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A Person that Does Not Have Any Tears Does Not Have Any Heart!
To have no friends at all is the worst state of humans. To have only one good friend is enough. You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Our personality develops in the course of our life from germs that are hard or impossible to discern, and it is only our deeds that reveal who we are. We are like the sun, which nourishes the life of the Earth and brings forth every kind of strange, wonderful, and evil thing; we are like the mothers who bear in their wombs untold happiness and suffering. At first we do not know what deeds or misdeeds, what destiny, what good and evil we have in us, and only the autumn can show what spring has engendered, only in the evening will it be seen what the morning began. Personality, as the complete realization of our whole being, is an unattainable ideal. However, unattainability is no argument against the ideal, for ideals are only signposts, never the goal. Just as the child must develop in order to be educated, so the personality must begin to sprout before it can be trained. And this is where the danger begins. For we are handling something unpredictable, we do not know how and in what direction the budding personality will develop, and we have learned enough of nature and the World to be somewhat chary of both. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
On top of that, we were brought up in the Christian belief that human nature is intrinsically evil. However, even those who no longer adhere to the Christian teaching are by nature mistrustful and not a little frightened of the possibilities lurking in the subterranean chambers of their being. Even enlightened psychologists like Dr. Freud give us an extremely unpleasant picture of what lies slumbering in the depths of the human psyche. So it is rather a bold venture to put in a good word for the development of personality. Human nature, however, is fully of the strangest contradictions. We praise the “sanctity of motherhood,” yet would never dream of holding it responsible for all the human monsters, the homicidal maniacs, dangerous lunatics, epileptics, idiots, and physically disabled of every description who are born every day. At the same time, when it comes to allowing the free development of personality, we are tortured with doubts. “Anything might happen then,” people say. Or they dish up the old, feeble-minded objection to “individualism.” However, individualism is not and never has been a natural development; it is nothing but an unnatural usurpation, a freakish, impertinent pose that proves its hollowness by crumpling up before the least obstacle. What we have in mind is something very different. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
Clearly no one develops one’s personality because somebody tells one that it would be useful or advisable to do so. Nature has never yet been taken in by well-meaning advice. The only thing that moves nature is causal necessity, and that goes for human nature, too. Without necessity nothing budges, the human personality least of all. It is tremendously conservative, not to say torpid. Only acute necessity is able to rouse it. The developing personality obeys no caprice, no command, no insight, only brute necessity; it needs the motivating force of inner or outer fatalities. Any other development would be no better than individualism. That is why when flung at the natural development of personality, the cry of “individualism” is a cheap insult. The words “many are called, but few are chosen” are singularly appropriate here, for the development of personality from the germ-state to full consciousness is at once a charisma and a curse, because its first fruit is the conscious and unavoidable segregation of the single individual from the undifferentiated and unconscious herd. This means isolation, and there is no more comforting word for it. Neither family nor society nor position can save one from this fate, nor yet the most successful adaptation to one’s environment, however smoothly one fits in. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
The development of personality is a favour that must be paid for dearly. However, the people who talk most loudly about developing their personalities are the very ones who are lest mindful of the results, which are such as to frighten away all weaker spirits. Yet the development of personality means more than just the fear of hatching forth monsters, or of isolation. It also means fidelity to the law of one’s own being. For the word “fidelity” I should prefer, in this context, the Greek word used in the New Testament, which is erroneously translated “faith.” It really means “trust,” “trustful loyalty. Fidelity to the law of one’s own being is a trust in this law, a loyal perseverance and confident hope; in short, an attitude such as a religious human should have towards God. It can now be seen how portentous is the dilemma that emerges from behind our problem: personality can never develop unless the individual chooses one’s own way, consciously and with moral deliberation. Not only the causal motive—necessity—but conscious moral decision must lend its strength to the process of building personality. If the first is lacking, then the alleged development is a mere acrobatics of the will; if the second, it will get stuck in unconscious automatism. However, if one holds one’s own way to be the best, a human can make a moral decision to go that way. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
The other ways are conventionalities of a moral, social, political, philosophical, or religious nature. The fact that the conventions always flourish in one form or another only proves that the vast majority of humankind do not choose their own way, but convention, and consequently develop no themselves but a method and a collective mode of life at the cost of their own wholeness. Just as the psychic and social life of humankind at the primitive level is exclusively a group life with a high degree of unconsciousness among the individuals composing it, so the historical process of development that comes afterwards is in the main collective and will doubtless remain so. That is why I believe convention to be a collective necessity. It is a stopgap and not an ideal, either in the moral or in the religious sense, for submission to it always means renouncing one’s wholeness and running away from the final consequences of one’s own being. To develop one’s own personality is indeed an unpopular undertaking, a deviation that is highly uncongenial to the herd, an eccentricity smelling of the cenobite, as it seems to the outsider. Small wonder, then, that from earliest times only the chosen few have embarked upon this strange adventure. Had they all been fools, we would safely dismiss them as mentally “private” persons who have no claim on interest. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
However, unfortunately, these personalities are as a rule the legendary heroes of humankind, the very ones who are looked up to, loved, and worshipped, the true sons of God whose names perish not. They are the flower and the fruit, the ever fertile seeds of the tree of humanity. This allusion to historical personalities makes it abundantly clear why the development of personality is an ideal, and why the cry of individualism is an insult. Their greatness has never lain in their abject submission to convention, but on the contrary, in their deliverance from convention. They towered up like mountain peaks above the mass that still clung to its collective fears, its beliefs, laws, and systems, and boldly chose their own way. To the man in the street it has always seemed miraculous that anyone should turn aside from the beaten track with its known destinations, and strike out on the steep and narrow path leading into the unknown. Hence, if not actually crazy, it was always believed that such a human was possessed by a daemon or a god; for the miracle of a human being able to act otherwise than as humanity has always acted could only be explained by the gift of daemonic power or a divine spirit. How could anyone but a god counterbalance the dead weight of humanity in the mass, with its everlasting convention and habit? #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
From the beginning, therefore, the heroes were endowed with godlike attributes. According to the Nordic view they had snake’s eyes, and there was something peculiar about their birth or descent; certain heroes of ancient Greece were snake-souled, others had a personal daemon, were magicians or the elect of God. All these attributes, which could be multiplied at will, show that for the ordinary human the outstanding personality is something supernatural, a phenomenon that can only be explained by the intervention of some daemonic factor. What is it, in the end, that induces a human to go one’s own way and to rise out of unconscious identity with the mass as out of a swathing mist? Not necessity, for necessity comes to many, and they all take refuge in convention. Not moral decision, for nine times out of ten we decide for convention likewise. What is it then, that inexorable tips the scales in favour of the extra-ordinary? It is what is commonly called vocation: an irrational factor that destines a human to emancipate oneself from the herd and from its well-worn paths. True personality is always a vocation and puts its trust in it as in God, despite its being, as the ordinary human would say, only a personal feeling. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
However, vocation acts like a law of God from which there is no escape. The fact that many a human who goes one’s own way ends in ruin means nothing to one who has a vocation. One must obey one’s own law, as if it were a daemon whispering to one of new and wonderful paths. Anyone with a vocation hears that voice of the inner human: one is called. That is why the legend say that one possesses a private daemon who counsels one and whose mandates one must obey. The best known example of this is Faust, and an historical instance is provided by the daemon of Socrates. Primitive medicine-humans have their snake spirits, and Aesculapius, the tutelary patron of physicians, has for ones emblem the Serpent of Epidaurus. He also has, as his private daemon, the Cabir Telesphoros, who is said to have dictated or inspired his medical prescriptions. Nonetheless, always choose a vocation where you will be happy. You will spend at least eight hours a day or more at it through all the foreseeable future. Choose something that you enjoy doing. The original meaning of “to have a vocation” is to be addressed by a voice.” The clearest examples of this are to be found in the avowals of the Old Testament prophets. That it is not just a quaint old-fashioned way of speaking is proved by the confessions of historical personalities such as Goethe and Napoleon, to mention only two familiar examples, who made no secret of the feeling of vocation. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
When it comes to a vocation, income is important, but you do not need to be a multimillionaire or a billionaire to be happy. In fact, if wealth becomes your only objective, you are more likely to be unhappy. You will become a slave t it. It will colour all your decisions. You need enough to get along on. You need enough to provide well for your family. Vocation, or the feeling of it, is not, however, the prerogative of great personalities; it is also appropriate to the small ones all the way down to humble personalities, but as the size decreases the voice become more and more muffled and unconscious. It is as if the voice of the daemon within were moving further and further off, and spoke more rarely and more indistinctly. The smaller the personality, the dimmer and more unconscious it becomes, until finally in merges indistinguishably with the surrounding society, thus surrendering its own wholeness and dissolving into the wholeness of the group. In the place of the inner voice there is the voice of the group with its conventions, and vocation is replaced by collective necessities. However, even in this unconscious social condition there are not a few who are called awake by the summons of the voice, whereupon they are at once set apart from the others, feelings themselves confronted with a problem about which the others know nothing. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
In the most cases it is impossible to explain to others what has happened for any understanding is walled off by impenetrable prejudices. “You are no different from anybody else,” they will chorus, or, “there is no such thing,” and even if there is such a thing, it is immediately branded as “morbid” and “most unseemly.” For it is “a monstrous presumption to suppose anything of that sort could be of the slightest significance” –it is “purely psychological.” This last objection is extremely popular nowadays. It stems from a curious underestimation of anything psychic, which people apparently regard as personal, arbitrary, and therefore completely futile. And this, paradoxically enough, despite their enthusiasm for psychology. The unconscious, after all, is “nothing but fantasy.” We “merely imagined” so and so, et cetera. People think themselves magicians who can conjure the psyche hither and thither and fashion it to suit their moods. They deny what strikes them as inconvenient, sublimate anything nasty, explain away their phobias, correct their faults, and feel in the end that they have arranged everything beautifully. In the meantime they have forgotten the essential point, which is that only the tiniest fraction of the psyche is identical with the conscious mind and its box of magic tricks. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
The much greater part of the mind is sheer unconscious fact, hard and immitigable as granite, immovable, inaccessible, yet ready at any time to come crashing down upon us at the behest of unseen powers. The gigantic catastrophes that threaten us today are not elemental happenings of a physical or biological order, but psychic events. To a quite terrifying degree we are threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other than psychic epidemics. At any moment several millions of human beings may be smitten with a new madness, and then we shall have another World war or devastating revolution. Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes, landslides, and inundations, modern humans are battered by the elemental forces of one’s own psyche. This is the World Power that vastly exceeds all other powers on Earth. The Age of Enlightenment, which stripped nature and human institutions of gods, overlooked the God of Terror who dwells in the human soul. If anywhere, fear of God is justified in face of the overwhelming supremacy of the psychic. However, all this is so much abstraction. Everyone knows that the intellect, that clever jackanapes, can put it this way or any other way one pleases. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
When the psyche, as an objective fact, hard as granite and heavy as lead, confronts a human as an inner experience and addresses one in an audible voice, saying, “This is what will and must be,” it is a very different thing. Then one feels oneself called, just as the group does when there is a war on, or a revolution, or any other madness. It is not for nothing that our age calls for the redeemer personality, for the one who can emancipate oneself from the inescapable grip of the collective and save at least one’s own soul, who lights a beacon of hope for others, proclaiming that here is at least one person who has succeeded in extricating oneself from that fatal identity with the group psyche. For the group, because of its unconsciousness, has no freedom of choice, and so psychic activity runs on it like an uncontrolled law of nature. There is thus set going a chain reaction that comes to a stop only in catastrophe. When they feel the danger of psychic forces, the people always long for a hero, a slayer of dragons; hence the cry for personality. We know that God is our ultimate Saviour. Sabbath fulfilled in human life is really celebration of God. Sabbath is inseparable from worship, and, indeed, genuine worship is Sabbath. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
As the fourth commandment, Sabbath is the fulfillment in practice of the first three. When we come to the place where we can joyously “do no work” it will be because God is so exalted in our minds and bodies that we can trust him with our life and our World and can take our hands off of them. Now, for most of us Sabbath is first to be achieved in the practice of solitude and silence. Thee must be carefully sought, cultivated, and dwelt in. When they become established in our soul and our body, they can be practiced in company with others. However, the body must be weaned away from its tendencies to always take control, to run the World, to achieve and produce, to attain gratification. These are its habitual tendencies learned in a fallen World. Progress in the opposite direction can only be made in solitude and silence, for they “take our hands off our World” as nothing else does. And that is the meaning of Sabbath. Rest is one primary mark of the condition of sabbath in the body, as unrest is a primary mark of its absence. So if we really intend to submit our bodies as living sacrifices to God, our first step well might be to start getting enough sleep. Sleep is a good first use of solitude and silence. It is also a good indicator of how thoroughly we trust in God. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
The psalmist, who knew danger and uncertainty well, also slept well: “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me” (3.5-6), he said, and “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for Thou alone, O LORD, dost make me to dwell in safety,” (4.8). Of course we do not mean that we can just seep our way to sainthood. Sometimes people sleep because they are depressed, or are sad, or have a physical condition, or are just evading reality. Nor do we mean that really godly people—call them saints—do not work hard and are never exhausted. However, the saints who have separated their bodies to God have resources not at the disposal of the ordinary person running on fumes and promises, where so many of us find ourselves today. We have to learn how to get where those resources are and to take our bodies into the rest of God. If we are not rested, on the other hand, the body moves to the center of our focus and makes its presence more strongly felt, and the tendencies of its parts call out more strongly for gratification. He sensual desires and ego demands will have greater power over us through our desperate body and its parts. In addition, our awareness of what it is doing—it is very subtle—and what is happening around us will be less sharp and decisive. Confusion is the enemy of spiritual orientation. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
Rest, properly taken, gives clarity to the mind. Weariness, by contrast can make us seek gratification and energy from food or drugs, or from various illicit relationships, or from egoistic postures that are, in Paul’s words, “upon the Earth.” They pull us away from reliance upon God and from living in his power. Much more could be said of the role of spiritual disciplines on behalf of the spiritual formation of the body. A full discussion of disciplines focused on the body would have to deal with how exercise and diet can contribute to easing the influence of the “sin that is in our members.” As finite, bodily creature we cannot ignore such things. In particular, specific disciplines go far in retraining particular parts of our body away from the specific tendencies to sin that are localized in them. They enable us to stop the practice and remove the tendency in question by entering special contrary practices and circumstances, and thereby breaking the force of habit that has us in bondage. God has made every provision for the body we actually have to serve us and him well for his purposes in putting us here on Earth. There may be severe problems with our bodies, at least from the human point of view. We do not mean to deny or disregard that. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
However, as Peter said to women apprentices of his day (and of course it applies equally well to men), the real power of life lies in who we are as redeemed people and how our behaviour is caught up in that. So we should “not let [our] adornment be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God,” reports 1 Peter 3.3-4. This is no legalistic ban on jewelry and so on—though such things can be wrongly used, and perhaps nearly always are. However, it is a clear indication of where genuine beauty, health, and strength of the body come from and what incredible grace lies in the spiritual transformation of the body. “And it came to pass that Sez, who was a descendant of Heth—for Heth had perished by the famine, and all his household save it were Shez—wherefore, Shez began to build up again a broken people. And it came to pass that Shez did remember the destruction of his fathers, and he did build up a righteous kingdom; for he remembered what the Lord had done in bringing Jared and his brother across the deep; and he did walk in the ways of the Lord; and he begat sons and daughters. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
“And his eldest son, whose name was Shez, did rebel against him; nevertheless, Shez was smitten by the hand of a robber, because of his exceeding riches, which brought peace again unto his father. And it came to pass that his father did build up many cities upon the face f the land, and the people began again to spread over all the face of the land. And Shez did live to an exceedingly old age; and he begat Riplakish. And he died, and Riplakish reigned in his stead. And it came to pass that Riplakish did not do that which was right in the sight of the Lord, for he did have many wives and concubines, and did lay that upon most men’s shoulders which was grievous to be borne; yea, he did tax them with heavy taxes; and with the taxes he did build many spacious buildings. And he did erect him an exceedingly beautiful throne; and he did build many prisons, and whoso would not be subject unto taxes he did cast into prison; and whoso was not able to pay taxes did cast into prison; and he did cause that they should labour continually for their support; and whoso refused to labour he did cause to be put to death. Wherefore he did obtain all his fine work, yea, even his fine gold he did cause to be refined in prison; and all manner of fine workmanship he did cause to be wrought in prison. And it came to pass that the did afflict the people with his whoredoms and abominations. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
“And when he had reigned for the space of forty and two years the people did rise up in rebellion against him; and there began to be war again in the land, insomuch that Riplakish was killed, and his descendants were driven out of the land. And it came to pass that after the space of many years, Morianton (he being a descendent of Riplakish) gathered together an army of outcasts, and went forth and gave battle unto the people; and he gained power over many cities; and the war became exceedingly sore, and did last for the space of many years; and he did gain power over all the land, and did establish himself king over the land. And after that he had established himself king he did ease the burden of the people, by which he did gain favour in the eyes of the people, and they did anoint him to be their king. And he did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself because of his many whoredoms; wherefore e was cut off from the presence of the Lord. And it came to pass that Morianton built up many cities, and the people became exceedingly rich under his reign, both in buildings, and in gold and silver, and in raising grain, and in flocks, and herds, and such things which has been restored unto them. And Morianton did live to an exceedingly great age, and then he begat Kim. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
“And Kim did reign in the stead of his father; and he did reign eight years, and his father died And it came to pass that Kim did not reign in righteousness, wherefore he was not favoured of the Lord. And his brother did raise up in rebellion against him, by which he did bring him into captivity; and he did remain in captivity all his days; and he begat sons and daughters in captivity, and in his old age he begat Levi; and he died. And it came to pas that Levi did serve in captivity after the death of his father, for the space of forty and two years. And he did make war against the king of the land, by which he did obtain unto himself the kingdom. And after he had obtained unto himself the kingdom he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord; and the people did prosper in the land; and he did live to a good old age, and begat sons and daughters; and he also begat, Corom, whom he anointed king in his stead. And it came to pass that Corom did that which was good in the sight of the Lord all his days; and he begat many sons and daughters; and after he had seen many days he did pass away, even like unto the rest of the Earth; and Kish reigned in his stead. And it came to pass that Kish passed away also, and Lib reigned in his stead. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
“And it came to pass that Lib also did that which was good in the sight of the Lord. And in the days of Lib the poisonous serpents were destroyed. Wherefore they did go into the land southward, to hunt food for the people of the land, for the land was covered with animals of the forest. And Lib also himself became a great hunter. And they built a great city by the narrow neck of the land, by the place where the sea divides the land. And they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness, to get game. And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants. And they were exceedingly industrious, and they did buy and sell and traffic one with another, that they might get gain. And they did work in all manner of ore, and they did make gold, and silver, and iron, and brass, and all manner of metals; and they did dig it out of the Earth; wherefore, they did cast up mighty heaps of Earth to get ore, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of copper. And they did work all manner of fine work. And they did have silks, and fine-twined linen; and they did work all manner of cloth, that they might clothe themselves from their nakedness. And they did make all manner of tools to till the Earth, both to plow and to sow, to reap and to hoe, and also to thrash. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
“And they did make all manner of tools which they did work their beasts. And they did make all manner of weapons of war. And they did work all manner of work exceedingly curious workmanship. And never could be a people more blessed than were they, and more prospered by the and of the Lord. And they were in a land that was choice above all lands, for the Lord has spoken it. And it came to pass that Lib did live many years, and begat sons and daughters; and he also begat Hearthom. And it came to pass that Hearthom reigned in the stead of his father. And when Hearthom had reigned twenty and four years, behold, the kingdom was taken away from him. And he served many years in captivity, yea, even all the remainder of his days. And he begat Heth, and Heth lived in captivity all his days. And Heth begat Aaron, and Aaron dwelt in captivity all his days; and he begat Amnigaddah, and Amnigaddah also dwelt in captivity all his days; and he begat Coriantum, and Coriantum dwelt in captivity all his days; and he begat Com. And it came to pass that Com drew away the half of the kingdom. And he reigned over the half of the kingdom forty and two years; and he went to battle against the king, Amgid, and they fought for the space of many years, during which time Com gained power over Amgid, and obtained power over the remainder of the kingdom. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
“And in the days of Com there began to be robbers in the land; and they adopted the old plans, and administered oaths after the manner of the ancients, and sought again to destroy the kingdom. Now Com did fight against them much; nevertheless, he did not prevail against them,” reports Ether 10.1-34. Dear Lord in Heaven, as we approach this New Year, may it be born from You; praise, blessings, and honours are due for this gift! Please hear my words, Lord, as you give birth to everything. A newly born year will take its place among your wonders, one more thing for which You might rightly be praised. Sweet hymns shall be my chant and women songs, for Thou art all for which my spirit longs—to be within the shadow of Thy hand, and all Thy mystery to understand. The while Thy glory is upon my tongue, my inmost heart with love is of Thee is wrung. So though Thy mighty marvels I proclaim, these songs of love wherewith I greet Thy name. I have not seen Thee, yet I tell Thy praise, nor known Thee, yet I imagine forth Thy ways. For by Thy seers’ and servants’ mystic speech Thou didst Thy sov’ran splendor darkly teach, and from the grandeur of Thy work they drew the measure of Thy inner greatness, too. They told of Thee, but not as Thou must be, since from Thy work they tried to body Thee. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
To countless visions did their pictures run, behold through all the visions Thou art One. I glorify Him, for He joys in me, my crown of beauty He shall ever be! His head is like pure gold: His forehead’s flame is graven glory of His holy name. And with that lovely diadem this graced, the coronal His people there have placed. Like Nature, the World, I myself, all of existence is subject to change. It is inevitable. What can we do except accommodate ourselves to this inexorable law? If there is any law which governs human existence it is the law of change. We forget it at our peril. Most ancient societies forgot it and suffered. For they cannot escape change, nor the sorrow that change bring, nor the loss of individual existence which is also brings. Such is the universal law which dominates all things and all creatures. When we try to press a permanent happiness out of this World of impermanent things, we are deceiving ourselves. Whether one comes to this truth near the end of a lifetime after long and varied experience or early in it by intuition, the effect is salutary, if saddening: perfect and continual happiness would include perfect and continual functioning of the body, good health, oral hygiene, good vision, good digestion, and all of the rest. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
How many of the saints and the wise in history’s records had excellent bodily condition until the end? Nothing remains; everything is subject to change. Whether you rebel against this stark fact or resignedly accept it, it stares you in the face unaffected by your personal attitude. Jesus said: “This World will pass away.” It is hard to bear the remembrance that whatever else may happen change is certain, in one way or another, at some time or another. This is the “eternal flow” of ancient Greek thinkers. Not only is everything subject to change but everything also exists in relation to something else. Thus change and relativity dominate the World scene. Even Nature, used to existences extending through millions of years, is itself subject to this ever-changing process. What chance is then is there for the creations of humans? How could they hope to endure? We may think of the Sphinx and the Pyramid as likely to outlast the hours—but stay! Look at their neighbour, Sahara: today a vast sea of sand, but formerly a vast sea of water. So we must conclude that all is perishable—yet, to complete the picture, we must admit also that all is renewable. The one feature of life and thus Universe which does not change is change itself! It is an inexorable law. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
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Let Go of the Past, but Keep the Lessons it Taught!
Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans. The use of dream-analysis in psychotherapy is still a much debated question. Many practitioners find it indispensable in the treatment of neuroses, and consider that the dream is a function whose psychic importance is equal to that of the conscious mind itself. Others, on the contrary, dispute the value of dream-analysis and regard dreams as a negligible by-product of the psyche. Obviously, if s person holds the view that the unconscious plays a decisive part in the aetiology of neuroses, one will attribute a high practical importance to dreams as direct expressions of the unconscious. Equally obviously, if one denies the unconscious or at least thinks it aetiologically insignificant, one will minimize the importance of dream-analysis. Although the unconscious, as some say is unjustly, controversial, we are going to deal exclusively with a few practical questions. Without it, the dream is a mere freak of nature, a meaningless conglomeration of fragment left over from the day. Were that really so, there would be no excuse for the present discussion. The attempt at analyzing and interpreting dreams is theoretically justified from a scientific standpoint point. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
If we are successful at analyzing and interpreting the dream, we may expect this attempt to give us scientific insight into the structure of psychic causality, quite apart from any therapeutic results that may be gained. The practitioner may believe that the explanatory insight so gained is of therapeutic value, in which case one will elevate dream-analysis to a professional duty. It is well known that the Freudian school is of the firm opinion that very valuable therapeutic results are achieved by throwing light upon the unconscious causal factors—that is, by explaining them to the patient and thus making one fully conscious of the sources of one’s trouble. When one is projecting one’s intimate feelings and the caring of their cultural tradition onto the symbols of one’s dream, one is able to integrate cognitively and affectively one’s tribal moral tradition as it was expressed in the dream. Dreams can make a person aware that the choices one was making had been taking one away from one’s “path of life,” causing one to be psychologically and spiritually out of balance. Sometimes an individua may use alcohol and drugs to mask the pain of one’s feelings of disharmony, discomfort, and suffering. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
I was consulted by a man who held a prominent position in the World. He was afflicted with a sense of anxiety and insecurity, and complained of dizziness sometimes resulting in nausea, heaviness in the head, and constriction of breath—a state that might easily be confused with mountain sickness. One had had an extraordinarily successful career, and had risen, by dint of ambition, industry, and native talent, from one’s humble origins as the son of a poor peasant. Step by step one had climbed, attaining at last a leading position which held every prospect of further social advancement. One has now in fact reached the spring-board from which one could have commenced one’s flight into the empyrean, had not his neurosis suddenly intervened. At this point in his story the patient could not refrain from that familiar exclamation which begins with the stereotyped words: “And just now, when…” The fact that one had all the symptoms of mountain sickness seemed highly appropriate as a drastic illustration of is peculiar impasse. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
He had also brought to the consultation two dreams from the preceding night. The first dream was as follows: “I am back again in the small village where I was born. Some peasant lads who went to school with me are standing together in the street. I walk past, pretending not to know them. Then I hear one of the say, pointing at me: ‘He does not often come back to our village.’” It requires no feat of interpretation to see in this dream a reference to the humble beginnings of the dreamer’s career and to understand what this reference means. The dream says quite clearly: “You forgot how far down you began.” Here is the second dream: “I am in a great hurry because I want to go on a journey. I keep on looking for things to pack, but can find nothing. Time flies, and the train will soon be leaving. Having finally succeeded in getting all my things together, I hurry along the street, only to discover that I have forgotten a brief-case containing important papers. I dash back all out of breath, find it at last, then race to the station, but I make hardly any headway. With a final effort I rush on to the platform only to see the train just steaming out of the station yard. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
“It is very long, and it runs in a curious S-shaped curve, and it occurs to me that if the engine-driver does not look out, and put on steam when he comes int the straight, the rear coaches will still be on the curve and will be thrown off the rails by the gathering speed. And this is just what happens: the engine-driver puts on steam, I try to cry out, the rear coaches give a frightful lurch and are thrown off the rails. There is a terrible catastrophe. I wake up in terror.” Here again no effort is needed to understand the message of the dream. It describes the patient’s frantic haste to advance oneself still further. However, since the engine-driver in front steams relentlessly ahead, the neurosis happens at the back: the coaches rock and the train is derailed. It is obvious that, at the present phase of his life, that patient has reached the highest point of his career; the strain of the long ascent from his lowly origin has exhausted his strength. He should have rested content with his achievements, but instead of that his ambition drives him on and one, and up and up into an atmosphere that is too thin for him and to which he is not accustomed. Therefore his neurosis comes upon him as a warning. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
Circumstances prevented me from treating the patient further, nor did my view of the case satisfy him. The upshot was that the fate depicted in the dream ran its course. He tried to exploit the professional openings that tempted his ambition, and ran so violently off the rails that the catastrophe was realized in actual life. Thus, what could only be inferred from the conscious anamnesis—namely that the mountain sickness was a symbolic representation of the patient’s inability to climb any further—was confirmed by the dreams as a fact. Here we come upon something of the utmost importance for the applicability of dream-analysis: the dream describes the inner situation of the dreamer, but the conscious mind denies its truth and reality, or admits it only grudgingly. Consciously the dreamer could not see the slightest reason why he should not go steadily forward; on the contrary, he continued his ambitions climbing and refused to admit his own inability which subsequent events made all too plain. So long as we move in the conscious sphere, we are always unsure in such cases. The anamnesis can be interpreted in various ways. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
After all, the common soldier carries the marshal’s baton in his knapsack, and many a son of poor parents has achieved the highest success. Why should it not be the case here? Since my judgment is fallible, why should my conjecture be better than his? At this point the dream comes in as the expression of an involuntary, unconscious psychic process beyond the control of the conscious mind. It shows the inner truth and reality of the patient as it really is: not as I conjecture it to be, and not as he would like it to be, but as it is. I have therefore made it a rule to regard dreams as I regard physiological facts: if sugar appears in the urine, then the urine contains sugar, and not albumen or urobilin or something else that might fit in better with my expectations. That is to say, I take dreams as diagnostically valuable facts. As is the way of all dreams, my little dream example gives us rather more than we expected. It gives us not only the aetiology of the neurosis but a prognosis as well. What is more, we even know exactly where the treatment should begin: we must prevent the patient from going full steam ahead. This is just what he tells himself in the dream. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
As one’s story unfold and the healing process beings, one should find expressed the feelings of safety, security, belonging, and love the one receives from the experience of being known by the Creator. Being known by the Creator allows a unity of consciousness and a peak experience for one in the concrete reality of life. Of course we are all aware that we have certain boundaries. The Creator sometimes reminds us of these boundaries to keep us in touch within the sacred cathedral of our path. The symbols can bring about a psychological transformation of our attitude from one of the depression, constriction, and limitedness to one of joyfulness, expansiveness, and freedom. Dreams can sometimes tell us that we are losing our sense of being and our sense of identity. When we see out limitedness within our dreams, we should also be inspired and excited about claiming our freedom by not feeling driven down to conform to standards that are not within our realm of possibility. Whereas before one may have felt driven to contract or enlarge, inhibit or stand out, one will learn that is it okay to be more flexible about our capacities—more deliberate. An individual’s life is a rich tapestry of experience. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
Some of the experiences that make up our tapestry of life are composed of threads that we weave with our own hands, and some that the hands of fate weave for us. One needs to grow up to this truth, and in that way it will reach one’s heart, and the appeal goes deeper and works more powerfully. God, the infinite power, is everywhere present and always active. All beings draw their little power for the purposes of their transient self-centered lives from it. In the same way the infinite Mind provides the mainspring for the activity of each little egotistic mind. The smallest one-celled creature is alive with an energy which comes from the universal energy that is the expression of the World-Mind. The same energy which runs in waves or flows in streams of particles through the Universe’s atoms courses through human beings. In both cases it issues forth from a center which is divine. There is no moment when the unseen divine activity is not present in the Universe. Everything is being carried on by the divine Power and divine Wisdom. The secret stream of a diviner life flows ceaselessly beneath our blessed existence. It is a process that requires the individual to face one’s problems and that taxes one’s powers of conscious judgement and decision. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
Coming to understand our place in the Universe is nothing less than a direct challenge to one’s ethical sense, a call to arms that must be answered by the whole personality. As regards the maturation of the personality, therefore, the analytical approach is of a higher order than suggestion, which is a species of magic that works in the dark and makes no ethical demands upon the personality. The view that dreams are merely repressed wishes is hopelessly out of date. There are, it is true, dreams which manifestly represent wishes or fears, but what about all other things? Dreams may contain ineluctable truths, philosophical pronouncements, illusions, wild fantasies, memories, plans, anticipations, irrational experiences, even telepathic visions, and Heaven knows what besides. One thing we ought never to forget: almost half our life is passed in a more or less unconscious. Just as the psyche has a diurnal side which we call consciousness, so also it has a nocturnal side: the unconscious psychic activity which we apprehend as dreamlike fantasy. The cosmic order is divine intelligence expressed, equilibrium sought through contrast and complementaries. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
It is certain that the conscious mind consists not only in wishes and fears, but of vastly more besides; and it is highly probable that our dream psyche possesses a wealth of contents and living forms equal to or even greater than those of the conscious mind, which is characterized by concentration, limitation, and exclusion. God multiplies Himself in countless forms, the Supreme will establish according to higher laws. The World-Mind is hidden deep within our individual minds. The World-Idea begets all our knowledge. Whoever seeks aright finds the sacred stillness inside and the sacred activity in the Universe. It is not only humans that are made in the image of God: the whole Universe likewise is also an image of God. It is not only by coming to know oneself that human beings discover the divine life hidden deep in one’s heart: it is also by listening in the stillness of Nature to what she is forever declaring, that one discovers the presence of an infinite World-Mind. One comes to see the whole cosmos as a manifestation of the Supreme Being. It follows that involuntarily, spontaneously, one brings oneself—mind and body, heart and will—into harmony with this view. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
Each individual center of life and intelligence is a replica in minuscule of the World-Mind itself. Humans and nature are metaphysically an appearance, physically an expression, and religiously a creative projection of God. The World-Idea is slowly but rhythmically unfolded from the Infinite Mind. Yet if we could speak in spatial terms of what transcends space, we could say that the Idea and its process of unfoldment occupy no more than a single point in that vast Mind. Although the Universe expressed Mind, it does not exhaust it. The Universe is not the entire God-Consciousness. If the Infinite Being is represented by an infinite number of atoms, ways, creatures, and relationships, both harmonies and oppositions, this is only to be expected. If it is itself inexhaustible, its manifestations must be the same. The Universe only partially expresses the characteristics of the World-Mind. Its own tremendous spaciousness strives—but of course always strives in vain—to unfold the infinite of World-Mind. Not only were humans made in the image of God, but also the Universe. It is as geometrically infinite as God is absolutely infinite. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
There is no limit to the number of things in the Universe, no limit to the differences among those things, and no limit to the space it occupies. The number of objects and creatures, stars and suns is by a natural necessity infinite. Infinite being can only express itself infinitely. The Worlds cannot be counted; the space which contains them cannot be measured. No one doubts the importance of the conscious experience; why then should we doubt the significance of our psychic existence of the unconscious which overshadows our daily lives? They are also part of our life, and sometimes more truly a part of it for weal or woe than any happenings of the day. Compensation is not as a rule merely an illusory wish-fulfilment, but an actual fact that becomes still more actual the more we repress it. We do not stop feeling thirsty by repressing our thirst. In the same way, the dream-content is to be regarded with due seriousness as an actuality that has to be fitted into the conscious attitude as a codetermining fact. If we fail to do this, we merely persist in that eccentric frame of mind which evoked the unconscious compensation in the first place. It is then difficult to see how we can arrive at a sane judgment of ourselves or at a balanced way of living. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
The unconscious does not harbour in itself any explosive materials unless an overweening or cowardly conscious attitude has secretly laid up stores of explosives there. All the more reason, then, for watching our step. This gives expression to the view that the ultimate aim and strongest desire of all humankind is to develop that fulness of life which is called personality. Nowadays, “personality training” has become an educational ideal that turns its back upon the standardized, mass-produced, “normal” human being demanded by the machine age. It thus pays tribute to this historical fact that the great liberating deeds of World history have sprung from leading personalities and never from the inert mass, which is at all times secondary and can only be prodded into activity by the demagogue. Much of the vastness of humanity lies dormant, like a Sleeping Beauty, in our brains. Obviously, this is why there are half-baked educators who are not human beings at all, but walking personifications of method. Anyone who wants to educate must oneself be educated. However, the parrot-like fake news and book learning and mechanical use of methods that is still practiced today is no education either for the child or for the educator. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
People are everlastingly saying that the child’s personality must be trained, but so must the adult’s personality. What are some things that can be done to place our body and is parts full at the disposal of the redeeming power that God intends to live in them? It is extremely helpful in thinking about our body and our spiritual life. We must actually release our body to God. That is what Paul means when he tells us “to present our body to God as a living sacrifice,” reports Romans 12.1. It needs to be a definite action, renewed as appropriate, perhaps on a yearly basis. You will not drift into this position before God, and you will not, without decisive action, stay there. Perhaps you could do like this. Decide to give your body to God on the basis of understanding how important it is and the scriptural teachings requires it. Know, therefore, that it is a good and indispensable thing to do. Then take a day in silent and solitary retreat. Quiet your soul and your body, and let them get clear of the fog of your daily burdens and preoccupations. Meditatively pray some central Scriptures before the Lord, especially those dealing directly with the body. What you want to do is ask God to take charge of your body and each part, to fill it with his life and use it for his purposes. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
Accentuate the good; do not just think of not sinning with your body. You will find this following naturally from active consecration of it to God’s power and his purposes. Remember, a sacrifice is something to be take up in God. No longer idolize your body. Do not worry what will happen to it—sickness, repulsiveness, aging, death—for you have placed God in charge of all that, and any issues that arise in this area you freely take up with him in prayer. You take good care of your body, but only within the framework of values clearly laid down by God and exemplified in Jesus Christ. You do not live in fear of your body and what it might “do to you.” Closely allied with the above is that you do not misuse your body. This means primarily two things: First, you do not use it as a source of sensual gratification, and you do not use it to dominate or manipulate others. Addictions of various kinds are cases where sensual gratification is accepted as a necessity. Theses are, whatever else must be said about them, misuses of the body. Bodily pleasure is not in itself a bad thing. However, when it is exalted to a necessity and we become dependent upon it, then we are slaves of our body and its feelings. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
Also, do not overwork your body. In our current World this is a primary misuse of the body. It is now said that work is the new “drug of choice. Other this is associated with excessive competition and trying to beat others out in some area of our common life. Sometimes this is just a matter of wearing our body out in order to succeed—often in circumstances that we regard (perhaps rightly) as imposed upon us by others. It is still a misuse of the body and a failure to work things out with God. God never gives us too much to do. He long ago gave us these words: “It is vain for you to rise early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep,” reports Psalm 127.2. The body is to be properly honoured and care for. That is, the body is to be regarded as holy, because it is owned and inhabited by God. We live in a Universe which is only one amid an infinity of other Universes whose patterns, as we find with individual living things, show infinite difference of detail while sharing certain basic general forms. If there is infinite variety in the teeming life of the Universe, this arises partly because of the need to satisfy the infinite number of possibilities through which the infinite life can alone express itself. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
In the World’s life there is every kind of joy and every kind of suffering, because there is every kind of creature. If it had not manifested infinite variety as an expression of infinitude of the divine power behind it, the World could not have been manifested at all. Surely this is what Plato saw when he described tie as the moving image of eternity. “And it came to pass that Shule begat Omer, and Omer reigned in his stead. And Omer begat Jared; and Jared begat sons and daughters. And Jared rebelled against his father, and came and dwelt in the land of Heth. And it came to pass that he did flatter many people, because of his cunning words, until he had gained the half of the kingdom. And wen he had gained the half of the kingdom he gave battle unto his father, and he did carry away his father into captivity, and did make him serve in captivity; and now, in the days of the reign of Omer he was in captivity the half of his days. And it came to pass that he begat sons and daughters, among whom were Esrom and Coriantumer; and they were exceedingly angry because of the doings of Jared their brother, insomuch that they did raise an army and gave battle unto Jared. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
“And it came to pass that they did give battle unto Jared by night. And it came to pass that then they had slain the army of Jared they were about to slay him also; and he pled with them that they would not slay him, and he would give up the kingdom unto his father. And it came to pass that they did grant unto him his life. And now Jared became exceedingly sorrowful because of the loss of the kingdom, for he had set his heart upon the kingdom and upon the glory of the World. Now the daughter of Jared being exceedingly expert, and seeing the sorrows of her father, thought to devise a plan whereby she could redeem the kingdom unto her father. Now the daughter of Jared was exceedingly fair. And it came to pass that she did talk with her father, and said unto him: Whereby hath my father so much sorrow? Hath he not read the record which our fathers brought across the great deep? Behold, is there not an account concerning them of old, that they by their secret plans did obtain kingdoms and great glory? And now, therefore, let my father send for Akish, the son of Kimnor; and behold, I am faire, and I will dance before him, and I will please him, that he will desire me to wife; wherefore if he shall desire of thee that ye shall give unto him me to wife, then shall ye say: I will give her if ye will bring unto me the head of my father, the king. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
“And now Omer was a friend to Akish; wherefore, when Jared had sent for Akish, the daughter of Jared danced before him that she pleased him, insomuch that he desired her to wide. And it came to pass that he said unto Jared: Give her unto me to wife. And Jared said unto him: I will give her unto you, if ye will bring unto me the head of my father, the king. And it came to pass that Akish gathered in unto the house of Jared all his kinsfolk, and said unto them: Will ye swear unto me that ye will be faithful unto me in the thing which I shall desire of you? And it came to pass that they all sware unto him, by the God of Heaven, and also by the Heavens, and also by the Earth, and by their heads, that whoso should vary from the assistance which Akish desired should lose his head; and whoso should divulge whatsoever thing Akish made known unto them, the same should lose one’s life. And it came to pass that thus they did agree with Akish. And Akish did administer unto them the oaths which were given by them of old who also sought power, which had been handed down even from Cain, who was a murderer from the beginning. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
And they were kept up by the power of the devil to administer these oaths unto the people, to keep them in darkness, to help such as sought power to gain power, and to murder, and to plunder, and to life, and to commit all manner of wickedness and whoredoms. And it was the daughter of Jared who put it into the heart of Akish; wherefore, Akish administered it unto his kindred and friends, leading them away by fair promises to do whatsoever thing he desired. And it came to past that they formed a secret combination, even as they of old; which combination is most abominable and wicked above all, in the sight of God; for the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man. And now I, Moroni, do not write the manner of their oaths and combinations, for it hath been made known unto me that they are had among people, and they are had among the Lamanites. And they have caused the destruction of this people of whom I am now speaking, and also the destruction of the people of Nephi. #RnadolphHarris 21 of 24
“And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not. Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom is God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be. Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
“For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguile our first parents, yea, even that same lair who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of humans that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning. Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of humans, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved,” reports Ether 8.1-26. Lord, please open our hearts and keep them aware of you. Please change in us what changes in you. Bring us through dark times. Bring rebirth. During our dark ours, may we glimpse the mystery and see ahead of the newly rising light. From this dark time, please bring light to our World. It is good to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
To declare Thy lovingkindness each morning, and Thy faithfulness every night, with an instrument of ten strings and the lute, with sacred music upon the harp. For Thou, O Lord, hast made me rejoice in Thy work; I will glory in the works of Thy hands. How great are Thy deeds, O Lord! Thy thoughts are very deep. The ignorant human does not know, nor does the fool understand this—the wicked may spring up as the grass, and the workers of iniquity may flourish, only to be destroyed forever. However, Thou, O Lord, shalt be exalted forever. For lo, Thine enemies, O Lord, for lo, Thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. However, Thou, doest raise me to high honour; I am anointed with fragrant oil. Mine eyes have seen the defeat of my foes, mine ears have heard the doom of evil doers that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, and grown might like a cedar in the forest of the Eternal Trees. Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age they shall bring forth fruit, they shall be full of vigour and strength, declaring that the Lord is just, my Rock in whom there is no unrighteousness. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
BRIGHTON STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH
Rancho Cordova, CA |
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The Best Humans Cannot Suspend their Fate: The Good Die Early, and the Bad Die Late!
Love at eighteen is largely an attempt to find out who we are by listening to our echoes in the words of another, and it means always apologizing first, even when you think you did nothing wrong. The phenomena of the World-form tyrannously and completely masks its reality, so completely that only a dwindling number of people even suspect there is any reality behind it. Spiritual intuition has never been so dormant among the race as during the past hundred and fifty years. Form, which should have been a wicket-gate giving entry to its diviner significance, has become a prison in which they are held captive by their own obtuseness. There is great beauty in the silent Universe. There is an intrinsic principle in created things which is not expressed. The self-actualized looks back to the beauty of the Universe and penetrates into this principle. These seeming shadows of the spiritual domain are more real than the tangible things which are everywhere taken for reality. The question, “Are inanimate things included in the infinite life?” must answer itself, if you take one of the meanings of this term as being the Great, the All. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
As a matter of fact, however, science now knows that there are no inanimate things. Its high-power microscopes reveal the presence of minute living cells in materials and substances and liquids which are seemingly dead, and its sensitive electrical instruments reveal the presence of energies in others, such as steel. In the end we have to come back to the basic idea that the Universal existence is like (but is not actually) a dream inasmuch as it is all a series of mental experiences projected from one’s own mind. And because even the inanimate things such as tables and houses which a dreamer sees are really one’s ideas—that is, reflections of one’s own mind and therefore of one’s own life-energy—consequently they are no really dead things. So too for the mountains and rivers in God’s dream. From this standpoint there is no such thing as death, only life. However, of course, when compared to the life of the divine World, the life of a limited World is poetically like death. There is a marked intelligence within every atom of the cosmos and within every living creature within the cosmos. So far as the human mind shows forth its own native intelligence it reveals, however faintly, the presence of that master-intelligence out of which it spends itself. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
The circling Earth makes its way through space just as a human makes one’s way through city streets. It is an intelligent living entity. If there is life in the plant kingdom, there must be consciousness also. What, then, is this consciousness? It is like that of a deep sleep. Nay, we may even go back further and assert of the mineral kingdom that there is life in it, too. For the cells of plants are built up out of the molecules. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of what the mineral consciousness is like, but the closet description would be that of the deepest trance. Whether in the fragile China Doll tree or the sturdy redwood three there is life, intelligence, and being. They are fellow dwellers on this curious planet just like all of us. American-Indian ceremonies emphasize the sacredness of the human personality. The Hupa Boat Dance ritual creates sacred space for a community mysticism that revitalized the community and makes the trial members feel special in the perceptions of the Creator. This is a spirituality in which the tribal members “know” they are recognized by the Creator. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
The Boat Dance honours the dead and helps their spirits to make the crossing into the Great Mystery. It is also a ritual for reminding the living that they are sacred and that every individual is important in this communitarian Worldview. The archetypal sounds from the dance and the archetypal experiences of the observer/participants allow this serious ontological enactment of death to become an experience of beauty. In certain communities it is a cultural norm not to talk about the deceased for the death experience is supposed to be settled in ritual ceremony. However, the emotional trauma of a death can lead to substance abuse problems due to the emotional trauma surrounding a death; and the therapist unfamiliar with the culture will label the nondisclosing, nonverbal youth as untreatable. Often in such a case, the district attorney will recommend that the youth be placed in a residential treatment facility or in the state’s youth prison. These placements are usually far from the youth’s home, separating one from the healing, cultural matrix of family, tribe, landscape, and associates. This separation further aggravates the grief process, and for most youth, superimposes post-traumatic stress symptoms upon the death and grief trauma. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
The psychology and Worldview of some American cultures, especially those connected to the Old World, holds that it is in the solitude of the mind and heart, along with the ceremonial way, that one understands one’s “limitations and freedoms.” When these youth are pressured by the dominant culture’s mental health professionals to speak about a death in the family, one becomes painfully caught in a clash of cultural values. The cultural conflict over how to process the experience of death brings about feelings of dread, despair, anxiety, isolation, and limitedness. Certain Old World cultures have norms he prescribe that one can only speak with respect for the dead; and it is better not to speak at all than to risk drawing the spirit of the deceased back into the World. The therapist’s unenlightened disposition of the silence, words, rituals, and ancestors disrupts the dialogical healing process in the meeting of client and therapist. The family tradition is a stronger determinant of what the youth will share with the psychotherapist than is the court’s intimidation. There are many highest principles both of life and of philosophy, and accordingly there are just as many different forms of compensation by opposition. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
It has come to light that on closer investigation that different types of personalities have a predilection to marry its opposite, each being unconsciously complementary to the other. So, that is something to keep in mind with any kind of relationship one is trying to establish with an individual. Nonetheless, the reflective nature of the introvert causes one always to think and consider before acting. This naturally makes one slow to act. One’s shyness and distrust of things induces hesitation, and so one always has difficulty in adapting to the external World. Conversely the extravert has a positive relation to things. One is, so to speak attracted by them. New, unknown situations fascinate one. In order to make closer acquaintance with the unknown one will jump into it with both feet. As a rule one acts first and thinks afterwards. Thus one’s action is swift, subject to no misgivings and hesitations. The two types therefore seem created for a symbiosis. The ne takes care of reflection and the other sees to the initiative and practical action. When the two types marry, they may effect an ideal union. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
So long as they are fully occupied with their adaptation to the manifold external needs of life they fit together admirably. However, when the dominant person in the relationship as made enough money, or if a fine legacy should drop from the skies and external necessity no longer presses, then they have time to occupy themselves with one another. Hitherto they stood back to back an defended themselves against necessity. However, now they turn face to face and look for understanding—only to discover that they have never understood one another. Each speaks a different language. Then the conflict between the two types begins. This struggle is envenomed, brutal, full of mutual depreciation, even when conducted quietly and in the greatest intimacy. For the value of the one is the negation of value for the other. It might reasonably be supposed that each, conscious of one’s own value, could peaceably recognize the other’s value, and that in this way any conflict would be superfluous. I have seen a good number of cases where this line of argument was adopted, without, however, arriving at a satisfactory goal. Where it is a question of normal people, such critical periods of transition will be overcome fairly smoothly. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
By “normal” I mean a person who can somehow exist under all circumstances which afford one the minimum needs of life. However, many people cannot do this; therefore not so very many people are normal. What we commonly mean by a “normal person” is actually an ideal person whose happy blend of character is a rare occurrence. By far the greater number of more or less differentiated persons demand conditions of life which afford considerably more than the certainty of food and sleep. For these the ending of a symbiotic relationship comes as a severe shock. It is not easy to understand why this should be so. Yet if we consider that no human is simply introverted or simply extraverted, but has both attitudes potentially in one—although one has developed only one of them as a function of adaption—we shall immediately conjecture that with the introvert extraversion lies dormant and undeveloped somewhere in the background, and that introversion leads a similar shadowy existence in the extravert. And this is indeed the case. The introvert does possess an extraverted attitude, but it is unconscious, because one’s conscious gaze is always turned to the subject. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
In the introvert the influence of the object produces an inferior extraversion, while in the extravert an inferior introversion takes the place of one’s social attitude. And so we come back to the proposition from which we stared: “The value of the one is the negation of value for the other.” Positive as well as negative occurrences can constellate the inferior counter-function. When this happens, sensitiveness appears. Sensitiveness is a sure sign of the presence of inferiority. This provides the psychological basis for discord and misunderstanding, not only as between two people, but also in ourselves. The essence of the inferior function is autonomy: it is independent, it attacks, it fascinates and so spins us about that we are no longer master of ourselves and can no longer rightly distinguish between ourselves and others. And yet it is necessary for the development of character that we should allow the other side, the inferior function, to find expression. We cannot in the long run allow one part of our personality to be care for symbiotically by another; for the moment when we have a need of the other function may come at any time and find us unprepared. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
And the consequences maybe bad: the extravert loses one’s indispensable relation to the object, and the introvert loses one’s to the subject. Conversely, it is equally indispensable for the introvert to arrive at some form of action not constantly bedeviled by doubts and hesitations, and for the extravert to reflect upon oneself, yet without endangering one’s relationships. In extraversion and introversion it is clearly a matter of two antithetical, natural attitudes or trends, which Goethe once referred to as diastole and systole. They ought, in their harmonious alternation, to give life a rhythm, but it seems to require a high degree of art to achieve such a rhythm. Either one must do it quite unconsciously, so that the natural law is not disturbed by any conscious act, or one must be conscious in a much higher sense, to be capable of willing and carrying out the antithetical movements. Since we cannot develop backwards into animal unconsciousness, there remains only the more strenuous way forwards into higher consciousness. Certainly that consciousness, which would enable us to live the great Yea and Nay of our own free will and purpose, is an altogether superhuman ideal. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
Still this superhuman ideal is the goal. Perhaps our present mentality only allows us consciously to will the Yea and to bear with the Nay. When that is the case, much is already achieved. The problem of opposites, as an inherent principle of human nature, forms a further stage in our process of realization. As a rule it is one of the problems of maturity. The practical treatment of a patient will hardly ever begin with this problem, especially not in the case of young people. The neuroses of the young generally come from a collision between the forces of reality and an inadequate, infantile attitude, which from the causal point of view is characterized by an abnormal dependence on the real or imaginary parents, and from the teleological point of view by unrealizable fictions, plans, and aspirations. Here the reductive methods of Dr. Freud and Dr. Adler are entirely in place. However, there are many neuroses which either appear only at maturity or else deteriorate to such a degree that the patients become incapable of work. Naturally one can point out in these cases that an unusual dependence on the parents existed even in youth, and that all kinds of illusions were present. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
However, all that did not prevent them from taking up a profession, from practising it successfully, from keeping a marriage of sorts until that moment in riper years when the previous attitude suddenly failed. In such cases it is of little help to make them conscious of their childhood fantasies, dependence on the parents, et cetera, although this is a necessary part of the procedure and often has a not unfavourable result. However, the real therapy only begins when the patient sees that it is no longer father and mother who are standing in one’s way, but oneself—id est, an unconscious part of one’s personality which carries on the role of father and mother. Even this realization, helpful as it is, is still negative; it simply says, “I realize that it is not father and mother who are against me, but I myself.” However, who is it in one that is against one? What is this mysterious part of one’s personality that hides under the father- and mother-imagoes, making one believe for years that the cause of one’s trouble must somehow have got into one from outside? This part is the counterpart to one’s conscious attitude; and it will leave one no peace and will plague one until it has been accepted. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
For young people a liberation from the past may be enough: a beckoning future lies ahead, rich in possibilities. It is sufficient to break a few bonds; the life-urge will do the rest. However, we are faced wit another task in the cause of people who have left a large part of their life behind them, for whom the future no longer beckons with marvelous possibilities, and nothing is to be expected but the endless round of familiar duties and the doubtful pleasures of old age. If ever we succeed in liberating young people from the past, we see that they always transfer the imagos of their parents to more suitable substitute figures. For instance, the feeling that clung to the mother now passes to the wife, and the father’s authority passes to respected teachers and superiors or to institutions. Although this is not a fundamental solution, it is yet a practical road which the normal human treads unconsciously and therefore with no notable inhibitions and resistances. The problem for the adult is very different. One has put this part of the road behind one with or without difficulty. One has cut loose from one’s parents, long since dead perhaps, and has sought and found the mother in the wife, or, in the case of a woman, the father in the husband. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
One has duly honoured one’s fathers and their institutions, has oneself become a father, and, with all this in the past, has possibly come to realize that what originally meant advancement and satisfaction has now become a boring mistake, part of the illusion of youth, upon which one looks back with mingled regret and envy, because nothing now awaits one but old age and the end of illusions. Here there are no more fathers and mothers; all the illusions one projected upon the World and upon this gradually come home to one, jaded and way-worn. The energy streaming back from these manifold relationships falls into the unconscious and activates all the things one had neglected to develop. In a young man, the instinctual forces tied up in the neurosis give him, when released, buoyance and hope and the chance to extend the scope of one’s life. To the human in the second half of life the development of the function of opposites lying formant in the unconscious means a renewal; but this development no longer proceeds via the solution of infantile ties, the destruction of infantile illusions and the transference of old imagos to new figures: it proceeds via the problem of opposites. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
There is no balance, no system of self-regulation, without opposition. The psyche is just such a self-regulating system. If the psyche is regarded as a self-regulating system, it follows that the attitude of consciousness is compensated by the attitude of the unconscious. In Jungian analysis, the principal, though not the only, way of discovering the attitude of the unconscious is through the study and interpretation of the patient’s dream. Neurotic symptoms, also, can be compensatory to a distorted, one-sided conscious attitude, and may this be valuable pointers toward a new adaptation rather than being simply disagreeable. I am not altogether pessimistic about neurosis. In many cases we have to say: “Thank Heaven he could make up his mind to be neurotic.” Neurosis is really an attempt at self-cure, just as any physical disease is in part an attempt at self-cure. We cannot understand a disease as an ens per se any more, as something detached which not so long ago it was believed to be. Modern medicine—internal medicine, for instance—conceives of disease as a system composed of a harmful factor and a healing factor. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
It is exactly the same with neurosis. It is an attempt of the self-regulating psychic system to restore the balance, in no way different from the function of dreams—only rather more forceful and drastic. When we gaze observantly and reflectively around an object—whether it be a microscope—revealed cell or a telescope—revealed star—it inescapably imposes upon us the comprehension that an infinite intelligence rules this wonderful cosmos. The purposive way in which the Universe is organized betrays, if it be anything at all, the working of a Mind which understands. God’s immanence is reflected throughout the whole Universe. God’s reality is indicated by the very existence of the Universe. God’s intelligence is revealed by the intelligence of the creatures in the Universe. To recognize that the order of the cosmos is superbly intelligent beyond human invention, mysterious beyond human understanding, and even divinely holy is not to lapse into being sentimental. It is to accept the transcendence and self-sufficiency of THAT WHICH IS. Thought is the spirit of the Universe, thoughts are the forms of the Universe. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
Everything in the Universe testifies to a super-intelligent power being behind it. We live in a Universe that is spun out of the divine intelligence and sustained by the divine energy. At the center of each human, each animal, each plant, each cell, and each atom, there is complete stillness. A seemingly empty stillness, yet it holds the divine energies and the divine Idea for that thing. For many of us today, our body is in a constant state of agitation and discomfort. That is the contemporary condition and explains our astonishing degree of dependence on prescription and drugs and vaccines. In some cases, of course, this may be due to strictly physical conditions. However, more often, it is not so, but is due to tendencies of the self that have settled into our body’s parts and put it at war with itself. Wounds, fears, unsatisfied desires, shames, losses, and unhealthy ambitions and images of the self sink beneath the horizon of our awareness. We may even deny them. However, they continue to disrupt our body and can even take over our life through the body’s “automatic” responses. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
Frank Laubach—partly because, to be “noble,” he had voted for the other candidate—was denied a position as president of a college in the Philippines, where he had been serving as a missionary. He lost by one vote. He was frustrated and bitter, and for two years was almost continuously ill. A biographer writes, “He suffered from flu, appendicitis, paratyphoid, a strained leg muscle, an ulcerated eye, and shingles! In a sate of bitter self-pity, he hobbled around, work inefficiently, and wore a patch over one eye much of the time. His failure to accept the defeat was costing him his health. The fact that his desire to exercise Christian principles resulting in him hurting himself increased the inner tension and conflict These were years of despondency and aimlessness. He was fighting the battle of his soul. In fact, what we see in such a cast is soul disruption manifesting itself in disorders of the body, which in turn threaten to take over life as a while and could even lead to physical death. Thank God, Laubach in time found the spiritual key to turning all this around and bringing one’s body into the health of a person radiant with the presence of Christ. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
The Void which humans find at the center—whether of one’s own being or of the Universe’s—is divine. It holds both godlike Mind and godlike Energy. It is still and silent, yet it is the source of all the dynamic energies, human and universal. “And it came to pass that Orihan did execute judgment upon the land in righteousness all one’s days, whose days were exceedingly many. And he begat sons and daughters; yea, he begat thirty and one, among whom were twenty and three sons. And it came to pass that ne also begat Kib in his old age. And it came to pass that Kib reigned in his stead; and Kib begat Corihor. And when Corihor as thirty and two years old he rebelled against his father, and went over and dwelt in the land of Nehor; and he begat sons and daughters, and they become exceedingly fair; wherefore Corihor drew away many people after him. And when he had gathered together an army he came up unto the land of Moron where the king dwelt, and took him captive, which brought to pass the saying of the brother of Jared that they would be brought into captivity. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
“Now the land of Mormon, where the kind dwelt, was near the land which is called Desolation by the Nephites. And it came to pass that Kib dwelt in captivity, and his people under Corihor his son, until he became exceedingly old; nevertheless Kib begat Shule in his old age, while he was yet in captivity. And it came to pass that Shule was angry with his brother; and Shule waxed strong, and become mighty as to the strength of a human; and he was also mighty in judgment. Wherefore, he came to the hill Ephraim, and he did molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel for those whom he had drawn away with him; and after he had armed them with swords he returned to the city Nehor, and gave battle unto his brother Corihor, by which means he obtained the kingdom and restored it unto his father Kid. And now because of the thing which Shule had done, his father bestowed upon him the kingdom; therefore he began to reign in the stead of his father Kib. And now because of the thing which Shule had done, his father bestowed upon him the kingdom; therefore he began to reign in the stead of his father. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
“And it came to pass that he did execute judgment in righteousness; and he did spread his kingdom upon all the face of the land, for the people had become exceedingly numerous. And it came to pass that Shule also begat many sons and daughters. And Cori repented of the many evils which he had done; wherefore Shule have him power in his kingdom. And it came to pass that Corihor had many sons and daughters. And among the sons of Corihor there was one whose name was Noah. And it came to pass that Noah rebelled against Shule, the king, and also his father Corihor, and drew away Cohor his brother, and also all his brethren and many of the people. And he gave battle unto Shule, the kind, in which he did obtain the land of their first inheritance; and he became king over that part of the land. And it came to pass that he gave battle again unto Shule, the king; and he took Shule, the king, and carried him away captive into Moron. And it came to pass as he was about to put him to death, the sons of Shule crept into the house of Noah by night and slew him, and broke down the door of the prison and brought out their father, and placed him upon his throne in his own kingdom. #RandolpHarris 21 of 24
“Wherefore the son of Noah did build up his kingdom in his stead; nevertheless they did not gain power any more over Shule the king, and the people who were under the reign of Shule the king did prosper exceedingly and wax great. And the country was divided; and there were two kingdoms, the kingdom of Shule, and the kingdom of Cohor, the son of Noah. And Cohor, the son of Noah, caused that his people should give battle unto Shule, in which Shule did beat them and did slay Cohor. And now Cohor had a son who was called Nimrod; and Nimrod gave up the kingdom of Cohor unto Shule, and did gain favour in the eyes of Shule; wherefore Shule did bestow great favours upon him, and he did do in the kingdom of Shule according to his desires. And also the reign of Shule there came prophets among the people, who were sent from the Lord, prophesying that the wickedness and idolatry of the people was bring a curse upon the land, and they should be destroyed if they did not repent. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
“And it came to pass that the people did revile against the prophets, and did mock them. And it came to pass that king Sule did execute judgment against all those who did revile against the prophets. And he did execute a law throughout all the land, which gave power unto the prophets that they should go whithersoever they would; and by this cause the people were brought unto repentance. And become the people did repent of their iniquities and idolatries the Lord did spare them, and they began to prosper again in the land. And it came to pass that Shule begat sons and daughters in his old age. And there were no more wars in the days of Shule; and he remembered the great things of the Lord had done for his fathers in brining them across the great deep into the promised land; wherefore he did execute judgment in righteousness all his days,” reports Ether 7.1-27. It will be a dark night indeed, for, even though the stars give what light they can, it comes from far away, and is scattered and spent when it falls on the Earth. Where is the light that comes from nearer, from our own World’s companion, our own World’s sister? She hides from us tonight. Tonight there will be no Moon. Tonight we will have no companion to guide us through the darkness. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
However, though we cannot see you, you live in our hearts. Strengthen us in the darkness: is that not what darkness is for? Raised against the empty Winter sky, the barren limbs of trees and my hands reach out in prayer. I ask from the gods of Winter the strength I will need to endure until spring and the wisdom I require to learn from the dark and the cold the lessons they will teach. May I receive them without flinching. With silent steps you come, snow spirits, silently descending, silently landing. You who silence the World with your falling, silence it so I can hear from you: I hear silence. Please drop welcome tears upon the Earth, fertile sky. Awaken it to new life, please feed its thirsty mouth. The Lord reigneth; He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, He hath girded Himself with strength. Now is the Earth firmly established; it shall not be moved. Thy throne is established of old; thou art from everlasting. The waters lift up their voices, O Lord, the water lift up their roaring; yet above the voices of many waters, above the breakers of the sea, Thou, O Lord, art mighty. Thy law is true and unfailing; holiness is becoming to Thy house, O Lord, forevermore. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
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With Every Morn their Love Grew Tender, with Every Eve Deeper and Tenderer Still!
We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the World. Time is not the fourth dimension, and should not be so identified. Time is only a relative observation. Existentialism of Personalism embraces interconnected attitudes of aesthetic, sacred consciousness with social, political awareness. Transpersonal and existential realities are captured in the sacred and profane events of life. The ecstasy and numinous awesomeness of an I-and-Thou encounter with the Supreme Personality can be experienced in any time and in any place and through any object, person, or event. It is not limited to an inner, individualistic mysticality, nor is it particular to community worship and ceremony. The personal relationship with Supreme Personality creates a “sense of being” and “becoming” that is spontaneous and goes on ceaselessly in a constant dialogue with self, other, and nature. It is contained in form and is experienced in existential, concrete, everyday life. Flora Jones, Wintu medicine woman, speaks about the spirits like they are living personalities in a partnership of existence with human beings. #RandolphHarris 1 of 27
Witness the following statement from Flora Jones: “This is what the spirit tells me—get my people together. Whoever has sacred places must wake them up, the same as I am doing here—to keep my old World within my heart and with the spiritual. For them to help me and for me to help my people.” The personalism expressed by Flora Jones is the basis of most Victorian, African-American and American-Indian traditions. All of these cultures have a dual theme of Being-in-the World and Being-beyond-the-World. The Supreme Personality is experienced as an integrated intelligence and love that is expressed through the archetypes of mythologies, rituals, worship, dreams, and visions. The archetypal spirituality of the meeting in the Between confirms that the Supreme Personality lies within the human personality and in the meeting as he Ground of Being. The Supreme Personality, as a living personality, offers love, knowledge, mystery, gift giving, and sharing in relationship with the human person. The I-and-Thou encounter bring to “awareness” constellations of fascination and fear, destiny and freedom, death and life, anxiety and joy, interest and surprise, love and shame, and guilt and excitement. #RandolphHarris 2 of 27
Existentialism of Personalism came out of my practice and theory in a circle of understanding and interpretation through dialogue with American Indians, Victorian people, and African-Americans. Alex Haley in his book Roots (1976) describes how the father of Kunta Kinte presented his infant son to the Universe. He writes, “Carrying little Kunta in his strong arms, he walked to the edge of the village, lifted his baby up with his face to the Heavens, and said softly….Behold—the only thing greater than yourself” (p.13). Haley is showing that the living Universe is the father/mother of Kunta Kinte and that the child’s personality is sacred. In the Navajo tradition, the man who holds his infant up to Father Sun and says, “Father Sun, this is your child,” is expressing that the Universe is personal and loving. The Navajo infant is a direct descendant of the living Universe, and, therefore, its personality is sacred. American-American, Victorian, and American Indian traditions demonstrate a continual dialogue between the human personality and the Supreme Personality that reveals the sacred and the profane as not separated but forming an interconnected metaphysical reality that is remythologized in every I-and-Thou meeting. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27
However, philosophy does not accept the Semitic belief in a World created for the first time by a personal creator, and this is as true of the highest Greek philosophy as expressed, for instance, in Aristotle’s work on metaphysics as in the highest Asiatic philosophy associated with Buddhism and Hinduism. The word “creation” is inadmissible here for it signifies producing something out of nothing. No one, not even God himself, can produce something out of nothing. Therefore, the orthodox Christian idea of a mysterious creation is completely untenable. That the existence of manufactured things indicates a manufacturer is sound logic, but to apply the same analogy to the World is not. For the World is something quite other than them; it is in a category not only altogether apart from them but altogether by itself. There was never a time when the Universe was created or fabricated by a Creator or Maker. This is a case of man making God in his own image. Through successive cycles of the Universe comes and goes, is born and dies, as the World-Mind rethinks the World-Idea or lets it lapse. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27
The Universe was never created for the first time for it has always and incessantly appeared and disappeared, activated and rested, come forth, evolved, and retreated into latency. There has never been a time when there was not a Universe, by which I do not mean our own. There is nothing arbitrary in this “creation.” It is really self-determined. Everything brings itself into existence under the necessity of its own being and the laws of its own possibilities. Where a circle begins it also ends; the Universe is like that: it has n real beginning or ending. It is not a creation in the Biblical sense but an intermittent continuation. Aristotle: “The Universe unfolds out of its own essence, not being made.” We could add that its pattern unfolds too out of the World-Idea. The Universe has never had a beginning, and cannot have an end, but its forms and states may change and therefore must have a beginning and end. It is more correct to speak of the Universe’s birth, not of its creation. The Universe was not made, in a workshop sense; it was emanated. It flowed out of the Original Source and it will flow back there at the appointed time. The cosmos is neither a phantom to be disdained nor an illusion to be dismissed. #RandolphHarris 5 of 27
The cosmos is more of a remote expression in time and space and individuality of that which is timeless, spaceless, and infinite. If it is not the it is not the Reality in its ultimate sense, it is an emanation of the Reality. Hence it shares in some way the life of its source. To find that point of sharing is the true object of incarnation for all creates within the cosmos. The World of external Nature, being eternal, is not brought into existence by an act of sudden creation out of nothing. Furthermore, this World is rooted in the divine substance and is consequently not an empty illusion but an indirect manifestation of divine reality. A thought exists in intimate relation with the World-Mind, God. The World is not bereft of reality although it does not possess ultimate reality. The World is neither a trap nor an illusion, neither a degradation of the divine essence nor an indication of the divine absence. What is the meaning of the World? If it is nothing more than an illusion, it can have no real meaning at all. However, if it is an expression of the infinite intelligence it must everywhere pervaded by immense meaning. #RandolphHarris 6 of 27
The truth is ever here, whether unwritten and bodiless or scripted and described. The image of it can be looked at by other generations long afterwards, but the reality of it remains always in the World-Idea and is never lost. If the World is sheer illusion, how could man—himself a part of this illusion—ever know the Real? Were humans merely an illusion man and woman could see only further illusions. Were one part of the Real one could see only further reality. Since our experience of illusion is itself in accordance with the World-idea, why should we be afraid of admitting its existence? What we should be afraid of is letting it blot out Reality. The whole Universe is a symbol, whose meaning can be read only when we have learned the alphabet of philosophic laws and experiences. Our World is but a fleeting symbol, yet we may not disdain it. For it is the arched entrance under which we must pass through to the infinite life. The World is a spectacle presented for our meditation in depth. It is a clue, a pointing sign, and even a mystery play. What is the Universe but a gigantic symbol of God? Its infinite variety hints at the infinite endless of the Absolute itself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 27
The World stands for something else: it is, first, a token that God exists, second, an image of God’s being. The Universe is a cipher which needs to be decoded. The scientist does this on one level of investigation, the metaphysician on a different level; the religionist does not attempt the effort but reveres the cipher’s Author. Was it not Goethe who wrote: “Everything which happens is only a symbol”? Is not the whole gigantic cosmic effect in the end only a symbolic expression indicating that paradoxically it is and is not? The more we learn about the Universe, the more mysterious it becomes. Once, in America, I was consulted by a business man about twenty-five, whose case is a good illustration of the sublimation of free energies. He was a typical American self-made man who had worked his way up from a novice to an expert. He had been very successful and had founded an immense business. He has also succeeded in organizing it in such a way that he was able to think of retiring. Two years before I saw him, he had in fact taken his farewell. #RandolphHarris 8 of 27
Until then he had lived entirely for his business and concentrated all his energies on it with the incredible intensity and one-sidedness peculiar to successful American business men. He had purchased a splendid estate where he thought of “living,” by which he meant horse, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Porsche, golf, tennis, parties and what not. However, he had reckoned without his host. The energy which should have been at his disposal would not enter into these alluring prospects, but went capering off in quite another direction. A few weeks after the initiation of the longed-for life of bliss, he began brooding over peculiar, vague sensations in his body, and a few weeks more sufficed to plunge him into a state of extreme hypochondria. He had a complete nervous collapse. From a healthy man, of uncommon physical strength and abounding energy, he became a peevish child. That was the end of all his glories. He fell from one state of anxiety to the next and worried himself almost to death with hypochondriacal mopings. He then consulted a famous specialist, who recognized at once that there was nothing wrong with the man but lack of work. The patient saw the sense of this, and returned to his former work. #RandolphHarris 9 of 27
However, to his immense disappointment, no interest in the business could be aroused. Neither patience nor resolution was of any use. His energy could not by any means be forced back into the business. His condition naturally became worse than before. All that had formerly been living, creative energy in him now turned against him with terrible destroying force. His creative genius rose up, as it were, in revolt against him; and just as before he had built up great organizations in the World, so now his daemon spun equally subtle systems of hypochondriacal delusion that completely annihilated him. When I saw him, he was already a hopeless moral ruin. Nevertheless I tried to make clear to him that though such a gigantic energy might be withdrawn from the business, the question remained, were should I go? The finest horses, Porches, Mercedes and farms, even the most amusing parties may very likely fail to allure the energy, although it would be rational enough to think that a man who had devoted his whole life to serious work had a sort of natural right to enjoy himself. Yes, if fate behaved in a humanly rational way, it would certainly be so: first work, then well-earned rest. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27
However, fate behaves irrationally, and the energy of life inconveniently demands a gradient agreeable to itself; otherwise it simply gets dammed up and turns destructive. It regresses to former situations—in the case of this man, to the memory of an internal inflammatory condition of the medical nature. Yet even this was only a stage on the way to the resuscitation of infantile reminiscences which had all but vanished in the meantime. It was the original relation to his mother that mapped the course of his symptoms: there were an “arrangement” whose purpose it was to compel the attention and interest of is long-dead mother. Nor was this stage the last; for the ultimate goal was to drive him back, as it were, into his own body, after he had lived since his youth only in his head. He had differentiated one side of his being; the other side remained in an inert physical state. He would have needed this other side in order to “live.” The hypochondriacal “depression” pushed him down into the body he had always overlooked. Had he been able to follow the direction indicated by his depression and hypochondriacal illusion, and make himself conscious of the fantasies which proceed from such a condition, that would have been the road to my salvation. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27
My argument naturally met with no response, as was to be expected. A case so far advanced can only be cared for until death; it can hardly be cured. This example clearly shows that it does not lie in our power to transfer “disposable” energy at will to a rationally chosen object. The same is true in general of the apparently disposable energy which is disengaged when we have destroyed its unserviceable forms through the corrosive of reductive analysis. This energy, as we have said, can at best be applied voluntarily for a short time. However, in most cases it refuses to seize hold, for any length of time, of the possibilities rationally presented to it. Psychic energy is a very fastidious thing which insists on fulfillment of its own conditions. However much energy may be present, we cannot make it serviceable until we have succeeded in finding the right gradient. The question of the gradient is an eminently practical problem which crops up in most analyses. For instance, when in a favourable case the disposable energy, the so-called libido (psychic energy, which is equivalent to the intensity with which psychic contents are charged), does seize hold of a rational object, we think we have brought about the transformation through conscious exertion of the will. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27
However, we are deluded, because even the most strenuous exertions would not have sufficed had there not been present at the same time a gradient in that direction. How important the gradient is can be seen in the cases when, despite the most desperate exertions, and despite the fact that the object chosen or the form desired impresses everybody with its reasonableness, then transformation still refuses to take place, and all that happens is a new repression. It has become abundantly clear to me that life can flow forward only along the path of the gradient. However, there is no energy unless there is tension of opposites; hence it is necessary to discover the opposite to the attitude of the conscious mind. It is interesting to see how this compensation by opposites also plays its part in the historical theories of neurosis: Dr. Freud’s theory espoused Eros, Dr. Adler’s the will to power. Logically, the opposite of love is hate, and of Eros, Phobos (fear); but psychologically it is the will to power. Where love reigns, there is no will to power; and where the will to power is paramount, love is lacking. The one is but the shadow of the other: the human who adopts the standpoint of Eros finds one’s compensator opposite in the will to power, and that of the human who puts the accent on power is Eros. #RandolphHarris 13 of 27
Seen from the one-sided point of view the conscious attitude, the shadow is an inferior component of the personality and is consequently repressed through intensive resistance. However, the repressed content must be made conscious so as to produce a tension of opposites, without which no forward moment is possible. The conscious mind is on top, the shadow underneath, and just as high always longs for low and hot for cold, so all consciousness, perhaps without being aware of it, seeks its unconscious opposite, lacking which it is domed to stagnation, congestion, and ossification. Life is born only of the spark of opposites. It was a concession to intellectual logic on the one had and to psychological prejudice on the other that impelled Dr. Freud to name the opposite of Eros the destructive or death instinct. For in the first place, Eros is not equivalent to life; but for anyone who thinks it is, the opposite of Eros will naturally appear to be death. And in the second place, we all feel that the opposite of our own highest principle must be purely destructive, deadly, and evil. We refuse to endow it with any beneficial life-force; hence we avoid and fear it. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27
Before there are any outward disciplines of giving, there must be a disciplined understanding of giving. First, you must bear in mind that giving is not a meritorious work which will enhance your position before God. Similarly, giving will not make you better than other Christians. Second, you need to understand that while giving will not gain favour with God, giving does bring blessing! Jesus said: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you,” reports Luke 6.38. Correspondingly, Paul wrote: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously,” reports 2 Corinthians 9.6. Admittedly these blessings are essentially spiritual. However, which would you rather have—a spiritual blessing or a bigger bank and bigger Benz (The bigger the bank, the bigger the Benz, the better the chance I have to get close to his rich friends, bank accounts in the Philippines, blank note to take everything! )—inner contentment or a new yacht? Third, you must keep in mind that giving which pleases God is generous and sacrificial. As we have seen, the Macedonians gave out of their deep poverty. #RandolphHarris 15 of 27
We can also profitably reflect on what Jesus said about the poor widow who humbly gave only a fraction of a penny: “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others,” reports Mark 12.43. Fourth, you must understand that what you give is to be determined between you and God. Giving should never be decided casually or flippantly, but through serious prayer—asking God what He wants you to give. With the mental disciplines of giving firmly in mind, the way is ready for the act of giving. To begin with, the act of giving should be accompanied by offering oneself to the Lord, just as did the Macedonians who “gave themselves first to the Lord,” reports 2 Corinthians 8.5. This should be done silently, not so someone will see out pious act of worship. And giving oneself to God is need worship. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship,” reports Romans 12.1. Second, it is strongly recommended, in light of the great giving requirements imposed on God’s ancient people Israel, that everyone should at least consider the first 10 percent as a starting point in giving—a minimum. #RandolphHarris 16 of 27
And in the case of the Macedonians’ grace giving, the amount must have been way over 10 percent because a tenth of their “extreme poverty” (1 Corinthians 8.2) would not have helped anyone. Third, your giving ought to be regular. Paul advised this same Corinthians church on another occasion, “On the first day of every week, each one of your should set aside a sum of money in keeping with one’s income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made,” report 1 Corinthians 16.2. The apostle knew that regular, systematic giving would help the people meet their regular obligations and most emergencies. Fourth, you must begin giving now. The natural tendency is to put giving off until you feel able to give. Such thinking keeps many from ever giving. A preacher came to see a farmer and asked him, “If you had $2,00.00, would you give $1,000.00 or it to the Lord?” “I would.” “If you have two Ultimate Driving Machines, would you give one of them to the Lord?” “Sure.” “If you had two Cresleigh Homes, would you give one of them to the Lord?” The farmer said, “Now that is not fair! You know I have two Cresleigh Homes.” #RandolphHarris 17 of 27
Giving should not only be regular, but responsive to need, spontaneous, like that of the Macedonians and Mary of Bethany who in anointing Jesus so lavishly poured out her resources. High Heaven rejects the lore of nicely calculated les and more. Finally, your giving should be joyous—“for God loves a cheerful giver,” reports 2 Corinthians 9.7. As we have been so often reminded, “cheerful” can be translated “hilarious,” suggesting a joy which leaps over all restraints. The act of giving is a blessed state. We do well to remember that our Lord Jesus Himself said, “It is more blessed to give then to receive,” reports Acts 20.35. May we be faithful and disciplined in giving ourselves and all we have to God! What does the phrase “grace giving” mean to you? What does grace have to do with giving? When you give to the church or various Christian ministries, do you generally do so out of obligation or willingness? How much of your income do you believe God wants you to give to Him? Support your answers with Scripture; then ask God in prayer whether He agrees. “Will a human rob god? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will present pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cause their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty,” reports Malachi 3.8-12. What did God speak to you about most specifically, most powerfully in this essay? Talk to Him about it right now! The World-idea has been represented by Churches and statues, and stained-glass windows. They are seen as places and refuge and the images tell a story. There are pictorial stories because people could not always read and also because they wanted the stories to pass on for generations. The statues also serve a purpose. The World-Mind has been embodied in images and idols. These things can be and are used in religious worship and mystic meditation. The idols act as reminders to its devotees; one is not a fool to confuse a piece of stone with the power of God. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27
We live in what appears as a multiverse, a timed and spaced existence—in a short, a finite one. However, those who can pierce through to its secret—and some have done so—find that it is actually the Unconditioned revealing itself as if it were the Conditioned. This Universe appearing in time and space under innumerable forms, its particles and planets ever in motion, hides as its supreme secret THAT which is timeless and placeless, without shape, intangible and immobile. Is this not the greatest paradox, this solid something whose essence is Nothing? Few humans know God even when they see Him, as they are unrealizingly do when they look around at the World or even when they merely look at it. “And now I, Moroni, proceed to give the record of Jared and his brother. For it came to pass after the Lord had prepared the stones which the brother of Jared had carried up into the mount, the brother of Jared came down out of the mount, and e did put forth the stones into the vessels which were prepared, one in each end thereof; and behold, they did give light unto the vessels. And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27
“And it came to pass that when they had prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them—and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God. And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and this they were tossed upon the waves of the seas before the wind. And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind. And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ask of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27
“And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind. And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord. And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water. And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water. And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them. And it came to pass that they went forth upon the face of the land, and began to till the Earth. #RandolphHarris 22 of 27
“And Jared had four sons; and they were called Jacom, and Gilgah, and Maha, and Orihah. And the brother of Jared also begat sons and daughters. And the friends of Jared and his brothers were in number about twenty and two souls; and they also begat sons and daughters before they came to the promised land; and therefore they began to be many. And they were taught to walk humbly before the Lord; and they were also taught from on high. And it came to pass that they began to spread upon the face of the land, and to multiply and to till the Earth; and they did wax strong in the land. And the brother of Jared began to be old, and saw that he must soon go down to the grave; wherefore he said unto Jared: Let us gather together our people that we may number them, that we may know of them what they will desire of us before we go down to our graves. And accordingly the people were gathered together. Now the number of the sons and daughters of the brothers of Jared were twenty and two souls; and the number of sons and daughters of Jared were twelve, he having four sons. And it came to pass that they did number their people; and after that they had numbered them, they did desire of them the things which they would that they should do before they went down to their graves. #RandolphHarris 23 of 27
“And it came to pass that the people desired of them that they should anoint one of their sons to be a king over them. And now behold, this was grievous unto them. And the brother of Jared said unto them: Surely this thing leadeth into captivity. However, Jared said unto his brother: Suffer them that they may have a king. And therefore he said unto them: Choose ye out from among our sons a king, even whom ye will. And it came to pass that they chose even the firstborn of the brother of Jared; and has name was Pagag. And it came to pass that he refused and would not be their kind. And the people would that his father should constrain him, but his father would not; and he commanded them that they should constrain no human to be their king. And it came to pass that they chose all the brothers of Pagag, and they would not. And it came to pass that neither would the sons of Jared, even all save it were one; and Orihah was anointed to be king over the people. And he began to reign, and the people began to prosper; and they became exceedingly rich. And it came to pass that Jared died, and his brother also. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27
“And it came to pass that Orihah did walk humbly before the Lord, and did remember how great things the Lord had done for his father, and also taught his own people how great things the Lord had done for their fathers,” reports Ether 6.1-30. Winter is not just a single day. It takes time. Pay attention to its different stages, and adjust your prayers accordingly. As the cold time begins, I turn toward it with courage, knowing I do not face it alone. All the Holy Ones are with me; we will face it together. The leaves may fall, the grass may die, but the Land Spirits live, and to them I pray. Though some may sleep, others awake to face the cold, to bless the Earth with the gifts only they can give. Spirit of rock and tree, Spirits of running and still water, Spirits of Earth and sky: to the ones who now go to sleep, farewell until the warm time. To those who now awake, once again I greet you, as the Earth once again enters Winter. Cry the Winter rains to prepare the way, to mourn the darkness now enfolding. Cry the Winter rains to prepare the way, to wash pure the World as it lies here waiting. Cry the Winter rains, sky overarching, but soon the sorrows’ tears will turn to joy. Light will return to the covered Earth. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27
Cry, rain spirits, as this time demands. The sickle of reaping is low in the sky in the period just before down. The Sun’s halo soon will hide it, but it will be there, at the back of my mind, at the bottom my heart, poised to perform its acts of loving mercy. Waning Moon, passes over me, and pass on by. Please grant me your wisdom, but withhold your power. Sing joyously unto God our strength; sing along unto the God of Jacob. Take up the melody, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the psaltery. Blow the Shofar at the New Moon, at the full Moon for our festival. For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob, when God made a testimony for Joseph, when Her went forth against the land of Egypt. I hear a mysterious voice: “I, the Lord, removed the burden from your shoulder; your hands were freed from the heavy hod. O Israel, you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the thunder; I tested you are the waters of Meribah, saying: ‘Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O America, if you would only Hearken unto Me! There shall be no strange god in your midst; nor shall you worship any foreign god. I am the Lord your God, Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt; open you mouth, and I will grant you of My bounty.’ #RandolphHarris 26 of 27
“But my people hearkened not to My Voice; and American would not obey. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart. Let them walk in their own evil counsels! Oh that My people would hearken unto Me, that America would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and place My hand upon their adversaries. The enemies of the Lord would cringe before Him, and their doom would be everlasting. However, you would I feed with the fat of wheat; and with the honey out of the rock would I satisfy you.” So the two brothers and their murdered man rode past fair Florence, to where Arno’s stream gurgles through straitened banks, and still doth fan itself with dancing bulrush, and the bream keeps head against the freshest. Sick and wan the brothers’ faces in the ford did seem, Lorenzo’s flush with love. They passed the water into a forest quiet for the slaughter. There was Lorenzo slain and buried in, there in that forest did his great love cease; ah! when a soul doth thus its freedom win, it aches in loneliness—is ill at peace as the break-covert blood-hounds od such sin: They dipped their swords in the water, and did tease their horses homeward, with convulsed spur, each richer by his being a murderer. #RandolphHarris 27 of 27
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Then Living Earth, with Labouring Thought Won from the Gaze of Many Centuries!
Many great things indeed have been achieved by those who choose not to leap into the mainstream. Although the World is very full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. I do not see myself as a preacher on television at all….I see myself as a doctor in an emergency ward, and those people who are flipping their dials are in pain and dying….I heal through offering what American needs on TV—a philosophy of self-esteem that will make us great once more. The more I see her, the more convinced I am that she is an isolated person. This a man ought never to be, not even a young man, because, since his development depends essentially upon reflection, he must have contact with others. Therefore, a young woman should not be interesting either, for the interesting always involves a reflecting on oneself, just as for the same reason the interesting in art always includes an impression of the artist. A young woman who wants to be pleased by being interesting will, if anything, please herself. From the esthetic side, this is the objection to all kinds of coquetry. It is quite different with what is inappropriately called coquetry, which is nature’s own gesture—for example, feminine modesty, which is always the most beautiful coquetry. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
An interesting young lady may very well be successful in pleasing, but just as she herself has surrendered her womanliness, so also the men whom she pleases are usually just as unmasculine. Such a young lady first becomes interesting in her relation with men. The woman is usually the more delicate of the two genders, and yet it is much more important for her to stand alone in her youth than for the man; she must be sufficient unto herself, but that by which and in which she is sufficient unto herself is an illusion; it is this dowry with which nature has endowed her like a king’s daughter. However, it is precisely this resting in illusion that isolates her. I have often pondered why it is that there is nothing more corrupting for a young lady than associating a great deal with other young women. Obviously the reason is that this association is neither one thing nor another; it unsettles the illusion but does not clarify it. The woman’s fundamental qualification is to be company for the man, but through association with her own gender she is lead to reflection upon it, which makes her a society lady instead of company. The language itself is very suggestive in this respect; the man is called “master,” but the woman is not called “maidservant” or anything like that—no, a definition of essence is used: she is company, not companymaid. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
If I were to imagine an ideal young lady, she would always stand alone in the World and thereby be assigned to herself, but mainly she would not have friends among the young ladies. It is certainly true that the Graces were three, but it certainly never occurred to anyone to think of them as talking together; in their silent trinity they form a beautiful feminine unity. In this respect, I could almost be tempted to recommend the virgins’ bower (any of several usually small-flowered and climbing clematises, which is a leather flower within the buttercup family) again, if this constraint were not in turn damaging in its effects. It is always best that a young lady be allowed her freedom, but that the opportunity not be provided. She thereby becomes beautiful and is rescued from becoming interest. To give a virgin’s veil or a bridal veil to a young lady who spends much time in the company of other young women is futile, but one who has sufficient esthetic sensitivity will always find that an innocent young lady in the deeper and best sense of the word is brought to him veiled, even if it is not the custom to use a bridal veil. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
She has been brought up strictly; I honour her parents in their homes for that; she leads a very reserved life, and in thanks I could hug her aunt for that. She has not become acquainted with Worldly delights, has not become jaded through indulgence. She is proud; she spurns what delights other you ladies, and this is as it should be. It is a falseness that I shall know how to turn my advantage. Frills and finery do not appeal to her as they do to other young women; she is somewhat polemic, but this is necessary for a young lady with her romanticism. She loves in a World of fantasy. If she fell into the wrong hands, it might bring out something very unwomanly in her precisely because there is so much womanliness in her. You may believe in miracles—like those the scripture tell about—but do you believe the Lord can work miracles in your own life? If you do your part, God can and will. A miracle is an extraordinary event caused by the power of God. miracles are an important element in the work of Jesus Christ. They include healings, restoring the dead to life, and resurrection. Faith is necessary in order for miracles to be manifested. Do you have some challenges in your life that seem overwhelming at times Would a miracle help you? How can a miracle come about? #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
The passion of surprise and wonder, arising from miracles, being an agreeable emotion, gives a sensible tendency towards the belief of those events, from which it is derived. And this goes so far, that even those who cannot enjoy this pleasure immediately, nor can believe those miraculous events, of which they are informed, yet love to partake of the satisfaction at second-hand or by rebound, and place a pride and delight in exciting the admiration of others. “For if there be no faith among the children of humans God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, one showed not oneself until after their faith,” reports Ether 12.12. We must have faith to have miracles, specifically faith in Jesus Christ. “And ither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God,” reports Ether 12.18. Trust in God is vital, as is confidence that He will do what He says He will do. For example, we pay tithing with faith. He says that He will open the windows of Heaven, and we have confidence that He will. “And all nation shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of host,” reports Malac 3.11. This is our natural way of thinking. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
Faith implies enough confidence to act on your belief and to conform your life to truth. The pleasure of telling a piece of news so interesting, of propagating it, and of being the first reporters of it, spreads the intelligence. Prodigies, omens, oracles, judgments, quite obscure the few natural events, that are intermingled with them. Having faith means doing our best to bring about a miracle, but it also requires having the patience to realize the Lord understands His eternal timetable better than we do. There is a memorable story related by Cardinal de Retz, which may well deserve our consideration. When that intriguing politician fled into Spain, to avoid the persecution of his enemies, he passed through Saragossa, the capitol of Arragon, where he was shown, in the cathedral, a man, who has served seven years as a door-keeper, and was well known to every body in town, that had ever paid his devotions at that church. He has been seen, for so long a time, wanting a leg; but recovered that limb by rubbing of holy oil upon the stump; and the cardinal assures us that he saw him with two legs. The use of medical science is not at odds with our prayers of faith and our reliance on priesthood blessings. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
This miracle was vouched by all the canons of the church; and the whole company in town were appealed to for a confirmation of the fact; whom the cardinal found, by their zealous devotion, to be thorough believers of the miracle. And the cardinal cannot be suspected of any holy fraud. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and then to ask my Father in Heaven to sanctify that application to the healing of my body. Of course we do not wait until all other methods are exhausted before we pray in faith or give priesthood blessings for healing. In emergencies, prayers and blessings come first. Most often we pursue all efforts simultaneously. This follows the scriptural teachings that we should “pray always” and that all things should be done in wisdom and order. This is one way we seek the way to transports ourselves into some new World. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
You have yourself heard many supernatural and marvellos relations. “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for you good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one another,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 90.24. Human’s inclination to the marvellous has full opportunity to display itself. And thus a story, which is universally exploded in the place where it was first started, shall pass for a certain at a hundred thousand miles distance, maybe even light years. It is reported that January 1600, there was total darkness over the whole Earth for eight days. It was also reported by historians who treat of England, that on the first of January 1600, Queen Elizabeth died; both before and after her death she was seen by her physicians and the whole court, as is usual with persons of her rank; that her successor was acknowledged and proclaimed by the parliament; and that, after being interred a month, she again appeared, resumed the throne, and governed England for three years: I must confess that I should be surprised at the concurrence of so many odd circumstances, but should not have the least inclination to believe so miraculous an event. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
I believe that all of us can bear witness to these miracles. With Moroni of old, I believe in a God of miracles. Moroni wrote to the people of our dispensation, “Behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, and it is that same God who created the Heavens and the Earth, and all things that are in them are,” reports Mormon 9.11. Moroni proclaimed that Jesus Christ did many mighty miracles, that many mighty miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostles and that a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever must be a God of miracles today. “And if there were miracles wrought then, why has Gd ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God and is a God of miracles,” report Mormon 9.19. The World-Idea provides secret invisible patterns for all things that have come into existence. These are not necessarily the forms that our limited perceptions present to us but the forms that are ultimate in God’s Will. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
The deeper thinkers among our astronomers see no beginning and no end to the Universe; it is t them a process and not a static thing. To this view a philosopher would echo assent, but in accordance with the World-Idea. Just as the wave of life prepares, enters, and leaves our human bodies, so does it prepare, enter, and leave each of the numerous Universes. The World-Idea permeates all existence, patterns all forms, and expresses itself in all evolution. When the revelation of the World-Idea came to religious mystics they could only call it “God’s Will.” When it came to the Greeks, they called it “Necessity.” The Indians called it “Karma.” When its echoes were heard by scientific thinkers, they called it “the laws of Nature.” What we call here the World-Mind’s master image is not quite different from, although not quite the same as, what Plato called the eternal idea and what Malebranche called the archetype of the Universe. Mahat, the divine ideation of the Egyptian teachings, may possibly be correlated with the World-Idea, but I have not examined the doctrine. Nor do I know whether Plato’s divine archetypes meet exactly the same definition. However, I do know that all three constitute the World as seen by the Universal Mind. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Plato’s doctrine of a timeless World of archetypal ideas which are copied imperfectly in the physical one may be compared with the doctrine of the World-Idea stated elsewhere in this teaching. Jung’s archetypes, as far as I know his thought, apply to the unconscious of the human being. If you wish to call them by this name, the archetypes of the World-Idea apply universally and are not concerned with the human species alone. The Stoics pointed to Reason (Logos) as the divine spirit which orders the cosmos. Plato pointed to Mind (Nous) in the same reference. There is a universal order, a way which Nature (God) has of arranging things. This is why what we see around us as the World expressed all-pervading meaning, intelligence, and purpose. However, we catch only a mere hint of these veiled qualities—they mystery which recedes from them is immeasurably greater. The intelligence displayed by Nature is an infinite one. This fact, once recognized, forces us to concede that there is a deeper meaning and a wiser purpose in life than our puny intellects can adequately fathom. The World-Idea is secret, its activity is silent, but its effects are everywhere visible and audible to us. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
Immanuel Kant referred to “the hidden plan of Nature.” Thus, without benefit of any mystical revelation but with that of acutely concentrated deep thinking to guide him, he sensed the presence of the World-Idea. It is safe to assert that nearly all the activities of the cosmos are beyond ordinary human sense observations. Without the assistance of special apparatus or thinking power we are unaware of them. Just as important as these might miracles are the smaller private miracles that teach each of us to have faith in the Lord. These come as we recognize and heed the prompting of the Spirit in our lives. When we are trying to serve Him and do His will, the Lord will help us in every aspect of our lives. I believe that all of us can bear witness to these mighty and modest miracles. We know children who have prayed for their parents to get a new job and buy a home, and they have. We have seen children who pray for toys for Christmas and get them. We have seen adults who pray for a special phone call and it comes in. The World-Idea contains the pattern, intention, direction, and purpose of the cosmos in a single unified thought of the World-Mind. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
Human understanding is too cramped and too finite to comprehend how this miraculous simultaneity is possible. The World-Idea is the whole idea that no human mind can grasp in its time-long entirety and its spiralled cyclers. In some way that the limited mind of human cannot understand by its ordinary processes, the Universe exists in the World-Idea out of passing time and in an unbroken Now. The World-Idea manifests itself by degree but the Idea itself is a perfect whole. The World-Idea not only includes everything existent but also everything which is yet to exist. We may think of the World-Idea as a kind of computer which has been fed with all possible information and therefore contains all possible potentialities. Just as its progenitor the World-Mind is all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing, it is also possible to think of the World-Idea as being this all-knowing, omniscient aspect of the World-Mind. What is most extraordinary about the cosmos is that although it is a coherent Whole, yet it is one that is greater than, and different from, the sum of is parts. The World-Idea forever realizing itself in the actual, a process which is ceaseless and infinite, without known beginning or known end. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
Life is in the highest degree properly in God. In proof of which it must be considered that since a thing is said to live in so far as it operates of itself and not as moved by another, the more perfectly this power is found in anything, the more perfect is the life of that thing. In things that move and are moved, a threefold order is found. In the first place, the end moves the agent: and the principal agent is that which acts through it form, and sometimes it does so through some instrument that acts by virtue not of its own form, but of the principal agent, and does no more than execute the action. Accordingly there are things that move themselves, not in respect of any form or end naturally inherent in them, but only in respect of the executing of the movement; the form by which they act, and the end of action being alike determined for them by their nature. Of this kind are plants, which move themselves according to their inherent nature, with regard only to executing the movements of growth and decay. The World-Idea is works itself out in time, which is the form wherein the thoughts appear, and in history, which is the record of time. In the larger workings of the World-Idea we may see the rise and fall of entire culture, civilizations, religions, and even whole continental areas with their inhabitants and races. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
The World-Mind’s World-Idea unfold with absolute regularity and perfect sequence. The World-Idea is slowly expanding itself on Earth, incarnating itself. My hope is that this rather lengthy discussion of the place of the body in our life and of how the apostle Paul understood its transformation will make very clear why spiritual formation requires the transformation of the body. The proper retaining and nurturing of the body is absolutely essential to Christlikeness. The body is not just a physical thing. As it matures, it increasingly takes on the quality of “inner” life. That is, the body increasingly becomes a major part of the hidden source from which our life immediately flows. The outcome of spiritual formation is, indeed, the transformation of the inner reality of the self in such a way that the deeds and words of Jesus become a natural expression of who we are. However, it is the nature of the human being that the inner reality of the self settles into our body, from which that inner reality then operates in practice. Formed in sin, our character and its body is set against God and God’s ways, and as we look about us, we find it pretty much on its own—at least for a while. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
When our heart (will, spirit) comes to new life in God, the old “programs” are still running contrary to our new heart, and for the most part they are running in our body and its parts or members. “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! However, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out,” report Romans 7.12-18. “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit of death,” reports Romans 7.5. Because my identity before God has been shifted over to another life that is also now in me as God’s gift, my soul has been cleansed. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
While the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, I may find myself doing the things I have. However, it really is no longer I who is doing it, but the sin still functioning as a living force in the members of my body. Nonetheless, this is only a transitional state for those who can say with David, “My soul follows hard after you,” reports Psalm 63.8. The law or force of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus is now also a real presence in my body and it opens the way to liberation from the force of sin in my bodily parts. “Therefore, humans, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeed of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of God. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory,” reports Romans 8.12-17. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
My soul follows after God. The law or force of the Spirit life that is in Christ Jesus is now also a real presence in my body and it opens the way to liberation from the force of sin in my bodily parts. “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin,” reports Romans 7.25. By not walking in terms of the flesh but in terms of the Spirit, we are increasingly able to do the things that Jesus did and taught. “And so he condemned sin in sinful humans, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature,” reports Romans 8.4. We move toward the place where both the spirit is willing and the flesh is strong for God because the Spirit has now occupied it. We have presented the members of our body “as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification,” reports Romans 6.19. To deny the reality of miracles on the ground that the results and manifestations must be fictitious simply because we cannot comprehend the means by which they have happened is arrogant on the face of it. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
Genuine miracle is the miracle worked though the power of faith, without specifically invoking the power of the priesthood. Most of us are acquainted with miracles that have occurred in our personal lives and the lives of those we love, such as miracles involving births and deaths and miraculous healings. All of these are fulfillments of the Lord’s modern promise to “show miracles, signs, and wonders, until all those who believe on my name,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 35.8. “And now, I speak also concerning those who do not believe in Christ. Behold, will ye believe in the day of your visitation—behold, when the Lord shall come, yea, even that great day when the Earth shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, yea, in that great day when ye shall be brought to stand before the Lamb of God—then will ye say that there is no God? Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws? #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
“Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell. For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you. O then ye unbelieving, turn od who ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and clean, having been purified by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day. And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; behold I say uno you, one that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, one has not read the scriptures; if so, one does not understand them. For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles. #RnadolphHarris 20 of 26
“However, behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the Heavens and the Earth, and all things that in them are. Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man. And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all humans are redeemed because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all humans will be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed of death, which death is a temporal death. And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
“And one that is righteous still; one that is happy shall be happy still; one that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God? Who shall say that it was a miracle that by his word the Heaven and the Earth shall be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the Earth and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought? And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles. And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust. Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever one shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the Earth. For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who shall tarry, yea, and also to all his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: God ye into all the World, and preach the gospel to every creature; and one that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but one that believe not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; and whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, until one will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the Earth. And now, behold, who can stand against the works of the Lord? #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“Who can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who can deny God’s sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish. O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things so ever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and being as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God. See that ye are not baptized unworthily; see that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ unworthily; but see that ye do all things in worthiness, and do it in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; and if ye do this, and endure to the end, ye will in nowise be cast out. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
“Behold, I speak unto you as though I spake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words. Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our own imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have no imperfection in our record. However, the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore one hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof. And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
“And behold, these things which we have desired concerning our brethren, yea, even their restoration to the knowledge of Christ, are according to the prayers of all the saints who have dwelt in the land. And may the Lord Jesus Christ grant that their prayers may be answered according to their faith; and may God the Father remember the covenant which he hath made with the house of Israel; and may he bless them forever, through faith on the name of Jesus Christ. Amen, reports Mormon 9.1-37. Queen of Night, your silver wheels roll silently through the darkness from sunset to sunrise on this night when you are full. I look on you in awe, and praise you. I look to you in love, and honor you. God in her palaces hath made Himself known as a tower of strength. For lo, the kinds assembled themselves, they came onward together. They saw, straightway they were amazed; they were affrighted, they hasted away. Trembling seized them there, shaking, as a woman in travail, as the east wind that breaks the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God—God establish forever. We have meditated on Thy lovingkindness, O God, in midst of Thy Temple. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
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In His Immortal Spirit, Been as Free as the Sky-Searching Lark, and as Elate!
Being an entertainer, especially in times like these, is really a public service. When a great person dies, the World looks for one’s successor. One has no successor. Liberty is a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will; that is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may. All humans agree liberty is essential to morality, and that no human actions, where it is wanting, are susceptibe of any moral qualities, or can be the objects either of approbation or dislike. For as actions are objects of our moral sentiment, so far only as they are indications of the internal character, passions, and affections; it is impossible that they can give rise either to praise or blame, where they process not from these principles, but are derived altogether from external violence. I pretend not to have obviated or removed all objections to this theory, with regard to necessity and liberty. I can foresee other objections, derived from topics, which have not here been treated of. It may be said, for instance, that, if voluntary actions be subjected to the same laws of necessity with the operations of matter, there is a continued chain of necessary cases, pre-ordained or pre-determined, reaching from the original cause of all, to every single volition of every creation. No contingency anywhere in the Universe; no indifference; no liberty. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
While we act, we are, at the same time, acted upon. The ultimate Author of all our volitions is the Creator of the World, who first bestowed motion on this immense machine, and, placed all being in particular position, whence every subsequent event, by an inevitable necessity, must result. Human actions, therefore, either can have no more turpitude at all, as proceeding from so good a cause; of if they have any turpitude, they must involve our Creator in the same guilt, while he is acknowledged to be their ultimate cause and author. For as a humans, who fired a mine, is answerable for all the consequences whether the train one employed be long or short; so wherever a continued chain of necessary causes is fixed, that Being, either finite or infinite, who produces the first, is likewise the author of all the rest, and must both bear the blame and acquire the praise, which belong to them. When we examine the consequences of any action, our clear and unalterable ideas of morality establish this rule, upon unquestionable reasons; and these reasons must still have force, when applied to the volitions and intentions of a Being, infinitely wise and powerful. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
Ignorance or impotence may be pleased for so limited a creature as humans; but those imperfections have no place in our Creator. He foresaw, he ordained, he intended all those actions of humans, which we so rashly pronounce criminal, or that the Deity, not humans, are accountable for them. However, as either of these positions is absurd and impious; it follows, that the doctrine, from which they are deduced, cannot possibly be true, as being liable to all the same objections. An absurd consequence, if necessary, proves the original doctrine to be absurd; in the same manner as criminal actions render criminal the original cause, if the connextion between them be necessary and inevitable. The objection consists of two parts, which we shall examine separately; First, that, if human actions can be traced up, by a necessary chain, to the Deity, they can never be criminal; on account of the infinite perfection of that Being, from whom they are derived, and who can intend nothing but what is all together good and laudable. Or, secondly, if they be criminal, we must retract the attributes of perfection, which we ascribe to the Deity, and must acknowledge him to be the ultimate author of guilt and moral turpitude in all his creatures. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
The answer to the first objection seems obvious and convincing. There are many philosophers, who, after an exact scrutiny of all the phenomena of nature, conclude, that the WHOLE, considered as one system, is, in every period of its existence, ordered with perfect benevolence; and that the utmost possible happiness will, in the end, result to all created beings, without any mixture of positive or absolute ill and misery. Every physical ill, say they, makes an essential part of this benevolent system, and could not possibly be removed, even by the Deity himself, considered as a wise agent, without giving entrance to greater ill, or excluding greater good, which will result from it. From this theory, some philosophers, and the ancient Stoics among the rest, derived a topic of consolation under all afflictions, while they taught their pupils, that those ills, under which they laboured, were, in reality, goods to the Universe; and that to an enlarged view, which could comprehend the whole system of nature, every event became an object of joy and exultation. However, though this topic be specious and sublime, it was soon found in practice weak and ineffectual. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
You would surely more irritate, than appease a human, lying under the racking pains of the gout, by preaching up to one the rectitude of those general laws, which produced the malignant humours in one’s body, and led them through the proper canals, to the sinew and nerves, where they now excite such acute torments. These enlarged views may, for a moment, please the imagination of a speculative human, who is placed in ease and security; but neither can they dwell with constancy on one’s mind, even though undisturbed by the emotions of pain or passion; much less can they maintain their ground, when attacked by such powerful antagonists. The affections take a narrower and more natural survey of their object; and by an economy, more suitable to the infirmity of human minds, regard alone the beings around us, and are actuated by such events as appear good or ill to the private system. The case is the same with moral as with physical ill. It cannot reasonably be supposed, that those remote considerations, which are found of so little efficacy with regard to one, will have a more powerful influence with regard to the other. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
The mind of humans is so formed by nature, that, upon the appearance of certain characters, dispositions, and action, it immediately feels the sentiment of approbation or blame; nor are there any emotions more essential to its frame and constitution. The characters, which engage our approbation, are chiefly such as contribute to the peace and security of human society; as the characters, which excite blame, are chiefly such as tend to public detriment and disturbance: Whence it may reasonably be presumed, that the moral sentiments arise, either mediately or immediately, from a reflection of these opposite interest. What though philosophical meditations establish a different opinion or conjecture; that every thing is right with regard to the WHOLE, and that the qualities, which disturb society, are, in the main, as beneficial, and are as suitable to the primary intention of nature, as those which more directly promote its happiness and welfare? A human who is robbed of a considerable sum; does one find one’s vexation for the losses any wise diminished by the sublime reflections? #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
Why then should one’s moral resentment against the crime be supposed incompatible with them? Or why should not the acknowledgement of a real distinction between vice and virtue be reconcilable to all speculative systems of philosophy, as well as that of a real distinction between person beauty and deformity? Both these distinctions are founded in the natural sentiment of the human mind: And these sentiments are not to be controller or altered by any philosophical theory or speculation whatsoever. The second objection admits not of so easy and satisfactory an answer; nor is it possible to explain distinctly, how the Deity can be the mediate cause of all the actions of humans, without being the author of sin and moral turpitude. These are mysteries, which mere natural and unassisted reason is very unfit to handle; and whatever system she embraces, she must find herself involved in inextricable difficulties, and even contradictions, at every step which she takes with regard to such subjects. To reconcile the indifferences and contingency of human actions with prescience; or to defend absolute decrees, and yet free the Deity from being the author of sin, has been found hitherto to exceed all the power of philosophy. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
Happy, if she be thence sensible of her temerity, when she pries into these sublime mysteries; and leaving a scene so full of obscurities and perplexities, return, with suitable modesty, to her true and proper province, the examination of common life; where she will find difficulties enough to employ her enquiries, without launching into so boundless an ocean of doubt, uncertainty, and contradiction! From the standpoint of justice as fairness there is no reason why the persons in the original position (Often referred to as the veil of ignorance, one is asked to consider which principles one would select for the basic structure of society, but one must selectas if one has no knowledge ahead of time what position one would have in that society. This choice is made from behind a veil of ignorance, which prevents one from knowing your ethnicity, social status, gender and, crucially, your individual idea of how to lead a good life. Ideally, this would force participants to select principles impartially and rationally.) would agree to the approvals of an impartial sympathetic spectator as the standard of justice. This agreement has all the drawbacks of the classical principle of utility to which it is equivalent. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
If, however, the parties are conceived as perfect altruists, that is, as persons who desired conform to the approvals of such a spectator, then the classical principle (the classical principle of utility, the best actions produce the greatest amount of utility for the greatest number of individuals) would, of course, be adopted. The greater net balance of happiness with which to sympathize, the more perfect altruist achieves one’s desire. Thus we arrive at the unexpected conclusion that while the average principle of utility is the ethic of a single rational individual (with no aversion to risk) who tries to maximize one’s own prospects, the classical doctrine is the ethic of perfect altruists. A surprising contrast indeed! By looking at these principles from the standpoint of the original position, we see that a different complex of ideas underlies them. Not only are they based upon contrary motivational assumptions, but the notion of taking chances has a part in one view yet none in the other. In the classical conception one chooses as if one will live through the experiences of each individual, seriatim as Lewis says, the then sum up the result. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
The idea of taking a chance on which person one will turn out to be does not arise. Thus even if the concept of the original position served no other purpose, it would be a useful analytic device. Although the various principles of utility may often have similar practical consequences, we can see that these conceptions derive from markedly distinction assumption. There is, however, a peculiar feature of perfect altruism that deserves mention. A perfect altruist can fulfill one’s desire only if someone else has independent, or first-order, desires. To illustrate this fact, suppose that in deciding what to do all vote to do what everyone else wants to do. Obviously nothing get settled; in fact there is nothing to decide. For a problem of justice to arise at least two persons must want to do something other than whatever everyone else wants to do. It is impossible, then, to assume that the parties are simply perfect altruists. They may have some separate interests which may conflict. Justice as fairness makes this assumption, in the form of mutual disinterest, the main motivational condition of the original position. While this may prove to be an oversimplification, one can develop a reasonably comprehensive conception of justice on this basis. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Some philosophers have accepted the utilitarian principle because they believed that the idea of an impartial sympathetic spectator is the correct interpretation of impartiality. Indeed, Hume thought that it offered the only perspective from which moral judgments could be made coherent and brought into line. Now moral judgments are, or should be, impartial; but there is another way to achieve this, another point of view by reference to which our judgments of justice may be organized. Justice as fairness provides what we want. An impartial judgment, we can say, is one rendered in accordance with the principles which would be chosen in the original position. An impartial judgment, we can say, is one rendered in accordance with the principles without bias of prejudice. Instead of defining impartiality from the standpoint of a sympathetic observer who responds to the conflicting interests of others as if they were one’s own, we define impartiality from the standpoint of the litigants themselves. It is they who must choose their conception of justice once and for all in an original position of equality. They must decide by which principles their claims against one another are to be settled, and one who is to judge between humans serves as their agent. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
The fault of the utilitarian doctrine is that it mistakes impersonality for impartiality. If one adopted the sympathetic spectator idea, but did not character this spectator as conflating all desires into one system, the preceding remarks naturally lead one to ask what sort of theory of justice would result. Hume’s conception provides one modus operadi for benevolence, but is it the only possibility? Now love clearly has among its main elements the desire to advance the other person’s good as this person’s rational self-love would require. Very often how one is to realize this desire is clear enough. The difficulty is that the love of several persons is thrown into confusion once the claims of these persons conflict. If we reject the classical doctrine, what does the love of humankind enjoin? It is quite pointless to say that one is to judge the situation as benevolence dictates. This assumes that we are wrongly swayed by self-concern. Our problem lies elsewhere. Benevolence is at sea as long as its many loves are in opposition in the persons of its many objects. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
We might try out here the idea that a benevolent person is to be guided by the principles someone would choose if one knew that one is to split, so to speak, into many members of society. That is, one is to imagine that one is to divine into a plurality of persons whose life and experiences will be distinct in the usual way. Experiences and memories are to remain each person’s own; and there is to be no conflation of desires and memories into those of one person. Since a single individual is literally to become many persons, there is no question of guessing which one; once again the problem of taking chances does not arise. Now knowing this (or believing it), which conception of justice would a person chose for a society comprised of these individual? As this person would, let us suppose, love this plurality of persons as one loves oneself, perhaps the principles one would chose characterize the aims of benevolence. Leaving aside the difficulties in the idea of splitting that may arise from problems about personal identity, two things seem evident. First of all, it is still unclear what a person would decide, since the situation does not offhand provide an answer. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
However, secondly, the two principles of justice now seem a relatively more plausible choice than the classical principle of utility. The latter is no longer the natural preference, and this suggests that the conflation of persons into one is indeed at the root of the classical view. The reason why the situation remains obscure is that love and benevolence are second-order notions: they seek to further the good of beloved individuals that is already given. If the claims of these goods clash, benevolence is at a loss as to how to proceed, as long anyway as it treats these individuals as separate persons. These high-order sentiments do not include principles of right to adjudicate these conflicts. Therefore a love of humankind that wishes to preserve the distinction of persons, to recognize the separateness of life and experience, will use the two principles of justice to determine its aims when many goods it cherishes are in opposition. Love is guided by what individuals themselves would consent to in a fair initial situation which gives them both equal representation as moral persons. We now see why nothing would have been gained by attributing benevolence to the parties in the original position. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
We must, however, distinguish between the love of humankind kind and the sense of justice. The difference is not that they are guided by different principles, since both include a desire to give justice. Rather, the former is manifest by the greater intensity and pervasiveness of this desire, and in a readiness to fulfill all the natural duties in addition to that of justice, and even to go beyond their requirements. The love of humankind is more comprehensive than the sense of justice and prompts to acts of supererogation, whereas the latter does not. Thus we see that the assumption of the mutual disinterestedness of the parities does not prevent a reasonable interpretation of benevolence and of the love of humankind within the framework of justice as fairness. The fact that we start out assuming that the parties are mutually disinterested and have conflicting first-order desires still allows us to construct a comprehensive account. For once the principles of right and justice are on hand, they may be used to define the moral virtues just as in any other theory. The virtues are sentiments, that is, related families of dispositions and propensities regulated by a higher-order desire, in this case a desire to act from the corresponding moral principles. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
Although justice as fairness begins by taking the persons in the original position as individuals, or more accurately as continuing strands, this is no obstacle to explicating the higher-order moral sentiments that serve to bind a community of persons together. Otherwise people can spend years groping amid-semi darkness for the entrance to the path which they have missed, but justice will gladly lead them in due course. Spiritually, at the moment of dying one will WILL one’s own rebirth again and again until one’s flock are brought safely through the narrow gate which leads to the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore it is said, for such is the mysterious reality of one’s telepathic power, that the birth of the self-actualized sends forth an echoing vibration within the Universe, which acts as a call to one’s unborn chelas (disciples) to incarnate with one, and as a command to the principle of rebirth to make effectual the event. The one sacrifices oneself for the salvation of one’s chelas (disciples). There are several self-styled spiritual guides who can guide their flocks into all kinds of queer experiences, but they cannot guide them into the Kingdom of Heaven. That territory is barred to them. Consequently it is barred to those who meekly walk behind them. The reason is quite simple. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
Jesus explained it long ago. The lower ego with its baggage of desires is too big, while the door leading into the Kingdom is too small. In all their activities, these teachers fail to achieve a truly spiritual result because they are thinking primarily of themselves rather than of what they are supposed to be thinking. In some cases the process is an unconscious one, but in many it is not. The difference between a false teacher and a genuine one is often the difference between a dominating dictator and a quiet guide. The false teacher will seek to emasculate your will or even to enslave your mind, whereas the true teacher will endeavour to exalt you into a sense of your own self-responsibility. The teacher who demands or accepts such servility is dangerous to true growth. In the end, one will require a loyalty which should be given only to God. The true teacher will carry your soul into greater freedom and not less, into stabilizing truth and not emotional moods. The true teacher has no desire to hold anyone in pupilage, but on the contrary gladly welcomes the time when the disciple is able to stand without help from outside. However, because talk is easy and redemption is not demanded except in the distant future, these false teachers thrive for a while. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
Many of the false teachers are but students, yet find it hard to take the low places where humility dwells. Hence their gravity; hence the laughter of the gods at them. Could they but laugh at themselves awhile, and perhaps at their doctrines occasionally, they might regain balance, a sense of proportion—but greatest of all true Humility. They are not necessarily deliberate misleaders of others, these self-appointed saviours, but their mystical experiences have given them false impressions about themselves. Their authority is fallible and their doctrines are false. They find it easy to deliver themselves of lofty teachings, but hard to put the same teachings into practice. These gurus promise much, but in the sequel do not redeem their word. These self-styled adepts appear to be adepts in circumlocution more than in anything else. Those who openly court worship or secretly exult in it cannot possibly have entered into the true Kingdom of Heaven. For the humility it demands is aptly described by Jesus when he describes its entrance as smaller than a needle’s eye. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
Would-be disciples who are so eager to fill this role that they are swept straightaway into enthusiasm by the extravagant promises of would-be masters, usually lack both the desire and the competence to investigate the qualifications of such masters. Consequently they pay the penalty of their lack of discrimination. If a nation accepts and follows a wicked human as its leader, then there must be some fault in it which make this possible. And if a seeker accepts a false guide on one’s spiritual path, then there must be some false intuition, false thinking, or false standards which made this possible to. There are various ways of appraising a teacher at one’s true worth. We may watch one’s external life and notice how one conducts one’s affairs, how one talks and works, and how one behaves toward other humans. Or we may dive deep into one’s interior nature and plumb the depths of one’s mental life. The latter course presupposes some degree of psychic sensitiveness. The best way is to combine both to penetrate the unseen and to observe the visible. Do not reverence those who call themselves guru and beg for alms. Only who live by the fruits of their labours and do honest and useful work are in the way of truth. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
Spiritual knowledge is not to be bought and sold. Indeed it could not be. That which could be got and given in this way is only the pretense of it. It is utterly impossible for a human who has entered into communion with the World-Mind to sell one’s power for money. The very act would of itself break one’s connection with it, leaving for one’s possession only those undesirable lesser powers which come from contact with the fringes of the nether World of dark spirits. There are too many aspirants who are hoping, like Micawber in Dicken’s story, for something to turn up. In their cause it is a spiritual master who will not only take their burdens and responsibilities off their shoulders but, much more, translate them overnight into a realm of spiritual consciousness for evermore. They go on waiting and they go on hoping, but nothing turns up and no one appears. What is the reason for this frustration of their hopes? It is that they fail to work while they wait, fail to prepare themselves to be fit for such a meeting, fail to recognize that whether they have a master or not they must still work upon themselves diligently, and that they harder they work in this task or self-improvement, the more likely it is that they will find a master. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
They are like children who want to be carried all the way and coddled while they are being carried. They are waiting for someone to do what they ought to be doing for themselves. They are waiting to receive from outside what they could start getting straightaway by delving inside themselves. Instead of wandering about looking for Christs to come, we should be better employed wandering inward looking for Christ there, the Christ within. Such a truth is our best Saviour and the surest Avatar of our time. After he has “seen” you take the plunge and try to “feel” his presence as the next stage. Only When one has reached a point where one no longer thinks of the Master as another person but as the core of one’s inner self, can it be said that the Master’s work for one is done. When Jesus said that one who eats His flesh and drinks His blood abides in Him and He in one, Jesus meant no theatrical rite of purely ceremonial order such as is performed outwardly through the Eucharist today. He meant this inwardly achieved union here described. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
There are untouched forces back of self which we seldom include when we reckon up our mortal accounts. One of these is that aspect of God in man which we denominate Power. Once found it makes us feel greater than we seem. When the divine will works through our hands, we may go forth into the World and master it. Strong in the consciousness of Power, we can advance without fear, asking favour of none, yet conferring it upon all we meet. “And now I finish my record concerning the destruction of my people, the Nephites. And it came to pass that we did march forth before the Lamanites. And I, Mormon, wrote an epistle unto the king of the Lamanites, and desired of him that he would grant unto us that he would grant unto us that we might gather together our people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle And it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites did grant unto me the thing which I desired. And it came to pass that we did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents around the hill Cumorah; and it was in the land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“And when three hundred and eighty and four years had passed away, we had gathered in all the remainder of our people unto the land of Cumorah. And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for he Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni. And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breast of all the wicked, did they await to receive them. And it came to pass that they came to battle against us, and every soul was filled with terror because of the greatness of their numbers. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“And it came to pass that my men were hewn down, yea, even my ten thousand who were with me, and I fell wounded in the midst; and they passed by me that they did not put an end to my life. And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were twenty and four of us, (among whom my son Moroni) and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, when the Lamanites had returned unto their camps, from the top of the hill Cumorah, then ten thousand of my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me. And we also beheld the ten thousand of my people who were led by my son Moroni. And behold, the ten thousand of Gidgiddonah had fallen, and he also in the midst. And Lamah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Limhah had fallen with his tend thousand; and Jeneum had fallen with his ten thousand; and Cumenihah, and Moronihah, and Antinum, and Shiblom, and Shem, and Josh, had fallen with their ten thousand each. And it came to pass that there were tend more who did fall by the sword, with their ten thousand each; yea, even all my people, save it were those who with me, and also a few who had escaped into the south countries, and a few who had deserted over unto the Lamanites, had fallen. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
“And their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the Earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother Earth, And my soul was rent with anguish, because of the slain of my people, and I cried: O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would have fallen. However, behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss. O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen! However, behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return. And the day soon cometh that your mortal must put on immortality, and these bodies which are now moldering in corruption must soon become incorruptible bodies; and then ye must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to be judged according to your works; and if it so be that ye are righteous, then are ye blessed with your fathers who have gone before you. O that ye had repented before this great destruction had come upon you. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
“However, behold, ye are gone, and the Father, yea, the Eternal Father of Heaven, knoweth your state; and he doeth with you according to his justice and mercy,” reports Mormon 6.1-22. Out of the bright sky as the Sun goes down, appears the Father who rules the darkness. I pray to him, my eyes facing west at the end of the day, and the beginning of the month. You will not be here with us long; you dance quickly toward the horizon. While you are still with us, though, I will look on you with love. Hope in the west, prophet of return from darkness: you show us it is possible to go from age into the shadowland and emerge, new yet the same. When I am surrounded by the shadows, come to me and remind me of this night’s lesson I pray to you, who wear the silver crescent, not to let me forget. Unto Israel and unto our scholars, unto their disciples and pupils, and unto all who engaged in the study of the Scriptures, here and everywhere, unto them and unto you, may there be abundant peace, grace, lovingkindness, mercy, long life, sustenance and salvation from their Father in Heaven; and say ye, Amen. May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and a happy life for us, and for all Israel; and say ye, Amen. May He who establisheth peace in the Heavens, in His mercy, grant peace unto us and unto all America; and say ye, Amen. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
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Dignity and humility are the cornerstones of compassion. Compassion for myself is the most powerful healer of them all. People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes. To forgive is a divine attribute. It is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed. The Lord commands us to repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. He also commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us. If we can find forgiveness in our hearts for those who have caused us hurt and injury, we will rise to a higher level of self-esteem and well-being. We must learn to do away with fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry. One needs no help from supernatural sources to engage in fornication, the many pollutions involving pleasures of the flesh, indulgences in passions and desires for what is evil, or greed to possess what belongs to others. The inclinations just happen. These are the parts of human life that are upon the Earth, in the sense that they do not come from Heaven or God. Because of them, human beings become children of disobedience. Their basic nature becomes disobedience or rebellion. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
They are inherently at war with God and therefore subject to God’s wrath. “Cease, therefore, whatever belongs t your Earthly nature: immorality in pleasures of the flesh, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. However, now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, sine you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self with, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator,” reports Colossians 3.5-10. Our relationship with God and other humans must have a solid foundation on which they can be built. It must be founded on love, affinity, and trust. For we must carry credentials brought down from Heaven. In the end, it is n external person who can save us but only the internal soul itself. Forget the teacher’s person, remember the teacher’s doctrine. The lessons we learn are the gate through which we can pass to reach God. When we have fully learned our lesson, we will look to no other humans being for that which our Heavenly Father alone ought to be looked to. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future. Do not spend too much time looking back. If your past is gaining on you and you keep looking back, one of these days it will run you over. If we understand the purpose for doing so, it is not wrong to look back. The Lord wants us to learn from our mistakes. However, we can learn from them only by keeping them in perspective and not dwelling of them. If we continually dwell on past mistakes, we fall into a deep pit of discouragement. We can also become discouraged by blaming ourselves for sins we did not commit. For example, victims of abuse often feel responsible somehow for the abuse they received. They sometimes even feel guilty for having survived the abuse. If people blame themselves and dwell on the past, those who have been victimized by the sins of others continue to be victims. When they seek the Lord’s help to rise above the sorrow and turn their pain into a blessing, healing comes. Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harbouring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
Forgiveness is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves. Most of us need time to work through pain and loss. We can find all manner of reasons for postponing forgiveness. One of these reasons is waiting for the wrongdoers to repent before we forgive them. Yet such a delay causes us to forfeit the peace and happiness that could be ours. The folly of rehashing long-past hurts does not bring happiness. Some hold grudges for a lifetime, unaware that courageously forgiving those who have wronged us is wholesome and therapeutic. When we have faith in God and trust in His word, forgiveness comes more readily. Such faith enables people to withstand the worst of humanity. It also enables people to look beyond themselves. More importantly it enables them to forgive. However, just because you forgive someone, it does not mean you can trust them again. That is an important distinction. It just means you are letting go of the poison of anger and hurt and resentment. To achieve frequent inner contact with God, we must relax our mind from everyday affairs and concentrate upon the quest anew, must separate it from it burden of cares and desires and doubts, and let everything go. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
We must abate the everlasting dominance of the personal ego and come as a humble child into the presence which we seek to invoke. This is how we catch the mental radiations from the Lord and transform them into intuitions and inspirations as a radio set catches electrical waves from a broadcasting station and transforms them into sounds. The impact of such telepathic blessings upon the disciple’s mind may be instantaneously felt. Or it may first start a subconscious process working which will produce the same result more slowly and less certainly. An important part of the process is to understand God holds us continually inside His own heart. Inevitable, this draws forth our affection and creates desire for union with God. The effect will be like the sun holding a tiny seedling continually within its rays. The seedling cannot escape natural growth through the actions of the sunlight nor the inevitable seeking for and love of the sun itself. In the same way, we who are given God’s grace, may depart from or desert the Lord, but in the end, we will have to recognize that the presence of God, the efficiency of God and we will accept God back in our lives again. To complete this process, we should also keep a mental picture of God in our hearts. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
By keeping God in our hearts, we are pointing the path, clearing intellectual doubts and difficulties, encouraging, inspiring and so on. The help is given telepathically and we will begin to sense during quiet periods and at odd times the current of peace flowing toward us. It is not human power we are receiving; it is spiritual power. We come to God for inspiration, improvement, purification, and blessings. Superior people know how to shut out the Worldly voices, and let in only the presence of God—nothing else. This is nonduality. We know that one mind can influence another through the medium of speech or writing: we know also that it may even influence another directly and without any medium through the silent power of telepathy. All this work takes place on the level of thought and emotion. Therefore, one must go into the innermost core of one’s own being and there touch the innermost core of God. In this way, Spirit speaks to Spirit, but without words or even thoughts. Within our inner most being there is a mysterious purity. A place that is morally clean. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
In this morally clean threshold, there is a peculiar power, filled with a magical potency. Those echoes reverberate telepathically across space. When we feel this power, the inner greatness, we are approaching the verge of spiritual attainment, and are stimulated and excited as a result. If we have enough faith in the principle of mentalism to believe that this blessing will come our way, the spiritual help which we need, we will be in a position to receive it. There will be advancement, a renewed effort at self-improvement, and the renewed determination to eliminate evil qualities from the character. The human embryo gets its earliest nutrition in the mother’s matrix by absorbing it from the fluids which surround it; this process of nourishment by osmosis leads to its growth and development until the first of its organs, the heart, is born. Then, with the later appearance of blood-tubes, the litter being begins to pump blood and feel itself. Osmosis is a process which may help us to understand its parallel—putting on the armour of God. Such experiences of a divine inflow are not imaginary ones but are the genuine reception of grace. When there is external silence, even then help is being given. Do not measures it volume against the volume of physical communications. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
The power of God is such that we become its channel and it can affect others. God illuminates and transfers Grace to us all the time, even though we may be unaware. The inward relationship matters. There is a system very much like a telephone switchboard. The incoming “calls” are plugged into God. The “line” itself is composed out of our own faith and devotion; one alone can make this connection. Then, one’s wishes, dreams, and thoughts travel along it to God, where they are registered and dealt with according to one’s needs. The Lord has said that “there is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundation of this World, upon which all blessings are predicated. And when we obtained any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 130.20-21. All laws being founded on rewards and punishments, it is supposed as a fundamental principle., that these motives have a regular and uniform influence on the mind, and both produce the good and prevent the evil actions. We may give this influence what name we please; however, as it is usually conjoined with the action, it must be esteemed a cause, and be looked upon as an instance of that necessity, which would here establish. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
The only proper object of hatred or vengeance, is a person or creature, endowed with thought and consciousness; and when any criminal or injurious actions excite that passion, it is only by their relation to the person, or connexion with one. Actions are, by their very nature, temporary and perishing; and where they proceed not from some cause in the character and disposition of the person who performed them, they can neither redound to one’s honour, if good; nor infamy, if evil. The actions themselves may be blameable; they may be contrary to all the rules of mortality and religion: But the person is not answerable for them; and they proceeded from nothing in one, that is durable and constant, and leave nothing of that nature behind them, it is impossible one can, upon their account, become the object of punishment or vengeance. According to the principle, therefore, which denies necessity, and consequently causes, a human is as pure and untainted, after having committed the most horrid crime, as the first moment of one’s birth, nor is one’s character any wise concerned in one’s actions; since they are not derived from it, and the wickedness of the one can never be used as proof of the depravity of the other. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
Humans are not blamed for such actions, as they perform ignorantly and casually, whatever may be the consequences. Why? but because the principles of these actions are only momentary, and terminate in them alone. Humans are less blamed for such actions as they perform hastily and unpremeditatedly, than for such as proceed from deliberation. For what reason? but because a hasty temper, though a constant cause of principle in mind, operates only by intervals, and infects not the whole reformation of life and manners. How is this to be accounted for? but by asserting, that actions render a person criminal, merely as they are proofs of criminal principles in the mind; and when, by an alteration of these principles, they cease to be just proofs, they likewise cease to be criminal. However, except upon the doctrines of necessity, they never were just proofs, and consequently never were criminal. Something is right, a social system say, when an ideally rational and impartial spectator would approve of it from a general point of view should one possess all the relevant knowledge of the circumstances. A rightly ordered society is one meeting the approval of such an ideal observer. Now, there may be several problems with this definition, for example, whether the notions of approval and relevant knowledge can be specified without circularity. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
However, I shall leave these questions aside because the essential point here is that there is no conflict so far between this definition and justice as fairness. For suppose we define the concept of right by saying that something is right and only if it satisfies the principles which would be chosen in the original position to apply to things of is kind. (First, the original position states: we are to assume a veil of ignorance, we know nothing about the parties. This is a principle that guarantees each citizen a robust package of liberal rights to such things as freedom of conscience, freedom to vote and stand in elections, and right to due process in law. Second, a principle that ensured fair equality of economic opportunity as well as shares of income and wealth that were maximally beneficial to people with the least amount of income and wealth.) It may well be the case the an ideally rational and impartial spectator would approve of a social system if and only if it satisfies the principles of justice which would be adopted in the contract scheme. The definition may be true of the same things. This possibility is not ruled out by the ideal observer definition. Since this definition makes no specific psychological assumptions about the impartial spectator, it yields no principles to account for one’s approvals under ideal conditions. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
One who accepts this definition to accept justice as fairness for this purpose: one simply allows that an ideal observer would approve of social systems to the extent that they satisfy the two principles of justice. (The two principles of justice as fairness—these guiding ideas of justice as fairness are given institutional form by its two principles of justice: First Principle: Each person has the same indefeasible claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme of liberties for all. Second Principle: Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: a. They are t be attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; b. They are to be to the greatest benefits of the least-advantaged member of society.) Fulfillment of the first principle takes priority over the difference principle. Unequal rights would not benefit those who get a lesser share of the right, so justice requires equal rights for all, in normal circumstances. Citizens’ equal liberty must have priority over economic policy. The impartial spectator definition makes no assumptions from which the principles of right justice must be derived. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
The impartial spectator definition is designed instead to single out certain central features characteristic of moral discussion, the fact that we try to appeal to our considered judgments after conscientious reflection, and the like. The contractarian definition is more ambitious: it attempts to provide a deductive basis for the principles that account for these judgments. The conditions of the initial situation and the motivation of the parties are intended to set out the necessary premises to achieve this end. Now while it is possible to supplement the impartial spectator definition with the contract point of view, there are other ways of giving it a deductive basis. Thus suppose that the ideal observer is thought of as a perfectly sympathetic being. Then there is a natural derivation of the classical principle of utility along the following lines. An institution is right, let us say, if an ideally sympathetic and impartial spectator would approve of it more strongly than any other institution feasible in the circumstances. For simplicity we may assumes that approval is a special kind of pleasure which arises more or less intensely in contemplating the workings of institutions and their consequences for the happiness of those engaged in them. This special pleasure is the result of sympathy. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
Sympathy is quite literally a reproduction in our experience of the satisfactions and pleasures which we recognize to be felt by others. Thus an impartial spectator experiences this pleasure in contemplating the social system in proportion to the net sum of pleasures felt by those affected by it. The strength of one’s approval corresponds to, or measures, the amount of satisfaction in the society surveyed. Therefore one’s expressions of approval will be given according to classical utility. To be sure, sympathy is not a strong feeling. Not only is self-interest likely to inhibit the frame of mind in which we experience it, but self-interest tends to override its dictates in determining our actions. Yet when humans do regard their institutions from a general point of view, sympathy is the main psychological propensity at work, and it will at least guide our considered moral judgments. However, weak sympathy may be, it nevertheless constitutes a common ground for brining our moral opinions into agreement. Human’s natural capacity for sympathy suitably generalized provides the perspective from which they can reach an understanding on a common conception of justice. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
Thus we arrive at the following view. A rational and impartial sympathetic spectator is a person who takes up a general perspective: one assumes a position where one’s own interest are not at stake and one possesses all the requisite information and powers of reasoning. So situated one is equally responsive and sympathetic to the desires and satisfactions of everyone affected by the social system. One’s own interests do not thwart one’s natural sympathy for the aspirations of others and one has perfect knowledge of these endeavours and what they mean for those who have them. Responding to the interests of each person in the same way, an impartial spectator gives free reign to one’s capacity for sympathetic identification by viewing each person’s situation as it affects that person. Thus one imagines oneself in the place of each person in turn, and when one has done this for everyone, the strength of one’s approval is determined by the balance of satisfactions to which one has sympathetically responded. When one has made the rounds of all the affected parties, so to speak, one’s approval expresses the total. Sympathetically imagined pains cancel out sympathetically imagined pleasures, and the final intensity of approval corresponds to the net some of positive feeling. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
It is instructive to note that a contrast between the features of the sympathetic spectator and the conditions defining the original position. The elements of the sympathetic spectator definition, impartiality, possession of relevant knowledge, and the powers of imaginative identification, are to assure the complete and accurate response of natural sympathy. Impartiality prevents distortion of bias and self-interest; knowledge and the capacity for identification guarantee that the aspirations of others will be accurately appreciated. We can understand the point of the definition once we see that its parts are designed to give free scope to the operation of fellow feeling. In the original position, by contrast, the parities are mutually disinterested rather than sympathetic; but lacking knowledge of their natural assets or social situation, they are forced to view their arrangements in a general way. In the one case perfect knowledge and sympathetic identification result in a correct estimate of the net sum of satisfaction; in the other, mutual disinterestedness subject to a veil of ignorance leads to the two principles of justice. There is a sense in which classical utilitarianism fails to take seriously the distinction between persons. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
The principle of rational choice for one human is taken as the principle of social choice as well. (Rational choice theory states that individuals use rational calculation to make balanced choices and achieve outcomes that are aligned with their own personal objectives. These results are also associated with an individual’s best, self-interests. Social choice theory is the study of collective decision processes and procedures. It is a theoretical framework for analysis of combining individual opinions, preferences, interests, or welfares to reach a collective decision of social welfare in some sense.) How does this come about? It is the consequence, as we can now see, of wanting to give a deductive basis to an ideal observer definition of right, and of presuming that human’s natural capacity for sympathy provides the only perspective from which their moral judgments can be brought into agreement. With this background, it is tempting to adopt the approvals of the impartial sympathetic spectator as the standard of justice. The one person of the classical doctrines is, then, identical with the impartial sympathetic spectator. This spectator is the one self who includes all desires and satisfactions within one experience as one imaginatively identifies in turn with the members of society. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
It is one who compares their aspirations and approves of institutions according to the extent to which they satisfy the one system of desires that one constructs as one views everyone’s desires as if they were one’s own. The classical view results, then, in impersonality, in the conflation of all desires into one system of desires. We can equally well ask why we should concern ourselves about our own future feelings as about the feelings of other persons. Presumably because the answer is identical in each case: it is necessary to achieve the greatest sum of satisfaction. These remarks seem to suggest the conflation view. Only if the proper steps are taken, time can heal wounds. Fear can lead to a lifetime of sorrow and pain. The only real release is repentance. Heavenly Father has provided the Atonement for us so that we may rise above sorrow and pain. Why is it that so many—if not most—seekers feel the need of personal spiritual guidance, and emotional inspiration, there is a further, a profounder, and sometimes unconscious need. The formless Infinite is a conception the human mind can hardly comprehend, much less hold for any sustained period. Therefore many people know only those who has experienced it can say how utterly true and intensely real it is. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
God the impersonal assumes the form of a personal guide. This is why Jesus proclaimed himself to be the door. If so many students are running hither and thither in search of a master, it is not only for the commonly given reasons that they do so, but also because of their need of a personal symbol of the impersonal God, their need of a human gate to the gateless Void. There are some seekers who can draw from within themselves the guidance they need, the light upon their path, and the intuition to comprehend the Absolute. They can get along quite well without a human guide. Such souls are fortunate and blessed, and those others who do not come into their category need and must find a spiritual leader. First they must find one in the World without. Later, with more understand and increased development, they must find one within themselves. “And it came to pass that I did go forth among the Nephites, and did repent of the oath which I had made that I would no more assist them; and they gave me command again of their armies, for they looked upon me as though I could deliver them from their afflictions. However, behold, I was without hope, for I knew the judgments of the Lord which should come upon them; for they repented not of their iniquities, but did struggle for their lives without calling upon that Being who created them. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
“And it came to pass that the Lamanites did come against us as we had fled to the city of Jordan; but behold, they were driven back that they did not take the city at that time. And it came to pass that they came against us again, and we did maintain the city. And there were also other cities which were maintained by the Nephites, which strongholds did cut them off that they could not get into the country which lay before us, to destroy the inhabitants of our land. However, it came to pass that whatsoever lands we had passed by, and the inhabitants thereof were not gathered in, were destroyed by the Lamanites, and their towns, and villages, and cities were burned with fire; and thus three hundred and seventy and nine years passed away. And it came to pass that we did again take to flight, and those whose flight was swifter than the Lamanites’ were swept down and destroyed. And now behold, I, Mormon, do not desire to harrow up the souls of human in casting before them such an awful scene of blood and carnage as was laid before mine eyes; but I, knowing that these things must surely be made known, and that all things which are hid must be revealed upon the house-tops. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
“And also that a knowledge of these things must come unto the remnant of these people, and also unto the Gentiles, who the Lord hath said should scatter this people, and this people should be counted as naught among them—therefore I write a small abridgment, daring not to give full account of the things which I have seen, because of the commandment which I have received, and also that ye might not have too great sorrow because of the wickedness of this people. And now behold, this I speak unto their seed, and also to the Gentiles who have care for the house of Israel; yea, they will sorrow for the destruction of this people; they will sorrow for that this people had not repented that they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus. Now these things are written unto the remnant of the house of Jacob; and they are written after this manner, because it is known of God that wickedness will not being them forth unto them; and they are to be hid up unto the Lord that they may come forth in his own due time. And this is the commandment which I have received; and behold, they shall come forth according to the commandment of the Lord, when he shall see fit, in his wisdom. #Randolphharris 21 of 26
“And behold, they shall go unto the unbelieving of the Jews; and for this intent shall they go—that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; that the Father may bring about, through his most Beloved, his great and eternal purpose, in restoring the Jews, or all the house of Israel, to the land of their inheritance, which the Lord their God hath given them, unto the fulfilling of his covenant; and also that the seed of this people may more fully believe his gospel, which shall go forth unto them from the Gentiles; for this people shall be scattered, and shall become a dark, a filthy, and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us, yea, even that which hath been among the Laminates, and this because of their unbelief and idolatry. For behold, the Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to stive with their fathers; and they are without Christ and God in the World; and they are driven about as chaff before the wind. They were once a delightsome people, and they had Christ for their shepherd; yea, they were led even by God the Father. However, now, behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and even as she is, so are they. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“And behold, the Lord hath reserved their blessings, which they might have received in the land, for the Gentiles who shall possess the land. However, behold, it shall come to pass that they shall be driven and scattered by the Gentiles; and after they have been driven and scattered by the Gentiles, behold, then will the Lord remember the covenant which he made unto Abraham and unto all the house of Israel. And also the Lord will remember the prayers of the righteous, which have been put up unto him for them. And then, O ye Gentiles, how can ye stand before the power of God, except ye shall repent and turn from your evil ways? Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath the power, and at his great command the Earth shall be rolled together as a scroll? Therefore, repent ye, and humble yourselves before him, lest he shall come out in justice against you—lest a remnant of the seed of Jacob shall go forth among you as a lion, and tear you in pieces, and there is none to deliver,” reports Mormon 5.1-24. We are affected by our associates; one who keeps company with criminals is apt to descend into crime oneself; one who seeks the spiritually minded as friends is apt to ascend to spirituality. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
Chase your Father, little one; swiftly he sinks and swiftly you follow him. Grow in strength and in sureness. Grow into yourself as the month goes by. As one rises in the morning, let one declare: Sovereign of all Worlds! Not because of our righteousness do we offer our supplications before Thee, but because of Thy great mercies. What are we? What is our life? What is our goodness? What is our righteousness? What our help? What is our strength? What is our might? What can we say before Thee, O Lord our God and God of our fathers? Are not the mightiest as naught before Thee, and humans of renown as though they were not, wise humans as if they were without knowledge, and humans of understanding as though they were lacking in discernment? For in Thine eyes the multitude of their works is emptiness, and the days of their life mere vanity. The pre-eminence of human over beast would be naught; all would be vanity—were it not that we are Thy people, children of Thy covenant, descendants of Abraham Thy beloved, to whom, at Mt. Moriah Thou didst give Thy promise, seed of Isaac his only son, who was bound upon the altar, the congregation of Jacob Thy first born, whom Thou didst name Israel and Jeshurun out of Thy love for him and Thy delight in him. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
It is therefore our duty to give thanks unto Thee and extol Thee, to bless and hallow Thy name in offering Thee praise and thanksgiving. Happy are we! How goodly is our portion, how pleasant our lot, how beautiful our heritage! Happy are we who pray morning and evening, declaring twice every day: Here, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Blessed be His glorious kingdom for ever and ever. Thou, O Lord, wast God before the World was created. Thou art God since the World was formed; Thou art God both in this World and in the World to come. Sanctify Thy name through those who call Thee holy. Yea, hallow Thy name in Thy World, and through Thy salvation rise up and exalt our destiny. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who hallowest Thy name before all humans. Thou art the Lord our God in Heaven and on Earth and in all the Heavenly sphere. In truth Thou art the first and Thou art the last, and besides Thee there is no God. O gather from the four corners of the Earth those that Hope in Thee. Then all humankind shall understand and acknowledge that Thou alone art God over all the kingdoms of the Earth. Thou hast made the Heavens and the Earth, the sea and all that is therein. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
Who of all Thy handiwork, both above and below, can say unto Thee: What doest Thou? Our Father who art in Heaven, deal mercifully with us for the sake of Thy great name by which we are called; and fulfill unto us, O Lord our God, the words of Holy Scripture: At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the Earth, when I redeem you from captivity before your every eyes, saith the Lord. May it by Thy will, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, to grant our portion in Thy Scriptures and may the Temple be rebuilt in our day. There we will serve Thee with awe as in the days of old. Magnified and sanctified be the name of God throughout the World which He hath created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom during the days of your life and during the life of all the house of Israel, speedily, yea, soon; and say ye, Amen. May His great name be blessed for ever and ever. Exalted and honoured be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory transcend, yea, is beyond all praises, hymns and blessings that human can render unto Him; and say ye, Amen. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
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And My Soul Had Been Poured Out in Prayer unto My God All the Day Long for them!
People think love is an emotion. Love is good sense. Put together, narcissistic people can provide considerable misery for each other and an interesting evening for others. Social relations among the members of hunting-gathering society are characterized by the absence of what is called “dominance” among animals. Hunting-gathering bands differ more completely from the apes in this matter of dominance than do any other kinds of human society. There is no peck-order based on physical dominance at all, nor is there any superior-inferior ordering based on other sources of power such as wealth, hereditary classes, military or political office. The only consistent supremacy of any kind is that of a person of greater age and wisdom who might lead a ceremony. Even when individuals possess greater status or prestige than others, the manifestation of the high status and the prerogatives are the opposite of ape-like dominance. Generosity and modesty are required of persons of high status in primitive society, and the rewards they receive are merely the love or attentiveness of others. A man, for example, might be stronger, faster, braver, and more intelligent than any other member of the band. Will he have higher status than the others? Not necessarily. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
If these desirable qualities are put to work in the service of the group—in hunting, let us say—and if he therefore produces more game to give away, and if he does it properly, modestly, only then will prestige be accorded him. Thus, to simplify a bit, greater strength in ape society results in greater dominance, which results in more food and mates and any other things desired by the dominant one; in primitive human society greater strength must be used in the service of the community, and the person, to earn prestige, must literally sacrifice to do so, working harder for less food. As for the mates, he ordinarily has but one wife just like other men. It seems that the most primitive human societies are at the same time the most egalitarian. This must be related to the fact that because of the rudimentary technology this kind of society depends on cooperation more fully more of the time than any other. Apes do not regularly cooperate and share, human beings do—that is the essential difference. Service gives a picture of the kind of authority we find among the hunter-gatherer peoples. In these societies there is of course a need for administration of group action: Administration is the role authority assumes with respect to problems of concerted group action. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
It is what we ordinarily mean by the word “leadership.” The necessities for administration of group action and close coordination are varied and numerous in hunting-gathering societies. They would include such usual things as camp movements, a collaborative hunting drive, and particularly any kind of skirmishing with enemies. However, despite the obvious significance of leadership in such activities, a hunting-gathering society is, as in other matters, distinctive in that it has no formal leadership of the sort that we see in later stages of cultural development. There is no permanent office of headman; leadership moves from one person to another depending on the type of activity that is being planned. For example, one very old man might be the favourite for planning a ceremony because of his great ritual knowledge, but another person, younger and more skilled at hunting, might be the normal leader of the hunting party. Above all, there is no leader or headman in the sense usually associated with the word chief. This lack of hierarchy and chiefs is all the more noteworthy because it is a widely accepted cliché that such control institutions are to be found in virtually all civilized societies are based on a genetic inheritance from the animal kingdom. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
We have seen that among chimpanzees the dominance relationships are rather mild, but they are nevertheless there. The social relationships of primitive people show that humans are not genetically prepared for this kind of dominance-submission psychology. An analysis of historical society, with five or six thousand years of exploitation of the majority by a ruling minority, shows very clearly that the dominance-submission psychology is an adaptation to the social order, and not its cause. For the apologist of a social order based on control by an elite, it is of course very convenient to believe that the social structure is the outcome of an innate need of man and, hence, natural and unavoidable. The egalitarian society of the primitive shows that this is just no so. The question must arise how primitive humans protect themselves against asocial and dangerous members, in the absence of an authoritarian or bureaucratic authoritarian regime. There are several answers to this first questions. Frist of all, much of the control of behaviour is achieved merely in terms of custom and etiquette. However, assuming that custom and etiquette did not prevent individuals from asocial behaviour, what are the sanctions against them? #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
The usual sanction is a general withdrawal from the culprit and a diminished degree of courtesy toward one; there is gossip and ridicule; in extreme cases, ostracism. If a person constantly misbehaves, and one’s behaviour harms groups other than one’s own, one’s own group may even decided to terminate the life of that individual. However, these cases are extremely rare, and most problems are solved by the authority of the older and wiser males in the group. Although feuds and warfare are relatively rare in band societies, they do consistently threaten and there must be some way of stopping them or of preventing their spread. Often they begin as mere quarrels between individuals, and for this reason it is important to stop them early. Within a given community the adjudication of a quarrel between two persons will ordinarily be handled by an elder who is a common relative of them both. If this person were in the same relationship to each of one of the quarreling humans, it would be ideal for them it would be evident that one would not be so likely to take sides. However, of course this is not always the case, nor is it possible that the person in this kinship status position might wan to adjudicate. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
Sometimes one person is clearly enough in the right and the other in the wrong, or one person popular and the other unpopular, that the public becomes the adjudicator and the case is settled as soon as this common opinion becomes well-known. When quarrels are not settled in any of the above ways, then some form of contest is held, preferable a game, that takes the place of an outright battle. Wrestling or head-butting contests are typical forms of quasi-dueling in Eskimo society. It is done in public and the winner is considered by the public to have won his case. Particularly interesting is the famous Eskimo song duel: the weapons used are words, “little, sharp words, like the wooden splinters which I hack off with my axe.” Song duels are used to work off grudges and disputes of all orders, save termination of life. An East Greenlander, however, if one is physically too weak to gain one’s end, or if one is so skilled in singing as to feel certain of victory, may seek one’s satisfaction for the loss of the life of a relative. Inasmuch as East Greenlanders get so engrossed in the mere artistry of singing as to forget the cause of the grudge, this is understandable. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
Singing skill among these Eskimos equals or outranks gross physical powers. The singing style is highly conventionalized. The successful singer uses the traditional patterns of composition which one attempts to deliver with such finesse as to delight the audience to enthusiastic applause. One who is most heartily applauded is “winner.” To win a song contest brings no restitution in its train. The sole advantage is in prestige. One of the advantages of the song duel carried on at length is that it gives the public time to come to a consensus about who is correct or who should admit guilt in the dispute. Ordinarily, people have some idea of whose side they are on, but as in most primitive communities the unanimity of the community as a whole is felt to be so desirable that it takes a while before the people can find out where the majority opinion lies. Gradually more people are laughing a little harder at one of the duelist’s verses than at the other’s, until it becomes apparent where the sympathy of the community lies, and then opinion quickly becomes unanimous and the loser retires in discomfiture. Among other hunting societies private quarrels are not solved as charmingly as by the Eskimos, but by a spear throwing duel. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
When a dispute is between an accuser and a defendant, which is commonly the case, the accuser ritually hurls the spears from a prescribed distance, while the defendant dodges them. The public can applaud the speed, force, and accuracy of the accuser as he hurls his spears, or then can applaud the adroitness with which the defendant dodges them. After a time unanimity is achieved as the approval for one or the other’s skill gradually becomes overwhelming. When the defendant realizes that the community is finally considering one guilty, one is supposed to fail to dodge a spear and allow oneself to be wounded in some fleshy part of one’s body. Conversely, when the accuser becomes aware that public opinion is going against him, he simply stops throwing the spears. In modern times, we see much of the same behaviour playing out amongst Worldly people. However, Christians are supposed to employ different methods for settling disputes. The dynamics of resistance (conflict) builds strong bodies. If all decisions had but two alternatives, one clearly marked “right” and the other clearly marked “wrong,” our personal development in spiritual muscle building would not be nearly so strengthening. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
Quite conceivably, the Lord recognized that humans would gain much more learning and experience through dealing with conflict than with simple, clear-cut alternatives, and He therefore provided for this in our mortal period of life. If it is not so, why did He place a set of principles in conflict before Adam and Even in the very beginning? The first mortals were commanded to multiply and replenish the Earth and at the same time not to partake of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. To obey one command required the violation of the other. Here are steps that may provide a start in handling the problems of conflict. Clarify exactly which principles may be in conflict. Arrange a priority of principles. That is, we know that some principles are more important than others. For instance, there is no conflict in, “Thou shalt not kill,” and “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” When two principles are in conflict, choose to obey the higher law. One of the important keys to obeying the higher law is to approach the decision with prayer. When attempting to apply this concept of principles in conflict, the agony is not removed from all decision making, but will assist in selecting better alternatives. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
When the principles involved are wide apart in priority, the decisions are easier. As the principles are more nearly aligned in priority, the more difficult it becomes to identify the higher of the two. For example, a man works for a store whose owner decides to do business on Sundays. The man can get another job but it would mean a 25 percent reduction in income. It would be difficult to manage, but the family could handle their financial obligations on the reduced salary. Here is the principle of Sabbath observance versus available money for such things as education, music lessons, travel, and vacations. What should he do? It is easy to rationalize, to do what is most comfortable, but the Saviour did not promise that His way would be easy. There are some who may say that one cannot live by hard and fast principles. They contend that the circumstances at any particular time will determine what one should do. Under social or economic pressures, rationalizing is often mistaken for reason. It becomes a matter of placing priority on alternatives, in selecting ones that, in our judgment, are most consistent with gospel principles. Those principles will be best served in the spirit of humility, guided by prayer and fasting. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Never let things which matter most be at the mercy of things which matter least. The choices are sometimes difficult, but then living by principle has never been very easy. Agency is the ability God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves. Agency is essential in the plan of salvation. Without agency, we would not be able to learn or progress or follow the Saviour. With it, we are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all humans, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil,” reports 2 Nephi 2.27. In our premortal life we had moral agency. One purpose of Earth life is to show what choices we will make. “And to being about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter. Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one of the other,” reports 2 Nephi 2.15-16. If we were forced to choose the right, we would not be able to show what we would choose for ourselves. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
Also, when we have made our own choices, we are happier doing things. Agency was one of the principle issues to arise in the premortal Council in Heaven. It was one of the main causes of the conflict between the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan. The Lord has said that all people are responsible for their own motives, attitudes, desires, and actions. Even though we are free to choose our course of action, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. The consequences, whether good or bad, follow as a natural result of any choice we make. “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what one has done,” reports Revelation 22.12. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his might power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark World, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evils comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand,” reports Ephesians 6.10-13. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
Therefore Paul tells us that those who live in terms of the “flesh”—the merely natural powers of the human being, based in the human body—have their minds set on (or are totally preoccupied with) the flesh (or what they can manage on their own). He continues on to say that to have the mind “set on” the flesh in this way is “death.” “Those who lives according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God,” reports Romans 8.5-8. A sinful mind is hostile toward God because God threatens its god. And it is unable to live in accordance with what God says, because it is working against God. To understand this situation and how it must be transformed, we must look more deeply into the role of physical reality, especially of our own body, in the human life. The Master can help the aspirant with the benefit of a lifetime’s experience on the Quest and with the Grace ne has attained from having to endure the vicissitudes, ordeals, temptations which mark the way. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
From a true spiritual leader, the aspirant can lean painlessly in a short time what another has to learn through years of suffering and blundering alone. For the earnest seeker, the true spiritual leader will not only provide all these helps, one will also give assistance in the art of prayer so that it will be more easily and quickly learned than could otherwise have been possible. Unfortunately, church leaders have not always appropriated this lesson. John Claypool said in his 1979 Yale Lectures on Preaching that while in seminary he experienced jealous jockeying for position, and that life in the perish ministry had not been much different. His tragic comments came after attending national conventions of church leaders where most of the conversation in the hotel rooms either were full of envy for a leader who was doing well or scarcely concealed delight over the failure of another. Truly spiritual leadership knows none of this, as the example of the great Charles Simeon eloquently shows. Simeon, who pastored Holy Trinity in Cambridge at the beginning of the nineteenth century, is credited with establishing the evangelical wing of the Church of England through his immense leadership exhibited in his powerful personality, his great preaching which filled twenty-one influential volumes, and his personal discipleship of some of the Church’s greatest missionaries and leaders. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
Such a man could have been tempted to resent others who might displace him—as, for example, when his health broke and he had to spend eight months away recuperating his curate, Thomason, stepped in to preach. Thomason surprised everyone with a preaching ability that rivaled Simeon’s. And what was the great man’s response? Rejoicing! In fact, as his biography says, he referenced John 3.30 (“He must become greater; I must become less”) and told a friend, “Now I see why I have been laid aside I bless God for it.” True spiritual leadership knows nothing of a self-promoting Spirit. “For who is greater, the one who is at the same or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves,” reports Luke 22.27. Those who qualify for spiritual leadership are big-hearted, supportive to each other and to all those around. Leadership should be structured in such a fashion that it gives rise to experience by giving voice to it, regardless of how frightening or anxiety-provoking it may be. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
People are looking for in a leader, signs of sincerity, genuine, and goodwill underneath all. They are looking to make contact with the sane part of the personality, irrespective of how insane the rest of it might be. The help provided by a spiritual leader during a joint intercessory prayer is provided by one’s simply being there! One’s presence may help to deepen the student’s own prayer. One who has awakened one’s own super-physical energy, intuited one’s own higher knowledge, can develop a skill beneficial to others whenever they come within one’s orbit. For one can inform them of what they can do to themselves for themselves and how they can do it. To receive instruction from an inspired teacher or from inspired books has been the most common way in most cases resulting in enlightenment. This, or course, has been accompanied by the following practices, doing the exercises, making the studies, and undergoing the purification required by the teaching. However, there have also been a few causes where enlightenment has come by itself, spontaneously, without either the help of a teacher or the labour of training. Such humans can thereafter radiate their grace as much as the other but, not having travelled the path to enlightenment, cannot properly or adequately or satisfactorily engage in teaching and act the master. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
It is not for the spiritual leader to make one’s disciples’ decisions for them. One’s statement may or may not be justified by argument and certified by documentary quotations, for one leaves it to others to take them up or not as clues, hints, suggestions to be tried experimentally on the way. One cannot tell with certainty whether one is on the right path. It is then that one needs a guide. The master will benefit one’s students no only by one’s verbal or written instruction but also by one’s example and counsel. One does not insist, like lesser humans, on making one’s disciples into facsimiles of oneself, subject solely to the influence of one’s personality. “And it came to pass that the Lamanites did not come to battle again until ten years more had passed away. And behold, I had employed my people, the Nephites, in preparing their lands and their arms against the time of battle. And it came to pass that the Lord did say unto me: Cry unto this people—Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared. And I did cry unto this people, but it was in vain; and they did not realize that it was the Lord that had spared them, and granted unto them a chance for repentance. And behold they did harden their hearts against the Lord their God. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
“And after it came to pass that after this tenth year had passed away, making, in the whole, three hundred and sixty years from the coming of Christ, the king of the Lamanites sent an epistle unto me, which gave unto me to know that they were preparing to come again to battle against us. And it came to pass that I did cause my people that they should gather themselves together at the land Desolation, to a city which was in the borders, by the narrow pass which led into the land southward. And there were did place our armies, that we might stop the armies of the Lamanites, that they might not get possession f any of our lands; therefore we did fortify against them with all our force. And it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty and first year the Lamanites did come down to the city of Desolation to battle against us; and it came to pass that in that year we did beat them, insomuch that they did return to their own lands again. And in the three hundred and sixty and second year they did come down again to battle. And we did beat them again, and did slay a great number of them, and their dead were cast into the sea. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
“And now, because of this great thing which my people, the Nephites, had done, they began to boast in their own strength, and began to swear before the Heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies. And they did swear by the Heaven, and also by the throne of God, that they would go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land. And it came to pass that I, Mormon, did utterly refuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people, because of their wickedness and abomination. Before, I had lead them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had lead them, according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer all the day long for them; nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts. And thrice have I delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and they have repented not of their sins. And when they had sworn by all that had been forbidden them by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that they would go up unto their enemies to battle, and avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren, behold the voice of the Lord came unto me saying: #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
“Vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the Earth. And it came to pass that I utterly refused to go up against mine enemies; and I did even as the Lord had commanded me; and I did stand as an idle witness t manifest unto the World the things which I saw and heard, according to the manifestations of the Spirit which had testified of things to come. Therefore I write unto you, Gentiles, and also unto you, house of Israel, when the work shall commence, that ye shall be about to prepare to return to the land of your inheritance; yes, behold, I write unto all the ends of the Earth; yea, unto you, twelve tribes of Israel, who shall be judged according to your works by the twelve whom Jesus chose to be his disciples in the land of Jerusalem. And I write also unto the remnant of this people, who shall also be judged by the twelve whom Jesus chose in this land; and they shall be judged by the other twelve whom Jesus chose in the land of Jerusalem. And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
“And ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil; and also that ye may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which ye shall have among you; and you that the Jews, the covenant people of the Lord, shall have other witness besides him whom they saw and heard, that Jesus, whom they slew, was the very Christ and the very God. And I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the Earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ,” reports Mormon 3.1-22. From the deep emptiness of a sleepless night, my pleas are sent to God of sleep. To the giver dreams I call, to Him who comes in the night, not as a danger, but as a bringer of peace. Please come to me, as I lie alone in the dark. Please quietly through the night and place your hands on my brow, soothing me gently until I slide into sleep. O my God, the soul with which Thou didst endow me is pure. Though didst create it and fashion it; Thou didst breathe it into me and Thou preservest it within me. Thou wilt reclaim it from me but Thou wilt restore it to me in the life to come. So long as the breath of life is within me, I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord my God and God of my fathers, Master of all works, Lord of all souls. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who restores life to mortal creatures. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast given the mind understanding to distinguish between day and night. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has made me in Thine image. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast made me free. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast made me free. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has made me an American. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who openest the eyes of the blind. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who clothest the naked. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe who releasest the bound. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who raisest up them that are bowed down. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who stretchest out the Earth over the waters. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast provided for all my needs. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who guidest the steps of humans. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast provided for all my needs. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who girdest America with strength. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who crownest America with glory. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe who givest strength to the weary. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who removest sleep from mine eyes and slumber from mine eyelids. May it by Thy will, Lord my God and God of my father to deliver me this day and every day from arrogance and from the arrogant humans, from every corrupt person, from every evil companion and neighbour, and from all mishap; from the dangers that lurk about me, from a harsh judgment and an implacable opponent, whether or not one be an adherent of out faith. May be Thy will, O Lord our God and God of our father, to cause us to walk in the way of Thy law and to cleave to Thy precepts. Let us not fall into the power of sin, transgression or iniquity, nor succumb to temptation or shame. Please keep us far from the influence of wicked humans and corrupt companions. Please make us cleave to our good inclination and to perform good deeds. O bend our will to Thy service, and please grant us this day and every day, grace, kindness, and mercy, both in Thy lovingkindness upon us. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who bestowest Thy bountiful love upon the people of America. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
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When a person points a finger at someone else, one should remember that four of one’s fingers are pointing at oneself. I have never met anyone who believed in democracy. I have met many who prefer it to any other form of government and who are willing to die for it. I have met many who are willing to abide by majority opinion, but I have never met anyone who believed in mass judgment. That is what democracy is. Also, it seems, indeed, that there are two behaviour patterns that might have been genetically programmed through hunting behaviour: cooperation and sharing. Cooperation between members of the same band was a practical necessity for most hunting societies; so was the sharing of food. Since meat is perishable in most climates except that of the Arctic, it could not be preserved. Luck in hunting was not equally divided among all hunters; hence the practical outcome was that those who had luck today would share their food with those who would be lucky tomorrow. Assuming hunting behaviour led to genetic changes, the conclusions would be that modern humans have an innate impulse for cooperation and sharing, rather than for killing and cruelty. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
Unfortunately, humanity’s record of cooperation and sharing is rather spotty, as the history of civilization shows. One might explain this by the fact that hunting life did not produce genetic changes, or that the impulses for sharing and cooperation have become deeply repressed in cultures whose organization discouraged these virtues and instead encourages ruthless egotism. Nevertheless, one might still speculate whether the tendency to cooperate and to share which we find in many societies today outside of the modern industrialized World do not point to the innate character of these impulses. In fact, even in modern warfare, in which the soldier by and large does not feel much hate against one’s enemy, and only exceptionally indulges in cruelty, we find a remarkable degree of cooperation and sharing. While in civilian life most people do not risk their lives to save another human’s life or share their food with others, in war this is a daily occurrence. Perhaps one might even go further and suggest that one of the factors which make war attractive is precisely the possibility of practising deeply buried human impulses which our society when at peace, considering—in fact, although not ideologically—to be foolish. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
Modern society, with its almost limitless readiness for destruction of human lives for political and economic ends, can best defend itself against the elementary human question of its right to do so by the assumption that destructiveness and cruelty are not engendered by our social system, but are innate qualities in humans. Fortunately, our knowledge of hunting behaviour is not restricted to speculations; there is a considerable body of information about still existing primitive hunters and food gatherers to demonstrate that hunting is not conducive to destructiveness and cruelty, and that primitive hunters are relatively unaggressive when compared to their civilized brothers. There are certain direct data on the life of the prehistoric hunter to be found in animal cults which point to the fact that they lacked the alleged innate destructiveness. The cave paintings associated with the life of prehistoric hunters did not exhibit any fighting between humans. Colin Turnbull, a specialist in this study, has reported: “In the two groups known to me, there is almost total lack of aggression, emotional or physical, and this is borne out by the lack of warfare, feuding, witchcraft, and sorcery. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
“I am also not convinced that hunting is itself an aggressive activity. This is something that one must see in order to realize; the act of hunting is not carried out in an aggressive spirit at all. Due to the consciousness of depleting natural resources, there is actually a regret at killing life. In some cases, this killing may even bear an element of compassion. My experience with hunters has shown them to be very gentle people, and while it is certainly true that they lead extremely hard lives, this is not the same thing as being aggressive.” The most obvious and probably most crucial characteristic of the hunting-gathering societies is their nomadism, required by the foraging economy which leads to loose integration of families into a “band” society. As for their needs—in contrast to modern humans who require a house, an automobile, clothing, electricity, and so on—for the primitive hunter food, and the few devices employed by obtaining it, is the focus of economic life…in a more fundamental sense than it is in more complicated economies. Anything we are capable of experiencing cannot, in and of itself, be pathogenic. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
Rather, it is the suppression of the experience that gives rise to distortions in consciousness that we associate with psychopathology. Hence anything that we are called upon to experience must have a purpose. We are accustomed, because of the nature of our own economy, to think that human beings have a natural propensity to truck and bater, and that economic relations among individuals or groups are characterized by economizing, by maximizing the result of effort or by selling dear and buying cheap. Primitive peoples do none of these things, however; in fact, most of the time it would seem that they do the opposite. They give things away, they admire generosity, they expect hospitality, they punish thrift as selfishness. And the strangest of all, the more dire the circumstances, the more scarce (or valuable) the goods, the less “economically” will they behave and the more generous do they seem to be. We are considering, of course, the form of exchange among persons within a society and these persons are, in band society, all kinsmen of some sort contrasts directly with the principles ascribed to the formal economy. We “give” food, do we not, to our children? We “help” our brothers and “provide for” aged parents. Others do, or have done, or will do, the same for us. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
At the generalized pole, because close social relations prevail, the emotions of love, the etiquette of family life, the morality of generosity all together condition the ways goods are handled, and in such a way that the economic attitude toward the goods is diminished. Anthropologists have sometime attempted to characterize the actual transaction with words like “pure gift” or “free gift” in order to point up the fact that this is not trade, but barter, and that the sentiment involved in the transaction is not one of a balanced exchange. However, these words are not quite evocative of the actual nature of the act; they are even somewhat misleading. Once Peter Freuchen was handed some meat by an Eskimo hunter and responded by gratefully thanking him. The hunter was cast down, and Freuchen was quickly corrected by an old man: “You must not thank for your meat: it is your right to get parts. In this country, nobody who gives or gets gifts, for thereby you become dependent. With gifts you make slaves just as with whips you make dogs.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
The word “gift” has overtones of charity, not of reciprocity. In no hunting-gathering society is gratitude expressed, and, as a matter of fact, it would be wrong even to praise a human as “generous” when one shares one’s game with one’s campmates. On another occasion one could be said to be generous, but not in response to a particular incident of sharing, for then the statement would have the same implications as an expression of gratitude: that the sharing was unexpected, that the giver was not generous simply as a matter of course. It would be right to praise a human for one’s hunting prowess on such an occasion, but not for one’s generosity. Of particular importance, both economically and psychologically is the question of property. One of the most widespread cliches today is that the love for property is an innate trait in humans. Usually the confusion is made between property in instruments one needs for one’s work and in certain private items like ornaments, et cetera, and property in the sense exclusive possession other people can be made to work for oneself. Such means of production in the industrial society are essentially machines or capital to be invested in machine production. In primitive society the means of production are land and hunting areas. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
In no primitive band in anyone denied access to the resources of nature—no individual owned these resources. The natural resources on which the bands depend are collective, or communal, property, in the sense that the territory might be defended by the whole band against encroachment by strangers. Within the band, all families have equal right to acquire these resources. Moreover, kinsmen in neighbouring bands are allowed to hunt and gather at will, at least on request. The most common instance of apparent restriction in rights to resources occurs with respect to nut or fruit-bearing trees. In some instances, particular trees or clumps of trees are allocated to individual families of the band. This practice is more a division of labour, however, then a division of property, for its purpose seems to be to prevent the waste of time and effort that would occur if several scattered families headed for the same area. It is simply to conventionalize that allotted use of the several groves, inasmuch as trees are much more permanently located than game or even wild vegetables and grasses. At any rate, even if one family acquired many nuts or fruits and another failed, the rules of sharing would apply so that no one would go hungry. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
Things that seem most like private property in prehistoric society are those that are made and used by individual persons. Weapons, knives and scrapers, clothing, ornaments, amulets, and the like, are frequently regarded as private property among hunters and gathers. However, it could be argued that in primitive society even these personal items are not private property in the true sense. Inasmuch as the possession of which things is dictated by their use, they are functions of the division of labour rather than an ownership of the means of production. Private ownership of such things is meaningful only if some people possess them and others do not—when, so to speak, an exploitative situation becomes possible. However, it is hard to imaging (and impossible to find in ethnographic accounts) a case of some person or persons who, though some accident, owned no weapons or clothing and could not borrow or receive such things from more fortunate kinsmen. A true guide wills surely serve one’s disciples, sometimes without the title of teacher, certainly without the pay for one’s work for self. One will teach a small number so that, after attaining a certain degree of mystical understanding and practical achievement, they in turn may become helpful guides of others. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
In modern times, neurosis is the consequence extremely personal secrets that we somehow hide from ourselves. These secrets are repressed from consciousness because they concern terrible disappointments we experienced early in our development. Suppressing our knowledge of these experiences by “forgetting” them temporarily relives the anguish and frustration they originally elicited. So, yes, you can forget a person whom caused a painful situation and/or memory. The suppression of painful experiences produces psychical conflicts which, in turn, may give rise to psychopathology, symptomatic expressions of pain that was being denied. That is why it is important to be completely candid with one’s therapist during the analytic hour. If carried out sincerely, the exercise of candour should reverse the conflicts that have been caused by repression. Our tendency to conceal painful experiences from ourselves could be compounded by families who keep secrets from each other: I know what you are thinking, but you deny it and pretend to think the opposite; or I know how I feel, but you insist that I really believe the opposite. This kind of mystification can become so extreme that a child does not know what one thinks. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
One’s sense of reality becomes so compromised that one seeks refuge in a psychotic—rather than merely neurotic—withdrawal from an intolerable situation. However, experience cannot be reduced simply to one’s subjective awareness of or involvement in an event, in the sense that I have an experience of writing this sentence. When I truly experience something, I am affected by it. It comes as a shock. It changes everything. My experience of something confronts me with the unexpected. It violates my familiar view of things by forcing something new into consciousness. Due to its intrinsically unsettling nature, experience elicits despair because it disturbs my cozy accommodation to reality. On the other hand, despair lead so to something new because experience always occasions a transformation of some kind. In other words, since experience displaces what is familiar to me, it does not simply cause change: It is change. Experience is not simply subjective. It is also transcendental because it takes me outside myself and places me inside a situation that alters my perspective. The effect that my experience has over me changes, to some degree, who I am. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
This dialectical process which consciousness executes on itself—n its knowledge as well as on its object—in the sense that out of it the new and true object arises, is precisely what is termed Experience. There are revelatory aspects of experience as well as transformative ones. In other words, experience does not merely change the World inhabit, it also reveals things to me that I had not known. Consequently, experience elicits truth. One’s experience could be nudged in a certain direction for a specific purpose so long as one prepared oneself for it. In other words, by anticipating my experiences purposefully, deliberately, and thoughtfully, I can make use of experience to gain knowledge about myself. There are degrees to which I experience things; it is not all or nothing. Experiences do not just fall on me whether I want them to our not. I am capable of resisting experience. In turn, the degree to which I am able to experience something is determined by how willing I am to submit to whatever it is that I was to experience. To undergo an experience with something—be it a thing, a person, or a god—means that this something befalls us, strikes us, overcomes us, overwhelms and transforms us. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
When we talk of “undergoing” an experience, we mean specifically that the experience is not of our own making; to undergo here means that we endure it, suffer it, receive it as it strikes us and submit to it. It is this something itself that comes about, comes to pass, happens. The extent to which I am able or willing to listen to what my experience tells me will determine how fully I experience that I am doing, whether I am eating a meal, solving a problem, or undergoing psychoanalysis. Because experience is transformative, I am afraid of it and resist it by holding it back. I am perfectly capable of suppressing my experiences (if they happen to be painful) and even repressing the significance or memory of experiences I have had in order to “forget” them. In other words, I can resist change by suppressing experience, just as I can elicit change by being open to it. Sometimes, however, when one attempts both to escape the experience of an unlivable situation and hold on to that which one is escaping this is what is known as a “psychotic breakdown.” In other words, the psychotic individual is simply trying to be true to one’s experience. Because of the opposition that one encounters in one’s environment, one is compelled to withdraw from the reality that one is in order to protect what experience tells one. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
This “compromise” comprises one’s psychosis. The psychotic gets stuck in one’s psychosis and cannot find one’s way out of it. “Are you unaware that your body is a shrine to the Holy Spirit from God, Who is within you? And that you are not your own property? A price has been paid for you. So make your body a showplace of God’s grace,” reports 1 Corinthians 6.19-20. “No longer present the parts of your body to sin as weapons of wickedness, but present yourselves to God like people, who coming out of death, have eternal life; and present your bodily part to him as weapons of righteousness,” reports Romans 6.13. Although it is seen as just a mental process the mind is the brain, and the brain is physical. Therefore, it is also part of our body and it is important are our brains are functioning at their best. There are so many problems in society today because people lack mental fitness. Mental health challenges can impact anyone, regardless of education, geography, faith, calling, or family. They are nothing to be ashamed of and should be met with love. Spiritual transformation into Christlikeness is the process of forming the inner World of the human self in such a way that it takes on the character of the inner being of Jesus himself. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
The result is that the “outer” life of the individual increasingly becomes a natural expression of the inner reality of Jesus and of his teachings. Doing what he said and did increasingly becomes a part of who we are. However, for this to happen our body and mind must increasingly be poised to do what is good and refrain from what is evil. The inclinations to wrongdoing that literally inhabit its parts must be eliminated. The body must come to serve us as a primary ally in Christlikeness. For good or for evil, the body lies right at the center of the spiritual life—a strange combination of words to most people. One can immediately see all around us that the human body is a (perhaps in some cases even the) primary barrier to conformity to Christ. However, this certainly was not God’s intent for the body and mind. It is not in the nature of our being as such. (The being is not inherently evil.) Nor is it caused by the body or mind. However, still it is a fact that the body and mind usually hinders people in doing what they know to be good and right. Being formed in evil it, in turn, fosters evil and constantly runs ahead of our good intentions—but in the opposite direction. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
Still our total being is a good thing. God made if for good. That is why the way of Jesus Christ is so relentlessly incarnational. The complete being should be cherished and properly cared for, not as our master, however, but as a servant of God. For most people, on the other hand, their body governs their live and they ignore their conscience. And that is the problem. Even professing Christians, by and large, devote to their spiritual growth and well-being a tiny fraction of the time they devote to their body, and If we include what one worries about, it is an even tinier fraction. What is going on here? Can our holistic being truly become our ally in Christlikeness? It can and it must, but its essential role in spirituality is the one thing most likely to be overlooked in understanding and practicing growth in grace. We find an aspect of Joshua’s preparation for leadership in Exodus 33, where we glimpse his growing devotion to God. He was serving in the Tabernacle with Moses while the pillar of the cloud towered above the tent. Verse 11 tells us: “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friends. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
Though he was not privileged, like Moses, to speak with God face to face, Joshua was so overcome by God’s presence that he would not leave the Tabernacle! There is such passion in this picture. “Lord, You are so wonderful, I cannot leave this room. I beg You, let me stay.” Joshua’s New Testament counterpart is Mary of Bethany, who would not leave the room where Jesus was as she sat enraptured at His feet despite her sister’s scolding. And she was so right! As we have it from the Lips of our Lord, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her,” reports Luke 10.42. It was this same Mary who poured a year’s fortune on Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair and of whom Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me,” report Mark 14.6. True spiritual leadership is born for devotion and demands to be closeted with God. We cannot name one great leader in the Church who has not made personal worship a top priority. Such were the lives of Luther, Bunyan, Edwards, Wesley, Muller, Lloyd-Jones, and every other truly spiritual leader. There is no spiritual leadership apart from passionate devotion. Such is the grace of God that it inspires humans of the most different types to arise and help their fellow. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
One hundred years ago the great C.J. Vaughn said, “If I wished to humble anyone, I should question one about one’s prayers. I know nothing to compare with the topic for its sorrowful confessions.” Humans, leaders, how would you answer such a question? Humans as widely apart as General Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, and the late Lord Haldane, who sought to translate his philosophical vision into unselfish public service were inspired by the grace of God. Thus, even in the darkest epochs someone eventually appears to help the most unenlightened, the most sinful, and the most illiterate, even as someone eventually appears to guide the virtuous, educated, and intellectual. Inability to comprehend the highest truth or inability to live up to the loftiest ethics is not made by true self-actualized beings a bar to bestowing help. They assist the undeveloped from where they now stand. And such is the wisdom of the self-actualized that they know just how much to give and in what form it can best be assimilated, even as they know when it is better to convey material assistance only and when ethical, religious, mystical, or philosophical instruction should also be given. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
Human ruin comes from placing oneself at the center of one’s Universe, in place of God. If not inevitable, this naturally leads to worship of the body and to the life of sensuality that results. If not the only instrument, the body becomes our primary source of gratification and the chief for getting what we want. That is perversion of the role of the body in life as God intended it; and it results in “death,” in alienation from God and the loss of all we will have invested our lives in. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A human reaps what one sows. The one who sows to please one’s sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to tall people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers,” reports Galatians 6.7-10. The capacity to receive truth is limited by the moral, intellectual, and intuitional limitations of the receiver. The first work of the self-actualized is to plow up the field of one’s pupil’s mind, to make it fit to receive fresh seed. One has no desire to get humans interested in one’s own personality, to have them turn to, and rely on, oneself but would rather turn them toward their own higher nature. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
The master who gives truth is a greater creator of values and contributor to humanity than the greatest music composer. When eloquence is untied with enlightenment, we may expect sentences which pierce us with their rightness, which are rich in truth and stimulating to goodness. One’s statements make truth clearer; one’s declarations are like a sparkling glass of eternal water. “And it came to pass in that same year there began to be a war again between the Nephites and the Lamanites. And notwithstanding I being young, was large in stature; therefore the people of Nephi appointed me that I should be their leader, or the leader of their armies. Therefore it came to pass that in my sixteenth year I did go forth at the head of an army of the Nephites, against the Lamanites; therefore three hundred and twenty and six years passed away. And it came to pass that in the three hundred and twenty and seventh year the Lamanites did come upon us with exceedingly great power, insomuch that they did frighten my armies; therefore they would not fight, and they began to retreat toward the norther countries. And it came to pass that we did come to the city of Angola, and we did take possession of the city, and make preparations to defend ourselves against the Lamanites. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
“And it came to pass that we did fortify the city with our might; but notwithstanding all our fortification the Lamanites did come upon us and did drive us out of the city. And they did also drive us forth out of the land of David. And we marched forth and came to the land of Joshua, which was in the borders west by the seashore. And it came to pass that we did gather in our people as fast as it were possible, that we might get them together in one body. However, behold, the land was filled with robbers and with Lamanites; and notwithstanding the great destruction which hung over my people, they did not repent of their evil doings; therefore there was blood and carnage spread throughout all the face of the land, both n the part of the Nephites and also on the part of the Lamanites; and it was one complete revolution throughout all the face of the land. And now, the Lamanites had a kind, and his name was Aaron; and he came against us with an army of forty and four thousand. And behold, I withstood him with forty and two thousand. And it came to pass that I beat him with my army that he fled before me. And behold, all this was done, and three hundred and thirty years had passed away. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
“And it came to pass that the Nephites began to repent of their iniquity, and began to cry even as had been prophesied by Samuel the prophet; for behold no man could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and the witchcraft which was in the land. Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in all the land because of these things, and more especially among the people of Nephi. And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous people. However, behold, this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always duffer them to take happiness in sin. And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives. #Randolphharris 22 of 26
“And it came to that my sorrow did return unto me again, and I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land. And this three hundred and forty and four years had passed away. And it came to pass that in the three hundred and forty and fifth year the Nephites did begin to flee before the Lamanites; and they were pursued until they came even to the land of Jashon, before it was possible to stop them in their retreat. And now, the city of Jashon was near the land where Ammaron had deposited the records unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed. And behold I have gone according to the word of Ammaron, and take the plated of Nephi and did make a record according to the words of Ammaron. And upon the plates of Nephi I did make a full account of all the wickedness and abominations; but upon these plated I did forbear to make a full account of their wickedness and abominations, for behold, a continual scene of wickedness and abominations has been before mine eyes ever since I have been sufficient to behold the ways of man. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“And wo is me because of their wickedness; for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness, all my days; nevertheless, I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day. And it came to pass that in this year the people of Nephi again were hunted and driven. And it came to pas that we were driven forth until we had come northward to the land which was called Shem. And it came to pass that we did fortify the city of Shem, and we did gather in our people as much as it were possible, that perhaps we might save them from destruction. And it came to pass in the three hundred and forty and sixth year they began to come upon us again. And it came to pass that I did speak unto my people, and did urge them with great energy, that they would stand boldly before the Lamanites and fight for their wives and children, and their houses, and their homes. And my words did arouse them somewhat vigour, insomuch that they did not flee from before the Lamanites, but did stand with boldness against them. And it came to pass that we did contend with an army of fifty thousand. And it came to pass that we did stand before the with such fairness that they did flee from us. And it came to pass that when they had fled we did pursue them with our armies, and did meet them again, and did beat them. #Randolphharris 24 of 26
“Nevertheless the strength of the Lord was not with us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren. And my heart did sorrow because of this great calamity of my people, because of their wickedness and their abominations. However, behold, we did go forth against the Lamanites and the robbers of Gadianton, until we had again taken possession of the lands of our inheritance. And the three hundred and forty and ninth year had passed away. And in the three hundred and fiftieth year we made a treaty with the Lamanites and the robbers of the Gadianton, in which we did get the lands of our inheritance divided. And the Lamanites dud give unto us the land northward yea, even to the narrow passage which led into the land southward. And we did give unto the Lamanites all the land southward,” reports Mormon 2.1-29. When the proper time has passed, the womb of night will give birth to day. Though I long for day, in my heart I know that the way things are is done rightly. Here in the dark, I remember this and rest in the sure concern of the Holy Ones. O Lord our God, please grant that we all and Thy people, the house of Israel, find delight in the study of the Scripture. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
May we and our children and all the future generations of the house of Israel know Thy name and learn Thy Scripture for its own sake. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who Teachest the Scripture to Thy people Israel. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of Universe, who hast chosen us from among all peoples by giving us Thy Scripture. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, Giver of the Scripture. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His countenance shine up thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord turn His countenance unto thee, and grant thee peace. May the gifts of your fruits guide you on your pilgrimage, offering sanctuary, and deeds of lovingkindness. May you enjoy your fruits while in this life, and may the principal remain for you to all eternity. Be sure to honour your mother and father, and perform deeds of lovingkindness towards them. May God make peace between all humans. God’s spirit will guide us through the darkness and stand as a wall, and protect us from all terrors. The soul which God has blessed you with is pure and will bring peace into the lives of others. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commanded,” reports Hebrews 11.1-2. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
Cresleigh Homes
Nothing wakes you up quite like a game of bocce ball in the crisp fall air. At least, that’s what we’re guessing — we’re still wrapped up in bed hoping “accio coffee” will finally work. 23rd time’s the charm, right? 😉🧙♂️
Head to the @HUBApts profile to learn more about living in the heart of #Folsom.
Enjoy the best of upscale living.
Would Come No Mystery? For Me, Dark, Dark, and Painful Vile Oblivion Seals My Eyes!
Truth is where the truth is, and it is sometimes in the candy store. You are THAT reality which you seek: give up the ego and know it. The easiest way to get into the meditative state is to begin by listening. If you simply close your eyes and allow yourself to hear all the sounds that are going on around you, just listen to the general hum and buzz of the World, as if you were listening to music. Allow them to play with your eardrums, it is all just sound. You do not have to try to understand anything, just listen to the sound. Look at your own thoughts as just noises, and soon you will find that the so called outside World and to so called inside World come together. They are happening, and everything is simply a happening, and all you are doing is watching it. It is so easy to forget who you are. Just take a shovel and go bury your hears. Why did you hold on to all of the hate? Be believing. Be happy. Do not get discouraged. Things will work out. Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, doubters do not achieve. Do not waste time pondering the past or fretting about the future. And preserve in spite of adversity. Even when many people are negative and pessimistic, we can cultivate a spirit of happiness and optimism. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
There is a terrible ailment of pessimism in the land. It is almost an endemic. We are constantly fed a steady and sour diet of character assassination, faultfinding, evil speaking of one another. We must stop seeking out storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. It is important that we accentuate the optimistic. Look a little deeper for the good, still that voice of insult and sarcasm, and more generously compliment virtue and effort. While we must never ignore all criticism, since growth comes with correction, strength comes with repentance. Wise is the one who, committing mistakes pointed out by others, changes one’s course. One who is to direct the steps of others along this path needs not only to be high in character and consciousness and teaching ability, but also to be learned in the comparative history and comparative doctrines of Christianity. It is true that nobody can get sufficient data to determine the solutions of the riddle of a single person’s status, nobody can penetrate fully into any other person’s motives. I do not judge anyone and I ought not to judge. Nevertheless, one’s teaching alone is insufficient to testify to the true worth of a human; one oneself is a testimony of equal value. If one has nth inspiration and technique one’s message will carry authority, power, enlightenment, and hope to those who can receive it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
The teacher’s work will have to endure the malice of satanic human instruments and the misunderstanding of the superficial and ignorant. If parties wish to express this notion visibly in the basic structure of their society in order to secure each human’s rational interest in one’s self-respect, which principles should they choose? Now it seems that the two principles of justice achieve this aim: for all have an equal liberty and the difference principle explicates the distinction between treating humans as a means only and treating them also as ends in themselves. To regard persons as ends in themselves in the basic design of society is to agree to forgo those gains which do not contribute to their representative expectations. By contrast, to regard persons as a means is to be prepared to impose upon them lower prospects of life for the sake of the higher expectations of others. Thus we see that the difference principle, which at first appears rather extreme, has a reasonable interpretation. If we further suppose that social cooperation among those who respect each other and themselves as manifest in their institutions is likely to be more effective and harmonious, the general level of expectations, assuming we could estimate it, may be higher when the two principles of justice are satisfied than one might otherwise have thought. The advantage of the principle of utility in this respect is no longer so clear. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
The principle of utility presumably requires some to forgo greater life prospects for the sake of others. To be sure, it is not necessary that those having to make such sacrifices rationalize this demand by having a lesser appreciation of their own worth. It does not follow from the utilitarian doctrine that it is because their aims are trivial or unimportant that some individuals’ expectations are less. Yet this may often be the case, and there is a sense, as we have just noted, in which utilitarianism does not regard persons as ends in themselves. And in any event, the parties must consider the general facts of moral psychology. When we must accept a lesser prospect of life for the sake of others, surely it is natural to experience a loss of self-esteem, a weakening of our sense of the value of accomplishing our aims. When social cooperation is arranged for the good of individual, this is particularly likely to be so. That is, those with greater advantages do not claim that they are necessary to preserve certain religious or cultural values which everyone has a duty to maintain. We are not here considering a doctrine of traditional order nor the principle of perfectionism, but rather the principle of utility. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
In this instance, then, human’s self-esteem hinges on how they regard one another. If the parties accept the utility criterion, they will lack the support to their self-respect provided by the public commitment of others to arrange inequalities to everyone’s advantage and to guarantee an equal liberty for all. In a public utilitarian society humans will find it more difficult to be confident of their own worth. The utilitarian may answer that in maximizing the average utility these matters are already taken into account. If, for example, the equal liberties are necessary for human’s self-respect and the average utility is higher when they are affirmed, then of course they should be established. So far so good. However, the point is that we must not lose sight of the publicity condition. This requires that in maximizing the average utility we do so subject to the constraint that the utilitarian principle is publicly accepted and followed as the fundamental character of society. What we cannot do is to raise the average utility by encouraging humans to adopt and apply non-utilitarian principles of justice. If, for whatever reasons, the public recognition of utilitarianism entails some loss of self-esteem, there is no way around this drawback. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
It is an unavoidable cost of the utilitarian scheme given our stipulations. Thus suppose that the average utility is actually greater should the two principles of justice be publicly affirmed and realized as the basis of the social structure. For the reasons mentioned, this may conceivably be the case. These principles would then represent the most attractive prospects, and on both lines of reasoning just examined, the two principles would be accepted. The utilitarian cannot reply that one is now really maximizing the average utility. In fact, the parties would have chosen the two principles of justice. We should note, then, that unilateralism, as I have defined it, is the view that the principle of utility is the correct principle for society’s public conception of justice. And to show this one must argue that this criterion would be chosen in the original position. If we like, we can define a different variation of the initial situation in which the motivation assumption is that the parties want to adopt those principles that maximize average utility. The preceding remarks indicate that the two principles of justice may still be chosen. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
However, if so, it is a mistake to call these principles—and the theory in which they appear—utilitarian. The motivation assumption by itself does not determine the character of the whole theory. In fact, if they would be chosen under different motivation assumptions, the case for the principles of justice is strengthened. This indicates that the theory of justice is firmly grounded and not sensitive to slight changes in this condition. What we want to know is which conception of justice characterizes our considered judgments in reflective equilibrium and best serves as the public moral basis of society. Unless one maintains that this conception is given by the principle of utility, one is not a utilitarian. The advocate of utility can maintain, however, that this principle also gives sense to the Kantian idea, namely, the sense provided by Bentham’s formula “everybody to count for one, nobody for more than one.” This means that one person’s happiness assumed to be equal in degree to another person’s is to be counted exactly the same. The weight in the additive function that represent the utility principle are identical for all individuals, and it is natural to take them as one. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
The principle of utility, one might say, treats persons both as ends and as means. It treats them as end by assigning the same (positive) weight to the welfare of each; it treats them as means by allowing higher life prospects for some to counterbalance lower life prospects for others who are already less favourably situated. The two principles of justice give a stronger and more characteristic interpretation to Kant’s idea. They rule out even the tendency to regard humans as means to one another’s welfare. In the design of the social system we must treat persons solely as ends and not in any way as means. The preceding arguments draw upon this more stringent interpretation. The conditions of generality of principle, universality of application, and limited information as to natural and social status are not enough by themselves to characterize the original position of justice as fairness. The reasoning for the average principle of utility shows this. These conditions are necessary but not sufficient. The original position requires the parties to make a collective agreement, and therefore the restrictions on valid undertakings as well as the publicity and finality conditions are an essential part of the argument for the two principles. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
I have discussed the role of these constraints in connection with the strains of commitment and the problem of stability. Once these considerations are established the doubts about the reasoning for the average principle become more serious. The tentative conclusion, then, is that the balance of reasons clearly favours the two principles of justice over the principle of average utility, and assuming transitivity, over the classical doctrine as well. Insofar as the conception of the original position is used in the justification of principles in everyday life, the claim that one would agree to the two principles in everyday life, the claim that one would agree to the two principles of justice is perfectly credible. There is no reason offhand to think that it is not sincere. In order for this profession to be convincing, it is not necessary that one should have actually given and honoured this undertaking. Thus it is able to serve as a conception of justice in the public acceptance of which persons can recognize one another’s good faith. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
If the predatory quality of human’s hominid ancestors cannot be made responsible for their aggressiveness, can there be a human ancestor, a prehistorical Adam who is responsible for human’s “fall”? This “Adam” may be man, the hunter. Humans have lived during 99 percent of their history as hunters, we owe our biology, psychology, and customs to the hunters of the time past: In a very real sense our intellect, interest, emotions, and basic social life—all are evolutionary products of the success of the hunting adaption. When anthropologist speak of the unity of humankind, they are stating that the selection pressures of the hunting and gathering way of life were so similar and the result so successful that populations of Homo sapiens are still fundamentally the same everywhere. The crucial question, then, is: What is this psychology of the hunter? It struck me that a certain kind of father-complex has a spiritual character, so to speak, in the sense that the father-image gives rise to statements, actions, tendencies, impulses, opinion, et etcetera, to which one could hardly deny the attribute spiritual. In men, a positive father-complex very often produces a certain credulity with regard to authority and a distinct willingness to bow down before all spiritual doctrines and covenants. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
While in women, the father-complex induces the liveliest spiritual aspirations and interests. The invisibility of this source is frequently emphasized by the fact that it consists simply of an authoritative voice which passes final judgements. Mostly, therefore, it is the figure of a “wise old man” who symbolizes the spiritual factor. Sometimes the part is played by a “real” spirit, namely the ghost of one dead, or, more rarely, by grotesque gnomelike figures or talking animals. The dwarf forms are found, at last in my experience, mainly in women; hence it seems to me logical that in Ernst Barlach’s play Der tote Tag (1912), the gnomelike figure of Steissbart (“Rumpbeard”) is associated with the mother, just as Bes is associated with the mother-goodness at Karnak. In both genders the spirit can also take the form of a boy or a youth. In women he corresponds to the so-called “positive” animus who indicates the possibility of conscious spiritual effort. In men his meaning is not so simple. He can be positive, in which case he signifies the “higher” personality, the self or filius regius as conceived by the alchemists. However, he can also be negative, and then he signifies the infantile shadow. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
In both cases the boy means some form of spirit. Graybeard and boy belong together. The pair of them play a considerable role in alchemy as symbols of Mercurius. Mercurius is a major god in Roman religion and mythology, being one of the 12 Dii Consentes (a list of twelve major deities, six gods and six goddesses) within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves; he also serve as the guide of souls. It can never be established with one-hundred-percent certainty whether the spirit-figures in dreams are morally good. If not of outright malice, very often they show all the signs of duplicity. I must emphasize, however, that the grand plan on which the unconscious life of the psyche is constructed is so inaccessible to our understanding that we can never know what evil may not be necessary in order to produce good by enantiodromia (the tendency of thing to change into their opposites, especially as a supposed governing principle of natural cycles and of psychological development), and what good may very possible lead to evil. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
Sometimes the probate spiritus with the best will in the World, be anything other than a cautious and patient waiting to see how things will finally turn out. Humans have a carnivorous psychology fully developed by the Middle Pleistocene, around 500, 000 years ago or even earlier. The World view of the early human carnivore must have been very different from that of their vegetarian cousins. Some scientists believe that the carnivorous psychology is because humans have a drive for and pleasure in killing. It is believed that humans take pleasure in hunting other animals. Unless careful training has hidden the natural drives, humans enjoy the chase and the kill. In most cultures torture and suffering are made public spectacles for the enjoyment of all. Humas have a carnivorous psychology. It is easy to teach people to kill, and it is hard to develop customs which avoid killing. Many human beings enjoy seeing other human beings suffer or enjoy the killing of animals…public beatings and torture are common in many cultures. What are the arguments in favour of this alleged innate joy in killing and cruelty? One argument is killing as a sport. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
Perhaps this is most easily shown by the extent of the efforts devoted to maintain killing as a sport. In former times royalty and nobility maintained parks where they could enjoy the sport of killing, and today the United States government spends many millions of dollars to supply game for hunters. Some people even use the lightest fishing tackle to prolong the fish’s futile struggle, in order to maximize the personal sense of mastery and skill. And until recently war was viewed in much the same way as hunting. Other human beings were simply the most dangerous game. War has been far too important in human history for it to be other than pleasurable for the people involved. It is only recently with the entire change in the nature and conditions of war, that this institution has been challenged, that the wisdom of war as a normal part of national policy or as an approved road to personal social glory has been questioned. The extent to which the biological bases for killing have been incorporated into human psychology may be measures by the ease with which boys and modern girls, in many cases, can be interested in hunting, fishing, fighting, and games of war. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
It is not that these behaviours are inevitable, but they are learned, satisfying, and have been socially rewarded in most cultures. The skills for killing and the pleasures of killing are normally developed in play, and the patterns of play prepare the children for their adult roles. Many people enjoy killing and cruelty is true as far as it goes, but all it means is that there are sadistic individuals and sadistic cultures; but there are others that are not sadistic. One will find, for instance, that sadism is much more frequently to be found among frustrated individuals and social classes who feel powerless and have little pleasure in life, for example the lower class in Rome who were compensated for their material poverty and social impotence by sadistic spectacles, or the lower middle class in Germany from whose ranks Hitler recruited his most fanatical following; it is also to be found in ruling classes that feel threatened in their dominant position and the property or in suppressed groups that thirst for revenge. However, idea that may hunting produce pleasure in torture is an unsubstantiated and most implausible statement to apply to all human beings. All hunters as a rule do not enjoy the suffering of the animal, and in fact a sadist who enjoys torture would make a poor hunter; nor do all people who fish like to see the fish suffer. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
There also may not be real evidence that primitive hunters were motivated by sadistic or destructive impulses. On the contrary, there is some evidence to show that they had an affectionate feeling for the killed animals and possibly a feeling of guilt for the kill. Among the Paleolithic hunters, the bear was often addressed as “grandfather” or was looked upon as the mythical ancestor of humans. When the bear was killed, apologies were offered; before he or she was eaten, a sacred meal took place with the bear as an “honoured guest,” before whom were placed the best dishes; finally the bear was ceremoniously buried. The psychology of hunting, including that of the contemporary hunter, calls for extensive study, but a few observations can be made even in this context. First of all, one must distinguish between hunting as a sport of ruling elites (for instance, the nobility in a feudal system) and all other forms of hunting, such as that of primitive hunters, farmers, protecting their crop or chickens, and individuals who love to hunt. “Elite hunting” seems to satisfy the wish for power and control, including a certain amount of sadism, character of power elites. It tells us more about feudal psychology than about the psychology of hunting. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
Among the motivations of the primitive professional and the modern passionate hunter, at least two kinds must be distinguished. The first have their roots in the depth of human experience. In the act of hunting, a human becomes, however briefly, part of nature again. One returns to the natural state, becomes one with the animal, and is freed from the burden of the existential split: to be part of nature and to transcend it by virtue of one’s consciousness. In stalking the animal one and the animal become equals, even though humans eventually show their superiority by the use of their weapons. In primitive humans this experience is quite conscious. Through disguising oneself as an animal, and considering an animal as one’s ancestor, one makes this identification explicit. For modern humans, with their cerebral orientation, this experience of oneness with nature is difficult to verbalize and to be aware of, but it is still alive in many beings. Of at least equal importance for the passionate hunter is an entirely different motivation, that of enjoyment in one’s skill. It is amazing how many modern authors neglect this element of skill in hunting, and focus their attention on the act of killing. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
After all, hunting requires a combination of many skills and wide knowledge beyond that of handling a weapon. Hunting has placed a premium upon inventiveness, upon problem solving, and has imposed a real penalty for failure to solve the problem. Therefore it has contributed as much to advancing the human species as to holding it together within the confines of a single variable species. Hunting is obviously an instrumental system in the real sense that something gets done, several ordered behaviours are preformed with a crucial result. The technological aspects, the spears, clubs, hand axes, and all other objects suitable for museum display, are essentially meaningless apart from the context in which they are used. They do not represent a suitable place to begin analysis because their position in the sequence is remote from the several preceding complexes. The efficiency of hunting is to be understood not on the basis of the advancement of its technical bases, but by the increasing skill of the hunter: There is ample documentation, though surprisingly few systematic studies, for the postulate that primitive humans are sophisticated in their knowledge of the natural World. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
This sophistication encompasses the entire macroscopic zoological World of mammals, marsupials, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, and plants. Knowledge of tides, meteorological phenomena generally, astronomy, and other aspects of the natural World are also well developed among some variations between groups with reference to the sophistication and extent of their knowledge, and to the areas in which they have concentrated. Humans, the hunters are learning animal behaviour and anatomy, including their own. They domesticated themselves first and then turned to other animals to plants. In this sense, hunting is the school of learning that made the human species self-taught. In short, the motivation of the primitive hunter was not pleasure in killing, but the learning and optimal performance of various skills, id est, the development of humans themselves. Today, when almost everything is made by machines, we notice little pleasure in skill except perhaps the pleasure people experience with hobbies like carpentry of the fascination of the average person when one can watch a goldsmith or weaver at one’s work; perhaps the fascination with a performing violinist is not only caused by the beauty of the music one produces but by the display of one’s skill. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
In cultures where most of the production is by hand and rests on skill, it is unmistakably clear that work is enjoyable because of the skill involved in it, and to the degree to which this skill is involved. The interpretation of the pleasure in hunting as pleasure in killing, rather than in skill, is indicative of the person of our time for whom the only thing that counts is the result of an effort, in this case killing, rather than the process itself. Boys can be easily induced to any kind of pattern that is culturally accepted. Furthermore, it should be noted that there are a number of sports—from Zen sword fighting to fencing, judo, and karate—in which it is quite obvious that their fascination does not lie in the pleasure to kill, but in the skill they allow to be displayed. We will continual exploring humans as hunters, but perhaps some humans are learning primitive ways and do not truly understand what they are doing. That is why so many people are encouraging others to use the skill of discovering God. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
The Lord’s plan is a plan of happiness. If we cultivate a spirit of happiness, the way will be lighter, the worries will be fewer, the confrontations will be less difficult. How magnificently we are blessed! How thankful we ought to be! Cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving for the blessing of life and for the marvelous gifts and privileges each of us enjoy. The Lord has said that the meek shall inherit the Earth. (See Matthew 5.5.) I cannot escape the interpretation that meekness implies a spirit of gratitude as opposed to an attitude of self-sufficiency, an acknowledgment of a greater power beyond oneself, a recognition of God, and an acceptance of His commandments. This is the beginning of wisdom. Walk with gratitude before Him who is the giver of life and every good gift. “And now I, Mormon, make a record of the things which I have both seen and heard, and call it the Book of Mormon. And about the time that Ammaron hid up the records unto the Lord, he came unto me, (I being about ten years of age, and I began to be learned somewhat after the manner of the learning of my people) and Ammaron said unto me: I perceive that thou art a sober child, and art quicky to observe. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
“Therefore, when ye are about twenty and four years old I would that ye should remember the things that ye have observed concerning this people; and when ye are of that age go to the land Antum, unto a hill which shall be called Shim; and there have I deposited unto the Lord all the sacred engravings concerning this people. And behold, ye shall take the plates of Nephi unto yourself, and the remainder shall ye leave in the place where they are; and ye shall engrave on the plates of Nephi all the things ye have observed concerning this people. And I, Mormon, being a descendant of Nephi, (and my father’s name was Mormon) I remembered the things which Ammaron commanded me. And it came to pass that I, being eleven years old, was carried by my father into the land southward, even to the land of Zarahemla. The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea. And it came to pass in this year there began to be a war between the Nephites, who consisted of the Nephites, who consisted of the Nephites and the Jacobites and the Josephites and the Zoramites; and this war was between the Nephites, and the Lamanites and the Lemuelites and the Ishmaelites. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“Now the Lamanites and the Lemuelites and the Ishmaelites were called Lamanites, and the two parties were Nephites and Lamanites. And it came to pass that the war began to be among them in the borders of Zarahemla, by the waters of Sidon. And it came to pass that the Nephites had gathered together a great number of men, even to exceed the number of thirty thousand. It is came to pass that they did have in this same year a number of battles, in which the Nephites did beat the Lamanites and did slay many of them. And it came to pass that the Lamanites withdrew their design, and there was peace settled in the land; and peace did remain for the space of about four years, that there was no bloodshed. However, wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord did take away his beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and of healing did cease because of the iniquity of the people. And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any, because of their wickedness and unbelief. And I, being fifteen years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind, therefore I was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“And I did endeavour to preach unto this people, but my mouth was shit, and I was forbidden that I should preach unto them; for behold they had willfully rebelled against their God; and beloved disciples were taken away out of the land, because of their iniquity. However, I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts; and because of the hardness of their hearts the land was cursed for their sake. And these Gadinaton robbers, who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the Earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again. And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite,” reports Mormon 1.1.19. I speak of darkness from out of darkness, of night from out of night. Night I praise, the first of all things, the blackness within which World are formed. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
In the encompassing embrace of the arms of night, everything was held that has existence. From under the blanket that God lays over us, everything came forth that has existence. Birthplace of all, to you I pray: Worthy are you to be praised. The living God O magnify and bless, transcending time and here eternally. One Being, yet unique in unity; a mystery of Oneness, measureless. Lo! form or body He has none, and man no semblance of His holiness can frame. Before Creation’s dawn He was the same; the first to be, though never He began. He is the World’s and every creature’s Lord; His rule and majesty are manifest, and through His chosen, glorious sons expressed in prophecies that their lips are poured. Yet never like to Moses rose a seer, permitted glimpse behind the veil divine. This faithful prince of God’s prophetic line received the Law of Truth for Israel’s ear. The Law God gave, He never will amend, nor ever by another Law replace. Our secret things are spread before His face; in all beginnings He beholds the end. The saint’s reward He measures to his meed; the sinner reaps the harvest of his ways. Messiah He will send at end of days, and all the faithful to salvation lead. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
God will the dead again to life restore in His abundance of almighty love. Then blessed be His name, all names above, and let His praise resound forevermore. Judaism teaches us that even the routine functions of life reveal the wisdom and goodness of the Creator. Hence were introduced the following blessings which were originally not part of the public Synagogue service. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us with Thy precepts and enjoined on us the washing of the hands. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast fashioned humans in wisdom, and hast created within them life-sustaining organs. If but one of these function improperly, it is revealed and known before Thy glorious throne that it would be impossible for humans to survive before Thee. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who endowest humans with health and doest wonders. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us with Thy precepts and enjoined on us to occupy ourselves with the study of the Torah. Even if it is scattered to a few, such a concept of life is too precious to die out. Be assured that they will take the greatest care to preserver its existence within the mind and memory of the race. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
Cresleigh Homes
Ever wondered what it would look like to have your future in front of you? Well, this #MillsStation Residence 2 kitchen is painting us a pretty picture of stew simmering on the stove and the pleasant aroma greeting you at the dining table.
View virtual tours of the #CresleighRanch homes on our website. Link in bio. https://youtu.be/1Rpm_C0hXkY
The kitchen opens directly to the dining room allowing for perfect flow. The large kitchen island makes food prep and entertaining easy while the walk in pantry provides ample storage. The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters.
The great room is spacious and full of natural light with a covered patio! The Owner’s suite is located on the first floor of this home providing easy access and eliminating the hassle of climbing stairs daily. The Owner’s bathroom is spacious and tranquil including a large free standing soaking tub, walk in shower and large walk-in closet. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-2/
This home is designed with Universal Design concepts meaning that its well equipped for life’s transitions and aging in place. Learn more about this unique feature by speaking with a sales associate today!
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Randolph Harris II International Institute 