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Better to Write of Laugher than of Tears Because to Laugh is Proper to a Human!

cropped-en5misfu0aivjuk.jpgUnlike the child, the youth becomes an individual who thinks beyond the present and forms theories about everything, delighting especially in considerations of that which is not. Not many people believe in actual evil anymore—not even in the Church. We live in a World that embraces relative truths and morality as the modern Church prepares itself for a figurative battle for souls. However, some of us have been preparing ourselves for a much more literal battle of Armageddon between very real forces of evil and those of good. We have some resources left to us from old days when people still believed that darkness walked among us. Those old rituals and spells shield this place from creatures that do not belong among the holy. There is in the brain of each individual the possibility for all these developments but they are not realized. Humans have a great more freedom than they ever use, because they operate out of habits, prejudices, and stereotypes. According to the deliberative model of democracy, it is a necessary condition for attaining legitimacy and rationality with regard to collective decision-making processes in a polity, that the institutions of this polity are so arranged that what is considered in the common interest of all results from processes of collective deliberation conducted rationally and fairly among free and equal individuals. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25

ImageThe more collective decisions making processes approximate this model the more increases the presumption of their legitimacy and rationality. Why? The basis of legitimacy in democratic institutions is to be traced back to the presumption that the instances which claim obligatory power for themselves do so because their decisions represent an impartial standpoint said to be equally in the interests of all. This presumption can be fulfilled only if such decisions are in principle open to appropriate processes of deliberation by free and equal citizens. The discourse model of ethics formulates the most general principles and moral intuitions behind the validity claims of a deliberative model of democracy. The basic idea behind this model is that only those norms (id est, general rules of action and institutional arrangements) can be said to be valid (id est, morally binding), which would be agreed to by all those affected by their consequences, if such agreement were reached as a consequences, of a process of deliberation that had the following features: 1) participation in such deliberation is governed by the norms of equality and symmetry; all have the same chances to initiate speech acts, to question, to interrogate, and open the debate; 2) all have the right to question the assigned topics of conversation; and 3) all have the right to initiate reflexive arguments about the very rules of the discourse procedure and the way in which they are applied or carried out. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25

ImageThere are no prima facie rules limiting the agenda of the conversation, or the identity of the participants, as long as each excluded person or group can justifiably show that they are relevantly affected by the proposed norm under question. In certain circumstances this would mean that citizens of a democratic community would have to enter into a practical discourse with noncitizens who may be residing in their countries, at their borders, or in neighboring communities if there are matters that affect them all. Ecology and environmental issues in general are a perfect example of such instances when the boundaries of discourses keep expanding because the consequences of our actions expand and environmental issues in general are a perfect example of such instances when the boundaries of discourses keep expanding because the consequences of our actions expand and affect increasingly more people. The procedural specifics of those special argumentation situations called “practical discourses” are not automatically transferable to a marco-institutional level, nor is it necessary that they should be so transferable. A theory of democracy, as opposed to a general moral theory, would have to be concerned with the question of institutional specifications and practical feasibility. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25

ImageNonetheless, the procedural constraints of the discourse model can act as test cases for critically evaluating the criteria of membership and the rules of agenda setting, and for the structuring of public discussions within and among institutions. According to the deliberative model, procedures of deliberation generate legitimacy as well as assure some degree of practical rationality. However, what are the claims to practical rationality of such deliberative democratic processes? Deliberative processes are essential to the rationality of collective decision-making processes for three reasons. First, as Bernard Manin has observed in an excellent article “On Legitimacy and Deliberation,” deliberative processes are also processes that impart information. New information is imparted because 1) no single individual can anticipate and foresee all the variety of perspectives through which matters of ethics and politics would be perceived by different individuals; and 2) no single individual can possess all the information deemed relevant to a certain decision affecting all. Deliberation is a procedure for being informed. Furthermore, much political theory under the influence of economic models of reasoning in particular proceeds from a methodological fiction: this is the methodological fiction of an individual with an ordered set of coherent preferences. This fiction does not have much relevance in the political World. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25

ImageOn complex social and political issues, more often then not, individuals may have views and wishes but no ordered set of coherent preferences. This fiction does not have much relevance in the political World. On complex social and political issues, more often than not, individuals may have views and wishes but no ordered set of preferences, since the latter would imply that they would be enlightened not only about the preferences but about the consequences and relative merits of each of their preferred choices in advance. It is actually the deliberative process itself that is likely to produce such an outcome by leading the individual to further critical reflection on one’s already held views and opinions; it is incoherent to assume that individuals can start a process of public deliberation with a level of conceptual clarity about their choices and preferences that can actually result only from a successful process of deliberation. Likewise, the formation of coherent preferences cannot precede deliberation; it can only succeed it. Very often individuals’ wishes as well as vies and opinions conflict with one another. In the course of deliberation and the exchange of views with others, individuals become more aware of such conflicts and feel compelled to undertake a coherent ordering. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25

ImageMore significantly, the very procedure of articulating a view in public imposes a certain reflexivity on individual preferences and opinions. When presenting their point of view and position to others, individuals must support them by articulating good reasons in a public context to their codeliberators. This process of articulating good reasons in public forces the individual to think of what would count as a good reason for all others involved. One is thus forced to think from the standpoint of all involved for whose agreement one is “wooing.” Nobody can convince others in public of one’s point of view without being able to state why what appears good, plausible, just, and expedient to one can also be considered so from the standpoint of all involved. Reasoning from the standpoint of all involved not only forces a certain coherence upon one’s own views but also forces one to adopt a standpoint called the “enlarged mentality.” A deliberative model of democracy suggests a necessary but no sufficient condition of practical rationality, because, as with any procedure, it can be misinterpreted, misapplied, and abused. Procedures can neither dictate outcomes nor define the quality of the reasons advanced in argumentation nor control the quality of the reasoning and rules of logic and inference used by participants. Procedural models of rationality are underdetermined. #RandolphHarris 6 of 25

ImageNonetheless, the discourse model makes some provisions against its own misuses and abuses in that the reflexivity condition built into the model allow abuses and misapplications at the first level to be challenged at a second, metalevel of discourse. Likewise, the facie fixed but can be revised and subjected to reexamination. Such would be the normative justification of majority rule as a decision procedure following from this model: in many instances the majority rule is fair and rational decision procedure, not because legitimacy resides in numbers but because if a majority of people are convinced at one point on the basis of reasons formulated as closely as possible as a result of a process of discursive deliberation that conclusion A is the right thing to do, then this conclusion can remain valid until challenged by good reasons by some other group. It is not the sheer numbers that support the rationality of the conclusion, but the presumption that if a large number of people see certain matters a certain way as a result of following certain kinds of rational procedures of deliberation and decision-making, then such a conclusion has a presumptive claim to being rational until shown to be otherwise. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25

ImageThe simple practice of having a ruling and an opposition party in democracies in fact incorporates this principle: we accept the will of the majority at the end of an electoral process that has been fairly and correctly carried out, but even when we accept the legitimacy of the process we may have grave doubts about the rationality of the outcome. The practice of there being parliamentary opposition says that the grounds on which the majority party claims to govern can be examined, challenged, tested, criticized, and rearticulated. Parliamentary procedures of opposition, debate, questioning, and even impeachment proceedings, and investigatory commissions incorporate this rule of deliberative rationality that majoritarian decisions are temporarily agreed-upon conclusions, the claim to rationality and validity of which can be publicly reexamined. This deliberative mode of democracy is proceduranst in that it emphasizes first and foremost certain institutional procedures and practices for attaining decisions on matters that would be binding on all. Three additional points are worthy of note with respect to such a conception of democracy: first, I proceed from the assumption of value pluralism. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25

ImageDisagreement about the highest goods of human existence and the proper conduct of a morally righteous life are a fundamental feature of our modern value-universe since the end of natural law cosmologies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the eventual separation of church and state. The challenge to democratic rationality is to arrive at acceptable formulations of the common good despite this inevitable value-pluralism. We cannot resolve conflicts among value systems and visions of the good by reestablishing a strong unified moral and religious code without forsaking fundamental liberties. Agreements in societies living with value pluralism are to be sought for not at the level of substantive beliefs but at that of procedures, processes, and practices for attaining and revising beliefs. Proceduralism is a rational answer to persisting values conflicts at the substantive level. Second, the deliberative model of democracy proceeds not only from a conflict of values but also from a conflict of interests in social life. Social life necessitates both conflict of interests and cooperation. Democratic procedures have to convince, even under conditions when one’s interests as an individual or as a group are negatively affected, that the conditions of mutual cooperation are still legitimate. Procedures can be regarded as methods for articulating, sifting through and weighing conflicting interests. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25

ImageThe more conflicts of interests there are the more it is important to have procedural solutions of conflict adjudication through which parties whose interests are negatively affected can find recourse to other methods of the articulation and representation of their grievances. Proceduralist models of democracy allow the articulation of conflicts of interests under conditions of social cooperation mutually acceptable at all. Finally, any proceduralist and deliberative model of democracy is prima facie open to the argument, that no modern society can organize its affairs along the fiction of a mass assembly carrying out its deliberations in public and collectively. Here more than an issue of size is at stake. The argument that there may be an invisible limit to the size of a deliberative body that, when crossed, affects the nature of the reasoning process is undoubtedly true. Nonetheless the reason why a deliberative and proceduralist model of democracy does not need to operate with the fiction of a general deliberative assembly is that the procedural specifications of this model privilege a plurality of modes of association in which all affected can have the right to articulate their point of view. These can range from political parties, to citizens’ initiatives, to social movements, to voluntary associations, to consciousness-raising groups, and the like. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25

ImageIt is through the interlocking net of these multiple forms of associations, networks, and organizations that an anonymous “public conversation” results. It is central to the model of deliberative democracy that it privileges such a public sphere of mutually interlocking and overlapping networks and associations of deliberation, contestation, and argumentation. The fiction of a general deliberative assembly in which the untied people expressed their will belongs to the early history of democratic theory; today our guiding model has to be that of a medium of loosely associated, multiple foci of opinion formation and dissemination which affect one another in free and spontaneous processes of communication. Such a strong model of deliberative democracy is subject to three different kinds of criticism; first, liberal theorists will express concerns that such a strong model would lead to the corrosion of individual liberties and may in fact destabilize the rule of law. In one’s earlier work, Bruce Ackerman had formulated a theory of “conversational neutrality” to voice some of these concerns. Stephen Holmes has defended the plausibility of certain “gag rules” on public conversation. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25

ImageSecond, feminist theorists are skeptical about this model, because they see it as privileging a certain mode of discourse at the cost of silencing others: this is the rationalist, male, univocal, hegemonic discourse of transparent polity that disregards the emotions, polyvocity, multiplicity, and differences in the articulation of the voice of the public. Those who are sufficiently sensitive feel, when they spend a short time with one who has learned to live with God, a large relief from all their ancient burden of anxieties and difficulties and darkness for a while. This effect is so extraordinary, its exalted peace so glowing, that although it passes away its memory will never pass away. One who arrives at this stage becomes so wise and understanding, so strong and dependable, so kind and calm, that those who seek to foster these qualities within their own selves will receive from one’s work—sometimes from one’s mere presence—a powerful impetus to their progress. They will catch fire from one’s touch, as it were, and find a little easier of accomplishment the fulfilment of these aspirations. And those who are able to share in one’s effort to serve, to collaborate with one’s selfless work for the loftier ad more mysterious qualities which pertain to the quest of God: in the paradox of dynamic stillness, inspired action, and sublime prayers. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25

ImageYet one accepts worship from nobody as one oneself worships none. For one will not degrade oneself into such materiality nor permit others so to degrade themselves through their own superstition or someone else’s exploitation. One’s thoughts are permeated with unusual energy, and strange intensity, so that sensitive persons feel its atmosphere when in one’s presence or react quickly to its spoken an written expression when not. An individual realized that in one’s personal relationships one showed profound irritation in response to any claim the partner made upon him. Even the most legitimate requests were regarded as coercion and the most merited criticisms as insults. At the same time one felt free to demand exclusive devotion and to express one’s own criticisms quite frankly. One realized, in other words, that one accorded oneself every privilege while denying the partner any. It became clear to one that this attitude was bound to mar, if not destroy, one’s friendships as well as one’s marriage. Up to this point one had been very active and productive in one’s analytical work. However, the session after one became aware of the consequences of one’s attitude was pervaded by silence; the individual was mildly depressed and anxious. The few associations that did appear pointed to a strong tendency to withdraw, which was in decided contrast to one’s eagerness in previous hours to establish a good relationship with women. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25

ImageThe impulse to withdraw was an expression of how intolerable the prospect of mutuality was to one: one accepted the idea of equality of rights in theory, but in practice one rejected it. While one’s depression was a reaction to finding oneself in an unsolvable dilemma, the tendency to withdraw meant one was groping for a solution. When one recognized the futility of withdrawing, and saw that there was no way out but to change his attitude, he became interested in the question of why mutuality was so unacceptable to one. The associations that appeared immediately thereafter indicated that emotionally he saw only the alternative of having all rights or no rights whatever. He voiced apprehension that if he should concede any rights one would never be able to do what he wanted but would invariably have to comply with the wishes of others. This in turn opened up the whole field of his compliant and self-effacing trends which, although they had hitherto been touched upon, had never been seen in their full depth and significance. For a number of reasons one’s compliance and dependence were so great that he had had to build up the artificial defense of arrogating all rights exclusively to himself. To abandon the defense at a time when one’s compliance was still a stringent inner necessity would have meant to submerge oneself as an individual. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25

ImageBefore one could even consider a change in one’s arbitrary settlement the complaint trends had to be worked through. It is clear that we can never exhaust a problem through a single approach; it must be returned to again and again from various angles. This is because any single attitude springs from a variety of sources and assumes new functions in the course of the neurotic development. Thus, for instance, the attitude of placating and “putting up” with too much is originally part and parcel of the neurotic need for affection and must be tackled when that need is being dealt with. Its scrutiny must be resumed when the idealized image is in question. In that light placating will be seen as an expression of the individual’s notion that one is a saint. That it also involves a need to avoid friction will be understood when one’s detachment is under discussion. Again, the compulsive nature of the attitude will become clearer when the individual’s fear of others and one’s need to lean over backward from one’s sadistic impulses come into view. In other instances an individual’s sensitivity to coercion may be seen first as a defensive attitude stemming from one’s detachment, then as a projection of one’s own craving for power, and later perhaps as an expression of externalization, inner coercion, or other trends. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25

ImageAny neurotic attitude or conflict that crystallizes during analysis must be understood in its relation to the personality as a whole. This is what is called working through. It involves the following steps: bringing to the individual’s awareness all the overt and hidden manifestations of the particular trend or conflict, helping one to recognize its compulsive nature, and enabling one to attain an appreciation both of its subjective value and its adverse consequences. The individual, when one discovers a neurotic peculiarity, tends to avoid examining it by immediately raising the question: “How did it come about?” Whether or not one is aware of doing so, one hopes to solve the particular problem by turning to its historical origin. The analyst must hold one back from this escape into the past and encouraged one to examine first what is involved—in other words, to become familiar with peculiarity itself. One must get to know the specific ways in which it manifests itself, the means one uses to cover it up, and one’s own attitudes toward it. If, for instance, the individual’s dread of being complaint has become clear, one must see the extent to which one resents, dreads, and despises in oneself any form of self-effacement. One must recognize the checks one has unconsciously instituted to the end of eliminating from one’s life all possibilities of compliance and everything involved in complaint tendencies. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25

ImageOne will understand, then, how attitudes apparently divergent all serve this one purpose; how one has numbered one’s sensitivity to others to the point of being unaware of their feelings, desires, or reactions; how this has made one highly inconsiderate; how one has chocked off any feeling of fondness for others as well as any desire to be liked by them; how ne disparages tender feelings and goodness in others; how one tends automatically to refuse requests; how in personal relationships one feels entitled to be moody, critical, and demanding but denies the partner any of these prerogatives. Or, if it is the patient’s feeling of omnipotence that has come into focus, it is not enough that one realizes that one has this feeling. One must see how from morning till night one sets impossible tasks for oneself; how, for instance, one thinks one should be able to write a brilliant paper on a complex subject at top speed; how one expects oneself to be spontaneous and scintillating in spite of one’s exhaustion; how in analysis one expects to solve a problem the moment one catches a glimpse of it. Next, the individual must recognize that one is driven to act in accordance with the particular trend, regardless of—and often contrary to—one’s own desires or best interests. One must realize that the compulsion operates indiscriminately, usually without reference to factual conditions. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25

ImageOne must see, for example, that one’s faultfinding attitude is turned towards friends and enemies alike; that one upbraids the partner no matter how the latter behaves: if the partner is amiable, one suspects one of feeling guilty about something; if one assets oneself, one is domineering; if one gives in, ne is a weakling; if one likes to be with one, one is too easily available; if one refuses anything, one is stingy, and so on. Or if the attitude under discussion is the individual’s uncertainty of being wanted or welcome, one must realize that the attitude persists despite all evidence to the contrary. Understanding the compulsive nature of a trend also involves recognizing reactions to its frustration. If, for instance, the trend that has emerged concerns the individual’s need for affection, one would have to see that one feels lost and frightened at any sign of rejection or diminished friendliness, no matter how trivial the sign or how little the other person means to one. While the first of these steps shows the individual the extent of one’s particular problem, the second impresses upon one’s mind the intensity of the forces behind it. Both arouse an interest in further scrutiny. Therefore, besides worshiping in stupendous truth, we worship “in spirit.” Notice the small “s,” referring to our human spirits, the inner person. True worship flows from the inside out. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25

ImageWorship is not an external activity, but is of necessity first internal. Jesus warned hypocrites with the words of Isaiah: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain,” reports Mark 7.6,7. Thus true worship must spring from within a human’s spirit, from the spontaneous affections of the heart—as it did so regularly from the heart of David. Psalm 130, a Psalm of Ascents, expresses the anticipation of one worshipping in spirit: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning,” reports Psalm 130.5,6. “Wherefore, let us go to and labour with our might this last time that I shall prune my vineyard. Graft in the branches; begin at the last that they may be first, and that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last; and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time. Wherefore, dig about them, and prune them, and dung them once more, for the last time, for the end draweth nigh. And if it be so that these grafts shall grow, then shall ye prepare the way for them, that they may grow. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25

Image“And as they begin to grow ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit, according to the strength of the good and the size thereof; and ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once, lest the roots thereof should be too strong for the graft, and the graft thereof shall perish, and I lose the trees of my vineyard. For it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard; wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground of my vineyard; and this will I sweep away the bad out of my vineyard. And the branches of the natural tree will I graft in again into the natural tree; and the branches of the natural tree will I graft into the natural branches of the tree; and this will I bring them together again, that they shall bring forth the natural fruit, and they shall be one. And the bad shall be cast away, yea, even out of all the land of my vineyard; for behold, only this once will I prune my vineyard. And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard sent his servant; and the servant went and did as the Lord had commanded him, and brought other servants; and they were few. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25

Image“And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labour in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labour with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come. And it came to pass that the servants did go and labour with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things. And there began to be the natural fruit again in the vineyard; and the natural branches began to grow and thrive exceedingly; and the wild branches began to be plucked off and cast away; and they did keep the root and the top hereof equal, according to the strength thereof. And thus they labored, with all diligence, according to the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard, even until the bad had been cast away out of the vineyard, and the Lord had preserved unto himself that the trees had become again the natural fruit; and they became like unto one body; and the fruits were equal; and the Lord of the vineyard had preserved unto himself the natural fruit, which was most precious unto him from the beginning. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25

Image“And it came to pass that when the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he called up his servants, and said unto them: Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard; and thou beholdest that I have done according to my will; and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning. And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in labouring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard. For behold, for a long time will I lay up of the fruit of my vineyard unto mine own self against the season, which seedily cometh; and for the last time have I nourished my vineyard, and pruned it, and dug about it, and dunged it; wherefore I will lay up unto mine own self of the fruit, for a long time, according to that which I have spoken. And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again come into my vineyard, then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away into its own place. And then cometh the season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned with fire,” reports Jacob 5.62-77. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25

ImageTo ensure a righteous judgment, the Saviour’s atoning sacrifice will clear away the underbrush of ignorance and the painful thorns of hurt caused by others. The doctrine of Christ—which consists of the saving principles and ordinances of faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end—is taught numerous times in all the scriptures of the Restoration but with particular power in the Book of Mormon. The doctrine begins with faith in Christ, and every one of its elements depends upon trust in His atoning sacrifice. The more we understand about the Saviour’s supernatural gift, the more we will come to know, in our minds, and in our hearts, the reality of the truths of the Book of Mormon and how it has the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strength console, and cheer our souls. God himself aoneth for the sins of the World, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also. The thought that rescued Alma is this: Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25

ImageThe joyous truth on which Alma’s mind caught hold was not just that he himself could be made clean but also that those whom he had harmed could be healed and made whole. O God, Who Thy deep and ineffable love to humans hast condescended to the weakness of Thy servants, and made us partakers of this Heavenly Table; condemn not us sinners after the reception of Thy spotless Mysteries, but guard us, of Thy goodness, in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit; that being made holy, we may find our portion and inheritance with all the Saints who have pleased Thee from the beginning, in the light of Thy countenance, through the mercies of Thine Only-begotten son Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. O Lord, please help me never to expect any happiness from the World, but only in Thee. Let me not think that I shall be more happy by living to myself, for I can only be happy if employed for thee, and if I desire to live in this World only to do and suffer what Thou dost allot me. Teach me that if I do not live a life that satisfies Thee, I shall not live a life that will satisfy myself. Please help me to desire the spirit and temper of Angels who willingly come down to this lower World to perform Thy will, though their desires are Heavenly, and not set in the least upon Earthy things; then I shall be of that temper I ought to have. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25

ImagePlease help me not to think of living to Thee in my own strength, but always to look to and rely on Thee for assistance. Please teach me that there is no greater truth than this, that I can do nothing of myself. Lord, this is the life that no unconverted man can live, yet it is an end that every Godly soul presses after; let it be then my concern to devote myself and all to Thee. Please make me more fruitful and more spiritual, for barrenness is my daily affliction and load. How precious is time, and how painful to see it fly with little done to good purpose! I need Thy help: O may my soul sensibly depend upon Thee for all sanctification, and every accomplishment of Thy purposes for me, for the World, and for Thy kingdom. Please Lead us not into temptation, since we have been partakers of the holy Body and precious Blood. And we thank Thee that Thou hast made us meet communicants of the Mystery of glory and holiness which passeth all understanding. Please pour down on us O Lord, the Spirit of Thy love, that Thou mayest preserve in the same piety those whom Thou hast satisfied with the same Heavenly Bread. We have received, O Lord, the glorious Mysteries, and pray Thee by means of them to make us partakers of things Heavenly, while we are dwelling on the Earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25Image

MILLS STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH

Rancho Cordova, CA |

Now Selling!

IMG_-10hus4.jpgMills Station at Cresleigh Ranch is Rancho Cordova’s newest home community! This charming neighborhood offers an array of home types with eye catching architecture styles such as Mission, Mid-Century Modern, California Modern, and Contemporary Farmhouse.

ImageLocated off Douglas Road and Rancho Cordova Parkway, the residents of Cresleigh Ranch will enjoy, being just minutes from shopping, dining, and entertainment, and quick access to Highway 50 and Grant Line Road providing a direct route into Folsom. Residents here also benefit from no HOA fees, two community parks and the benefits of being a part of the highly-rated Elk Grove Unified School District. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/ImageWe give Thee thanks, O Lord our God, after having received Thy holy, spotless, immortal, and Heavenly Mysteries, which Thou hast given us for the benefit, sanctification, and healing of our souls and bodies. And we pray and beseech Thee, O good Lord, the Lover of Humans, to grant that the Communion of the holy Body and precious Blood of Thine Only-begotten Son may procure for us faith that needeth not to be ashamed, love without dissimulation, fulness of wisdom, healing of soul and body, repulse of every enemy, fulfilment of Thy commandments, an acceptable defense before the awful judgment-seat of Thy Christ. #CresleighHomesImage

 

 

 

 

Please Give Me a Home Where Seldom is Heard a Discouraging Word and the Skies are Not Cloudy All Day!

ImageMany psychologists think conflict is the cause of many types of emotional disorder. From childhood onward, each of us has goals and desires, but it is not easy to reach them, because they often run into the goals and desires of others. When a person cannot see any way out of a problem, this conflict leads to anxiety—psychological stress. When we cannot resolve a conflict, we all feel anxious. However, the World of a mentally ill person is full of such anxiety—endless frustration because the World seems too much to cope with. The person (and any of us) can react to this frustration in either two ways: fight or withdraw. Individuals are subject to fields of force and energy in their living, much like the forces in physics. Some people, objects, experiences have an attraction for us. We desire, want, need them. They are positive, like the + pole of a magnet. Sine they attract us, we say we tend to approach them. Other objects, people, or situations repel, disgust, or frighten us. We view them not as attractive (+) but as negative (-), and we tend to avoid them. It has been suggested that the stigmatized individual defines oneself as no different from any other human being, while at the same time one and those around one define one as someone set apart. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

ImageGiven this basic self-contradiction of the stigmatized individual, if only to find a doctrine which makes consistent sense out of one’s situation, it is understandable that one will make some effort to find a way out of one’s dilemma. In contemporary society, this means that the individual will not only attempt on one’s own to hammer out such a code, but that, as already suggested, professionals will help out—sometimes in the guise of telling their life story or of telling how they handled a difficult situation. The codes that are presented to the stigmatized individual, whether explicitly or implicitly, tend to cover certain standard matters. A desirable pattern of revealing and concealing is suggested. (For example, in the case of the former mental patient it is sometimes recommended that one properly conceal one’s stigma from mere acquaintances but feel secure enough in one’s sanity, and believe enough in the medical, nor moral, nature of one’s past failings, to reveal oneself to one’s spouse, one’s close friends, and one’s employer.) Other standard matters are: formulae for dealing with ticklish situations; the support one should give to one’s own; the type of fraternization with normals that should be maintained; the kinds of prejudice against one’s own kind that one should blink at and the kinds one should openly attack. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

ImageMore standard matters include: the extent to which one should present oneself as a person as normal receiving slightly different treatment; the facts about one’s own kind one should take pride in; the facing up to one’s own differentness that one should engage in. Although the codes or lines presented to those with a particular stigma will differ among themselves, there are certain arguments, however contradictory, that are very generally agreed on.  The stigmatized person is almost always warned against attempting to pass completely. (After all, expect for the anonymous confessor, it might be difficult for anyone to advocate this tack in open print.) Too, one is generally warned against fully accepting as one’s own the negative attitudes of others towards one. One is likely to be warned against “minstrelization,” whereby the stigmatized person ingratiatingly acts out before normals the full dance of bad qualities imputed to one’s kind, thereby consolidating a life situation into a clownish role: I also learned that the physically disabled must be careful not to act differently from what people expect one to do. Above all they expect the disabled to be disabled; to be disabled and helpless: to be inferior to themselves, and they will become suspicious and insecure if the disabled falls short of these expectations. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

ImageIt is rather strange, but the disabled has to play the part of the disabled, just as many women have to be what the men expect them to be, just women; and some subordinates often have to act like clowns in from of their superiors, so that the superior shall not be frightened by competition. I once knew a person, well below average height. who was a very endearing example of this, indeed. She was very small, about four feet tall, and she was extremely well educated. In front of people, however, she was very careful not to be anything other than a tiny woman, and she played the part of the unaware well with the same mocking laughter and the same quick, funny movements that have been the characteristics of atypical people since the royal courts of the Middles Ages. Only when she was among friends, she could throw away her cap and bells and dare to be the woman she really was: intelligent, sad, and very lonely. And, contrariwise, one is usually warned against “normification” or “deminstrelization;” one is encouraged to have distaste for those of one’s fellows who, without actually making a secret of their stigma, engage in careful covering, being very careful to show that in spite of appearances they are very sane, very generous, very sober, very masculine, very capable of hard physical labour and taxing sports, in short, that they are gentlemen or gentlewomen deviants, nice persons like ourselves in spite of the reputation of their kind. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

ImageIt should be plain that these advocated codes of conduct provide the stigmatized individual not merely with a platform and a politics, and not merely with instruction as to how to treat others, but with recipes for an appropriate attitude regarding the self. To fail to adhere to the code is to be a self-deluded, misguided person; to succeed is to be both real and worthy, two spiritual qualities that combine to produce what is called “authenticity.” It should be noted that although literature on authenticity is concerned with how the individual ought to behave, and is therefore moralistic, nonetheless it is presented in the guise of dispassionate neutral analysis, since authenticity is supposed to imply a realistic reality-orientation; and in fact at this time this literature is the best source of neutral analysis concerning these identity issues.  Two implications of his advocacy might be mentioned here. First, this advice about personal conduct sometimes stimulates the stigmatized individual into becoming a critic of the social scene, an observer of human relations. One may be led into placing brackets around a spate of casual social interaction so as to examine what is contained therein for general themes. One can become “situation conscious” while normals present are spontaneously involved within the situation, the situation itself constituting for these normals a background of unattended matters. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

ImageThis extension of consciousness on the part of the stigmatized persons is reinforced, as earlier suggested, by one’s special aliveness to the contingencies of acceptance and disclosure, contingencies to which normals will be less alive. This is merely one aspect of the general tendency for stigmatized individuals to face a wide review and capsulation their life where a normal might not have to. Thus, a stigmatized person who obtains a family and job is sometimes said to have “made something out of one’s life.” Similarly, someone who marries a stigmatized person is said to have “thrown one’s life away.” All this is reinforced in some cases by the individual becoming a “case” for social workers or other welfare officers and retaining this case status for the remainder of one’s life. Secondly, advice to the stigmatized often deals quite candidly with the part of one’s life that one feels is most private and shameful; one’s most deeply hidden sores are touched on and examined in the clinical manner that is current literary fashion. Intense debates regarding personal positions can be presented in fictionalized form, along with thorough-going crises of conscience. Fantasies of humiliation and of triumph over normals can be packaged and made available. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

ImageHere the most private and embarrassing is the most collective, for the stigmatized individual’s deepest feelings are made of just the stuff that verbal and vocal members of one’s category present in a well-rounded version. And since what is available to the stigmatized is necessarily available to us, these presentations can hardly avoid raising the issue of exposure and betrayal, even though their ultimate effect is probably helpful to the situation of the stigmatized. Another subject to be broached gingerly is the idealized image. It would lead us too far afield to discuss here the conditions under which certain aspects of it can be tackled at a fairly early stage. Caution is advisable, however, since the idealized image is often the only part of the patient that is real to one. It may be, what is more, the only element that provides one with a kind of self-esteem and that keeps one from drowning in self-contempt. The individual must have gained a measure of realistic strength before one can tolerate any undermining of one’s image. To work at sadistic trends at an early period in the analysis is sure to be unprofitable. The reason lies, in part, in the extreme contrast these trends present to the idealized image. Even at a later period awareness of them often fills that individual with terror and disgust. However, there is a more precise reason for postponing this piece of analysis until the patient has become less hopeless and more resourceful. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

ImageOne cannot possibly be interested in overcoming one’s sadistic trends while one is still unconsciously convinced that vicarious living is the only thing left to one. The same guide to the timing of interpretations can be employed when its individual application depends upon the particular character structure. For example, with a patient in whom aggressive trends predominate—one who despises feelings as a weakness and acclaims everything that gives the appearance of strength—this attitude with all its implications must be worked through first. It would be a mistake to give precedence to any aspect of one’s need for human intimacy, no matter how obvious this need was to the analyst. The individual would resent any move of this kind as a threat to one’s security. One would feel that one must be on one’s guard against the analyst’s wish to make one a “goody-goody.” Only when one is much stronger will one be able to tolerate one’s tendencies toward compliance and self-effacement. With this individual one would also have to steer clear for some time of the problem of hopelessness, since one would be likely to resist admitting any such feeling. Hopelessness for one would have the connotation of loathsome self-pity and mean a disgraceful confession of defeat. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

ImageConversely, if compliant trends predominate, all the factors involved in “moving toward” people must be thoroughly worked through before any dominating or vindictive tendencies can be tackled. Again, if an individual sees oneself as a great genius or a great lover, it would be a complete waste of time to approach one’s fear of being despised and rejected, and even more futile to tackle one’s self-contempt. Sometimes the scope of what can be tackled at the beginning is very limited. This is so in particular when a high degree of externalization is combined with a rigid self-idealization—a position that will countenance no flows. If certain signs reveal this condition to the analyst, one will save much time by avoiding all interpretations that even remotely imply that the source of the individual’s trouble lies within oneself. However, it may be feasible at this period to touch on particular aspects of the idealized image, such as the inordinate demands that individual makes upon oneself. Familiarity with the dynamics of the neurotic character structure also helps the analyst to grasp more quickly and more concisely just what the individual wants to express by one’s associations and hence what ought to be dealt with at the moment. One will be able to visualize and predict from seemingly insignificant indications one whole aspect of the individual’s personality, and so can direct one’s attention to the elements to watch for. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

ImageOne’s position would be like that of the internist who, when one learns that an individual is coughing, perspiring at night, and fatigued in the late afternoon, considers the possibility of pulmonary tuberculosis and is guided accordingly in one’s examination. If, for instance, an individual is apologetic in one’s behaviour, is ready to admire the analyst, and reveals self-effacing tendencies in one’s associations, the analyst will visualize all the factors involved in “moving toward” people. One will examine the possibility of this being the individual’s predominant attitude; and if one finds further evidence one will try to work at this from every possible angle. Similarly, is an individual repeatedly talks of experiences in which one felt humiliated, and indicates that one looks upon the analysis in this light, the analyst will know that one has to tackle the individual’s fear of humiliation. And one will select for interpretation that source of the fear which at the time is most accessible. One may be able, for example, to connect it with the individual’s need for affirmation of one’s idealized image, provided parts of the image have already come to awareness. Again, if the individual shows inertia in the analytical situation and talks of feeling doomed, the analyst will have to tackle one’s hopelessness in so far as that is possible at the moment. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

ImageIf this should occur at the very beginning one may be able only to point out its meaning—namely, that the individual has given oneself up. One will then try to convey to one that one’s hopelessness does not spring from a factually hopeless situation but constitutes a problem to be understood and eventually solved. If the hopelessness appears at a later period that analyst maybe able to relate it more specifically to one’s despair of finding a way out of one’s conflicts or of ever measuring up to one’s idealized image. The suggested measures still leave ample room for the analyst’s intuition and for one’s sensitivity to what is going on in the individual. These remain valuable, even indispensable tools which the analyst should strive to develop to one’s utmost. However, the fact that intuition is employed does not mean that the procedure lies merely in the realm of “art” or that it is one where the application of common sense suffices. A knowledge of the neurotic character structure makes the deductions based upon it strictly scientific and enables the analyst to conduct the analysis in an exact and responsible fashion. Nevertheless, because of the infinite individual variations in the structure, the analyst can sometimes proceed only by trial and error. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

ImageWhen I speak of error I do not refer to such gross mistakes as imputing motivations that are alien to the individual or a failure to grasp one’s essential neurotic drives. What I have in mind is the very common error of making interpretations that the individual is not yet ready to assimilate. While gross mistakes are avoidable, the error of making premature interpretations is and always will be unavoidable. We can, however, reach a more speedy recognition of such errors if we are extremely alter to the way in which an individual reacts to an interpretation and are guided accordingly. It seems to me that too much emphasis has been placed on the fact of the individual’s “resistance”—on one’s acceptance or rejection of an interpretation—and too little on exactly what one’s reaction signifies. This is unfortunate, because it is the kind of reaction in all its detail that indicates what has to be worked through before the individual will be ready to handle the problem the analyst has pointed out. However, in contrast, the response of others to the adept’s presence is curiously opposite in kind: with a few, the finer evolved, it is beautifully comforting, exalting, pacifying, and draws their interests to one. However, with many others it acts in reverse. One’s quiet ease puts them at ill-ease; one’s self-possession disturbs them. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

ImageEither an unpleasant sense of guilt insidiously enters their feelings or one of resentment arises against someone who seems quite unlike other people, and whom they cannot therefore meet on even ground, who arouses their suspicious as being probably a fanatical religious heretic. Jesus tells us in John 4.24 that we must “worship in spirit and in truth.” Worshipping “in truth” means that we come informed by the objective revelation of God’s Word about the great God we serve and the precepts He has spoken. In this sense our worship is governed by what we know and believe of God. The better informed we are, the better we can worship. If we know and have taken to the heart passages like Genesis 1, Psalm 139, Psalm 23, the Book of Job, John 7, John 17, Roman 1-3, Revelation 19—to name a few, the better equipped we will be to worship “in truth.” This knowledge of God through his Word ought to heighten our expectations and instill healthy fear and reverence. As Annie Dillard wrote: “One the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the Catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing helmets. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

Image“Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” People, we need to fill ourselves with God’s truth so our worship will be electrified with proper reality! Paul needed grace, but he also needed the thorn of his flesh. Like us, he was susceptible to the temptation of pride, and the thorn was given to check that temptation. In fact, the Greek text, the phrase translated in the New International Version “to keep me from becoming conceited” was repeated by Paul. The King James Version picks up this repetition with the following translation of verse 7: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” As if to emphasize the need of the thorn, Paul twice stated the Lord’s purpose in giving it to him. It was to keep pride at bay. Paul was a humble man. He considered himself “less than the least of all God’s people” and the worst of sinners (Ephesians 3.8, 1 Timothy 1.15); yet he knew he was susceptible to pride, given the right circumstances. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

ImageAnd, if God has left Paul to himself, the surpassing greatness of the revelations given to him could have been the right circumstances. All of us are susceptible to pride. And pride stands in direct opposition to grace, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble,” reports James 4.6. Pride is often reflective of a self-righteous attitude. We begin to grow in the Christian life, and we see other believers who are not growing as we are. We are tempted to become proud of our spiritual growth. Or we see some Christians fall before temptation, and instead of being concerned, we become critical because of our own self-righteousness. When I heard a friend—who I considered to be very committed to Christ—was resigned from his Christian organization because he was divorcing his wife for another woman, I remember my reaction. I said to myself, How could he do such a thing? I would never do that. It seemed as if God spoke to me right then: “Oh, would you not? Do not be so confident in yourself.” I was sobered. I realized my “righteous indignation” and disappointment in my friend was accompanied by a sinful attitude of self-righteousness. Pride can manifest itself in very subtle ways. “And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard? #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

Image“Behold, I knew that all the fruit of the vineyard, save it were these, had become corrupted. And now these which have once brought forth good fruit have also become corrupted; and now all the trees of my vineyard are good for nothing save it be to be hewn down and cast into the fire. And behold this last, whose branch hath withered away, I did plant in a good spot of ground; yea, even that which was choice unto me above all other parts of the land of my vineyard. And thou beheldest that I also cut down that which cumbered this spot of ground, that I might plant this tree in the stead thereof. And thou beheldest that part thereof brought forth wild fruit; and because I plucked not the branches thereof and cast them into the fire, behold, they have overcome the good branch that it hath withered away. And now, behold, notwithstanding all the care which we have taken of my vineyard, the trees thereof have become corrupted, that they bring forth no good fruit; and these I had hoped to preserve, to have laid up fruit thereof against the season, unto mine own self. However, behold, they have become like unto the wild olive tree, and they are of no worth but to be hewen down and cast into the fire; and it grieveth me that I should lose them. However, what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

Image“Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and ii have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned. Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard? And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard—have not the branches thereof overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves. Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted? And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my vineyard, for I have done all. What could I have done more for my vineyard? However, behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the vineyard: Spare it a little longer. And the Lord said: Yea, I will spare it a little longer, for it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard. Wherefore, let us take of the branches of these which I have planted in the nethermost parts of my vineyard, and let us graft them into the tree from whence they came. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

Image“And let us pluck from the tree those branches whose fruit is most bitter, and graft in the natural branches of the tree in the stead thereof. And this will I do that the tree may not perish, that, perhaps, I may preserve unto myself the roots thereof for mine own purpose. And, behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree which I planted whithersoever I would are yet alive; wherefore, that I may preserve them also for mine own purpose, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in fruit of my vineyard. And it came to pass that they took from the natural tree which had become wild, and grafted in unto the natural trees, which also had become wild. And they also took of the natural trees which had become wild, and grafted into their mother tree. And the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Plucky not the wild branches from the trees, save it be those which are most bitter; and in them ye shall graft according to that which I have said. And we will nourish again the trees of the vineyard, and we will trim up the branches thereof; and we will pluck from the trees those branches which are ripened, that must perish, and cast them into the fire. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

Image“And this I do that, perhaps, the roots thereof may take strength because of their goodness; and because of the change of their goodness; and because of the change of their branches, that the good may overcome the evil. And because that I have preserved the natural branches and the roots thereof, and that I have grafted in the natural branches again into their mother tree, and have preserved the roots of their mother tree, that, perhaps, the trees of my vineyard my bring forth again good fruit; and that I may have joy again in the fruit; and that I may have joy again in the fruit of my vineyard, and, perhaps, that I may rejoice exceedingly that I have preserved the roots and the branches of the first fruit—wherefore, go to, and call servants, that we may labour diligently with our might in the vineyard, that we may prepare the way, that I may bring forth again the natural fruit which natural fruit is good and the most precious above all other fruit,” reports Jacob 5.41-61. May Thy spotless Body be the means of my life, and Thy holy Blood of cleansing and remission of my sins. Heavenly Father, Thou hast revealed to me myself as a mass of sin, and Thyself as the fullness of goodness, with strength enough to succour me, wisdom enough to guide me, mercy enough to quicken me, love enough to satisfy me. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

ImageThou hast shown me that because Thou art mine I can live by Thy life, be strong in Thy strength, be guided by Thy wisdom; and so I can pitch my thoughts and heart in Thee. This is the exchange of wonderful love—for me to have Thee for myself, and for Thee to have me, and to give me Thyself. There is in Thee all fullness of the good I need, and the fullness of all grace to draw me to Thyself, who, else, could never have come. However, having come, I must cleave to thee, be knit to thee, always seek thee. There is none all good as Thou art; with Thee I can live without other things, for Thou art God all-sufficient, and the glory, peace, rest, joy of the World is creaturely, perishing things in comparison with Thee. Help me to know that one who hopes for nothing but Thee, and for all things only for Thee, hopes truly, and that I must place all my happiness in holiness, if I hope to be filled with all grace. Convince me that I can have no peace at death, nor hope that I should go to Christ, unless I intend to do His will and have His fulness while I live. Thou hast given us, O Lord, sanctification by the Communion of the most holy Body and precious Blood of Thine Only-begotten Son; grant us the grace and gift of Thy Holy Spirit, and keep us unreproved in life, and lead us on to the perfect adoption and redemption, and the eternal joys to come. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20Image

MILLS STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH

Rancho Cordova, CA |

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Capture5Mills Station at Cresleigh Ranch is Rancho Cordova’s newest home community! This charming neighborhood offers an array of home types with eye catching architecture styles such as Mission, Mid-Century Modern, California Modern, and Contemporary Farmhouse.

ImageLocated off Douglas Road and Rancho Cordova Parkway, the residents of Cresleigh Ranch will enjoy, being just minutes from shopping, dining, and entertainment, and quick access to Highway 50 and Grant Line Road providing a direct route into Folsom. Residents here also benefit from no HOA fees, two community parks and the benefits of being a part of the highly-rated Elk Grove Unified School District. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-3/

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Stumped on how to keep your kids entertained now that school is out? Check out today’s blog post for some fun, easy ideas for fun all summer long! 🌞 Link in bio. https://cresleigh.com/blog/

17We thank Thee, loving Master, Benefactor of our souls, for having this say admitted us to Thy Heavenly and immortal Mysteries. Please Guide our path aright; establish us in Thy fear; please watch over our life; please make safe our goings.
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Know Your Prices, Keep Smiling, Create an Alarm–There is More than One Way to Arrive at a Redemption from Phoniness!

ImageThe doctrine that maintains that what I cannot have I must teach myself not to desire; that a desire eliminated or successfully resisted, is as good as a desire satisfied, seems to me a sublime form of the doctrine of sour grapes: What I cannot be sure of, I cannot truly want. Complex modern democratic societies the Second World War face the task of securing three public goods. These are legitimacy, economic welfare, and a viable sense of collective identity. These are “goods” in the sense that their attainment is considered worthy and desirable by most members of such societies; furthermore, not attaining one or a combination thereof would cause problems in the functioning of these societies such as to throw them into crises. These goods stand in a complex relation to one another: excessive realization of one such good may be in conflict with may jeopardize the realization of others. For example, economic welfare may be attained at the cost of sacrificing legitimacy by curtailing union rights, by limiting a more rigorous examination of business accounting practices, or by encouraging the unfair use of protectionist state measures. Too great an emphasis on collective identity may come at the cost of marginalized workers and dissidents whose civil and political rights may be impinged upon by a revival of a sense of collective identity. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

ImageThus legitimacy claims and collective identity demands, particularly if they take a nationalist tone, may come into conflict. There can also be conflicts between the claims of economic welfare and the demands of collective identity, as when excessive forms of protectionism and nationalism isolate countries in the World economic context, possibly leading to declining standards of living. Conversely, too great an emphasis on economic welfare may undermine a sense of collective identity by increasing competition among social groups and by weakening the claims of political sovereignty vis-à-vis other state. In a well-functioning democratic society the demands of legitimacy, economic welfare, and collective identity ideally exist in some form of equilibrium. The present essay is concerned with one good among others which democratic societies must attain: the good of legitimacy. I am concerned to examine the philosophical foundations of the democratic legitimacy. I will argue that legitimacy in complex democratic societies must be thought to result from the free and unconstrained public deliberation of all about matter of common concern. Thus a public sphere of deliberation about matters of mutual concern is essential to the legitimacy of democratic institutions. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

ImageDemocracy, in my view, is best understood as a model for organizing the collective and public exercise of power in the major institutions of a society on the basis of the principle that decisions affecting the well being of a collectivity can be viewed as the outcome of a procedure of free and reasoned deliberation among individuals considered as moral and political equals. Certainly any definition of essentially contested concepts like democracy, freedom, and justice is never a mere definition; the definition itself already articulates the normative theory that justifies the term. Such is the cause with the preceding definition. My understanding of democracy privileges a deliberative model over other kinds of normative considerations. This is not to imply that economic welfare, institutional efficiency, and cultural stability would not be relevant in judging the adequacy of a normative definition of democracy. Economic welfare claims and collective identity needs must also be satisfied for democracies to function over time. However, the normative basis of democracy as a form of organizing our collective life is neither the fulfillment of economic welfare nor the realization of a stable sense of collective identity. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

ImageFor just as the attainment of certain levels of economic welfare may be compatible with authoritarian political rule, so too antidemocratic regimes may be more successful in assuring a sense of collective identity than democratic ones. The practical rationality embodied in democratic institutions has a culture-transcending validity claim. This form of practical reason has become the collective and anonymous property of cultures, institutions, and traditions as a result of the experiments and experiences, both ancient and modern, with democratic rule over the course of human history. The insights and perhaps illusions resulting from these experiments and experiences are sedimented in diverse constitutions, institutional arrangements, and procedural specifics. When one think through the form of practical rationality at the core of democratic rule, Hegel’s concept of “objective Spirit” (objekiver Geist) appears to me particularly appropriate. The moral life is the perfection of spirit objective—the truth of the subjective and objective spirit itself. The failure of this latter consists—partly in having its freedom immediately in reality, in something external therefore, in a thing—partly in the abstract universality of its goodness. The failure of spirit subjective similarly consists in this, that it is, as against the universal, abstractly self-determinant in its inward individuality. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

ImageWhen these two imperfections are suppressed, subjective freedom exists as the covertly and overtly universal rational will, which is sensible of itself and actively disposed in the consciousness of the individual subject, whilst its practical operation and immediate universal actuality at the same time exist as moral usage, manner and custom—where self-conscious liberty has become nature. The consciously free substance, in which the absolute “ought” is no less an “is,” has actuality as the spirit of a nation. The abstract disruption of this spirit singles it out into persons, whose independence it, however, controls and entirely dominates from within. However, the person, as an intelligent being, feels that underlying essence to be one’s own very being—ceases when so minded to be a mere accident of it—looks upon it as one’ absolute final aim. In its actuality one sees not less an achieved present, than somewhat one brings about by one’s action—yet somewhat which without all question is. Thus, without any selective reflection, the person performs one’s duty as one’s own and as something which is; and in this necessity one has oneself and one’s actual freedom. It is the rationality intrinsic to these anonymous yet intelligible rules, procedures and practices that any attempt aiming at the reconstruction of the logic of democracies must focus upon. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

ImageThe more we realize what infinite harm neurotic conflicts inflict on the personality, the more stringent appears the need truly to resolve them. However, since, as we now understand, this cannot be done by rational decision nor by evasion nor by the exertion of will power, how can it be done? There is only one way: the conflicts can be resolved only by changing those conditions within the personality that brought them into being. This is a radical way, and a hard one. In view of the difficulties involved in changing anything within ourselves, it is quite understandable that we should scour the ground for short cuts. Perhaps that is why individuals—and others as well—so often ask: If one sees one’s basic conflict, is that enough? The answer is clearly, no. Even when the analyst—discerning quite early in the analysis just how the individual is divided—is able to help one recognize this split, the insight is of no immediate profit. It may bring a certain relief in that the individual begins o see a tangible reason for one’s troubles instead of simply being lost in a mysterious haze; but one cannot apply it to one’s life. A perception of how one’s divergent parts operate and interfere with one another makes one no les divided. One hears these facts as one hears a strange message; it seems plausible, but one cannot realize its implications for oneself. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

ImageOne is bound to invalidate the facts by manifold unconscious mental reservations. Unconsciously one will insist that the analyst is exaggerating the magnitude of one’s conflicts; that one would be quite all right if it were not for outside circumstances; that love or success would rid one of one’s distress; that one can evade one’s conflicts by keeping away from people; that though it may be true of ordinary folk that they cannot serve two masters, one with one’s unlimited powers of will and intelligence could manage to do so. Or one may feel-again unconsciously—that the analyst is a charlatan or a well-meaning fool, feigning professional cheerfulness; that one ought to know the individual is ruined beyond repair—which means that the individual responds to the analyst’s suggestions with one’s own feelings of hopelessness. Since such mental reservations point to the fact that the individual either clings to one’s particular attempts at solution—these being much more real to one than the conflicts themselves—or that one fundamentally despairs of recovery, all the attempts and all their consequences must be worked through before the basic conflict can profitably be tackled. The search for an easier road has given rise to another questions, lent weight by Dr. Freud’s emphasis on genesis: Is it enough to relate these conflicting drives—once they have been recognized—to their origins and early manifestations in the childhood situation? #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

ImageAgain the answer is, no—and again, for the most part, the same reasons apply. Even the most detailed recollection of one’s early experiences gives the individual little beyond a more lenient, ore condoning attitude toward oneself. It in no way make one’s present conflicts any less disrupting. A comprehensive knowledge of early environmental influences and the changes they effected in the child’s personality, though it has little direct therapeutic values, does have a bearing on our inquiry into the conditions under which neurotic conflicts develop. As is generally recognized, this knowledge is also of great prophylactic value. If we know what environmental factors are helpful to a child’s development and what factors delay and limit it, a way is opened to the prevention of the rank growth of neuroses in future generations. It was, after all, the changes in one’s relations with oneself and others that originally brought about the conflicts. Briefly, a child may find oneself in a situation that threatens one’s inner freedom, one’s spontaneity, one’s feeling of security, one’s self-confidence—in short the very core of one’s psychic existence. One feels isolated and helpless, and as a result one’s first attempts to relate oneself to others are determined not by one’s real feelings but by strategic necessities. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

ImageOne cannot simply like or dislike, trust or distrust, express one’s wishes or protest against those of others, but has automatically to devise ways to cope with people and to manipulate them with minimum damage to oneself. The fundamental characteristics that evolve in this way may be summarized as an alienation from the self and others, a feeling of helplessness, a pervasive apprehensiveness, and a hostile tension in one’s human relations that ranges from general wariness to definite hatred. As long as these conditions persist, the neurotic cannot possibly dispense with any of one’s conflicting drives. On the contrary, the inner necessities from which they stem become even more stringent in the course of the neurotic development. The fact that the pseudo solutions increase the disturbance in one’s relations with others and with oneself means that real solutions become less and less attainable. The goal of therapy, therefore, can only be o change the conditions themselves. The neurotic must be helped to retrieve oneself, to become aware of one’s real feelings and wants, to evolve one’s own set of values, and to relate oneself to others on the basis of one’s feelings and convictions. If we could achieve this by some magic, the conflicts would be dispelled without their having even to be touched upon. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

ImageAs there is no magic, we must know what steps have to be taken to being about the desired change. Therapy affords insight and helps the individual grow. It helps makes one more empathic and gives theory more experiential meaning. If affords more faith in one’s understanding life. The real aristocrats among those in therapy are those who have had nervous breakdowns. Everybody else is kind of “square.” Therapy can yield a fuller awareness of the extent to which one has been inauthentic in one’s everyday existence, and some help and encouragement to dare to be genuine in one’s everyday existence. This experience can also be gotten out of a good platonic relationship, probably. There is more than one way to arrive at redemption from phoniness. Such experience can enhance one’s sensitivity to phoniness, to inauthenticity in another person; and it also gives one an opportunity to be a role model of authenticity of others. Now, if you can get this courage to be authentic in some way other than therapy, so much the better; but I suspect it is rather difficult to. There may be some wise seniors who have knocked around a lot, and who have worked in every kind of work—who have cheated, lied, stolen, and sinned. They have paid the consequences of all these things #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

ImageAfter paying the consequences for their bad behaviour, on their own, they may have realized how they shortchanged themselves. They may have arrived at the authentic way, and can be regarded as natural untrained graduates of a therapeutic program. Since they have been one, they can spot phony. They are experts. They are more expert at phoniness than the others. They can help an individual grope for a way to be more genuine and at the same tie be effective in life. They can help a person realize that one does not have to be destroyed when one is genuine, that one will not inevitably be divorced, fired, or run out of town if one presents oneself as one is In 50 or 60 years, a human may discover authenticity and have some therapeutic capacity. However, a training analysis or bout of therapy may expedite this. The corporate World has a toe and heel, and each performs a different function: one delivers a service, the other collects payment for it. When an organization seeks to create demand for a service and then deliver it, it uses the smile and the soft questioning voice. Behind this delivery display, the organization’s worker is asked to feel sympathy, trust, and good will. On the other hand, when the organization seeks to collect money for what it has sold, its workers may be asked to use a grimace and the raised voice of commands. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

ImageBehind this collection display of beneficial and comforting emotions and expressions, the worker is asked to feel distrust and sometime positive bad will. Some companies assign the function of debt collecting to outside agencies in order to preserve pleasant and morally satisfying associations with the company name. The builder’s billing department explained: “We use eight or nine collection agencies around the country. No one initiates actions in this office. We prefer that the agency be the bad guy or gal and we be he nice people.” Just over 1 percent of customers do not pay their bills. After solicitations, some 40 percent pay, and 33 percent of that goes to the collection agency. In each kind of display, the problem for the worker becomes how to create and sustain the appropriate feeling. The reason for describing the polar extremes of emotional labour, as represented by a sale agent and the bill collector, is that it can give us a better sense of the great variety of emotional task required by jobs that fall in between. It can help us see how emotional labour distributes itself up and down the social classes and how parents can train children to do the emotional labour required by different jobs. Now this is tremendously important for us today as it has been in the past. Perhaps we are in a time when it is more important that ever. The prospering of God’s cause on Earth depends upon His people thinking well. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

ImageToday we are apt to downplay or disregard the importance of good thinking to strong faith; and some, disastrously, even regard thinking as opposed to faith. They do not realize that in so doing they are not honoring God, but simply yielding to the deeply anti-intellectualist currents in the New World. They do not realize that they are operating on the same satanic principle that produced the “killing fields” of Cambodia, where those with any sign of education—even the wearing of glasses—were killed on the spot or condemned to starvation and murderous labour. We too easily forget that it is great thinkers who have given direction to the people of Christ in their great moments: Paul, John, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley, to name a few. At the head of the list is Jesus Christ Himself, who was and is the most powerful thinker the World has ever known. Logical is a great design of a noble science that allows us to rescue our reasoning powers from their unhappy slavery and darkness; and thus, with all due submission and deference, it offers an humble assistance to divine revelation. Its chief business is to relieve the natural weakness of the mind by some better efforts of nature; it is to diffuse a light over the understanding in our inquiries after truth. And it renders its daily service to wisdom and virtue. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

ImageBluntly, to serve God well we must think straight; and crooked thinking, unintentional or not, always favours evil. And when the crooked thinking gets elevated into group orthodoxy, whether religious or secular, there is always, quite literally “hell to pay.” That is, hell will take its portion, as it has repeatedly done in the horrors of the World history. To take the “information” of the Scripture into a mind thinking straight under the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, by contrast, is to place our feet solidly on the high road of spiritual formation under God. “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes,” reports Psalm 19.7-8. And “Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee,” reports Psalm 119.11. “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path,” reports Psalm 119.105. “I love Thy commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem right all Thy precepts concerning everything,” reports Psalm 119.127-128. “Those who love Thy law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble,” reports Psalm 119.165. Worship does not just “happen.” Worship requires careful preparation on the part of minister and congregations. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

ImageI have experienced both side of this, and I know Sunday morning can be the worst time of the week. It is probably true that couples, especially those with young children, have more disagreements on Sunday morning than on any other day of the week. Sometimes by the time we get to church, worship is an impossibility—unless, perhaps, the sermon is on repentance! The answer to the problem begins Saturday (on Friday night for those who attend church on Saturday) preparation. (Any men who interpret the following as women’s work are wrong. Both husband and wife should share responsibility for the practical and spiritual preparations for the Lord’s Day.) It is advisable that young families have their clothing clean and laid out of Saturday (or Friday) night, and even breakfast be decided upon. The whereabouts of Bibles and lessons should be known, and even better, ought to be collected and ready. There should be an agreed-upon time to get up which leaves plenty of time to get ready for church. Going to bed at a reasonable hour is also a good idea. Spiritually, prayer about the Lord’s Day is essential—prayer for the service, the music, the pastors, one’s family and one’s self. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

ImageThe Puritans understood this well. As one of their great preachers, George Swinnock, quaintly expressed it: Prepare to meet thy God, O Christian! Betake thyself to thy chamber on the Saturday (of Friday) night. The oven of thine heart thus baked, as it were, overnight, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise. If thou wouldst thus leave thy heart with God on the Saturday (or Friday) night, thou shouldst fine it with him in the Lord’s Day morning. On Sunday (or Saturday) everyone needs to get up on time, eat at a set hour, and leave plenty early, ideally after a short time of family prayer asking that God will be glorified and speak to each family member. If you do this, Sunday (or Saturday) worship will ascend to new heights. Next you ought to come expecting to uniquely meet God in corporate worship. Congregational worship makes possible an intensity of devotion which does no as readily come in individual worship. On the tragic level, a mob tends to descend to a much deeper level of cruelty than individuals by themselves. It is also understood that the appreciation and enjoyment of an informed group of music lovers at a symphony is more intense than that of a single listener at home. This holds true for worship as well, because corporate worship provides a context where passion is joyously elevated and God’s Word comes with unique power. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

Image“At home in my own house there is no warmth or vigour in me, but in church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through,” reports Martin Luther. We must come with great expectation—for we will experience just what we expect. Anything may be found in symbol. However, how do we know that what it points to is not itself a more abstract symbol. In order to speak of symbolic knowledge one must delimit the symbolic realm by an unsymbolic statement. Were there no limit to symbolism, there would be no knowledge either. Faith would imply an indefinite progress from symbol to further symbol, without any ultimate encounter with the Unsymbolic. That is, it would be a regress, an acknowledgement of the ultimacy of despair, of the impossibility of making sense out of the human situation, of the universal fallacy of thinking that revelatory situations truly are revelatory, or revelation without content. Some argue that the human intellect is fallen, depraved, darkened, and blinded, and therefore human reason is irrelevant or suspect when it comes to becoming or growing as a Christian. Now, even if this point is granted in the case of evangelizing unbelievers, it does not follow that Christians should not use or cultivate their intellects once they become disciples. Moreover, from the fact that reasoning alone will not bring someone to Christ, it does not follow that we should not persuade or reason with people. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

ImagePreaching alone will not save people without the Spirit’s work, but will still preach and work on our messages. We should do the same thing with our use of reason in evangelism. This will is fallen and depraved too, but God still commands people to make a choice to believe. The doctrine of total depravity does not mean that the image of God is effaced, that sinners are as evil as they could possibly be, or that the intellect, emotions, and will are gone or completely useless. Rather, total depravity means that the entire person, including the intellect, has been adversely affected by the Fall and is separate from God. The sinner alone cannot extricate oneself from this condition and cannot merit God’s favour or commitment oneself to God on the basis of one’s own righteousness. Further, the entire personality is corrupt but no inoperative, and every aspect of our personality has a natural inclination to fun in ways contrary to God’s ways. However, none of this means that reason, considered itself, is bad. “Behold, my brethren, do ye not remember to have read the words of the prophet Zenos, which he spake unto this house of Israel, saying: Hearken, O ye house of Israel, and hear the words of me, a prophet of the Lord. For behold, thus saith the Lord, I will liken thee, O house of Israel, like unto a tame olive tree, which a human took and nourished in his vineyard; and it grew, and waxed old, and became to decay. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

Image“And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive three began to decay; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not. And it came to pass that he pruned it, and digged about it, and nourished it according to its word. And it came to pass that after many days it began to put forth somewhat a little, young and tender branches; but behold, the main top thereof began to perish. And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard saw it, and he said unto his servant: It grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, go and pluck off those branches which are beginning to wither away, and we will cast them into the fire hat they may be burned. And behold, saith the Lord of the vineyard, I take away many of these young and tender branches, and I will graft them whithersoever I will; and it mattereth not that if it so be that the root of this tree will perish, I may preserve the fruit thereof unto myself; wherefore, I will take these young and tender branches, and I will graft them whithersoever I will. Take thou branches of the wild olive tree, and graft them in, in the stead thereof; and these which I have plucked off I will cast into the fire and burn them, that they may not cumber the ground of my vineyard. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

Image“And it came to pass that the servant of the Lord of the vineyard did according to the word of the Lord of the vineyard, and grafted in the branches of the wild olive tree. And the Lord of the vineyard caused that is should be digged about, and pruned, and nourished, saying unto his servants: It grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, that perhaps I might preserve them unto myself the natural branches of the tree; and also that I may lay up fruit thereof against the season, unto myself; for it grieveth me that I should lose this tree and the fruit thereof. And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard went his way, and hid the natural branches of the tame olive tree in the nethermost parts of the vineyard, some in one and some in another, according to his will and pleasure. And it came to pass that a long time passed away, and the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: Come, let us go down into the vineyard, that we may labour in the vineyard. And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard, and also the servant, went down into the vineyard to labour. And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: Behold, look here; behold the tree. And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard looked and beheld the tree in the which the wild olive branches had been grafted: and it had sprung forth and begun to bear fruit. And he beheld that it was good; and the fruit thereof was like unto the natural fruit. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

Image“And he said unto the servant: Behold, the branches of the wild have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof the wild branches have brought forth tame fruit. Now, if we had not grafted these branches, the tree therefore would have perished. And now, behold, I shall lay up much fruit, which the tree thereof I shall lay up against the season, unto mine own self. And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Come, le us go to the nethermost part of the vineyard and behold if the natural branches of the tree have not brought forth much fruit also, that I make lay up of the fruit thereof against the season, unto mine own. And it came to pass that they went forth whither the master had hid the natural branches of the tree, and he said unto the servant: Behold these; and he beheld the first that it had brought forth much fruit; and he beheld also that it was good. And he said unto the servant: Take of the fruit thereof, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self; for behold, said he, this long time have I nourished it, and it hath brought for much fruit,” reports Jacob 5.1.20. O Taste and see how good the Lord is Alleluia. Bless the Lord in the Heavens, Alleluia. Bless Him in the highest, Alleluia. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

ImageBless the Lord, all ye Angels of His, Alleluia. Bless Him, all His host, Alleluia. What blessings or thanksgiving can we offer for this Sacrament? Thee only, O Jesus, do we bless, with the Father and the most Holy Spirit, now and forever. Blessed Creator, Thou hast promised Thy beloved sleep: Please give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow’s toil; if dreams be mine, let them not be tinged with evil. Let Thy Spirit make my time of repose a blessed temple of His holy presence. May my frequent lying down make me familiar with death, the bed I approach remind me of the grace, the eyes I now close picture to me their final closing. Keep me always ready, waiting for admittance to Thy presence. Weaken my attachment to Earthly things. May I hold life loosely in my hand, knowing that I receive it on condition of its surrender; as pain and suffering betoken transitory health, may I not shrink from a death that introduces me to the freshness of eternal youth. I retire this night in full assurance of one day awaking with Thee. All glory for this precious hope; for the gospel of grace, for thine unspeakable gift of Jesus, for the fellowship of the Trinity. Withhold not Thy mercies in the night season; Thy hand never weariness, Thy power needs no repose, Thine eye never sleeps. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

ImageHelp me when I helpless lie, when my conscience accuses me of sin, when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts, when my eyes are held awake by person anxieties. Show Thyself to me as the God of all grace, love and power; Thou hast a balm for every wound, a solace for all anguish, a remedy for every pain, a peace for all disquietude. Permit me to commit myself to Thee awake or asleep. “For, as I have often old you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on Earthly things. However, our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to being everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body, reports Philippians 3.18-21. Chris is administering the Bread of the Saints and the Cup of life for remissions of sins. Thou art Christ our Lord and Saviour, Who wast born of the Virgin Mary. While we receive this most holy Cup, please deliver us from all sin. The Spiritual dispeller of darkness, the Spiritual Father is not only holy Himself but is also an experienced teacher of the way to holiness for others. One who takes upon oneself the task of guiding disciples should possess sure-footed experience gained by years of work with the most varied kinds of apprentices. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23Image

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Avenge the Patriotic Gore that Flecked the Streets of Baltimore, And by the Battle-Queen of Yore, Maryland!

ImageThe true mentor will possess a penetrating insight into one’s pupil’s needs. Such a guru seeks neither money nor personal power. One will be able to perceive from what source a person draws one’ life, whether from the impulsion of the ego or from the inspiration of God. The instantaneous and adequate nature of one’s replies to all questions shows a deeper understanding than the merely intellectual, hence must be intuitive, inspirational, or realizational. On such a basis a human’s fitness for guruship becomes more evident. The role of spiritual guide involves a code of ethics, a special moral responsibility on the part of the guide. The appellation of spiritual teacher should be given only to one who not only can communicate the spiritual truth intellectually but who also lives it fully. The teacher must not only provide instruction; one must also set an example of how to live and act in the World, and one must not only do both of these but one must also provide a profounder influence than other humans by virtue of one’s own attainment, as telepathically revealed by one’s mere presence. The perfect teacher is one who lives up to the teaching itself. The semi-perfect one tries to live up to the teaching. The imperfect one does not even try: avoid one. Actions, deeds, are the final test of the spiritual human or guru. The life one leads must be a pattern. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

ImageThe spiritual guide who ask one’s disciples to practise self-discipline and remodel their characters, will seem to them to be offering impossible counsels of perfection unless one oneself is willing to do or has already done what one asks. However sound one’s theoretical guidance may be, it will fail in persuasive power to the extent that it is not at one with one’s own experience. Whatever help one can give through teaching is limited on the other person’s side by both ability to understand and willingness to receive it. One can give a human no other Grace then this, to point out the way to God. However, there is none better. One seeks to bring humans back to the memory of one’s true native land. There is no room for such a human in rigid official Worlds. One could not even influence, let alone save, such a society. At best one can make some people more fully conscious of what they already dimly feel: that civilization is in danger and its leaders half-bankrupt; that society is sick unto death; that the individual needs spiritual help to endure and grapple with the depressing situation in which one finds oneself. What chance has the individual spiritual educator to continue one’s work when public and government alike accept the false suggestion that only through large organized groups and recognized traditional institutions can people be correctly led? #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

ImageThe end of such a trend can only be as it has been in the past—monopoly, dictational religion, centralized tyrannical power, heresy-hunting persecution, and the death of individualism, which means the death of truth. Jesus was an individualists. One prefers to remain unrecognized for what ne genuinely is so that others will not even suspect one’s true status—unless one deliberately wishes them to be made aware in order to help them in a special way. Unless one has been invested with a special mission to speak or write to the World, the authentically illumined human will not publicly announce the fact for one’s illumination. Anyone who does is an impostor. We may turn over the multitudes of tomes in which the opinions of human lie locked up, but the self-actualized will tell us more Truth in a day than we are likely to learn from all that huge mass of speculation. If World history show little if any ethical progress on the part of humanity, are the self-actualized to be blamed as futile? No. That merely shows the intractability of the human material they are working on, for their lives are given to doing whatever they can. They are not miracle humans. The best help one can give is to put a human upright on one’s own feet by helping one get one’s own experience of the glimpse. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

ImageThe human will then know that God really exists, that one’s own inner being is connected with God, and that one can draw upon this connection for moral strength and personal guidance, mental peace and spiritual knowledge. We have already seen that a revelatory situation is revelatory insofar as it permits an awareness of the Unconditional as perceived through, underneath, and beyond the many elements that constitute the concrete situation. There is no revelation without a concrete setting. And a concrete setting is not revelatory unless it point beyond itself, to an eternal abyss, ground and meaning. This is to say that in the existential experience of the Unconditional, the human and cosmic elements, whose convergence have formed the situation in question, are perceived as symbolic of their eternal ground. The Unconditioned makes itself known through symbolic situations. In other words, it reaches us through symbols. The symbol belongs to the World of appearances. It may be literally anything. For anything which has been involved in a concrete experience of the Unconditional may retain, for the mind which has known it in the fire of communion with being-itself, a flavour of remembrance. It has kept the power of reminding us of that experience. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

ImageIt has been endowed with a sort of secondary revelatory power; and whenever we meet this symbol, we shall be thrown back into the revelatory constellation hat once connected with this particular symbol. This is the main use of the word symbol: it denotes the elements that have been associated with a revelation and that have retained some of the revelatory power then manifested. A second use of the term follows. We cannot speak of the Unconditional directly. Even to say “Unconditional” is to see it as a contrasted with the conditional, and this conditions the content of the word “Unconditional.” There is no way of expressing the ultimate ground of being unless we use symbolic terms. The terms are understood as pointers to, not as copies of, reality. God does not mean a God, but points to a realm where “a” is meaningful, beyond singular and plural; as Unconditional, one is neither subject of the verb “to be” nor object of the verb “to know,” but one is beyond object and subject. It is highly symbolic language which must be used at this point. However, its symbolic character foes not diminish its truth; on the contrary, it is a condition of its truth. To speak unsymbolically about being-itself falsifies the real situation. Our knowledge of God is derived from the perfections which flow from Him to creatures, which perfections are in God in a more eminent way than in creatures. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

ImageNow our intellect apprehends them as they are in creatures, and as it apprehends them it signifies them by names. Therefore as names, which are symbols, are applied to God, the perfections which they signify, such as goodness, life and the like, and their mode of signification. As regards to what is signified by these names, they belong properly to God, and more properly than they belong to creatures, and are applied primarily to Him. However, as regard their mode of signification, they do not properly and strictly apply to God; for their mode of signification applies to creatures. Spiritual formation requires thinking. The Gospel of Jesus directly repudiates all false information about God and, therewith, about the meaning of human life; and it works to undermine the power of those ideas and images that structure life away from God. However, for it to have this effect we must use our ability to think. What is thinking? It is the activity of searching out what must be true, or cannot be true, in the light of given facts or assumptions. It extends the information we have and enables us to see the “larger picture”—to see it clearly and to see it wholly. And it undermines false or misleading ideas and images as well. It reveals their falseness to those who wish to know it. It is a powerful gift of God to be used in the service of truth. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

ImageHere is Paul thinking under inspiration: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” reports Romans 8.31-32. Here is Martin Luther thinking and standing in the power of God before his examiners at Worms: “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscious is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” The earliest printed version of his statement added the famous words: “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.” And so we must apply our thinking to and with the Word of God. We must thoughtfully take that Word in, dwell upon it, ponder its meaning, explore its implications—especially as it relates to our own lives. What are we to do in the light of the facts of the gospel and the revelation of God and of human destiny contained in the Bible? We must “pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it,” reports Hebrews 2.1. We must thoughtfully put it into practice. We must seek the Lord by devoting our powers of thinking to understanding the facts and information in the gospel. This is the primary way of focusing our minds on him, setting him before us. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

ImageWhen we focus our minds on God, in doing so we will be assisted by God’s grace in ways far beyond anything we can understand on our own; and the ideas and images that governed the life of Christ through his thought life will possess us. However, two factors—self-contempt and anxiety—are largely responsible for the repression of sadistic impulses. The thoroughness and depth of repression vary. Often the destructive impulses are merely kept from awareness. By and large it is astonishing how much sadistic behaviour can be lived out without the individual’s knowing it. One is conscious only of occasional desires to mistreat a weaker person, of being excited when one reads about sadistic acts, or of having come obviously sadistic fantasies. However, these sporadic glimpses remain isolated. The bulk of what one does to others in one’s daily behaviour is for the most part unconscious. One numbness of feeling for oneself and others is one factor that blurs the issue; until this is dispelled one cannot emotionally experience what one does. Besides, the justifications brought to bear to conceal the sadistic trends are often clever enough to deceive not only the sadistic person oneself but even those affected by them. We must not forget that sadism is an end stage of a severe neurosis. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

ImageAnd because sadism is a neurosis, the kind of justification employed will depend upon the structure of the particular neurosis from which the sadistic trends stem. The complaint type, for instance, will enslave the partner under the unconscious pretense of love. One’s demands will be attributed to one’s needs. Because one is so helpless or so apprehensive or so ill, the partner should do things for one. Because one cannot be alone, the partner should always be with one. One’s reproaches will be expressed indirectly by one’s demonstrating, unconsciously, how much others make one suffer. The aggressive type expresses sadistic trends quite undisguisedly—which, however, does not mean that one is any more aware of them. One has no hesitation in showing one’s discontent, one’s scorn, and one’s demands but feels that, besides being entirely justified, one is simply being frank. One will also externalize one’s lack of regard for others and the fact that one exploits them, and will intimidate them by telling them in no uncertain terms how much they abuse one. The detached person is singularly unobtrusive in expressing sadistic trends. One will frustrate others in a quiet way, making them feel insecure by one’s readiness to withdraw, conveying the impression that they are cramping or disturbing one, and taking secret delight in letting them make fools of themselves. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

ImageHowever, sadistic impulses can be much more deeply repressed, and then give rise to what might be called an inverted sadism. What happens here is that the person so greatly fears one’s impulses that one leans over backward to keep them from being revealed to oneself or others. One will shun everything that resembles assertion, aggression, or hostility and as a result will be profoundly and diffusely inhibited. To lean over backward from enslaving others is to be incapable of giving any order, much less of assuming a position of responsibility or leadership. It makes for overcaution in exerting influence or giving advice. It involves the repression of even the most legitimate jealousy. A good observer will merely notice that the person gets a headache, a stomach ailment, or some other symptom when things do not go one’s way. Leaning over backward from exploiting others brings self-effacing tendencies to the fore. It shows in not daring to express any wish—not daring even to have a wish; in not daring to rebel against abuse or even to feel abused; in tending to regard the expectations or demands of others as better justified or more important then one’s own; in preferring to be exploited rather than assert one’s own. Such a person is between the devil and the deep blue sea. One is frightened of one’s impulses to exploit but despises oneself for one’s unassertiveness, which one registers as cowardice. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

ImageAnd when one is exploited—as will naturally happen—one is caught in an unsolvable dilemma and may react with a depression or some functional symptom. Similarly, instead of frustrating others one will be overanxious not to disappoint them, to be considerate and generous. One will go to great lengths to avoid anything that could conceivably hurt their feelings or in any way humiliate them. One will intuitively find something “nice” to say—an appreciative remark, for instance, that will heighten their self-confidence. One tends automatically to take blame on oneself and will be profuse in one’s apologies. If one must make a criticism one will make it in the mildest possible form. Even when others grossly abuse one, one will show nothing but “understanding.” However, at the same time one is hypersensitive to humiliation and suffers excruciatingly under it. The sadistic play on emotions, when deeply repressed, may give place o a feeling that one is powerless to attract anyone. Thus a person may honestly believe—often in spite of good evidence to the contrary—that one is unattractive to the opposite gender, that one has to content oneself with the crumbs. To speak in this case of a feeling of inferiority is merely to use another word for what the person is conscious of anyhow, and what may simply be an expression of one’s self-contempt. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

ImageHowever, of relevance here is the fact that the notion of unattractiveness may be an unconscious recoil from the temptation of playing the exciting game of conquering and rejecting. During analysis it may gradually become clear that the individual has unconsciously falsified the whole picture of one’s love relations. And a curious change will take place: the “ugly Peking duckling” becomes aware of one’s desire and capacity to attract people, but turns against them with indignation and contempt as soon as they take one’s advances seriously. The consequent personality picture is deceptive and difficult to evaluate. Its similarity to the compliant type is striking. As a matter of fact, while the overtly sadistic person ordinarily belongs to the aggressive type, the inverted sadist began, as a rule, by developing predominately complaint trends. The likelihood is that one was especially hard hit and crushed into submission in childhood. One may have falsified one’s feelings, and, instead of rebelling against the oppressor, turned to loving one. As one grew older—perhaps around puberty—the conflicts because unbearable and one took refuge in detachment. However, when confronted with failure one could no longer stand the isolation of one’s ivory tower. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

ImageLooking to escape the ivory tower, one then seemingly revered to one’s former dependence, but with this difference: one’s need for affection became so desperate that one was willing to pay any price not to be left alone. At the same time one’s chances of finding affection were diminished because one’s need for detachment—which was still present—constantly interfered with one’s desire to attach oneself to someone. Worn out by this struggle, one becomes hopeless and developed sadistic tendencies. However, one’s need for people was so insistent that one had not only to repress one’s sadistic trends but to learn over backward to conceal them. Being with others is, in this event, a strain—though one may not realize it. One tends to be stilted and shy. One must constantly play a role that is contrary to one’s sadistic impulses. It is only natural that one oneself should think one is really found of people; and it comes as a shock to one when in analysis one wakes up to the fact that one has very little feeling for them at all, or at least is quite uncertain what one’s feelings are. At this point one is inclined to take this apparent lack for an unalterable fact. However, actually one is merely in process of relinquishing one’s pretense of positive feelings, and unconsciously prefer to feel nothing rather than face one’s own sadistic impulses. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

ImageA positive feeling for others can only begin to develop when one recognizes those impulses and starts to overcome them. There are certain elements in the picture, however, that to the trained observer will indicate the presence of sadistic trends. To begin with, here is always some insidious way in which one can be seen to intimidate, exploit, and frustrate others. There is usually a perceptible though unconscious contempt for others, superficially attributed to their lower moral standards. In addition, there are a number of incongruities which point to sadism. The person, for instance, may sometimes put up with sadistic behaviour directed at oneself with apparently limitless patience but at other times show hypersensitivity to the slightest domination, exploitation, or humiliation. Finally, one gives the impression of being “masochistic”—namely, of indulging in feeling victimized. However, since the term and the concept behind it are misleading, it is better to steer away from it and describe instead the element involved. Being pervasively inhibited in asserting oneself, the inverted sadist will in any case be readily abused. However, in addition, because one chafes under one’s own weakness, one is often actually attracted to openly sadistic persons, at once admiring and abhorring them—just as the latter, sensing in one a willing victim, are attracted to one. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

ImageThus one puts oneself in the way of exploitation, frustration, and humiliation. Far from enjoying such maltreatment, however, one suffers under it. What it gives one is an opportunity to live out one’s own sadistic impulses through someone else, without having to face one’s own sadism. One can feel innocent and morally indignant—while hoping at the same time that someday one will get the better of the sadistic partner and triumph over one. Dr. Freud observed the picture I describe but vitiated one’s findings with unwarranted generalizations. In fitting them into the frame of one’s whole philosophy, he took them as proof that no matter how good a person is on the surface, one is inherently destructive. Actually, the condition is particular outgrowth of a particular neurosis. We have come a long way from the point of view that regards a sadistic person as a pervert in regards to pleasures of the flesh or that uses elaborate terminology to say one is mean and vicious. The perversions in the pleasures of the flesh are comparatively rare. When they are present they are merely one expression of a general attitude toward others. The destructive trends are undeniable; but when we understand them we see a suffering human being behind the apparently inhuman behaviour. With this we open the possibility of reaching such a human being by therapy. We find one a desperate individual who seeks restitution for a life that has defeated one. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

ImageTherefore, we ought to worship God for the promise of God’s presence. We all know God is everywhere—He is omnipresent—and that He has promised us, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” reports Hebrews 13.5. Nevertheless, He has given the Church the unique promise that “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them,” reports Matthew 18.20. That means that God’s presence is with us in a very special way when we assemble to focus on Him. The sense of Christ’s presence will bring a great blessing to a community, which ultimately results in some people establishing Bible studies. If we would just let the truth sink in, think what such an awareness of Christ’s presence would do to corporate worship of the confessing Church. One thing is for sure, discrimination, violence, riots, and crimes would cease in cathedral and chapel alike! Humans, when we meet for corporate worship, Chris is in our midst. He walks among the glowing lampstands of His churches (Revelation 1.20). He treads yacht and spirit and truth. He desires our praise. This being the highest priority, we must answer truthfully: do we worship as God desires? All the prophets worshipped the Father in the name of Christ—Abraham’s offering of Isaac was in similitude of God and His Only Begotten—Humans should reconcile themselves to God through the Atonement—the Jews will reject the foundation stone. About 544-421 Before Christ. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

Image“Now behold, I came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I  cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain; but whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers—now in his thing we do rejoice; and we labour diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents. For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before His coming; and not only we ourselves has a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us. Behold, they believed in Christ and worshipped the Father in His name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and His Only Begotten Son. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

Image“Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea. Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by His grace, and His great condescensions unto the children of humans, that we have power to do these things. Behold, great and marvelous are the words of the Lord. How unsearchable are he depths of the mysteries of one; and it is impossible that humans should find out all His ways save it be revealed unto them; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. For behold, by the power of His word humans came upon the face of the Earth, which Earth was created by the power of His word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the World was, and to speak and humans were created, O then, why no able to command the Earth, or the work-personship of one’s hands upon the face of it, according to His will and pleasure? Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from His hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that He counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all His works. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

Image“Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto one through the atonement of Christ, His Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits, and obtained a good hope of glory in Him before He manifesteth Himself in the flesh. And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of a resurrection and the World to come? Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of humans; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. However, behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old. However, behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away His plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

Image“And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation. However, behold, according to the scriptures, this stone shall become the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation, upon which the Jews can build. And now, my beloved, how is it possible that these, after having rejected the sure foundation, can ever build upon it, that it may become the head of their corner? Behold, my beloved brethren, I will unfold this mystery unto you; if I do not, by any means, get shaken from my firmness in the Spirit, and stumble because of my over anxiety for you,” reports Jacob 4.1-18. We are guilty, O Father Almighty, through our frequent sins, guilty through the neglect of Thy graces. However, from these trespasses of our guilty conscience the Sacrifice of Thine Only Son, offered up to Thee with His Blood, hath cleansed us. And it may also be our succour when we offend after being redeemed, since even until the final day of doom it bestows the grace of repentance on those who do not sin against the Spirit. So may He Who for our redemption made Himself an Advocate with the Father, be Himself the Pleader for our iniquities, even Christ our Lord and eternal Redeemer. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

ImageBe reconciled, we pray Thee, unto sinners by the Blood of the Righteous One; acknowledge the Victim by Whose intervention Thou hast been propitiated: and receive as Thine adopted children those whose Father Thou hast become through grace. Heavenly Father, my faith in in Thee, my expectation is from Thee, my love goes out toward Thee, I believe Thee, accept Thy word, acquiesce in Thy will, rely on Thy promises, trust Thy providence. I bless Thee that the court of conscience proves me to be Thine. I do not need signs and wonders to believe, for Thy word is sure truth. I have cast my anchor in the port of peace, knowing that present and future are in nail-pierced hands. Thou art so good, wise, just holy, that no mistake is possible to Thee. Thou art fountain and source of all law; what Thou commandest is mine to obey. I yield to Thy sovereignty all that I am and have; do Thou with me as Thou wilt. Thou hast given me silence in my heart in pace of murmurings and complaints. Keep my wishes from growing into willings, my willings from becoming fault-finding with Thy providences, and have mercy on me please. If I sin and am rebellious, please help me to repent; then take away my mouring and give me music; remove my sackcloth and adorn me with beauty; please take away my sighs and fill my mouth with songs; and when I am restored and rest in Thee, give me Summer weather in my heart. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21Image

BRIGHTON STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH

Rancho Cordova, CA |

Now Selling!

ImageBrighton Station at Cresleigh Ranch is Rancho Cordova’s newest home community! This charming neighborhood offers an array of home types with eye catching architecture styles such as Mid-Century Modern, California Modern, Prairie, and Contemporary Farmhouse. There is currently a $30,000.00 incentive on this home, and an addtional $5,000.00 for using one of their prefeered lenders.

ImageLocated off Douglas Road and Rancho Cordova Parkway, the residents of Cresleigh Ranch will enjoy, being just minutes from shopping, dining, and entertainment, and quick access to Highway 50 and Grant Line Road providing a direct route into Folsom. Residents here also benefit from no HOA fees, two community parks and the benefits of being a part of the highly-rated Elk Grove Unified School District. https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/move-in-ready-home-site-84/

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We Hold these Truths to be Self-Evident that All Humans are Created Equal!

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It is the basic, metaphysical fact of human’s nature—the connection between their survival and their use of reason—that capitalism recognizes and protects. America’s abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free people who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortune. They did not starve the people to pay for America’s industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages and more cost efficient goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance—and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering every step of the way. Capitalism and egalitarianism plainly protect rights to fair terms of cooperation and labour. With people having capitalistic impulses, they have their rights peacefully to pursue their own interests. They may wish to invest, retain and bequeath in economic domains. We are indeed driven, by egalitarian impulses, of a perfectly understandable sort, to protect the egalitarian right to fair terms of cooperation and the enhanced liberty that that brings. However, in any society at all, we live in a World in which there will be some restriction or other, on our rights peacefully, to pursue our interests without interference. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

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Part of these restriction are to protect us and also to make sure that society remains rational. I cannot lecture in Albanian or even in French in a standard philosophy class at the University of Calgary, I cannot jog naked on most beaches, borrow a book from your library or read your email without your permission, fish in your trout pond without your permission, take your dog for a walk without your say so and the like. At least some of these things have been thought to be things which I might peacefully pursue in my own interest. Stopping me from doing them is plainly interfering with my peaceful pursuit of my own interests. And indeed it is an infringement on liberty, an interference with my doing what I may want to do. However, for at least many of these activities, and particularly the ones having to do with property, right-wing libertarians think that such interference is perfectly justified, even though they plainly constitute a restriction on individual freedom, because without law and order, no one would be safe, and there would be total chaos, like you see right now with the rioting, and wrongful deaths. Therefore, many restrictions are hardly felt as restrictions on freedom, as in the attitudes of many people toward them believe they are safeguards to freedom and gainful employment. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

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The restrictions on liberty preferred by egalitarianism and capitalism are justified, of the various alternatives, for they give us both the most extensive and the most abundant system of liberty possible in modern conditions with their thorough protection of the right to fair terms of participation in the system. Capitalism protects us from the past, the way this nation was born, it protects our civil liberties and these liberties are, of course, our most basic liberties. These are the liberties which are the most vital for us to protect. We have unrestricted liberties to invest, retain and bequeath in the economic realm and we have unrestricted freedom to buy and sell. Theses freedoms strengthen rather than weaken our total system of liberty. If we let power run free this way, through hard work, education, and investment everyone has an opportunity to build wealth and this enhances human well-being and indeed makes for a firmer entrenchment of basic liberties and for their greater extension globally. More people are able to do what they want, and have a greater control over their own lives, in a capitalistic World order with its egalitarian commitments. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

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Our society is also currently in the redistribution business. We have entitlement programs that provide affordable housing, medical benefits, retirement benefits, disability insurance, welfare and food assistance for those who cannot provide for themselves. Yet, we do not have a welfare state because people are encouraged to work and have a desire to work. This desire and incentive to work is fueled by our need of autonomy and economic prosperity. Everyone wants new things, such as big houses in Cresleigh Ranch, an Ultimate Driving Machine, saving and retirement accounts and that is because they believe in the American Dream, which is a religious doctrine. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will no be dependent on anybody,” reports 1 Thessalonians 4.11-12. And that is why, during this COVID-19 crisis, many Americans are fighting to reopen the country. They are able to work and feel that sitting idle has stripped them of their heritage, identity and religious obligations. We love and will the World as an immediate, spontaneous totality. We will the World, create it by our decisions, our fiat, our choice; and we love it, give it affect, energy, power to love and change us as we mold and change it. This is what it means to be fully related to one’s World. We do not wish the cutting one person down to size in order to bring about that person’s equality with another person who was in a previously disadvantageous position. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

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Taking wealth from someone who has worked for it and redistributing it to others who have not earned it is morally objectionable and it would indeed be deeply morally objectionable in many circumstances. We should not confiscate the property of capitalist because they pay their taxes to support the government, which funds welfare and entitlement programs and public works project. Taxes, when they are reasonable, certainly protects more liberties and more significant liberties than anyone can imagine. However, the inheritance tax should totally be eliminated. No one should be taxed on their legacy, which already has been taxed, it is double taxation. Capitalism is really beneficial. If people have talents, they will want to use them. And if they use them, they are very likely to come out ahead. Coming out ahead means being paid well for the use of our talents. Talents can be recognized and acknowledged in many ways. First, in just the respect and admiration of fine employment of aptitudes that would naturally come from people seeing them so displayed where these people were not twisted by envy; by having these natural gifts, interesting and secure work that their talents fit them for and they merit in virtue of those talents. Capitalism allows for an abundant society because it rewards people for their work and efforts. Recall that in such a society of abundance everyone will be well off and secure. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

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People are not going to worry about being a little better than someone else since everyone is provided with equal opportunity to achieve their desires. The talented are in no way, in such a situation, robbed to help the untalented, less affluent and disadvantaged. No one is prevented from amassing wealth. The moral authority for capitalism believes that the interest of everyone matter and matter equally, and it comes from its being the case that is it required by the moral point of view. In life there are two types of identity, which are social and personal identity. Both types of identity can be better understood by bracketing the together and contrasting them to what is called “ego” or “felt” identity, namely, the subjective sense of one’s own situation and one’s own continuity and character that an individual comes to obtain as a result of one’s various social experiences. Social and personal identity are part, first of all, of other persons’ concerns and definitions regarding the individual whose identity is in question. In the case of personal identity, these concerns and definitions can arise even before one is born and continue after one has been buried, existing, then, at time when the individual oneself can have no feelings at all, let alone feelings of identity. On the other hand, ego identity is first f all a subjective, reflexive matter that necessarily must be felt by the individual whose identity is at issue. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

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Thus, when a criminal uses an alias one is detaching oneself from one’s personal identity; when one retains the original initials or some other aspect of one’s ego identity. Of course, the individual constructs one’s image of oneself out of the same materials from which others first construct a social and personal identification of one, but one exercises important liberties in regard to what one fashions. There is, for example, a well-known tendency for a person to self-rate the prestige of one’s occupation higher than do those who are otherwise employed. The concept of social identity allowed us to consider stigmatization. The concept of personal identity allowed us to consider the role of information control in stigma management. The idea of ego identity allows us to consider what the individual may feel about stigma and its management, and leads us to give special attention to the advice one is given regarding these matters. Given that the stigmatized individual in our society acquires identity standards which one applies to oneself in spite of failing to conform to them, it is inevitable that one will feel some ambivalence about one’s own self. Some expression of this ambivalence have already been described in connection with the oscillation of identification and association the individual exhibits regarding one’s fellow-stigmatized. Other expressions can be cited. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

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The stigmatized individual exhibits a tendency to stratify one’s “own” according to the degree to which their stigma is apparent and obtrusive. One can then take up in regard to those who are more evidently stigmatized than oneself the attitudes the normals take to one. Thus do the hard of hearing stoutly see themselves as anything but deaf persons, and those with defective vision, anything but blind. It is in one’s affiliation with, or separation from, one’s more evidently stigmatized fellows, that the individual’s oscillation of identification is most sharply marked. Linked with this self-betraying kind of stratification is the issues of social alliances, namely, whether the individual’s choice of friends, dates, and spouse will be held to one’s own group or occur “across the line.” A visually impaired girl expresses the matter: “Once—a few years ago—I thought that I would much rather go out with a sighted man than with a blind man. However, I have dates off and on, and slowly my feelings about this have changed. I value the understanding of the blind for the bind, and now I could respect a blind man for his own qualities and be glad for the understanding he could give me. Some of my friends are sighted and some are blind. This, somehow, seems to me the way it ought to be—I cannot understand regulating human relations one way or another. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

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Presumably the more allied the individual is with normals, the more one will see oneself in non-stigmatic terms, although there are contexts in which the opposite seems true. Whether closely allied with one’s own kind or not, the stigmatized individual may exhibit identity ambivalence when one obtains a close sight of one’s own kind behaving in a stereotype way, flamboyantly or pitifully acting out the negative attributes imputed to them. The sight may repel one, since after all one supports the norms of the wider society, but one’s social and psychological identification with these offenders holds one to what repels one, transforming repulsion into shame, and then transforming ashamedness itself into something of which one is ashamed. In brief, one can neither embrace one’s group nor let it go. (The phrase “concern with in-group purification” is used to describe the efforts of stigmatized persons not only to “normify” their own conduct but also to clean up the conduct of others in the group.) This ambivalence seems to be found most acutely in the process of “nearing,” that is, of the individual’s coming close to an undesirable instance of one’s own kind while “with” a normal. It is only to be expected that this identity ambivalence will receive organized expression in the written, talked, acted, and otherwise presented materials of representatives of the group. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

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Thus, in the published and stage-performed humor of the stigmatized is to be found a special kind of irony. Cartoons, jokes, and folk tales display unseriously the weakness of a stereotypical member of the category, even while this half-hero is made to guilelessly outwit a normal of imposing status. The serious presentations of the representatives can exhibit a similar ambivalence, telling of a similar self-alienation. The sadistic person, as we have seen one thus far, is one who because one feels excluded and doomed runs amok, venting one’s rage at others in blind vindictiveness. And we understand, now, that by making others miserable one seeks to alleviate one’s own misery. However, this can hardly be the whole explanation. The destructive aspects alone do not explain the absorbing passion characteristic of so many sadistic pursuits. There must be some more beneficial gains, gains that for the sadistic person are of vital importance. This statement might seem to contradict the assumption that sadism is an outgrowth of hopelessness. How can a hopeless person hope for something and go after it, what is more, with such consuming energy? The fact is, however, that from a subjective standpoint there is considerable to be gained. In degrading others one not only allays one’s intolerable self-contempt but at the same time gives oneself a feeling of superiority. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

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When one molds the lives of others one not only gains a stimulating feeling of power over them but also finds a substitute meaning for one’s life. When one exploits others emotionally one provides a vicarious emotional life for oneself that lessens one own sense of barrenness. When one defeats others one wins a triumphant elation which obscures one’s own hopeless defeat. This craving for vindictive triumph is probably one’s most intense motivating force. All one’s pursuits serve as well to gratify one’s hunger for thrills and excitement. A healthy, well-balanced person does not need such thrills. The more mature one is the less does one care for them. However, the emotional life of the sadistic person is empty. Almost all feelings except those of anger and triumph have been choked off. One is so dead that one needs these sharp stimuli to feel alive. Last but not least, one’s sadistic dealings with others provide one with a feeling of strength and pride which reinforce one’s unconscious feeling of strength and pride which reinforce one’s unconscious feeling of omnipotence. During analysis an individual’s attitude towards one’s sadistic trends undergoes profound changes. When one first becomes aware of them, one is likely to assume a critical attitude toward them. However, one’s implied rejection is now wholehearted; it is rather a matter of giving lip service to current standards. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

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Intermittently one may have spells of self-loathing. At a later period, however, when one is on the verge of relinquishing one’s sadistic way of living, one may suddenly feel that one is about to lose something precious. One may then for the first time consciously experience elation at being able to do with others as one pleases. One may express concern lest analysis turn one into a contemptible weakling. And again, as so often in analysis, the individual’s concern is subjectively warranted: bereft of one’s own power to make other serve one’s emotional needs one sees oneself as a wretched and helpless creature. In time one will realize that the feeling of strength and pride one derived from being sadistic is a poor substitute. It was precious to one only because real strength and real pride were unattainable. When we are away of the nature of these gains we see that there is no contradiction in the statement that a hopeless persona may be frantically searching for something. However, it is not greater freedom or greater self-fulfillment that one expects to find: all that goes to make up one’s hopelessness remains unchained, and one does not count on changing it. What one pursues are substitutes. The emotional gains are achieved by living vicariously. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

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To be sadistic means to live aggressively and for the most part destructively, through other persons. However, this is the only way a person so utterly defeated can live. The recklessness with which one pursues one’s goals is the recklessness born of despair. Having nothing to lose, one can only gain. In this sense sadistic strivings have a beneficial goal and must be regarded as an attempt at restitution. The reason why the goal is so passionately pursued is that in triumphing over others the sadistic person is able to remove one’s own abject sense of defeat. The destructive elements inherent in these strivings cannot, however, remain without repercussions on the individual oneself. We have already pointed to the heightening of self-contempt. An equally significant repercussion is the generation of anxiety. This is in par a fear of retaliation: one fears that others will treat one as one treats them—or wants to treat them. Consciously, it appears not so much as a fear as in simply taking it for granted that they would “give one a real deal” if they could—that is, if one does not prevent it by being constantly on the offensive. One must be so alert in foreseeing and forestalling any possible attack that for all practical purposes one will be inviolable. The unconscious conviction of one’s own inviolability often plays a considerable role. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

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It gives one a lordly feeling of security: one could never be hurt, one could never be exposed, one could never, one could never have an accident, or contract a disease or virus; one could not, indeed, ever die. If nonetheless one does get hurt, by persons or circumstances, one’s pseudo security is shattered and one is likely to be seized by acute panic. In part, one’s anxiety is a fear of the explosive, destructive elements within oneself. One feels like a rocket in the hands of a well named dictator of modern times. Excessive self-control and continuous vigilance are needed to keep these dangerous elements in check. If one is not too frightened to loosen up under the influence of liquor, when one drinks, they may come to the surface. One may become violently destructive. The impulses may also come closer to awareness under special conditions that for one represent temptation. Thus when attracted to a girl, the sadist in Zola’s Bete Humaine becomes panicky because this arouses an impulse to take her life. Witnessing an accident or any act of cruelty may bring on a seizure of fear because these awaken one’ own impulse to destroy. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.9. That life is difficult is a self-evident and universally recognized truth. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

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The morning newspaper reported that over 40 million jobs were lost in American in two months, making a historically robust economy worse and leaving people without paychecks. And a young man has lost his life while the country is in an uproar. We live in a fallen and sin-cursed World. Even Christians are not immune from the frustrating and often overwhelming circumstances of life resulting from that curse. I think of a could who should be entering their retirement years, but cannot because they are still caring for a grown but partially dependent child. I am reminded of another friend who is faithfully caring for her husband, now stricken with Alzheimer’s disease. This morning I prayed for several families who are trying to cope with teenage and even grown children living in various stages of spiritual rebellion and estrangement from their parents. Only a block away, a mother with young children fights a seemingly futile battle with cancer. Not only are we as Christians not immune from such heartaches, it often seems we experience more of them than do the non-Christians around us. However, for almost two thousand years, multiplied thousands of believers have found comfort, encouragement, and the strength to endure from God’s words to the apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.9. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

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Paul was no stranger to adversity. Earlier in 2 Corinthians he had spoken of his troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger (6.4-5). Yet one particular affliction apparently caused him more pain and grief than all the others combined. He referred to it as “a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.7. We have no idea what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was. It is pointless to speculate. Whatever it was, it was probably a natural hinderance to his ministry. We do know it was a Satanic attack (a messenger of Satan), but it was given to him at the direction of the God whom he loved and served with all his heart. Paul have had a unique experience. As he described in the opening verses of 2 Corinthians 12, he had been caught up to the “third Heaven,” to God’s paradise, and had heard inexpressible things—things he was not permitted to tell. This rapturous experience apparently unique to Paul, could have caused him to be filled with pride had he been left to himself. However, God in His infinite wisdom and love for Paul did not leave him exposed to that temptation. Paul himself described God’s gracious bulwark against pride this way: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

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“Three times I pleased with the Lord to take it away from me. However, he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, I am strong,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.7-10. The Christian theology is symbolic follows upon the fact that it claims to be a foundation of faith. Faith, as human’s attempt to assert the Unconditional, cannot be expressed in conditioned language. However, all language is conditioned. It is limited by the very concepts that it seeks to express, and by the linguistic tools at its disposal, which themselves result from long historical evolutions. To speak of formulating human’s search for the Unconditional would therefore be to march towards a mirage, if there were no such thing as an indirect, symbolic use of language. And not only words are involved in this problem. Words correspond to concepts, which themselves depend on previous or simultaneous experience of knowledge. Knowledge is the concept of symbol. The pure in heart receive the pleasing word of God—Lamanite righteousness exceeds that of the Nephites—Jacob warns against fornication, lasciviousness, and every sin. #RandolpHarris 17 of 21

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“But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure of heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever. However, wo, wo, unto you that are filthy this day before God; for expect ye repent the land is cursed for your sakes; and the laminates, which are not filthy like unto you, nevertheless they are cursed with a score cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction. And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you. Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandments of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among them. And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a blessed people. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

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“Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in sight of your great Creator? O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no ore against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember that their filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers. Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day. O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become Angels to the devil, to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

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“And now I, Jacob, spake many more things unto the people of Nephi, warning them against fornication and lasciviousness, and every kind of sin, telling them the awful consequences of them. And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerus, cannot be written upon these plates; but many of their proceedings are written upon the larger plates, and their wars, and their contentions, and the reigns of their kings. These plates are called the plates of Jacob, and they were made by the hand of Nephi. And I make an end of speaking these words,” report Jacob 3.1-14. O True Father, behold Thy Son, the Sacrifice well-pleasing to Thee. Through Him Who died for me, be propitious to me. Look on the Blood which was shed on Golgotha by the wicked, and which pleadeth for me; accept my entreaty for its sake. My offenses are not greater than Thy compassions; Thy clemency outweighs the hills which Thou weighest in a balance. Behold my sins, but behold also the Sacrifice presented for them; for that Sacrifice is much greater than my guilt. On account of the sins which I have committed, Thy Beloved One endured the nails and spears; His sufferings are enough to propitiate Thee, and to be the means of life to me. Glory be to the Father Who gave up His Son for our salvation; and to the Son Who died upon the Cross, and bestowed life upon us all; and to the Spirit Who began and finished the mystery of our salvation. O most high Trinity, spare us all! Heavenly Father, if I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty, make my heart prize Thy love, know it, be constrained by it, though I be denied all blessings. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

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It is Thy mercy to afflict and try me with wants, for by these trials I see my sins, and desire severance from them. Let me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations, if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil, and be delivered from it with gratitude to thee, acknowledging this as the highest testimony of Thy love. When Thy Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin, he became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; his kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny. Please teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labour to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and he must become to me more than vile lust has been; that his sweetness, power, life may be there. Thus I must seek a grace from him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from himself. When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in my self I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in myself I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things. Though now I have his graces in part, I shall shortly have them perfectly in that state where thou wilt show thyself fully reconciled, and alone sufficient, efficient, loving me completely, with sin abolished. O Lord, please hasten that day. #RadolphHarris 21 of 21

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Liberty, When it Begins to Take Root, is a Plant of Rapid Growth!

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There is always room at the top. (When advised not to become a lawyer, since the profession was overcrowded.) Emotions are not as simple as the description of them just given may sound. They often gang up on us. If we simply felt one feeling at a time, emotions might be easier to deal with. However, it is not unusual at all for a person to experience several emotions at once or one right after another. To people who are comfortable with the emotions, being deluged with feelings is not a serious problem. However, to those who are unused to feeling much or who do not like or want emotions, such an experience may be like an attack of illness. Sometimes it is necessary to control strong emotions, at least temporarily. How do we do it? If we are aware that some emotions get out of hand or that other people may be more frightened of our emotional responses than we are, how do we deal with this? The traditional ideal of many societies is to hold back strong or unpleasant emotions for the sake of others. However, feelings held in are likely to come out in some way—often an inappropriate one, such as sarcasm. So we are really not doing the other person much of a favour by trying to cover up our feelings. They will come out anyhow. And even if they did not, some consideration has to be given to the emotional balance of the person with the feelings! #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

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The movies have portrayed the strong, silent hero for years, but what is this person really like? How comfortable is one with oneself and others? Before it is accepted further, this ideal should be carefully examined. We are often made uncomfortable by our own strong feelings of those we find in other people. Many of us still do not know what to do when someone cries. Very often, people crying out of grief, fear, exhaustion, or depression are more in need of a sympathetic listener or shoulder to cry on than of hearing “right words.” Sometimes we handle these feelings best by just letting them happen, by accepting them happen, by accepting the, and by helping others realize that they are not alone, that others have similar feelings, and that nobody thinks badly of them for their emotions. What are the factors that account for the persistence and elaboration of cruelty? The sadistic person does not want to destroy the one who one attaches oneself, but because one cannot live one’s own life must use the partner for a symbiotic existence. This is definitely true, but it still does not sufficiently explain why a person is compulsively driven to tamper with the lives of others, or why the tampering takes the particular forms that it does. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

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If we regard sadism as a neurotic symptom, we must start, as always, not by trying to explain the symptom but by seeking to understand the structure of the personality that develops it. When we approach the problem from this angle we recognize that nobody develops pronounced sadistic trends who has not a profound feeling of futility as regards one’s own life. Poets intuitively sensed this underlying condition long before we were able to dig it out with our prodding clinical scrutiny. In the case of both Hedda Gabler and the Seducer, the possibility of ever making something of themselves or their lives was a more or less closed issue. If under these circumstances a person cannot find one’s way to resignation, one of necessity becomes utterly resentful. One feels forever excluded, forever defeated. Hence one start to hate life and all that is optimistic and beneficial in it. However, one hates it with the burning envy of one who is withheld from something one ardently desires. It is the bitter, begrudging envy of a person who feels that life is passing one by. “Lebensneid,” Nietzsche called it. One does not feel that others have their own sorrow, too: “they” sit at the table while one goes hungry: “they” love, create, enjoy, feel healthy and at ease, belong somewhere. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

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The happiness of others and their “naïve” expectations of pleasure and joy irritate one. If one cannot be happy and free, why should they be so? One cannot forgive them their happiness. One must trample on the joy of others. One’s attitude is illustrated by they store of the teacher doomed by tuberculosis who spits on his pupil’s sandwiches and is elated at his power to crush them. That was a conscious act of vindictive envy. In the sadist the tendency to frustrate and to crush the spirit of others is as a rule deeply unconscious. However, the purpose is the same sinister one as that of the teacher: to impart one’s suffering to others; if others are as defeated and degraded as one, one’s own misery is tempered in that one no loner feels oneself the only one afflicted. Another way one alleviates one’s gnawing envy is by “sour grapes” tactic, mastered to such perfection that even the trained observer is easily deceived by it. As a matter of fact, one’s envy is so deeply buried that one oneself would deride any suggestion of its existence. One’s focusing upon the painful, burdensome, or unattractive side of life is thus not only an expression of one’s bitterness but even more of one’s intertest in proving to oneself that one is not missing anything. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

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One’s constant faultfinding and devaluating stem in part from this source, the effort to create an illusion that one’s life is full and complete. One will take note, for instance, of the one part of a beautiful woman’s body that is not perfect. Coming into a room, one’s eyes will be arrested by the one colour or piece of furniture that does not match the rest. One will pick out the one flaw in an otherwise good speech. Similarly, whatever is wrong in other persons’ lives or in their characters or in their possible motivations will loom large in one’s mind. If one is sophisticated one will ascribe this attitude to one’s being sensitive to imperfections. However, the fact is that one turns one’s searchlight on these alone, leaving everything else in the dark. Although one succeeds in assuaging one’s envy and discharging one’s resentment, one’s devaluating attitude in turn gives rise to a permanent feeling of disappointment and discontent. If one has children, for instance, one thinks primarily of the burdens and obligations that go with them; if one has no children one feels that this most important human experience has been denied one. If one has no relations in pleasures of the flesh one feels deprived and is concerned about the dangers of continence; if one has relations in pleasures of the flesh one feels humiliated by them and ashamed of them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

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If one has an opportunity to make a trip, one chafes under the inconveniences; if one cannot travel one deems it a disgrace to have to stay at home. Since it does not occur to one that the sources of one’s chronic discontent could lie within oneself, one feels entitled to impress upon others how they fail one and to make ever greater demands whose fulfillment can never satisfy one. The bitter envy, the tendency to devaluate and the resulting discontent account to some extent for certain of the sadistic trends. We understand why the sadist is driven to frustrate others, to inflict suffering, to find fault, to make insatiable demands. However, we can appreciate neither the extent of one’s destructiveness nor one’s arrogant self-righteousness until we consider what one’s hopelessness does to one’s relation to oneself. While one violates the most elementary requirements of human decency, one at the same time harbours within oneself an idealized image of particularly high and rigid moral standards. One is one of those (we have spoken of them before) who, despairing of ever being able to measure up to such standards, have consciously or unconsciously resolved to be as “bad” as possible. One may succeed in being “bad” and wallow in it with a kind of desperate delight. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

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However, by doing so the chasm between the idealized image and the actual self becomes unbridgeable. One feels beyond repair and beyond forgiveness. One’s hopelessness becomes deeper and one develops the recklessness of a person who has nothing to lose. As long as this condition persists it is factually impossible for one to assume a constructive attitude toward oneself. Any direct attempt to make one constructive is doomed to futility and betrays ignorance of one’s condition. One’s self-loathing reaches such dimensions that one cannot take a look at oneself. One must fortify oneself against it by reinforcing an already existing armour of righteousness. The slightest criticism, neglect, or absence of special recognition can mobilize one’s self-contempt and so much be rejected as unfair. One is compelled, therefore, to externalize one’s self-contempt, to blame, berate, humiliate others. This, however, throws one into the toils of a vicious circle. The more one despises others the less is one aware of one’s self-contempt—and the self-contempt grows more violent and merciless the more hopeless one becomes. To strike out against others is then a matter of self-preservation. The process is illustrated by the example of a person who accused her husband of indecision and wanted to tear herself to pieces when she realized that she was really furious at her own indecision. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

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In this light we begin to appreciate why it is imperative for the sadistic person to disparage others. And we can see now, too, the inner logic of one’s compulsive and often fanatical drive to reform others, or at least to reform the partner. Since one oneself cannot measure up to one’s idealized image, the partner must do so; and the merciless rage one feels toward oneself is vented on the partner for any failure in this direction. One may ask oneself sometimes: “Why do I not leave one alone?” However, it is apparent that such rational considerations are of no avail as long as the inner battle persists and is externalized. One usually rationalizes the pressure one exerts on the partner as “love” or interest in the partner’s “development.” Needless to say, it is not love. However, neither is it an interest in the partner’s development along one’s own lines, in accordance with one’s own inner laws. In reality one tries to enforce upon the partner the impossible task of realizing one’s—the sadist’s—idealized image. The righteousness which one had to develop as a shield against self-contempt permits one to do so with smug assurance. An understanding of this inner struggle provides us also with a better insight into another more general factor inherent in sadistic symptoms: the vindictiveness that often seeps through every cell of the sadist’s personality like a poison. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

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One is and must be vindictive because one turn one’s violent contempt for oneself outward. Since one’s righteousness prevents one from seeing one’s share in any difficulty that arises one must feel that one is the one who is abused and victimized; since one cannot see that the source of all one’s despair lies within oneself one must hold others responsible for it. They have ruined one’s life, they have to make up for it—they have to take what is coming to them. It is this vindictiveness, more than any other factor, that kills within one all feelings of sympathy and mercy. Why should one have sympathy for those who have spoiled one’s life—and in addition are better off then he or she is? In individual instances the desire for revenge may be conscious; one may be aware of it, for example in reference to one’s parents. One is not aware, however, that it is a pervasive character trend. However, in considering the rationale for God-centered worship, we must begin with the realization that worship is the number one priority of the Church. Jesus’ famous statement in John 4.23 that the Father seeks worshipers is unparalleled, for nowhere in the entire corpus of Holy Scripture do we read of God’s seeking anything else from a child of God. God desires worship above all else. Thus, every human who calls oneself a Christian must understand that worship is the ultimate priority of one’s life. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

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Worship is what God wants from you and from me. Jesus hallowed and substantiated this in His chiding of busy, frenetic Martha, who was so critical of her sister’s sitting at Jesus’s feet: “Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her,” Luke 10.41-42. A look at the massive emphasis on worship in the Old Testament reveals God’s mind on worship’s priority. Exodus devotes twenty-five chapters to the construction of the Tabernacle, the locus of divine worship. Leviticus amounts to a twenty-seven-chapter liturgical manual. And the Psalms are a spectacular 150-chapter worship hymnal. Divine worship has always been the occupation and sustenance, the priority, of the believing soul. Since Christology is the answer of the Christian Church to human’s universal quest for the Unconditional, such an answer will be adapted to the several planes of human existence. From the point of view of theology there are several such levels, each providing a vantage-point from which one may look at the Christian answer. Each, in its sphere, is valid; and this validity is delimited by the scope of that sphere. This is to say that Christian tradition has seen the rise of several Christologies or that Christology has developed several aspects and several formulas. These may, or may not, be contradictory. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

ImageThe important point is not to determine their absolute truth in the abstract, but the meaning of these aspects and formulas of Christology in its several depths. The deepest level at which Christology may be studied is called the ontological awareness of the Unconditional. As we have seen, faith is basically a pre-conceptual experience. As the concern about our existence in is ultimate whence and whiter, it precedes every formulas of a solution and every formula of a search. The faith which conquers sin by receiving reconciliation and a new being, must precede the search for ultimate reality. If Christianity’s claim to universality is valid, a Christian answer must be found at this level. Christology must be ontological. It must provide an answer at the very depth where the quest for the Unconditioned is ontologically pre-formulated. This ontological requirement corresponds to what we call the ontological principle. Human are immediately aware of something unconditional which is the prius of separation and interaction of subject and object, theoretically as well as practically. However, we have to pass a hurdle here. At this level of existence, the implication cannot be directly formulated, it can only be pointed at. The Christian answer, like the answer of any religion, philosophy or revelation, will be symbolic and will be true only insofar as the symbol is grasped. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

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A second level of truth corresponds to the next plane of existence, that of history. Our experience is conditioned by historical circumstances. History has developed a culture which has profoundly influences both or conscious thinking and our subconscious psyche. The Christian answers has precisely been couched in historical terms. Christ is presented as a historical person. This will therefore provide a second point of view: Christology as historical. A third level of truth corresponds to the largely artificial distinction, in humans, between one’s intellectual activity and other elements of their personality. In terms of beliefs, Christianity has been embodied in strict and ridge covenants. These have an intellectual appeal and must be grasped rationally. We shall therefore study Christology as stringent and precise. Finally, another analysis of human behaviour sees a human as an ethical being, whose convictions, principles and assumptions prompt one to adopt definite standards of conduct. Morality is not served from assent. On the contrary, it expresses faith in the realm of ethical behaviour by cloaking the Christian answers in the garments of moral principles. A study of Christology should thus devote some time to Christology as ethical. These points of view, or levels of truth, provide the structure for further discussions. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

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What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside is own without bias. The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to Earth unheeded. Faith is a kind of knowledge, inasmuch as the intellect is determined by the believer, but from the vision of Him who is believed. Thus as far as faith falls short of vision, it falls short of the knowledge which belongs to science, for science determines the intellect to one object by the vision and understanding of the principles. Jacob denounces the love of riches, pride, and unchastity—people may seek riches to help their fellow humans—the Lord commands that no human among the Nephites may have more than one wife—the Lord delights in the chastity of women. About 544-421 Before Christ. “The words which Jacob, the brother of Nephi, spake unto the people of Nephi, after the death of Nephi: Now, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, according to the responsibility which I am under to God, to magnify mine office with soberness, and that I might rid my garments of your sins, I come up into the temple this day that I might declare unto you the word of God. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

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“And ye yourselves know that I have hitherto been diligent in the office of my calling; but I this day am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls than I have hitherto been. For behold, as yet, ye have unto me, and know that by the help of the all-powerful Creator of Heaven and Earth I can tell you concerning your thoughts, how that ye are beginning to labour in sin, which sin appeareth very abominable unto me, yea, and abominable unto God. Yea, it grieveth my soul and causeth me to shrink with shame before the presence of my Maker, that I must testify unto you concerning the wickedness of your hearts. And also it grieveth me that I must use so much boldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children, many of whose feelings are exceedingly tender and chaste and delicate before God, which thing is pleasing unto God; and supposeth me that they have up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul. Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

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“However, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict commands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the piercing eye of the Almighty God. Wherefore, I must tell you that truth according to the plainness of the word of God. For behold, as I inquired of the Lord, thus came the word unto me, saying: Jacob, get thou up into the temple on the morrow, and declare the word which I shall give thee unto this people. And now behold, my brethren, this is the word which I declare unto you, that many of you have begun to search for gold, and for sliver, and for all manner of precious ores, in the which this land, which is a land of promise unto you and to your seed, doth abound most plentifully. And the hand of providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that you have obtained many riches; and because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they. And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. However, he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

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“O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with one glance of his eye he can smite you to the dust! O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls! Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. However, before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and afflicted. And now, my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbour, and persecuted him (or her) because you were proud in your hearts, of things which God hath given you, what say ye of it? Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his commandments and glorify him forever. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

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“And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this pride. And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you. However, the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives, and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not human among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; for I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Host, or cursed be the land for their sakes. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

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“For if I will, saith the Lord of Host, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things. For behold, I the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the humans of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Host. And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done. Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds,” reports Jacob 2.1-35. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

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The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves. Christ our Lord and God, being of His own free will made like unto mortals throughout the whole day of this life, showed unto Thee a body undefiled; and being the fitting Expiator of the ancient offence, exhibited a Soul pure and untouched by sins; and also commanded that as often as His Body and Blood should be received, a Commemoration should be made of the Lord’s Passion, which we now make, and proclaim the eternal glory of Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord and God; and pray Thee to bless this Sacrifice with Thy blessing, and to sprinkle it with the dew of the Holy Spirit, that it may be to all who receive it a pure, true, and legitimate Eucharist; through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord and God. O Christ, all Thy ways of mercy tend t and end in my delight. Thou didst weep, sorrow, suffer that I might rejoice. For my joy Thou hast sent the Comforter, multiplied Thy promises, shown me my future happiness, given me a living fountain. Thou art preparing joy for me and me for joy; give me more than I can hold, desire, or think of. Measure out to me my ties and degrees of joy, at my work, business, duties. If I weep at night, give me joy in the morning. Let me rest in the thought of Thy love, pardon for sin, my title to Heaven, my future unspotted state. I am an unworthy recipient of Thy grace. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

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I often disesteem Thy blood and slight Thy love, but can in repentance draw water from the wells of Thy joyous forgiveness. Let my heart leap towards the eternal sabbath, where the work of redemption, sanctification, preservation, glorification is finished and perfected forever, where thou wilt rejoice over me with joy. There is no joy like the joy of Heaven, for in that state are no sad divisions, unchristian quarrels, contentions, evil designs, weariness, hunger, cold, sadness, sin, suffering, persecutions, toils of duty. O healthful place where none are sick! O happy land where all are kings! O holy assembly where all are priests! How free a state where none are servants expect to Thee! Bring me speedily to the land of joy. “However, after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to Heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on,” reports Revelations 11.11. This is verily and indeed the Body and Blood of Emmanuel our God. Holy Things for holy persons. There is One holy, One Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Thou Who camest into the World to save sinners, of whom I am the chief—I confess to Thee like the robber, Remember me, Lord, in Thy kingdom. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

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MILLS STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH

Rancho Cordova, CA |

Now Selling!

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Mills Station at Cresleigh Ranch is Rancho Cordova’s newest home community! This charming neighborhood offers an array of home types with eye catching architecture styles such as Mission, Mid-Century Modern, California Modern, and Contemporary Farmhouse.

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Located off Douglas Road and Rancho Cordova Parkway, the residents of Cresleigh Ranch will enjoy, being just minutes from shopping, dining, and entertainment, and quick access to Highway 50 and Grant Line Road providing a direct route into Folsom. Residents here also benefit from no HOA fees, two community parks and the benefits of being a part of the highly-rated Elk Grove Unified School District. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-4/

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Tell Me, Pretty Maiden, are there Any More at Home Like You?

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Nobody starts off stupid. You have only to watch babies and infants, and think seriously about what all of them learn and do, to see that, except for some who face natural limitations, they show a style of life, and a desire and ability to learn that in a more mature person we might call genius. Hardly an adult in a thousand, or ten thousand, could in any three years of one’s life learn as much, grow as much in one’s understanding of the World around one, as every infant learns and grows in one’s first three years. When people are expected to behave in specific ways or are told that they are stupid or bright or ugly or lovable, they often begin to act in these ways. This is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. These expectations may come from parents and other authority figures, but they can also come from peers. In childhood, and especially in adolescence, peer pressure and peer evaluation become very important. It would be better to take words like “stupid” and “dumb” out of the vocabulary you use with any child. In our culture, which places a premium on intelligence, a person who is called stupid often enough is very unlikely to take risks or do anything challenging. (“Why try? I am so dumb I cannot do it.”) Often students who do not speak out in class fear that what they have to say may sound uneducated, and the instructor and other students may laugh at or ridicule them. So these students sit, mute, in class after class. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

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Persons in the grip of neurotic hopelessness manage to “carry on” in one way or another. If their capacity to be creative has not been too greatly damaged by their neurosis, they may be able fairly consciously to resign themselves to the state of their personal lives and concentrate on a field in which they can be productive. They may submerge themselves in a social or religious movement or in the work of an organization. Their work may be useful; the fact that they lack zest can be outweighed by their having no personal ax to grind. Others, in adapting themselves to their particular frame of life, may cease to question it but yet not attach much meaning to it, trying merely to fulfill their obligations. It is, I believe, the state of a defect condition, in contrast to neurosis. I interpret it, however, as the outcome of neurotic processes. They may, on the other hand, give up all serious or promising pursuits and turn to the periphery of life, trying to snatch from it some bit of enjoyment, finding their interest in a hobby or in incidental pleasures like good eating, interior design, or gardening. Or they may drift and deteriorate, let themselves go to pieces. Unable to do any consistent work, they take to drink, gambling, whoring. The kind of alcoholism described by Charles Jackson in The Lost Week-End, where a binge drinker mostly of rye, fancies himself as a writer. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

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And in his state of neurosis, he lapses into foreign phrase and quotes Shakespeare even while attempting to steal a woman’s purse, trying to pawn a typewriter for drinking money. This represents and end stage of such a condition. In this connection it might be interesting to examine whether an unconscious determination to go to pieces may not supply a powerful psychic contribution to such chronic diseases as tuberculosis and cancer. Finally, persons without hope may turn destructive, but at the same time make an attempt at restitution by living vicariously. This, in my opinion, is the meaning of sadistic trends. Because Dr. Freud regarded sadistic trends as instinctual, psychoanalytical interest has been largely focused on the so-called sadistic perversions. Sadistic patterns in everyday relationships, though not ignored, have not been strictly defined. Any kind of assertive or aggressive behaviour is conceived of as a modification or sublimation of instinctual sadistic trends. Dr. Freud, for instance, regarded a striving for power as such a sublimation. It is true that a striving for power can be sadistic; but in a person who sees life as a battle of all against all, it can merely represent a struggle for survival. Actually, it need not be neurotic at all. The result of this lack of discrimination is that we have neither a comprehensive picture of the forms sadistic attitudes may take nor any criteria as to precisely what is sadistic. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

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It is left pretty much to individual intuition to determine what may rightly be called sadism and what may not—a situation hardly conductive to sound observation. The mere act of hurting others is in itself no indication of a sadistic tendency. A person may be engaged in a struggle of a personal or general nature in the course of which one had to hurt not only one’s adversaries but one’s associates as well. Hostility toward others may also be merely reactive. A person can feel hurt or frightened and want to hit back with a force that, while disproportionate to the objective provocation, is subjectively quite in keeping with it. It is easy, however, to deceive oneself on this score: all too often a justifiable reaction is claimed when actually a sadistic tendency was in operation. However, the difficulty in distinguishing one from the other does not mean that reactive hostility is nonexistent. Finally, there are all those offense tactics of the aggressive type who feels one is fighting for survival. I should not call any of these aggressions sadistic; others may get hurt in the process, but the hurting or damaging is an inevitable by-product rather than a prime intention. To put it simply, we could say that although the kinds of action we refer to here are aggressive or even hostile, they are not perpetrated in a mean spirit. There is no conscious or unconscious satisfaction derived from the very fact of hurting. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

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It has been repeatedly argued that equality undermines liberty. Some would say that a society in which principles like my radical egalitarian principles were adopted, or even the liberal egalitarian principles of Rawls or Dworkin were adopted, would not be a free society. My arguments have been just the reverse. I have argued that it is only in an egalitarian society that full and extensive liberty is possible. Perhaps the egalitarian and the anti-egalitarian are arguing at cross purposes? What we need to recognize, it has been argued, is that we have two kinds of rights both of which are important to freedom but to rather different freedoms and which are freedoms which not infrequently conflict. We have rights to fair terms of cooperation but we also have rights to non-interference. If a right of either kind is overridden our freedom is diminished. The reason why it might be thought that the egalitarian and the anti-egalitarian may be arguing at cross purposes is that the egalitarian is pointing to the fact that rights to fair terms of cooperation and their associated liberties require equality while the anti-egalitarian is pointing to the fact that rights to fair terms of cooperation and their associated liberties require equality while the anti-egalitarian is pointing to the fact that rights to noninterference and their associated liberties conflict with equality. They focus on different liberties. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

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What I have said above may not be crystal clear, so let me explain. People have a right to fair terms of cooperation. In political terms this comes to the equal right of all to effective participation in government and, in more broadly social terms, and for a society of economic wealth, it means people having a right to a roughly equal distribution of the benefits and burdens of the basic social arrangements that affect their lives and for them to stand in such relations to each other such that no one has the power to dominate the life of another. By contrast, rights to non-interference come to the equal right of all to be left alone by the government and more broadly to live in a society in which people have a right peacefully to pursue their interests without interference. The conflict between equality and liberty comes down to, very essentially, the conflicts we get in modern societies between rights to fair terms of cooperation and rights to noninterference. As Joseph Schumpeter saw and J.S. Mill before him, one could have a thoroughly democratic society (at least in conventional terms) in which rights to noninterference might still be extensively violated. A central anti-egalitarian claim is that we cannot have an egalitarian society in which they very precious liberties that go with the rights to non-interference would be violated. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

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Love, power, and justice are united in God and they are united in the new creation of God in the World. Humans are estranged from the ground of their being, from themselves, and from their World. However, they are still humans. One cannot completely cut the tie with their creative ground, one is still a centred person and in this sense united with oneself. One still participates in one’s World. In other words: The reuniting love, the power of resisting non-being, and the creative justice are still active in one. Life is not unambiguously good. Then it would not be life but only the possibility of life. And life is not unambiguously evil. Then non-being would have conquered being. However, life is ambiguous in all its expressions. It is ambiguous also with respect to love, power, and justice. We have touched on this fact in many places in our previous discussions. We must now consider it in the light of the new creation within the World of estrangement, which I suggest calling the holy community. In an anticipating summary I would say: in the holy community the agape quality of love cuts into the libido, eros, and philia qualities of love and elevates them beyond the ambiguities of their self-centeredness. In the holy community the spiritual power, by surrendering compulsion, elevates power beyond the ambiguities of its dynamic realization. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

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In the holy community justification by grace elevates justice beyond the ambiguities of its abstract and calculating nature. This means that in the holy community love, power, and justice in their ontological structure are affirmed but that their estranged and ambiguous reality is transformed into a manifestation of their unity within the divine life. Let us first consider the ambiguities of love and the work of love as agape in the holy community. Libido is good in itself! We have defended it against Dr. Freud’s depreciation of what he described as the infinite libidinous drive with its ensuing dissatisfaction and death instinct. We have accepted this as the description in estrangement, but not of libido in its creative meaning. Without libido life would not move beyond itself. The Bible knows this as well as recent depth psychology, and we should be grateful that our new insights into the deeper levels of human nature have rediscovered the Biblical realism which was covered by several strata of idealistic and moralistic self-deception about humans. Biblical realism knows both that libido belongs to human’s created goodness and that it is distorted and ambiguous in the state of human’s estrangement. Libido has become unlimited and has fallen under the tyranny of the pleasure principle. It uses the other being not as an object of reunion but as a tool for gaining pleasure out of one. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

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Desire for pleasures of the flesh is not evil as the breaking of conventional laws, but the desires for the pleasures of the flesh in autonomy in pleasures of the flesh are evil if they bypass the center of the other person—in other words, if they are not united with the two other qualities of love, and if they are not under the ultimate criterion of the agape quality of love. Agape seems the other one in one’s center. Agape sees one as God sees one. Agape elevates libido into the divine unity of love, power, and justice. The same is true of eros. We have, following Plato, defined eros as the driving force in all cultural creativity and in all mysticism. As such eros has the greatness of divine-human power. It participates in creation in the natural goodness of everything created. However, it also participates in the ambiguities of life. The eros quality of love can be confused with the libido quality and be drawn into its ambiguities. Witness for this is the fact that the New Testament could not use the word eros any more because of its predominantly sexual connotations. And even the mystical eros can express itself in symbols which are not only taken from the life involving pleasures of the flesh but which draw the love to God to an openly ascetic, hiddenly passionate level in pleasures of the flesh. However, more is involved when we speak of the ambiguity of the eros quality of love. It is the aesthetic detachment which can take hold of our relation to culture and makes eros ambiguous. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

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The aesthetic stage of humans spiritual development is not a stage but a Universal quality of love exposed to dangers. The ambiguity of cultural eros is its detachment from the realities which it expresses and consequently the disappearing of existential participation and ultimate responsibility. The wings of eros becomes wings of escape. Culture is irresponsibly enjoyed. It has not received the justice which it can demand. Agape cuts into the detached safety of a merely aesthetic eros. It does not deny the longing toward the good and the true and its divine source, but it prevents it from becoming an aesthetic enjoyment without ultimate seriousness. Agape makes the cultural eros responsible and the mystical eros personal. The ambiguities of the philia quality of love appeared already in its first description as person-to-person love between equals. However large the group of equals may be, the philia quality of love establishes preferential love. Some are preferred, the majority are excluded. This is obvious not only in intimate relations as family and friendship, but also in the innumerable forms of sympathetic person-to-person encounters. The implicit or explicit rejection of all those who are not admitted to such a preferential relation is negative compulsion and can be as cruel as any compulsion. However, such a rejection of others is tragically unavoidable. Nobody can escape the necessity to exercise it. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

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There are special forms of love with philia quality which are called a symbiotic relation and which make this tragic necessity rather clear. If the one partner of the philia-relation is used by the other one either for the sake of masochistic dependence or of sadistic domination or of both in interdependence, something which seemed to be friendship of highest quality is in reality compulsion without justice. Again, agape does not deny the preferential love of the philia quality, but it purifies it from a subpersonal bondage, and it elevates the preferential love into universal love. The preferences of friendship are not negated, but they do not exclude, in a kind of aristocratic self-separation, all the others. Not everybody is a friend, but everybody is affirmed as a person. Agape cuts through the separation of equals and unequals, of sympathy and antipathy, of friendship and indifference, of desire and disgust. It needs no sympathy in order to love; it loves what it has to reject in terms of philia. Agape loves in everybody and through everybody love itself. What agape does to the ambiguities of love, Spiritual power does to the ambiguities of natural power. The ambiguities of power are rooted in the dynamic character and the compulsory implications of power. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

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Spiritual power is not the conquest of these ambiguities by resignation of power, because this would mean resignation of being. I would be the attempt to annihilate oneself in order to escape guilt. Spiritual power is not the denial of power dynamics. In many stories about the working of the Spiritual power bodily effects are mentioned, like elevation, removal from one place to the other, shock, and horror. There are always psychological effects visible. Spirit is power, grasping and moving out of the dimension of the ultimate. It is not identical with the realm of ideas or meanings. It is dynamic power, overcoming resistance. Hen what is its difference from the other forms of power? The Spiritual power works neither through bodily nor through psychological compulsion. It works through a human’s total personality, and this means, through one as finite freedom. It does not remove one’s freedom, but it makes one’s freedom free from the compulsory elements which limit it. The Spiritual power gives a center to the whole personality, a center which transcends the whole personality and, consequently, is independent of any elements. And this is ultimately the only way of uniting the personality with itself. If this happens human’s natural or social power of being becomes irrelevant. One may keep them, one may resign some of them or even all of them. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

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The Spiritual power works through them or it works through the surrender of them. One may exercise Spiritual power through words or thought, through what one is and what one does, or through the surrender of them or through the sacrifice of oneself. In all these forms one can change reality by attaining levels of being which are ordinarily hidden. This is the power which elevates the holy community above the ambiguities of power. I do not need to say much about the relation of grace and justice. The act of forgiving has been mentioned in connexion with the encounter of person and person. If based on reuniting love, in justification by grace, mutual forgiveness is justice. Only God can forgive, because in Him along love and justice are completely united. The ethics of forgiveness are rooted in the message of divine forgiveness. Otherwise they are delivered to the ambiguities of justice, oscillating between legalism and sentimentality. In the holy community this ambiguity is conquered. Agape conquers the ambiguities of love, Spiritual power conquers the ambiguities of power, grace conquers the ambiguities of justice. This is true not only of the encounters of humans with humans, but also in the encounter of humans with oneself. Humans can love oneself in terms of self-acceptance only if one is certain that one is accepted. Otherwise one’s self-acceptance is self-complacency and arbitrariness. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

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Only in the light and in the power of the “love from above” can one love oneself. This implies the answer to the question of human’s justice toward oneself. One can be just towards oneself only in so far as ultimate justice is done to one, namely the condemning, forgiving, and giving judgement of “justification.” The condemning element in justification makes self-complacency impossible, the forgiving element saves from self-condemnation and despair, the giving element provides for a Spiritual center which unites the elements of our personal self and makes power over oneself possible. Justice, power, and love towards oneself is rooted in the justice, power, and love which we receive from that which transcends us and affirms us. The relation to ourselves is a function of our relation to God. We have a question about the reunion of humankind in terms of love, power, and justice. It is not easy to find an answer that can be given on the level of political organization. Is there an answer out of the relation to the ultimate? It is the merit of pacifism that, in spite of its theological shortcomings, it has kept this question alive in modern Christianity. Without it the Churches probably would have forgotten the torturing seriousness of any religious affirmation of war. On the other hand, pacifism has usually restricted a much larger problem of human existence to the question of war. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

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However, there are other questions of equal seriousness in the same sphere. One of them is the question of armed conflicts within a power group, always going on potentially in the use of police and armed forces for the preservation of order, sometimes coming into the open in revolutionary wars. If successful, they are later on called “glorious revolutions.” Does the union of humankind mean that not only national but also revolutionary wars are excluded? And if so, has the dynamics of life come to an end: and des this mean that life itself has come to an end? One can ask the same question with respect to the dynamics of the economic life. Even in a static society such as that of the Middle Ages, the economic dynamics were important and had tremendous historical consequences. One should remain aware of the fact that often more destruction and suffering is produced by economic than by military battles. Should the economic dynamics be stopped and a static World system of production and consumption be introduced? If this were so the whole technical process would also have to be stopped, life in most realms would have to be organized in ever repeated processes. Every disturbance would have to be avoided. Again the dynamics of life and with life itself would have come to an end. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

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Let us assume for a moment that this were possible. Under an unchangeable central authority all encounters of power with power are regulated. Nothing is risked, everything decided. Life has ceased to transcend itself. Creativity has come to an end. The history of humans would be finished, post-history would have started. Humankind would be a flock of blessed animals without dissatisfaction, without drive into the future. The horrors and sufferings of the historical period would be remembered as the dark ages of humankind. And then it might happen that one or the other of these blessed humans would feel a longing for these past ages, their misery and their greatness, and would force a new beginning of history upon the rest. This image will show that a World without the dynamics of power and the tragedy of life and history is not the Kingdom of God, is not the fulfilment of humans in their World. Fulfilment is bound to eternity and no imagination can reach the eternal. However, fragmentary anticipations are possible. The Church itself is such a fragmentary anticipation. And there are groups and movements, which although they do not belong to the manifest Church, represents something we may call a “latent Church.” However, neither the manifest nor the latent Church is the Kingdom of God. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

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Many problems connected with the all-embracing subject of this essay have not been mentioned at all. Others have been touched on only briefly, and others have been treated rather inadequately. However, I hope that I have proved one thing: that the problems of love, power, and justice categorically demand an ontological foundation and a theological view in order to be saved from the vague talk, idealism, and cynicism with which they are usually treated. If they do not see them in the light of their own being and of being-itself, humans cannot solve any of their great problems. Many Christians have never thought through the meaning and importance of worship. It is not an overstatement to say that our pleasure-centered culture has produced many who work at their play and play at their worship. Why this confusion and tragic failure regarding worship? The answer lies in another question: Why do we worship—is it for God or for humans? The unspoken but increasingly common assumption of today’s Christendom is that worship is primarily of us—to meet our needs. Such worship services are entertainment-focused, and the worshipers are uncommitted spectators who are silently grading the performance. From this perspective preaching becomes a homiletics of consensus—preaching to felt needs—human’s conscious agenda instead of God’s. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

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Such preaching is always topical and never textual. Biblical information is minimized, and the sermons are short and full of stories. Anything and everything is judged by how it affects humans. This terribly corrupts one’s theology. The telltale sign of this kind of thinking is the common post-worship question, What did you think of the service today? The real questions ought to be, What did God think of it and of those who worshipped? and What did I give to God? It is so easy to forget that in going to worship our main concern should be to “worship in spirit and in truth,” as reported in John 4.24—not to receive a lift for ourselves. Therefore, it is important that we understand, in distinction to the popular view that worship is for us, that worship begins not with humans as its focus, but God. Worship must be orchestrated and conducted with the vision before us of an august, awesome, holy, transcendent God who is to be pleased and, above all, glorified by our worship. Everything in our corporate worship should flow from this understanding. What about our needs then? When we worship and adore God in our singing and prayer and listening to the Word, His shalom will well in our souls so that we will leave with a glad sense of personal blessings—a great lift. However, this is a byproduct, not a goal, a further evidence of the generous grace of God. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

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The fact that there have been higher beings who have gone beyond the mass in goodness and insight, in serenity and radiant self-mastery, can be taken as a hint of re-embodiment’s purpose. One speaks or writes as one who is perfectly at home in these higher levels of consciousness. If an illuminated teacher or an illuminating book cannot lead anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven and keep one there, they can at least give everyone a clue which, if followed up, may lead there. “And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a human speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of humans. However, behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught. However I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

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“And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal. And it speaketh harshly against sin, according to the plainness of the truth; wherefore, no human will be angry at the words which I have written save he shall be of the spirit of the devil. I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-sent. I have charity for the Jew—I say Jew, because I mean them from whence I came. I also have charity for the Gentiles. However, behold, for none of these can I hope expect they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation. And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the Earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all people that they should do good. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

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“And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of hm to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness. And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day. And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the Earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come. And you hat will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day. For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen,” reports 2 Nephi 33.1-15. We beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy to sanctify these gifts, and having received the offering of the spiritual sacrifice, to make us a perpetual oblation unto Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Please look mercifully, O Lord, on these present offerings, that they may avail both for our devotion and our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22

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My God, I bless Thee that Thou hast given me the eye of faith, to see Thee as Father, to know Thee as a covenant God, to experience Thy love planted in me; for faith is the grace of union by which I spell out my entitlement to Thee: Faith casts my anchor upwards where I trust in Thee and engage Thee to by my Lord. Be pleased to live and move within me, breathing in my prayers, inhabiting my praises, speaking in my words, moving in my actions, living in my life, causing me to grow in grace. Thy bounteous goodness has helped me believe, but my faith is weak and wavering, its light dim, its steps tottering, its increase slow, its backsliding frequent; it should scale the Heavens, but lies groveling in the dust. Lord, fan this divine spark into glowing flame. When faith sleeps, my heart becomes an unclean thing, the fount of every loathsome desire, the cage of unclean lusts all fluttering to escape, the noxious tree of deadly fruit, the open wayside of Earthly tares. Lord, awake faith to put forth its strength until all Heaven fills my soul and all impurity is cast out. Remember, O Lord, Thy servants and handmaids here present, whose faith and devotion are discerned and known by Thee. Please let me enjoy the Earth. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22

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You will be finding excuses to wash everything in your #BrightonStation Residence 1 kitchen! 😉 This center work island features a stainless steel under mount kitchen sink and a designer pull-out faucet with sprayer. Plus, the dishwasher is right there, streamlining how long those dishes stay “soaking” in the sink. 🚰 https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/move-in-ready-home-site-84/
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Please have mercy, O Lord, upon Thy children for whom I offer this sacrifice of praise to Thy Majesty; that they may be able to lead a good life in this World, and happily to attain eternal blessedness.
#CresleighHomes

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The Spirit of Liberty is the Spirit Which is Not too Sure that it is Right and Seeks to Understand Minds

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The great want which humankind labours under at this present moment is sleep. The World should recline its vast head on the first convenient pillow and take an age-long nap. Which is a more effective learning strategy: reward or punishment? This question is still undecided. At present, evidence for each side is about equal. The following guidelines, however, can be applied in teaching situations, especially those involving young children. In general, rewarding desired behaviours is more effective than punishing undesired behaviours—you can still catch more files with honey than with vinegar. If punishment is necessary, it is most effective if used immediately after the undesired response. For instance, if a child must be punished, it is best done right after the child has acted incorrectly. If one parents says to the child, “Just wait until your father (or mother) gets home—then, you will get it,” the child learns to fear the arrival of the punisher and, in the process, often forgets the offense for which he or she is being punished. If punishment must be used, the reason for the punishment should be explained. “I am only doing this for your own good,” or “This hurts me more than it does you,” is less likely to teach a child a specific behaviour than saying, “I am not letting you go to the movies because you socked your little brother. This hurts him and makes him cry, and I do not want you to do it again.” #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

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If it is possible, combine reward and punishment. If necessary, punish the undesired behaviour, but also be sure to reward the desired behaviour. For example, do not just spank a child for playing in the street; also praise and reward the child for playing in the yard instead. Punish the undesired behaviour, not the behaver. For instance, communicate to a child that you feel his or her behaviour is “bad”—not that you think the child is bad. Most punishment do not work on very young children. Under about one year of age, children do not understand that some behaviours are acceptable and some are not and why this is so. They may think they are being punished just for being there, and more often than not they begin to associate the punisher with punishment. When you feel emotionally charged, especially if you are filled with rage, never, never, never punish a child. Adults often forget their own strength. Children are fragile and easily hurt. The only thing a child learns through abuse is hatred and fear. There is a great distinction between negative reinforcement and abusive punishment. In many cases, punishment only suppresses or limits the undesired behaviour; it does not really extinguish it. The self-actualized open to all qualified and eager seekers the mysteries and treasures of one’s own inner experience, that they may profit by one’s past struggles and present success. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

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The self-actualized brings revelations to meet our gropings, inspirations to meet our doubts. One becomes, for those docile enough to receive them, a bearer of grace and a vessel of truth, a bestower of comfort and a dispenser of confidence. Prophets and the self-actualized, teachers and saints receive the urge to share their knowledge and experience with others. Whence does this urge derive? Both lower and higher, personal and nonpersonal sources are possible. However, if from the highest, then we may say that God sends His messages to humankind through these channels. The self-actualized who starts a movement or puts one’s thoughts out, acts as a lighthouse which guides many a fumblings but aspiring soul. If one does not accept disciples individually it is because one serve humans otherwise. Those who try to get such acceptance and find themselves rebuffed may consider one selfish, cold, remote. However, they will be greatly mistaken. One can serve humankind—not each person separately but in groups or masses—and one may do this by lecturing, by writing or simply by directing one’s prayer in the appropriate way. For a writer’s books spread not only one’s ideas but also something of oneself. One can put thought on a high level but the way in which one does this depends upon one’s circumstances. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

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The self-actualized can put thought on a high level personally as a private teacher, impersonally as a public lecturer or writer, or anonymously as a proficient contemplative. All these people who have attained Reality inevitably leave a record for others or for posterity, but not necessarily with their name attached. Has anyone of the self-actualized ever vanished without leaving behind a trace of Power, knowledge, goodness, and inspiration? Even if not in words or deeds, something is left in the unseen atmosphere. They are not usually members of any sect, but circumstances or necessity may sometimes render it desirable that they be such. The self-actualized may or may not descend into the arena of action but if not one will still find ways and means to inspire, guide, or ennoble the actions of other people. One does this by teaching them and travelling among the, or by sitting still and meditating alone, or by disseminating writings among them. Even when one is unheard publicly one can help by the concentrated mind’s great power. One does what one can to introduce here and there into the consciousness of others, through whatever means one possesses, the seeds of higher ideas. These seeds may not grow and certainly may not fructify for many years, but that is not one’s affair. One knows that the vitality in these seeds and depth of mental ground in which they have been sown will inevitably lead to some result. It is enough. One has sown seed. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

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One does not have to wait for roots to form, stems to grow, fruits to appear. One’s work is done. In this momentous period the true self-actualized has special work to do in trying to protect the human race from its own folly. One way is intercessory prayer which may help to mitigate the effects of the World crisis. This requires solitude. It is an impersonal contemplation and must not be disturbed by those who break into it, either to unload their personal problems or to offer personal service which in the end has the same result. Yes, some of us are genuinely aware of the soul’s existence and intimately know its freedom and blessedness. Modesty has hitherto imposed silence upon us about the fact, although compassion induced us to break it on occasions. However, we mystics must now stand on our own dignity. It is time that the World, brough to its inevitable and by us expected materialistic dead-end, should realize at last that we are not talking out of our hats but out of a real and impeccable experience. It would be an unpardonable treachery to our duty in the final and terrible World-crisis of this materialistic age if, out of false modesty or fear of intimidation by a cynical society, we who daily feel and commune with the divine presence, who realize its tremendous importance for humanity’s present condition and future life, fail to testify to its existence and reality. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

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If today we venture to speak more freely and frequently, our ideas may drop into a few hospitable minds and sublimely penetrate their consciousness. It is not the self-actualizer’s function to tackle the Worldly problems which governments usually deal with: the social, political, economic, and technical ones. One’s particular work is concerned with, first, one’s ordinary duty of professional service through whatever skill one possesses to earn one’s livelihood, and second, making truth available. The mere existence of one who succeeds in identifying oneself with God benefits every sensitive person who meets one, even for a minute or two. Further, it inspires spiritual seekers who never get the chance to meet one but who hear favourably about one and respectfully receive what they hear. Finally, posterity benefits from the records left about one. Each teacher—if one is divinely commissioned—leaves a deposit of truth after he or she dies. The Master who leaves a record of one’s own climb, or a testimony to the goal’s existence, or a path pioneered for those who would follow, or an instructed disciple here and there, leaves something of oneself. Even where help may not directly and outwardly be given when difficult circumstances press on a human, it may yet be indirectly and inwardly given to one’s mind, which has to deal with, or endure, them. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

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One can awaken some persons to this divine presence within themselves, but not all. One may do this mysteriously by some unknown process, or one may do it deliberately and with the display of one’s technique. The abstract does not appeal to the masses, because it gives them nothing. However, an embodied human can be seen, heard, and touched, to that extent can be understood, to that extent one gives them something; one can be followed, admired, feared, reverenced, or worshipped. Secure as one is in one’s own peace of mind, it is inevitable that the more sensitive among those who meet one feel it too. However, those who come with hostility, personal or intellectual, will be avoided if possible or find their time cut to the shortest if not. Such a person has a catalytic action on the minds and even on the lives of those who come into sympathetic contact with one. Just by being oneself one makes the philosophic virtues real to others. One does not need to be conscious of a clearly defined mission before one sets about doing something for the enlightenment of others. There is always some means open to one, some little thing one can do to make this knowledge available or to set an example of right living. It is one’s duty to communicate what one feels there, what one finds there, to those who are excluded from it. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

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If at times, and with sympathetic auditors, one’s duty becomes one’s joy, at other times and with insensitive auditors it becomes one’s cross. Jesus exemplified this in His own history. The illuminate practices a wiser philanthropy than those who are presented as models of this virtue. One has no wish to take charge of anyone’s life or undertake the management of anyone’s affairs. One is not allowed by the code of ethics corresponding to one’s knowledge to make other people’s decisions for them. Hence one can say neither yes nor no to such highly personal questions. However, one can point out the consequences which are likely to follow in each case. Basically, people are just like children. They need attention. Sometimes people are really nervous when meeting people or dealing with new situations. And some of the troublemakers really just want your attention. The people-as-child analogy can be extended to cover sibling rivalry: You cannot play cards with just one person because the other people will get jealous. Think of unruly people just as you would think of a child and that will widen tolerance of them. If their needs are like those of a child, those needs are supposed to come first. The worker’s right to anger is correspondingly reduced; as an adult one must work to inhibit and suppress anger at children. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

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Should the analogy to children fail to induce the necessary deep acting, surface-acting strategies for handling “irate” can be brought into play. People are urged to “work” the customers name in, as in “Yes, Mr. Camdenski,” it is true construction of your new home is talking a little longer than expected.” This reminds the individual that he is not anonymous, that there is at least some pretension to a personal relation and that some emotion management is owed. Again, workers are told to use terms of empathy. Whatever happens, you are supposed to say, I know just how you feel. Lost your light fixture? I know just how you feel? Late for a walk though? I know just how you feel. Did not get that lot you were counting on? I know just how you feel. Employees reports that such expressions of empathy are useful in convincing people that they have misplaced the blame and misaimed their anger. Remember, to treat people like they are guests in your living room, and guests are to be made comfortable and their emotional outburst are expected to be met by support. Never get super angry with a customer, they are the source of revenue. Supervisors never speak officially of an obnoxious or outrageous customer, only of an uncontrolled customer. The term suggests that a fact has somehow attached itself to this customer—not that the customer has lost control or even had any control to lose. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

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Again, the common phrase “mishandled customer” suggests a bungle somewhere up the line, by someone destined to remain lost in the web of workers that stretched from curbside to architecture. By linguistically avoiding any attribution of blame, the idea of a right to be angry at the customer is smuggled out of discourse. Linguistically speaking, the customer never does anything wrong, so he or she cannot be blamed or made the object of anger. One time, a man was waiting for a special ordered light fixture, and one of the other home buyers sagged it and had it installed in her house. The builder responded by saying politely, “I notice this man’s light fixture was installed in your house.” The dirty deed was done, but, the implication was, by no one in particular. Such implicit reframing dulls a sense of cause of effect. It separates object from verb and verb from subject. The home buyer does not feel accused, and the builder does not feel as if he or she is accusing. Emotion work has been accomplished, but it has hidden its tracks with words. Company language is aimed not only at diffusing anger, but at minimizing fear. As in the case when a refrigerator was specially ordered and delivered to the wrong address. This was labeled an incident. The term incident calms the nerves. How could we be terrified at an incident? #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

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Thus, the words that workers use and do not use help them avoid emotions inappropriate to a living room full of guest. Dealing with difficult people is part of the job. It makes us angry sometimes. And anger is part of stress. So that is why I would like to talk to you about being angry. I am not saying you should do this [work on your anger] for your corporation. I am not saying you should do it for the home buyers. I am saying do it for yourselves. The only question to be seriously discussed is “How do you rid yourself of anger?” From my experience in supervisory work I know that the problem of hopelessness is often not clearly envisaged by the analyst and hence not properly dealt with. Some of my colleagues have been so overwhelmed by the individual’s hopelessness—which they recognized but did not see as a problem—that they became hopeless themselves. This attitude is of course fatal to an analysis, for no matter how good the technique or how brave the effort, the individual senses that the analyst has really given him or her up. The same holds true outside the analytical situation. Nobody can be a constructively helpful friends or mate who does not believe in the possibility of the companion’s fulfilling one’s own potentialities. Sometimes colleagues have made the opposite mistake of not taking the individual’s hopelessness seriously enough. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

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They felt the individual needed encouragement and gave it—which is commendable, but quite insufficient. When this happens, the individual, even if one appreciates the analyst’s good intentions, is quite justified in being annoyed with one, since deep down one knows that one’s hopelessness is not just a mood that can be dissipated by well-meant encouragement. In order to take the bull by the horns and tackle the problem directly, it is necessary first to recognize from indirect indications like the ones cited above that the individual feels hopeless and the extent to which one feels so. Then it must be understood that one’s hopelessness is fully warranted by one’s entanglements. The analyst must realize and explicitly convey to the individual that one’s situation is hopeless only so long as the status quo persists and is regarded as unchangeable. In simplified form, the whole problem is illustrated by a scene from Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard. The family, faced with bankruptcy, are in despair at the thought of leaving their estate with its beloved cherry orchard. A man of affairs offers the sound suggestion that they build modest homes for rent on a part of the estate. With their hidebound views, they cannot countenance such a project, and since there is no other solution they remain without hope. They ask helplessly, as if they had not heard the suggestion, whether nobody can advise or help them. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

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If their mentor were a good analyst he would say: “Of course the situation is difficult. However, what makes it hopes is your own attitude toward it. If you would consider changing your claims on life there would be no need to feel hopeless.” The belief that the individual can really change, which means essentially that one can really resolve one’s conflicts, is the factor that determines whether or not the therapist dare to tackle the problem and whether one can do it with a reasonable chance of success. It is here that my differences with Dr. Freud come into clear relief. Dr. Freud’s psychology and the philosophy underlying it are essentially pessimistic. This is patent in his outlook on the future of humankind as well as in his attitude toward therapy. And on the basis of his theoretical premises, he cannot be anything but pessimistic. Humans are driven by instincts which at best are only to be modified by “sublimation.” His instinctual drives for satisfaction are inevitably frustrated by society. His “ego” is helplessly tossed about between instinctual drives and the “superego,” which itself can only be modified. The superego is primarily forbidding and destructive. True ideals do not exist. The wish for personal fulfillment is narcissistic. Humans are by nature destructive and a death instinct compels them either to destroy others or to suffer. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

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All these theories leave little room for an optimistic attitude toward change and limit the value of the potentially splendid therapy Dr. Freud originated. In contrast, I believe that compulsive trends in neuroses are not instinctual but spring from disturbed human relationships; that they can be changed when these improve and that conflicts of such origin can really be resolved. This does not mean that therapy based on the principles I advocate has no limitations. Much work remains to be done before we can clearly determine these limitations. However, it does mean that we have well-founded reasons for believing in the possibility of radical change. Why, then, is it so important to recognize and tackle an individual’s hopelessness? In the first place, this approach is of value in dealing with special problems like depression and suicidal tendencies. We can, it is true, lift an individual depression by merely uncovering the particular conflicts in which the person is caught at the time, without touching upon one’s general hopelessness. However, if we want to prevent recurring depressions it has to be tackled because it is the deeper source from which the depressions emanate. Nor can insidious chronic depression be coped with unless one goes to this original source. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

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The same hold true for suicidal conditions. We know that such factors as acute despair, defiance, and vindictiveness lead to suicidal impulses; but it is often too late to prevent suicide after the impulse has become manifest. By paying minute attention to the less dramatic signs of hopelessness and by taking up the problem with the patient at the proper time, it is probable that many suicides could be averted. It is not that collective talk determines the mood of the workers. Rather, the reverse is true: the needed mood determines the nature of the worker’s talk. To keep the collective mood stripped of any painful feelings, serious talk of death, divorce, politics, religion, and news is usually avoided. People want to forget about COVID-19 and feel safe in the modest castles, which they imagine to be in a storybook fairytale. On the other hand, when there is time for it, mutual morale raising is common. As one said: “When one sales agent is depressed, thinking, ‘I am ugly, what am I doing as a sales representative?’ other sales representatives, even without quite knowing what they are doing, try to cheer her up. They straighten her collar for her, to get her up and smiling again. I have done it too, and needed it done.” Once established, team solidarity can have two effect. It can improve morale and thus improve service. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

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However, team solidarity can also become the basis for sharing grudges against the homebuyers or the corporation. Perhaps it is the second possibility that manager meant to avoid wen in Recurrent Training they offered examples of “bad” social emotion management. One teacher cautioned her students: “When you are angry with a homebuyer, do not head for the galley to blow off steam with another sales representative.” In the galley, the second sales representative, instead of calming the angry worker down, may further rile him or her up; one may become an accomplice to the aggrieved worker. Then, as the instructor put it, “There will be two of you hot to trot.” The message is, when you angry, go to a trusted therapist who will calm you down. Consider calling him or her for a phone appoint so not to drive while angry. Even if you are not suicidal, but cannot afford a therapist, a suicide hotline may be worth trying out. Support for anger or a sense of grievance—regardless of what inspires it—is bad for service and bad for the corporation. Thus, the informal ways in which workers check on the legitimacy of a grievance or look for support in blowing off steam become points of entry for company suggestions. Corporations sometimes have Ghost-Buyers who occasionally Ghost-Buy a house, and there may be senior representative on the crew, the base supervisor, and the plainclothes company supervisors who occasionally monitor employee behaviour. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

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One homebuyer was asked to fill out a company-elicited passenger opinion poll and fill out a questionnaire, and the results were presented by letter to the workers. As one male sales representative, seven years with the corporation describes it: We get told how we are doing twice a year when we are sent homebuyer evaluations. They show how the builder is competing. Oh, the homebuyers are asked to rank sales representatives: “genuinely concerned, made me feel welcome. Spoke to me more than required. Wide awake, energetic, eager to help. Seemed sincere when talking to the potential homebuyers and confirmed homebuyers. Helped established a relaxed community atmosphere. Enjoying their jobs. Treated homebuyers as individuals.” We see how this builder is doing in the competition. We are supposed to really get into it. Supervision is thus more indirect than direct. It relies on the sales representative’s sense of what homebuyers will communicate to management, who will, in turn, communicate to workers. Supervisors do more than oversee workers. Even when people are paid to be nice at all times, and when their efforts succeed, it is a remarkable accomplishment. This is possible because of emotion work, feeling rules, and social exchange. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

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A profit motive is slipped in under acts of emotion management, under the rules that govern them, under the gift exchange. Who benefits now, and who pays? The lesson in deep acting—acting “as if the office is your home” and “as if this unruly homebuyer has a traumatic past”—are themselves a new development in deskilling. The mind of the emotion worker, the source of the ideas about what mental moves are needed to settle down an irate, has moved upstairs in the hierarchy so that the worker is restricted to implementing standard procedures. Of more general significance is the fact that the individual’s hopelessness constitutes a hindrance to the cure of any severe neurosis. We have to deal with a counterplay of meticulous and forward-moving forces, with resistance and incentive. Resistance is a collective term for all the forces within the individual that operate to maintain the status quo. One’s incentive, on the other hand, is produced by the constructive energy that urges one on toward inner freedom. This is the motive power with which we work and without which we could do nothing. It is the force that helps that individual overcome resistance. It makes one’s associations productive, there by giving the analyst a chance for better understanding. It gives one the inner strength to endure the inevitable pain of maturing. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

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It makes one willing to take the risk of abandoning attitudes that have given one a feeling of safety and to make the leap into the unknown of new attitudes toward oneself and others. The analyst cannot drag the individual through this process; the individual oneself must want to go. It is this invaluable force that is paralyzed by a condition of hopelessness. And in failing to recognize and tackle it the analyst deprives oneself of one’s best ally in the battle against the individual’s neurosis. The individual’s hopelessness is not a problem that can be solved by any single interpretation. There is already a substantial gain if, instead of being engulfed by a feeling of doom that one regards as unalterable, the individual begins to recognize it as a problem that may eventually be solved. This step liberates one sufficiently to go ahead. There will, of course, be ups and downs. One may feel optimistic, even overoptimistic, if one acquires some helpful insight, only to succumb to one’s hopelessness again as soon as one approaches a more upsetting one. Each time the matter must be tackled anew. However, the hold it has on the individual will relax as one realizes that one can really change. One’s incentive will grow accordingly. It may be limited, at the beginning of the analysis, to a mere wish to get rid of one’s most disturbing symptoms. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

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However, the incentive gains strength as the individual becomes increasingly aware of one’s shackles, and as one gets a taste of how it feels to be free. When we shall apprehend the meaning of life, we may discover that it provides its pre-self-actualized in such prodigies. The highest service one can render is in silent contemplation, which inspires so many aspiring souls to a higher life. This is the truth. If one is sensitive, reflective, and penetrative, the mere fact that these prophets, these light-bringers and way-showers have exited at all is enough to change a human’s life. Even if one does no more than open the human mind to its higher possibilities, one does enough. Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost—humans must pray and gain knowledge for themselves from the Holy Ghost. About 559-545 Before Christ. “And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way. However, behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts? Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of Angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of Angels save it were by the Holy Ghost? Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the word of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

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“Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark. For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do. Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and there will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do. And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of humans; for they will not search knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be. And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a human to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a human to pray, but teacheth one that one must not pray. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

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“However, behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul,” reports 2 Nephi 32.1-9. Please send forth, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the Holy Spirit, to make these present offerings Thy Sacrament unto us, and purify our hearts for its reception. Privileges—O Lord God, please teach e to know that grace precedes, accompanies, and follows my salvation, that it sustains the redeemed soul, that not one link of its chain can ever break. From Calvary’s cross wave upon wave of grace reaches me, deals with my sin, washes me clean, renews my heart, strengthens my will, draws out my affection, kindles a flame in my soul, rules throughout my inner human, consecrates my every thought, word, work, teaches me Thy immeasurable love. How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus! Without him I stand far off, a stranger, an outcast; in him I draw near and touch his kingly sceptre. Without him I dare not lift up my guilt eyes; in him I gaze upon my Father-God and friend. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

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Without him I hide my lips in trembling shame; in him I open my mouth in petition and praise. Without him all is wrath and consuming fire; in him is all love, and the repose of my soul. Without him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish; in him its gates are barred to me by his precious blood. Without him darkness spreads its horrors in front; in him an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon. Without him all within me is terror and dismay, in him every accusation is charmed into joy and peace. Without him all things external call for my condemnation; in him they minister to my comfort, and are to be enjoyed with thanksgiving. Praise be to thee for grace, and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus. Although by the revelation of grace in this life we cannot know of God “what He is,” and thus are united to Him as to one unknown; still we know Him more fully according as many and more excellent of His effects are demonstrated to us, and according as we attribute to Him some things known by divine revelation, to which natural reason cannot reach, as, for instance, that God is Thee and One. For the images either received from sense in the natural order, or divinely formed in the imagination, we have so much more excellent intellectual knowledge, the stronger the intelligible light is in humans; and thus through revelation given by the images a fuller knowledge is received by the infusion of the divine light. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

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To Produce a Mighty Book, You Must Choose a Mighty Theme!

ImageLearning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that is not due to maturation or accident but is brought about through practice and experience. How do we decide how much equality is enough? Too much equality, as we have been at pains to point out, would be to treat everyone identically, completely ignoring their differing needs. Various forms of “barracks equality” approximating that would also be too much. Too little equality would be to limit equality of condition, as did the old egalitarianism, to achieving equal legal and political rights, equal civil liberties, to equality of opportunity and to a redistribution of gross inequalities if allowed to stand would threaten social stability. This Hobbesist stance indicates that the old egalitarianism proceeds in a very pragmatic manner. Against the old egalitarianism I would argue that we must at least aim at an equality of whole life prospects, where that is not ready simply as the right to compete for scarce positions of advantage, but where there is to be brought into being the kind of equality of condition that would provide everyone equally, as far as possible, with the resources and the social conditions to satisfy their needs as fully as possible compatible with everyone else doing likewise. (Note that between people these needs will be partly the same but will still often be importantly different as well.) #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

ImageIdeally, as a kind of ideal limit for a society of wondrous abundance, a radical egalitarianism would go beyond that to a similar thing for wants. We should, that is, provide all people equally, as far as possible, with the resources and social conditions to satisfy their wants, as fully as possible compatible with everyone else doing likewise. (I recognize that there is a slide between wants and needs. As the wealth of a society increases and its structure changes, things that started out as wants tend to become needs, exempli gratia, someone in the Falkland Islands might merely reasonably want an Ultimate Driving Machine while someone in Los Angeles might not only want it but need it as well. However, this does not collapse the distinction between wants and needs. There are things in any society people need, if they are to survive at all in anything like a commodious condition, whether they want them or not, exempli gratia, they need food, shelter, security, companionship and the like. An egalitarian starts with basic needs, or at least with what are take in the cultural environment in which a given person lives to be basic needs, and moves out to other needs and finally to wants as the productive power of the society increases.)  #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

ImageI qualified my above formulations with “as far as possible” and with “as fully as possible compatible with everyone else doing likewise.” These are essential qualifications. Where, as in societies that we know, there are scarcities, even rather minimal scarcities, not everyone can have that resources or at least all the resources necessary to have their needs satisfied. Here we must first ensure that, again as far as possible, their basic needs are all satisfied and then we move on to other needs and finally to wants. However, sometimes, to understate it, even in very affluent societies, everyone’s needs cannot be met, or at east they cannot be equally met. In such circumstances we have to make some hard choices. I am thinking of a situation where there are not enough ventilation machines to go around so that everyone who needs one can have one. What should we do? The thing to aim at, to try as far as possible to approximate, if only as heuristic ideal, is the full and equal meeting of needs and wants of everyone. It is when we have that much equality that we have enough equality. However, of course, “ought implies can,” and where we cannot achieve it we cannot achieve it. However, where we reasonably can, we ought to do it. It is something that fairness requires. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

ImageThe “reasonably can” is also an essential modification: we need situations of sufficient abundance so that we do not, in going for such an equality condition, simply spread the misery around or spread very Spartan conditions (marked by simplicity, frugality, or avoidance of luxury and comfort) around. Before we can rightly aim for the equality of condition I mentioned, we must first have the productive capacity and resource conditions to support the institutional means that would make possible the equal satisfaction of basic needs and the equal satisfaction of other needs and wants as well. Such achievements will often not be possible; perhaps they will never be fully possible, for, no doubt, the physically disabled will always be with us. Consider, for example, situations where our scarcities are such that we cannot, without causing considerable misery, create the institutions and mechanisms that would work to satisfy all needs, even al basic needs. Suppose we have the technology in place to develop all sorts of complicated life-sustaining machines all of which would predictably provide people with a quality of life that they, viewing the matter clearly, would rationally choose if they were simply choosing for themselves. However, suppose, if we put such technologies in place, we will then not have the wherewithal to provide basic health care in outlying regions in the country or adequate educational services in such places. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

ImageWe should not, under those circumstances, put those technologies in place. However, we should also recognize that where it becomes possible to put these technologies in place without sacrificing other more pressing needs, we should do so. The underlying egalitarian rationale is evident enough: produce the conditions for the most extensive satisfaction of needs for everyone. Where A’s need and B’s need are equally important (equally stringent) but cannot both be satisfied, satisfy A’s need rather than B’s if the satisfaction of A’s need would be more fecund for the satisfaction of the needs of others than B’s, or less undermining of the satisfaction of the needs of others than B’s. (I do not mean to say that this is our only criterion of choice but it is the criterion most relevant for us here.) We should seek the satisfaction of the greatest compossible set of needs where the conditions for compossibility are (a) that everyone’s needs be considered, (b) that everyone’s needs be equally considered and where two sets of needs cannot both be satisfied, the more stringent set of needs shall first be satisfied. (Do not say we have no working criteria for what they are. If you need food to keep you from starvation or debilitating malnutrition and I need a vacation to relax after a spate of hard work, your need is plainly more stringent than mine. There would, of course, be all sorts of disputable cases, but there are also a host of perfectly determine cases indicating that we have working criteria.) #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

ImageThe underlying rationale is to seek compossible sets of needs so that we approach as far as possible as great a satisfaction of needs as possible for everyone. This might, it could be said, produce a situation in which very few people got those things that they needed the most, or at least wanted the most. Remember Robert Nozick with his need for the resources of Widener Library in an annex to his house. People, some might argue, with expensive tastes and extravagant needs, say a need for really good wine, would never, with a stress on such compossibilia, get things they are really keen about. Is that the kind of World we would reflectively want? Well, if their not getting them I the price we have to pay for everyone having their basic needs met, then it is a price we ought to pay. I am very found of very good wines as well as fresh ripe mangoes, but if the price of my having them is that people starve or suffer malnutrition in Oakland, or indeed anywhere else, then plainly fairness, if not just plain human decency, requires I forgot them. In talking about how much equality is enough, I have so far talked of the benefits that equality is meant to provide. However, egalitarians also speak of an equal sharing of the necessary burdens of the society as well. Fairness requires a sharing of the burdens and for a radical egalitarian this comes to an equal sharing of the burdens where people are equally capable of sharing them. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

ImageTranslated into the concrete this does not mean that a child or a man who is a senior citizen or a woman with an unborn child are to be required to work in the mines or that they be required to collect garbage, but it would involve something like requiring every able bodied person, say from nineteen to twenty, to take his or her turn at a fair portion of necessary unpleasant jobs in the World. In that way all, where we are able to do it, would share equally in these burdens—in doing the things that none f us want to do but that we, if we are at all reasonable, recognize the necessity of having done. (There are all kinds of variations and complications concerning this—what do we do with the youthful wonder at the violin? However, that notwithstanding, the general idea is clear enough.) And, where we think this is reasonably feasible, it squares with our considered judgment about fairness. I have given you, in effect appealing to my considered judgments but considered judgments I do not think are at all eccentric, a picture of what I would take to be enough equality, too little equality and not enough equality. However, how can we know that my proportions are right? I do not think we can avoid or should indeed try to avoid an appeal to get them in wide reflective equilibrium. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

ImageSuppose we go back to the formal principle of justice, namely that we must treat like cases alike. Because it does not tell us what are like cases, we cannot derive substantive criteria from it. However, it may, indirectly, be of some help here. We all, if we are not utterly zany, want a life in which our needs are satisfied and in which we can live as we wish and do what we want to do. Though we differ in many ways, in our abilities, capacities for pleasure, determination to keep on with a job, we do not differ about wanting our needs satisfied or being able to live as we wish. Thus, ceterus paribus (with other conditions remaining the same), where questions of desert, entitlement and the like do not enter, it is only fair that all of us should have our needs equally considered and that we should, again ceterus paribus, all be able to do as we wish in a way that is compatible with others doing likewise. From the formal principle of justice and a few key factors about us, we can get to the claim that ceterus paribus we should go for this much equality. However, this is the core content of a radical egalitarianism. However, how do we know that ceterus is paribus here? What about our entitlements and deserts? #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

ImageSuppose I have built my house with my own hands, from materials I have purchased on land that I have purchased and that I have lived in it for years and have carefully cared for it. The house is mine and I am entitled to keep it even if by adding a third story on to the house greater and more equal satisfaction of need would obtain for everyone. Justice requires that such an entitlement be respected here. (Again, there is an implicit ceterus parabus clause. In extreme situations, say after a war with housing in extremely short supply, that entitlement could be rightly overridden.) There is a response on the egalitarian’s part similar to a response utilitarianism made to criticisms of a similar logical type made of utilitarians by pluralistic deontologists. One of the things that people in fact need, or at least reflectively firmly want, is to have such entitlements respected. Where they are routinely overridden to satisfy other needs or wants, we would not in fact have a society in which the needs of everyone are being maximally met. To the reply, but what if more needs for everyone were met by ignoring or overriding such entitlements, the radical egalitarian should respond that that is, given the way we are, a thoroughly hypothetical situation and that theories of morality cannot be expected to give guidance for all logically possible Worlds but only for Worlds which are reasonably like what our actual World is or plausibly could come to be. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

ImageSetting this argument aside for the moment, even if it did turn out that the need satisfaction linked with having other things—things that involved the overriding of those entitlements—was sufficient to make it the case that more need satisfaction all around for everyone would be achieved by overriding those entitlements, then, for reasonable people who clearly saw that, these entitlements would not have the weight presently given to them. They either would not have the importance presently attached to them or the need for the additional living space would be so great that their being overridden would seem, everything considered, the lesser of two evils (as in the example of the postwar housing situation). There are without doubt genuine entitlements and a theory of justice must take them seriously, but they are not absolute. If the need is great enough we can see the merit in overriding them, just as in law as well as morality the right of eminent domain is recognized. Finally, while I have talked of entitlements here, parallel arguments will go through for desert. However, without ontological foundation neither love nor power nor justice can be adequately interpreted. The results of the ontological analysis to the problem of power in group relations confirms this. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

ImageIf in this way the ontological character of love, power, and justice is established the question of their theological character arises. For the ontological and the theological are in one point identical: both deal with being as being. The first assertion to be made about God is that He is being-itself. The theological question has already entered our discussion at several points. It has been anticipated by the description of life as separation and reunion, or as love. Such a description of life is strictly analogous to the trinitarian interpretation of the living God. In his Son, God separates Himself from Himself, and in the Spirit He reunites Himself with Himself. This, of course, is a symbolic way of speaking, but it reminds Christians always of the truth that God is not dead identity but the living ground of everything that has life. Beyond this, we referred to the agape quality of love as that which is emphasized in the New Testament. We spoke of the divine justice, both in its natural aspect, according to which everything has its intrinsic claim for justice, and in the aspect of forgiving and reuniting justice. We referred to human’s resistance against reuniting love, their estrangement from themselves, for other beings, and from the other beings, and from the ground of their being. And we protested against a doctrine of God in which God is made powerless; for being must be described as the power of being. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

ImageAll this shows that no discussion of concepts like love, power, and justice, is possible without touching the dimension of ultimate concern, the dimension of the holy. However, there is a profounder reason for the necessity of reaching into this dimension. It was our task to show that essentially, in their created nature, love, power, and justice are untied. This, however, was not possible without showing that in existence they are separated and conflicting. This leads to the question: How can their essential unity be re-established? The answer is obvious: Through the manifestations of the ground in which they are united. Love, power, and justice are one in the divine ground, they shall become one in human existence. They holy in which they are untied shall become holy reality in time and space. How and in which sense is the possible? The basic assertion about the relation of God to love, power, and justice is made, if one says that God is being itself. For being itself, according to our ontological analysis, implies love as well as power and justice. God is the basic and universal symbol for what concerns us ultimately. As being-itself He is ultimate reality, the really real, the ground and abyss of everything that is real. As the God, with whom I have a person-to-person encounter, He is the subject of all the symbolic statements in which I express my ultimate concern. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

ImageEverything we say about being-itself, the ground and abyss of being, must be symbolic. I is taken out of the material of our finite reality and applied to that which transcends the finite infinitely. Therefore it cannot be used in it literal sense. To say anything about God in the literal sense of the words used means to say something false about Him. The symbolic in relation to God is not less true that the literal, but it is the only true way of speaking about God. This refers also to the three ideas we are discussing. If we speak of God as loving or, more emphatically, of God as being love, we use our experience of love and our analysis of life as the material which alone we can use. However, we also know that if we apply it to God we throw it into the mystery of the divine depth, where it is transformed without being lost. It is still love, but it is now divine love. This does not mean that a higher being has in a fuller sense what we call love, but it does mean that our love is rooted in the divine life, id est in something which transcends our life infinitely in being and meaning. The same we must say of the divine power. It is applied to God symbolically. We experience power in physical acts as well as in the ability to carry through our will against contradicting wills. This experience is the material we use when we speak of the divine power. We speak of God’s omnipotence and we address Him as the Almighty. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

ImageLiterally taken, God Almighty would men that God is a highest being, who can do what He wants to do, the implication being that there are a lot of things which He does not want to do, a concept which leads into a fog of absurd imaginations. The real meaning of almightiness is that God is the power of being in everything that is, transcending every special power infinitely but acting at the same time as its creative ground. In the religious experience the power of God provokes the feeling of being in the hand of a power which cannot be conquered by any other power, in ontological terms, which is the infinite resistance against non-being and the eternal victory over it. To participate in this resistance and this victory is felt as the way to overcome the threat of non-being which is the destiny everything finite. In every prayer to the almighty God, power is seen in the light of the divine power. It is seen as ultimate reality. This understood, we must also understand that we must not overcommit ourselves in prayer, especially if we are just beginning. It may be better for some to commit oneself to a total of fifteen minutes and maintain it—with perhaps five minutes of Bible reading, five minutes of meditation, and five minutes of disciplined prayer. A regular time of devotion and prayer will become a habit, and the habit of prayer will give wings to your spiritual life. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

ImageSometimes prayer is difficult, it seems that God is too far to listen, and the Lord Jesus is strangely aloof, and prayer accomplishes nothing. However, something is happening. Often we do not enjoy our freedom in Christ because we are afraid of what others will think. We do or do not do certain things because of a fear that we will be judged or gossiped about by others. However, standing firm in our freedom in Christ means we resist the urge to live by the fear of what others think. It is very instructive to me that, in Galatians, the Magna Charta of Christian freedom, Paul also said, “Am I now trying to win the approval of humans, or of God? Or am I trying to please humans? If I were still trying to please humans, I would not be a servant of Christ,” reports Galatians 1. 10. I had to learn this lesson the hard way. Surprisingly soon after the death of my first wife, God brought into my life another Godly lady—a singe woman who had been a family friend for many years. As our friendship began to deepen into a romantic relationship, I became quite concerned what people would think. I knew I would be violating the culturally accepted maxim of “do not make any major decisions the first years.” At the same time, I sensed an inner compulsion in my spirit, which I felt was from God, to move ahead. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

ImageMy journal during those days records numerous times when I struggled to with God over this issue. One day I wrote, “I wonder if God is pushing me along faster in this relationship than I want to go because of fear of what people will think.” I had put God in the box of our culturally accepted norm. Surely God would not do anything in my life that would be unacceptable to my friends. God was actually doing a wonderful thing, but instead of fully enjoying His work of grace, I was struggling with Him because of what people might think. If you are going to experience the joy of your freedom in Christ, you have to decide whether you will please God or people. God loves you, and people have a wonderful plan for your life. Other people want to tell you how you should live the Christian life, what you should not do and what you should do. Often their ideas will not match how you feel God is guiding you. I am not advocating that we run roughshod over other people’s convictions. We are called to a Body, and we all need to live and minister as members of the Body. However, ultimately we are responsible to God, not other people. God is the One who puts us in the Body as He pleases. He deals with each of us individually, putting each of us in circumstances tailored especially for our growth and ministry. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

ImageA friend of mine ministers to international students from a very different cultural and political background. For some reason, the best time of the entire week to meet with them in an evangelistic Bible study is during the Sunday morning worship service. My friend went to his pastor, explained the situation, committed himself to attending the Sunday evening service, but asked to be excused from the morning service with the pastor’s approval and blessing. Fortunately, the pastor understood and heartily granted his approval of my friend’s plan. However, what is some people in the congregation did not understand? What is the Sunday school superintendent did not understand why my friend was unavailable to teach the college age class? What are we to do in those situations? We are to exercise our freedom in Christ. If we believe God is guiding us in a certain direction, we have to obey God, not other people. I learned something else through my romantic experience. I realized I often had my own opinions of what other people should or should not do. I would not try to influence their actions, but in my mind I would judge them—either approving or disapproving. So God put the hose on the other foot; He exposed me to the possibility of other not understanding what He was doing in my life. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

ImageI learned the hard way to experience my own freedom in Christ and let other people experience theirs. We need to learn to let each other be free. Many Gentiles will reject the Book of Mormon—they will say, We need no more Bible—the Lord speaks to many nations—He will judge the World out of the books which will be written. About 559-545 Before Christ. “However, behold, there shall be many—at the day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them, that I may remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of humans, that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel; and also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the Earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel; and because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible. However, thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

Image“Do they remember the travails, and the labours, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in brining forth salvation unto the Gentiles? O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. However, behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all humans, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the Heavens above and in the Earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of humans, yea, even upon all the nations of the Earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the name words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

Image“And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasures. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither form that time henceforth and forever. Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written. For I command all humans, both in the Old World and the New World, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the World, every human according to their works, according to which is written. For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the Earth and they shall write it. And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the word of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

Image“And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever,” 2 Nephi 29.1-12. Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but relying on Thy loving-kindness I draw near to Thine Altar;–a sick person, to the Physician of life; a blind person, to the Light of eternal brightness; poor, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth; naked, to the King of glory; a sheep, to its Shepherd; a creature, to its Creator; desolate, to the loving Comforter; miserable, to the Merciful; a criminal, to the Giver of pardon; ungodly, to the Justifer; hardened, to the Infuser of grace; beseeching Thine exuberant and infinite mercy, that it may please Thee to heal my weakness, to wash my foulness, to enlighten my blindness, to enrich my poverty, to clothe my nakedness, to bring me back from my wanderings, to console my desolation, to reconcile my guiltiness, to give pardon to the sinner, forgiveness to the miserable, life to the criminal, justification to the dead; so that I may be enabled to receive Thee, the Bread of Angeles, the King of Kind, and the Lord of Lords, with such chastity of body and purity of mind. #Randolph Harris 21 of 22

ImageMy I receive God with such contrition of heat and plenteous sorrow, such spiritual gladness and Heavenly joy, such fear and trembling, such reverence and honour, such faith and humility, such purpose and love, such devotion and thanksgiving, as are due and meet; so that it may profit me unto life eternal and remission of all my sins! O God of Grace, I bewail my cold, listless, heartless prayers; their poverty adds sin to sin. If my hope were in them I should be undone, but the worthy of Jesus perfumes my feeble breathings, and wins their acceptance. Deepen my contrition of heart, confirm my faith in the blood that washes from all sin. May I walk lovingly with my great redeemer. Flood my soul with true repentance that my heart may be broken for sin and unto sin. Let me be as slow to forgive myself as thou art ready to forgive me. Gazing on the glories of thy grace may I be cast into the lowest depths of shame, and walk downcast head now thou art pacified toward me. O my great High Priest, pour down upon me streams of needful grace, bless me in all my undertakings, in every thought of mine, every word of my lips, every step of my feet, every deed of my hands. Thou didst live to bless, die to bless, rise to bless, ascend to bless, take Thy throne to bless, and now Thou dost reign to bless. O give sincerity to my desires, earnestness to my supplications, fervour to my love. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22Image

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Half the Failures in Life Arise from Pulling in One’s Horse as He or She is Leaping!

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It is not clear that we must take into account what the environment does to an organism not only before but after it responds. Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences. If we ourselves are clear as to exactly what is meant by taking responsibility for oneself, we will understand that it is hard, if not impossible, for any neurotic to assume it. It means in the first place to acknowledge in a matter-of-fact way—to oneself and others—that such-and-such were one’s intentions, one’s words or one’s actions, and to be willing to take the consequences. This would be the opposite of lying or of putting the blame on others. To take responsibility for oneself in this sense would be hard for the neurotic because as a rule one does not know what one is doing or why one is doing it and has a keen subjective interest in not knowing. That is why one often tries to wriggle out by denying, forgetting, belittling, inadvertently supplying other motivations, feeling misunderstood, or getting confused. And since one tends to exclude or absolve oneself, one readily assumes that one’s wife, one’s business partner, one’s analyst are responsible for any difficulty that arises. Another factor that frequently contributes to one’s inability to take the consequences of one’s actions or even to see them is a hidden feeling of omnipotence, on the basis of which one expects to do whatever one pleases and get away with it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

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To recognize the inescapable consequences of one’s actions would shatter this feeling of being a god. A final factor that is relevant here looks at first glance like an intellectual incapacity to think in terms of cause and effect. The neurotic commonly gives the impression of being inherently able to think only in terms of punishment. Almost every patient feels that the analyst is blaming one, whereas actually the analyst is only confronting one with one’s difficulties and their consequences. Outside the analytical situation one may feel like a culprit always under suspicion and attack and therefore constantly on the defensive. In reality this is an externalization of intrapsychic processes. As we have seen, the source from which these suspicions and attacks stem is one’s own idealized image. It is this inner process of fault finding and defense, plus its externalization, that makes it almost impossible for one to conceive of a cause-and-effect relation where one oneself is concerned. However, where difficulties of one’s own are not involved one can be just as matter-of-fact as anyone else. If the streets get wet because it is raining one does not ask whose fault it is but accepts the causal connection. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

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When we speak of assuming responsibility for the self we mean, in addition, the capacity to stand up for what we believe is right and a willingness to take the consequences if our action or decision should prove to be wrong. This, too, is difficult when a person is divided by conflicts. For which of the conflict trends within oneself should one or could one stand up? None of them represents what one really wants or believes in. One really could stand up only for one’s idealized image. This, however, does not permit of the possibility of being wrong. Hence if one’s decision or action leads to trouble, one must falsify matters and ascribe the adverse consequences to someone else. A comparatively simple example will illustrate this problem. A person at the head of an organization craves unlimited power and prestige. Nothing may be done or decided without one; one cannot bring oneself to delegate functions to others who by virtue of their particular training might be better equipped to handle certain affairs. There is, in one’s own mind, nothing one does not know best. Besides, one does not want anyone else to feel or to become important. If only because of limitations of time and energy, one’s expectations of oneself would be impossible to measure up to. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

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However, this particular individual wants not only to dominate; one is also complaint and needs to be superhumanly good. As a result of one’s unresolved conflicts one has all the earmarks we have described—inertia and need for sleep, indecision and procrastination, and hence cannot organize one’s time. And since one feels the keeping of appointments as intolerable coercion, one secretly enjoys making people wait. In addition, one does many unimportant tings merely because they flatter one’s vanity. Finally, one’s urge to be a devoted family person consumes much of one’s time and thought. Naturally, then, things do not function very well in the organization; but seeing no flaw in oneself, one puts the blame on others or on untoward circumstances. Again let us ask, for which part of one’s personality could one take responsibility? For one’s tendency to dominate, or for one’s tendency to comply, appease, and ingratiate oneself? To begin with, one is unaware of either. However, even if one were aware of them one could not uphold one and discard the other, because both are compulsory. Furthermore, one’s idealized image does not allow one to see anything in oneself but ideal virtues and unlimited capacities. Hence one cannot take responsibility for the consequences that inevitably follow from the operation of one’s conflicts. To do so would bring into clear relief all that one is so anxious to conceal from oneself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

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Generally speaking, the neurotic is especially averse—unconsciously—to assuming responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions. One shuts one’s eye to even the very obvious ones. Unable to do away with one’s conflicts, one insists—again unconsciously—that one, all powerful as one is, should be able to cope with them. Consequences, one believes, may catch up with other, but for one they do not exist. One must therefore keep on dodging any recognition of the laws of cause and effect. If one would only open one’s mind to them, they could teach one a powerful lesson. They demonstrate in a foolproof way that one’s system of living does not work, that for all one’s unconscious cunning and trickery one cannot budge the laws that operate in our psychic life with the same inexorability as in the physical sphere, but there is an astonishing lack of understand of these psychic laws in the New World. As a matter of act, the whole subject of responsibility has little appeal for one. One sees—or dimly senses—only its negative aspects. What one does not see, and learn to appreciate only gradually, is that by turning one’s back on it one defeats one’s ardent strivings for independence. One hopes to attain independence by defiantly excluding all commitments, whereas in reality the assuming of responsibility for oneself and to oneself is an indispensable condition of real inner freedom. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

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In order not to recognize that one’s problems and one’s suffering stem from one’s inner difficulties, the neurotic resorts to any of three devices—and often to all of them. Externalization may be applied to the hilt at this point, in which case everything from food, climate, or constitution to parents, wife, or fate is blamed for the particular calamity. Or one may take the attitude that since nothing is one’s fault it is unfair that any misfortune should befall one. It is unfair that one should tall ill, get old, or die, that one should be unhappily married, have a problem child, or think one’s work remain unrecognized. This kind of thinking, which may be conscious or unconscious, is doubly wrong, for it eliminates not only one’s own share in one’s difficulties but also all the factors independent of oneself that have a bearing on one’s life. Nevertheless, it has a logic of its own. It is the typical thinking of an isolated being who is centered exclusively upon oneself and whose egocentricity makes it impossible for one to see oneself as only a small link in a greater chain. One simply takes it for granted that one should derive all the good of living at a particular time in a particular social system, but resents being linked with others for good or ill. Therefore one cannot see why one should suffer from anything in which one has not been personally implicated. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

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The third device is connected with one’s refusal to recognize cause-and-effect relationships. Consequences appear in one’s mind as isolated occurrences, unrelated to oneself or one’s difficulties. A depression or a phobia, for instance, may seem to descend upon one from the blue. This, of course, might be due to psychological ignorance or lack of observation. However, in analysis we can see that the patient offers a most tenacious resistance to taking cognizance of any impalpable connections. One may remain incredulous or forget them; or one may feel that the analyst, instead of speedily removing the troublesome disturbances—which was what one came for—puts the “blame” on one and cleverly saves one’s own face. Thus a patient may have become familiar with factors relevant to one’s inertia but close one’s mind to the obvious fact that one’s inertia slows up not only one’s analysis but everything else one does. Or another may have become aware of one’s aggressive-derogatory behaviour toward people but cannot understand why one often has quarrels and is disliked. That these difficulties exist within one is one thing, but one’s actual day-to-day problems are something else again. This separation of one’s inner troubles from their effect on one’s life is one of the mainsprings of the whole tendency to compartmentalize. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

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Resistance toward recognizing the consequences of neurotic attitudes and drives is for the most part deeply concealed and may be easily overlooked by the analyst for the very reason that to one the connection is so obvious. This is unfortunate, because unless the patient is made aware that one blinds oneself to consequences and the reasons for which one does so, one cannot possibly realize to what an extent one interferers with one’s own life. Awareness of consequences is the most powerful curative factor in analysis in that it impresses on the patient’s mind that only by changing certain things within oneself can one ever attain freedom. If, then, the neurotic cannot be held accountable for one’s pretenses, one’s arrogance, one’s egocentricity, one’s shirking of responsibility, can we speak in terms of morals at all? The argument will be raised that, as physicians, we need only be concerned with the patient’s illness and cure, and that one’s morals are not our province. It will be pointed out that one of Dr. Freud’s great merits was to have overthrown the “moralistic” attitude I seem to advocate! Such arguments are deemed scientific; but are they tenable? Can we really exclude in matters of human behaviour judgment as to right and wrong? #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

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If analysts decide what needs analytical examination and what does not, do they not really proceed on the basis of the very judgments they consciously reject? There is a danger, however, in such implicit judgments: they are likely to be made on either too subjective or too traditional a ground. Thus an analyst may feel that a man’s philandering need not be analyzed, while a woman’s deserves scrutiny. Or if one believes in an unbridled living out of drives in dealing with pleasures of the flesh, one may decide that faithfulness, whether in a man or a woman, needs analysis. Actually, judgments should be made on the basis of the particular patient’s neurosis. The question to be decided is whether an attitude the patient has assumed has consequences injurious to one’s development and to one’s relations with people. If it has, it is wrong and needs to be tackled. The reasons for the analyst’s conclusion should be explicitly stated to the patient in order to enable one to make up one’s own mind in the matter. And finally, do not the above arguments contain the same fallacy as exists in the patient’s thinking—namely, that morals are only a question of judgment and not primarily one of fact couple with consequences? Let us take neurotic arrogance as an example. It exists as a fact no matter whether the patient is responsible for it or not. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

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The analyst believes that arrogance is a problem for the patient to recognize and eventually overcome. Does one assume this critical attitude because one has learned in Sunday school that arrogance is sinful and humility a virtue? Or is one’s judgment determined by the fact that arrogance is unrealistic and has adverse consequences, the burden of which is inevitably that patient’s—again regardless of one’s responsibility. The consequences, though, in the case of arrogance bar the patient from knowing oneself, and so thwart one’s development. Also, the arrogant patient is apt to be unfair to others, and this again has its repercussions—not merely in subjecting one to occasional clashes with others but in alienating one from people generally. This, however, only drives one deeper into one’s neurosis. Because the patient’s morals in part result from one’s neurosis and in part contribute to its maintenance, the analyst has no choice but to be interested in them. Interestingly enough, those who share a particular stigma can often rely upon mutual aid in passing, again illustrating that those who can be most threatening are often those who can render most assistance. For example, when one homosexual accosts another, the action may be carried out in such a way that normal are unaware that anything out of the ordinary is occurring. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

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If we watch very carefully, and know what to watch for in a “gay” bar, we begin to observe that some individuals are apparently communicating with each other without exchanging words, but simply by exchanging glances—but not the kind of quick glance which ordinarily occurs between people of the same gender. The same kind of cooperativeness is to be found among the circles of stigmatized persons who know one another personally. For example, former mental patients who knew each other in the institution may maintain tactful control of this fact on the outside. In some cases, as when one of the individuals is with normal, the individual may give and be given the “go by,” the passing by of each other as though they were unacquainted. Where a greeting does occur, it may be handled discreetly; the context of the initial acquaintanceship is not made explicit, and the individual whose situation is the more delicate is accorded the right to pace the acknowledgment and the sociable exchange that follows from it. Former mental patients are not alone here of course: The professional women of the evening has a code regulating her relations with the client. For example, it is customary for a woman of the evening never to show any signs of recognizing a client when she meets one in public, unless he greets her first. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

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Where this kind of discretion is not afforded, one can sometimes expect the discredited individual to take active disciplinary action, as Reiss, in his paper on juvenile entrepreneurs, illustrates by quoting an informant. “I was walkin’ down the street with my steady girl when this gay drives by that I had been with once before and he whistles at me and calls, ‘Hi, Sweetie.’ And, was I mad…so I went down to where the boys was and we laid for him and beat on him ‘til he like to a never come to…ain’t gonna take nothin’ like that off’n a queer.” It is expected to be that voluntary maintenance of various types of distance will be employed strategically by those who pass, the discreditable here using much the same devices as do the discredited, but for slightly different reasons. By declining or avoiding overtures of intimacy the individual can avoid the consequent obligation to divulge information. By keeping relationships distant one ensures that time will not have to be spent with the other, for, as already stated, the more time that is spent with another the more chance of unanticipated events that disclose secrets. Examples may be cited from the stigma management work done by wives of mental patients. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

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“But I have cut off all our other friends [after citing five who “knew”]. I did not tell them that I was giving up the apartment and I had the phone disconnected without telling anyone so they do not know how to get in touch with me. I have not gotten too friendly with anyone at the office because I do not want people to know where my husband is. I figure that if I got too friendly with them, then they would start asking questions, and I might start talking, and I just think it is better if as few people as possible know about Joe.” By maintaining physical distance, the individual can also restrict the tendency of others to build up a personal identification of one. By residing in a region with a mobile population, one can limit the amount of continuous experience others have of one. By residing in a region cut off from one one ordinarily frequents one can introduce a disconnectedness in one’s biography: whether intentionally, as in the case of an unmarried young lady with an unborn child going out of state to have her baby, or of small-town homosexuals going to New York, Los Angeles, or Paris for relatively anonymous activity; or unintentionally, as in the case of the mental patient who gratefully finds that one’s place of commitment is far out of town and hence somewhat cut off from one’s ordinary contacts. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

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By staying indoors and not answering the phone or door, the discreditable individual can remove oneself from most of those contacts in which one’s disgrace might be established as part of the biography others have of one. A final possibility must now be considered, one that allows the individual to forego all the others. One can voluntarily disclose oneself, thereby radically transforming one’s situation from that of an individual with information to manage to that of an individual with uneasy social situations to manage, from that of a discreditable person to that of a discredited one. Once a secretly stigmatized person has given information about oneself it becomes possible, of course, for one to engage in any of the adaptive actions previously cited as being available to the known-to-be stigmatized, this accounting in part for one’s policy of self-disclosure. One method of disclosure is for the individual voluntarily to wear a stigma symbol, a highly visible sign that advertises one’s failing wherever one goes. There are, for example, hard of hearing persons who wear hearing devices that are nearly invisible; the partly blind who affect a collapsible white cane; Jewesses who wear a Star of David as a necklace. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

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It should be noted that some of these stigma symbols, such as a Knights of Columbus lapel button indicating that the wearer is Catholic, are not frankly presented as disclosures of stigma, but purportedly attest rather to membership in organizations claimed to have no such significance in themselves. It should be noted also that militant programs of all kinds can be served by this device, for the self-symbolizing individual ensures one’s being cut off from the society of normal. The manner in which a sect of New York Jews present themselves provides an example: “Obgehitene Yiden, ‘Guardian Jews,’ include those so-called ultra-Orthodox Jews who not only observe the Shulhan Aruch in the most minute detail but are most meticulous and zealous in their observance. They perform all the prescribed commandments and precepts with greatest care. These people are overtly identifiable as Jews. They wear beards and/or special traditional clothing for the exclusive purpose of being externally identified as Jewish: beards so that the ‘image of God should be upon their faces,’ traditional garments so that they ‘may refrain from any possible sin.’” Stigma symbols have the character of being continuously available for perception. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

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Some less rigid means of disclosure are also used. Fleeting offerings of evidence may be made—purposeful slips, as it were—as when a person has not disclosed their preference for same sex relationships and voluntarily commits the clumsy act of showing someone pictures one of which is private picture of himself as a way of informing new comers of his sigma. There is also disclosure etiquette, a formula whereby the individual admits one’s own failing in a matter of fact way, supporting the assumption that those present are above such concerns while preventing them from trapping themselves into showing that they are not. Thus the “good” Jew or mental patient waits for “an appropriate time” in a conversation with strangers and calmly says: “Well, being Jewish has made me feel that…” or “Having had first-hand experience as a mental patient I can…” Earlier it was suggested that learning to pass constitutes one phase in the socialization of the stigmatized person and a turning point in one’s moral career. I want to suggest now that if an individual can come to accept oneself and respect oneself, that the stigmatized individual can come to feel that one should be above passing, and will feel no need to conceal one’s failing. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

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After laboriously learning to conceal, then, the individual may go on to unlearn this concealment. It is here that voluntary disclosure fits into the moral career, a sign of one of its phases. It should be added that in the published autobiographies of stigmatized individuals, this phase in the moral career is typically described as the final, mature, well-adjusted one—a state of grace I will attempt to consider later. Many false churches will be built up in the last days—they will teach false, vain, and foolish doctrines—apostasy will abound because of false teachers—the devil will rage in the hearts of humans—he will teach all manner of false doctrines. About 559-545 Before Christ. “And now, behold, my brethren, I have spoken unto you, according as the Spirit hath constrained me; wherefore, I know that they must surely come to pass. And the things which shall be written out of the book shall be of great worth unto the children of humans, and especially unto our seed, which is a remnant of the house of Israel. For it shall come to pass in that day that the churches which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when the one shall say unto the other: Behold, I, I am the Lord’s; and the others shall say: I, I am the Lord’s; and thus shall every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the Lord– #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

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“And they shall contend one with another; and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance. And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto humans; behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work. Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea lie a little, take advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbour; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark. And the blood of the saints shall cry from the ground against them. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

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“Yea, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted. Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up. They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and the persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up. They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of humans. O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell! Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worthy! For the day shall come that the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the Earth; and in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity they shall perish. However, behold, if the inhabitants of the Earth shall repent of their wickedness and abominations they shall not be destroyed, saith the Lord of Hosts. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

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“However, behold, that great and abominable church, the whore of all the Earth, must tumble to the Earth, and great must be the fall thereof. For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish; for behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of humans, and stir them up to anger against that which is good. And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. And behold, other he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whsipereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance. Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment. Therefore, wo be unto ne that is at ease in Zion! Wo be unto one that crieth: All is well! #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

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“Yea, wo be unto one that hearkeneth unto the precepts of humans, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost! Yea, wo be unto one that saith: We have received, and we need no more! And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, one that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and one that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest one shall fall. And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, one that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and one that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest one shall fall. Wo be unto one that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough! For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of humans line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto one that receiveth I will give more; and for them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have. Cursed is one that putteth one’s trust in humans, or maketh flesh one’s arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of humans, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

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“Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Host,” reports 2 Nephi 28.1-32. O Lord our God, Who hast called us Christians after the Name of Thine Only-begotten Son, and hast given us Baptism in the Font for the remission of sins; make us, we beseech Thee, worthy now to receive this Communion for the remission of our sins, and to glorify Thee with thanksgiving. O God, may I never be a blot or a blank in life, cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of, or make my liberty an occasion to the flesh. May I by love serve others, and please my neighbour for one’s good edification. May I attend to what is ornamental as well as essential in religion, pursuing things that are lovely and of good report. May I render my profession of the gospel not only impressive, but amiable and inviting. May I hold forth the way of Jesus with my life as well as my lips. May I say to all I meet, I am journeying towards the Lord’s given place, some with me for your good. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

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May I be prepared for all the allotments of this short, changing, uncertain life with a useful residence in it, a comfortable journey through it, a safe passage out of it. May I ne in character and conduct like the dew of Heaven, the salt of the Earth, the light of the World, the fullness of the fountain. May I never be ashamed of Jesus or His words, never be deterred from fulfilling a known duty through fear, never be discouraged from attempting it through weakness. May I see all things in a divine light so that they may inform my judgment and sanctify my heart. And by all the disciplines of Thy providence, and all the ordinances of religion, may I be increasingly prepared for life’s remaining duties, the solemnities of a dying hour, and the joys and services that lie beyond the grave. Have mercy, O Lord, upon Thy servants for whom I offer this sacrifice of praise to Thy Majesty; that they may be able to lead a good life in this World, and happily to attain eternal blessedness. Remember, O Lord, Thy servants and handmaids here present, whose faith and devotion are discerned and known by Thee. Look mercifully, O Lord, on these present offerings, that they may avail both for our devotion and our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Send forth, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the Holy Spirit, to make these present offerings Thy Sacrament unto us, and purify our hearts for its reception. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

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