house hold, their father and/or a father figure may be in the picture. Not all single parent households are struggling financially, and children may pursue higher education to raise their incomes levels. Also, spirituality plays a huge role in the lives of many. God has a higher standard of laws than man, which many religious people adhere to and science does not use religion as a factor because its impact is not always something they can measure. The conception of a naturalistic culture is a result of the impact of science upon human’s life—an impact that is essentially good, but dangerous if it leads to the restrictions of a person’s potentialities to the realm of nature only. The naturalistic approach opens the door to individual freedom, but it is unable to guide humans in the proper use of his or her freedom, since it lacks an overreaching conception of unity. It fails to understand the necessity of social cooperation and social cohesion. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
Intellectualistic idealism understands the necessity for cooperation, cohesion, and unity, but fails to understand the need for individual freedom. The only proper answer is spiritual autonomy. Autonomy gives primacy to the whole of which the individual is a part, but it never reduces him or her to a state of utter subordination to that whole. The individual realizes his or her own unique freedom through this whole. Socialism cannot give unity to the life process it fails to understand human’s need for an inner life; it makes the present the only significant moment in human’s life and thus cuts one off from the past and the future; by reducing people to mathematical equality, it fails to appreciate genuine cultural and spiritual differences among people; espousing no higher faith than naturalism, it reduces social life to a struggle of person against person; any by considering humans in purely economic terms, it stunts and aborts their nature. Attainment of freedom should be in terms of religion, science, and the peaceful society. In science the primary objective is to give people control over their nature, but this task can be accomplished only when scientists cooperate by working together. Science, in other words, is essentially social, but it accomplished its task through the freedom to investigate that is given to scientists. The peaceful society, although not yet attained, plainly depends upon human cooperation, upon no man raising his or her hand against another. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
However, spiritual autonomy is not possible in a naturalistic culture. It rests upon a faith that goes beyond naturalism—the spiritual belief that humans can produce a better and a freer World for all of humanity. Such a belief cannot find support in external circumstances alone. It requires the presence in each person of an inner life, a life constantly struggling to attain the good. The only duration of family life that satisfies the loftiest longings of the human soul is forever. No sacrifice is too great to have the blessings of an eternal marriage. To qualify, one needs only to deny oneself of ungodliness and honour the ordinances of the temple. By making and keeping sacred temple covenants, we evidence our love for God, for our companion, and our real regard for our posterity—even those yet unborn. Our family is the focus of our greatest work and joy in this life; so will it be throughout all eternity, when we can inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, powers, dominions, exaltations and glory. If we set our houses in order now and faithfully cling to the gospel, these priceless blessings can be ours. God lives. When we talk about covenant keeping, we are talking about the heart and soul of our purpose in mortality. There is unusual power in making and keeping covenants with our Heavenly Father. Helping children understand, make, and keep sacred covenants is another key in creating a sin-resistant generation. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
Are Your Spiritual Accounts Paid Up Because Mercy Cannot Rob Justice?
It would be easier if we had come to know one another, and had that kind of trust which makes it possible to talk of serious, even sacred things. One may ask, “Aside from he influence God has had on society, what effect can the Lord have on me individually?” Well, have you ever been hard-pressed financially? Have you ever been confronted with an unexpected expense, a mortgage come due, with really no idea how to pay it? Such an experience, however unpleasant, can be in the eternal scheme of things, very, very useful. If you miss that lesson you may have to make it up before you are spiritually mature, like a course that was missed or a test that was failed. Those who have faced a foreclosure know that one looks helplessly around, hoping for someone, anyone to come to the rescue. This lesson is so valuable because there is a spiritual account, with a balance kept and a settlement due, that no one of us will escape. Even your soul can face foreclosure. To understand this spiritual debt we must speak of such intangibles as love, faith, mercy, and justice. Without being able to solve the conflict that has arisen within critical philosophy, we sometimes become convinced the progressive clarification of modern theories will lead back to a physics based on classical mechanics. We have virtues that are both silent and invisible, and we know they are real. We lean of them by processed that often silent and invisible as well. #RandolphHarris 1 of 12
We become so accustomed to learning through our physical senses—by sight and sound and smell, by taste and touch—that some of us seem to learn in no other way. However, there are spiritual things that are not registered that way at all. Somethings we simply feel, not as we feel something we touch, but as we feel something we feel. There are things, spiritual things, that are registered in our minds and recorded in our memories as pure knowledge. A knowledge of things which have been, things which are, thing which must shortly comes to pass. Abstraction (analysis of the assumptions underlying practical ethical study of value judgments) and determining, by an empirical study of value judgment, the interest of pure practical reason, ethical demands put to the human will by reason itself we can come to know of spiritual things. Each of us, without exception, one day will settle that spiritual account. We will, that day, face a judgment for our doings in mortal life and face a foreclosure of sorts. We will be justly dealt with. Justice, the eternal law of justice, will be the measure against which we settle this account. The law demands of the human will the balanced consideration of other persons’ interest affected by its actions. Justice is usually pictured holding a set of scales and blindfolded against the possibility that she may be partial or become sympathetic. There is no sympathy in justice alone—only justice! Our lives will be weighed on the scales of justice. #RandolphHarris 2 of 12
By its content justice determines the duties of the individual by the rights others have with regard to it; in this respect justice is related to communal life and thereby provides this criterion as the concept of the state of rights, by which is meant the condition of a society in which the interests of all members are protected against wrongful violation. Ethics, by this definition, is concerned with the duties of the individual; philosophy of right is concerned with the state of right. “Justice claims the creature and execute the law, and the law inflicts the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God,” reports Alma 42.22. The demands of equality for all before the law and of equality of rights are compatible with the demand to differentiate according to given circumstances; and the demands of force against injustice remain linked to those of freedom of criticism and of public justification for the legal necessity of certain coercive measures. Such coercive measures are particularly necessary when the freedom of humans to form themselves rationally within the framework of one’s own life is threatened; this freedom can be threatened because human beings true need for it is at first obscure and can therefore be mistaken and suppressed. “Despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights,” reports Proverbs 3.11-12. #RandolphHarris 3 of 12
There once was a man called Ryan who wanted something very much. It seemed more important than anything else in his life. In order for him to have his desire, he incurred a great debt. Ryan had been warned about going into that much debt, and particularly about his creditor. However, it seemed so important for him to do what he wanted to do and to have what he wanted right now. Ryan was sure he could pay for it later. So he signed a contract that allowed him to pay off his purchase sometime in the future. Ryan did not worry about the cost and finance charges because the due date seemed such a long time away. Ryan had what he wanted now, and that was what seemed important. However, the creditor was always in his subconscious, and Ryan made token payments now and again, thinking somehow that the day of reckoning really would never come. However, as it always does, the contract fell due and full payment was demanded. Only then did Ryan realize that his creditor not only had the power to repossess all that he owned, but the power to cast him into prison as well. “I cannot pay you, for I have not the power to do so,” he confessed. “Then,” said Vince, the creditor, “We will exercise the contract, take your possessions, and you shall go to prison. You agreed to that. It was your choice. You signed the contract, and now it must be enforced. Run me my money, and you are never going to see the light of day!” #RandolphHarris 4 of 12
Ryan was absolutely drenched in sweat and feeling nervous, anxious, and stressed. The survival part of his brain had been triggered. His heart was beating faster, and his hands were trembling. “Can you not extend the time or forgive the debt?” Ryan begged. “Arrange some way for me to keep what I have and not go to prison. Surely you believe in mercy? Will you not show mercy?” Vince, the creditor replied, “Mercy is always so one-sided. It would serve only you. If I show mercy to you, it will leave me unpaid. It is justice I demand. Do you believe in justice?” Ryan replied, “I believed in justice when I signed the contract. It was on my side then, for I thought it would protect me. I did not need mercy then, nor think I should need it ever. Justice, I thought, would serve both of us equally as well.” Vince got upset and raised his voice, “Ryan, it is justice that demands that you pay this contract or suffer the penalty. Is you dumb, is you drunk?! Do you not hear the words coming out of my mouth? That is the law and you have agreed to it and that is the way it must be. Mercy cannot rob justice.” There they were: One meting out justice, the other pleading for mercy. Neither could prevail except at the expense of the other. “If you do not forgive the debt, there will be no mercy,” Ryan pleaded. “If I do, there will be no justice,” Vince replied. A friend stepped in and pay them debt for Ryan, and set new terms for Ryan to repay his debt overtime. That way there was justice and mercy, as no contact was broken. Both laws stood fulfilled. #RandolphHarris 5 of 12
It is interest which makes value judgments possible. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share, and mercy was fully satisfied. As one can see, two basic ethical principles from these interests were highlighted: the law of the balanced consideration of all interests affected by one’s own deeds and the ideal of forming one’s own life independently, according to the ideas of the true, the beautiful, and the good. These two principles are linked by the fact that, on the one hand, the law of balanced consideration, as a categorical imperative, determines the necessary limiting condition for the ideal value of human behavior; on the other hand, the ideal of rational self-determination leads to the doctrine of the true interests of humanity and finds in these interests the standard for a balanced consideration of conflicting interests. Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us. And, by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended even if there is one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption. Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untampered, unsympathetic, must, absolutely must fall on us. #RandolphHarris 6 of 12
The principles demonstrated are formal and permit determination of concrete ethical demands only through their application to given circumstances as justified by experience. However, it is precisely this application of the principles of the World of experience which requires preparatory philosophical investigation if the application is to be guarded against hasty generalization of single results, in which changing circumstances are not take into account, and against opportunistic adaptation to circumstances without regard for the practical consequences of ethical principles. In the system as a whole, ethics and philosophy of right appear side by side. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be extracted from us to the uttermost farthing. However, know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a Mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and humans, the Savior,” reports 1 Timothy 2.5.T There is no God but The God. In a single stroke, this affirmation demolished forever God’s rivals for human’s loyalty. Once for all, it toppled the innumerable idols. God lives forever. Through the Savior mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice. All humankind can be protected by the law of justice, and at once each of us individually may be extended the redeeming and healing blessing of mercy. This opens the way for each of us to keep our spiritual accounts paid up. #RandolphHarris 7 of 12
Keep your life in perspective and be constant in prayer. The most important and difficult lesson humans must learn and continually relearn, the Bible assumes, is that we are not God. Creature rather than creator, humans have nevertheless an inveterate tendency to place ourselves at the center of God’s Universe and live as law to ourselves. When we do so, however, when we try to play God, everything goes wrong. Humans are creature; our life slips into place and stays in proper perspective only when we recognize this fact. When one asks, therefore, why Christians pray, a partial answer is doubtless: in response to the natural yearning of the human heart to pour forth its love and gratitude toward its Creator. However, accompanying this desire is a need to keep our lives in their proper perspective; to see it in its objective setting; to acknowledge our humanity before our creator, and to submit ourselves to the will of God as rightfully sovereign over our lives. It is one of the glories of faith, that its temples are not always made by hands, and that our prayer ceremonies and spiritual worship can be performed anywhere upon God’s Earth or under the Lord’s Heaven. Every corner of God’s Universe being equally pure, the faithful are encouraged to pray wherever they find peace. #RandolphHarris 8 of 12
You, perhaps, are among those troubled people. When you come face to face with yourself in those moments of quiet contemplation—that many of us try to avoid—are there some unsettled things that bother you? Do you have something on your conscience? Are you still, to one degree or another, guilty of anything small or large? We often try to solve guilt problems by telling one another that they do not matter. However somehow, deep inside, we do not believe one another. Nor do we believe ourselves if we say it. We know better. They do matter! Our transgression are all added to our account, and one day if it is not properly settled, each of us, like Belshazzar of Babylon, will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. Belshazzar was king of Babylon from 555 to 539 BC. Remember when King Belshazzar held a last great feast at which he saw a hand writing on wall following words in Aramaic: “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.” The prophet Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall as God’s judgment on the king, foretold the imminent destruction of the city. And, as prophesized, King Belshazzar died after Babylon fell to the Persian general Gobyras without resistance on 12 October 539 BC, and probably before the Persian king Cyrus II entered the city 17 days later. Belshazzar was allegedly punished for his tyrannous oppression of his Jewish subjects, and because God warned him, but he did not repent. #RandolphHarris 9 of 12
There is a Redeemer, a Mediator, who stands both willing and able to appease the demands of justice and extend mercy to those who are penitent, for “He offered himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of law be answered,” reports 2 Nephi 2.7. Already the Savior has accomplished the redemption of all humankind from mortal death; resurrection is extended to all without condition. The Savior also makes possible redemption from the second death, which is the spiritual death, which is separation from the presence of our Heavenly Father. This redemption can come only to those who are clean, for no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God. If justice decrees that we are not eligible because of our transgression, mercy provides a probation, a penitence, a preparation to enter in. Although we know how poor words can be, we also know that such feelings are often carried by the spirit, even without words. At times, we all struggle under the burden of imperfections. Nevertheless, because we know that God lives, there is a supreme recurring happiness and joy. There is only one place where we are particularly vulnerable—when we know that we have abused someone, or caused them hurt, or offended them. It is then that we know what agony is. #RandolphHarris 10 of 12
Ideally, every micro-second of our lives should be lifted to God in gratitude. What happens in nature is, according to the laws of nature, dependent on the given circumstances and on the forces working through them, which are indifferent to ethical values: Under the laws of nature it is a matter of chance whether what should happen is in fact what happens or whether ethical demands are ignored. However, what ethics demands should not be subject to chance but assured by the human will. The law of character in ethics, which demands from the humans the establishment of a basic willingness to fulfill their duties, by which they make themselves independent of concrete circumstances; their inclinations and the influences on the will may or may not be in agreement with the commands of duty. There are certain postulates. These determine the forms of reciprocal action in society which alone assure just relations between individuals; among them are public justice, prosecutability, the law of contract, and the law of property. The transitions from ethics to pedagogy and from philosophy of rights to politics are made in the same spirit. Education, among the many influences on humans, should strengthen our capacity or create those elements which develop one’s capacity for good and oppose those that could weaken this capacity. #RandolphHarris 11 of 12
Everything that happens in nature (including human behavior) is determined by natural laws working through existing powers, and the practical one, which presents the human will with duties that can either be violated and ignored or become humanity’s purpose. Thus, ethical standards should be maintained without compromise and we must reject the skeptical assumption that humans, as a limited creature of nature, are incapable of maintaining them; this assumption is considered a sacrifice of known ethical truth, a mere excuse for those who are able but not willing. The human will should act according to the strongest motivation of the moment, without any guarantee from nature that this motivation will direct one toward what is ethically required. Knowledge is limited to the understanding of relationships in the sphere of experience but cannot achieve absolute perception of reality itself. In the consciousness of our freedom, which is indissolubly bound to the knowledge of our responsibility, humans relate themselves by faith to the World of that which is real in itself and superior to the limitations of nature. We should critically examine our own convictions, and carry out what we recognize as just and goo in our actions. Ethics is there to be used. Redemption’s grand design is where justice, love, and mercy meet in harmony divine! #RandolphHarris 12 of 12
Strong Family Cultures Will Help Our Children Live in the World
Some families are in jeopardy of being lost. Values are the prime target of the adversary, as well are the sanctity of marriage and the central importance of families. It is the duty of parents to teach their children to keep the commandments of God. Our morals and spiritual values provide an anchor and the safe harbor of a home where each child of a loving Heavenly Father can be influenced for food and acquire eternal values. People who feel the love and support of their parents are proud of the example they have set. This makes life so enjoyable for many families that the children want to follow in the footsteps of the parents, to continue on through experiencing the same joy that had been theirs in their younger days. Some parents always find the time to take the family on vacation and they can count on fun experiences. As a result of such a solid background, the children are not able to turn from the teachings of their parents because their actions would reflect on their parents’ character. Culture is defined as the way of life of a people. There is a unique gospel culture, a set of values and expectations and practices common to all followers of God. This gospel culture, or way of life, comes from the plan of salvation, the commandments of God, and the teachings of living prophets. It is given expression in the way we raise our families and live our individual lives. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
However, so much has changed during our lifetime. The effects of childhood trauma, including emotional neglect or abuse in childhood, can have alarmingly potent effect on our psyche as we enter adulthood, event to the extent of rewiring the brain. The children of narcissistic parents, those who meet the diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, know this all too well, having been raised by someone with a limited capacity for empathy and an excessive sense of grandiosity, false superiority and entitlement. Children of narcissistic parents are programmed at an early age to seek validation where there is one, to believe their worthiness is tied to the reputation of their families, and to internalize the message that they can only sustain their value by how well they can serve the needs of their parents. If given at all, they have lived an existence where love was rarely given. As the child of a narcissistic parent or parent, one is taught that they are not inherently worthy, but rather that there worth depended on what they could do for the narcissistic parent and how compliant one is. The emphasis on appearance, status, reputation is at an all-time high in households with a narcissistic parent. Due to the narcissistic parent’s grandiosity, false mask and need to be the best, children in these situations are probably part of a family that was presented in the best possible light, with neglect taking place behind closed doors. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
There is something really disturbing about parents who compete with their kids. Women who strive to be as hot as their teenage daughters. Parents threatened by the success of their adult children. Men who date girls the same age as their son’s girlfriend or daughter. And men who actually date their son’s girlfriends. Some parents even conspire with the children’s enemies to hurt their own kids because they envy them so much. So how have we gotten to this place? We all know that times have changed—and parenting is much more difficult as a result. Some parents feel like they did not have a chance to live the life they wanted so they take out their anger usually on one child who reminds them of what they would like to be. Let us take a closet look and find a way out of this madness and toward a better way to parent. Shine a light on yourself, rather than on your child. Get out of the mindset that your child is the enemy and you must win. Win what? No matter how your child behaves, you must commit to parenting from thoughtfulness, not anxiety, jealousy, and reactivity. Keep in the forefront of your mind that even at times of high stress, you are an adult and your children are supposed to learn from you. You want your children to look back and think of you as someone who loved God, followed the laws, and did everything possible to protect them, instead of sabotaging their lives and setting them up to fail. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
As adults, some people know that their parent or parents are bad and do not have their best interest at heart, but they still talk to them because they know their parents will not live forever and want to enjoy them while they are around, while secretly praying that their parent will repent and start showing them rest and unconditional love. Strong leaders focus on the preservation of their own integrity. They have a willingness to take responsibility for their own emotional well-being and do not try to make other people happy by changing their character. Being a strong leader is a quality that will actually help your child want to be led by you, rather than battle you. Remember that you are on your child’s team, not on the opposing side. You should not be sharing the personal business with their enemies who happen to be dangerous nor plotting to end the life of your own child. Some people saw that Casper the Ghost is a cautionary tale about Richie’s parents from Richie Rich killing him for insurance money. The Bible predicted that in the last days, “They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law,” reports Luke 12.53. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
Lessons taught in the home by goodly parents are becoming increasingly important in today’s World, where the influence of the adversary is so wide spread. As we know, he is attempting to erode and destroy the very foundation of our society—the family. In cleaver and carefully camouflaged ways, the wicked one is attacking commitment to family life throughout the World and undermining the culture and covenants of faithful believers in God. Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility. We must train up our children in the way he or he should go, this responsibility ultimately rests on the parents. According to the great plan of happiness, it is goodly parents with the care and development of Heavenly Father’s children. Parents should also pray in earnest, asking our Eternal Father to help them love, understand, and guide the children the Lord sent to them. It is also a good idea to hold family prayer, scripture study, and family home evenings and eat together as often as possible, making dinner a time of communication and the teachings of values. Parents should also share their testimonies often with their children, commit them to keep the commandments of God, and promise the blessings that our Heavenly Father promises his faithful children. Our strengthened family cultures will be a protection for our children from the fiery darts of the adversary embedded in their peer culture, the entertainment and television news. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
If Envy Were a Fever, All the World Would be Ill!
We often hear that the love of money is the root of all evil, but it is not. The love of money, however, can be evil. If you have money you can get things and do things. Because people believe money has power, it can be incredibly difficult to stay on the right course and not lose one’s soul in the process. Many people lose sight of where they come from and make decision that satisfy their personal desires. They forget, or choose to forget who was there for them when they needed to borrow money to pay the mortgage, or when they sold a car under false pretenses, but kept the car and the money, or who shared their Christmas bonus with them. They forget about how much money they took from your family to get where they are today, and when they feel they have made it, materialistic people no longer have a use for you because they see you as inferior and your life does not matter to them. These types of covetous people will sale your secrets to your enemy. Will take bribes to set you up so they can ruin your life because they want to infect others with the pain they experienced growing up in poverty and deprivation. “For the love of money people will steal from their mother. For the love of money people will rob their own brother. For the love of money people will lie, Lord, they will cheat. For the love of money people will sell their precious body for a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weight. Call it lean, mean, mean, green Almighty dollar,” (For the Love of Money by the O’Jays). #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Money talks, and it can start to define people and their respective lifestyles. The clothes you wear, the house you live in, the car you drive and the job you occupy all serve as indicators to one’s personal success. As a collection, these materials signify, in some form, who you are as a person. At least that is what materialistic people believe. However, it does not take money nor power to be a decent human being. We all know shallow people who do not care what other think of them and have done some strange things for some change. Then they start to think they are better than others because their hustling and illegal activities have allowed them to obtain luxury items, expensive cars, and lavish homes. And they forget all about the people they stole from, betrayed, and hurt to get where they are. Some people had never really experienced being financially strapped because they made the right decision in life. Get a job at a young age, go to college, and worked toward a degree. People sometimes people who had kids at an early age, where on government relief, and experienced and abusive married are jealous that someone did things the right want and want to see that person suffer. And after they bring you down and you see what poverty is like and are trying to work your way out of it, they know you need help, but instead they pretend not to know what you are going through. Because you are a forgiving person, you do not spite them, but wish them well. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
As you try hard to work your way back to success, your heart and mind will not even allow you to ask people with an ugly spirit for help. All money and not good money and although they stole from you and hurt you, it is better to struggle and try hard so when you come back up, you do not have any obligations to unholy people. People abuse their power and fail to treat others with the respect they deserve. The fundamental idea of respect is one that we can all agree upon, and it is an essential basis for solving our everyday problems. While people may spread lies and make up rumors about you, it is essential to seek first to understand before judging someone. Everyone has had different experiences in their lives that have helped shape who they are now. Growing up in a small rural community has taught me so many things. It is nearly impossible to enjoy life in a rural community without showing others respect. Our actions towards others determine our reputation, no matter what people say about us out of envy and malice. If people do not like their reputation, they can change their actions. Our actions is the one thing we can control. When it comes to overcoming being greedy, selfish, and overly indulgent, we all need more help. The worst fear many have is people will get rich in this country and forget God and his people. We will all be literally called upon to make an accounting before God concerning how we have used our resources to bless lives and build the kingdom of God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
No one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. God loves us each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. God does not want any of us to suffer, but sometimes we learn lessons as we suffer. We learn what it is like to be injured, hungry, poor, and unpopular. These are important things for some people to experience so they do not grow up to become monsters. It teaches us to be more understanding, humble, more compassionate, and show respect to people we do not know. We learn not to become a prisoner—a prisoner of sin, stupidity, and a pigsty. God does not want us to wallow with swine. People who take for granted their father and disenfranchise their family members will fall victim to a fictional affront. Even if we are not making as much money as we used to or live in a place the is rather shabby and loud, we still can be very happy with our lives. Keep in mind, wealth cannot buy health. If envy were a fever all the World would be ill. And even though you see your material lifestyles as being a shadow of what it used to be, people can still be jealous of you because of how well you are coming through the white squall they created in your life. Because envy is so far reaching—it can resent anything, including virtue and talent, and it can be offended by everything, including every goodness and joy. As we seem to grow larger in the sight of others, they feel that they are growing smaller. And they keep spending money to make themselves feel better, while you are still steadfastly focused of spiritual enlightenment and career development. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The purpose of life is learning as much as we can so that we can be ready for the gift of eternal life. There is more to come after our mortal bodies are no more. Our souls are eternal and the actions we choose in this lifetime determine how our eternal life will be. It is also better to go through this life with a clear conscience, as a guilty conscience might be worse than hell. This is a great truth. Understanding the plan for eternal life will help people keep the commandments, make better decision, and have the right motivation. The eternal perspective of the gospel leads us to understand the place that we occupy in God’s plan, to accept difficulties and progress through them, to make decisions, and to center our lives on our divine potential. Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance, and it allows us to appreciate their true value. We were taught this plan before we came to Earth and there rejoiced in the privilege of participating in it. Perhaps people who used you and hurt you do not understand what life is about and we should feel sorry for them that money is the only thing that matters to them because the great wicked one also has a plan, it is cunning, evil, subtle plan of destruction. It is the great wicked one’s objective to take captive the children of Father in Heaven and with every possible means frustrate the great plan of happiness. However, our Heavenly Father endowed his sons and daughters with unique traits especially fitted for their individual responsibilities as they fulfill God’s plan. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The struggle to success is a difficult one. For those of us that have a belief in God, the right combination of smarts and tenacity, we are blessed to have been cultivated in large by our actively influential surroundings. The environment we grew up in is an important factor in our upbringing and in the success that we will one day achieve. This is not to say that we are product of our circumstances entirely—there have been several people who were subject to horrific situations growing up, and through the love and guidance of God, that managed to make themselves into something and were successful in morphing their dreams into a reality. Whether we embrace our environment growing up and think back to it fondly, or remember our situation growing up and thank our lucky stars that we were able to make it out alive—the fact remains the same: our past made us who we are today and if we are happy with who we are, we cannot wish to have lived a different way. That includes where and with whom we grew up. “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect,” reports Matthew 5.48. Mortal perfection can be achieved as we try to perform every duty, keep every law, and strive to be perfect in our sphere as our Heavenly Father is in his. If we do the best we can, the Lord will bless us according to our deeds and the desires of our hearts. The Lord’s entire work and glory pertains to the immortality and eternal life of each human being. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
God is the Lonely Cosmic Dancer Whose Routine is All Creatures and All Worlds
We know the current state of things is not right. It has been brought about by a script for what supposedly constitutes a successful nation that has been playing out particularly the past few years. While it is granted that there are inevitable tragic aspects of life, knowledge of existence and nature is to be preferred to illusions. America is no longer a population building country and some might even say that it is overpopulated, which is why housing, cars, clothes, food, medical care, and legally assistance is so expensive. The symbols that used to guide our minds, hearts, and souls no longer sustain us as a people. We are waking up from illusion of material reality. People want things to go back to the way they used to be in the past when a person could work at a supermarket and could afford a brand-new house, car, and support a family on one’s salary. Because the United States of America has, in modern times, been outsourcing jobs and production to other countries, so that companies can earn more profits from lower labor cost, it has hurt America by creating huge deficits and suppressing the wages of American workers. The economy consists of millions of people engaged in many activities—buying, selling, working, hiring, manufacturing and so on. A closed economy is a self-contained economic unit that has no business or trading relations with anyone outside of that unit. This model is why the United States of America used to be so innovative and produced a large number of scholars and Academics, as we had to solve our own problems and produce future leaders, so people took education more seriously. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
A closed economy does not engage in international trade in goods and services, nor does it engage in international borrowing and lending, which is why generations of the past could keep the national deficit low and traditional jobs, not just professional ones allowed people to ability to afford to live in their communities, as the closed system was characterized by a small amount of exposure to external markets, as opposed to the relatively open economy. As a nation, our economy used to follow the circular-flow diagram, where firms produced goods and services using inputs such as domestic labor, and capital (buildings and machines). These inputs are called the factors of production. Households own the factors of production and consume all the goods and services that the firms produced. Self-reliance means that the country does not have to worry about the global economy. A closed region is independent from other regions, so there is no fear of coercion nor interference. A direct result of not relying on other countries and regions is that the closed economic region is independent. An open economic region, or one that depends on importing and exporting, is susceptible to external demands that could weaken the region’s infrastructure, much like when OPEC manipulated that gas prices to cause fuel to cost three or four times as much as it used to, while you are still making the same wages before the cost of fuel skyrocketed. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
Market manipulation in an open economy means you have less money to spend on others bills and goods and services, which could hurt your bottom line, or even cause your lifestyle to become unaffordable. This also may force businesses to sell good at extravagant prices just to cover transit, which can lead to weak sales. Much like how consumers and businesses now have to pay taxes on items they buy online, along with shipping, which will make the items much more expensive than the ones they buy in the store. Because of the increased costs, more consumers might return to shopping in the physical stores in the material World, which is the point, but this will also add to more cars on the road, and more people waiting in line at the stores, and that is a major disadvantage because time is money. When prices increase, it also may keep people from obtaining goods necessary for living, which can weaken the economy. Closing such regions economically eradicates high transit costs, leaving more money for the internal economy. This is why President Trumps is placing tariffs on foreign goods because many American companies are being shut down, as they cannot compete with more cost-effective products coming from other countries. Because we are importing so many goods and services, much of our money is being sent overseas, helping other nations develop faster, and is causing a national security problem. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
The catch up effect, alternatively called the theory of convergence, demonstrates how poor or developing economies grown faster compared to economics with a higher per capita income and gradually reach similar high levels of per capita income. Basically, poorer nations are grow much faster because of higher possibilities of growth and over time catch up with the richer countries in terms of per capita income such that the divide between the two gets minimized. And that is why the trade deficit and national debt is a matter of national security. Because of opportunities of growth available for developing economics like access to technological know how from the developed Word and increasing returns to capital, they may one day become a World power, which puts the status of the United States of America in jeopardy. The US trade deficit is $46.2 billion, and the US national debt is $21.2 trillion. If America loses its status as a World power, we could be occupied by another government and subjected to human rights violations, slave wages, loss of private property, slavery and more. Empirical evidence suggests that while some developing economics have been able to effectively tap the available advantages to grow faster and catch up with robust economies, this has not been true for a large part of the developing World, but with the United States going into so much debt and borrowing so much money for foreign sources, we are weakening America as a nation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Mr. Desmond Townsend
Also, if we had a closed economy, we would have already figured out how to produce cars that run on other types of fuel, besides oil. And face it, no one, especially the youth wants to sit around charging a car for hours. We are already experiencing an over consumption of electric, which is why we had rolling blackouts a few years ago and the very reason power companies are asking you to use major appliances at night and not heat nor cool your homes as desired. As a result of high demand on electricity, the California Energy Department is placing restriction of all new homes three stories and less that they have to have solar panels, which will increase the cost of your home by at least $10,000.00 and there is no cap on that expense. As you know, prices of technology can rise overtime. And the federal government plans to hike interest rates four times this year to keep up with inflation, so the cost of the mortgage will rise even higher, making homes even more expensive than they are. People are demanding more homeownership, family, and financial security. A desire for community and authenticity is strong and growing. Many individuals want what is real, and not just regularly scheduled programming and the constant onslaught of fame, wealth, greed, social propaganda, and survivalist tendencies it celebrates, and that is why we have to support goods and services produced domestically. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
If you want your wages to rise to keep up with inflation, we have to start supporting American made goods and services, which will cost us more in the short term. However, as costs keep rising and more money is being spent in our domestic economy, in the long term it will also cause wages to rise so people can afford to buy the goods and services. However, if we keep sending our money overseas and buying foreign products, other nations will have caught up to America and surpass us, while we decline and the cost of living increasingly becomes unaffordable. Already, 43 percent of Americans are struggling, and experiencing food shortages, economical insecurity, and unstable households. Some people worry each month about paying their bills and as the bills keep going up and their wages are not, they fear they are being priced out of their homes, or eventually will be. Decreases in the money supply, cuts in government spending, and increases in taxes lead to lower inflations, but higher unemployment. Because we have been outsourcing labor, wages are suppressed. How many people do you know who can live off $10-$15 an hour, when rent for a one-bedroom apartment is on average $1,505.00 a month? An economist actually reported if minimum wage were keeping up with inflation, it would be about $28.00 an hour. And with the mandated increase in minimum wage to $15 an hour, many skilled workers will experience pay deflation, so something really needs to be done to correct this unstable market. It is not fair to work your way up to $20 an hour and a new employee with no experience comes in making $15.00. #RandolphHarrris 6 of 8
Because of how stressful life and the economy are for many is the reason a lot of people do not watch the news. No one wants to be reminded daily that they are being priced out of a country they and their ancestors helped build. However, when we feel far from God, we need only to make the decision to turn from sin and face the Savior, where we will find the Lord waiting for us, with his arms outstretched. God is here to guide us, and we are just one prayer away from receiving the guidance again. On matters of such supreme moment, the truth rather than fiction is the more fitting ideal of rational people. The power of God awaits our demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its wisdom. What an incomparable gift comes to those who put their faith in God. That gift is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s power in action, his active force. It is the vital, or animating, force in living creatures. God sends out his spirit by projecting his energy to any place to accomplish his will. The Holy Spirit inspires us, empowers us and guides our understanding. The Spirit touches our hearts and transforms us, renewing the image of God in which we were created. God wants us to have the Spirit’s gifts to build up the Lord’s kingdom. Miracles will be wrought, the infirmary will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. The Spirit is, as well, the ultimate solution for all our maladies and problems. Those who respond to the Spirit the Lord renews and transforms into the image of God. Guilt, stress, hostility, and a host of other problems melt in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Father, son, and the Holy Ghost are one Spirit. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Some may think we should not expect daily guidance from the Spirit. However, to live by the Spirit is a high privilege. It brings a sense of cam and certainty as well as the products of the Spirit such as love, joy, and peace. In many situations, being familiar with the voice of the Holy Ghost is a matter of spiritual life and death. Whoso will hearken unto the word of God, and hold fast unto it will never perish; neither can the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction. Following the feet of the people ahead of you on the path is not enough. We cannot just do and think what others are doing and thinking; we must live a guided life. We must each have our own understanding of faith. Then we may go to the Lord with humble confidence, knowing that he shall lead us by the hand, and give us answers to our prayers. Then we will achieve a realistic outlook on the World and will be freed from the knows of the heat and the identification of the self with the Spirit. Thus liberated we will perform our royal duties efficiently, like an actor on the stage. Following this example and the teachings in the scriptures, we will no longer be motivated by temptations and they will no longer possess us. Like a child playing alone, God is the lonely cosmic dancer whose routine is all creatures and all Worlds. From the tireless stream of the Lord’s cosmic energy these flow without end as God executes his graceful, repetitious movements. #RandolpHarris 8 of 8
Give Me Something to Desire
Conditions that work against happiness may work for, not against, the developing, trying, and testing of the moral fiber. Love is not primarily a relationship to specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of character which determines the relatedness of a person to the World as a whole, not toward one object of love. If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to the rest of society, his or her love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarge sense of pride. When we reflect on the tragedies or our own loves, when we slowly find our way through their miseries, we are being initiated into the mysterious ways of the soul. Love is the means of entry and our guide that keeps us on our path. If we can honor love as it presents itself, taking shapes and direction we would have never predicted or desired, then we are on the way toward discovering the true meaning of soul, where honor and value reveal themselves meticulously and paradoxically. This is the shortest path to divine realization. It requires a rare combination of rationality and spirituality. Life is not motored so much by reason as by emotion, and of the many emotions that crowd a person’s life, the most powerful and pervasive is love. Even hate can be interpreted as a rebound from the thwarting of this impulse. Moreover, we tend to become like that which we love, and God lies at the base of every heart. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
If we shift our attachment to God, we will reach him in no time. The moral life is not a mere conforming to given static principles and rules but it is directing the moral agent along certain paths of self-development. There is development within the moral ideal: We discover tomorrow that today’s ideal has more in it than we had supposed. Our goal is to adore God with every element of our being. The normal object of human love is personality, however exalted its attributes of wisdom, compassion, and grace may be. All we have to do is to love God dearly—not just say we love him but love the Lord in fact; love him only (loving other things because of him), and love our Lord for no ulterior reasons (not even from the desire for liberation) but for love’s sake alone. Insofar as we succeed we will know joy, for no experience can compare with that of being authentically and fully in love. Moreover, every strengthening of our affections toward God will weaken the World’s grip. The stain may, indeed will, love the World far more than the addict, but one will love it in a different way, seeing in it the reflected glory of the God one adores. How is this love of God to be developed? Obviously the task will not easy. The things of this World clamor for our affection so incessantly that it may be marveled that a Being who can neither be seen nor heard can ever become their competitor. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
However, we must keep our faith and yield our hearts to God. When we open ourselves to the Spirit, we learn God’s way and feel his will. These magnificent symbols and rituals keep turning night and day like a never-ending prayer wheel. As our trust in God grows, we open our hearts, seek to do the Lord’s will, and wait for answers that will help us understand. And the Lord will forgive our sins that are due to our human limitations. Purposeful, valuable activity produces an extension of our conscious present; it delivers us from the dullness of one thing after another. The value of faith lies in the power to recall our minds from the World’s distractions to the thought of God and thereby progressively to his love. In singing God’s praises, in praying to him with wholehearted devotion, in meditating on his majesty and glory, in reading about him in the scriptures, in regarding the entire Universe as his handiwork, we move our affections steadily in his direction. The cause in this development is well expressed by the account of eternity—the complete and simultaneous fruition of life without bounds. Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good. This does not mean all things are good, but for the meek and faithful, things—both negative and beneficial—work together for good, and the timing is the Lord’s. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
We wait on God, sometimes like Job in his suffering, knowing that God makes the sore bind itself: one who is wounded, God will make whole. A meek heart accepts the trail and the waiting for that time of healing and wholeness to come. When we open ourselves to the Spirit, we learn God’s way and feel the Lord’s will. When we are yielded and still, our minds can be directed to something more we may need to change—something that is reducing our capacity to receive spiritual guidance or even healing and help. For example, perhaps I have a carefully guarded resentment toward someone. When I ask if there is more to confess, that secret comes clearly to my memory. In essence, the Holy Ghost is whispering, “You honestly asked if there was more, and here it is. Your resentment diminishes your progress and damages your ability to have healthy relationships. You can let this God.” Oh, it is hard work—we may feel quite justified in our animosity—but yielding to the Lord’s way is the only way to lasting happiness. The healing of our heart begins when we submit to and worship God. When our hearts are right, that is when true worship begins. What is our heart condition today? Paradoxically, in order to have a healed and faithful heart, we must first allow it to break before the Lord. “You shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” the Lord declares. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The result of sacrificing our heart, or our will, to the Lord is that we receive the spiritual guidance we need. This frequent service of the will becomes a constant, warming presence that imperceptibly becomes a genuine appeal of the heart and soul. Keep the faith in God spinning in the midst of all your activities and one day you will see your wildest dreams come true. It will be a lot like playing the slot machine in Vegas, when all the symbols come together and you win the jackpot when you least expected it. When the full bounty of the Lord is poured out in your life, the light will come back into your eyes, your soul will shine, and you will have a sense of well-being that you had not experienced since you were a child. These verbal droplets of faith and aspiration will soak down into the subconscious, turning the total self towards the divine. We come finally to worship God in the form of one’s chosen ideal. The more sense is also an influencing motive in our pursuit of virtue and our avoidance of vicious behavior. With a growing understanding of the Lord’s grace and mercy, we find that our self-willed hearts begin to crack and break in gratitude. In our brokenhearted reaching and yoking, we receive new hope and fresh guidance through the Holy Ghost. God’s way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the World to come. We believe in the providence of God, the immortality of human’s soul, and divine retribution in a future life. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Virtue consists in pursuing what seems to be in accordance with right reason, but both our capacity to discover what actions accord with reason and our inclination toward those actions flow from a sort of forth dimension: a body which contains a spirit and has a certain spissitude, or density of substances. Some many think that they have failed too many times and feel too weak to change sinful acts or Worldly desires of the heart. However, as a covenant with God, we do not just try and try on our own to change. If we earnestly appeal to God, the Lord will take us as we are—and makes us more than we ever imagined. A healthy longing to improve balanced with the spiritual assurance that in and through the Savior, we are going to make it. With such an understanding, we can honestly say to the Heavenly Father: So trusting my all to thy tender care, and knowing thou loves me, I will do thy will with a heart sincere: I will be what you want me to be. The removal of all struggle and all insecurity would logically and psychologically lead to the prayer: give me something to desire. The term pleasure embraces everything from scratching an itch to enjoying eternal bliss with God. With God, pleasure is a state ad pleasure is a motion. Hence health is a true pleasure. We belittle neither the joy arising from conferral of benefit, not the testimony of a good conscience as the reward for deeds, nor the importance of mental pleasures. Pleasure be natural so that no pain follow the pleasure of the chosen, and that no greater pleasure be lost, and that no social harm results. #Randolphharris 6 of 6
Suicide is Not Always Due to Mental Illness there are Other Factors Not Considered
When criminals seem to be able to do whatever they want and God takes his time delivering you from a situation, it can leave one feeling like what is the purpose of life? A lot of people feel like money is the key factor that will make life better, but it may not be. Over the past two decades, adult suicides have increased by 30 percent. An estimated 45,000 people end their lives each year. Some of these people, like Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain were rich and famous and ended their lives. Then, of course, the usual narratives come up about mental illness, and no one ever stops to think that just because someone ends their life, it does not mean that they are mentally ill. Not all people who commit suicide are mentally ill, and mental illness is often not clearly distinguishable from normal distress. The extent to which someone is expressing their free will and is capable of being responsible for their actions is important to establish when deciding whether suicide indicates a psychopathological state of mind. The principle of autonomy, integral to a free society, requires that a person’s decisions regarding their own life should be respected whenever possible. There have been cases of people who are mentally healthy, but been an ongoing victim of crimes and have reached out for help, tried to get people to speak up about what is going on so they can get out of the situation that they are in, but no one will. Some people find certain situations so unbearable that they think it will never change, it has been going on so long, and no one seems to care and so they end their lives. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
In many cases, there is no medication of the face of the Earth that can make a situation more bearable. An individual may be totally of sound mind, but just stuck in a situation that they cannot escape from. Some people turn to drug and/or alcohol to get through it, but there are people who want to keep their bodies healthy and do not want to be addicted to drugs. And when people will not acknowledge what is going on and there is no one who is willing to help change the circumstances, people get tired of waiting for life situations to get better. Suicide is not necessarily a matter of insanity, irrationality nor despair, and it is not primarily of medical concern. To call all suicides mentally ill downgrades their individual responsibilities. Suicide is indeed a complex issue encompassing philosophical, ethical, legal, and practical dilemmas. Some people, who had been victims of injustice and abuse, and have tried to take corrective measures to resolve the issues, but have not been able to feel that ending their life might save others lives because then the people who have been abusing them and violating their human rights will be exposed and punished. Maybe some lives are just here, on Earth, to save other people. Maybe some individuals have no real purpose. Nonetheless, it is tragic to think that by speaking up someone could have saved a life, but people keep pretending nothing is wrong and go on living their lives, and when someone ends up dead, others wonder how could this have been prevented when that individual have been reaching out to authorities and others and expressing what is wrong. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
The fact of the matter why it is so hard to connect with others is because people do not care. Law enforcement sometimes allows abuse and human rights violations to go one because they are trying to protect people in positions of power. Although people know some people are having their human rights violated and being tortured and the media will nor any other organization will push to advocate justice for an individual, if there is in fact a cover up going on, imagine what kind of news coverage it will get when the media reports they found a dead body and the individual had been reporting to authorities what was going on and medical reports show there was a history of abuse. Whoever was involved and not taking the issues seriously will surely be exposed then. You cannot force people to care, you cannot force the system to enforce your rights, you cannot make God act when you want him to, so what other options are there? The fact of the matter is people will not care how they are hurting another person until it affects them legally and/or financially. Also, some people define insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. However, would it not be insane to try and resolve a situation over and over for years and it never changes? The most excusable cause of suicide seems to be an emaciated body; when a person a labours under the torture of an incurable disorder, and seem to live only to be a burden to oneself and others. This was thought to be a sufficient apology in the ancient days. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
In The Grandeur and Declension of the Roman Empire Montesquieu expressed admiration for the Roman practice of suicide, which gave everyone the liberty of finishing one’s part on the stage of the World, in what sense one pleased. Montesquieu believed that a human life was no more important to the Universe than that of an oyster. If the disposal of human life were reserved to the Almighty, almost any action would become an encroachment of his privilege. It is cruel to prevent sufferers from getting justice or the quick death for which they ask and a true estimate of the value of human beings leads to the conclusion that the wishes, interests, and aspirations of every human being ought to be taken into account by every other human being who has dealings with that individual. There is no ethical value of living just any sort of life; the only life that is worth living is the good life. We may define the good differently, but no matter what our conception of the good life is, it presupposes a physical basis—a certain indispensable minimum of physical and social well-being—necessary for even a limited realization of that good life. And sometimes you hear people saying be careful of how you treat others because you never know what they are going through, but sometimes your rude comments are not even really bothering them. That even has nothing to do with their death wish because they honestly do not even consider your comments valid. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Experts say that an obsession with death can lead to suicide, but so can an obsession with freedom and wanting to be treated like others. It is really not fair to hold some people a higher standard and expect them to be understanding and endure injustice when if the things that have been done to them were done to someone else, the laws would have been enforced and the torture would never have gotten that far. And it seems the only time people care about one individual in society is when a Black man is killed by police, and no one else’s pain and suffering even matters. So, are they saying the only way for an individual, who is not having their rights honored, to get any recognition is to be killed by the police. How could a community know someone is being tortured, but nothing is being done about it? It is like a quiet storm, everyone knows what is happening, but on the surface no corrective action is being taken. No one is officially addressing the situation. Some people who contemplate suicide do not want sympathy, they do not want you to care, they simply want you to tell the truth, to speak up on their behalf about what is going on so they can get justice and move on with their lives. No one wants to spend an eternity writing essays, walking around a park for exercise and waiting for God or the laws to set them free. Everyone in this life has their challenges and difficulties. That is part of our mortal test. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The reason some of these trials cannot be readily understood except on the basis of faith and hope because there is often a larger purpose which we do not always understand. Peace comes through hope. And maybe everyone needs a chance to express what they are not saying. Everyone can enjoy the hope that comes from the knowledge that God truly lives. Such hope springs from the belief that if we have faith, somehow he will help us through our challenges—if not in this life, then surely in the life to come. In the eternal scheme of things, wrongs will be righted. In the perfect justice of the Lord, all who live worthily will be compensated for blessings not enjoyed here. We are moving to a higher level of faith and activity than there ever has been. I pray that each of us will be found holding up our end of the line in this great army of righteousness. And maybe some people are just bored with life and want to get it over with because their dreams seem so far out of reach even though they have been trying. Nonetheless, keep the commandments. In this there is safety and peace. Nothing this World has to offer can surpass the joy of living the gospel. No Worldly wealth nor possession, no degree of fame or recognition can supplant the satisfaction of feeling the warmth and peace of the Spirit of the Lord in our Hearts and in our homes. As we strive for success, we cannot allow anything vain nor foolish thing to divert us from the path of faith and lead us away from being true to our covenants. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Randolph Harris II International Institute 