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Two Blue Jays Went Out at Noon and Waltzed Above a Stream
Doubt must be genuine, not feigned, and unless it is employed in good faith, one is likely to err in doubting real evidence, just as, without methodological doubt one is likely to err in allowing unwarranted belief. Accordingly, doubt has no privileged status over belief. Ability to attain truth as well as falsehood must underlie the quest for truth, and freedom is thus a condition of the possibility of knowing truth as well as of being mistake. “Better for one person to perish than for a nation to dwindle in unbelief,” reports 1 Nephi 4.13. Freedom is a double dilemma. Either causal necessity or freedom is a fundamental truth, and each doctrine must be asserted either necessarily or freely. If necessity is the true doctrine, my affirmation thereof is eo ipso necessary, but since neither doubt nor belief relative to evidence would function in that determination, doubt results. If necessity is true but I affirm freedom, then in addition to my inconsistency (for my affirmation is made necessarily), there is only a subjective foundation for knowledge and morality. Given the truth of determinism, erroneous as well as true judgments are necessary, and any supposed distinction between them is illusory. “Come to knowledge of true Messiah,” reports 1 Nephi 10.14. Stop listening to the tyranny of the natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
According to the hypothesis of freedom, if I freely affirm global necessity I am fundamentally inconsistent. If I affirm freedom under the same hypothesis, not only is my affirmation consistent with the hypothesis but I have a foundation for knowledge and morality. Under the double dilemma, the only satisfactory alternative is freely to affirm freedom. Freedom is essentially the power to add some novel reality to the existing World. Causality must be explained through the freedom and not vice versa. The data that are present to given event of consciousness arise out of the past relative to that event; they are past actualities, but present potentialities for the internal character o that event of consciousness out of which a determining decision is made. Human consciousness is a succession of self-creative events, each of which is given its ancestor selves as well as other data, and each of which is partially causa sui, a dependent independence. Thus, the totality of causal conditions of any human experience does not make this experience necessary, but only possible, while internal decision makes it contingently actual. All choice-making contains some arbitrary. “Because people are redeemed from Fall, they have become free forever,” 2 Nephi 2.26. The Savior has set us free from sin. We must reply on this energy. #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
In extending these doctrines to theology, and taking as axiomatic the concept that freedom, responsibility, and moral and religious values depends upon choice-decisions that an omniscient God need not know future contingents, since, in relation to any divine experience, they are not yet existent. To be knowable is to be determinate, and if all were known from eternity, then all would be eternally determinate, and time and choice-making would be illusions. Also since contingents are unequivocally in part causa sui, they are not wholly dependent on divine power. Far from viewing divine power as absolute total control, it is insisted that the only power worthy of God is the far greater one of creating self-creators. Real choice in the World is incompatible with all-embracing necessity, and it is neither metaphysically requisite nor religiously desirable that God be wholly immutable and eternal. God must have a temporal aspect in order to come to know contingents as they are realized; thus he remains always omniscient in knowingly all there is to know. This theology is thus that of an eternal-temporal being, his omniscience and omnipotence being relative to the irreducible contingency and self-creativity in the World. #RandolpHarris 3 of 13
The essence of the self is consciousness of action against the resistance and limitation of reality. This could be rendered: I will, or I strive, therefore I am. Thus, personality is existence as it is formed by the double cogito: hindered by obstacles, elevating itself by and towards value. People participates in absolute and transcendent value. Although value outruns one and is not wholly one’s creation, it is made determinate by one in a given, concrete situation. Reality, then, is at once the organ of self-creation and an obstacle to it. In a sense it degrades value, yet it actualizes value by making it determinate. We are, moreover, called back to awareness of the value-creating source in which we participate. This is a spiritual flow, or upsurge (essor). Some obstacle has to break the continuity of the upsurge before the self, concentrating upon it the body’s energy, begins to will. The willing self owes its being and consciousness to the obstacles it encounters. We participate in a World of absolute value and a World brute reality and create ourselves unceasingly through them. Therefore, our experiences, even the undesirable ones, make us who we are, even if it is not who we intended to be when we set foot on this journey in life. However, the important thing is to keep faith in God and follow his doctrines and covenants so we can like who we are and feel good about our lives. Because as long as we have faith, our dream will still come true. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
Once we realize all that it cost God to forgive us, we will be held as a vise, constrained by the love God. The worth of a person does not consist in the truth one possesses, or thinks one possesses, but in the pains one has taken to attain that truth. For one’s powers are extended not through possession but through the search for truth. In this alone one’s ever-growing perfection consists. Possession makes one lazy, indolent, and proud. If God held all truth in his right hand and in his left the everlasting striving after truth, so that I should always and everlastingly be mistaken and said to me, “Choose,” with humility I would pick on the left hand and say, “Father grant me that; absolute truth is for thee alone.” What is required of humanity is not to assent to the propositions of a creed, but sincerity, human love, and tolerance. Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the less affluent by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. Though there are less affluent people in our society, the average American has enough food and clothing—at least enough so that these are not one’s only concerns in life. As one moves up the scale of motivations during one’s early childhood and concentrated more and more on the second level of the hierarchy, safety and security needs. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
Children are explorers, testers, discoverers for themselves. How else can I discover me? A small boy (five years old) called Trayvon told me, “I am smarter than people thing I am!” I asked him, “In which way?” His answer was….”I do dangerous things (like walking to the store by myself) and I do not get hurt!” I did not tell him that he should not nor that he should. How else can there be freedom? How else can there be joy? Naturally, it is important to teach a child how to avoid danger. However, in teaching this lesson, the adult must be sure the child does not also learn to fear the source of potential anger, in and of itself. We have an innate propensity to get ourselves noticed, and noticed favorably, by our kind. No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose and remain absolutely unnoticed by all the members thereof. As one grows through childhood, the individual moves from being dominated by the need to learn and maintain one’s safety and security to the stage of testing out one’s abilities in a more social area. However, we learn if we put our trust in human beings first, then end result will be our despair and hopelessness toward everyone. We must trust what God’s grace can do. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
Life, as we live it today, is more highly socialized, more urbanized, more—so far as external relationships are concerned—standardized than it used to be. The World has become uncomfortably small; we have not yet gained a complete control of our excessive procreational activity; so that there are far too many of us, and, being so closely crowded together, we have to adopt all sorts of new precautions to avoid friction and permit of the greatest amount of mutual freedom available within our unduly narrow frontiers. So many of the old traditional social taboos having become antiquated or no longer adequate, there has been a furious activity in making new laws and regulations, without a due recognition of the fact that old taboos can only be replaced by new taboos, and that mere legal enactments, enforced, or left unenforced, by paid officials or the police, to be effective mist themselves become taboos, printed on the fleshy tablets of the individual citizen’s heart. And as a supernatural miracle of God’s grace, we stand justified, not because we are sorry for our sins, or because we have repented, but because of what God has done. Through identification with God, we can be freed from sin and have God’s very righteousness imparted as a gift to us. “The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you,” Deuteronomy 30.7. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
Challenging—and being challenged by—other is essential for our growth as is nurturance, but this does not mean that relational challenge is always a good thing. If challenge is not delivered with at least some compassion, it will tend to overpower rather than empower, and it will generate either submission or rebellion. If it is too soft or indirect, it will likely lack in needed impact; if it is aggressive, it will more often than not be met with defensiveness, defiance, or a caving in that does no one any real good. One of the most difficult things about a challenge itself is that it is inherently confrontational—not in some melodramatic way, but in the literal sense of the word confront, to stand in front of. Nothing sideways or devious or passive-aggressive about it. To confront is to directly come up against, to be face-to-face with. Unfortunately, this often carries some negative connotations, suggestive of hostility or pushiness. However, compassionate confrontation does not have to a contradiction. If we engage in it with strongly embodied presence, compassion, and clarity, confrontation can be a life enhancing process. This in itself is a real challenge, asking plenty of us, but not so much that it is not doable. “Great blessing of the Lord upon the family of Lehi in wilderness,” 1 Nephi 17.2 #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
Challenging—and being challenged by—other is essential for our growth as is nurturance, but this does not mean that relational challenge is always a good thing. If challenge is not delivered with at least some compassion, it will tend to overpower rather than empower, and it will generate either submission or rebellion. If it is too soft or indirect, it will likely lack in needed impact; if it is aggressive, it will more often than not be met with defensiveness, defiance, or a caving in that does no one any real good. One of the most difficult things about a challenge itself is that it is inherently confrontational—not in some melodramatic way, but in the literal sense of the word confront, to stand in front of. Nothing sideways or devious or passive-aggressive about it. To confront is to directly come up against, to be face-to-face with. Unfortunately, this often carries some negative connotations, suggestive of hostility or pushiness. However, compassionate confrontation does not have to a contradiction. If we engage in it with strongly embodied presence, compassion, and clarity, confrontation can be a life enhancing process. This in itself is a real challenge, asking plenty of us, but not so much that it is not doable. “Great blessing of the Lord upon the family of Lehi in wilderness,” 1 Nephi 17.2 #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
Managers are typically evaluated as to how effective and efficient they are. Managing effectively and efficiently requires certain skills—leadership, technical expertise, conceptual skills, analytical skills, and human relations skills. “The Lord’s power is over all inhabitants of the Earth,” reports 3 Nephi 4.1. It is important to commit organizational resources to develop innovative goods and services and expand internationally to obtain new customers for the organization’s products. Good managers must move quickly to take corrective action to deal with unexpected problems facing the organization from the external environment, such as a crisis like an oil spill, or from the internal environment, such as producing faulty good or services. “Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, bless is one that believes in the word of God,” reports Alma 32.16. For a business to stay afloat, one must allocate organizational resources among different functions and departments of the business; set budgets and salaries of middle and first-level managers. One must also work with suppliers, distributors, and labor unions to reach agreements about the quality and price of input, technical, and human resources; work with other organizations to establish agreements to pool resources to work on joint projects. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
Healthy challenge is not an attack. It asserts, sometimes forcefully so, but does not aggress or violate. Nor does it shame the other, though it sometimes may—without trying to do so—elicit a healthy shame in the other that catalyzes their conscience regarding questionable behavior on their part, while helping draw forth the kind of vulnerability that makes heartfelt remorse possible. Managers must also be able to monitor, evaluate the performance of other managers and employees in different function and take corrective action to improve their performance; watch for changes occurring in the external and internal environment that may affect the organization in the future, and inform employees about changes taking place in the external and internal environment that will affect them and the organization; one must also communicate to employees the organization’s vision and purpose. “Turn to the Lord with full purpose in heart,” reports Mosiah 7.33. One must also be a competent spokesperson. A successful business has the ability to launch a national advertising campaign to promote new goods and services; give speeches to inform the local community about the organization’s future intentions. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
A good leader has the ability to influence employees to work toward organizational goals. Strong leaders manage and pay attention to the culture of their organizations and the needs of their customers. The intention of a healthy challenge, however fiery its expression might be, is not to dominate nor diminish others, but to clearly highlight and buttress life-giving possibilities, not leaving obstruction to well-being unaddressed. People tend to be more at ease with the delivery of this than with the reception of it, so sometimes the greater challenge is not to let one’s reactivity to being challenged get in the way of opening to it (assuming that such challenge is not abusive). Interpersonal cohesiveness is an important quality because the figurehead has to outline future organizational goals to employees at company meetings; open new corporate headquarters building; state the organization’s ethical guidelines and the principle of behavior employees are to follow in their dealings with customers and suppliers. Leader should possess the ability to provide an example for employees to follow; give direct commands and orders to subordinates; make decisions concerning the use of human and technical resources, and mobilize employee support for specific organizational goals. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
Being a liaison is another quality one has to display. Coordinating the work of managers in different departments; establishing alliances between different organizations to share resources to produce new goods and services is a priority and must be done with good intentions. Of equal importance is that we do not exclude from our challenging of another—however strong that might be or might need to be—and that we remain as open as possible to however the challenge might be received. Much of our work here is not to armor ourselves with our challenge—giving—hiding behind its delivery—but rather to remain transparently present as we express it, not letting our passion or conviction obscure or dilute our sensitivity to our recipient. Our succinct, well-grounded intuition, in as fittingly assertive and skillful a form as possible. And there is often a vulnerable piece here: through such challenge, we sometimes might risk our relationship with others, even as we perhaps recognize that it is an even greater risk to not thus speak up. A healthy manager can be fierce and can be gentle. One have to be emotionally vital and emotionally muted. Great leaders can be powerful motivators because they demonstrate a great deal of trust and confidence in their employees. If we do not deliever, we drift on stagnant seas, removed from not just the reefs, but also the depths. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
Dare You See a Soul with the Successful Face of Love and Joy at the White Heat?
Vision is one of our most dominant sense. Good lighting is truly everything. Light, natural or artificial, helps us to define spatial relationships, and it stands to reason that many architects must concern themselves with light. Interior spaces demand lighting, either natural, artificial, or a combination of both. Our sense can be deeply affected by the quality of its light, as it is aesthetically the most visually pleasing and complimentary to both the inside and outside of a house. Because our sense are intertwined, others aspects of our spaces, such as acoustic features, artwork, and furnishings, also feel better when lighting is good. Lighting is also appealing because it is dynamic—brightness of light during different times of the day and color fluctuates with passing clouds. The spatial relationships demonstrate how important color—and, by extension, light—is to our experience of space. Electric light technology has made great efforts to emulate the natural patterns of light, and this is an indication that we appreciate and benefit from natural lighting as a species. One of the most dramatically lit spaces in all modern architecture is Le Corbusier’s church of Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp in eastern France. The light is admitted through narrow stained-glass windows on the exterior southern wall, but as the window boxes expand through the thick wall, the light broadens into wide shafts that possess an unmistakable spiritual quality. The effect is one of extraordinary beauty. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Architects understand that if they are interested in representing the World, they must learn to incorporate the effects of light in their construction. With increased attention to healthy living environment, people are looking for eye-catching homes that maximize natural light in floor plans that flow, which ass immeasurable value to their homes, as it is one of the largest investments. These homes tend to have more character and soul. They allow the buyer to take a journey and spend time exploring experiences and create the kinds of rooms, which represent places that makes one feel good. Lighting affects the ambiance and mood of a space and can help bring value to the function of architecture, as it plays a role in the way people experience and understand the atmospheric perspective of the architecture. The sense of space that light creates can allow us to see the and appreciate the beauty of the area around us when it is luminous and has intense light by giving the sense that the rooms stretch beyond the limits of vision. This can bring an emotional value to architecture—it helps create a spiritual experience as if we are surrounded by Heavenly light. Whether it is daylight or artificial lighting, light draws attention to textures, colors, and forms of a space, helping architecture achieve its purpose. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
In Heaven there is only pure light, but the fact that we can experience color—which, according to the laws of optics, depends upon light mixing with darkness—promises us the hope of salvation. Aesthetics is where designers and architects focus on the emotional impact and the balance of lighting because they want the people who occupy them houses to be awed as they walk through the doors, and have the ability to show off their product. In many causes light symbolizes the spiritual World, and it is powerful and revealing. It also helps occupants feel safe when navigating a room or entire home. They are able to see the floor and walls around the, which create a feeling of reassurance. Along with a breathtaking layout, the open floor plans and many windows allow for an incredibly energy efficient space. Lighting improves people’s lives, makes a house more beautiful by drawing attention to areas, all while making it easier to see. Ambient luminescence is the use of background lights that illuminates an entire space. It can suggest the freedom of space and can suggest infinity. Accent lighting is a layer that can by dynamic and colorful brilliance aim to excite the optic nerves, and in turn stimulates the body and spirit, quickens the appetite, awakens curiosity, and sharpens the wit. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Some people like to see a beautiful chandelier welcoming them in the house, and lavish wall sconces light the hallway, and areas of the house to be accentuated with pod lights, ceiling fans, pillars, and other architectural features such as sliding glass doors. To enhance vertical a home, light should be directed towards wall surfaces. If there is a wall that is a different texture, or simply one that the occupants should notice more than others, wall washing is a great tool. It will draw attention to the wall and make it appear as its own architectural elements instead of a piece of an entire room. Window treatments can also add style and functionality to a room. When thinking about lighting design, architects always have to take into consideration energy efficiency. Architecture has evolved to design greener buildings and homes. The goal is to be more focused on energy consumption and sustainability. Some new homes, like Cresleigh Domain, even come with solar panels included with the purchase of the home. New smart light designs focus on controlling the lighting from every room of the house. Light dimmers dominate newer designs because they allow for controlling the intensity of the light in a specific area. Smart lighting allows a person to complete tasks in a certain area while only using the light necessary to do so. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
When one spends a lot of time under fluorescent light, the brain tends to get overstimulated. This overstimulation might make people feel uneasy or nervous. This feeling affects concentration and reduces productivity. Light dimmers and warmer lights tend to help with this issue. As humans, we a have built-in biological clock. Our exposure to daylight influences the process. Too much exposure to bright light during the evening can delay our sleeping schedule. Dimming the lights before bed, however, has a calming and drowsy effect. Compliment colors in rooms can highlight the structural design. There is perhaps no better evidence of the psychological impact a change in intensity can make than to look at the newly restored frescoes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling at the Vatican in Rome, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512. Restoration was begun in 1980 and was completed in 1995. The process was relatively simple. A solvent called AB 57, mixed with a fungicide and antibacterial agent and a cellulose gel so that it would not drip from the ceiling, was painted on to a small section of the fresco with a bristle brush. The AB 57 mixture was allowed to sit for three minutes, and then it was removed with a sponge and water that also removed the grime. The process was repeated in the dirtiest areas. The entire operation was documented in great detail by the Nippon Television Network of Japan, which funded the entire restoration project. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Restorers have discovered that the dull, somber hue always associated with Michelangelo were not the result of his palette, that is, the range of colors he preferred to use, but of centuries of accumulated dust, smoke, grease, and varnishes made of animal glue painted over the ceiling by earlier restorers. The colors are in fact much more saturated and intense that they seem, beside the golden tones of the unrestored surface, almost garish. As a result, there has been some debate about the metrics of the cleaning. Architectural trends are always evolving to make rooms and buildings more sophisticated. By adding a certain color or a combination of colors, one can simply change one’s mood, one’s room by creating optical illusion and make it seem smaller or larger. Color also gives us a certain state of mine, can energize us, can cheer us, can make us feel safe, calm, relax, can increase the ability to concentrate or remind us of pleasant things. Texture can also bring a perfectly fine design up to enviable levels. Texture is the sensation caused by the external surface of objects received through the sense of touch. Paint can be enhanced by adding texture to the walls. It has the ability to spark a mood or drama in a space without having to change out the furnishings, flooring, and architectural details. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Textured wall paneling is sold in sheets that can be attached to the wall, and then painted over. Several wall panel varieties come in different colors, or many home owners prefer to leave them white. Depending on the aesthetic one is trying to create, bold textured wall panels are a nice option for one’s interior walls. Many people like to use ship lap on walls, brick, stone, crushed formica in the paint to look like crystals, or Lincrusta wallpapers, which has various styles and patterns. Some people have walls that look art work. Other texture techniques used on interior walls involve painting murals, patterns, and even trompe l’oeil. Trompe l’oeil is an artistic technique that involves painting realistic images and scenes to give the illusion of textures, and realism. This is used on walls to give a room depth, character, or to change the mood of a room dramatically. Walls that have painted to look like artwork can be done by artisans or interior wall professionals. There are also wallpapers and do it yourself murals that mimic hand painted artwork on walls. Whichever is your method of application, the results can be stunning. Let us look deeply into our own lives, setting our own goals and focusing our plans to align with God’s in a way that will ultimately lead us toward our precious privilege to return and receive blessings. “God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred, which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in one, that he may show forth his power unto future generations,” Alma 37.15. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
My Worthiness is All My Doubt–Conform My Soul as it Were a Church unto Her Sacrament
Spontaneous creativity of the individual soul makes a work of art and that work of art is the human body. The soul forms a continuous spectrum, a rainbow in which the blue end is consciousness and the red end instinct. The body and consciousness together as both being soul manifestations. The body that the soul creates is the whole cosmos in microcosmic form. The display of the soul in the World, brought about through the act of human making, constitutes culture. Education in tis sense concerns the drawing out of soul to conjoin with World soul, and participation in culture consists of living in the unity of soul visible in the World. If we substitute for the World soul the word force, then we get just the principle which underlies the physics of the skies. The motive force is a soul; yet the force diminishes in proportion to distance, just as light diminishes in proportion to distance. This force must be something substantial—substantial not in the literal sense but in the same manner as we say that light is something substantial, meaning by this unsubstantial entity emanating from a substantial body. The impulse for learning originates in an alluring display of the beauty of the World, which evokes desire for intimate connection with the soul of the World. “Because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God,” reports Moroni 8.26. #RandolphHarris 1 of 27
The Heavenly machines is not a kind of divine, live being, but a kind of clockwork (and one who believes that a clock has a soul, attributes that maker’s glory to the work), insofar as nearly all manifold motions are caused by a most simple, magnetic, and material force, just as all motions of the clock are caused by a simple weight. These physical causes are to be numerical and geometrical expression. The Holy Ghost no longer merely fills the space between the motionless Sun and the fixed stars. It has become an active agent, a vis mortix that derives the planets. Nobody before had suspected the existence of such a force emanating from the Sun. The moving force of the Sun is similar with the light emitted by it. Things draw us to intimate knowledge as if they need us for their completion. Much like God—he needs humans for a reason. The beauty of the World draws the soul out of an inclination toward self-enclosing mastery of the World through disengagement and into engagement with reality. This living desire to experience the World pulsing through the body wants to initiate in us a care for all things. “Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man or woman or child can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear,” reports Moroni 8.16. Loving the hand that sent it. Vanquished, my soul will know. #RandolphHarris 2 of 27
This living desire to experience the World pulsing through the body wants to initiate in us a care for all things. When aspects of life are approached with the care of the soul, their Heavenly spirit shines forth. In the ancient World each thing was seen as inhabited by a supernatural force. What we see is not the God himself, but an emanation from him which is partly mortal, partly divine, and even this we do not see with our physical eyes, but with the eyes of our spirit, and it is an intermediary between the gods and the Earthly World, according to the reflective property, like is perceived by like. Learning the gospel is discipline required to awaken the astral or soul body, the capacity to perceive the other World as image. In modern times, humans have taken the nature out of life. In the past, people believe that thunder was God’s voice. The central task of learning is not accumulation of information, but learning to learn. This process consists of coming to realize the individual body in conjunction as container and reflector of soul. God is primordial being (Orweesn), the being without contrariety; he is the unity of all that exists. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27
Though the light of the Sun cannot itself be the moving force, it may perhaps represent a kind of moving force, it may perhaps represent a kind of vehicle, or tool, that the moving force uses. However, the first following considerations seems to contradict this. First, the light is arrested in regions that lie in shade. If, then, the moving force were to use light as a vehicle, darkness would bring the planets to a standstill. This kind of force, just like the kind of force that is light, can be regarded not as something that expands into the space between its source and the movable body, but something that the movable body, such as a planet. The answer to this is: although the moving force has no substance, it is aimed at substance, i.e., at the planet-body to be moved. Who will pretend that light has substance? Yet, nevertheless it acts and is acted upon in space, it is refracted and reflected, and it has quality, so that it may be dense or sparse and can be regarded as a plane where it is received by something capable of being lit up. The same thing applies to light as to our moving force: it has no present existence in space between the source and the object it lights up, although it has passed through that space in the past; it is not, it was, so to speak. Evil appears as the individual organism tears itself lose from the harmony of the whole. Finally, the organism achieves a loving reunion with other beings (human, for example, becomes reunited with Nature, Reason, Humanity, and God), and with the rediscovery of harmony, all evil is negated. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27
Gravity is the mutual bodily tendency between cognate [i.e., material] bodies toward unity or contact (of which kind of the magnetic force also is), so that the Earth draws a stone much more than the stone draws the Earth. If the Earth and the Moon were not kept in their respective orbits by a spiritual or some equivalent force, the Earth would ascend toward the Moon 1/54 of the distance, and the Moon would descend the remaining 53 parts of the interval, and thus they would unite. However, this calculation presupposes that both bodies are of the same density. If the Earth ceased to attract the waters of the sea, the sea would rise and flow into the Moon. If the attractive force of the Moon reaches down to the Earth, it follows that the attractive force of the Earth, all the more, extends to the Moon and even farther. If two stones were placed anywhere in space near to each other, and outside the reach of force of a third cognate body, then they would come together, after the manner of magnetic bodies, at an intermediate point, each approaching the other in proportion to the other’s mass. After, however, the historical path leads downward, to a final involution which is both the ending of a career and the birth of a new nice. Since the transition is gradual, and older age may survive for a time in a newer age. #RandolphHarris 5 of 27
Each development, nevertheless, exhibits genuine, unforeseeable novelty. “On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day,” reports 2 Timothy 1.17. There were others species of human like beings, in the past, which coexisted with humans. Such a Neanderthals. However, their nature was extremely naïve and childlike. In ancient times, many died through clumsiness and accidents. Research suggests, however, they Neanderthals were telepathic, curious by nature and hardwired with a tremendous amount of basic historical and intellectual knowledge. It is born knowing all about the species itself, the island continent from which they came, and the places in the British Isles to which they migrated after the island was destroyed by the same volcanos. Some of these volcanoes must have also created land bridges, and perhaps these beings that moved about them did so with incredible speed because they were not all fully human. Remember Angels mated with humans and created Nephilim, which in many cases turned out to be giants. Some of them were as tall as street lights, according to ancient legends. They had an extraordinary reproductive advantage and that is what made them so dangerous. However, their naivete, simplicity and lack of aggression are were their vulnerabilities. #RandolphHarris 6 of 27
Just stop a moment; both St. Januarius and St. Augustine have something to do with the calendar. Will you recall the blood miracle? Do you not know about it? The blood of St. Januarius is preserved in a phial in a church in Naples, and on a certain holiday, a miracle takes place causing it to liquefy. The people think a great deal of this miracle, and become very excited if the liquefying process is retarded, as happened once during the French occupation. The General in command—or Garibaldi, if I am not mistaken—then took the priest aside, and with a very significant gesture pointed out to him the soldiers arrayed without, and expressed his hope that the miracle would soon take place. And it actually took place. Just think of the saints of the calendar, the liquefying of the blood on a certain day, the excitement if the event does not take place, and the distinct threat that the miracle must take place. “I have such a need of you. I come to you ashamed of my failures. I come to you as the Prince of Blood. I do not claim to be anything better or worse. Listen to me. Help me. Help me for the sake of others. I beg you. Hear my prayer.” I was in this dark frame of mind, along with this message, which engaged my soul completely, when I hear a step on the iron stairs outside. However, what was all this to me with my broken hear, and illegitimate soul? #RandolphHarris 7 of 27
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord and to nothing else. To find a tribe of tall beings, tender of bone, ancient, simple, tangled with my fledgling, unknown to the World of records, history and location essential to the sanity of those I love. Guidance. Mistake I have made with my fledgling spiraling out of control. Give to me your wisdom, your keen hearing, your vision Where are all the tall creatures? I am your loyal subject. More of less. I send my love. “And I seal up these records, after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you. Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hat been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not truth; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things,” reports Moroni 10.2-5. The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain and by having only simple, perfect trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 27
Yesterday is still clear in our memory–keep it; may we have a bright suture with beauty, joy, happiness, and honestness. Thousands of rivers separate us and thousands of mountains are boundless. I can only trust my missing to the clouds, may you find a happy life and come back with a successful study earlier than anticipated. The hose is glittering and blessings are the huge streamer for a a safe voyage like the eyes of the sea; the Sun is also my eyes glittering like the diamond ball. I sing high praise for the party and its holy mission: a little sparkle results in a the Sunshine and beauty. You are the founder of the future making each young soul full of wisdom. The knowledge of this last hour belongs to God and no one else. Human beings have made many predictions that have never come true. Not be astonished in trouble, not panic in danger; look into the mountains from the low valley; show high ideals by simple life; kindly accept the bitterness in setback. We admire your state. It is up to us if we can survive this. You cast light on the soul of wisdom like morning Sunshine, and support people with water unselfishly like the spring. You give us direction like a compass. Your love educates many people. #RandolphHarris 9 of 27
The first natural impulses of the distressed heart often point out the best alleviation. You preach a doctrine which you know you do not believe, it is the way with you all. If you know that there is no Earthly happiness, why do you long to be a bishop or dean? Why do you want lands and income? Customers, employees, suppliers—all the participants in the World of Business—come in different ages, genders, races, and ethnicities, nationalities, and abilities, a truth that business has come to label diversity. Understanding this diversity means recognizing and accepting differences as well as valuing the unique perspectives such differences can bring to the workaday. For every advantage she imparts, Civilization holds a hundred evils in reserve. When managers speak of diversity, in the workforces, these experts typically mean differences in gender and race. While gender and race are important characteristics of diversity, others are also important. We can collect these differences into primary and secondary characteristics of diversity. Age, gender, race, ethnicity, abilities, and sexual orientation represent primary characteristics of diversity, which are inborn and cannot be changed. Secondary characteristics of diversity—work background, income, material statues, military experience, religious beliefs, geographic location, parental status, sexuality (who you are attracted to) and education—which can be changed. We acquire, change, and discard them as we progress through our lives. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27
No bond unites congenial hearts more firmly than that of a common great aim. The American workforce is becoming increasingly diverse. Once dominated by the mainstream culture, today’s workforce includes significantly more women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Veterans and the disabled, as well as senior citizens. As of 2014, women make up 51 percent of the workforce, and that is up from 47.9 percent in 2010, so clearly American is changing. The population in American is 75.1 percent European American, 12.3 percent African American, 0.9 percent American Indian, 3.6 percent Asian persons, 0.1 percent Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, and 12.5 persons of Hispanic or Latino origin. However, it is estimated that within the next 50 years, Hispanics will represent 24 percent of the population, while African Americans will make up 9 percent, and Asians 9 percent. In the past, these groups may have faced some mild discrimination and higher unemployment rates and possibly were denied opportunities to assume leadership roles, in corporate America. Consequently, more and more companies are trying to improve Human Resources Management (HRM) programs to recruit, develop, and retain more diverse employees to better serve their diverse customers. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27
Some firms are providing special programs such as sponsored affinity groups, mentoring programs, and special career development opportunities. At US West, each manager’s contributions to the company’s diversity efforts are measure by a 16-point scorecard called the Diversity Accountability Tool. Managers implement the scorecard to rate their own efforts to foster diversity and then explain their score in a meeting with the company’s Chief Executive Officer. The manager receives an official diversity scores that is one factor in determining the manager’s annual bonus. Since the program was instituted, scores have jumped 60 percent. McDonald’s, Fannie Mae, Denny’s, Union Bank of California, Sempra Energy, Southern California-Edison, SBC Communications, Freddie Mac, PepsiCo, PNM Resources, and the Golden 1 Credit Union (the leading credit union in California) Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and Wal-Mart are known for effectively managing diversity in the Workforce by cultivating and valuing its benefits and minimizing its problems. They take customer concerns very seriously and are extremely professional. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27
Success supposed endeavor. There are a number of benefits to fostering and valuing workforce diversity, including the following: More productive use of a company’s human resources and revenue. More harmony and fellowship among employees of different ethnicities, cultures, religions, and sexual orientations as they learn to respect each other’s differences; other benefits include more productive working relationships among diverse employees as they learn more about and accept each other. There is also increased innovation and creativity as diverse employees bring new, unique perspectives to decision-making and problem-solving tasks. There is also an increased ability to serve the needs of an increasingly diverse customer base. Make ambition your business and indifference your relaxation and you will fail; however, make indifference your business and ambition your relaxation and you will succeed. So impish are the ways of the gods. Nothing is so dangerous, especially to those who are not much accustomed to it, as a little success. #RandolphHarris 13 of 27
Success in projects is everything—companies that do not value their diverse employees are likely to experience greater conflict, as well as prejudice and discrimination. CBS13, in West Sacramento, California is a perfect example, they even slander their own employees; Tony Lopez is one of the worst offenders. However, no matter how many times you ask them to stop or report to their parent corporation, they will keep doing what they want and will even threaten to have you arrested or fired if you speak up. Among individual employees, for example, racial slurs and gestures, sexist comments, and other behaviors by co-workers harm the individuals at whom such behavior is directed. The victims of such behavior may feel hurt, depressed, or even threatened and suffer from lowered self-esteem, all of which harm their productivity and morale. No evil is insupportable, but that which is accompanied with consciousness of wrong. In such cases, women and other employees may simply leave the firm, wasting the time, money, and other resources spent on hiring and training them. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27
When discrimination comes from a supervisor, employees may also fear for their career and life. A discriminatory atmosphere not only can harm productivity and increase turnover, but it may also subject a firm to costly lawsuits and negative publicity. The conscience is, like the spleen, a function whose uses are only to be understood in its derangement. A good conscience is the best of all narcotics. Astute businesses recognize that they need to modify their human resources management programs to target the needs of all their diverse employees, as well as the needs of the firm itself. These prestigious corporations realize the benefits of diversity are long term in nature and come only to those organizations willing to make the commitment. Most importantly, as workforce diversity becomes a valued organizational asset, corporations spend less time managing conflict and more time accomplish tasks and satisfying customers, which is, after all, the purpose of business. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27
We live in a physical World whose properties are familiar, and, it is around us all the time. We cherish our own space. If you would have your son or daughter to walk honorably through the World, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his or her path, but tech your children to walk firmly over them—not insist upon leading a child by the hand, but let your child learn to go alone. Artists as reporters represent their World, and they even expect their work to have an impact on the World, to reveal hidden or universal truths. The work is about knowing and appreciating the beautiful, and that is how we can make the World a better place. Each photograph represents a particular intellectual, emotional, or expressive quality of the subject, they represent powerful emotions and feelings and passions. In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated that objects appear to be a certain color because they absorb and reflect different parts of the visible spectrum. Obviously, not all artists are able to utilize light as fully as architects. Architects, particularly, must concern themselves with light. However, especially if artist and photographers are interested in representing the World, they must learn to imitate the effects of light in their work. There is something called the atmospheric perspective or aerial perspective, and these rules state that the quality of the atmosphere (the haze and relative humidity) between us and large objects, such as mountains, changes their appearance. #RandolphHarris 15 of 27
Objects further away from us appear less distinct, often cooler, or bluer in color, and the contrast between light and dark is reduced. Some of these photographs throw a veil of matchless color, that lucid interval of Morning dawn and dewy light on which the Eye dwells…and it is a sacrilege to pierce the mystic shell of color in search of form. With linear perspective one might adequately describe physical reality—a building, for instance—but through light one could reveal a greater spiritual reality. In this photograph, the light is much more expressive. It is, in large part, the dramatic play of light and dark in the photograph that contributes to this expressivity. The perspective system employed is used to focus our attention on the building, it is light that draws our attention to the grandeur and beauty. The Heavenly light surrounding the Capitol contrasts dramatically with the darkness of the rest of the composition. The building is symbolically offering you its body as nourishment. This purely spiritual act contracts with the gluttonous Worldly activity going on in the foreground, where a dog knaws at a bone, and a cat searches for leftovers. Light here symbolizes the spiritual World, and darkness our Earthly home. #RandolphHarris 16 of 27
Light and dark have traditionally had strong symbolic meaning in Western culture. We have only to think of the Bible, and the first lines of the Book of Genesis, which very openly associates the dark with the bad and the light with good. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that is was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. In the history of art, this association of light or white with good and darkness or black with evil was first fully developed in the late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century color theory of the German poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. For Goethe, colors were not just phenomena to be explained by scientific laws. They also had moral and religious significance, existing halfway between the goodness of pure light and the damnation of pure blackness. In Heaven, there is only pure light, but the fact that we can experience color—which, according to the laws of optics, depends upon light mixing with darkness—promises us at least the hope of salvation. #RandolphHarris 17 of 27
In the first, the figures are all passive, sleeping, or dead. In the second, the figures are bathed in an almost pure white light and barely recognizable at the top center of the painting. Figures swirl around him as if life itself is being born out of a vortex. Although this opposition between dark and light is taken for granted in our culture, many people of color, with reason, find such thinking offensive. They are especially offended by the use of the term value to describe gradations of light and dark, so that black is low, and white is high in value. Artists and art historians alike use the term as a part of a specialized descriptive vocabulary that, in itself, would seem to be art the furthest remove from issues of race and the relative worth of human beings. Nevertheless, it is clear that since Biblical times, Western culture has tended to associate blackness with negative qualities and whiteness with positive ones, and it is understandable why people might take offense at this usage. For this reason, we use the word key instead of value, substituting the musical metaphor for the moral and economic one. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27
If for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, blackness is not merely the absence of color, but the absence of good, for African Americans, blackness is just the opposite. Mighty drums echoing the voices of Spirits…these sounds are rhythmic, the rhythm of vitality, the rhythm of exuberance and the rhythms of Life. These are the sounds of blackness. Blackness—the presence of all color. When restoring some artwork, technicians found that the dull, somber hues always associated with Michelangelo were not the result of his palette, that is, the range of colors he preferred to use, but of centuries of accumulated dust, smoke, grease, and varnishes made of animal glue painted over the ceiling by earlier restorers. The colors are in fact much more saturated and intense than anyone had previously supposed. Some experts, in fact, find them so intense that they seem, beside the golden tones of the unrestored surface, almost garish. As a result, there has been some debate about the merits of the cleaning. However, it is not a controversy. It is a culture shock. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27
Therefore, agree with your adversary quickly. Do it quickly—bring yourself to judgment now. In moral and spiritual matters, you must act immediately. God is determined to have His child as pure, clean, and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience, God will allow His Spirit to use whatever process it may take to bring us to obedience. The fact that we insist on proving that we are right is almost always a clear indication that we have some point of disobedience. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny. God urged you to come to judgment immediately when He condemned you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His re-creating forces will begin to work. He will reach to the very limits of the Universe to help you take the right road. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27
God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but God tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with God. It is a matter of loosening the bands that hold back our lives. Those bands are loosened immediately by identification with the death of Jesus. It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. God wants you to be a living sacrifice. Poison wrapped up in sugared pills is but half a poison: the fear of death’s looks are more terrible than his stroke. Whom we fear more than love, we are not far from hating. Religion is not about forcing our wills on others, it is about spreading kindness. Just because we have the right to do something, does not mean it is the right thing. Freedom is speech is not about putting someone’s life in danger, it is about having the freedom to peacefully express yourself. If you know a person well, you may be able to detect deception from expressive changes. However, do not count on it. Most people learn to maintain careful control over their facial expressions. A good example is smiling, so you will not hurt someone’s feelings when you receive a disappointing gift. Because of such control, deception is often best revealed by body language. Even a good con artist may be too busy attending to his or her words and face to control certain bodily clues. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27
The reporter swears he is doing the community justice by sharing messages about cartoons. If you cannot touch his tongue to a hot knife, how else can you tell if he is lying? Most people assume that shifty eyes and squirming are clear signs of lying. However, neither of these clues increases when a person is fibbing. Also contrary to what you might expect, nervous movements such as hand rubbing, grooming, scratching, hair twisting, lip biting, chin stroking, and so on, are not consistently related to lying. On the other hand, illustrators (the gestures people use to illustrate what they are saying) may reveal lying. These gestures tend to decrease when a person is telling a lie. In other words, persons who usually talk with their hands may be much less animated when they are lying.Among the best clues to lying are the signs of strong emotion produced by the ANS. These include blinking, blushing, blanching, pupil dilation, rapid or irregular breathing, perspiration, frequent swallowing, speech errors, and a louder, higher pitched voice. All of these clues are hard for the liar to censor. However, such clues are like the polygraph: They reveal emotions; they do not always mean a person is lying. Remember, good liars can fool most people most of the time—and that is no lie. #RandolphHarris 22 of 27
Most people agree that health is important—especially their own. Yet, almost one half of all deaths, in North America, are primarily due to unhealthy behavior. Health psychology aims to do something about deaths. Health psychologist use behavioral principles to promote health and prevent illness. Psychologists working in the allied field of behavioral medicine apply psychology to manage medical problems, such as diabetes or asthma. Their interest include pain control, helping people cope with chronic illness, stress-related diseases, self-screening for diseases (such as breast cancer), and similar topics. Behavioral risk factors—around the turn of the twentieth century, people primarily died from infectious diseases and accidents. Today, people generally die from lifestyle diseases, which are related to health-damaging person habits. Examples include heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. Clearly, some lifestyles promote health, whereas others lead to illness and death. As the cartoon character Pogo out it, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” #RandolphHarris 23 of 27
What kinds of behavior are you referring to as unhealthy? Behavioral risk factors are behaviors that increase the chances of disease, injury, or early death. Each of the following is a major behavioral risk factor: high levels of stress, untreated high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and abuse of alcohol or other drugs, overeating, inadequate exercise, unsafe sexual behavior, exposure to toxic substances, violence, driving at excessive speeds, and disregarding personal safety. Protect your virginity. When many risk factors are present, a person is more likely to have medical problems. Many high school students in the United States of America engage in risky behaviors. As you can see, health-damaging behaviors are usually well established before adulthood. In addition to specific risk factors, a disease-prone personality type also exists. Such people tend to be chronically depressed, anxious, hostile, and…frequently ill. In contrast, people who are intellectually resourceful, compassionate, optimistic, and non-hostile tend to enjoy good health. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27
Lifestyles—in your mind’s eye, fast-forward an imaginary film of your life all the way to old age. Do it twice—once with a lifestyle including a large number of behavioral risk factors, and again without them. It should be obvious that countless small risks can add up to dramatically raise the chance of illness. If stress is a frequent part of your life, visualize your body seething with emotion, day after day. If you smoke, picture a lifetime’s worth of cigarette smoke blown through your lungs in a week. If you drink, take a lifetime of alcohol’s assaults on the brain, stomach, and liver and squeeze them into a month: Your body would be poisoned, ravaged, and soon dead. If you eat a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet, fast-forward a lifetime of heart-killing plaque clogging your arteries. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27
Although it may sound like it, discussion is not meant to be a sermon. It is merely a reminder that risk factors do make a difference. To make matters worse, unhealthy lifestyles almost always create multiple risks. That is, people who smoke are also likely to drink excessively. Those who overeat usually do not get enough exercise. And so on. Health-promoting behaviors—to prevent disease and promote well-being, health psychologists first try to remove behavioral risk factors. All the medicine in the World may not be enough to restore health without changes in behavior. We all know someone who has had a heart attack or lung disease who cannot or will not change the habits that led to their illness. #RandolphHarris 26 of 27
Beyond this, psychologists are also interested in getting people to increase behaviors that promote health. Health-promoting behaviors include such obvious practices as getting regular exercise, controlling smoking and alcohol use, maintaining a balanced diet, getting good medical care, and managing stress. Even something as simple as using seat belts in a car greatly ups life expectancy. Basic health practices should extend a person’s life. However, do they? A major study done in California provides an answer. People who get 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night, have a balanced diet, do not some, use alcohol moderately or not at all and get physical exercise had death rates 4 times lower than people who do not live a healthy lifestyle. Happy are they who are blessed with the power of making happy. #RandolphHarris 27 of 27
Enlightening Mystery–Faith is a Fine Invention for the People Who See a Door Just Opened
Since every person is part of nature and, hence, part of the divine, we share the basic impulses of all natural things, and have the urge to develop upward and outward, which is the striving for an ideal action. We spend our time praying for the best outcomes in life. To improve our vision, and increase our happiness, we have to make a plan so we have somewhere to place our hope. A plan will also help us to bring our Heavenly Father’s blessings into our lives. One early use of the word “golden” in English is “most excellent, important, or precious.” With reference to the rules or precepts it was used to mean of inestimable value, and the expression the golden rules was often specifically used wit reference to the precept in Matthew: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that people should do, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets,” (7.12). Thus, the principle that has come to be known as the golden rules has been so called presumably because it has been regarded as being of inestimable values or importance. This regard was not derived solely from the fact that it was set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. The golden rule has been widely accepted, in word if not in deed, by vast numbers of greatly differing peoples; it is a basic device of moral education and it can be found at the core of innumerable moral, religious, and social codes. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11
What the golden rule requires a person to do, then, is to take account of the wishes of others and accord them the respect and consideration one would want them to accord to them. In other words, what the golden rule requires of each of us is that we should treat others in accordance with same principles or standards that we would have others apply in their treatment of us. Thus, the golden rules, if this argument is sound, is compatible with differences in interests, needs, tastes, wishes, and desires, and does not presuppose that human nature is uniform in the sense specified. The golden rule has been said to provide just that element, the requirement of justice or fairness, that the World needs. It has also been claimed that the golden rule is a perfect guide to conduct and that the only thing needed to make the World perfect is for everyone to follow it. The nearly universal acceptance of the golden rule and its promulgation by persons of considerable intelligence, through otherwise of divergent outlooks, would therefore seem to provide some evidence for the claim that it is a fundamental ethical truth. By allowing ourselves to be drawn to God, we fulfill our nature and experience the greatest satisfaction of which we are capable. When we are uncertain of the future or our current situation, fear overrules our optimism and we find ourselves unhappy and a little sad. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11
The personal unconscious consists of those associated webs of ideas and emotions named complexes, which have been repressed from consciousness because it finds them too painful to acknowledge, and also of those perceptions of reality which have never forced their way into consciousness. Each individual’s personal unconscious is thus to some extent explicable in terms of one’s own life history. Even the personal unconscious, however, has features which are common to every individual and do not derive from one’s personal history. The shadow of every human being is usually part of the personality they one usually rejects and imprisons because of its set of desires, emotions, and attitudes that we personify as unpleasant or hostile. The shadow is essentially infantile, for it is untouched by the process of maturation or education. The inability to acknowledge one’s shadow is always a potential danger to the personality, for the shadow unacknowledged and unrecognized is stronger and more wayward than the shadow recognized and accepted. Although every individual has a shadow, since the shadow is the product of what one’s particular consciousness has repressed, it belongs to the personal unconsciousness. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11
Biological determinism, in part holds that there is an association between physical characteristics and such attributes as intelligence, morals, values, abilities, and even social and economic condition. In other words, some believe that cultural variation are inherited in the same manner as biological variations. It follows, the, that there are inherent behavioural and cognitive differences between groups. It is an old wives tale to be careful who you have kinds with because behaviour can be inherited. Early humans did not understand the mechanisms of inheritance, of DNA, or the translation of genetic information into morphology, physiology, or behaviour. However, they intuitively understood that inheritance shapes behaviour. Today, we easily recognize that both genes and the environment influence human behaviour. Genes, through their influences on morphology and physiology, creates a framework within which the environment acts to shape the behaviour of an individual. The environment can affect morphological and physiological development; in turn behaviour develops as a result of the person’s shaped internal workings. Genes also create the scaffold for learning, memory, and cognition, remarkable mechanisms that allow people to acquire and store information about their environment for use in shaping their behaviour. Instinctive, or hard-wired (genetically determined) behaviour is performed without thought and cannot be modified by learning. #RandolphHarris 4 of 11
Examples of instinctive behaviour include simple behavioural patterns, displayed in response to a specific stimulus or within a specific context. To further highlight this illustration, Olivia Benson adopted a baby called Noah Porter-Benson, on a show called Law and Order Special Victims Unit. Although Noah was a good baby and as cute as can be, many people knew that he would be trouble as he grew up because his father Johnny Drake was spent 20 years as ruthless and unethical business man involved in the sale, distribution, and punishment of large numbers of human capital. And last night, on the show, Noah started acting unusual because he was not ready to go to bed. He laid down as he was told, after protesting his bed time, and when his adopted mother put the covers on him, he ripped them back off and had a cold look in his eye. She then covered him back up and told him a few times that she loved him, and he just laid there with a blank look in his eye. Oliva was shocked. When this happens the personality itself is in danger; it has been taken over and magnified into something that expresses not the individual person but the collective image. Although he has been loved and adored, Noah has some genetic behavioural traits that he inherited from his father. It is not like there is no hope for Noah, children can change if they want to and are taught at a young age to suppress their shadow. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11
Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to intelligence, although it is not possible to measure accurately the percentage of each contributes. Intelligence is the mental capacity; ability to learn, reason, or comprehend and interpret information, facts, relationships, and meanings; the capacity to solve problems, whether through the application of previously acquired knowledge or through insight. In order to demonstrate Godly behaviour, it is why it is recommended for people to go to church for a lifetime, so they learn the right ways to live, learn the love and fear of God, and follow the golden rule, even when they feel their shadow wanting to surface. Controlling inherited tendencies of psychic functioning contained in the collective unconscious is why people send their children to private schools, as it is a religious based curriculum and they teach the laws of God, righteous behaviour, and monitor the behaviour of the child more than they do in public schools. Therefore, there is additionally usually a higher moral code and dress code. “I know that he (God) loves his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things,” reports 1 Nephi 11.17. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11
We know that the roots of happiness rest in the biology of the whole species and that the potential of the species can only be realized in a culture, in a social system. It is knowledge and the social system which give life or take it away, and in so doing change the gene frequencies and continue the million-year-old interaction of culture and biology. Human biology finds its realization in a culturally determined way of life, and the infinite variety of genetic combinations can only express themselves efficiently in a free and open society. So how do we push away fear to make room for hope? First, begin by acknowledging that God lives and sees all—that he is in charge and that he knows you. No matter what you are going through, Heavenly Father understands. Next, set goals. A clear plan will increase one’s hope in the future. A good idea is to start telling your Father in Heaven what your goal and intentions are. Motivation is the essential and irreplaceable element of success. When we are not motivated, we fail. Have we not all felt that mid-task slump? When we experience even small amounts of success, our brains release dopamine, which is connected to feelings of pleasure, learning and motivation. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people. “Spirit and body shall be reunited in perfect form,” reports Alma 11.34. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11
When we feel the effect of dopamine, we are eager to repeat the actions that resulted in success in the first place. Neuroscientists refer to this as self-directed learning. This is why achieving small goals is such an effective way to stay motivated during long-term projects and processes. It is important to recognize our need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Have unquestioning faith, and the great miracle will become real. Keep in mind, although we have goals on Earth, to return to God’s presence and to receive the eternal blessings that come from making and keeping covenants are the most important goals we can set. A key to happiness rests in understanding what destinations truly matter—and then spending our time, effort, and attention on the things that constitue a sure way to arrive there. God, our Heavenly Father, has given us the perfect example of goal setting and planning. His goal is to being to past the immortality and eternal life of all men and women. His means to achieve it is the plan of salvation. Our beloved Heavenly Father’s plan includes giving us a growing, stretching, learning, physical mortality through which we can become more like him. Clothing our eternal spirits in physical bodies, our faith is being tested so we can prove God’s character trustworthy in our minds. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11
Wise goal setting includes the understanding that short-term foals are only effective if they lead to clearly understood long-term goals. It is good to hobbies and goals and plans for our careers, for our education, even for our golf game. The simpler and more straightforward the goal is, the more power it will have. When we can reduce the goal to one clear image or two powerful and symbolic words, that goal can then become part of us and guide virtually everything we think and do. Project must be mindful of the practical hurdles and limitations associated with analyzing their stakeholders’ psychological attributes. Both the internal and especially the external stakeholder community can be very large and complex in terms of, inter alia (for organization) their respective missions, interests, goals, priorities and culture and (for individuals, groups, communities) their social and cultural diversity, economic background, objectives, awareness, education and intelligence, family upbringing, norms, values and personal or shared experiences and so forth. The stakeholder psychological attribute analysis is only useful as the quality of information it is based on, meaning, in order for it to be useful the information must at least be accurate precise, complete, relevant, specific, up-to-date, reliable and actionable. #RandolphHarris 9 of 11
Finding information which satisfies this set of criteria on all stakeholders, especially external ones, can be very difficult, time-consuming, costly and sometimes simply impossible to do. Powerful or influential stakeholders must hereby be prioritized as these can significantly affect the project in either the positive or negative sense. Sentiments towards project may change immensely and rapidly in response to project developments and such changes much be reflected in a prompt corresponding change in the project’s stakeholder management/engagement strategies. This implies that a situational or periodic repeat of the information collect task and stakeholder attributes analysis would be necessary, adding to the process complexity and cost. Hence, attempting to devise and implement effective and customized stakeholder management/ engagement strategies on the basis of the stakeholder attributes analysis can be highly challenging, tedious and expensive and offer no guarantee of success. Without qualified support, for instance in the form of a team of highly skilled, competent, creative and experienced analysts or hired consultants, such activities would exceed burden project managers and teams already heavily burdened with the arduous technical and administrative takes they typically encounter in the day to day operations of their project. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11
All stakeholders have needs and wants. Satisfying these needs and wants is a key objective for them, regardless of whether stakeholders are individuals, groups, or associations of individuals, communities, or organizations. Projects offer stakeholders a potential opportunity to satisfy their general and specific needs and wants and the stakeholders are naturally interested in ascertaining if, how and to what extent this is possible. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Projects thus constitute a source of motivation for stakeholders; this is good for the project because the greater this motivational intensity is the more likely it is that stakeholders will view the project in positive light and, of course, vice versa. The practical implication in project perspective is that project owners, planners and executors must carefully research stakeholders motivations and seek to align their projects with their stakeholder needs and wants to the maximum extent possible within the given project resources, time and other constraints. Doing so serves the twin objective of reducing actual or potential stakeholders offense. It is essential that you give people the opportunity to act on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual—one cannot act for another person. The moments we are truly alive are the moments wen we act with our entire will. #RandolpHarris 11 of 11
Desire’s Perfect Goal Should Not Disenthrall Thy Soul—Here is a Star, there is a Star, Some Lose Their Way!
The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned. Love would conquer all, of course, but one has to know when it is there first. Glaucus was a fisherman. One day he had drawn his nets to land and had taken a great many fishes of various kinds. So he emptied his nets and proceeded to sort the fishes on the grass. The place where he stood was a beautiful island in the river, a solitary spot, uninhabited, and not used for pasturage of cattle, not visited by anyone but himself. On a sudden, the fishes, which had been laid on the grass, began to revive and move their fins as if they were in the water; and while he looked on astonished, they one and all moved off to the water, plunged in, and swam away. He did not know what to make of this, whether some god had done it, or some secret power in the herbage. “What herb has such a power?” he exclaimed; and gathering some of it, he tasted it. Scarce had the juices of the plant reached his palate when he found himself agitated with a longing desire for the water. Glaucus could no longer restrain himself, but bidding farewell to Earth, he plunged into the stream. The gods of the water received him graciously and admitted hi to the honour of their society. They obtained the consent of Oceanus and Tethys, the sovereign of the sea, that all that was mortal in him should be washed away. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
A hundred rivers poured their waters over Glaucus and then he lost all sense of his former nature and all consciousness. When he recovered, he found himself changed in form and mind. His hair was sea-green, and trailed behind him on the water; his shoulders grew broad, and what had been thighs and legs assumed the form of a fish’s tail. The sea-gods complimented him on the change of his appearance, and Glaucus fancied himself rather a good-looking personage. One day, Glaucus saw a beautiful maiden Scylla, the favourite of the water-nymphs, rambling on the shore, and when she had found a sheltered nook, laving her limbs on the clear water, he fell in live with her. Glaucus showed himself on the surface, spoke to the maiden, saying such things as he thought most likely to win her to stay; for she turned to run immediately on sight of him, and ran till she had gained a cliff overlooking the sea. Here she stopped and turned round to see whether it was a god or s sea animal, and observed with wonder his shape and colour. Glaucus, partly emerging from the water and supporting himself against a rock, said, “Maiden, I am not monster, nor sea animal, but a god; and neither Proteus nor Triton ranks higher than I. Once I was a mortal, and followed the sea for a living; but now I belong wholly to it.” #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
Then he told the story of his metamorphosis, and how he had been promoted to his present dignity, and added, “But what avails all this if it fails to move your heart?” Glaucus was going on in this strain, but the maiden, Scylla, turned and hastened away. Glaucus was in despair, but it occurred to him to consult the enchantress, Circe. Accordingly he repaired to her island. After mutual salutations, Glaucus said, “Goddess, I entreat your pity; you alone can relieve the pain I suffer. The power of the herbs I know as well as any one, for it is to them I owe my change of form. I love Scylla. I am ashamed to tell you how I have sued and promised to her, and how scornfully she has treated me. I beseech you to use your incantations, or potent herbs, if they are more prevailing, not to cure me of my love—for that I do not wish—but to make Scylla share it and yield me a like return.” To which Circe replied, for she was not insensible to the attractions of the sea-green deity, “You had better pursue a willing object; you are worthy to be sought, instead of having to seek in vain. Be not different, know your own worth. I protest to you that even I, goddess though I be, and learned in the virtue of plants and spells, should not know how to refuse you. If Scylla scorns you, scorn her; meet one who is ready to meet you half way, and thus make a due return to both at once.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
However, Glaucus replied, “Sooner shall trees grow at the bottom of the ocean, and seaweed on the top of the mountains, than I will cease to love Scylla, and her alone.” The goddess Circe was indignant, but she could not punish him, neither did she wish to do so, for she liked him too well; so she turned all her wrath against her rival, poor Scylla. She took her plants of poisonous powers and mixed them together, with incantations and charms. Then she passed through the crowd of gamboling beasts, the victims of her art, and proceeded to the coast of Sicily, where Scylla lived. There was a little bay on the shore to which Scylla used to resort, in the heat of the day, to breathe their air of the sea, and to bathe in its waters. Here the goddess poured her poisonous mixture, and muttered over it incantations of mighty power. Scylla came as usual and plunged into the water up to her waist. What was her horror to perceive a brood of serpents and barking monsters surrounding her! At first she could not imagine they were a part of herself, and tried to run from them and to drive them away; but as she ran she carried them with her, and when she tried to touch her limbs, she found her hands touch only the yawning jaws of monsters. Scylla remained rooted to the spot. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
Scylla’s temper grew as ugly as her form, and she took pleasure in devouring hapless mariners who came within her grasp. Thus she destroyed six of the companions of Ulysses, and tried to wreck the ships of Aeneas, till at least she was turned into a rock, and as such still continues to be a terror to mariners. Mistakes are a deliberately wrong choice in the contest between what is clearly good and what is clearly bad is sin. We all want a partner, but some want one to the point of it being a pathology. Many people knowingly or unknowingly force a relationship due to an addiction of love. If one is honest with oneself, and know that one has nothing in common with their focus of their intertest, such as different goals, different lifestyles, and different hobbies, and the person is not attracted to the individual pursing a relationship, this is a clear indication that they do not like you in a romantic way, much like how Scylla was not in the least bit interested in Glaucus. Yet, Glaucus could not take no for an answer and ended up running her like, and the rage she experienced ruined the lives of others. Absolutely imagine if you had people dragging you into things you did not want to be part of, and you will understand why this is not a healthy thing to do. It is never a healthy thing to do. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
People who think they can learn from their mistakes have a different brain reaction to mistake than people who think intelligence is fixed. One major difference between people who think intelligence is malleable and those who think intelligence is fixed is how one responds to mistake. When one makes a mistake, the best thing to do is to try to learn from it and figure it out. Conversely, some people who think they cannot gain intelligence will not take the opportunities to learn from their mistakes, and they usually employ defense mechanisms to justify their behaviour so they do not feel guilt or remourse. Defense mechanisms are psychological maneuvers that operate below the surface of one’s awareness (they are unconscious) to protect one from emotional pain or distress. The most familiar one is probably denial. Denial allows one to dismiss a painful reality so that one can go on acting as if a situation or event is not true—because one does not want to admit it is true. Transgression is different from being overtaken in a fault. Both sins and mistakes can hurt us and both require attention. People who try to force relations, often end up feeling insecure, hurt, and betrayed for no reason. Then these individuals start questioning themselves as to why they are never good enough for the person they are interested in. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
There should be no license for sin, but mercy should go hand and hand with reproof. Though it may be hard to admit, there comes a time when one just needs to cut their losses and leave a person alone. The progression of a romantic relationship cannot be formed. It must evolve naturally, over time. Impatient, insecure, or damaged people try to force relationships. Mortal make these kinds of mistakes all the times. However, these things are on an essentially predetermined course. A fool is a person lacking judgment or prudence. The Saviour used the term fool to characterize the lesson in this parable about the rich man who built greater barns to store his abundant fruits and goods and then said to his soul, “Thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,” reports Luke 12.19. The distinction between sins and mistakes is important to our actions. We have seen some very bitter finger pointing. All of us make mistakes, and some of us very serious ones. Any thoughtful person feels a kind of failure because one’s sins or moral failure. One does not get clean by rolling in the mire. One does not get clean and whole by brooding unduly over the past, although we can certainly learn from our mistake. There is no strength in weakness; there is no strength in sin; and we do not overcome our mistake and our sins by fighting them directly. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
If people dwell upon them too much, they may succumb to their sins. The avoidance of guilt can be addictive, too. Guilt-avoidance has become a drug of choice for many people, because it is so pleasurable, almost intoxicating, to think of oneself as morally pure. Those who are addicted to guilt-avoidance are usually a bit inconsistent. They avoid the guilt themselves, but they do not mind imposing a bit of it—maybe even a lot of it—on others. It can be immensely pleasurable to notice the flaws of others while ignoring your own. However, that is a sin, too. All things considered, we are on a safer ground when we focus on our own sins, not those of others. At least this is how we process theologians see things. We believe that when we harm others, or fail to act in ways that prevent them from being harmed, we violated something deep within the nature of nature. We have violated an Eros toward life’s flourishing that is divine. In sinning against others, we sin against God. It takes courage to stand up. The freedom to be different. The freedom to take guilt and make something beautiful of it. Humans have the freedom to turn guilt into love. Few gifts are more desirable than a clear conscience—a soul at peace with itself. Only God can heal a troubled soul. However, if we want God to forgive us, we must follow the procedure he has given to us. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
Confession is a necessary requirement for complete forgiveness. It is an indication of true Godly sorrow. It is part of the cleansing process—the starting anew requires a clean page in the diary of our conscience. Confessions should be made to the appropriate person who has been wronged by us and to the Lord also. In addition, the nature of our transgression may be serious enough to require a confession to God in prayer. “Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whoever transgressed against me, him shall you judge according to the sins which he or she has committed; and if he or she confess his or her sins before thee and me, and repents in the sincerity of one’s heart, that person one shall forgive, and I will also forgive that individual,” reports Mosiah 26.29. Remember, it is complete deliverance from the tortures of a guilt-ridden soul that we seek. Repentance is not easy. Godly sorrow brings one to the depth of humility. This is why the gift of forgiveness is so sweet and draws the transgressor so close to the Saviour with a special bond of affection. Full repentance liberates the individual with joy unspeakable. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
Any type of open and truthful disclosure reduces stress and helps individuals come to terms with their behaviour. It is not coincidental that some of the most powerful people or institutions in may cultures encourage people to confess their transgressions. And there is strong evidence that writing about upsetting experiences or dark secrets can benefit your mental and physical well-being. Similar to religious confessions, expressive writing encouraged individuals to explore their deepest thoughts and feelings about upsetting experiences. For such emotional purges to work, people must be completely honest with themselves. Putting emotional turmoil into words changes how we think about it. Giving concrete form to secret experiences can help categorize them in new ways. Talking or writing about a disturbing event helps us to understand it better. And things we do not understand cause greater anxiety. Once we are able to express our upheavals, we tend to ruminate about them less, freeing us up to focus on others thing. Dozens of studies have also shown that expression is linked to less stress and improved sleep and cardiovascular function. Also, better sleep is associated with enhanced immune function and better general health—which correlates with better mental health, too. Confession can help people get through difficult times. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
You Left Me a Heavenly Sweet Legacy of Love–Meet Me on Top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day
I have really hope you have found happiness, and if ever in need of something, like someone to love you, do not hesitate to call me. Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears, but our intellect…must itself lack all those things which of its nature it understands. Since then it naturally understands all sensible and bodily things, it must be lacking in every bodily nature; just as the sense of sight, being able to know colour, lacks all colour. If sight itself had any particular colour, this colour would prevent it from seeing others colours, just as the tongue of a feverish person, being coated with bitter moisture, cannot taste anything sweet. The true genius shudders at incompleteness—imperfection—and usually prefers silence to saying the something which not everything should be said. Maybe there is something divine in the bliss we feel. Love aims at transcending human existence, at connecting it with the eternal and infinite, and thereby at achieving the only aspect of immortality that is open to us as human beings. Because many people want both height and depth, spirituality strengthens and develops love and transforms it into a desire for a higher level of understanding of the self, others, and the Universe. When our eyes fall upon the beauty of the Earth, our soul is able to remember true love and reverences as it enjoys the expression of the divine—of temperance, justice, and knowledge of the absolute. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
The human being is a spiritual being at the core. We are the soul and have an existence beyond the physical. Our personality has, in fact, many sub-personalities or different, often conflicting, aspects. Some of these aspects can be very troublesome and sabotage our efforts at success and happiness. Magically, if we can observe some aspect of ourselves with detachment, then we can change that aspect or somewhat control it. The idea of aspects of personality and observing them is now part of our daily language (largely do the work of Psychosynthesis). We regularly hear people say, “There is a part of me that wants marry Walter, but the other part of me is says Sam Baldwin is my destiny.” Psychosynthesis work sets up a dialogue with the different aspects of self to try to find a way of balance and integration of these, often, conflicting, parts. People tend to be dominated by love, will, and intelligent activity. Love deals with matters of the heart, compassion, emotion, and sensitivity. The will is one’s drive, need to achieve, power to remove and overcome come obstacles. Intelligent activity is the capacity to actively plan, organize, construct mental schemes and models of things. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Psychosynthesis tries to identify the basic type and then attempt to bring in balance if necessary. For example, the love type may need to develop the will to be less vulnerable and more effective. The will type may need to develop emotional sensibility so as to learn to love and be loved. In the 1993 film, Sleepless in Seattle is a classic fairy tale which involves a love struck, beautiful, enchanted princess Anne Reed, and sleepless, pragmatic, handsome prince Sam Baldwin. After the death of his wife, Sam moved to Seattle with his son and is convinced he will never find love again, and he just focuses on his work in architecture and never sleeps. His son, Jonah calls a talk-radio program hosted by a psychiatrist and Johan tells the World how concerned he is about his dad, and then the father gets on the phone and talks about what love means to him. The World falls madly in love with him, and many women want to meet him, but he is not interested. Anne Reed hears the call, and although she is already engaged, she feels he is her destiny. Anne bases he love life on the 1957 film An Affair to Remember. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
Psychosynthesis would have helped Anne balance her need for love, and would have helped Sam develop a less will driven and emotional aspect of his personality, which is a form of conscious balance and choice. It lets people know where they are lacking balance in their lives, and as you see it is not always a chemical imbalance, but a lack of development or personal understanding. However, fate brings the lovers together in hopes they can balance each other out. There are usually three levels of satisfaction: Happiness, joy, and bliss. Happiness is the goal for most people’s lives it is the arrangement of life events to bring about the desired end. Problem, it can be fleeting and may not last for long. Joy is the constant states of soul, and is the surest sign of the presence of the soul. Bliss is the condition of the spirit beyond all material limitations. The intellect here serves as a bridge. Because of the refinement of the matter composing it, the intellect is well adapted as a medium of consciousness—it is like a translucent substance through which the soul can shine. However, it is only in conjunction with a soul that the intellect and the whole psychophysical organism can have experiences. The soul can gain release through discriminatory knowledge (viveka), that is, by realizing the essential distinction between itself and nature. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
Contemplative techniques induce a stilling and purification of the mind in which the essential nature of the soul is reflected clearly. Thereby the soul learns to recognize the repression of the sublime, which tend to lead to unhappy and neurotic states that are the result of failure to understand and admit the spiritual aspects in ourselves and others. We cannot base on life on films like Sleepless in Seattle because taking such a risk could turn out to be more like Sleeping with the Enemy. Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 film in which a character called Laura Burney lives in a beautiful home by the beach on Cape Cod with her husband, Martin, a charming, handsome and wealthy investment counselor. In reality, Martin is not charming at all. He is volatile and charged with energy. Martin is extremely obsessive and has control issues. Martin is also physically and emotionally abusive toward his wife, Laura, throughout their marriage. He makes her keep the house crystal clean, makes her pretend to be happy, tells her what she is allowed to wear, selects the music she can listen to, and even controls her social activities. Therefore, we need to teach our kids that life is not all about finding love, but more about finding a career that allows one to support oneself and becoming aware of the external World, since mental and physical entities evolve on a parallel and mutually adapted lines; thus, it opens the way to a correspondence theory of perception. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
According to the theory of perception, external happenings imprint themselves via the sense and the sensus communis, or mind organ (manas), on the intellect. These images are then illuminated by the soul. The mind is, so to say, a screen containing pictures of the outer World, and the soul lights these up. However, the soul itself cannot be illuminated and this perceived introspectively; therefore, its existence is known only by inference (or by a special state of consciousness). This is why religion and talk therapy have become some popular. Doctors realize a lot of people do not have chemical imbalances, but they are experiencing situations and conditions that they are not equipped to handle and need guidance of someone who can help them recognize there is nothing wrong with them, but they may be in a situation that is not conductive to their development. By medicating people who do not have chemical imbalances, we could be doing more damage than good because we are using a drug to control them and forcing them to adapt to situations, which may be unsafe. Conversely, some people do need medication because there is something wrong with their brain. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
While we are on the subject of mental health, there was this interesting study about a mental who was schizophrenic, he was a witness to a crime, and was arrested. He mother did not want him on medication because she believed it was dangerous for him. He was being assaulted in jail because he was not normal. The investigators forced him to take a shot of an antipsychotic that would last a month so he could clear his head up enough to see lucid and testify. After taking the medication, he hanged himself because he suffered from depression, as his friends, the voices in his head were gone, and he was lonely. Therefore, not everyone needs therapy and not everyone needs medication. As a society, we just have to understand there are different types of people and not everyone is typical and we cannot force them to adhere to our standards. Of course, we can never understand what life is like for some people, who have mental or physical impairments, or who have been sheltered and do not understand the World, because we have never been in their shoes. So, it is not our job to sit back and judge people who have learned to adapt as best to life as they can. Sometimes people are living unimaginable lives. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you,” reports Matthew 7.1-2. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
A layperson’s most natural way of defending belief in induction is that it has worked in the past. Concealed in this reply, of course, is the assumption that what has already worked will continue to do so. However, there is a lack of clarity about what counts as success in using the rule. Our society has much neglected the need for the development of the capacity for expression of love and beauty. Love is a basic soul quality. When unfolded, it enables the person to love and accept the people they encounter and find the good in all people. We have to identify our infinity of living Worlds in endless pace with the infinity of God. Knowledge therefore must begin not with sense experience but with a rational search for units of divine life. The atoms of the physical World are carried in the ether, which is the universal medium of the divine life and power. The conquest of the self, in which the intellect achieves mastery over the passions of humans and drives out the beast is were all the traditional virtues of moderation and self-control have place, and at this level we appear to have the choice between good and evil. However, when we use this freedom as reason dictates, we become aware that we are simply following the urge of our nature toward union with the divine; and the rational person burns with the heroic fury of an intellectual love of God. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
The mind senses the presence of God in the whole of his creation. Beauty is everywhere. We live in the beauty, but in reality everything is beautiful. We place immense trust in the analogical power of reason as a means of empathy with the universal of life of things. In mathematical reasoning, we possess the standard for God’s own knowledge, and whatever we can prove mathematically we know as surely and as perfectly as God does. Thus in the genuinely scientific investigation of nature we possess a revelation equal in authority, though not in importance, to the revelation concerning human’s moral duties and destiny that is contained in the Holy Scripture. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise person who built his or her house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. However, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish person who built his or her house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with great crash,” reports Matthew 7.24- 27. That is why God wants us to apply his ways in our lives now. What we can take with us for all eternity is our love and concern with one another. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Through Centuries Above Enlightened to a Larger Pain by Contrast with the Love
Babe, happy to hear you finally heard from your husband, but I am surprised you did not think he fit into our conversations or that they did not mentioned anything about you losing your baby. He sounds like the typical guy who goes off to war and looks forward to the weapons and getting a few “Huns.” He probably already has children all over the World that we do not know about. Sorry to hear that your brother Matthias enlisted at the same time as your husband, but if they were inseparable growing up, of course they are going to want to do the same things as adults. I do not blame your mother for refusing to let your youngest brother Jamerson join up. Back in the day, women would deny they had sons on the census reports because they did not want their youngest boy going to war. And when he was he not drafted, they would send him to college where he could be educated and make money to make the family name more prosperous. And I am sure when Jamerson has a taste of the World he will never come back. Some people are not made to be farmers or fishermen, they are made to be warriors or engage in international business. However, if he has a lady, she might be the only thing that keeps him in town. “Saints fast and pray often, even unto purify of their hearts,” Helaman 3.35. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
I was wondering why you had stopped writing me such beautiful poetry, but now I understand you have writer’s block because you are concerned about all the young men getting ready to go off and fight in the war and die. Well, you never lied about not telling me about your husband, I understand people repress painful memories or project onto other things or people. Perhaps you felt by communicating with me, you were talking to your husband? But anyway, you know me, I would not be happy either if I were left behind while everyone else went off to war, so I understand your husband. I would want the adventure, too. He feels like a hero. I know it may not be much, but I have started writing down those fairy stories I have been telling Ava. I have included one with this letter— “The Landlord.” Ava adores real estate. I thought you might find it entertaining, something to pass the time. It is not finished, though. I am not quite sure how to end it. Maybe you have an idea? Objective factuality is something alienated and abstract, a rationalized, i.e., logically crystalized, part of reality. Like a nut’s shell, it forms a hard and relatively distinct outer layer, produced by the inner saps and energies of a living organism. Reality in its wholeness is graspable only in the integral intuition of living knowledge (zhivoye znaniye), of which conceptual knowledge is only a derivative product or superstructure: All particular knowledge is partial knowledge of a whole. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
Another term has begun and I feel a bit more confident, having taught these classes all before. I have always found it funny that Harry is the one person my dad should approve of but in actuality is the person he disapproves of the most. Harry has to be one of my oldest friends. We went to school together as children, pored over my father’s anatomy texts (more specifically poring over those pages pertaining to the female anatomy), went on our first dates together under the philosophy of safety in numbers. Harry’s family moves in the same social circles, he is actually completing his medical studies, he is absolutely brilliant, and he is flawlessly polite. What could my father find fault with? I suppose that a sharp mind can be wielded like any sharp weapon, and Harry can be quite disapproving of the snobbery he finds at many of the social functions we are forced to. He is lucky that most of the people he mocks do not catch his sarcasm and dry humour, or he would not be invited back nearly so often. It has been quite a few years since Harry set off for Oxford. We write back and forth—not nearly as often as you and I write—but I am looking forward to seeing him. #RandolphHarrris 3 of 8
We are conscious of ourselves only as a self-revelation of [being] in us. The more one is aware of oneself as a person, the more one withdraws into metaphysical solitude, for we are wholly open only to ourselves and to God. We rest in secret depths inaccessible to others and the most essential part of me remains solitary and inexpressible. I encounter God in the utter solitude in which I encounter death. It is a divine-human reality. The dual unity of Godhumanhood is logically prior to the conceptions of both God and Humans. Heaven and Earth have been moved. However, in the Blood you go where nobody wants to go. That is the horror of it. That is the beauty of it. Could it really have been so freakish, so abnormal? You know, years ago, I told you I went to dinner at the Winchester mansion. I was allowed to explore the mansion by myself. There was some secret, some dark hidden story present there the whole time. I could see it in the silence. As we move on year by year in this life, we learn that telling does not necessarily purge; telling sometimes merely is a reliving, and it is a torment. I must confess that it has already become undeniably clear to me, though I have existed in this exalted state for only two nights, that the very nature of my powers and means of existence attest to the ontological supremacy of a sensualist philosophy having taken up residence within me, as I proceed from moment to moment and the microcosm of my own self. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
This requires of me an immediate redefining of the concept of mystical, which I have heretofore mentioned to include a state both elevated and totally carnal, both transcendent and orgasmic, which delivers me when drinking life’s energy or gazing at a lighted candle beyond all human epistemological constraints. Whereas the hermeneutics of pain had once completely convinced me of my own personal salvation, indeed, whereas I had once worked out a comprehensive Prayer of Quiet in which I had embraced Christ and his Five Wounds in order to endure the Finality which seemed inescapable for me, I now find myself approaching God on a totally undefined path. Can it be that being a vampire, and having a vampire soul as well as a human soul, I am therefore removed from human obligations and all human ontological conditions? I think no. I think on the contrary that I am now responsible for the supreme human obligation: to investigate the highest use of my powers, for surely though I a vampire by my own free will and by a Baptism of Blood, I am still by birth, by maturity, by underlying physicality human, and must therefore share in the human condition despite the fact that I shall no in the ordinary scheme of things grow old nor die. “Righteously fear not words of truth,” reports Mormon 9.40. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe, and God governs it by his Providence [and] the soul of Human is immortal. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Lightning is an electrical discharge, electricity is beside heat, light and gravity and is one of the primordial forces in the Universe and is a new dimension or quality possessed in some measure by all matter. Let the experiment be made and, in the observation, electrical experiments will help to make a vain person humble. To return to the inescapable question of Salvation, yes, I do remain rooted in a relativistic Universe, no matter how spectacularly defined I have become as to form and function, and I find myself within the same dimension in which I exited before my transformation, and therefore I must ask: am I perforce outside the economy of grace established by Our Divine Saviour in the very fact of his Incarnation, even before His Crucifixion, both events which I firmly believed to have occurred within human history and chronology, and to be knowable through, and commanding a response in both? Or can the Sacraments of Holy Mother the Church redeem me in my present state? I must conclude on the face of it, from my short experience, from the ecstasy and abandon which have so rampantly replaced all pain and suffering within the organism which I am, that I assume that I stand excommunicated from the Body of Christ by my very nature. I brought myself back from the dead. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
However, it could be that I am never to know the answers to this question, not matter how thoroughly I investigate the World and myself, and does not this very unknowing only bring me all the closer to full existential participation in humankind? It seems wise to accept, in deepest humility and with an aim towards a validating spiritual perfection at the onset, that I may never hope at any juncture of my wanderings, be they for untold centuries or for a fe short years of near unendurable ecstasy, to know whether I share in the Saviour’s Redemption, and that that very unknowing may be the price I pay for my extra-human sensibility and inherently blood-thirsty triumph over the pain I once suffered, over the imminent death that once tyrannized me, over the ubiquitous threat of human time. “Can you look up to God with pure heat and clean hands?” reports Alma 5.19. Personal values have political relevance. The government exists for the sake of the good life and its powers can be used to that end. A good citizen guided by virtues would undertake civic improvement and participate disinterestedly in government. The individual initiative is the essential engine of progress. My confidence in the virtue of the citizens of the United States of America causes me to favour government by consent, but I am not a simple democrat who believes majority will should be omnipotent. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Many refuse to recognize the commandment’s of God. “Thou shall not die. Thou shall not kill.” I will not lie. Freedom’s dynamism will cause its spread around the World, and therefore the United States of America, as a leading free nation, will be influential without being predatory. At the same time, we must understand the anarchic character of international relations and realise that the nation has to maintain its strength, protect its national interests, and action to maintain a balance in trade. Even with tariffs, China has a $32 Billion surplus with the United States of America, which means they made all that money off of goods and services we are buying from China. Another term has begun and I feel a bit more confident, having taught these classes all before. We have just finished talking about the history of chemistry (starting from the alchemists, then Lavoisier, Mendeleev, and the like). My students turned in the most appalling set of essays. To think, they will be the next generation of statesmen and lawyer, and they cannot even construct a proper argument! At any rate, when I was reading these and ruminating that I (I hope!) wrote a bit better at that age, I could not help but think of you. I thought I had hidden you well in the yellow memory. The light rinds of the silver bells remind me of the past. I want to wish many blessings by beautiful brocade for you. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Give Your Faith to No One Undeserved
We desire to possess a beauty that is worthy pursuing, worth fighting for, a beauty that is core to who we truly are. We want beauty that can be see; beauty that can be felt; beauty that affects others; a beauty all our own to unveil. Egyptians worshipped God in all things, and they believed they possessed a profound magic by which they were able to draw down cosmic powers into the statues of their gods, and that they reflect the divine mind behind the Universe. The idea behind it was they could turn from thinking about God to addressing him, and that way they were able to communicate with the living God, as distinct from merely giving intellectual assent to the God of philosophers. Intelligent, loving devotion to God has always been important with through eternity, it will never become obsolete. Because of the way different cultures channel God, it becomes obvious why scholars have long maintained that each era has a unique spirit, a nature or climate that sets it apart from all other epochs. Another remarkable and apparently pleasant feature of the spiritual existence is the absence of the measure of time and space as we know it here on Earth. God sent his word to heal us, and there is no time or distance in their spirit. Divine love permeates every part of our lives because God is greatly concerned with the quality of character we are building. The future the Lord has planned for us will be built on the strength of character we forge by his grace. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
It is God’s intention that our lives should be a seamless manifestation of his Spirit. God’s qualities are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Lord has made abundant provisions for his indwelling our lives here and now. A fundamental aspect in our caring for our souls is to understand that we are always in the presence of God and it is important to redirect our minds constantly to the Lord. God is the great longing focus of our souls, and we are privileged to walk in this profound reality. God provided for human freedom through a doctrine of self-creation: humans are free even in the act by which they come into existence, for God allows human to collaborate in their own creation. God makes available a distinctively authentic and free mode of existence to all humanity. Only through practice of virtue are we able to transcend the barriers that separate the mental life of one age from that of another. “If you fully obey the LORD, your God, and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, The Lord, your God, will set you high above all the nations of Earth. If you obey the Lord, all these blessings will come upon you and accompany you. You will be blessed in your city and blessed in your country. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you,” Reports Deuteronomy 28.1.1-3 and 6-7. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
Most people experience a rush of pleasure the moment a puzzling solution comes to them. When God puts a promise in our hearts, we have to come to the place where we believe in that promise so strongly no one and no circumstance can move us. Beauty grows in us to the extent that love grows, because charity itself is the soul’s beauty. As the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul. As spiritual knowledge unfolds, it must be understood, valued, obeyed, remembered, and expanded. The greatest achievement humankind can make in this World is to become familiarized with the divine truth, so thoroughly, so perfectly, that the example or conduct of no living creature in the World can ever turn us away from the knowledge that we have obtained. Of all treasures of knowledge, the most vital is the knowledge of God. The role of obedience in gaining spiritual knowledge is crucial. The Lord gives us gifts. He will quicken our minds. God will give us a knowledge that is so deeply rooted in our souls that it can never be rooted out. All we have to do is seek for the light and the understanding which is promised to us, and which we can receive, as long as we are true and faithful to every covenant and obligation, will become a treasure we are allowed to possess. “We trust God will deliver us, and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies,” reports Alma 58.37. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
The satisfaction of performing a benevolent action will certainly encourage acts of benevolence in someone who desires the advantage of society. We must acknowledge the place of God in our lives, as we are already under his government. Our discoveries in nature have already prepared us to accept the main claims of revelation about God as a creator and judge. I do not like to see things on purpose. I like them to soak in. A friend asked me to go to the top of the state capitol castle once, and I told him that he should not treat park as a sight—it is a feeling, an emotional experience. And the same with every place. When you slow down and have a moment to reflect on everything, it is very beautiful. Some people go to watch people, I enjoy looking at the nature and the architecture. When there are not many people around, you can get a sense of how majestic everything is. It is like sensing God. There is perhaps no better evidence of the psychological impact nature can make than to look at the landscape and just be at peace. It is a warmth so powerful that even the blue sky is barely perceptible through the all-consuming, healing, green atmosphere. It is as if, the trees, grace, flowers, the statues, and the architecture of the castle cols the atmosphere, like rain in a time of drought, or shade at an oasis in the desert. It can be a very spiritual experience to reflect on the living memorial. Happiness should be all one feels. Just like a sunny autumn day. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Profound spiritual truth cannot simply be poured from one mind and heart to another. It takes faith and diligent effort. Precious truth comes a small piece at a time through faith, with great exertion, and at times wrenching struggles. The Lord intends it to be that way so that we can mature and progress. As packets of knowledge unfold, they must be understood, valued, obeyed, remembered, and expanded. As each element of truth is encountered, we must carefully examine it in the light of prior knowledge to determine where it fits. Ponder it; inspect it inside out. Study it from every vantage point to discover hidden meanings. View it in perspective to confirm one has not jumped to false conclusions. Prayerful reflection yields further understanding. Such evaluation is particularly important when the truth comes as an impression of Spirit. This awareness of age had a halo of innocence around it, and it also enjoys a measure of nobility. Spiritually sensitive information should be kept in a sacred place that communicates to the Lord. That is how we are to treasure it. Gaining spiritual knowledge is not a mechanical process. It is a sacred privilege based upon spiritual law. We can receive inspired help, as long as we humbly ask our Eternal Father. We must also seek the divine light, exercise faith in the Savior, and strive to live righteous lives. God will bless us and lead us as we move through this wonderful World. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Our Father in Heaven loves all of his children equally, perfectly, and infinitely. The Lord’s love is an advantage and brings out the flavours of the personality. The Lord’s love can carve out an interior space where wisdom can take up residence. Character strengths and virtues are brought into existence by God. We love virtue. It is always nice to have people in our lives who are good in some important way. Good people make us laugh, support us in hard times, and inspire us. Virtuous actions are better than ordinary behaviours because virtues integrate ethics and health, are embodied traits of character, are sources of human strengths and resilience, are embedded within a cultural context and community, contribute to a sense of meaningful life purpose, and are grounded in the cognitive capacity for wisdom. We are expected to wait calmly in the face of frustration, adversity, or suffering because we are connected to something bigger than the self and the present circumstances. As we endure, God will give us the gift of acceptance, which is unconditional. Given that charity or supernatural love is paramount in our spiritual life, it is clear why we have a high level of devotion to God. When we accurately reflect on ourselves, we realize the excellence of our natural gifts. There is no knowledge of self without knowledge of God. “It is the Lord, your God, you must follow, and him you must revere,” reports Deuteronomy 13. 4. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
The human person recognizes an intimate unity of the body and mind and understands that they are held in unity by the spiritual soul (as secondary formal and efficient causes) and by God (as ultimate first, formal, efficient, and final causes). People who use both reason and will in finding the standard moral knowledge are guided by well-ordered love, which is associated with healthy physiological and psychological functioning. The divine being is nothing else than the human being, or, rather, the human nature purified, freed from the limitations of the individual human. Our knowledge of God is our acknowledgment of his attitude toward us, especially his attitude of benevolence and love. The character strengths of this virtue include love, kindness, and social intelligence. Humanity relies on doing more than what is only fair—we must show generosity when an equitable exchange would suffice, kindness even if it cannot (or will not) be returned, and understanding even when punishment is due. “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better World, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope comes of faith, makes an anchor to the souls of people, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God,” reports Ether 12.4. Intelligence exists and we interpret it. Justice, as a civic strength, is the underlying foundation of healthy community life. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
We need to recognize the hard mortal realities in all of this and must use common sense and guidance by personal revelation. We need to remember that trials and temptations are an important part of our lives. When people are faced with adversity or affliction, we are advised not to criticize others for the way they choose to exercise their moral agency. “Pray for them that repentance may come unto them,” reports Moroni 8.28. We each also have the privilege to carefully and prayerfully seek the Lord’s will for regarding our individual challenges and dilemmas. Personal revelation is personal, indeed. It is not based on gender or position, but on worthiness. It comes in response to sincere inquiry. “And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and humbleness of heart and because of our meekness and humbleness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God,” reports Moroni 8.26. When our lives are in balance, before we realize it our lives will be full of spiritual understanding that will confirm that our Heavenly Father loves us and that his plan is fair and true and we should strive to understand and enjoy it. We should be worthy of trust, and always keep confidences. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
If Envy Were a Fever, All the World Would be Ill!
We often hear that the love of money is the root of all evil, but it is not. The love of money, however, can be evil. If you have money you can get things and do things. Because people believe money has power, it can be incredibly difficult to stay on the right course and not lose one’s soul in the process. Many people lose sight of where they come from and make decision that satisfy their personal desires. They forget, or choose to forget who was there for them when they needed to borrow money to pay the mortgage, or when they sold a car under false pretenses, but kept the car and the money, or who shared their Christmas bonus with them. They forget about how much money they took from your family to get where they are today, and when they feel they have made it, materialistic people no longer have a use for you because they see you as inferior and your life does not matter to them. These types of covetous people will sale your secrets to your enemy. Will take bribes to set you up so they can ruin your life because they want to infect others with the pain they experienced growing up in poverty and deprivation. “For the love of money people will steal from their mother. For the love of money people will rob their own brother. For the love of money people will lie, Lord, they will cheat. For the love of money people will sell their precious body for a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weight. Call it lean, mean, mean, green Almighty dollar,” (For the Love of Money by the O’Jays). #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Money talks, and it can start to define people and their respective lifestyles. The clothes you wear, the house you live in, the car you drive and the job you occupy all serve as indicators to one’s personal success. As a collection, these materials signify, in some form, who you are as a person. At least that is what materialistic people believe. However, it does not take money nor power to be a decent human being. We all know shallow people who do not care what other think of them and have done some strange things for some change. Then they start to think they are better than others because their hustling and illegal activities have allowed them to obtain luxury items, expensive cars, and lavish homes. And they forget all about the people they stole from, betrayed, and hurt to get where they are. Some people had never really experienced being financially strapped because they made the right decision in life. Get a job at a young age, go to college, and worked toward a degree. People sometimes people who had kids at an early age, where on government relief, and experienced and abusive married are jealous that someone did things the right want and want to see that person suffer. And after they bring you down and you see what poverty is like and are trying to work your way out of it, they know you need help, but instead they pretend not to know what you are going through. Because you are a forgiving person, you do not spite them, but wish them well. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
As you try hard to work your way back to success, your heart and mind will not even allow you to ask people with an ugly spirit for help. All money and not good money and although they stole from you and hurt you, it is better to struggle and try hard so when you come back up, you do not have any obligations to unholy people. People abuse their power and fail to treat others with the respect they deserve. The fundamental idea of respect is one that we can all agree upon, and it is an essential basis for solving our everyday problems. While people may spread lies and make up rumors about you, it is essential to seek first to understand before judging someone. Everyone has had different experiences in their lives that have helped shape who they are now. Growing up in a small rural community has taught me so many things. It is nearly impossible to enjoy life in a rural community without showing others respect. Our actions towards others determine our reputation, no matter what people say about us out of envy and malice. If people do not like their reputation, they can change their actions. Our actions is the one thing we can control. When it comes to overcoming being greedy, selfish, and overly indulgent, we all need more help. The worst fear many have is people will get rich in this country and forget God and his people. We will all be literally called upon to make an accounting before God concerning how we have used our resources to bless lives and build the kingdom of God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
No one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. God loves us each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. God does not want any of us to suffer, but sometimes we learn lessons as we suffer. We learn what it is like to be injured, hungry, poor, and unpopular. These are important things for some people to experience so they do not grow up to become monsters. It teaches us to be more understanding, humble, more compassionate, and show respect to people we do not know. We learn not to become a prisoner—a prisoner of sin, stupidity, and a pigsty. God does not want us to wallow with swine. People who take for granted their father and disenfranchise their family members will fall victim to a fictional affront. Even if we are not making as much money as we used to or live in a place the is rather shabby and loud, we still can be very happy with our lives. Keep in mind, wealth cannot buy health. If envy were a fever all the World would be ill. And even though you see your material lifestyles as being a shadow of what it used to be, people can still be jealous of you because of how well you are coming through the white squall they created in your life. Because envy is so far reaching—it can resent anything, including virtue and talent, and it can be offended by everything, including every goodness and joy. As we seem to grow larger in the sight of others, they feel that they are growing smaller. And they keep spending money to make themselves feel better, while you are still steadfastly focused of spiritual enlightenment and career development. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The purpose of life is learning as much as we can so that we can be ready for the gift of eternal life. There is more to come after our mortal bodies are no more. Our souls are eternal and the actions we choose in this lifetime determine how our eternal life will be. It is also better to go through this life with a clear conscience, as a guilty conscience might be worse than hell. This is a great truth. Understanding the plan for eternal life will help people keep the commandments, make better decision, and have the right motivation. The eternal perspective of the gospel leads us to understand the place that we occupy in God’s plan, to accept difficulties and progress through them, to make decisions, and to center our lives on our divine potential. Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance, and it allows us to appreciate their true value. We were taught this plan before we came to Earth and there rejoiced in the privilege of participating in it. Perhaps people who used you and hurt you do not understand what life is about and we should feel sorry for them that money is the only thing that matters to them because the great wicked one also has a plan, it is cunning, evil, subtle plan of destruction. It is the great wicked one’s objective to take captive the children of Father in Heaven and with every possible means frustrate the great plan of happiness. However, our Heavenly Father endowed his sons and daughters with unique traits especially fitted for their individual responsibilities as they fulfill God’s plan. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The struggle to success is a difficult one. For those of us that have a belief in God, the right combination of smarts and tenacity, we are blessed to have been cultivated in large by our actively influential surroundings. The environment we grew up in is an important factor in our upbringing and in the success that we will one day achieve. This is not to say that we are product of our circumstances entirely—there have been several people who were subject to horrific situations growing up, and through the love and guidance of God, that managed to make themselves into something and were successful in morphing their dreams into a reality. Whether we embrace our environment growing up and think back to it fondly, or remember our situation growing up and thank our lucky stars that we were able to make it out alive—the fact remains the same: our past made us who we are today and if we are happy with who we are, we cannot wish to have lived a different way. That includes where and with whom we grew up. “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect,” reports Matthew 5.48. Mortal perfection can be achieved as we try to perform every duty, keep every law, and strive to be perfect in our sphere as our Heavenly Father is in his. If we do the best we can, the Lord will bless us according to our deeds and the desires of our hearts. The Lord’s entire work and glory pertains to the immortality and eternal life of each human being. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
God is the Lonely Cosmic Dancer Whose Routine is All Creatures and All Worlds
We know the current state of things is not right. It has been brought about by a script for what supposedly constitutes a successful nation that has been playing out particularly the past few years. While it is granted that there are inevitable tragic aspects of life, knowledge of existence and nature is to be preferred to illusions. America is no longer a population building country and some might even say that it is overpopulated, which is why housing, cars, clothes, food, medical care, and legally assistance is so expensive. The symbols that used to guide our minds, hearts, and souls no longer sustain us as a people. We are waking up from illusion of material reality. People want things to go back to the way they used to be in the past when a person could work at a supermarket and could afford a brand-new house, car, and support a family on one’s salary. Because the United States of America has, in modern times, been outsourcing jobs and production to other countries, so that companies can earn more profits from lower labor cost, it has hurt America by creating huge deficits and suppressing the wages of American workers. The economy consists of millions of people engaged in many activities—buying, selling, working, hiring, manufacturing and so on. A closed economy is a self-contained economic unit that has no business or trading relations with anyone outside of that unit. This model is why the United States of America used to be so innovative and produced a large number of scholars and Academics, as we had to solve our own problems and produce future leaders, so people took education more seriously. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
A closed economy does not engage in international trade in goods and services, nor does it engage in international borrowing and lending, which is why generations of the past could keep the national deficit low and traditional jobs, not just professional ones allowed people to ability to afford to live in their communities, as the closed system was characterized by a small amount of exposure to external markets, as opposed to the relatively open economy. As a nation, our economy used to follow the circular-flow diagram, where firms produced goods and services using inputs such as domestic labor, and capital (buildings and machines). These inputs are called the factors of production. Households own the factors of production and consume all the goods and services that the firms produced. Self-reliance means that the country does not have to worry about the global economy. A closed region is independent from other regions, so there is no fear of coercion nor interference. A direct result of not relying on other countries and regions is that the closed economic region is independent. An open economic region, or one that depends on importing and exporting, is susceptible to external demands that could weaken the region’s infrastructure, much like when OPEC manipulated that gas prices to cause fuel to cost three or four times as much as it used to, while you are still making the same wages before the cost of fuel skyrocketed. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
Market manipulation in an open economy means you have less money to spend on others bills and goods and services, which could hurt your bottom line, or even cause your lifestyle to become unaffordable. This also may force businesses to sell good at extravagant prices just to cover transit, which can lead to weak sales. Much like how consumers and businesses now have to pay taxes on items they buy online, along with shipping, which will make the items much more expensive than the ones they buy in the store. Because of the increased costs, more consumers might return to shopping in the physical stores in the material World, which is the point, but this will also add to more cars on the road, and more people waiting in line at the stores, and that is a major disadvantage because time is money. When prices increase, it also may keep people from obtaining goods necessary for living, which can weaken the economy. Closing such regions economically eradicates high transit costs, leaving more money for the internal economy. This is why President Trumps is placing tariffs on foreign goods because many American companies are being shut down, as they cannot compete with more cost-effective products coming from other countries. Because we are importing so many goods and services, much of our money is being sent overseas, helping other nations develop faster, and is causing a national security problem. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
The catch up effect, alternatively called the theory of convergence, demonstrates how poor or developing economies grown faster compared to economics with a higher per capita income and gradually reach similar high levels of per capita income. Basically, poorer nations are grow much faster because of higher possibilities of growth and over time catch up with the richer countries in terms of per capita income such that the divide between the two gets minimized. And that is why the trade deficit and national debt is a matter of national security. Because of opportunities of growth available for developing economics like access to technological know how from the developed Word and increasing returns to capital, they may one day become a World power, which puts the status of the United States of America in jeopardy. The US trade deficit is $46.2 billion, and the US national debt is $21.2 trillion. If America loses its status as a World power, we could be occupied by another government and subjected to human rights violations, slave wages, loss of private property, slavery and more. Empirical evidence suggests that while some developing economics have been able to effectively tap the available advantages to grow faster and catch up with robust economies, this has not been true for a large part of the developing World, but with the United States going into so much debt and borrowing so much money for foreign sources, we are weakening America as a nation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Mr. Desmond Townsend
Also, if we had a closed economy, we would have already figured out how to produce cars that run on other types of fuel, besides oil. And face it, no one, especially the youth wants to sit around charging a car for hours. We are already experiencing an over consumption of electric, which is why we had rolling blackouts a few years ago and the very reason power companies are asking you to use major appliances at night and not heat nor cool your homes as desired. As a result of high demand on electricity, the California Energy Department is placing restriction of all new homes three stories and less that they have to have solar panels, which will increase the cost of your home by at least $10,000.00 and there is no cap on that expense. As you know, prices of technology can rise overtime. And the federal government plans to hike interest rates four times this year to keep up with inflation, so the cost of the mortgage will rise even higher, making homes even more expensive than they are. People are demanding more homeownership, family, and financial security. A desire for community and authenticity is strong and growing. Many individuals want what is real, and not just regularly scheduled programming and the constant onslaught of fame, wealth, greed, social propaganda, and survivalist tendencies it celebrates, and that is why we have to support goods and services produced domestically. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
If you want your wages to rise to keep up with inflation, we have to start supporting American made goods and services, which will cost us more in the short term. However, as costs keep rising and more money is being spent in our domestic economy, in the long term it will also cause wages to rise so people can afford to buy the goods and services. However, if we keep sending our money overseas and buying foreign products, other nations will have caught up to America and surpass us, while we decline and the cost of living increasingly becomes unaffordable. Already, 43 percent of Americans are struggling, and experiencing food shortages, economical insecurity, and unstable households. Some people worry each month about paying their bills and as the bills keep going up and their wages are not, they fear they are being priced out of their homes, or eventually will be. Decreases in the money supply, cuts in government spending, and increases in taxes lead to lower inflations, but higher unemployment. Because we have been outsourcing labor, wages are suppressed. How many people do you know who can live off $10-$15 an hour, when rent for a one-bedroom apartment is on average $1,505.00 a month? An economist actually reported if minimum wage were keeping up with inflation, it would be about $28.00 an hour. And with the mandated increase in minimum wage to $15 an hour, many skilled workers will experience pay deflation, so something really needs to be done to correct this unstable market. It is not fair to work your way up to $20 an hour and a new employee with no experience comes in making $15.00. #RandolphHarrris 6 of 8
Because of how stressful life and the economy are for many is the reason a lot of people do not watch the news. No one wants to be reminded daily that they are being priced out of a country they and their ancestors helped build. However, when we feel far from God, we need only to make the decision to turn from sin and face the Savior, where we will find the Lord waiting for us, with his arms outstretched. God is here to guide us, and we are just one prayer away from receiving the guidance again. On matters of such supreme moment, the truth rather than fiction is the more fitting ideal of rational people. The power of God awaits our demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its wisdom. What an incomparable gift comes to those who put their faith in God. That gift is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s power in action, his active force. It is the vital, or animating, force in living creatures. God sends out his spirit by projecting his energy to any place to accomplish his will. The Holy Spirit inspires us, empowers us and guides our understanding. The Spirit touches our hearts and transforms us, renewing the image of God in which we were created. God wants us to have the Spirit’s gifts to build up the Lord’s kingdom. Miracles will be wrought, the infirmary will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. The Spirit is, as well, the ultimate solution for all our maladies and problems. Those who respond to the Spirit the Lord renews and transforms into the image of God. Guilt, stress, hostility, and a host of other problems melt in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Father, son, and the Holy Ghost are one Spirit. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Some may think we should not expect daily guidance from the Spirit. However, to live by the Spirit is a high privilege. It brings a sense of cam and certainty as well as the products of the Spirit such as love, joy, and peace. In many situations, being familiar with the voice of the Holy Ghost is a matter of spiritual life and death. Whoso will hearken unto the word of God, and hold fast unto it will never perish; neither can the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction. Following the feet of the people ahead of you on the path is not enough. We cannot just do and think what others are doing and thinking; we must live a guided life. We must each have our own understanding of faith. Then we may go to the Lord with humble confidence, knowing that he shall lead us by the hand, and give us answers to our prayers. Then we will achieve a realistic outlook on the World and will be freed from the knows of the heat and the identification of the self with the Spirit. Thus liberated we will perform our royal duties efficiently, like an actor on the stage. Following this example and the teachings in the scriptures, we will no longer be motivated by temptations and they will no longer possess us. Like a child playing alone, God is the lonely cosmic dancer whose routine is all creatures and all Worlds. From the tireless stream of the Lord’s cosmic energy these flow without end as God executes his graceful, repetitious movements. #RandolpHarris 8 of 8
Randolph Harris II International Institute 