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To Everything there is a Season, and a Time to Every Purpose Under the Heaven!
Today’s conformity is the retreat from controversiality. There are many forms of utilitarianism, and the development of the theory has continued in recent years. I shall not survey these forms here, nor take account of the numerous refinements found in contemporary discussions. My aim is to work out a theory of justice that represents an alternative to utilitarian thought generally and so to all of these different versions of it. I believe that the contrast between the contract view and utilitarianism remains essentially the same in all these cases. Therefore I shall compare justice as fairness with familiar variants of intuitionism, perfectionism, and utilitarianism in order to bring out the underlying differences in the simplest way. With this end in mind, the kind of utilitarianism I shall describe here is the strict classical doctrine which receives perhaps its clearest and most accessible formulation in Henry Sidgwick. Henry Sidgwick was one of the most influential ethical philosophers of the Victorian era, and his work continues to exert a powerful influence on Anglo-American ethical and political theory, with an increasing global impact as well. The main idea is that society is rightly ordered, and therefore just, when its major institutions are arranged so as to achieve the greatest net balance of satisfaction summed over all the individuals belonging to it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
We may note first that there is, indeed, a way of thinking of society which makes it easy to suppose that the most rational conception of justice is utilitarian. For consider: each human in realizing one’s own interests is certainly free to balance one’s own losses against one’s own gains. We may impose a sacrifice on ourselves now for the sake of a greater advantage later. A person quite properly acts, at least wen others are not affected, to achieve one’s own greatest good, to advance one’s rational ends as far as possible. Now why should not a society act on precisely the same principle applied to the group and therefore regard that which is rational for one human is right for association of humans? Just as the well-being of a person is constructed from the series of satisfactions that are experienced at different moments in the course of one’s life, so in very much the same way the well-being of society is to be constructed from the fulfillment of the systems of desires of the many individuals who belong to it. Since the principle for an individual is to advance as far as possible one’s own welfare, one’s own system of desires, the principle for society is to advance as far as possible the welfare of the group, to realize to the great extent the comprehensive system of desire arrived at from the desires of its members. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
Just as an individual balances present and future gains against present and future losses, so a society may balance satisfactions and dissatisfactions between different individuals. And so by these reflections one reaches the principle of utility in a natural way: a society is properly arranged when its institutions maximize the net balance of satisfaction. In the early 1960s, just as the issues of race and schooling was becoming salient in the North and in the West, it seemed that Oakland, California might well be among the first communities substantially to desegregate its public schools. This was done by bussing mostly Black children in to predominately White schools so they could receive a superior education. Many social programs are looked at as a burden on taxpayers, but Kamala Harris was a participant of this program, and she has gone on to hold many prestigious offices, such as District Attorney in San Francisco, California, Attorney General of the State of California, a Senator in the United States of America, and now she is running for one of the highest offices in America, Vice President of the United States of America. These social programs prove that by being given a fair chance, people have the opportunity to become productive members of society and give back to the community. Many take advantage of these programs, but do not abuse them. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
The Capitalistic society is one that has helped life several people out of poverty by allowing them access to a quality education, which is a key to success. The principle of choice for an association of humans is interpreted as an extension of the principle of choice for one human. Social justice is the principle of rational prudence applied to an aggregative conception of the welfare of the group. And our social programs help to reduce poverty, crime and increase the pool of taxpaying Americans. This idea is made all the more attractive by a further consideration. The two main concepts of ethics are those of the right and the good; the concept of a morally worthy person is, I believe, derived from them. The structure of an ethical theory is, then, largely determined by how it defines and connects these two basic notions. Now it seems that the simplest way of relating them is taken by teleological theories: the good is defined independently from the right, and then the right is defined as that which maximizes the good. More precisely, those institutions and acts are right which of the available alternatives produce the most good, or at least as much good as any other institutions and acts open as real possibilities (a rider needed when the maximal class is not a singleton). #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
Teleological theories have a deep intuitive appeal since they seem to embody the idea of rationality. It is natural to think that rationality is maximizing something and that in morals it must be maximizing the good. Indeed, it is tempting to suppose that it is self-evident that things should be arranged so as to lead to the most good. It is essential to keep in mind that in a teleological theory the good is defined independently from the right. This means two things. First, the theory accounts for our considered judgments as to which things are good (our judgments of value) as a separate class of judgments intuitively distinguishable by common sense, and then proposes the hypothesis that the right is maximizing the good as already specified. Second, the theory enables one to judge the goodness of things without referring to what is right. For example, if pleasure is said to be the sole good, then presumably pleasure can be recognized and ranked in value by criteria that do not presuppose any standards of right, or what we would normally think of as such. Whereas if the distribution of goods is also counted as a good, perhaps a higher order one, and the theory directs us to produce the most good (including the good of distribution among others), we no longer have a teleological view in the classical sense. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
The problem of distribution falls under the concept of right as one intuitively understands it, and so they theory lacks an independent definition of the good. The clarity and simplicity of classical teleological theories derives largely from the fact that they factor our moral judgments into two classes, the one being characterized separately while the other is then connected with it by a maximizing principle. Teleological doctrines differ, pretty clearly, according to how the conception of the good is specified. If it is taken as the realization of human excellence in the various forms of culture, we have what many called perfectionism. This notion is found in Aristotle and Nietzsche, among others. If the good is defined as pleasure, we have hedonism; if as happiness, eudaimonism, and so on. I shall understand the principle of utility in its classical form as defining the good as the satisfaction of desire, or perhaps better, as the satisfaction of rational desire. This accords with the view in all essentials and provides, I believe, a fair interpretation of it. The appropriate terms of social cooperation are settled by whatever in the circumstances will achieve the greatest sum of satisfaction of the rational desires of individuals. It is impossible to deny the initial plausibility and attractiveness of this conception. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
The striking feature of the utilitarian view of justice is that it does not matter, except indirectly, how this sum of satisfactions is distributed among individuals any more than it matters, except indirectly, how one human distributes one’s satisfactions over time. The correct distribution in either case is that which yields the maximum fulfillment. Society must allocate its means of satisfaction whatever these are, rights and duties, opportunities and privileges, and various forms of wealth, so as to achieve this maximum if it can. However, in itself no distribution of satisfaction is better than another expect that the more equal distribution is to be preferred to break ties. It is true that certain common sense precepts of justice, particularly those which concern the protection of liberties and rights, or which express the claims of desert, seem to contradict this contention. However, from a utilitarian standpoint the explanation of these precepts and of their seemingly stringent character is that they are those precepts which experience shows should be strictly respected and departed from only under exceptional circumstances if the sum of advantages is to be maximized. Yet, as with all other precepts, those of justice are derivative from the one end of attaining the greatest balance of satisfaction. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
Thus there is no reason in principle why the greatest gains of some should not compensate for the lesser losses of others; or more importantly, why the violation of the liberty of a few might not be made right by the greater good shared by many. It simply happens that under most conditions, at least in a reasonably advanced stage of civilization, the greatest sum of advantages is not attained in this way. No doubt the strictness of common sense precepts of justice has a certain usefulness in limiting human’s propensities to injustice and to socially injurious actions, but the utilitarian believes that to affirm this strictness as a first principle of morals is a mistake. For just as it is rational for one person to maximize the fulfillment of one’s system of desires, it is right for a society to maximize the net balance of satisfaction taken over all of its members. The most natural way, then, of arriving at utilitarianism (although not, of course, the only way of doing so) is to adopt for society as a whole the principle of rational choice for one human. Once this is recognized, the place of the impartial spectator and the emphasis on sympathy in the history of utilitarian thought is readily understood. For it is by the conception of the impartial spectator and the use of sympathetic identification in guiding our imagination that the principle for one human is applied to society. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
It is this spectator who is conceived as carrying out the required organization of the desires of all persons into one coherent system of desire; it is by this construction that many persons are fused into one. Endowed with ideal powers of sympathy and imagination, the impartial spectator is the perfectly rational individual who identifies with and experiences the desires of others as if these desires were one’s own. In this way one ascertains the intensity of these desires and assigns them their appropriate weight in the one system of desire the satisfaction of which the ideal legislator then tries to maximize by adjusting the rules of the social system. On this conception of society separate individuals are thought of as so many different lines along which rights and duties are to be assigned and scare means of satisfaction allocated in accordance with rules so as to give the greatest fulfillment of wants. The nature of the decision made by the ideal legislator is not, therefore, materially different from that of an entrepreneur deciding how to maximize one’s profit by producing this or that commodity, or that of a consumer deciding how to maximize one’s satisfaction by the purchase of this or that collection of goods. In each case there is a single person whose system of desires determines the best allocation of limited means. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
The correct decision is essentially a question of efficient administration. This view of social cooperation is the consequence of extending to society the principle of choice for one human, and then, to make this extension work, conflating all persons into one through the imaginative acts of the impartial sympathetic spectator. Utilitarianism does not take seriously the distinction between persons. At any given time, the soul has a number of capacities that are not currently being actualized or utilized. To understand this, consider an acorn. The acorn has certain actual characteristics or states—a specific size, shape, or colour. However, it also has a number of capacities or potentialities that could become actual if certain things happen. For example, the acorn has the capacity to grow a root system or change into the shape of a tree. Likewise, the soul has capacities. I have the ability to see colour, think about math, or desire ice cream even while I am sleep and not in the actual states just mentioned. Now, capacities come in hierarchies. There are first-order capacities, second-order capacities to have these first-order capacities, and so on, until capacities are reached. For example, if I can speak English but not Russian, then I have the first-order capacity for English as well as the second-order language capacity to have this first-order capacity (which I have already developed). #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
I also have the second-order capacity to have the capacity to speak Russian, but I lack the first-order capacity to do so. Higher-order capacities are realized by the development of lower-order capacities under them. An acorn has the ultimate capacity to draw nourishment from the soil, but this can be actualized and unfolded only by developing the lower capacity to have a root system, then developing the still lower capacities of the root system, and so on. When something has a defect (for example, a child who is colour-blind), it does not lose its ultimate capacities. Rather, it lacks some lower-order capacity it needs for the ultimate capacity to be developed. The adult human soul has literally thousands of capacities within its structure. However, the soul is not just a collection of isolated, discrete, randomly related internal capacities. Rather, the various capacities within the soul fall into natural groupings called faculties of the soul. In order to get hold of this, think for a moment about this list of capacities: the ability to see red, see orange, hear a dog back, hear a tune, think about math, think about God, desire lunch, desire a family. Now it should be obvious that the ability to see read is more closely related to the ability to see orange than it is to the ability to think about math. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20
We express this insight by saying that the abilities to see red or orange are parts of the same faculty—faculty of insight. The ability to think about math is a capacity within the thinking faculty. In general, a faculty is a compartment of the soul that contains a natural family of related capacities. We are now in a position to map out the soul in more detail. All the soul’s capacities to see are part of the faculty of sight. If my eyeballs are defective, then my soul’s faculty of sight will be inoperative just as a driver cannot get to work in one’s car if the spark plugs are broken. Likewise, if my eyeballs work but my soul is inattentive—say I am daydreaming—then I will not see what is before me either. The soul also contains faculties of smell, touch, taste, and hearing. Taken together, these five are called sensory faculties of the soul. The will is a faculty of the soul contains my abilities to choose. The emotional faculty of the soul contains my abilities to experience fear, love, and so forth. Two additional faculties of the soul are of crucial importance. The mind is that faculty of the soul that contains thoughts and beliefs along with the relevant abilities to have such things. It is with my mind that I think, and my mind contains beliefs. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
The spirit is the faculty of the soul through which the person relates to God. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me,” reports Psalm 51.10. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God,” reports Romans 8.16. “And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,” reports Ephesians 4.23. Before the new birth, the spirit is real and has certain abilities to be aware of God. However, most of the capacities of the unregenerate spirit are dead and inoperative. At the new birth, God implants new capacities in the spirit. These fresh capacities need to be nourished and developed so they can grow. Scripture tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and this insight applies to the souls as well as the body. As we have seen, the soul contains a rich set of faculties within it and each faculty contains a large number of specifically ordered abilities. As we learn more about how the soul functions, it becomes clear that the abilities present in a faculty of the soul can have an impact on other abilities within that very faculty. For example, a person can be so enslaved to eating Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizzas and Junior’s Original Cheesecake that one cannot say no to them. The person who simply does not have the volitional ability to refrain from delicious treats. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
If the person works on this second-order ability—for example, by choosing to ask one’s self regularly (especially just prior to a snack attack!) what comfort need is being met by eating deep dish pizza and cheesecake and finding alternative ways to meet that need—one can develop the first-order ability to refrain. The various spiritual disciplines of fasting, solitude, and so on work in just this way. They allow people to develop spiritual abilities that would be unavailable to them by direct effort. Sometimes the abilities within one faculty of the soul affect those in another faculty. If my emotional faculty is filled with feeling of racial hatred for a certain person, then I will not be able to see that person as valuable and precious, nor will I be able to think deeply about working for one’s welfare. The fact that one faculty can affect others explains why the new birth has the potential of transforming every aspect of one’s personality. Just as a seed grows to maturity, so the new spiritual life implanted in the soul can grow in its capacities. When this happens, the strengthened, maturing spirit can exert an influence on other aspects of the self. Similarly, a problem in a different faculty of the souls may need therapeutic counsel before a spiritual capacity can be developed. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
Further, the body can impact my various faculties and vice versa. If my eyes are defective, I will not be able to use my faculty of sight to see anything. If I am angry or anxious much of the time, I can deplete my brain chemistry and this, in turn, can contribute to depression. Though we are unified selves, nevertheless, we are complicated beings in which the various faculties of the soul interact with each other and with the body in a number of different ways. The ancient Greeks and the Fathers of the church were right to believe that a virtuous, mature person is an individual with a well-ordered soul. With this in mind, let us look at why that specific faculty of the soul, the mind, is of such importance for spiritual transformation and maturity in virtue. The immediate presence of a teacher acts as a catalyst upon the student. One’s defects, no less than one’s virtues, cannot then be hidden for long, and circumstances will usually so arrange themselves that these qualities will glaringly reveal themselves in time. Hence this is necessary a probationary period. Tests will come not through any arbitrary act on the part of the teacher but through the ordinary events of everyday life and also through persons met. They are not alone tests of an ethical kind—after all, we are sinners until we realize truth—as of one’s devotion to truth rather than its counterfeits. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
The student will be tested first to observe how far one can remain personally loyal to the teacher—because the latter stands in symbolic truth—despite the efforts of critics and enemies to put a plausible face on their opposition. The most elementary condition of spiritual instruction is complete confidence between the teacher and pupil. All sorts of blind critics and malicious enemies will appear from time to time to attempt to disturb that confidence. They are unconsciously or consciously the instruments of the adverse elements in nature. One will be tested, too, by surface shocks to one’s prejudices, preconceived notions, and expectations. One will be tested to reveal how far one is willing to go in the unselfish service of humanity when such service comes into conflict with one’s personal interests. It does not follow that of one does not know when and where one is being tested the test is unfair. It is for one to use one’s intelligence at such times as at others, and to consult one’s pledge whenever doubts arise and difficulties occur. These tests will sometimes be plainly evident and therefore comparatively easy to pass through, but there are other which are more subtle or disguised and therefore more difficult to pass through. However, all tests have one object alone—to detach one from the path towards truth. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
If one keeps it clearly in one’s mind that there is a force trying to get one off the righteous path, it will help one to understand these tests, and those who emerge with unwavering confidence despite all the oppositions encountered will receive their reward. If after the probationary period is over—and its length cannot be fixed for it will vary with each individual—those whose feet still follow the teacher unhesitatingly and completely will naturally find the interval of tine probation and acceptance is much shorter than will those in whom doubts still linger and hesitation still arise. Roam about our land at will, Spirit of God, keeping it holy by your presence. Divine Guardian of rocks and trees, of grass and garden, of wild places and tame, of outbuildings and outside: please be benevolent to us, to those who tend your realm, and we will be benevolent to you, without condition because you are great. A piece of wild on the edge of the tame you are home to the Divine Spirit who lives with us. God, who lives here, please be pleased with the offering of our eternal devotion. Please give us a piece of the wild to keep us alive and fresh. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
“And now it came to pass that after the people of Ammon were established in the land of Jershon, and a church also established in the land of Jershon, and the armies of the Nephites were set round about the land of Jershon, yea, in all the borders round about the land of Zarahemla; behold the armies of the Lamanites had followed their brethren into the wilderness. And thus there was a tremendous battle; yea, even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem; yea, and tens of thousands of the Lamanite were slain and scattered abroad. Yea, and also there was a tremendous slaughter among the people of Nephi; nevertheless, the Lamanites were driven and scattered, and the people of Nephi returned again to their land. And now this was a time that there was a great mourning and lamentation heard throughout al the land, among all the people of Nephi—yea, the cry of widows mourning for their husbands, and also of fathers mourning for their sons, and the daughter for the brother yea, the brother for the father; and thus the cry of mourning was heard among all of them, mourning for their kindred who had been slain. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
“And now surely this was a sorrowful day; yea, a time of solemnity, and a time of much fasting and prayer. And thus endeth the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi; and this is the account of Ammon and his brethren, their journeyings in the land of Nephi, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy, and the reception and safety of the brethren in the land of Jershon. And now may the Lord, the Redeemer of all humans, bless their souls forever. And this is the account of the wars and contentions among the Nephites and the Lamanites; and the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges is ended. And from the first yea to the fifteenth has brought to pass an awful scene of bloodshed. And the bodies of may thousands are laid low in the Earth, while the bodies of many thousands are moldering in heaps upon the face of the Earth; yea, and many thousands are mourning for the loss of their kindred, because they have reason to fear, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are consigned to a state of endless wo. While many thousands of others truly mourn for the loss of their kindred, yet they rejoice and exult in their hope, and even know, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are raised to dwell at the right hand of God, in a state of neverending happiness. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
“And thus we see how great the inequality of humans is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of humans. And thus we see the great call of diligence of humans to labour in the vineyards of the Lord; and this we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among humans, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life,” Alma 28.1-14. Look down from Heaven, O Christ, on Thy flock and lambs, and bless their bodies and souls. Grant those who have received Thy sign, O Christ, on their foreheads, to be Thine own in the day of judgment. The Lord knows the thoughts of humans. However enunciable things are contained in the thoughts of humans. Therefore God knows enunciable things. Since it is the power of our intellect to form enunciations, and since God knows whatever is in His own power or in that of creatures, as said above, it follows of necessity that God knows all enunciations that can be formed. Now just as God knows material things immaterially, and composite things simply, so likewise He knows enunciable things not after the manner of enunciable things, as if in His intellect there were composition or division of enunciations; for God knows each thing by simple intelligence, by understanding all that can be predicted in humans. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
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For it is not of me to write this freedom of speech, but in Thy mercy I ask you to proclaim the Truth, the everlasting, richness of Thy work to fulfill and sanctify you people so you save us. We are unworthy of your goodness, but believe you will grant us your grace. Whatever those who are impaired rely upon, may the scriptures appeal to them and show them from sin to caring. If people are down trodden with apathy, let their taint be omitted. O God, to your ear we appeal, may you bless us with you care and may be find peace and be worthy to come to you. #CresleighHomes
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord!
When bad people combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. People who live for the next miracle cream do not realize that beauty comes from a secret happiness and equilibrium within themselves. Today I learned something about the house into which she disappeared. It belongs to a widow with three lovely daughters. Information in abundance is to be had there—that is, provided they have any. The only difficulty is to understand these details raised to the third power, for they are three speak at once. Her name is Cordelia Wahl, and she is the daughter of an officer in the Royal Navy. He has been dead for some years—the mother, too. He was a very severe and strict man. She now lives with her aunt, her father’s sister, who is supposed to be like her brother but otherwise is a very respectable woman. Now that is all very fine, but in other respects they know nothing about this household; they never visit there, but Cordelia visits them frequently. She and the two other young ladies take a course in the royal kitchen. Therefore, she generally visits there early in the afternoon, sometimes in the morning, never in the evening. They keep very much to themselves. So this is the end of the story; it is appear that there is no bridge over which I can steal into Cordelia’s house. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
Consequently, she does have a conception of the pains in life, of the dark side. Who would have said this to her. Yet these recollections probably belong to an earlier period; this is a horizon under which she has lived without really being aware of it. That is fine—it has saved her femininity; she is not warped. On the other hand, it will also have significance in elevating her, if one really knows how to call it forth. All such things usually teach pride, provided they do not break one, and she is far from being broken. She lives near the embankment; they locality is not the best, no neighbours whose acquaintance one could make, no public places where one can make observations unnoticed. The embankment itself is not very suitable; one is too visible. If one walk below on the street, one cannot very well walk on the side next to the embankment, because no one walks there, and it would be too conspicuous, or one would have to walk close to the houses, and then one can see nothing. It is a corner house. Since the house has no neighbouring house, the widows to the courtyard are also visible from the street. Presumably her bedroom is there. No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. What therefore God hath joined together, let not humans put asunder. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
When people are working out, they tend to get lost in the own thoughts. More than once, I have waited for a circuit machine to free up, only to watch Mr. Oblivious finish with a set and just sit there, hogging he machine. He could easily have alternated sets with me—but he simply was not aware of what was happening around him or he just did not care. In either case, he failed to realize the reality that in a public setting like a fitness center, you are not alone. You are in a group setting that requires being aware at all times of how your actions affect others. Here are some of the most common fitness club flubs that men make: Leaving a pool of sweat. Mr. Buff is really pushing his physical limits on an exercise bike. Finally the session ends, and he steps off the bike, still totally focused on his effort, and walk away. Behind him, the handles glisten with his manly perspiration, and the seat has a small pool of sweat on it, waiting for the next lucky exerciser to climb on—maybe even that certain someone he has been trying to impress. It is not that Mr. Buff refused to clean the machine on purpose—he just did not think of it. His mind was far, far, away, in an endorphin haze. Which brings us back to the central premise of the fitness center etiquette: Be conscious of the people around you. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
Imagine this scenario instead: When Mr. Buffy steps off, he turns to the next person and says cheerfully, “Just a second—let me clean this off for you.” A handy bottle of cleanser and a towel are nearby. He squirts the towel and then wipes the bike down. This is called being considerate. It is also a great way to make the right kind of impression on your fellow fitness center member. So gross! “They do not wipe down their machines and weights when they are done. So gross!” Over and over women spoke loudly and clearly about the failure of men to wipe down the equipment after using it. It takes just a minute. Fitness centers keep pray bottles and wipe-down rags nearby. A quick spray and wipe will do more to ingratiate you with your fellow fitness buffs than any other thing you can do at the gym. By the way, it is not just women who are frustrated by this gross behaviour. Twenty-nine percent of the respondents who brought up this issue were men and, by a wide margin, this was the biggest complaint about the fitness center in a 2019 survey. The unwanted stare. This one is a toughie. Those close-fitting sports bras and shorts do not always leave much to the imagination. And then there is all that uncovered skin—sometimes lots of it—not to mention the occasional tattoo. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
Somehow I have always thought of a tattoo as an invitation to look: After all, why else is it there but to be noticed? The other day, for example, a woman on the tennis court next to mine took off her jacket to reveal what looked like a tiny fairy tattoo of one of the fairies from William Blake’s painting Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, circa 1786, one of the great works of modern art, on her back. I had to consciously work at not staring at her. I would have loved to really study that tattoo, but I limited myself to a few discreet looks when her back was turned toward me. The point is there is a difference between a look and a stare. Here is the distinction: When you look around you are you work out, your gaze falls naturally on another person but your focus is on what you are doing. When you stare, you focus on the object of your staring rather than on what you are doing. The bottom line: Women know when you are staring at them, especially when you are staring at their chest (“and I have a normal-sized bustline,” fumed one respondent). They do not like it. Do you want to impress a woman? Then look, do not stare. And look in her eyes, not at her assets. You will impress her most by showing that you are a man who knows how to respect a woman, tattooed, voluptuous, or otherwise. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
Grunting—“In through the nose, out through the mouth. Exhale!” Dana, my trainer, exhorts me. And then I realize I can hear myself. I wonder if other people are hearing me, too. Now, there is a difference between an exhale—whooooosh—and a decibel shattering grunt. When your woosh becomes a grunt you have crossed a line, and when you do, men and women are equally irritated. You do not have to grunt to exhale and when you do grunt, as one respondent put it so eloquently, “You are just showing off.” Now it is time to pretend we are on an episode of Family Feud with Steve Harvey. Survey says: What Women Really Think About Macho Men. Here is what the women in our surveys had to say about men who are fitness center show-offs: Acts like Homey D. Clown trying to impress attractive women. Acts like The Rock when he is really In Living Color’s— Men On Films II, and deserves the new and improved, “Two snaps and a twist and a kiss. Pilot to Co-Pilot, we goin’ down in flames!” Admires himself excessively in the surrounding mirrors. Flexes constantly. Grunts and groans excessively. Lifts more weight than he can handle. Shows off his form in a spandex suit when he is overweight and his belly is popping out the shirt. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
Nonetheless, in the realm of human destiny, the depth of a human’s questioning is more important than one’s answers. Our society is set up so that most women lose their identities when their husbands die…It is wrenching enough to lose the man who is your beloved, your companion, your best friend, the father of your children, without losing yourself as well. This is why some are bothered by the, “I am more important than you are” syndrome. I was on a Love Boat cruise ship recently where the line of jogging machines all face out the top deck windows, providing a fabulous view of the ocean as you work out. The sign-up system for these machines was pretty strict, I was told, for a good reason: It seems a woman had overstayed her time limit on one of the machines a while back, and the guy, who looked like Tattoo, waiting took a swing at her when she did not get off. Of course, she did not help matters by refusing to get off the machine when her time was up. Both individuals had fitness goals and needed to find a compromise. Otherwise it may seem they maybe guilty of the all-too-prevalent “I am more important than you are” syndrome, which seems to be a hazard of working out. The best way to deal with difficult people, and to avoid getting labeled as one yourself, is to respect the fitness center’s rules: Follow the schedules for all machines—start on time and end on time. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
Do not monopolize the machines. Do not use the as spare seats, and do not stand around them whole talking with your buddies. If a conflict does arise, do not take it upon yourself to be the “twelve” or SWAT of the club. Instead, kindly point out the issue to the staff, and let them take care of it. In the event that you are the culprit, admit your mistake forthrightly and make a conscious effort to change your habits. Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but, unlike charity, it should end there. Flirting with women in midworkout may not be a good idea. Do you ever read those relationship advice columns in Men’s Health? They are full of guidance on how to meet women, and one of the places they often recommend is the fitness center. You have got to wonder if any of these writers has ever actually been to a fitness center. However, I do love the trend they started with the bright neon shoes of any color with matching shorts. I admit, the idea of meeting the love of your life at the fitness center sound great in theory: After all, it is a place where a lot of fit, attractive people are gathered to pursue a common interest. So what exactly is the appropriate application for getting a woman’s attention that you are interested in doing a Richard Simmons Sweatin’ to the 80s on the Stairmaster, or straining to complete the Suzanne Somers thighmaster with? #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
Well, since the days of the Jane Fonda workout tapes, there has not been one. Most women like to look like Farrah Fawcett, Aaliyah, or Viola Davis at the gym, but they do not want some beef cake like Brad Pitt, or hunk David Hasselhoff, or a tall cup of hot chocolate like Billy D. Williams in their face, breaking their concentration while they are trying to get their body like Beyonce. What they want is to be left alone so they can do their routine. The bottom line: Even if you look like Davey Fisher, back off. Do your workout and let her finish hers. On your way out of the club, after you have showered and dressed (and are looking and smelling great), you can try striking up a conversation by treating her to The Donna, a soy, caramel latte with a double shot and whipped cream, and a homemade, semi-sweet chocolate chip cookie, with a dollop of butterscotch, and pistachios at your local coffee shop, where you can strike up a conversation. At that point she may be as interested in talking to you as Rachel Zane was at getting into Harvard Law. Life is an unanswered question, but let us believe in the dignity and importance of the question. Also, when at the fitness center, remember your personal trainer is a person. My brother called me the other day. “Where are you?” he asked. “You were not at your workout with Dana, and she was surprised because she said you always call or text her if you are going to miss an appointment.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
I thought I had arranged with my wife that she would take my appointment and I would take hers, but we got our signals crossed and neither of us showed up. In five years of working with Dana, our personal trainer, I have heard over and over from her how frustrating it is to have an appointment not show up. She loses with the person who is skipped and she has a vacancy in her schedule someone else could have used, so from Dana’s point of view she loses twice. Personal trainers are like your best friend and confident like officer Poncherello and officer Jonathan from CHiPs. So it is natural to assume that when you happen to see him or her at the gym you can stop by for a chat. Unfortunately for your trainer and the client he or she is working with, your interruption takes away from the client’s time with the trainer. These sessions are as serious as doctor’s appointments. While a quick “Hello” is totally acceptable, it is better to save longer conversations for breaks between clients. Conversing with your trainer is a fun part of your workout (sometime the only fun part), but be careful about gossiping. Sure, your trainer is like a confidant, but do not say anything to one you would not want posted on a bulletin board for anyone to read. Even if your trainer is the most discreet person in the World, others working out nearby can overhear your conversation. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
Also, class courtesy is very important. You can get a great workout from taking one of the many classes fitness centers offer members. Just be careful not to overdo it, and respect the other class participants as well. Cleanliness matters—weight training class had started when Mike Ross waltzed in and set up right next to me. Unfortunately, I almost had to leave class. He brought his Betty Crocker Tuna Salad Sandwiches with him. I felt awkward moving to another location so I had to bear it. Just because you are in a hurry to the gym does not mean you should bring your lunch with you. Hygiene and personal habits matter. Maybe consider buying lunch at the café. Therefore, leave your lunch at home. And always do your fellow fitness buffs a courtesy: Wash your clothes, wash your body, brush your teeth, and use a deodorant. Even more so, know your limitations. Do not try to poses or push yourself beyond your body’s limits. I have seen to many people exit a class and not be able to come back for weeks just because they pushed the limits and ended up straining their backs or a muscle. If you do want to try a new position or exercise, do not rock the boat, talk with the instructor ahead of time and get his or her help in making sure you can do so safely. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
If you are at a more advanced level than the class, it is respectful to ask if you can execute a more advanced move, say, a handstand instead of a headstand, before just going ahead and doing it. If you have preexisting conditions take that into consideration. Before you start a class, give the instructor a heads up about any injuries you may currently be dealing with. That was he or she knows the limitations you have and will not inadvertently push you beyond your current capabilities. In the silence of night I have often wished for just a few words of wisdom from one person, rather than unsolicited advice from thousands of people. Success means never having to admit you are unhappy. If you cannot make a class, call. Weight training and tennis classes are very popular at my fitness center, and there are often more people who want to attend them than there are open slots. When someone blows off a class without calling, these folks get very upset and with good reason. There are plenty of people on the waiting list who would have enthusiastically taken the spot, and even at four in the morning they would have showed up religiously. The final thoughts: If you cannot make a class you have signed up for, be like Harvey or Jessica and call the center well in advance and let them know you will not be there. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
The soul is a very complicated thing with an intricate internal structure that we need to understand if we are to appreciate the mind’s role in spiritual transformation. In order to understand that structure, we need to grasp two important issues: the different types of states within the soul and the notion of a faculty of the sou. The soul is a substantial, unified reality that informs its body. The soul is to the body what God is to space—it is fully “present” at each point within the body. Further, the soul and the body relate to each other in a cause-effect way. For example, if I worry in my soul, my brain chemistry will change; if I exercise my will to raise my arm in my soul, the arm goes up. If I experience brain cell damage, this can cause me to lose the ability to remember certain things in my soul. And so forth. The soul also contains various mental states within it—for example, sensations, thoughts, beliefs, desires, and acts of will. This is not as complicated as it sounds. Water can be in a cold or a hot state. Likewise, the soul can be in a feeling or thinking state. The soul contains several states. There is a belief that sounds have this kind of power. The awareness of God and your soul may percolate in your unconscious for some time; then, all of the sudden, you have an epiphany and a flash of insight comes to you, seemingly from out of nowhere. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
O God, the Protector of the faithful, and constant Visitor of souls obedient unto Thee; may it please Thee to be present, with Thy favour, to Thy servants who dwell in this house; that while we visit them with human solicitude, Thou mayest guard them with Divine favour; through our Lord. “Now, as Ammon was thus teaching the people of Lamoni continually, we will return to the account of Aaron and his brethren; for after he departed from the land of Middoni he was led by the Spirit to the land of Nephi, even to the house of the king which was over all the land save it were the land of Ishmael; and he was the father of Lamoni. And it came to pass that he went in unto him into the king’s palace, with his brethren, and bowed himself before the king, and said unto him: Behold, O king, we are the brethren of Ammon, whom thou hast delivered out of prison. And now, O king, if thou wilt spare our lives, we will be thy servants. And the king said unto them: Arise, for I will grant unto you your lives, and I will not suffer that ye shall be my servants; but I will insist that ye shall administer unto me; for I have been somewhat troubled in mind because of the generosity and the greatness of the words of thy brother Ammon; and I desire to know the cause why he has not come up out of Middoni with thee. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
“And Aaron said unto the king: Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called him another way; he has called him another way; he has gone to the land of Ishmael, to teach the people of Lamoni. Now the king said unto them: What is this that ye have said concerning the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, this is the thing which doth trouble me. And also, what is this that Ammon said—if ye will not repent, ye shall be cast off at the last day? And Aaron answered him and said unto them: Believest thou that there is a God? And the king said: I know that the Amalekites say that there is a God, and I have granted unto them that they may assemble themselves together to worship him. And if now thou sayest there is a God, behold I will believe. And now when Aaron heard this, his heart began to rejoice, and he said: Behold, assuredly as thou livest, O king, there is a God. And the kind said: Is God that Great Spirit that brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem? And Aaron said unto him: Yea, he is that Great Spirit, and he created all things both in Heaven and in Earth. Believest thou this? And he said: Yea, I believe that the Great Spirit created all things, and I desire that ye should tell me concerning all these things, and I will believe thy words. And it came to pass that when Aaron saw that the king would believe his words, he began from the creation of Adam, reading the scriptures unto the king—how God created humans after his own image, and that God gave him commandments, and that because of transgression, humans had fallen. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
“And Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the creation of Adam, laying the fall of human before him, and their carnal state and also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the World, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name. And since the human had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grace shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did expound all these things unto the king. And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my heart, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy. However, Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive he hope which thou desirest. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
“And it came to pass that when Aaron has said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the Earth, and cried mightily, saying: O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead. And it came to pass that his servants ran and told the queen all that had happened unto the king. And she same in unto the king; and when she saw him lay as if he were dead, and also Aaron and his brethren standing as though they had been the cause of his fall, she was angry with them, and commanded that her servants, or the servants of the king, should take them and lay them. Now the servants had seen the cause of the king’s fall, therefore they durst not lay their hands on Aaron and his brethren; and they pled with the queen saying: Why commandest thou that we should slay these men, when behold one of them is mightier than us all? Therefore we shall fall before them. Now when the queen saw the fear of the servants she also began to fear exceedingly, lest there should some evil some upon her. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
“And she commanded her servants that they should go and call the people, that hey might slay Aaron and his brethren. And when Aaron saw the determination of the queen, he, also knowing the hardness of their hearts of the people, feared lest that a multitude should assemble themselves together, and should be a great contention and a disturbance among them; therefore he put forth his hand and raised the king from the Earth, and said unto him: Stand. And he stood upon his feet, receiving his strength. Now this was done in the presence of the queen and many of the servants. And when they saw it they greatly marveled, and began to fear. And the king stood forth, and began to minister unto them. And he did minister unto them, insomuch that his whole household were converted unto the Lord. Now there was a multitude gathered together because of the commandment of the queen, and there began to be great murmurings among them because of Aaron and his brethren. However, the king stood forth among them and administered unto them. And they were pacified towards Aaron and those who were with him. And it came to pass that when the king saw that the people were pacified, he caused that Aaron and his brethren should stand forth in the midst of the multitude, and that they should preach the word unto them. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
“And it came to pass that the kind sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even o the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, running from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided. Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers’ first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore. And also there were many Lamanites on the east by the seashores, whither the Nephites had driven them. And thus the Nephites were nearly surrounded by the Lamanites; nevertheless the Nephites had taken possession of all the northern parts of the land bordering on the wilderness, at the head of the west, round about on the wilderness side; on the north, even until they came to then land which they called Bountiful. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
“And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing. And they came from there up into the south wilderness. Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful, it being the wilderness which is filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the land northward for food. And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, for the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward. And it came to pass that the Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful, even from the east unto the west sea, and thus the Nephites in their wisdom, with their guards and their armies, had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby they should have no more possession on the north, that they might not overrun the land northward. Therefore the Lamanites could have no more possessions only the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
“Now this was wisdom in the Nephites—as the Lamanites were an enemy to them, they would not suffer their afflictions on every hand, and also that they might have a country whither they might flee, according to their desires. And now I, after having said this, return again to the account of Ammon and Aaron, Omner and Himni, and their brethren,” reports Alma 22.1-35. Bless, O Lord, this house and all who dwell in it, as Thou wast pleased to bless the house of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that within these walls may dwell an Angel of light, and that those who dwell together in it may receive the abundant dew of Heavenly blessing, and though Thy tenderness rejoice in peace and quiet; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Although the supreme cause is necessary, the effect may be contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause; just as the germination of a plant is contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause, although the movement of the Sun which is the first cause, is necessary. So likewise things known by God are contingent on account of their proximate cases, while the knowledge of God, which is the first cause is necessary. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome,” reports Mrs. Rosa Parks. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
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God is the protector of the faithful, the God of, all and in subjection to them in your mind reminding you to celebrate, be merciful to the inhabitants of Thy servants. Thou wouldst live in this house; so that those whom enter, the human visitors form care, and promise to protect you, as you are the power of the divine.
There are inexorable laws, not of one’s making, which govern the opening of spiritual relation between a self-actualized teacher and a would-be pupil, however, much of one’s devotion and loyalty are appreciated. The chance remains open to one on a probation only, which is necessarily of a limited number of years. If during that period, (and we all are on mortal probation and if we pass, we will live in Heaven with God) they are able to make personal contact, it will be helpful for the pupil’s progress in understanding the teaching, and one can profit by it to clear up misconceptions and filter out faults.
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God is in His Heaven—All is Right with the World! Grow Old with Me Because the Best if Yet to Be!
The Christian life is not a way “out” but a way “through” life. Paul freely acknowledged that he received his apostleship purely as a result of God’s undeserved favour. God then used Paul’s testimony to encourage me at a time when I most keenly felt my complete unworthiness to write on the subject of personal holiness. The question, however, is this: To what extent can we use Paul’s very personal testimony and my own experience to establish a scriptural principle regarding Christian ministry? Is all ministry, where it be teaching a children’s Sunday school class, or witnessing individual to students at the local private school or preaching to thousands of people each Sunday, performed by the grace of God by people who are unworthy to be doing it? Harry Blamires had an incisive answer to that question: In the upshot there is only one answer for the preacher who wonders whether one is worthy to preach the sermon one has composed or for the writer who wonders whether one is worthy to write the religious book one is working on. The answer is: Of course not. To ask yourself: Am I worthy to perform this Christian task? is really the peak of pride and presumption. For the very question carries the implication that we spend most of our time doing things we are worthy to do. We simply do not have that kind of worth. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
Of course, it matters little what Harry Blamires or Jerry Bridges think unless our thinking accords with Scripture. So what does the Bible say to this question? In Romans 12.6 Paul said, “We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” Paul was referring to spiritual gifts given to every believer enables us to fulfill the ministry or service God has appointed for us in the Body of Christ. However, not that Paul said these spiritual gifts are give accord to the grace of God, not according to what we deserve. The Greek word for a spiritual gift is charisma, which means “a gift of God’s grace,” whether it is the gift of eternal life as in Romans 6.23 or the gift of a spiritual ability for use in the Body. Here are somethings to consider on the connection of grace and gifts. “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus,” reports 1 Corinthians 1.4. The specific basis of Paul’s thanksgiving in their case is God’s “grace given you in Christ Jesus.” Commonly this is viewed as a thanksgiving for grace as such, id est, the gracious outpouring of God’s mercy in Christ toward the undeserving. However, for Paul charis (“grace”) very often is closely associated with charisma/charismata (“gift/gifts”) and in such instance refers to concrete expressions of God’s gracious activity in his people. Indeed, the word “grace” itself sometimes denoted these concrete manifestations, the “graces” (gifts), of God’s grace. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
In our Systematic Theology, the main concern is, precisely, to build a “system,” this is, to work out the implications of our central perception of the Protestant principle along the mainlines of theological thought. Yet even though we are primarily concerned with the symbols of faith and their transcendent meaning, or with the historical relevance of the Christ, we unavoidably run into traditional Christian doctrines. These we reinterpret in order to assume them into our system. Whether our reinterpretations are orthodox or not is obviously an important question, but it is not the question to which we primarily address because we do not exclusively maintain a theology of revelation (as the neo-orthodox theologians have done). The terms “dogma” and “dogmatic,” are not terms we like to use because they came to be used at a time when the Church was engaged in self-defence. The Creeds were adopted as a protective formulation against heresies. Their acceptance became a matter of life and death for Christianity. This was a necessary step in the development of the Church, for heresies were demonic attempts to distort the Christian message. In this sense, a theology is always dogmatic: the word “dogmatics” emphasizes the importance of the formulated and officially acknowledged dogma for work of the systematic theologian. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
Yet we shun the word as much as possible, for we believe that the significance of dogmas became distorted after the first centuries. Instead of reaming protective formulations of the core of the Christian message, dogma is identified with the laws of the Christian state. Heresy became a social crime. State and Churches that condone this confusion have become themselves demonic. There arose a demonic use of dogma, a reversal of values, by which dogmas were used, by Catholic as well as Protestant, against theological honesty and scientific autonomy. This unfortunate situation has discredited the words “dogmas” and “dogmatics” to such a degree that it is hardly possible to re-establish their genuine meaning. Our reluctance to use a vocabulary to which large sections of the intellectual World are allergic makes sense, for our purpose is precisely to build a bridge between the Christian faith and the secularized intellect. No antagonism to any specific dogma is implied. This does not reduce the significance of the formulated dogmata…but it makes the use of the term “dogmatics” impossible. The Christian is ultimately concerned about Christology, not only as symbol and as history, but also as dogma. The ultimate source of Christian belief can only be the revelatory situation in which Jesus is perceived as the Christ. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
There are no “revealed dogmas” properly speaking, no depositum that was communicated to the Apostles and handed down through the life of the Church, to be infallibly taught to the faithful. Our attitude is well epitomized as there are no revealed doctrines, but there are revelatory events and situations which can be describe in doctrinal terms. “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found on an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the World and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with human’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of humans for to dwell on all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of humans for to dwell on all the face of the Earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the God-head is like unto gold, or sliver, or stone, graven by art and human’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all humans everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the World in righteousness by that human who one hath ordained; whereof one hat given assurance unto all humans, in that one hath raised one from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter,” reports Acts 17.22-32. The first time I spoke of our existence as theologians, I indicated that the foundation of this existence lay in the power of the Divine Spirit and in the reality of the Church. It was the believing theologian—believing in spite of all one’s doubts and despairs—that I tried to describe. The second time that we considered our existence as theologians, we looked at the self-surrendering theologians who, though the power of love, becomes “all things to all humans,” that theologian who seems to lose oneself through the understanding of everything and everyone. This time let us think about the answering theologian who, in spite of one’s participation in the weakness and error of all humans, is able to answer their questions through the power of one’s foundation, the New Being in Christ. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
The famous scene in which Paul speaks from the central place of Greek wisdom shows us a man who is the prototype of the answering theologian. Paul has been asked about his message, partly because they knew that they did not know the truth, and seriously desired to know it. There are three stages in Paul’s answer, which reveal the three tasks of answering theologian. The first stage of Paul’s answer consists in the assertion that those who ask him the ultimate question are not unconscious of the answer: these humans adore an unknown God and thus witness to their religious knowledge in spite of their religious ignorance. That knowledge is not astounding, because God is close to each one of us; it is in Him that we live and move and exist; these also belong to His race. The first answer, then, that we must give to those who ask us about such a question is that they themselves are already aware of the answer We must show to them that neither they nor we are outside of God, that even the atheists stand in God-namely, that power out of which they live, the truth for which they grope, and the ultimate meaning of life in which they believe. It is bad theology and religious cowardice ever to think that there may be a place where we could look at God, as though He were something outside of us to be argued for or against. Genuine atheism is not humanly possible, for God is nearer to a human than humans are to themselves. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
A God can only be denied in the name of name of another God; and God appearing in one form can be denied only by God appearing in another form. That is the first answer that we must give to ourselves and to those who question us, not as an abstract statement, but rather as a continuous interpretation of our human existence, in all its hidden motions and abuses and certainties. God is nearer to us than we ourselves. We cannot find a place outside of Him; but we can try to find such a place. The second part of Paul’s answer is that we can be in the condition of continuous flight from God. We can imagine one way of escape after another; we can replace God by the products of our imagination; and we do. Although humankind is never without God, it perverts the picture of God. Although humankind is never without knowledge of God, it is ignorant of God. Humankind is separated from its origin; it lives under a law of wrath and frustration, of tragedy and self-destruction, because it produces one distorted image of God after another, and adores those images. The answering theologian must discover the false gods in the individual souls and in society. One must probe into their most secret hiding-places. One must challenge them through the power of the Divine Logos, which makes one a theologian. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
Theological polemic is not merely a theoretical discussion, but rather a spiritual judgement against the gods which are not God, against those structures of evil, those distortions of God in thought and action. No compromise or adaptation or theological self-surrender is permitted on this level. For the first Commandment is the rock upon which theology stands. There is no synthesis possible between God and the idols. In spite of the dangers inherent in so judging, the theologian must become an instrument of the Divine Judgement against a distorted World. So far as they can grasp it in the light of their own questions, Paul’s listeners are willing to accept two-fold answer. However, Paul then speaks of a third thing which they are not able to bear. They either reject it immediately, or they postpone the decision to reject or accept it. He speaks of a Man Whom God has destined to the Judgement and Life of the World. That is the third and final part of the theological answer. For we are real theologians when we state that Jesus is the Christ, and that it is in Him that the Logos of theology is manifest. However, we are only theologians when we interpret this paradox, this stumbling-block for idealism and realism, for the weak and the strong, for both pagans and Jews. As theologians, we must interpret that paradox, and not throw paradoxical phrases at the minds of the people. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
We must not preserve or produce artificial stumbling-blocks, miracle-stories, legends, myths, and other sophisticated paradoxical talk. We must not distort, by ecclesiastical and theological arrogance, that great cosmic paradox that there is victory over death within the World of death itself. We must not impose the heavy burden of wrong stumbling-blocks upon those who ask us questions. However, neither must we empty the true paradox of its power. For true theological existence is the witnessing to Him Whose yoke is easy and Whose burden is light, to Him Who is the true paradox. There is also a question regarding the distribution of educational opportunities. Before humans can contribute according to their abilities, their abilities must be developed. However, in whom should society develop which abilities? It is clear that all humans require some early training to make them viable social beings; further, all humans require certain general skills necessary for performing work. We all have the right to receive the goods and resources necessary for preserving ourselves. Human beings have the right, rather, not to be killed, attacked, and deprived of their property—by persons in or outside of government. No human is good enough to govern another human, without that other’s consent. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
However, there are some very rare instances in which some citizens could find themselves in circumstances which require disregarding rights altogether. This would be in situations that cannot be characterizes to be “where peace is possible.” Nonetheless, under normal conditions, the enforceable right of every person not to be coerced by other persons. Humans have a right to life, a right not to be killed unjustly and a right to property, a right to acquire goods and resources either by initial acquisition or voluntary agreement. However, these rights do not entitle one to receive from others the goods and resources necessary for preserving one’s life. To possess any basic right to receive the goods and resources necessary for preserving one’s life conflict with possessing the right not to be killed, assaulted, or stolen from. The latter rights are considered to be held by all individual human beings. Rights are the link between the moral code of a human and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics. Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law. Nonetheless, in a system that legally protects and preserves property right there will be cases where a rich person prevents a poor person from taking what belongs to her (the rich person)—for example, a chicken that the poor person might use to feed herself. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
When people defend their property, what are they doing? They are protecting themselves against the intrusive acts of some other person, acts that would normally deprive them of something to which they have a right, and the other has no right. As such, these acts of protectiveness make it possible for men and women in society to retain their own sphere of jurisdiction intact, protect their own moral space. They want to be sovereigns and govern their own lives, including their own productive decisions and actions. Those who mount the attack, in turn, fail or refuse to refrain from encroaching upon the moral space of their victims. They are treating the victim’s life and its productive results as though these were unowned resources for them to do with as they choose. This system is developed for a human community in which peace is possible. It is a system that is developed for individual rights, which guide men and women in such an adequately hospitable environment to act without thwarting the flourishing of others, are thus suitable bases for the legal foundations of a human society. It is possible for people in the World to pursue their proper goals without thwarting a similar pursuit by others. The typical conflict situation in society involves people who wish to take shortcuts to earning their living (and a lot more) by attacking others, not those who lack any other alternative to attacking others so as to reach that same goal. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
If the government entered areas that required it to make very particular judgments and depart from serving the interest of public as such, the integrity of law would be seriously endangered. We have already noted that the idea of satisfying basic needs can involve the difficulty of distinguishing those whose actions are properly to be so characterized. Rich persons are indeed satisfying their basic needs as they protect and preserve their property rights. Private property rights are necessary for a morally decent society. Normally persons do not lack the opportunities and resources to satisfy their own basic needs. Even if we grant that some helpless, physically disabled, those with intellectual disabilities, or destitute persons could offer nothing to anyone that would merit wages enabling the to carry on their loves and perhaps even flourish, there is still the other possibility for most actual, known hard cases, namely seeking help. I am not speaking here of the cases we know: people who drop out of school, get a skilled job, marry and have kids, only to find that their need more adequate preparation to survive life in these expensive communities all across American. Some have even considered migrating to Mexico, but prices for real estate there are also quite high. In fact, you may get more for your money in America. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
We have no justification for assuming that the rich are all callous, though this caricature is regularly painted by communists and in folklore. Supporting and gaining advantage from the institution of private property by no means implies that one lacks the virtue of generosity. The rich are no more immure to virtue than the poor are to vice. The contrary view is probably a legacy of the idea that only those concerned with spiritual or intellectual matters can be trusted to know virtue—those concerned with seeking material prosperity are too base. The destitute typically have options other than to violate the rights of the well-off. “’Ought’ implies ‘can”’ is satisfiable by the moral imperative that the poor ought to seek help, not loot. There is then no injustice in the rich preventing the poor from seeking such loot by violating the right to private property “”Ought implies ‘can”’ is fully satisfied if the poor can take the kind of action that could gain them the satisfaction of their basic needs, and this action could well be asking for help. There are people who are helplessly poor, who through no fault of their own, nor again through any rights violation by others, are destitute. However, those cases are by no means typical. They are extremely rare. And even rarer are those cases in which all avenues regarded as legitimate from the American point of view have been exhausted, including appealing for help. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
The bulk of poverty in the World is not the result of natural disaster or illness. Rather it is political oppression, whereby people throughout many of the World’s countries are not legally permitted to look out for themselves in the production of trade. Of course, it would be immoral if people failed to help out when this was clearly no sacrifice for them. However, charity or generosity is not a categorical imperative, even for the rich. There are more basic moral principles that might require the rich to refuse to be charitable—for example, if they are using most of their wealth for the protection of freedom or a just society. Courage can be more important than charity or benevolence or compassion. Human behaviour is taken to be determined by a person’s economic circumstances, so one is bound by one’s situation and cannot make choices that would overcome them. More generally, in modern political philosophy there as been a strong tendency to view human beings as passive, unable to initiate their own conduct and moved by innate drives or environmental stimuli. Thus, those who are well-off could not have achieved this through only their own initiative, nor could those who are badly off have failed in significant ways. Accordingly, all the poor or badly off, be they victims of others’ oppression, casualties of misfortune, or products of their own misconduct are regarded alike. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
The right to free association, freedom of trade, freedom of wealth accumulation, freedom of contact, freedom of entrepreneurship, freedom of speech, freedom of thought—that provides the most hospitable social climate for the creation of wealth. Socialism can do no more than to socialize poverty, exempli gratia, make everyone poor through socialized medicine, free higher education and so forth. As to the historical evidence, it is hard to argue that other tan substantially capitalist economic systems, which tend in the direction of libertarianism (as least as far as the legal respect for and protection of private property or the right to it are concerned) have fared much better in reducing poverty than have others, without also causing massive political and other social failures (such as dysfunction of civil liberties, institutions of forced labour and involuntary servitude, regimentation of the bulk of social relations, arresting scientific and technological progress, or censorship of the arts and other intellectual endeavours). Thus, America is still the freest of societies, with many of its legal principles giving expression to classical liberal, near-libertarian ideas, and it is, at the same tie, the most generally productive (creative and culturally rich) of all societies, with its wealth assisting in the support of hundreds of other societies across the globe. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
There is another point to be stressed. This is that there can be people in the American society—indeed, in any society—for whom a lack of wealth, even extreme poverty relative to the mean, may not be a great liability. Not everyone wants to, or even ought to, live prosperously. For some individuals a life of ostensible poverty could be of substantial benefit. Some people elect not to seek economic prosperity. There are some who are poor but who are not, therefore, worse off than the rich, provided we do not confine ourselves to counting economic prosperity as the prime source of well-being. Furthermore, some artist whoa re poor are happier than some merchants who are rich. There is no justification for feeling compassion for such artists, despite their poverty. In short, being poor in and of itself does not justify special consideration. Being in need of what it takes to attain one’s well-being warrants, if the need is a matter of natural misfortune or injury for others, feelings and conduct amounting to care, generosity, and charity. Poverty does not always constitute such neediness. Nonetheless, all humans have the right to live in a community of other human individual with equal protection under the law. Justice requires only an equal liberty. Players in the game do not protest to their being other positions such as batter, pitcher, catcher and the like just because they cannot win. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
Hear us, holy Lord, Father Almighty, everlasting God, and join the grace of Thine own visitation to our humble services; that Thou mayest makes Thyself a mansion in the hearts of those whose dewing we approach; through Jesus Christ our Lord, we know that all things are possible. “Now when Ammon and his brethren separated themselves in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, behold Aaron took his journey towards the and which was called by the Lamanites, Jerusalem, calling it after the land of their fathers’ nativity; and it was away joining the borders of Mormon. Now the Lamanites and the Amalekites and the people of Amulon had built a great city, which was called Jerusalem. Now the Lamanites of themselves were sufficiently hardened, but the Amalekites and the Amulonites were still harder; therefore they did cause the Lamanites that they should harden their hearts, that they should wax strong in wickedness and their abominations. And it came to pass that Aaron came to the city of Jerusalem, and first began to preach to the Amalekites. And he began to preach to them in their synagogues, for they had built synagogues, for they had built synagogues after the order of the Nehors; for many of the Amalekites and the Amulonities were after the order of the Nehors. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
“Therefore, as Aaron entered into one of their synagogues to preach unto the people, and as he was speaking unto them, behold there arose an Amalekite and began to contend with him, saying: What is that thou hast testified? Hast thou seen an angel? Why do not angels appear unto us? Behold are not this people as good as thy people? Thou also sayest, expect we repent we shall perish. How knowest thou the thought and intent of our heart? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people? Behold, we have built sanctuaries, and we do assemble ourselves together to worship God. We do believe that God will save all humans. Now Aaron said unto him: Believest thou that the Son of God shall come to redeem humankind from their sins? And the man said unto him: We do not believe that thou knowest any such thing. We do not believe in these foolish traditions. We do not believe that thou knowest of things to come, neither do we believe that thy fathers and also that our fathers did know concerning the things which they spake, of that which is to come. Now Aaron began to open the scriptures unto them concerning the coming of Christ, and also concerning the resurrection of the dead, and that there could be no redemption for humankind save it were through the death and sufferings of Christ, and the atonement of his blood. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
“And it came to pass as he began to expound these things unto them they were angry with him, and began to mock him; and they would not hear the words which he spake. Therefore, when he saw that they would not hear his words, he departed out of their synagogue, and came over to a village which was called Ani-Anti and there he found Muloki preaching the word unto them; and also Ammah and his brethren. And they contended with many about the word. And it came to pass that the people would harden their hearts, therefore they departed and came over into the land of Middoni. And they did preach the word unto many, and few believed on the words which they taught. Nevertheless, Aaron and a certain number of his brethren were taken and cast into prison, and the remainder of them fled out of the land of Middoni unto the regions round about. And those who were cast into prison suffered many things, and they were delivered by the hand of Lamoni and Ammon, and they were fed and clothed. And they went forth again to declare the word, and thus they were delivered for the first time out of prison; and thus they had suffered. And they went forth whitersoever they were led by the Spirit of the Lord, preaching the word of God in every synagogue of the Amalekites, or in every assembly of the Lamanites where they could be admitted. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
“And it came to pass that the Lord began to bless them, insomuch that they brought many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, they did convince many of their sins, and of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct. And it came to pass that Ammon and Lamoni returned from the land of Middoni to the land of Ishmael, which was the land of their inheritance. And king Lamoni would not suffer that Ammon should serve him, or be his servant. However, he caused that there should be synagogues built in the land of Ishmael; and he caused that his people, or the people who were under his reign, should assemble themselves together. And he did rejoice over them, and he did teach them many things. And he did also declare unto them that they were a people who were a free people, that they were free from the oppressions of the king, his father; for that his father had granted unto him that he might reign over the people who were in the land of Ishmael, and in all the land round about. And he also declared unto them that they might have the liberty of worshipping the Lord their God according to their desires, in whatsoever place they were in, if it were in the land which was under the reign of King Lamoni. And Ammon did preach unto the people of king Lamoni; and it came to pass that he did teach them all things concerning things pertaining to righteousness. And he did exhort them in daily, with all diligence; and they gave heed unto his word, and they were zealous for keeping the commandments of God,” reports Alma 21.1-23. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
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In early 1948, Emanuel D’amico rented a brownstone storefront at number 309 Court Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Carroll Gardens. Emanuel, a sea merchant from Palermo, Sicily, left his home some twenty years prior — one of the over 4 million Italians who immigrated to America seeking their fortune in the New World. He’d lost all he had in a failed Pasta Company endeavor and New York seemed his last chance to make things right. For a number of years he worked odd jobs and began a number of side ventures, but none were too successful. A number of years later, after sending for his wife under a U.S. sponsored amnesty program, the two reunited in Brooklyn and shortly after opened the doors to D’amico Foods.
D’amico Foods originally set their sights on coffee. In 1948, there were few cafes and most coffee consumed was mass produced, undrinkable swill. With an AJ Deer Royal Roaster, Emanuel became one of the first small batch, roast to order Brooklyn roasters. The max capacity of the machine was a mere 10 pounds, ensuring that all coffee which left D’amico Foods was fresh. He was revolutionary in his approach and developed quite a following amongst the Italian immigrant population in Carroll Gardens. With each batch Emanuel pulled, the rich aroma of fresh roasted coffee spilled out into the neighborhood.
Three generations and over 60 years later, D’Amico is still a staple of the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. The storefront has become a Brooklyn legacy. That’s why we established D’amico Coffee in an effort to share this longstanding tradition of delicious Brooklyn roasted coffee with the nation. We’ve expanded our facilities and now offer wholesale but continue to use the same techniques and approach to roasting Emanuel did back in 1948. Because at the end of the day, we’re a family owned business and we’re your neighborhood roaster. For the best coffee in the World: https://damicocoffee.com/
Our Present Knowledge is Like the Perception of things in a Mirror, and therefore Concerns Enigmas and Riddles!
The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you are playing by other people’s rules, while quietly playing by your own. The spiritual counsellor who takes personal advantage of the dependence placed upon one or of the trust shown in one, thereby renders oneself unfit for such a high position. Therefore in one’s dealing with disciples it is best for one to maintain an independence in practical affairs and Worldly relationship as well as a cool detachment in social contact and personal intercourse. It is inevitable that the disciples should feel hurt at such impersonality and such objectivity, but therein lies a protection both for themselves and for the teacher until such time as they are more developed, better balanced, more controlled, and farther seeing. Then and then only is it possible for the teacher to revise the relationship and make it not only a warmer one but even a more personal one, with safety to both sides. Disciples who are not well-balanced and are somewhat neurotic often try to get the teacher personally involved in their lives. For they want to be set free from the need of developing themselves, the duty of improving their characters, the burden of accepting their responsibilities, and the painfulness of working out emotional problems which are merely the result of their own egoism. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
If the teacher succumbs to their appeals, then they remain unevolved and the relationship itself remains unpracticable. However, if one firmly resists them one may, by such resistance, force a change in their attitude and consequently an increase in their wisdom. In doing so however one courts misunderstanding on the part of one’s disciples, who may first become bewildered and later resentful. Affection may turn to anger for a time, and the disciple may even withdraw altogether. If they are so foolish as to do this their development will not only be stopped but also, what is worse, set back for months or years. It is also an error to believe that one disciple must necessarily associate with the other disciples of the same teacher. Only where there is real temperamental harmony and personal affinity should disciples associate together. Where these are lacking, it is much wiser and safer not to do so. For then the evil forces take advantage of the chance to develop disharmony, quarrels, ill-feeling, and even worse. This spoils the progress of both. The real business of any disciple is with the teacher, not with the other disciples. Such a situation cannot be helped and must be accepted. Human beings are all born with different characters and dispositions. Only the self-actualized can harmonize with all; other must recognize limitations. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
If one cannot be happy with certain students, one must wish them well and then go one’s own way. One must never allow oneself to be drawn into quarrels for then the evil forces become active. The relationship between them is a beautiful but free one. If the disciple takes a possessive attitude and tries to annex the teacher, if one betrays jealousy of other disciples or demands as much attention as they get, one substitutes an egotistic for an impersonal relationship, fails to understand its distinctively and uniquely free nature, and thus spoils it. One must insist on getting the same freedom from one’s disciples that one allows to them. Whether physically together or physically apart, that is a true relationship between master and disciple, husband and wife, friend and friend, which refusing to be tightly possessive or personally demanding, is satisfied by the silent fact that the other exists at all. If one is attached to the role as an authority figure, no self-actualized can lead anyone to enlightenment, nor can any disciple ever receive enlightenment if one wants to play the role of disciple forever. Both are suffering from attachments which prevent enlightenment. This is why the whole thing becomes a stage play, whether serious or comical, in which the actors are performing their personal parts. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
Even if they babble about the necessity of not getting attached to the World, they are still attached to what they are supposed to be, that is, questing. A truly enlightened human has no such attachment and unless one is invested by God with a special apostleship, or with a special mission, one would not consider oneself self-actualized, nor anyone else as a disciple. Listening to feelings and reflecting them is a vastly complex process. Research evidence has kept piling up, and it points strongly to the conclusions that a high degree of empathy in a relationship is possibly the most potent factor in bringing about change and learning. And so I believe it is time for me to forget the caricatures and misrepresentations of the past and take a fresh look at empathy. For still another reason it seems timely to do this. In the United States of America during the past decade or two, many new approached to therapy have held center stage. Gestalt therapy, psychodrama, primal therapy, bioenergetics, rational-emotive therapy, and transactional analysis are some of the best known, but there are more. Part of their appeal lies in the fact that in most instances, the therapist is clearly the expert, actively manipulating the situation, often in dramatic ways, for the client’s benefit. If I am reading the signs correctly, I believe there is a decrease in the fascination with such expertise in guidance. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
With behaviour therapy, another approach based on expertise, I believe interest and fascination are still on the increase. A technological society has been delighted to have found a technology by which people’s behaviour can be shaped, even without their knowledge or approval, towards goals selected by their therapists or by society. Yet even in this case, much questioning by thoughtful individuals is springing up as the philosophical and political implications of “behaviour mod” become more clearly visible. So I have seen a willingness on the part of people that locate power in the person, no the expert, and this brings me again to examine carefully what is meant by the term “empathy” and what we have come to know about it. Perhaps the time is ripe for its value to be appreciated. The sate of empathy, or being empathic, is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without every losing the “as if” condition. Thus is means to sense the hurt or the pleasure of another as one senses it and to perceive the causes thereof as one perceives them, but without ever losing the recognition that it is as if I were hurt or pleased and so forth. If this “as if” quality is lost, then the state if one of identification. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
With the concept of experiencing, at all times there is going on in the human organism a flow of experiencings to which the individual can turn again and again as a referent in order to discover the meaning of those experiences. An empathic therapist points sensitively to the “felt meaning” which the client is experiencing in this particular moment, in order to help one to focus on that meaning and carry it further to its full and uninhibited experiencing. An example may clarify both the concept and its relation to empathy. A person in an encounter group has been making vague negative statements about his father. The facilitator says, “It sounds as though you might be angry at your father.” The man replies, “No, I do not think so.” “Possibly dissatisfied with him?” “Well, yes, perhaps” (said rather doubtfully). “Maybe you are disappointed in him.” Quickly the man responds, “That is it! I am disappointed that he is not a strong person. I think I have always been disappointed in him ever since I was a boy.” Against what is the man checking these terms for their correctness? Well, he is checking them against the ongoing psychophysiological flow within himself to see if they fit. This flow is a very real thing, and people are able to use it as a referent. In this case, “angry” does no match the felt meaning at all; “dissatisfied” comes closer, but is not really correct; “disappointed” matches it exactly, and encourages a further flow of the experiencing, as often happens. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
With this conceptual background, let me attempt a description of empathy that would seem satisfactory to me today. I would no longer be terming it a “state of empathy,” because I believe it to be a process, rather than a state. Perhaps I can capture that quality. An empathic way of being with another person has several facets. It means entering the private perceptual World of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it. It involves being sensitive, moment by moment, to the changing felt meanings which flow in this other person, to the fear or rage or tenderness of confusion or whatever one is experiencing. It means temporarily living in the other’s life, moving about in it delicately without making judgments; it means sensing meanings of which one is scarcely aware, but not trying to uncover totally unconscious feelings, since this would be too threatening. It includes communicating your sensing of the person’s World as you look with fresh and unfrightened eyes a elements of which one is fearful. It means frequently checking with the person as to the accuracy of your sensings, and being guided by the responses you receive. You are a confident companion to the person in one’s inner World. By pointing to the possible meanings in the flow of another person’s experiencing, you help the other to focus on this useful type of referent, to experience the meanings more fully, and to move forward in the experiencing. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
To be with another in this way means that for the time being, you lay aside your own views and values in order to enter another’s World without prejudice. In some sense it means that you law aside your self; this can only be done by persons who are secure enough in themselves that they know they will not get lost in what may turn out to be the strange or bizarre World of the other, and that they can comfortably return to their own World when they wish. Perhaps this description makes clear that being empathic is a complex, demanding, and strong—yet also subtle and gentle—way of being. In operational empathy, one appreciates what your experience feels like to you. One understands what you say from a detached, objective point of view. One understands your words but not the way you feel. Qualitatively it (empathic understanding) is an active process of desiring to know the full, present and changing awareness of another person, of reaching out to receive one’s communication and meaning, and of translating one’s words and signs into experienced meaning that matches at least those aspects of one’s awareness that are most important to one at the moment. It is an experiencing of the consciousness “behind” another’s outward communication, but with continuous awareness that this consciousness is originating and proceeding in the other. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
Then there is the Accurate Empathy Scale, devised by Truax (1967) an others for use by raters. Even small portions of recorded interviews can be reliably rated by this scale. The nature of the scale may be indicated by giving the definition of Stage 1, which is the lowest level of empathic understanding, and Stage 8, which is a very high (though not the highest) degree of empathy. Here is Stage 1: Therapist seems completely unaware of even the most conspicuous of the client’s feelings. One’s responses are not appropriate to the mood and content of the client’s statements and there is no determinable quality of empathy, hence, no accuracy whatsoever. Therapist may be bored and disinterested or actively offering advice, but one is not communicating an awareness of client’s current feelings. Stage 8 is defined as follows: Therapist accurately interprets all the client’s present acknowledged feelings. One also uncovers the most deeply shrouded of the client’s feeling areas, voicing meanings in the client’s experience of which the client is scarcely aware. One moves into feelings and experiences that are only hinted at by the client and does so with sensitivity and accuracy. The content that comes to life maybe new but is not alien. While the therapist in Stage 8 makes mistakes, mistakes do not have a jarring note but are covered by the tentative character of the response. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
Also the therapist is sensitive to one’s mistakes and quickly alters or changes one’s responses in midstream, indicating that one more clearly knows what is being talked about and what is being sought after in the client’s own explorations. The therapist reflects a togetherness with the [client] in tentative trial and error exploration. One’s voice tone reflects the seriousness and depth of one’s empathic grasp. Although what is indicated by these examples is that the empathic process can be defined in theoretical, conceptual, subjective, and operational ways, but we have not reached the limits of its base. We have developed a helping-community enterprise called “Changes,” which has many implications for dealing with the alienated and counter-culture members of the chaos which we called living. Of particular interest is the “Rap Manual,” which has been developed to assist the ordinary person in learning “how to help with the other person’s process.” Then Manual starts out with a section on “Absolute Listening.” Some excerpts give the flavour: This is not laying trips on people. You only listen and say back the other person’s thing, step by step, just as that person seems to have it at that moment. You never mix into it any of your own things or ideas, never lay on the other person anything that person did not express. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
To show that you understand exactly, make a sentence or two which gets exactly at the personal meaning this person wanted to put across. This might be in your own words, usually, but use that person’s own words for the touchy main things. The explanation continues in this same vein, with many detailed suggestions, including ideas on “how to know when you are doing it right.” So it seems clear that an empathic way of being, although highly subtle conceptually, can also be described in terms which are perfectly understandable by contemporary youth or citizens of a beleaguered inner city. It is a broad-ranging conception. And now let us consider our existence, and the knowledge that we possess. Paul says that all our present knowledge is like the perception of things in a mirror, that it therefore concerns enigmas and riddles. This is only another way of expressing the fragmentary character of our knowledge. For fragments out of the context of the whole are only riddles to us. We may surmise the nature of the whole; we may approach the whole indirectly; but we do not see the whole itself; we do not grasp it directly face to face. A little light and much darkness; a few fragments and never the whole; many problems and never a solution; only reflections in the mirrors of our souls, without the source of truth itself: that is the situation of our knowledge. And it is the situation of our love. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
Because of the love which is perfect and lasting lies not within us, perfect knowledge is denied us. Since, as beings, we are separated from each other, and therefore from this ultimate unity, the community of knowledge among single beings is made impossible, as it is also, then, between beings and the Ground of Being Itself. A great philosopher has said that our knowledge reaches as far as our creative will reaches. That is true for a certain realm of life. However, it is not true for the whole of our life. The fact that our knowledge reaches as far as our uniting love reaches is valid for the whole human existence. Humankind has always tried to decipher the puzzling fragments of life. That attempt is not just a matter for the philosophers or priests or prophets or wise humans in all periods of history. It is a matter for everyone. For every human is a fragment oneself. One is a riddle to oneself; and the individual life of everyone else is an enigma to one, dark, puzzling, embarrassing, exciting, and torturing. Our very being is a continuous asking for the meaning of our being, a continuous attempt to decipher the enigma of our World and our heart. Before children are adjusted to the conventional reactions of adults and have grown out of their creative individuality, they show the continuous asking, the urgent desire to decipher the riddles they see in the primitive mirror of their experiences. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
The creative human, in all realms of life, is like a child, who dares to inquire beyond the limits of conventional answers. One discovers the fragmentary character of all these answers, a character darkly and subconsciously felt by all humans. One may destroy, by means of one fundamental question, a whole, well-organized system of life and society, of ethics ad religion. One may show that what people believed to be a whole is nothing but a fragment of a fragment. One may shake the certainty on which centuries lived, by unearthing a riddle or an enigma in its very foundation. The misery of humans lies in the fragmentary character of one’s life and knowledge; the greatness of humans lies in one’s ability to know that one’s being is fragmentary and enigmatic. For humans are able to be puzzled and to ask, to go beyond the fragments, seeking the perfect. Yet, in being able to do so, one feels at the same time the tragedy implicit in one’s being, the tragedy of the riddle and the fragment. Humans are subject, with all beings, to the law of vanity. However, humans alone are conscious of that one. One is therefore infinitely more miserable than all other beings in the servitude to that law; on the other hand, one is infinitely superior, because one alone knows that there is something beyond vanity and decay, beyond riddles and enigmas. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
That statement is felt by Paul when he says that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. Humans are fragments and riddles to themselves. The more one experiences and knows that fact, the more one is really human. Paul experienced the breakdown of a system of life and thought which one believed to be a whole, a perfect truth without riddle or gaps. One then found oneself buried under the pieces of one’s knowledge and one’s morals. However, Paul never tried again to build up a new, comfortable house out of the pieces. One dwelt with the pieces. One realized always that fragment remain fragments, even if one attempts to reorganize them. The unity to which they belong lies beyond them; it is grasped through hope, but not face to face. How could Paul endure life, as it lay in fragments? He endured it because the fragments bore a new meaning to him. The pictures in the mirror pointed to something new for one: they anticipated the perfect, the reality of love. Through the pieces of one’s knowledge and morality, love appeared to one. And the power of love transformed the tormenting riddles into symbols of truth, the tragic fragments into symbols of the whole. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
When we pray, we talk to divine beings. They are our spiritual friends, guardians Angels, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, or parents, or cousins. We talk to our human friends and parents and cousins, so it only makes sense to talk to their divine counterparts as well. The most common form of prayer is purification. With the power of the sea, that washes the shores, I am purified. May I be pure, may all my impurities be burned away, carried away by the grace of God. May I be pure, fit to approach God. I am encircled with the sacred, girded about, encompassed, that my actions here today might be within the sacred way. The sacred covers me, I am surrounded by the pure. God, I offer you my worship. Watch over me today as I go about my affairs; keep me safe, keep me happy, keep me healthy. God of truth, be with me today. As I wear your blessings, guard my words and deeds. May what I say and what I do be in accord with your sacred law. The elements are joined with the power of spirit. May I be blessed by the four. May I be blessed by your spirit. May I be blessed my you only Begotten Son. “And it came to pass after he had made an end of speaking unto the people many of them did believe on one’s words, and began to repent, and to search the scriptures. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
“However, the more part of them were desirous that they might destroy Alma an Amulek; for they were angry with Alma, because of the plainness of his words unto Zeezrom; and they also said that Amulek had lied unto them, and had reviled against their law and also against their lawyers and judges. And they were also angry with Alma and Amulek; and because they had testified so plainly against their wickedness, they sought to put the away privily. However, it came to pass that they did not; but they took them and bound the with strong cords, and took them before the chief judge of the land. And the people went forth and witnessed against them—testifying that they had reviled against the law, and their lawyers and judges of the land, and also of all the people that were in the land; an also testified that there was but one God, and that he should send his Son among the people, but he should not save them; and many such things did the people testify against Alma and Amulek. Now this was done before the chief judge of the land. And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and one also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which one had caused among the people by one’s lying words; and one’s soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of one’s own guilt; yea, one began to be encircled about by the pains of hell. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
“And it came to pass that one began to cry unto the people, saying: Behold, I am guilty, and these men are spotless before God. And he began to plead for them from that time forth; but they reviled one saying: Art thou also possessed with the devil? And they spit upon one, and cast one out from among them, and also all those who believed in the words which had been spoken by Alma and Amulek; and they cast them out, and sent humans to cast stones at them. And they brought their wives and children together, and whosoever believed or had been taught to believe in the word of God they caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed by fire. And it came to pass that they took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire. And when Amulek saw the pains of the woman and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
“However, Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord recieveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day. Now Amulek said unto Alma: Behold, perhaps they will burn us also. And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. However, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us no. Now it came to pass that when the bodies of those who had been cast into fire were consumed, and also the records which were cast in with them, the chief judge f the land came and stood before Alma and Amulek, as they were bound; and he smote the with his hand upon their cheeks, and said unto them: After what ye have seen will ye preach again unto this people, that they shall be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone? Behold, ye see that ye had not power to save those who had been cast into the fire; neither has God saved them because they were of Thy faith. And the judges smote them again upon their cheeks, and asked: What say ye for yourselves? #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
“Now this judge was after the order and faith of Nehor, who slew Gideon. And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek answered him nothing; and he smote them again, and delivered them to the officers to be cast into prison. And when they had been cast into prison three days, there came many lawyers, and judges, and priests, and teachers, who were of the profession of Nehor; and they came in unto prison to see them, and they questioned them about many words; but they answered them nothing. And it came to pass that the judge stood before them, and said: Why do ye not answer the words of this people? Know ye not that I have power to deliver you up unto the flames? And he commanded them to speak; but they answered nothing. And it came to pass that they departed and went their ways, but came again on the morrow; and the judge also smoke them again on their cheeks. And many came forth also, and smote them, saying: Will ye stand again and judge this people, and condemn our law? If ye have such great power why do ye not deliver yourselves? And many such things did they say unto them, gnashing their teeth upon them, and spitting upon them, and saying: How shall we look when we are damned? And many such things, yea, all manner of such things did they say unto them; and thus they did mock them for many days. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
“And they did withhold food from them that they might hunger, and water that they might thirst; and they also did take from them their clothes that there were naked; and thus they were bound with strong cords, and confined in prison. And it came to pass after they had thus suffered for many days, (and it was on the twelfth day, in the tenth month, in the tenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi) that the chief judge over the land of Ammonihah and many of their teachers and their lawyers went in unto the prison where Alma and Amulek were bound with cords. And the chief judge stood before them, and smote them again, and said unto them: If ye have the power of God deliver yourselves from the bands, and then we will believe that the Lord will destroy this people accord to your words. And it came to pass that they all went forth and smote them, saying the same words, even until the last; and when the last had spoken unto them the power of God was upon Alma and Amulek, and they rose and stood upon their feet. And Alma cried, saying: How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which they were bound; and when the people saw this, they began to flee, for the fear of destruction had come upon them. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
“And it came to pass that so great was their fear that they feel to the Earth, and did not obtain the outer door of the prison; and the Earth shook mightily, and the walls of the prison were rent in twain, so that they fell to the Earth; and the chief judge, and the lawyers, and priests, and teachers, who smoke upon Alma and Amulek, were slain by the fall thereof. And Alma and Amulek came for the out of the prison, and they were not hurt; for the Lord had granted unto them power, according to their faith which was in Christ. And they straightway came forth out of the prison; and they were loosed from their bands; and the prison had fallen to the Earth, and every soul within the walks therefore, save it were Alma an Amulek, was slain; and they straightway came forth into the city. Now the people having heard a great noise came running together by multitudes to know the cause of it; and when they saw Alma and Amulek coming forth out of the prison, and the walls thereof had fallen to the Earth, they were struck with great fear, and fled from the presence of Alma and Amulek even as a goat fleeth with her young from two lions; and thus they did flee from the presence of Alma and Amulek,” reports Alma 14.1-29. Rejoicing, O Lord, in the richness of Thy gifts, we humbly pray that as Thou hast given us power to hold this ministry, so Thou wilt give us sufficient grace to fulfil it; through our Lord. Amen. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

For breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the snacks in-between—you spend lots of time in the kitchen, so we make sure ours are beautiful from every angle. 😍 https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-meadows-at-plumas-ranch/residence-4/
How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel. O Lord, through Thine abundant kindness I come into Thy house, ad reverently I worship Thee in Thy holy sanctuary. I love the habitation of Thy house, the place where Thy glory dwelleth. Here I bow down and worship Thee, my Lord and Maker. Accept my prayer, O Lord, and answer me with Thy great mercy and with Thy saying truth. Amen.
I Felt the Power of the ‘Life Force’ that Infuses Each of Us—Whatever this is!
There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat. What part does our awareness have in the formative function of the consciousness in human beings? I believer that consciousness has a small but very important part. The ability to focus consciousness attention seems to be one of the latest evolutionary developments in our species. This ability can be described as a tiny peak of awareness, of symbolizing capacity, topping a vast pyramid of nonconscious organismic functioning. Perhaps a better analogy, more indicative of the continual change going on, is to think of the pyramid as a large fountain of the same shape. The very tip of the fountain is intermittently illuminated with the flickering light of consciousness, but the constant flow of life goes on in the darkness as well, in nonconscious as well as conscious ways. It seems that the human organism has been moving toward the more complete development of awareness. It is at this level hat new forms are invented, perhaps even new directions for the human species. It is here that the reciprocal relationship between cause and effect is most demonstrably evident. It is here that choices are made, spontaneous forms created. We here see perhaps the highest of the human functions. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
Some of my colleagues have said that organismic choice—the nonverbal, subconscious choice of way of being—is guided by the evolutionary flow. I agree; I will even go one step further. I would point out that in psychotherapy we have learned something about the psychological conditions that are most conducive to increasing this highly important self-awareness. With greater self-awareness, a more informed choice is possible, a choice more free from introjects, a conscious choice that is even more in tune with the evolutionary flow. Such a person is more potentially aware, not only of the stimuli from outside, but of ideas and dreams, and of the ongoing flow of feelings, emotions, and physiological reactions that one senses from within. The greater this awareness, the more surely the person will float in a direction consonant with the directional evolutionary flow. When a person is functioning in this way, it does not mean that there is a self-conscious awareness of all that is going on within, like the centipede whose movements were paralyzed when it became aware of each of its legs. On the contrary, such a person is free to live a feeling subjectively, as well as be aware of it. The individual might experience love, or pain, or fear, or just live in these experiences subjectively. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
Or, one might abstract self from this subjectivity and realize in awareness, “I am in pain;” “I am afraid;” “I do love.” The crucial point is that when a person is functioning fully, there are no barriers, no inhibitions, which prevent the full experiencing of whatever is organismically present. This person is moving in the direction of wholeness, integration, a unified life. Consciousness is participating in this larger, creative, formative tendency. But some go even further in their theories. Researchers such as Grof and Grof (1977) and Lilly (1973) believe that persons are able to advance beyond the ordinary level of consciousness. Their studies appear to reveal that in altered states of consciousness, persons feel they are in touch with, and grasp the meaning of, this evolutionary flow. They experience it as tending toward a transcending experience of unity. They picture the individual self as being dissolved in a whole area of higher values, especially beauty, harmony, and love. The persons feels at one with the cosmos. Hard-headed research seems to be confirming the mystic’s experience of union with the universal. For me, this point of view is confirmed by more recent experience in working with clients, and especially in dealing with intensive groups. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
I describe earlier those characteristics of a growth-prompting relationship that have been investigated and supported by research. However, recently, my view has broadened into a new rea which cannot as yet be studied empirically. When I am at my best, as a group facilitator or as a therapist, I discover another characteristic. I find that when I am closet to my inner, intuitive self, when I am somehow in touch with the unknown in me, when perhaps I am in a slightly altered state of consciousness, then whatever I do seems to be full of healing. Then, simply my presence is releasing and helpful to the other. There is nothing I can do to force this experience, but when I can relax an be close to the transcendental core of me, then I may behave in strange and impulsive ways in the relationship, ways which I cannot justify rationally, which have nothing to do with my thought process. However, these strange behaviours turn out to be right, in some odd way: it seems that my inner spirit has reached out and touched the inner spirit of the other. Our relationship transcends itself and becomes a part of something larger. Profound growth and healing and energy are present. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
This kind of transcendent phenomenon has certainly been experienced at times in groups in which I have worked, changing the lives of some of those involved. One participant in a workshop put it eloquently: “I found it to be a profound spiritual experience. I felt the oneness of spirit in the community. We breathed together, felt together, even spoke for one another. I felt the power of the ‘life force’ that infuses each of us—whatever this is. I felt its presence without the usual barricades of ‘me-ness’ or ‘you-ness’-it was like a meditative experience when I feel myself as a center of consciousness, very much a part of the broader, universal consciousness. And yet with that extraordinary sense of oneness, the separateness of each person present has never been more clearly preserved.” Again, as in the description of altered states of consciousness, this account partakes of the mystical. Our experiences in therapy and groups, it is clear, involve the transcendent, the indescribable, the spiritual; I am compelled to believe that I, like many others, have underestimated the importance of this mystical, spiritual dimension. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
Here many readers, I am sure, will part company with me. What they wish to know, has become of logic, of science, of hard-headedness? However, before they leave me entirely, I would like to adduce some surprising support for such views, from the most unexpected quarters. Fritjof Capra (1975), a well-known theoretical physicist, has shown how present-day physics has almost completely abolished any solid concepts of our World, with the exception of energy. In a summarizing statement, he says, “In modern physics the Universe is thus experiences as a dynamic, inseparable whole which always includes the observer in an essential way. In this experience the traditional concepts of space and time, of isolated objects, and of the cause and effect lose their meaning. Such an experience, however, is very similar to that of the Eastern mystics (p.81).” He then goes on o point out the astonishing parallels of Zen, Taoism, Buddhism, and other Old World views. His own conviction is that physics and Eastern mysticism are separate but complementary roads to the same knowledge, supplementing each other in providing a fuller understanding of the Universe. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
Recently, the work of chemist-philosopher Ilya Prigogine (Ferguson, 1979) offers a different perspective, which also throws new light on what I have been discussing. In trying to answer the basic question of how order and complexity emerge from the process of entropy, he has originated an entirely new theoretical system. He has developed mathematical formulas and proofs which demonstrate that the World of living nature is probabilistic, rather than solely deterministic. His views apply to all open systems in which energy is exchanged with the environment. This obviously includes the human organism. Briefly, the more complex the structure—whether a chemical or a human—the more energy it expends to maintain that complexity. For example, the human brain, with only 2 percent of body weight, uses 20 percent of available oxygen! Such a system is unstable, has fluctuations or “perturbations,” as Prigogine calls them. As these fluctuations increase, they are amplified by the system’s many connections, and thus drive the system—whether chemical compound or human individual—into a new, altered state, more ordered and coherent than before. This new state has still greater complexity, and hence, even more potential for creating change. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
The transformation from one state to another is a sudden shift, a nonlinear event, in which many factors act on one another at once. It is especially interesting to me that this phenomenon has already been demonstrated by Don (1977-1978) in his investigation of Gendlin’s concept of “experiencing” in psychotherapy (Gendlin, 1978). When a hitherto repressed feeling is fully and acceptantly experienced in awareness during the therapeutic relationship, there is not only a definitely felt physiological change, as a new state of insight is achieved. Prigogine’s theory appears to shed light on meditation, relaxation techniques, and altered states of consciousness, in which fluctuations are augmented by various means. It gives support to the value of fully recognizing and expressing one’s feelings—positive or negative—thus permitted the full perturbation of the system. Prigogine recognizes the strong resemblance between his “science of complexity” and the views of Eastern sages and mystics, as well as the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Henri Bergson. His view points, he says, toward “a deep collective vision.” Rather amazingly, the title of his latest book is From Being to Becoming (1979), a strange label for a volume by a chemist-philosopher. His conclusion can be stated very briefly: “The more complex a system, the greater its potential for self-transcendence: its parts cooperate to reorganize it” (Ferguson, 1979). #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
Thus, from theoretical physics and chemistry comes some confirmation of the validity of experiences that are transcendent, indescribable, unexpected, transformational—the sort of phenomena that I and my colleagues have observed and felts as concomitant of the person-centered approach. As I try to take into account the scope of the various themes I have presented, along with some of the available evidence that appears to support them, I am led to formulate a broad hypothesis. In my mind, this hypothesis is very tentative. However, for the sake of clarity, I will state it in definite terms. I hypothesize that there is a formative directional tendency in the Universe, which can be traced and observed in stellar space, in crystals, in microorganisms, in more complex organic life, and in human being. This is an evolutionary tendency toward greater order, greater complexity, greater interrelatedness. In humankind, this tendency exhibits itself as the individual moves from a single-cell origin to complex organic functioning, to know and sensing below the level of consciousness, to a conscious awareness of the organism and the external World, to a transcendent awareness of the harmony and unity of the cosmic system, including humankind. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
What I have been saying is that in our work as person-centered therapists and facilitators, we have discovered the attitudinal qualities that are demonstrably effective in releasing constructive and growthful changes in the personality and behaviour of individuals. Persons in an environment infused with these attitudes develop more self-understanding, more self-confidence, more ability to choose their behaviours. They learn more significantly, they have more freedom to be and become. The individual in this nurturing climate is free to choose any direction, but actually selects positive and constructive ways. The actualizing tendency is operative in the human being. It is still further confirming to find that this is not simply a tendency in living systems but is part of a strong formative tendency in our Universe, which is evident at all levels. Thus, when we provide a psychological climate that permits persons to be—whether they are clients, students, workers, or persons in a group—we are not involved in a chance event. We are tapping into a tendency which permeates all of organic life—a tendency to become all the complexity of which the organism is capable. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
And on an even larger scale, I believe we are tuning in to a potent creative tendency which has formed our Universe, from the smallest snowflake to the largest galaxy, from the lowly amoeba to the most sensitive and gifted of persons. And perhaps we are touching the cutting edge of our ability to transcend ourselves, to create new and more spiritual directions in human evolution. This kind of formulation is, for me, a philosophical base for a person-centered approach. It justifies me in engaging in a life-affirming way of being. “Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. However, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known,” reports 1 Corinthians 13.8-12. Paul speaks, in the famous words of our text, of things which are perfect, or complete. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20
The fragmentary things shall vanish away; the complete things shall abide. The former are temporal; the later are eternal. The fragmentary, temporal things are not merely material; they are some of the highest gifts of the Divine Spirit: prophecy, which is the interpretation of our time and history; tongues, which are our ecstatic feeling and speaking; and knowledge, which is the understanding of our existence. Even those spiritual goods shall disappear with all the material and intellectual goods. They are all fragmentary, temporal, transitory. Love alone does not disappear; it endures forever. For God Himself is love, according to John who carries through the thought of Paul. However, there is another consideration in our text which seems to contradict the words about love. Paul singles out knowledge, and points to the difference between our fragmentary, indirect and darkened knowledge, and the full, direct and total knowledge to come. He compares the childish imaginations with the mature insight of the adult. He speaks of something, which, besides love, is perfect and eternal—namely, the seeing of the truth, face to face; the knowledge which is as full as God’s knowledge of us. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
How are these two considerations united? Did Paul forget that he had just predicted the perfection and eternity of love alone? No, he did not forget; for he closes this part of his letter by re-emphasizing he abiding character of love as the greatest thing of all. Or are the words about knowledge inserted without thought of a definite connection with the rest of the passage? They are not merely inserted; for there is a link, one of the most profound phrases in this great chapter: “even as also I am fully known”—fully known, that is, by God. However, there is only one way to know a personality—to become united with that personality through love. Full knowledge presupposes full love. God knows me, because He love me; and I shall know Him face to face through a similar uniting, which is love and knowledge at the same time. Love lasts; love alone endures, and nothing else besides love, nothing independent of love. Yet, in love, the seeing face to face and the knowledge of the center of the other I are implied. It is not blind love that is the enduring love, the love that God Himself is. It is a seeing love, a knowing love, a love that looks through into the depth of the Heart of God, and into the depth of our hearts. There is no strangeness to love; love knows; it is the only power of complete ad lasting knowledge. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
There is a Greek word which can designate both knowledge and sensual love. It can designate both, because both meanings express an act of union, an overcoming of the cleavage between beings. Knowledge shall be done away with in so far as it is different from love; knowledge shall become eternal in so far as it is one with love. Therefore, the standard of knowledge is the standard of love. For Paul, the difference between knowledge and love, between seeing and acting between theory and practice, exists only when fragmentary knowledge is our concern. Full knowledge does not admit a difference between itself and love, or between theory and practice. Love overcomes the seeming opposition between theory and practice; it is knowing and doing at the same time. Therefore, it is the greatest thing of all; therefore, God Himself, the “life force” that infuses all of us, is love; therefore, the Christ, as the manifestation of the Divine Love, is full of grace and of truth. That is what Paul means; and that is the standard of knowledge he gives. “And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
“And these priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the World according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such. And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren. Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundations of the World for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
“And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of humans, that they also might enter into his rest. This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the World; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things—now they were ordained after this manner—being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood, is without beginning or end—thus they become high priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, who is without beginning of days or end of years, who is full of grace, equity, and truth. And thus it is. Amen. Now, as I said concerning the holy order, or this high priesthood, there were many who were ordained and because high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish; therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
“Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God. And now, my brethren, I would that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest. Yea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood forever. And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yes of one-tenth part of all he possessed. Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord. Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; there were full of all manner of wickedness. However, Melchizedek having exercised might faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
“And behold, they did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father. Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him hey have more particularly made mention. Now, I need not rehearse the matter; what I have said may suffice. Before, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest them it shall be to your own destruction. And now it came to pass that when Alma has said these words unto them, he stretched forth his hand unto them and cried with a mighty voice, saying: Now is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh; yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare it unto all nations; yea, doth declare it, that they may have glad tidings of great joy; yea, and he doth sound these glad tidings among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth; wherefore they have come unto us. And they are made know unto us in plain terms that we may understand, that we cannot err; and this because of our being wanderers in a strange land; therefore, we are his highly favoured, for we have these glad tidings declared unto us in all part of our vineyard. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
“For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of human to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory. And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in may day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice. And it shall be made known unto just and holy humans, by the mouth of angels, a the time of his coming, that the words of our father may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them. And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yes, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the say of your repentance; but that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and long-suffering. Having faith n the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your heart, that ye may be lifted up at the last day an enter into his rest. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
“And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death. And Alma spake many more words unto the people, which are not written in this book,” reports Alma 13.1-31. Please attend, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, from Thy holy habitation, and from the glorious throne of Thy kingdom, and come to sanctify us, Thou Who sittest above with the Father, and art here invisibly present with us; please vouchsafe with Thy mighty hand to impart Thine immaculate Body and Thy precious Blood to us, and by us to all Thy people. Possessive love is natural. We want to have and keep what we love. However, when an object is another human being, there is an inevitable desire for the return of our love, for the restriction of their affection to us alone, so that we give is not given in purity but in extended selfishness. Hence when other love you they want to deprive you of your freedom. But when the disciple loves you, one must give you freedom. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
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The functions of your word, O Lord, allow us to live rejoicing in the bounty. You ask us to pray, so that the capacity of the ministry, to whom You have forgiven this people, and bestow upon humans, is sufficient grace of serving Jesus Christ.
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Love is Full of as Many Mysteries as the Winchester Mansion, it Can be Beautiful and Bizarre!
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty World. Why then the World is mine oyster, which I with sword will open. How beautiful it is to be in love; how interesting it is to know that one is in love. This, you see, is the difference. I can become furious at the thought that she disappeared before me the second time, and ye in a certain sense I am glad of it. The image I have of her hovers indefinitely somewhere between her actual and her ideal form. I now have this image before me, but precisely because either it is actuality or actuality is indeed the occasion, it had a singular magic. I feel no impatience, for she must live here in the city, and at this moment that is enough for me. This possibility is the condition for the proper appearance of her image—everything will enjoyed in slow drafts. And should I not be calm—I, who can regard myself as a favourite of the gods, I, whose lot was the rare good fortune of falling in love again. This is something that cannot be elicited by skill or study—I is a gift. However, if I have succeeded in stirring up an erotic love again, I do want to see how long it can be sustained. I coddle this love as I never did my first. The opportunity falls to one’s lot rarely enough—therefore the point is truly to utilize it if it does come along, for it is dismaying that it is no art to seduce a young lady but it is a stroke of good fortune to find one who is worth seducing. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
Love is full of as many mysteries as the Winchester mansion, it can be beautiful and bizarre, and this falling in love is also a mystery, even though a minor one. Most people rush ahead, become engaged or do other unwise things, and in a turn of hand everything is over, and they know neither what they have won nor what they have lost. Two times she has appeared before me and has disappeared; that means she will appear more often. When Joseph had interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, he added: But the fact that you dreamed twice means that it will be fulfilled soon. Yet, if one could discern somewhat ahead of time the forces whose emergence forms the content of life, it would be interesting. At present she is living in all her tranquil peace; she does not have even an inkling of my existence, even less of what is going on within me, to say nothing of the assurance with which I gaze into her future, for my soul is demanding more and more actuality, and it is becoming stronger and stronger. If at first sight a young lady does no make such a deep impression on a person that she awakens the ideal, then ordinarily the actuality is not especially desirable; but if she does, then no matter how experienced a person is he usually is rather overwhelmed. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
I always advise the person who is not sure of one’s hand, his eye, and his victory to venture the attack in this first state, in which, precisely because he is overwhelmed, he has supranatural powers—for being overwhelmed is a curious mixture of sympathy and egotism. He will, however, miss out on an enjoyment, for he does not enjoy the situation since he himself is wrapped up in it, hidden in it. Which the more beautiful is difficult to decide—which is the more beautiful is difficult to decide—which is the more interesting is easy. It is, however, always best to come as close as possible to the line. This is the real enjoyment, and what others enjoy I do not know for sure. Mere possession is very little, and the means such lovers use are usually paltry enough; they do not even reject money, power, alien influence, sleeping positions, excreta. However, what pleasure is there in live if absolute is not intrinsic to it, that is, from the one side—but ordinarily that takes spirit, and such lovers generally do not have that. I am not alone in seeing such an actualizing tendency as the fundamental answer to the question of what makes an organism “tick.” This tendency involves a development toward the differentiation of organs and functions; it involves enhancement through reproduction. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
Szent-Gyoergyi says that he cannot explain the mysteries of biological development without supposing an innate drive in living matter to perfect itself. The organism, in its normal state, moves toward its own fulfillment, toward self-regulation and an independence from external control. However, is this view confirmed by other evidence? Let me point to some of the work in biology that supports the concept of the actualizing tendency. One example, replicated with different species, is the work of Hans Driesch with the sea urchins many years ago. Driesch learned how to tease apart the two cells that are formed after the first division of the fertilized egg. Had they been left to develop normally, it is clear that each of these two cells would have grown into a portion of a sea urchin larva, the contributions of both being needed o form a whole creature. So it seems equally obvious that when two cells are skillfully separated, each, if it grows, will simply develop into some portion of a sea urchin. However, this assumption overlooks the directional growth. It is found that each cell, if it can be kept alive, now develops into a whole sea urchin larva—a bit smaller than usual, but normal and complete. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
I have chosen this example because it seems so closely analogous to my experience in dealing with individuals one-to-one therapeutic relationships, in facilitating intensive groups, in providing freedom to learn for students in classes. In these situations, I am most impressed with the fact that each human being has a directional tendency toward wholes, toward actualization of one’s potentialities. I have not found psychotherapy or a group experience effective when I have tried to create in another individual something that is not already there; I have found, however, that if I can provide the conditions that allow growth to occur, then this positive directional tendency brings about constructive results. The scientist with the divided sea urchin egg was in the same situation. He could not cause the cell to develop in one way or another, but when he focused his skill on providing the conditions that permitted the cell to survive and grow, the tendency for growth and the direction of growth were evident, and came from within the organism. I cannot think of a better analogy for therapy or the group experience, where, if I can supply a psychological amniotic fluid, forward movement of a constructive sort will occur. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
I would like to add one comment which may be clarifying. Sometimes this growth tendency is spoken of as though it involved the development of all the potentialities of the organism. This is clearly not true. As one of my colleagues pointed out, the organism does not tend toward developing its capacity for nausea, nor does it actualize it potentiality for self-destruction, nor its ability to bear pain. Only under unusual or perverse circumstances do these potentialities become actualized. It is clear that the actualizing tendency is selective and directional—a constructive tendency, if you will. Those who favour the view of an actualizing tendency does not need to be inhibited by the belief that it is in conflict with modern science or theories of knowledge. It is now theorized that the genetic code necessary to specify the characteristics of the mature organism. Instead, it contains a set of roles determining the interactions of the dividing cells. Much less information is needed to codify the rules than to guide every aspect of maturing development. Thus information can be generated within the organism system—information can grow. Hence, Driesch’s sea urchin cells are doubtless following the coded rules and, consequently, are able to develop in original, not previously or rigidly specified ways. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
All this goes deeply against the current (and possibly outdated) epistemology of the social sciences, which holds that a cause is followed in a one-way direction by an effect. In contrast, Murayama and others believe that there are mutual cause-effect interactions which amplify deviations and permit new information and new forms to develop. This morphogenetic epistemology appears to be basic to understanding of all living systems, including all growth processes in organisms. Murayama states that an understanding of biology “lies in the recognition that biological processes are reciprocal causal processes, not random processes.” On the other hand, as he points out elsewhere, an understanding of biology does not emerge from an epistemology based on one-way cause-effect systems. Thus, there is great need to rethink the stimulus-response, cause-effect basis on which most of social science rests. The work in the field of sensory deprivation shows how strong is the organismic tendency to amplify diversities and create new information and new forms. Certainly, tension reduction, or the absence of stimulation, is a far cry from being the desired state of the organism. Dr. Freud could not have been more wrong in his postulate that “The nervous system is an apparatus which would even, if this were feasible, maintain itself in an altogether unstimulated condition.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
On the contrary, when deprived of external stimuli, the human organism produces a flood of internal stimuli, sometimes of the most bizarre sort. Lilly was one of the first to tell of his experiences when suspended weightless in a soundproof tank of water. He speaks of trancelike states, mystical experiences, the sense of being tuned in on communication networks no available to ordinary consciousness, and ever experiences that can only be called hallucinatory. It is very clear that when a person is receiving an absolute minimum of external stimuli, one is opened to a flood of experiencing at a level far beyond that of everyday living. The individual most certainly does not lapse into homeostasis, into a passive equilibrium. This occurs only in diseased organisms. Thus, to me it is meaningful to say that the substratum of all motivation is the organismic tendency toward fulfillment. This tendency may express itself in the widest range of behaviours and in response to a wide variety of needs. To be sure, certain basic wants must be at least partially met before other needs become urgent. Consequently, the tendency of the organism to actualize itself may at one moment lead to the seeking of food or satisfaction in pleasures of the flesh, and yet, unless these needs are overpoweringly great, even these satisfactions will be sought in ways that enhance, rather than diminish, self-esteem. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
And the organism will also seek other fulfillment in its transactions with the environment. The need for exploration of and producing change in the environment, the need for play and for self-exploration—all of these and many other behaviours are basically expressions of the actualizing tendency. In short, organisms are always seeking, always initiating always “up to something.” There is one central source of energy in the human organism. This source is a trustworthy function of the whole system rather than of some portion of it; it is most simply conceptualized as a tendency toward fulfillment, toward actualization, involving not only the maintenance but also the enhancement of the organism. There are many who criticize this point of view. They regard it as too optimistic, not dealing adequately with the negative element, the evil, the dark side in human beings. Consequently, I would like to put this directional tendency in a broader context. There appears to be a formative tendency at work in the Universe, which can be observed at every level. This tendency has received much less attention than it deserves. Physical scientists up to now have focused primarily on “entropy,” the tendency toward deterioration, or disorder. They know a great deal about this tendency. Studying closed systems, they can give it a clear mathematical description. They know that order tends to deteriorate into randomness, each stage les organized than the last. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
We are also very familiar with deterioration in organic life. The system—whether plant, animal, or human—eventually deteriorates into a lesser and lesser degree of functioning organization, or order, until decay reaches a stasis. In one sense, this is what one aspect of medicine is all about—a concern with the malfunctioning or deterioration of an organ or the organism as a whole. The complex process of death of the physical organism is increasingly well understood. So a great deal is known of the universal tendency of systems at all levels to deteriorate in the direction of less and less orderliness, more and more randomness. When this system operates, it is a one-way street: the World seems to be a great machine, running down and wearing out. However, there is far less recognition of, or emphasis on, the even more important formative tendency which can be equally well observed at every level of the Universe. After all, every form that we see or know emerged from a simpler, less complex form. This is a phenomenon which is at leas as significant as entropy. Examples could be given from every form of inorganic or organic being. Let me illustrate with just a few. In appears that every galaxy, every star, every planet, including our own, was formed from a less organized whirling storm of particles. Many of these stellar objects are themselves formative. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
In the atmosphere of our Sun, hydrogen nuclei collide to form molecules of helium, which are more complex in nature. It is hypothesized that in other stars, even heavier molecules are formed by such interactions. I understand that when the simple materials of the Earth’s atmosphere which were present before life began—hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in the form of water and ammonia—are infused by electrical charges or by radiation, heavier molecules begin to form first, followed by the more complex amnio acids. We seem only a step away from the formation of viruses and the even more complex living organisms. A creative, not disintegrative process, is at work. Another fascinating example is the formation of crystals. In every case, from less ordered and less symmetrical fluid matter there emerges the startlingly unique, ordered symmetrical and often beautiful crystalline form. All of us have marveled at the perfection and complexity of the snowflake. Yet it emerged from formless vapour. When we consider the single living cell, we discover that it often forms more complex colonies, as in coral reefs. Even more order enters the picture as the cell emerges into an organism of many cells with specialized functions. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
I do not need to portray the whole gradual process of organic evolution. We are all familiar with the steadily increasing complexity of organisms. They are not always successful in their ability to cope with the changing environment, but the trend toward complexity is always evident. Perhaps, for most of us, the process of organic evolution is best recognized as we consider the development of the single fertilized human ovum through the simplest stages of cell division, then the aquatic gill stage, and on to the vastly complex, highly organized human infant. There is a manifest and increasing order in evolution. Thus, without ignoring the tendency toward deterioration, we need to recognize fully what Szent-Gyoergyi terms “syntropy” and what Whyte calls the “morphic tendency,” the ever operating trend toward increase order and interrelated complexity evident at both the inorganic and the organic level. The Universe is always building and creating as well as deteriorating. This process is evident in the human being, too. The Nephite monetary system is set forth—Amulek contends with Zeezrom—Christ will not save people in their sins—only those who inherit the kingdom of Heaven are saved—all humans will rise in immortality—there is no death after the Resurrection. About 82 Before Christ. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
“Now it was in the law of Mosiah that every human who was a judge of the law, or those who were appointed to be judges, should receive wages according to the time which they laboured to judge those who were brought before them to be judged. Now, if a human owed another, and one would not pay that which one did owe, one was complained of to the judge; and the judge executed authority, and sent forth officers that the human should be brought before him; and he judged the man according to the law and the evidences which were brought against him, and thus the man was compelled to pay that which he owed, or be stripped, or be cast out from among the people as a thief and a robber. And the judges received from one’s wages according to one’s time—a senine of gold; and this is according to the law which was given. Now these are the names of the different pieces of their gold, and of their silver, according to their value. And the names are given by the Nephites, for they did not reckon after the manner of the Jews who were at Jerusalem; neither did they measure after the manner of the Jews; but they altered their reckoning and their measure, according to the minds and the circumstances of the people, in every generation, until the reign of the judges, they having been established by king Mosiah. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
“Now the reckoning is thus—a senine of gold, a seon of gold, a shum of gold, and a limnah of gold. A senum of silver, an amnor of silver, an ezrom of silver, and an onti of silver. A senum of silver was equal to a senine of gol, and either for a measure of barely, and also for a measure of every kind of grain. Now the amount of a seon of gold was twice the value of a senine. And a shum of gold was twice the value of a seon. And a limnah of gold was the value of them all. And an amnor of silver was as great as four senums. And an onti was as great as them al. Now this is the value of the lesser numbers of their reckoning—a shibion is half of a senum; therefore, a shiblon for half a measure of barely. And a shiblum is a half of a shiblon. And a leah is the half of a shiblum. Now this their number, according to their reckoning. Now an antion of gold is equal to three shiblons. Now, it was for the sole purpose to get gain, because they received their wages according to heir employ, therefore, they did stir up the people to riotings, ad all manner of disturbances and wickedness, that they might have more employ, that they might get money according to the suits which were brought before them; therefore they did stir up the people against Alma and Amulek. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
“And this Zeezrom began to question Amulek, saying: Will ye answer me a few questions which I shall ask you? Now Zeezrom was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good; therefore, he said unto Amulek: Will ye answer the questions which I shall put unto you? And Amulek said unto him: Yea, if it be according to the Spirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord. And Zeezrom said unto him: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these I will give thee if thou wilt deny the existence of a Supreme Being. Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations? Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him. And now thou hast lied before God unto me. Thou sadist unto me—Behold these six onties which are of great worth, I will give unto thee—when thou hadest it in thy heart to retain them from me; and it was only thy desire that I should deny the true and living God, that thou mightest have cause to destroy me. And now behold, for this great evil thou shalt have they reward. And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God? #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
“And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God. Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And I answered, No. Now Zeezrom said unto him again: How knows thou these things? And he said: An angel hath made them known uno me. And Zeerom said again: Who is he that shall come? Is it the Son of God? And he said unto him, Yea. And Zeezrom said again: Shall he save his people in their sins? And Amulek answered and said unto him: I say unto you he shall not, for it is impossible for him to deny his word. Now Zeezrom said unto the people: See that ye remember these things; for he said there is but one God; yet he saith that the Son of God shall come, but he shall not save his people—as though he had authority to command God. Now Amulek saith again unto him: Behold thou hast lied, for thou sayest that I spake as though I had authority to command God because I said he shall not save his people in their sins. And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of Heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of Heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins. Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father? #RandolphHarris 16 of 19
“And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of Heaven and of Earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last; and he shall come into the World to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else. Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, expect it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according to their works. Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death. The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and join shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt. Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even so much as a hair of their heads be lost. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
“However, every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption. Now, when Amulek had finished these words the people began again to be astonished, and also Zeezrom began to tremble. And thus ended the words of Amulek, or this is all that I have written,” reports Alma 11.1-46. Sovereign Lord, Thy will is supreme in Heaven and Earth, and all beings are creatures of Thy power. Thou art the Father of our spirits; Thy inspiration gives us understanding, Thy providence governs our lives. However, O God, we are sinners in Thy sight; thou hast judged us so, and if we deny it we make Thee a liar. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
Yet in Christ Thou art reconciled to Thy rebellious subjects; please give us the ear of faith to hear him, the eye of faith to see him, the hand of faith to receive him, the appetite of faith to feed upon him; that we might find him light, riches, honour, eternal life. Thou art the inviting one, may we hearken to Thee; the almighty instructor, teach us to live to Thee; the light-dweller, inaccessible to humans and angels, hiding Thyself behind the elements of creation, but known to us in Jesus; possess our minds with the grandeur of Thy perfections. Thy love to us in Jesus is firm and changeless, nothing can separate us from it, and in the enjoyment of it nothing can make us miserable. Preserve us from hypocrisy and formality in religion; enable us to remember what thou art and what we are, to recall Thy holiness and our unworthiness; help us to approach Thee clothed with humility, for vanity, forwardness, insensibility, disorderly affection, backwardness to duty, proneness to evil are in our hearts. Let us never forget Thy patience, wisdom, power, faithfulness, care, and never cease to respond to Thy invitations. O LORD GOD, there is no blessing we implore but Thou art able to give hast promised to give, hast given already to countless multitudes, all unworthy and guilty like ourselves; make us willing to receive the supply of our need from Thy bounty. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
Just because 2020 had other plans, does not mean you have to! Check out today’s blog post for socially distant outdoor activities to pass the time with this summer. ☀️ Link in bio. https://cresleigh.com/blog/
For your bounty, to this end, please convince us of sin, soften our hard hearts, to bewail our folly, ingratitude, pride, unbelief, rebellion, corruption. Through the law may we die to the law, then look with wonder, submission, delight, to the provision Thou hast made for the glory of Thy name in the salvation of sinners. Please give us a hope that makes us not ashamed, a love that excites to holy obedience, a joy in Thee that is our strength, a faith in Thy Son who loved us and died for us. May we preserve in duty when not fully conscious of Thee, wait upon Thee and keep Thy way, be humble and earnest suppliants at Thy feet, live continually as on the brink of eternity. #CresleighHomes
Please let us be at Thy disposal for the duties and evens of life, submit our preferences to Thy wisdom and will, resign our enjoyments if Thou shouldest require it as our absolute Proprietor and best Friend. In our unworthiness and provocations please make us grateful for the means of grace ad the ordinances of religion and please teach us to profit by them more than we have done. Please help us to be in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, to enter upon the sabbath mindful of its solemnities, duties, privileges, setting all things Worldly aside while we worship Thee. May we know the blessedness of humans whose strength is in Thee, and in whose hearts are the highway to Heaven.
Winchester Mystery House
A 160-room mansion built to appease the spirits who died at the hands of the Winchester Rifle 👻
🗝 winchestermysteryhouse.com
If there was More Rest for Souls in Our World, this Temple be as in the Hearts of the People for whom Saved the Union!
Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind. In the case of the son, the projection-making factor is identical with the mother-imago, and this is consequently taken to be the real mother. The projection can only be dissolved when the son sees that in the realm of his psyche there is an imago not only of the mother but of the daughter, the sister, the beloved, the Heavenly goddess, and the chthonic Baubo. Every mother and every beloved is forced to become the carrier and embodiment of this omnipresent and ageless image, which corresponds to the deepest reality in a man. It belongs to him, this perilous image of Woman; she stands for the loyalty which is in the interests of life he must sometimes forgo; she is the much needed compensation for the risk, struggles, sacrifices that all end in disappointment; she is the solace for all the bitterness of life. And, at the same time, she is the great illusionist, the seductress, who draw him into life with her Maya—and not only into life’s reasonable and useful aspects, but into its frightful paradoxes and ambivalences where good and evil, success and ruin, hope and despair, counterbalance one another. Because she is his greatest danger she demands from a man his greatest, and if he has it in him she will receive it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
This image is “My Lady Soul,” as Spitteler called her. I have suggested instead of the term “anima,” as indicating something specific, for which the expression “soul” is too general and too vague. The empirical reality summed up under the concept of the anima forms and extremely dramatic content of the unconscious. It is possible to describe this content in rational, scientific language, but in this way one entirely fails to express its living character. Therefore, in describing the living processes of the psyche, I deliberately and consciously give preference to a dramatic, mythological way of thinking and speaking, because this is not only more expressive but also more exact than an abstract scientific terminology, which is wont to toy with the notion that its theoretic formulations may one fine day be resolved into algebraic equations. The projection-making factor is the anima, or rather the unconscious as represented by the anima. Whenever she appears, in dreams, visions, and fantasies, she takes on personified form, thus demonstrating that the factor she embodies possesses all the outstanding characteristics of a feminine being. She is not an invention of the conscious, but a spontaneous product of the unconscious. Nor is she a substitute figure for the mother. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
On the contrary, there is every likelihood that the numinous qualities which make the mother-image so dangerously powerful derive from the collective archetype of the anima, which is incarnated anew in every male child. Since the anima is an archetype that is found in men, it is reasonable to suppose that an equivalent archetype must be present in women; for just as the man is compensated by a feminine element, so woman is compensated by a masculine one. I do not, however, wish this argument to give the impression that these compensatory relationships were arrived a by deduction. On the contrary, long and varied experience was needed in order to grasp the nature of anima and animus empirically. Whatever we have to say about these archetypes, therefore, is either directly verifiable or at least rendered probable by the facts. At the same time, I am fully aware that we are discussing pioneer work which by its very nature can only be provisional. Just as the mother seems to be the first carrier of the projection-making factor for the son, so is the father for the daughter. Practical experience of these relationships is made up of many individual cases presenting all kinds of variations on the same basic theme. A concise description of them can, therefore, be no more than schematic. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
Woman is compensated by a masculine element and therefore her unconscious has, so to speak, a masculine imprint. This results in a considerable psychological difference between men and women, and accordingly I have called the projection-making factor in women the animus, which means mind or spirit. The animus corresponds to the paternal Logos just as the anima corresponds to the maternal Eros. However, I do not wish or intend to give these two intuitive concepts to specific a definition. I use Eros and Logos merely as conceptual assistants to describe the fact that women’s consciousness is characterized more by the connective quality of Eros than by the discrimination and cognition associates with Logos. In men, Eros, the function of relation, is usually less developed then Logos. In women, on the other hand, Eros is an expression of their true nature, while their Logos is often only a regrettable accident. It gives rise to misunderstandings and annoying interpretations in the family circle and among friends. This is because it consists of opinions instead of reflections, and by opinions I mean a priori assumptions that lay claim to absolute truth. Such assumptions, as everyone knows, can be extremely irritating. As the animus is partial to argument, one can best be seen a work in disputes were both parties know they are right. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
Men can argue in a very womanish way, too, when they are anima-possessed and have thus been transformed into the animus of their own anima. With them the question becomes one of personal vanity and touchiness (as if they were females); with women it is a question of power, whether of truth or justice or some other “ism”—for the dressmaker and hairdresser have already taken care of their vanity. The “Father” (id est, the sum of conventional opinions) always plays a great role in female argumentation. No matter how friendly and obliging a woman’s Eros may be, no logic on Earth can shake her if she is ridden by the animus. Often the man has the feeling—and he is not altogether wrong—that he cannot use legal means of persuasion. He is unaware that this highly dramatic situation would instantly come to a banal and unexciting end if he were to quit the field and let a second woman carry on the battle (his wife, for instance, if she herself is not they fiery war horse). This sounds idea seldom or never occurs to him, because no man can converse with an animus for five minutes without becoming the victim of one’s own anima. Anyone who still had enough sense of humour to listen objectively to the ensuing dialogue would be staggered by the vast number of commonplaces, misapplied truisms, clichés from newspapers and novels, shop-soiled platitudes of every description interspersed with vulgar abuse and brain-splitting lack of logic. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
It is a dialogue which, irrespective of its participants, is repeated millions and millions of times in all the languages of the World and always remains essentially the same. This singular fact is due to the following circumstances: when animus and anima meet, the animus draws his sword of power and the anima ejects her poison of illusion and seduction. The outcome need not always be negative, since the two are equally likely to fall in love (a special instance of love at first sight). The language of love is of astonishing uniformity, using the well-worn formulas with the utmost devotion and fidelity, so that once again the two partners find themselves in a banal collective situation. Yet they live in the illusion that they are related to one another in a most individual way. In bot its positive and its negative aspects the anima/animus relationship is always full of “animosity,” id est, it is emotional, and hence collective. Affects lower the level of the relationship and bring it closer to the common instinctual basis, which no longer has anything individual about it. Very often the relationship runs its course heedless of its human performers, who afterwards do not know what happened to them. Whereas the clouds of “animosity” surround the man is composed chiefly of sentimentality and resentment, in woman it expresses itself in the form of opinionated views, interpretations, insinuation, and misconstructions, which all have purpose (sometimes attained) of severing the relations between two human beings. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
The woman, like the man, becomes wrapped in a veil of illusions by her demon-familiar, and, as the daughter who alone understands her father (that is, is eternally right in everything), she is translated to the land of sheep, where she is put to graze by the shepherd of her soul, the animus. In talking of imagination when it presents its images in the present, we may consider what the imagination is doing in parabolic poetry. It was seen at work in the fable, similitude, and parable. In these manifestations of inventive activity, the imagination seems to function for the human being in the same way it functions for the divine spirit. It makes tangible that which is intangible. This kind of operation gives to parabolic poetry a higher character, and an appearance of something sacred and venerable. This sort of poetry is thus coloured because religion itself commonly uses its assistance as a means of communication between divinity and humanity. Here, then, with the case of divine communication before us, we find imagination manifested in poetry in two ways. First, one duty of poetry is to teach. This is could do only if imagination illustrates the work of reason. In olden times, particularly, the inventions and conclusions of human reason (even those that are now common and trite) being then new and strange, the minds of humans were hardly subtle enough to conceive them, unless they are brought nearer to the sense by this kind of resemblances and examples. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
And hence ancient times are full of all kinds of fables, parables, enigmas, and similitudes; as may appear by the numbers of Pythagoras the enigmas of the Sphinx, the fables of Plato, and the like. So parables are before arguments, and the force of them is still excellent because arguments cannot be made so perspicuous nor true examples so apt. So it is that the imagination translates the abstractions of understanding and reason into images. Not only does reason become palpable, but through the inventive activity of imagination it is made fitting for an audience. The second office of poetry was that of infoldment or all allusion, when the object is not to teach plainly but to teach darkly, when the secrets and mysteries of religion, policy, and philosophy are involved in fables or parables. Between 1605, the publication of The Advancement of Learning, and 1623, the appearance of De Augmentis Scientiarum, we acquired greater respect for mysteries than we had earlier. In 1609 we devoted great care to the explication of thirty-one fables of antiquity, and much later we greatly enlarged thee of them—Pan, Perseus, and Dionysius—which served us as illustrations of three of our major divisions of philosophy: natural philosophy, politics, and ethics. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
Fables revealed the earliest of human mysteries, extending back in time far beyond their narrators—exempli gratia, Homer and Hesiod—and by implication they bodied forth the shadows of human’s primitive imagination. Indeed, in the parable here is invented the figure to shadow the meaning. Imagination also made absent things present at those times when it was allied with reason in a distinctly creative function. The unique cooperation with reason appears to have assigned only to the province of rhetoric as the practical art of communication via both speech and written word. It is true, as we have seen, that in poetry imagination joined with reason to produce inventions and that it gave substance to things abstract. However, in its poetic activity is could at times indulge in play; it could join and sever natural experience in unnatural ways, and escape the strictest rules of reason. In rhetoric, on the other hand, imagination worked with reason in strictly rational ways. It engaged in joint creation with reason yet it had to obey the dictates of reason. The duty and office of Rhetoric is to apply Reason to Imagination for the better moving of the Will. Rhetoric is one of the rational arts and imagination is to serve it. Rhetoric is subservient to the imagination, as Logic is to the understanding; and the duty and office of Rhetoric, if it be deeply looked into, is no other than to apply and recommend the dictates of reason to imagination, in order to excite the appetite and Will. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
Accordingly, the subject of Rhetoric, is none other than the Imaginative or Insinuative Reason. Reason and imagination together created a credible object or an argument, and the effect was insinuative. In what manner there was insinuation we shall see later on. In the cooperation of imagination with reason, imagination was under the control of reason, and reason was not at the back and called of imagination. Such mastership was essential to rational life if reason through imagination were to command the will and affections: if the affections themselves were brought to order, and pliant and obedient to reason, it is true there would be no great use of persuasions and insinuation to give access to the mind, but naked and simple propositions would be enough. However, the affections do on the contrary make such secessions and raise such mutinies and seditions…that reasons would become captive and servile, if eloquence of persuasions did not win the imagination from the affections’ part, and contract a confederacy between the reason and imagination against them. Not only should the will and conduct be under a person’s voluntary control but the decisions and products of reason acting alone are ethereal abstractions, difficult or impossible for the common mind to cope with. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
What is necessary, if reason is to prevail, is to transform the abstract into the concrete, the immaterial into the material, the nonsensory into the sensory: it is the business of rhetoric to make pictures of virtue and goodness, so that they may be seen. For since they cannot be showed to the sense in corporeal shape, the next degree is to show them to the imagination in as lively representations as possible, by ornament of words. The method of the Stoics, who thought to thrust virtue upon people by concise and sharp maxims and conclusions to shew Reason only in subtility of argument, which has little sympathy with the imagination and will of humans, has been justly ridiculed. In working creatively with reason, what was imagination supposed to do? Doubtless there is no way of describing what is going on when imagination is working with reason. One can only be sure of the result. The nature of the operation itself can only be hinted at. The religious law demands that one accepts ideas and strict and ridge doctrines, that are believed to be the doctrines of salvation and traditions, the acceptance of which is the condition of one’s salvation from anxiety, despair, and death. So we try to accept them, although they sometimes may become strange or doubtful to us. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
We labour and toil under the religious demand to believe things we cannot believe. This sometimes results in us trying to escape the law of religion. We try to cast away the heavy yoke of the doctrinal law imposed on us by Church authorities, orthodox teachers, pious parents, and fixed traditions. We become critical and sceptical. We cast away the yoke; but none can live in the emptiness of mere scepticism, and so we return to the old yoke in a kind of self-torturing fanaticism and try to impose it on other people, on our children or pupils. We are driven by an unconscious desire for revenge, because of the burden we have taken upon ourselves. Many families are disrupted by painful tragedies and many minds are broken by this attitude of parents, teachers and priests. Others unable to stand the emptiness of scepticism, find new yokes outside the Church, new doctrinal laws under which they begin to labour: political ideologies which they propagate with religious fanaticism; scientific theories which they defend with strict religious doctrines and covenants; and utopian expectations they pronounce as the condition of salvation for the World, forcing whole nations under the yoke of their creeds which are religions, even while they pretend to destroy religion. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
We are all labouring under the yoke of religion; we all, sometimes, try to throw away old or new doctrines or strict and rigid covenants, but after a little while we return, again enslaving ourselves and others in their servitude. The same is true of the practical laws of religion. They demand ritual activities, the participation in religious enterprises, and the study of religious traditions, prayer, sacraments, and meditations. They demand moral obedience, inhuman self-control and asceticism, devotion to humans and things beyond our possibilities, surrender to ideas and duties beyond our power, unlimited self-negation, and unlimited self-perfection: the religious law demands the perfect in all respects. And our conscience agrees with this demand. However, the split in our being is derived from just thus: that the perfect, although it is the truth, is beyond us, against us, judging and condemning us. So we try to throw away the ritual and moral demands. We neglect them, we hate them, we criticize them; some of us display a cynical indifference toward the religious and moral law. However, since mere cynicism is as impossible as mere scepticism, we return to old or new laws, becoming more fanatic than ever before, and take a yoke of the law upon us, which is more self-defying, more cruel against ourselves, and more willing to coerce other people under the same yoke in the name of the perfect. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
Jesus Himself becomes for these perfectionists, puritans and moralists a teacher of the religious law putting upon us the heaviest of all burdens, the burden of His law. However, that is the greatest possible distortion of the mind of Jesus. This distortion can be found in the minds of those who crucified Him because He broke the religious law, not by fleeing from it like the cynical Sadducees, but by overcoming it. We are all permanently in danger of abusing Jesus by stating that e is the founder of a new religion, and bringer of another, more refined, and more enslaving law. And so we see in all Christian Churches the toiling and labouring of people who are called Christians, serious Christians, under innumerable laws which they cannot fulfill, from which they flee, to which they return, or which they replace by other laws. This is the yoke from which Jesus wants to liberate us. He is more than a priest or a prophet or a religious genius. These all subject us to religion. He frees us from religion. They all make new religious laws; He overcomes the religious law. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This does not indicate a quantitative difference—a little easier, a little lighter. It indicates a contradiction! #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
The yoke of Jesus is easy in itself, because it is above law, and replaces the toiling and labouring with rest in our souls. The yoke of religion and law presupposes all those splits and gaps in our souls which drive us to the attempt to overcome them. The yoke of Jesus is above those splits and gaps. It has overcome them whenever it appears and is received. It is not a new demand, a new doctrine or new power of transforming life. He calls it a yoke, He means that is comes from above and grasps us with saving force; if He calls it easy, He means that it is given before anything we can do. It is being, power, reality, conquering the anxiety and despair, the fear and the restlessness of our existence. It is here, amongst us, in the midst of our personal tragedy, and the tragedy of history. Suddenly, within the hardest struggle, it appears as a victory, not attained by ourselves, but present beyond expectation and struggle. Suddenly we are grasped by a peace which is above reason, that is, above our practical striving for the good. The true—namely, the truth of our life and of our existence—has grasped us. We know that now, in the moment, we are in the truth, in spite of all our ignorance about ourselves and our World. We have not become wiser and more understanding in any ordinary sense; we are still children in knowledge. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
However, the truth of life is in us, with an illuminating certainty, uniting us with ourselves, giving us great and restful happiness. And the good, the ultimate good, which is not good for something else, but good in itself, has grasped us. We know that now, in this moment, we are in the good, in spite of all our weakness an evil, in spite of the fragmentary and distorted character of our Self and the World. We have not become more moral or more saintly; we still belong to a World which is subject to evil and self-destruction. However, the good of life is in us, uniting us with the good of everything, giving us the blessed experience of universal love. If this should happen, and in such a measure, we should reach our eternity, the higher order and spiritual World to which we belong, and from which we are separated in our normal existence. We should be beyond ourselves. The new being would conquer us, although the old being would not disappear. Where can we feel his new reality? We cannot find it; but it can find us. It tries to find us during our whole life. It is in the World; it carries the World; and it is the cause of the fact that our Self and our World are not yet thrown into utter self-destruction. Although it is hidden under anxiety and despair, under finitude and tragedy, it is in everything, in souls and bodies, becomes everything derives life from it. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
The new being means that the old being has not yet destroyed itself completely; that life is still possible; that our souls still gather force to go forward; and that the good and the true are not extinguished. It is present, and it will find us. Let us be found by it. It is stronger than the World, although it is quiet and meek and humble. That is the meaning of the call of Jesus, “Come unto Me.” For in Him this new being is present in such a way that it determines His life. That which is hidden in all things, that which appears to us sometimes in the great elevations of our soul, is the forming power of this life. It is the uniqueness and he mystery of His Being, the embodiment, the full appearance of the New Being. That is the reason that He can say words which no prophet or saint has ever said: that nobody knows God save Him and those who receive their knowledge through Him. These words certainly do not mean that He imposes a new theology or a new religious law upon us. They mean rather that He is the New Being in which everybody can participate, because it is universal and omnipresent. Why can He call Himself meek and lowly in heart after he has said words about His uniqueness, words that, in anyone else’s mouth, would be blasphemous arrogance? It is because the New Being that forms Him is not created by Him. He is created by it. It has found Him, as it must find us. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
And since His Being is not the result of His striving and labouring, and since it is not servitude to the religious law but rather victory over religion and law that makes His uniqueness, He does not impose religion and law, burdens and yokes, upon humans. If He called us o the Christian religion or to the Christian doctrines or to the Christian morals, we would turn down His call with hatred. If He gave us new commands for thinking and acting, we would not accept His claim to be meek and humble and to give rest to our souls. Jesus is not the creator of another religion, but the victor over religion; He is not the maker of another law, but the conqueror of law. We, the ministers and teachers of Christianity, do not call you to Christianity but rather to the New Being to which Christianity should be a witness and nothing else, not confusing itself with that New Being. Forget all Christian doctrines; forget your own certainties and your own doubts, when you hear the call of Jesus. Forget all Christian morals, your achievements and your failures, when you come to Him. Nothing is demanded of you—no idea of God, and no goodness in yourselves, not your being religious, not your being Christian, not your being wise, and not your being moral. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
However, what is demanded is only your being open and willing to accept what if given to you, the New Being, the being of love and justice and truth, as it is manifest in Him Whose yoke is easy and Whose burden is light. Let me close, as I began, with a personal word. Believe me, you who are religious and Christian. If it were for the sake of Christianity, it would be not worthwhile to teach Christianity. And believe me, when it comes, we interpret the call of Jesus for our time, you who are estranged from religion and far away from Christianity, it is not our purpose to make you religious and Christian. We call Jesus the Christ not because He brought a new religion, but because He is the end of religion, above religion and irreligion, above Christianity and non-Christianity. We spread His call because it is the call to every human in every period to receive the New Being, that hidden saving power in our existence, which takes from us labour and burden, and gives rest to our souls. Do not ask in this moment what we shall do or how action shall follow from the New Being, from the rest in our souls. Do not ask; for you do not ask how the good fruits follow from the goodness of a tree. They follow; action follows being, and new action, better action, stronger action, follows new being, better, truer, and more just, if there was more rest for our souls in our World. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
If they grew out of a more profound level of our life, our actions would be more creative, more conquering, conquering the tragedy of our time. For our creative depth is the depth in which we are quiet. “Now these are the words which Amulek preached unto the people who were in the land of Ammonihah, saying: “I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi; and it was that same Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was upon the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God. An Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem, who was a descendent of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren. And behold, I am also a man of no small reputation among all those who know me; yea, and behold, I have many kindreds and friends, and I have also acquired much richness by the hand of my industry. Nevertheless, after all this, I never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries and marvelous power. I said I never had know much of thee things; but behold, I mistake, for I have seen much of his mysteries and his marvelous power; yea, even in the preservation of the lives of this people. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
“Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God, in the wickedness of my heart, even until the fourth day of this seventh month, which is in the tenth years of e reign of the judges. As I was journeying to see a very near kindred, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto me and said: Amulek, return to thine own house for thou shalt feed a prophet of the Lord; yea, a holy man, who is a chosen man of God; for he has fasted many days because of the sins of this people, and he is an hungered, and thou shalt receive him into thy house and feed him, and he shall bless thee and thy house; and the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee and thy house. And it came to pass that I obeyed the voice of the angel, and returned towards my house. And as I was going thither I found the man whom the angel said uno me: Thou shalt receive into thy house—and behold it was this same man who has been speaking unto you concerning the things of God. And the angel said uno me he is a holy man because it was said by an angel of God. And again, I know that the things whereof he hath testified are true; for behold I say unto you, that as the Lord liveth, even so has he sent his angel to make these things manifest unto me; and this he has done whole this Alma hath dwelt at my house. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
“For behold, he hath blessed mine house, he hath blessed me, and my women, and my children, and my father and my kinsfolk; yea, even all my kindred hath he blessed, and the blessing of the Lord hath rested upon us according to the words which he spake. And now, when Amulek had spoken these words the people began to be astonished, seeing there was more than one witness who testified of the things whereof they were accused, and also of the things which were to come, according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them. Nevertheless, there were some among them who thought to question them, that by their cunning devices they might catch them in their words, that they might find witness against them, that they might deliver them to their judges that they might be judged according to the law, and that they might be slain or cast into prison, according to the crime which they could make appear or witness against them. Now it was those men who sought to destroy them, who were lawyers, who were hired or appointed by the people to administer the law at their times of trials, or at the trials of the crimes of the people before the judges. Now these lawyers were learned in all the arts and cunning of the people; and this was to enable them that they might be skillful in their profession. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“And it came to pass that they began to question Amulek, that thereby they might make him cross his words, or contradict the words which he should speak. Now they knew not that Amulek could know of their designs. However, it came to pass as they began to question him, he perceived their thoughts, and he said unto them: O ye wicked and perverse generation, ye lawyers and hypocrites, for ye are laying the foundations of the devil; for ye are laying traps and snares to catch the holy ones of God. Ye are laying traps and snares to catch the holy ones of God. Ye are laying plans to pervert the ways of the righteous, and to bring down the wrath of God upon your heads, even to the utter destruction of this people. Yea, well did Mosiah say, who was our last king, when we was about to deliver up the kingdom, having no one to confer it upon, causing that this people should be governed by their own voices—yea, well did he say that is the time should come that the voice of this people should choose iniquity, that is, if the time should come that this people should fall into transgression, they would be ripe for destruction. And now I say unto you that well doth the Lord judge of your iniquities; well doth he cry unto this people, by the voice of his angels: Repent ye, repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“Yea, well doth he cry, by the voice of his angels that: I will come down among my people, with equity and justice in my hands. Yea, and I say unto you that if it were no for the prayers of the righteous, who are now in the land, that ye would even now be visited with utter destruction; yet it would not be by flood, as were the people in the days of Noah, but it would be by famine, and by pestilence and the sword. However, it is by the prayers of the righteous that ye are spared; now therefore, if ye will cast out the righteous from among you then will not the Lord stay his hand; but in his fierce anger he will come out against you; then ye shall be smitten by famine, and by pestilence, and by the sword; and the time is soon at hand expect ye repent. And now it came to pass that the people were more angry with Amulek, and they cried out, saying: This man doth revile against our laws which are just, and our wise lawyers whom we have selected. However, Amulek stretched forth his hand, and cried the mightier unto them, saying: O ye wicked and perverse generation, why at Satan got such great hold upon your hearts? Why will ye yield yourselves unto him that he may have power over you, to blind your eyes, that ye will not understand the words which are spoken, according to their truth? #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
“For behold, have I testified against your law? Ye do not understand: ye say that I have spoken against your law; but I have not, but I have spoken in favour of your law, to your condemnation. And now behold, I say unto you, that the foundation of the destruction of this people is beginning to be laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and judges. And now it came to pass that when Amulek had spoken these words the people cried out against him, saying: Now we know that his human is a child of the devil, for he hath lied unto us; for he hath spoken against our law. And now he says that he has not spoken against it. And again, he has reviled against our lawyers, and our judges. And it came to pass that the lawyers put it into their hearts that they should remember these things against him. And there was one among them whose nae was Zeezrom. Now he was the foremost to accuse Amulek and Alma, he being one of the most expert among them, having much business to do among the people. Now the object of these lawyers was to get gain; and they got gain according to their employ,” reports Alma 10.1-32. O God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we hope in Thy word. There we see Thee, not on a fearful throne of judgment, but on a throne of grace, waiting to be gracious, and exalted in mercy. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
There we hear Thee saying, not “Depart ye cursed,” but “Look unto me and be ye saved, for I am God and there is none else.” They that know Thy name put their trust in Thee. How many now glorified in Heaven, and what numbers living on Earth, are Thy witnesses, O God, exemplifying in their recovery from the ruins of the Fall the freeness, riches and efficacy of Thy grace! All that were every saved were saved by Thee, and will through eternity, exclaim, “Not unto us, but uno Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and truth’s sake.” Thou hast chosen to transact all Thy concerns with us through a mediator in whom all fullness dwells and who is exalted to be prince and Saviour. To him we look, on him we depend, through him we are justified. May we derive relief from his sufferings without ceasing to abhour sin, or to long after holiness; feel the double efficacy of His blood, tranquillizing and cleansing out consciences; delight in His service as well as in His sacrifice; be constrained by His love to live not to ourselves but to Him; cherish a grateful and cheerful disposition, not murmuring and repining if our wishes are not indulged, or because some trials are blended with our enjoyments, but, sensible of our desert, and impressed with the number and greatness of Thy benefits, may we bless and praise Thee at all times. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
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O Lord God, Father Almighty, please bless and sanctify this sacrifice of praise, which has been offered unto Thee, to honour and glory of Thy Name; and pardon the sins of Thy people, and hear my prayer, and forgive me all my sins; through Christ our Lord. #CresleighHomes
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War is an Invention of the Human Mind, but the Mind Can Also Invent Peace!
There is a silence which soothes and a silence which disturbs. With a genuine adept the first is felt, but with the other kinds, the second. It is only for the sensitive that one’s bland serenity and benevolent smile will hold a distinct attraction, for it is only they who will feel the subtle unusual emanation from one’s person. People come to the self-actualized with a head full of questions, but they find themselves struck with vocal dumbness in one’s presence. They come to one expectant of wonderful revelation, but hey find that one takes care to seem and speak like other human and to keep one’s fee solidly planted on the ground of common sense. They may draw near to the self-actualized and cross one’s orbit for only a few minutes in a whole lifetime but it proves enough to inspire and irradiate the rest of their day. They now have not only the feeling that this being knowns whereof one speaks but also the assurance that God is utterly real and that the quest of it is the most worthwhile of all enterprises. In one’s presence all that is best in a human receives stimulation and one comes closer to one’s true self. The significance of the meeting will emerge still more in after years. One will be so quiet in one’s daily bearing, so calm in one’s dealings with others, that they will begin to sense despite one’s unfailing modesty that here, in one’s presence, there is a living echo from a higher World of being. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
In the self-actualizer’s presence the shadows of depression or fear vanish. For then the disciple can look out on life with clearer eyes, seeing the Perfect which already exists beyond its imperfections. Certain kinds of sensations, feelings, and thought are automatically repelled from the field of blessed consciousness in which the illumined human lives. All negative and destructive, egotistic and unruly ideas—certainly all those that the best conscience of the human race has stamped as “wicked” and generative of “evil-doing”—are not compatible with one’s purified state of mind and accordingly cannot enter in. If one lets them, many will come to one in search of guidance, help, comfort or healing. Some will place their problem before one humbly and candidly, but others will be too afraid, or too proud, to do so openly. Whether there is an actual transference of one’s power and light, or whether one’s actual presence and desire to help set up vibrations in the subconscious mind of the seeker, or whether one is merely a medium for higher forces, it is not easy to determine. The truth may well be a combination of all these three factors. Constant contact with such an exalted personage is likely to influence others, but it is not possible to say when this influence will rise up into the conscious mind. The time will always be different with different individuals. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
One’s silences maybe exasperating to those who are insensitive and uncomprehending, but they will be exhilarating to those who have begun to learn how the Spirit operates. In the presence of such a human, one instinctively feels that there are tremendous reserves of knowledge, virtue, and power within one, that one has so much more to give than is apparent. One’s presence calls out the good, the true, and the beautiful in others. The sensitive will quickly become aware of the hidden strength that is in one, the strength which kindles assurance in one’s own heart and confidence in others’ hearts. As if borne on telepathic waves, benign influence diffuses itself from one and is felt by the sensitive. Even when surrounded by dangers or beset by troubles, this peace which one seems to diffuse is really there, is a central characteristic that never leaves one. A meeting with such a being, by those who are sensitive enough to register more finely than the gross senses can register, is always a benediction; the remembrance of one is always an exaltation. By a principle of symbiosis, what one is, being now at the source of human power, spreads out and ripples its influence on the human group, which at the least keeps it from becoming worse than it is, and at the most lights up inspiration in certain individual minds and makes them benefactors of the race. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
One’s goodness acts as a silent reproach to those who are unwilling to give up their badness: hence their discomfort. One’s presence is a silent rebuke to them; one stands there in all one’s integrity and spiritually—an embarrassment, for it makes such a contrast with their own Worldliness. In the presence of an illuminate, all criticism is charmed to antlike littleness. What can our broken thoughts do to injure or belittle one who is safely above all thought? And how dull seem these strict and rigid doctrines which we have brought into the neighbourhood of one who has liberated oneself from all strict and rigid doctrines! If “dead” illuminati can help the World as readily as those who are among us in the flesh, I would like to ask those who believe this is why Ramakrishna uttered the following pathetic plaint as he lay dying in Cosipore: “Had this body been allowed to last a little longer, many more people would have become spiritually awakened.” No, it is more rational to believe that a living illuminate is needed, that one who as flung off the physical body has no further concerns with the physical World, and that one whose consciousness is in the Real, uses the World (in the form of a body) to save those whose consciousness is in the World. In the personal aura of such an adept, the sensitive person gets a feeling first, of peace, second, of security, and safety. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
Why do sensitive people feel protected and secure in one’s presence? It is because one knows and obeys the universal laws, invokes and attracts superhuman power. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no human knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and one to whomsoever the Son will reveal one. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” reports Matthew 11.25-30. When I was the age to receive confirmation and full membership in the Church, I was told to choose a passage from the Bible as the expression of my personal approach to the Biblical message and to the Christian Church. Every confirmee was obliged to do so, and to recite the passage before the congregation. When I chose to words, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are Heavy laden,” I was asked with a kind of astonishment and even irony why I had chosen that particular passage. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
For I was living under happy conditions, and, being only fifteen years old, was without any apparent labour or burdens, so I could not answer at that time to why that was my favourite bible passage. I felt a little embarrassed, but basically right. And I was right, indeed; every child is right in responding immediately to those words; every adult is right in responding to them in all periods of one’s life, and under all the conditions of one’s internal and external history. These words of Jesus are universal, and fit every human being and every human situation. They are simple; they grasp the heart of the primitive as well as that of the profound, disturbing the mind of the wise. Practically every word of Jesus had this character, sharing the difference between Him as the originator and the dependent interpreters, disciples and theologians, saints and preachers. Returning for the first time in my life to the passage of my early choice, I feel just as grasped by it as at that time, but infinitely more embarrassed by its majesty, profundity and inexhaustible meaning. Our task in the face of words like these is obvious: we must point to the ground of their power over our souls; we must explain why, in their emotional force, the force of an ultimate truth is involved; and we must attempt to view our human situation in their light. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
Three questions, aroused by the words of Jesus, shall be asked, and the answer implied in His words shall be asked, and the answers implied in His words shall be interpreted. What is the labour and burden from which we can find rest through Him? What is the easy yoke and the light burden which He will put upon us? Why is He and He alone able to give such rest to our souls? “All ye that labour and are heavy laden…”: his is addressed to all humans, although not all humans feel it in the same way. It is the general human situation to be heavy laden and to labour restlessly under a yoke too hard to be endured. What kind of burden is this? We may think first of the burdens and labours that daily life imposes upon us. However, this is not indicated in our text. Jesus does not tell us that He will ease the labours and burdens of life and work. How could He, even if He wanted to? Whether or not we come to Him, the threats of illness or unemployment are not lessened, the weigh of our work does not become easier, the fate of being refugee, driven from one country to another, is not changed; the horror of ruins, wounds, and death falling from Heaven is not stopped; and the sorrow over the passing of friends or parents or children is not overcome. Jesus cannot and does not promise more pleasure and less pain those whom He asks to come to Him. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
On the contrary, sometimes Jesus promises them more pain, more persecution, more threat of death—the “cross,” as He calls it. All his is not the burden to which He points. Nor is it the burden of sin and guilt, as somebody educated in the traditional Christian interpretation of the work of Christ might assume. Nothing like that is indicated in the words of Jesus. Taking upon oneself His easy yoke does not means taking sin more easily or taking guilt less seriously. Jesus does not tell those who comes to Him that their sins are not so important as they seemed to be. He does not give them an easier conscience about their failures and trespasses. On the contrary, He sharpens their conscience to the highest possible degree in practically every one of His words. He condemns sins which the traditional theology of His time did no even consider as sins. This is not the burden to which Jesus points. The burden He wants to take from us is the burden of religion. It is the yoke of the law, imposed on the people of His time by the religious teachers, the wise and understanding, as He calls them in our words, the Scribes and Pharisees, as they are called usually. Those who labour and are heavy laden are those who are sighing under the yoke of the religious law. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
And Jesus will give them the power to overcome religion and law; the yoke He gives them is a “new being” above religion. The things they will learn from him is the victory over the law of the wise and the understanding, and the law of the Scribes and Pharisees. How does this concern us? Why does this concern all humans, in all situations? It concerns us because, with all human beings, we are sighing under the law, under a law which is religion and a religion which is the law. This is the depth of the word of Jesus; this is the truth, implied in the emotional power of His words. Humans labour and toil, because they are those beings which know about their finitude, about their transitoriness, about the danger of living, and about the tragic character of existence. Fear and anxiety are the heritage of all people, as Paul knew when he looked at the Jews and the Pagans. Restlessness drives humans during their whole life, as Augustine knew. A hidden element of despair is in every human’s soul, as the great Danish Protestant, Kierkegaard, discovered. There is no religious genius, no keen observer of the abyss of the human soul, nobody capable of listening to the sounds of one’s heart who would not witness to this insight into human nature and human existence. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
Splits and gaps are in every soul: for instance, we know that we are more than dust; and yet we know also that we are going to dust. We know that we belong to a higher order than of our animal needs and desires; and yet we know that we shall abuse the higher order in the service of our lower nature. We know that we are only small members of the spiritual World; and yet we know that we shall aspire to the whole, making ourselves the center of the World. This is human; and because this is human, there I a religion and laws The law of religion is the great attempt of humans to overcome one’s anxiety and restlessness and despair, to close the gap within oneself, and to reach immortality, spirituality and perfection. So one labours and toils under the religious law in thought and in act. The historical relevance of Christology may be expressed in terms of revelation. Revelation is the reception of an insight into the ground of being. These insights are many; many factors may occasion or convey them. The concept of revelation, then, is not a necessarily Christian concept. However, we are soon confronted with the exclusive claims of Christianity: Christianity claims to be based on the revelation of Jesus as the Christ as the final revelation. Final in this context is not tantamount to last. Revelatory situations are not exhausted by the coming of Christ. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
We do not assert that there can be no ecstasy and no faith after the Christ. On the contrary, the ground of being are constantly piercing the crust of existence and making itself experienced in the depths of our being. What is true of humankind is equally true of the Church: Christianity often has affirmed, and certainly should affirm, that there is continuous revelation in the history of the Church. The whole meaning of preaching the word of God consists in announcing a revelatory message. Yet if this is true of Christian preaching, it is equally true that the mission of the whole Church must be referred back to the event of the Christ. No preaching can be revelatory unless it is grasped by the power of Christ. No word of humans becomes word of God unless the Christ takes it, so to say, in charge. The final revelation in the Christ, therefore, does not mean simply “last.” Rather it means last genuine. There can be no revelation in the history of the Church whose point of reference is not Jesus as he Christ. Secondly, it means that we do not refer to the last genuine revelation as to a past event; we refer to it as to an even by whose power we are still grasped. Thus, the final revelation means the decisive, fulfilling, unsurpassable revelation, that which is the criterion of all others. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
A necessary mark of this final revelation is its universal contemporaneity. Revelation is revelation to me in my concrete situation, in my historical reality. Christianity does not ask anyone to make an impossible leap two thousand years back. Such a journey through historical documents may provide erudite knowledge of an obscure past event, but it can in no way reveal the power to be which was present in the Christ. To be present in Palestine when Jesus was here is impossible. And yet the Christ will not be revelatory to me unless I experience him. He is not an abstraction, but a revelatory person. He can be known only through a person-to-person relationship. Something, in the revelatory situation of Jesus as the Christ, must be permanently present and thus become contemporary o me and to all humans. One who is the Christ is contemporaneous, or one is not the Christ. To gain salvation, humans must repent and keep the commandments, be born again, cleanse their garments through the blood of Christ, be humble and strip themselves of pride and envy, and do the works of righteousness—the Good Shepherd calls His people—those who do evil works are children of the devil—Alma testifies of the truth of huis doctrine and commands humans to repent—the names of the righteous will be written in the book of life. About 83 Before Christ. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
In the presence of such greatness, a feeling of humility comes into a sensitive heart. “Now it came to pass that Alma began to deliver the word of God unto the people, first in the land of Zarahemla, and from thence throughout all the land. And these are the words which he spake to the people in the church which was established in the city of Zarahemla, according to one’s own record, saying: I, Alma, having been consecrated by my father, Alma, to be a high priest over the church of God, he having power and authority from God to do these things, behold, I say uno you that he began to establish a church in the land which was in the borders of Nephi; yea, the land which was called the land of Mormon; yea, and he did baptize his brethren in the waters of Mormon. And behold I say unto you, they were delivered out of the hands of the people of king Noah, by the mercy and power of God. And behold, after that, they were brought into bondage by the hands of the Lamanites in the wilderness; yea, I say unto you, they were in captivity, and again the Lord did deliver them out of bondage by the power of his word; and we were brought into this land, and here we began to establish the church of God throughout this land also. And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
“Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance the he has delivered their souls from hell? Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by he bands of death, and the chains of hell and an everlasting destruction did await them. And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not. An again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved. And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also he chains of hell? Behold, I can tell you—did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
“And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them? And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true. And behold, he preached he word unto your fathers, and mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and out their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved. And now behold, I ask of you, y brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of Him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body? I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the Earth? Or do ye imagine yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the Earth—and that he will be save you? #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set a defiance the commandments of God? I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? I say unto you, can ye think of being saved when you have yielded yourselves to become subjects of the devil? I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no being be saved except one’s garments are washed white; yea, one’s garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of one whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins. And now I ask you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you? Behold will they not testify that ye are murderers, yea, and also that ye are guilty of all manner of wickedness? #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
“Behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that which and one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garment are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white? I say unto you, Nay; except ye make our Creator a liar from the beginning, or suppose that he is a lair from the beginning, ye cannot suppose that such can have place in the kingdom of Heaven; but they shall be cast out for they are the children of the kingdom of the devil. And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem His people from their sins? Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of Heaven is soon at hand, and such and one hath not eternal life. Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
“Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of Heaven is soon at hand, and such and one hath not eternal life. Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an e is not prepared; and I would that one should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and one knoweth no when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless. And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of one’s brother, or that heapeth upon one persecutions? Wo uno such an one, for one is not prepared, and the time is at hand that one must repent or one cannot be saved! Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord Good hath spoken it! Behold, He sendeth an invitation unto all humans, for the arms of mercy are extended toward them, and He saith: Repent, and I will receive you. Yea, He saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely. Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire—for behold, the time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
“O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the World, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will no hearken unto His voice! Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in His own name He doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd. And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar ad a child of the devil. For I say uno you that whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil. Therefore, if a human bringeth forth good works one hearkeneth unto His voice, and doth follow him. And whosoever doeth this must receive one’s wages from one; therefore, for one’s wages one recieveth death, as to things pertaining unto righteousness, being dead unto all good works. And now, my brethren, I would that ye should hear me, for I speak in the energy of my soul; for behold, I have spoken unto you plainly that ye cannot err, or have spoken according to the commandments of God. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
“For I am called to speak after this manner, according to the holy order of God, which is in Christ Jesus; yea, I am commanded to sand and testify unto this people the things which have been spoken by our fathers concerning the things which are to come. And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety? Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by His Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me. And moreover, I say unto you that it has thus been revealed unto me, that the words which have been spoken by our fathers are true, even so according to the spirit of prophecy which is in me, which is also by the manifestation of God. I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you, concerning that which is to come, is true: and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
“And behold, it is He that cometh to take away the sins of the World, yea, the sin of every human who steadfastly believeth on one’s name. And now I say unto you that this is the order after which I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again. Yea, thus saith the Spirit: Repent, all ye ends of the Earth, for the kingdom of Heaven is soon at hand; yea, the Son of God cometh in His glory, in His might, majesty, power, and dominion. Yea, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, that the Spirit saith: Behold the glory of the King of all the Earth; and also the King of Heaven shall very soon shine forth among all the children of humans. And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea, crieth uno me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this people—Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of Heaven. And again I say unto you, the Spirit saith: Behold, the ax is laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire, yea, a fire which cannot be consumed, even an unquenchable fire. Behold, and remember, the Holy One hath spoken it. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
“And now my beloved brethren, I say unto you, can ye withstand these sayings; yea, can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in he wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the World, upon your riches? Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another; yea, will ye persist in the persecution of your brethren, who humble themselves and do walk after the holy order of God, wherewith they have been brought into church, having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance—yea, and will your persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them? And finally, all ye that will persist in your wickedness, I say unto you that these are they who shall be hewn down and cast into the fire except they speedily repent. And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
“For the names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life, and unto them will I grant an inheritance at my right hand. And now, my brethren, what have ye to say against this? I say unto you, if ye speak against it, it matters not, for the word of God must be fulfilled. For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth no watch over them, that the wolves enter no and devour his flock? And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out? Yea, and at the las, if he can, he will destroy him. And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous world to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed. And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you. I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life,” Alma 5.1-61. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
LORD of Heaven, Thy goodness is inexpressible and inconceivable. In the works of creation Thou art almighty, in the dispensations of providence all-wise, in the gospel of grace all love, and in Thy Son Thou hast provided for our deliverance from the effects of sin, the justification of our persons, the sanctification of our natures, the perseverance of our souls in the path of life. Though exposed to the terrors of Thy law, we have a refuge from the storm; though compelled to cry, “Unclean,” we have a fountain for sin; through creature-cells of emptiness we have a fullness accessible to all, and incapable of reduction. Grant us always to know that to walk with Jesus make other interests a shadow and a dream. Please keeps us from intermittent attention to eternal things; please save us from the delusion of those who fail to go far in religion, who are concerned but not converted, who have another heart but not a new one, who have light, zeal, confidence, but not Christ. Please let us judge our Christianity, not only by our dependence upon Jesus, but by our love to him, our conformity to him, our knowledge of him. Please give us a religion that is both real and progressive, that hold on its way and grows stronger, that lives and works in the Spirit, that profits by every correction, and is injured by no carnal indulgence. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
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I pray to Thee, the Almighty, O God, please let me be more righteous than I have been and allow me to be clothed, that I may rejoice in the joy of Thy Saints, Please may I be worthy; in so far as the filth of him to be cleansed of sins; and for sharing with all, of them that please thee, I acquire the company of priests; put off the things of Thy mercy from me and to all the defects, which are burdened by the guilt of one’s own conscience. Please make me, I beseech Thee, Almighty God, to be so arrayed in righteousness, that I may be enabled to rejoice in the gladness of Thy Saints; so that being cleansed from all filthiness of sin, I may attain the fellowship of the Priests who are pleasing unto Thee; and that I, who am burdened by the guilt of my own conscience, may be delivered by Thy mercy from all vices; through our Lord Jesus Christ. #CresleighHomes
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