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Strong Family Cultures Will Help Our Children Live in the World
Some families are in jeopardy of being lost. Values are the prime target of the adversary, as well are the sanctity of marriage and the central importance of families. It is the duty of parents to teach their children to keep the commandments of God. Our morals and spiritual values provide an anchor and the safe harbor of a home where each child of a loving Heavenly Father can be influenced for food and acquire eternal values. People who feel the love and support of their parents are proud of the example they have set. This makes life so enjoyable for many families that the children want to follow in the footsteps of the parents, to continue on through experiencing the same joy that had been theirs in their younger days. Some parents always find the time to take the family on vacation and they can count on fun experiences. As a result of such a solid background, the children are not able to turn from the teachings of their parents because their actions would reflect on their parents’ character. Culture is defined as the way of life of a people. There is a unique gospel culture, a set of values and expectations and practices common to all followers of God. This gospel culture, or way of life, comes from the plan of salvation, the commandments of God, and the teachings of living prophets. It is given expression in the way we raise our families and live our individual lives. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
However, so much has changed during our lifetime. The effects of childhood trauma, including emotional neglect or abuse in childhood, can have alarmingly potent effect on our psyche as we enter adulthood, event to the extent of rewiring the brain. The children of narcissistic parents, those who meet the diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, know this all too well, having been raised by someone with a limited capacity for empathy and an excessive sense of grandiosity, false superiority and entitlement. Children of narcissistic parents are programmed at an early age to seek validation where there is one, to believe their worthiness is tied to the reputation of their families, and to internalize the message that they can only sustain their value by how well they can serve the needs of their parents. If given at all, they have lived an existence where love was rarely given. As the child of a narcissistic parent or parent, one is taught that they are not inherently worthy, but rather that there worth depended on what they could do for the narcissistic parent and how compliant one is. The emphasis on appearance, status, reputation is at an all-time high in households with a narcissistic parent. Due to the narcissistic parent’s grandiosity, false mask and need to be the best, children in these situations are probably part of a family that was presented in the best possible light, with neglect taking place behind closed doors. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
There is something really disturbing about parents who compete with their kids. Women who strive to be as hot as their teenage daughters. Parents threatened by the success of their adult children. Men who date girls the same age as their son’s girlfriend or daughter. And men who actually date their son’s girlfriends. Some parents even conspire with the children’s enemies to hurt their own kids because they envy them so much. So how have we gotten to this place? We all know that times have changed—and parenting is much more difficult as a result. Some parents feel like they did not have a chance to live the life they wanted so they take out their anger usually on one child who reminds them of what they would like to be. Let us take a closet look and find a way out of this madness and toward a better way to parent. Shine a light on yourself, rather than on your child. Get out of the mindset that your child is the enemy and you must win. Win what? No matter how your child behaves, you must commit to parenting from thoughtfulness, not anxiety, jealousy, and reactivity. Keep in the forefront of your mind that even at times of high stress, you are an adult and your children are supposed to learn from you. You want your children to look back and think of you as someone who loved God, followed the laws, and did everything possible to protect them, instead of sabotaging their lives and setting them up to fail. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
As adults, some people know that their parent or parents are bad and do not have their best interest at heart, but they still talk to them because they know their parents will not live forever and want to enjoy them while they are around, while secretly praying that their parent will repent and start showing them rest and unconditional love. Strong leaders focus on the preservation of their own integrity. They have a willingness to take responsibility for their own emotional well-being and do not try to make other people happy by changing their character. Being a strong leader is a quality that will actually help your child want to be led by you, rather than battle you. Remember that you are on your child’s team, not on the opposing side. You should not be sharing the personal business with their enemies who happen to be dangerous nor plotting to end the life of your own child. Some people saw that Casper the Ghost is a cautionary tale about Richie’s parents from Richie Rich killing him for insurance money. The Bible predicted that in the last days, “They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law,” reports Luke 12.53. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
Lessons taught in the home by goodly parents are becoming increasingly important in today’s World, where the influence of the adversary is so wide spread. As we know, he is attempting to erode and destroy the very foundation of our society—the family. In cleaver and carefully camouflaged ways, the wicked one is attacking commitment to family life throughout the World and undermining the culture and covenants of faithful believers in God. Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility. We must train up our children in the way he or he should go, this responsibility ultimately rests on the parents. According to the great plan of happiness, it is goodly parents with the care and development of Heavenly Father’s children. Parents should also pray in earnest, asking our Eternal Father to help them love, understand, and guide the children the Lord sent to them. It is also a good idea to hold family prayer, scripture study, and family home evenings and eat together as often as possible, making dinner a time of communication and the teachings of values. Parents should also share their testimonies often with their children, commit them to keep the commandments of God, and promise the blessings that our Heavenly Father promises his faithful children. Our strengthened family cultures will be a protection for our children from the fiery darts of the adversary embedded in their peer culture, the entertainment and television news. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
If Envy Were a Fever, All the World Would be Ill!
We often hear that the love of money is the root of all evil, but it is not. The love of money, however, can be evil. If you have money you can get things and do things. Because people believe money has power, it can be incredibly difficult to stay on the right course and not lose one’s soul in the process. Many people lose sight of where they come from and make decision that satisfy their personal desires. They forget, or choose to forget who was there for them when they needed to borrow money to pay the mortgage, or when they sold a car under false pretenses, but kept the car and the money, or who shared their Christmas bonus with them. They forget about how much money they took from your family to get where they are today, and when they feel they have made it, materialistic people no longer have a use for you because they see you as inferior and your life does not matter to them. These types of covetous people will sale your secrets to your enemy. Will take bribes to set you up so they can ruin your life because they want to infect others with the pain they experienced growing up in poverty and deprivation. “For the love of money people will steal from their mother. For the love of money people will rob their own brother. For the love of money people will lie, Lord, they will cheat. For the love of money people will sell their precious body for a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weight. Call it lean, mean, mean, green Almighty dollar,” (For the Love of Money by the O’Jays). #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Money talks, and it can start to define people and their respective lifestyles. The clothes you wear, the house you live in, the car you drive and the job you occupy all serve as indicators to one’s personal success. As a collection, these materials signify, in some form, who you are as a person. At least that is what materialistic people believe. However, it does not take money nor power to be a decent human being. We all know shallow people who do not care what other think of them and have done some strange things for some change. Then they start to think they are better than others because their hustling and illegal activities have allowed them to obtain luxury items, expensive cars, and lavish homes. And they forget all about the people they stole from, betrayed, and hurt to get where they are. Some people had never really experienced being financially strapped because they made the right decision in life. Get a job at a young age, go to college, and worked toward a degree. People sometimes people who had kids at an early age, where on government relief, and experienced and abusive married are jealous that someone did things the right want and want to see that person suffer. And after they bring you down and you see what poverty is like and are trying to work your way out of it, they know you need help, but instead they pretend not to know what you are going through. Because you are a forgiving person, you do not spite them, but wish them well. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
As you try hard to work your way back to success, your heart and mind will not even allow you to ask people with an ugly spirit for help. All money and not good money and although they stole from you and hurt you, it is better to struggle and try hard so when you come back up, you do not have any obligations to unholy people. People abuse their power and fail to treat others with the respect they deserve. The fundamental idea of respect is one that we can all agree upon, and it is an essential basis for solving our everyday problems. While people may spread lies and make up rumors about you, it is essential to seek first to understand before judging someone. Everyone has had different experiences in their lives that have helped shape who they are now. Growing up in a small rural community has taught me so many things. It is nearly impossible to enjoy life in a rural community without showing others respect. Our actions towards others determine our reputation, no matter what people say about us out of envy and malice. If people do not like their reputation, they can change their actions. Our actions is the one thing we can control. When it comes to overcoming being greedy, selfish, and overly indulgent, we all need more help. The worst fear many have is people will get rich in this country and forget God and his people. We will all be literally called upon to make an accounting before God concerning how we have used our resources to bless lives and build the kingdom of God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
No one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. God loves us each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. God does not want any of us to suffer, but sometimes we learn lessons as we suffer. We learn what it is like to be injured, hungry, poor, and unpopular. These are important things for some people to experience so they do not grow up to become monsters. It teaches us to be more understanding, humble, more compassionate, and show respect to people we do not know. We learn not to become a prisoner—a prisoner of sin, stupidity, and a pigsty. God does not want us to wallow with swine. People who take for granted their father and disenfranchise their family members will fall victim to a fictional affront. Even if we are not making as much money as we used to or live in a place the is rather shabby and loud, we still can be very happy with our lives. Keep in mind, wealth cannot buy health. If envy were a fever all the World would be ill. And even though you see your material lifestyles as being a shadow of what it used to be, people can still be jealous of you because of how well you are coming through the white squall they created in your life. Because envy is so far reaching—it can resent anything, including virtue and talent, and it can be offended by everything, including every goodness and joy. As we seem to grow larger in the sight of others, they feel that they are growing smaller. And they keep spending money to make themselves feel better, while you are still steadfastly focused of spiritual enlightenment and career development. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The purpose of life is learning as much as we can so that we can be ready for the gift of eternal life. There is more to come after our mortal bodies are no more. Our souls are eternal and the actions we choose in this lifetime determine how our eternal life will be. It is also better to go through this life with a clear conscience, as a guilty conscience might be worse than hell. This is a great truth. Understanding the plan for eternal life will help people keep the commandments, make better decision, and have the right motivation. The eternal perspective of the gospel leads us to understand the place that we occupy in God’s plan, to accept difficulties and progress through them, to make decisions, and to center our lives on our divine potential. Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance, and it allows us to appreciate their true value. We were taught this plan before we came to Earth and there rejoiced in the privilege of participating in it. Perhaps people who used you and hurt you do not understand what life is about and we should feel sorry for them that money is the only thing that matters to them because the great wicked one also has a plan, it is cunning, evil, subtle plan of destruction. It is the great wicked one’s objective to take captive the children of Father in Heaven and with every possible means frustrate the great plan of happiness. However, our Heavenly Father endowed his sons and daughters with unique traits especially fitted for their individual responsibilities as they fulfill God’s plan. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The struggle to success is a difficult one. For those of us that have a belief in God, the right combination of smarts and tenacity, we are blessed to have been cultivated in large by our actively influential surroundings. The environment we grew up in is an important factor in our upbringing and in the success that we will one day achieve. This is not to say that we are product of our circumstances entirely—there have been several people who were subject to horrific situations growing up, and through the love and guidance of God, that managed to make themselves into something and were successful in morphing their dreams into a reality. Whether we embrace our environment growing up and think back to it fondly, or remember our situation growing up and thank our lucky stars that we were able to make it out alive—the fact remains the same: our past made us who we are today and if we are happy with who we are, we cannot wish to have lived a different way. That includes where and with whom we grew up. “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect,” reports Matthew 5.48. Mortal perfection can be achieved as we try to perform every duty, keep every law, and strive to be perfect in our sphere as our Heavenly Father is in his. If we do the best we can, the Lord will bless us according to our deeds and the desires of our hearts. The Lord’s entire work and glory pertains to the immortality and eternal life of each human being. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
It is No Small Thing that Symbols Reappear in the Word of Wisdom
In darkness, there is to be found precious brilliance, our essential nature. Make a believer of everyone. All that matter is how you want to live your life. Faith is much more than passive belief. We express our faith through action—by the way we live. Our faith can lead us to do good works, obey the commandments, and repent of our sins. When the grace of God descends on us, each one of us will understand our own mistakes. The Lord has laid out different paths for different people suitable for our natures. The Lord will work mighty miracles in our lives according to our faith. When times of trial come, faith can give us strength to press forward and face our hardships with courage. Even when our future seems uncertain, our faith in God can give us peace. When it is compounded with gratitude for the goodness of this life which God’s sovereignty has effected and is continuously sustaining we have the concept of grace: God’s free and unstinted gifts to humanity not only have made our lives possible but sustain and enable it at every point along the way. Religion brushed with mystery. Authority, ritual, speculation, tradition, grace, and God’s sovereignty has important functions to perform in our lives. The angles of God can open our hearts and fill them with light. We can nurture the gift of faith by praying to Heavenly Father. As we express our gratitude to our Father and as we plead with the Lord for blessings that we and others need, we will draw near to God. We will also be receptive to the quiet guidance of the Holy Ghost. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
A desire to believe in God can lead us to the great chain of being. The vastness of nature can equally well be taken as evidence of humanity’s importance in God’s eyes. God-intended destiny of discovering the revealed word of God in planted in our hearts will allow us to begin to enlarge our souls and enlighten our understanding of this web of ambiguities in nature and provide greater precision and stability. This will strengthen our faith. As we continually nurture the word of God in our hearts, with great diligence, and patience humanity is guaranteed a position of dignity in the ladder of being. Once this happens, our enemies can do nothing to seal our hearts against the words of God. Slowly but steadily people of energy, talent, and worth become convinced of the truth in the scriptures as God works through us as standing miracles. Obedience to God’s laws, principles, and promptings leads to spiritual and temporal blessings. Individual accountability and action activate blessings, as an infallible revelation of God’s will. Please be assured that we are all children of our Father in Heaven. He loves us and will never forsake us. God knows us and is ready to extend the spiritual and temporal blessings of self-reliance. God has our best interests at heart. God has the supremacy to overshadow the entire Universe with this power and grace. The Lord is almighty, omnipotent, the Lord of Worlds, the Author of Heaven and Earth, the Creator of life and death in whose hand is dominion and irresistible power. He can deliver us from affliction. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
If we were asked to believe that all our striving is without final consequence, then life is meaningless and it scarcely matters how we live if all will end in the dust of death. According to Christianity, on the other hand, each action has vital significance. God’s grand design is life eternal for those who walk in the steps of the Savior. Here is the one grand incentive to good living, as life is seen to have purpose and meaning, people find release from despair and the fear of death. God is the Holy, Peaceful, Faithful, Guardian over his children. The Lord is Gracious, a Hearer, Compassionate, Merciful, Very-Forgiving, and his love for humanity is more tender than the most precious silk scarf. Whatever the meaning of life acquires is derived from the encounter between God and each person. The meaning thus conferred upon human life cannot be understood in terms of some finite human purpose, supposedly more ultimate than the meeting itself. For what could be more ultimate then the Presence of God? By noonday brightness, and by the night when it darkens, the Lord has not forsaken us, neither has he been displeased. Surely the future shall be better than the past; and in the end God shall be bounteous to us, and we shalt be satisfied. Did God not find the orphans, and give him and her a home and guide them and enrich them? #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Standing beneath God’s gracious skies, we can at any moment lift our hearts directly into the divine presence, there to receive both strength and guidance for the living of our days. We have such ready access to the divine because between us and God stands nothing. Is God not closer than the vein of thy neck? Thou need not raise thy voice, for God knows the secret whisper, and what is yet more hidden. God knows that is in the land and in the sea; no leaf falls but God knows it; nor is there a grain in the darkness under the Earth, nor a thing green or sere, but it is recorded. God, then, is one, immaterial, all-powerful, all-pervading, and benevolent. God deliberately created the Heavens and the Earth. The World of matter is completely real. It is dependent to be sure on God as its creator, but once originated it is as real as anything there is. Being the handiwork of a God who is both great and good, the World of matter must likewise be basically good. No defect can we see in the creation of the God of mercy; repeat the gaze and you will see no flaw. God’s supreme accomplishment lies in the fact that he created human beings. And one of the most important things to note about humanity’s view of being is an appreciation of both the ultimacy and value of individuality. The human soul is also eternal, for once created the soul lives forever. Value, virtue, goodness, and spiritual fulfillment come by expressing one’s unique self by virtue of which one is different from anyone or anything else. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
This inexplicable finite center of experience is the fundamental fact of the Universe. The soul is always attached to life in some way. Its suffering initiates a move toward increased spirituality. All life is individual; there is no such thing as a Universal life. God himself is an individual: The Lord is the most unique individual. So intense and vivid is the Bible’s feel for God’s power and sovereign will that some interpreters have concluded that it eclipses human’s freedom. However, whoever gets oneself a sin, gets it solely on his or her own responsibility. Whoever goes astray, one oneself bears the whole responsibility of wandering. This belief in humanity’s freedom and responsibility leads directly to the doctrine of the afterlife. For life on Earth is the foundation of an eternal future. It will be followed by a day of reckoning which is foreshadowed in the most awesome term. When the Sun shall be folded up, and the stars shall fall, and when the mountains shall be set in motion and the seas shall boil, then shall every soul know what is has done. On that day of judgment each individual will be accountable for the way he or she has lived. Every person’s actions have we hung around their neck, and on the last day shall it be laid before him or her a wide-open Book. For the scriptures tell us, seven times they report to us, that no unclean thing may enter the presence of God. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
In mortality people are free to choose, and each choice begets consequence. Depending on how it fares in this accounting the soul will then repair either to Heaven or Hell. Heaven abounds in deep rivers of cool, crystal water, lush fruit and vegetation, boundless fertility, and beautiful mansions with gracious attendants. Pearly gates and streets of gold. Hell is at times equally graphic with its account of molten metal, boiling liquids, and the fire that splits everything to pieces. Some of these signs are firm—these are the basis of the book—and others are figurative. Also, supporting the non-materialistic interpretation of paradise is that God wants us to see his face night and more as it is felicity which will surpass all the pleasures of the body, as the ocean surpasses a drop of sweat. From this view, the joy of joys consists in the beatific vision in which the veil which divides humans from God will be rent forever and his Heavenly glory disclosed to the soul untrammeled by its Earthly raiments. The belief that unites us all concerning the afterlife is that each soul will be held accountable for its actions on Earth with one’s happiness or misery thereafter dependent upon how well one has observed God’s laws. If punishment is the charge repentance asks, it comes at a bargain price. Consequences, even painful ones, protect us. So simple a thing as a child’s cry of pain when his or her finger touches fire can teach us that. Except for the pain, the child might be consumed. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
How supernally precious freedom is; how consummately valuable is the agency of humanity. Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful. King of the day of Judgement, we worship you and as you for help. Guide us in the straight path, the path of those whom you have favored, not the path of those who incur your anger nor of those who go astray. Why the straight path? One meanings is obvious; a straight path is undevious, neither crooked nor corrupt. The straight path is one that is straightforward, direct, and explicit. We know where we stand. We know who we are and who God is. We know what our obligations are and if these are transgress we know what to do about it. There would be no peace, neither happiness nor safety, in a World without repentance. Atonement was made. Every and always it offers amnesty from transgression and from death if we will but repent. Repentance is the escape clause in it all. Repentance is the key with which we can unlock the prison from the inside. We hold that key within our hands, and agency is ours to use it. We look up, and in the Universe we see the handiwork of God and measure things by epochs, by eons, by dispensations, by eternities. The many things we do not know we take on faith. However, this we know! It was all planned before the World was. Events from the creation to the final, winding-up scene are not based on chance; they are based on choice. It was planned that way. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Give Me Something to Desire
Conditions that work against happiness may work for, not against, the developing, trying, and testing of the moral fiber. Love is not primarily a relationship to specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of character which determines the relatedness of a person to the World as a whole, not toward one object of love. If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to the rest of society, his or her love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarge sense of pride. When we reflect on the tragedies or our own loves, when we slowly find our way through their miseries, we are being initiated into the mysterious ways of the soul. Love is the means of entry and our guide that keeps us on our path. If we can honor love as it presents itself, taking shapes and direction we would have never predicted or desired, then we are on the way toward discovering the true meaning of soul, where honor and value reveal themselves meticulously and paradoxically. This is the shortest path to divine realization. It requires a rare combination of rationality and spirituality. Life is not motored so much by reason as by emotion, and of the many emotions that crowd a person’s life, the most powerful and pervasive is love. Even hate can be interpreted as a rebound from the thwarting of this impulse. Moreover, we tend to become like that which we love, and God lies at the base of every heart. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
If we shift our attachment to God, we will reach him in no time. The moral life is not a mere conforming to given static principles and rules but it is directing the moral agent along certain paths of self-development. There is development within the moral ideal: We discover tomorrow that today’s ideal has more in it than we had supposed. Our goal is to adore God with every element of our being. The normal object of human love is personality, however exalted its attributes of wisdom, compassion, and grace may be. All we have to do is to love God dearly—not just say we love him but love the Lord in fact; love him only (loving other things because of him), and love our Lord for no ulterior reasons (not even from the desire for liberation) but for love’s sake alone. Insofar as we succeed we will know joy, for no experience can compare with that of being authentically and fully in love. Moreover, every strengthening of our affections toward God will weaken the World’s grip. The stain may, indeed will, love the World far more than the addict, but one will love it in a different way, seeing in it the reflected glory of the God one adores. How is this love of God to be developed? Obviously the task will not easy. The things of this World clamor for our affection so incessantly that it may be marveled that a Being who can neither be seen nor heard can ever become their competitor. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
However, we must keep our faith and yield our hearts to God. When we open ourselves to the Spirit, we learn God’s way and feel his will. These magnificent symbols and rituals keep turning night and day like a never-ending prayer wheel. As our trust in God grows, we open our hearts, seek to do the Lord’s will, and wait for answers that will help us understand. And the Lord will forgive our sins that are due to our human limitations. Purposeful, valuable activity produces an extension of our conscious present; it delivers us from the dullness of one thing after another. The value of faith lies in the power to recall our minds from the World’s distractions to the thought of God and thereby progressively to his love. In singing God’s praises, in praying to him with wholehearted devotion, in meditating on his majesty and glory, in reading about him in the scriptures, in regarding the entire Universe as his handiwork, we move our affections steadily in his direction. The cause in this development is well expressed by the account of eternity—the complete and simultaneous fruition of life without bounds. Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good. This does not mean all things are good, but for the meek and faithful, things—both negative and beneficial—work together for good, and the timing is the Lord’s. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
We wait on God, sometimes like Job in his suffering, knowing that God makes the sore bind itself: one who is wounded, God will make whole. A meek heart accepts the trail and the waiting for that time of healing and wholeness to come. When we open ourselves to the Spirit, we learn God’s way and feel the Lord’s will. When we are yielded and still, our minds can be directed to something more we may need to change—something that is reducing our capacity to receive spiritual guidance or even healing and help. For example, perhaps I have a carefully guarded resentment toward someone. When I ask if there is more to confess, that secret comes clearly to my memory. In essence, the Holy Ghost is whispering, “You honestly asked if there was more, and here it is. Your resentment diminishes your progress and damages your ability to have healthy relationships. You can let this God.” Oh, it is hard work—we may feel quite justified in our animosity—but yielding to the Lord’s way is the only way to lasting happiness. The healing of our heart begins when we submit to and worship God. When our hearts are right, that is when true worship begins. What is our heart condition today? Paradoxically, in order to have a healed and faithful heart, we must first allow it to break before the Lord. “You shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” the Lord declares. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The result of sacrificing our heart, or our will, to the Lord is that we receive the spiritual guidance we need. This frequent service of the will becomes a constant, warming presence that imperceptibly becomes a genuine appeal of the heart and soul. Keep the faith in God spinning in the midst of all your activities and one day you will see your wildest dreams come true. It will be a lot like playing the slot machine in Vegas, when all the symbols come together and you win the jackpot when you least expected it. When the full bounty of the Lord is poured out in your life, the light will come back into your eyes, your soul will shine, and you will have a sense of well-being that you had not experienced since you were a child. These verbal droplets of faith and aspiration will soak down into the subconscious, turning the total self towards the divine. We come finally to worship God in the form of one’s chosen ideal. The more sense is also an influencing motive in our pursuit of virtue and our avoidance of vicious behavior. With a growing understanding of the Lord’s grace and mercy, we find that our self-willed hearts begin to crack and break in gratitude. In our brokenhearted reaching and yoking, we receive new hope and fresh guidance through the Holy Ghost. God’s way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the World to come. We believe in the providence of God, the immortality of human’s soul, and divine retribution in a future life. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Virtue consists in pursuing what seems to be in accordance with right reason, but both our capacity to discover what actions accord with reason and our inclination toward those actions flow from a sort of forth dimension: a body which contains a spirit and has a certain spissitude, or density of substances. Some many think that they have failed too many times and feel too weak to change sinful acts or Worldly desires of the heart. However, as a covenant with God, we do not just try and try on our own to change. If we earnestly appeal to God, the Lord will take us as we are—and makes us more than we ever imagined. A healthy longing to improve balanced with the spiritual assurance that in and through the Savior, we are going to make it. With such an understanding, we can honestly say to the Heavenly Father: So trusting my all to thy tender care, and knowing thou loves me, I will do thy will with a heart sincere: I will be what you want me to be. The removal of all struggle and all insecurity would logically and psychologically lead to the prayer: give me something to desire. The term pleasure embraces everything from scratching an itch to enjoying eternal bliss with God. With God, pleasure is a state ad pleasure is a motion. Hence health is a true pleasure. We belittle neither the joy arising from conferral of benefit, not the testimony of a good conscience as the reward for deeds, nor the importance of mental pleasures. Pleasure be natural so that no pain follow the pleasure of the chosen, and that no greater pleasure be lost, and that no social harm results. #Randolphharris 6 of 6
The Idea of a Universe without God is Effroyable–True Beauty is to Behold and Reflect the Beauty of God
The soul exits beyond our personal circumstances and conceptions. We must always keep in mind that God’s greatest gift is eternal life. If you want peace, yours is the responsibility to obtain it. There can be no real happiness without peace, yet honest men and women in all parts of the World are seeking personal peace and know not where to find it. It is the peace that makes us really appreciate mortal life and enables us to bear heartbreaking tribulations. “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God,” reports Matthew 5.9. Aesthetics and psychology are closely related. There is a clear distinction between beauty and metaphysical perfection: beauty is an inferior, subjective kind of perfection. Metaphysical perfection consists in unity in a multiplicity. Aesthetic perfection arises out of the limits of human understanding. Humans are unable to conceive, as God can, the real, supreme unity in the enormous variety of things. They must therefore content themselves with introducing an artificial unity (uniformity) into some objects in order to be able to perceive them as wholes; and this is beauty. A beautiful object is not necessarily perfect in itself, but must be perfect in its capacity to be perceived. We all vibrate sympathetically like different octaves of the same tone, our human hearts pulsing in the same rhythms as those of the material and spiritual World. The perception of beauty strengthens the representative activity of the soul and makes it more perfect, thus causing a feeling of pleasure. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
God created the World to put his beauty of display. The perception of beauty causes intuitive knowledge; in its highest stage it becomes the aesthetic illusion in which, for example, fable appears as reality. If we subject it to a process of analysis and definition, the beauty of an object escapes us; therefore, experience of the beautiful cannot be an object knowledge. Even if we do not possess the object, a beautiful object gives us aesthetic pleasure; thus, the approval of beauty must be distinct from desire. The aim is to portray psychological states that everyone experiences. Beauty is not produced by genius. Genius does not imitate nature, but idealizes it; that is, it exhibits natural objects as God would have created them if his aim had been aesthetic and not metaphysical perfection. Genius is independent of rules because it establishes its own rules. A genius’ procedure is instinctive. Because we were created in God’s image, we were made to notice and desire beauty because God is the architect of beauty. Therefore, the beauty of God is as pervasive and practical as the glory of God. If we admire the glory of God, we are admiring God’s beauty. The existence of God and the immortality of the soul can be demonstrated because it is the radiance of the glory of God. The soul is a simple substance and therefore indestructible. Terms such as eternal, simple, and immaterial can be univocally predicated of God. Thee soul might nevertheless lose its consciousness, but the divine wisdom and goodness of God would not allow this to happen. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Whenever anything lives, there is, open somewhere, a register in which time is being inscribed. Spirit testifies unto you even so we should do all holiness of heart, walking up right, and considering the end of our salvation, doing all things with thankgiving and prayer that we may not be seduced by evil spirits nor the doctrines of the wicked. God created the glory of light, he prefigured what he would do in the new creation of human hearts. God said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” and it has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the World. In the new creation, we see the beauty of God in our daily lives. In the old creation, we see the beauty of God in the Heavens and the Earth. The body is not just an object among objects; nor is it just a contingent fact that our perceptual experience is specially conditioned by what occurs in one particular sector of the physical World. Instead, it is precisely because consciousness has a locus within the World that our knowledge of that World has the perspective and uncompletable character. The function of the human body itself, at least at its higher levels, can be understood only is we attribute to it the intentional structures that are reserved for pure consciousness. God is the cause of good in each genus, he called be called by the name of the perfection in these good. God is to human beings as the shepherd is to his or her sheep. Religious language is symbolic, and in fact all statements about God are symbolic, except one—that God id being itself or ground of being. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Metaphysics is an analogical way of thinking, which generalizes from some form of intellectual or spiritual relationship judged to be significant. You cannot pick up the celestial massage, the bread of life, the word of God, with rabbit ears on your human mind, your human body; the message ill not be clear. Metaphysics must be vitally metaphorical; that is, it must preserve the stereoscopic vision necessary to creative thought, if it is to overcome such puzzling dualism as mind-body, without losing the identity of the terms. It is important to keep the mind clear and focused on the Heavenly message. It takes time to plan and install in the human heart and mind an antenna to pick up spiritual revelation and inspiration from God. We must be in tune. If we are out of tune, we are out of harmony, and static and wrong impression come from the wicked adversary and Worldly sources. We can receiver eternal life and salvation from knowing the only true God. Many believe that there is a God, many say that they know there is a God, but many do not act like they know God. There is a great difference in believing or knowing that God is there and in knowing God. When we claim that we know God, it bears great responsibility. And hereby of we keep his commandments, we do know that we know God. People who say that they know God, and keep not his commandments, are liars, and the truth is not in there. One that says he or she abides in God ought himself or herself also should obey God and be righteous. “Thou believe that there is one God; thou does well; the wicked also believe, and tremble, reports James 2.19. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
The weight of the testimony required must depend on the apparent credibility of the events reported. If the events are in some way marvelous and rare, then the testimony for them has to be treated with more circumspection than the witness to everyday occurrences. Knowing God is related to keeping his commandments. Knowing God must come by direct revelation from God. We cannot know by the power of flesh and blood. If anyone shall say that miracles can never be known for certain, or that the divine origin of the Christian religion cannot properly be proved by them: let him or her be cast out (si quis dixerit aut miracul certo cognosci numqum posse nec iis divinam religionis christianae originem rite probari: anathema sit. The Lord has indicated that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against revelation from him to anyone of his children who desires to know the living God. This is available by divine commitment and by divine will, that for anyone desiring to know God the Eternal Father, God is under commitment and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against that commitment and it will be revealed through the power and principle of revelation direct from God to the one desiring to receive that information. Nature is the will of God and hence that a portent is not contrary to nature, but contrary to our knowledge of nature (Protentum ergo fit non contra naturam, sed contra quam est nota natura. Knowing God does not solve all of life’s problems, but it gives purpose and strength to master them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
In order to know God the Eternal Father, we must receive that knowledge through the program of the scriptures. This logic is based on ancient authority and rational or experimental grounds. The light of life is divine light that permeates and radiates in the human soul and brings out the Godlike qualities and attributes of righteousness. The light of life is love. The light of life has within it the glorious promises from God of eternal life in his Heavenly kingdom. The light of life will bring divine truth and happiness and peace into a troubled heart. The light of life brings divine light into the problems and troubles of this life and helps to turn life’s problems into steppingstones to eternal progression and developing Godlike character. “Light is to come into the World, and some people love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, least his or her deeds should be reproved. However, one who does truth comes to the light, that his or her deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrong in God,” reports John 3.19-21. To know God, we must walk in the light of life. To know God as a living child of God, we should know our relationship to him, our divine potential, and we should know that in knowing God there is a great responsibility to respect and love and follow his counsel and his doctrines and his commandment and to grow as a child to become more Godlike. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
If bad money finds wide circulation, good money will go into hiding. The fake person can do anything: he or she can sin, and can atone for it, but sinning makes one no worse and atoning no better. “One who remains and dies in sin receives the wages of everlasting punishment,” reports Mosiah 2.33. The World demands that we be responsible to it, not to ourselves. A political system which seeks freedom through force can easily get stuck halfway; whereas that which seeks license through liberty always attains its goal. The idea of a Universe without God is effroyable. The loving creator has a purifying program and law for cleansing the human mind and body from weakness, imperfection, and sin. Repentance makes it possible for us to progress toward God’s greatest gift, the gift of salvation and eternal life. Repentance is a refining influence, a principle provided through the atonement and the sacrifice of the Savior to help us purify our mortal minds and bodies and to bring out our divine nature and Godlike qualities and character so that we can live in the presence of God in his celestial kingdom. In addition, research has proven the people who believe in God, on average, life four years longer than those who do not because Christian principles, well engraved in the minds of the people, is far more conducive and honorable. It is not possible to choose God’s way of life and to know God unless we know his program. “Blessed are the people who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God, reports Luke 14.15. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Present Effects on Human Happiness with an Inquiry Into Our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evils Which It Occasions
Evil exists in the World not to create despair but activity. Dreams which are to be understood as fulfillments of wishes is not new, but has long since been recognized. Many girls and boys dream of growing up and one day getting married and having a home of their own, a career, children and at least two automobiles. However, evenless pessimistic observers have emphasized the fact that in our dreams pain and disgust are more frequent than pleasure. Research indications that 58 percent of dreams are disagreeable, and only 28 percent have a been beneficially pleasant. Besides those dreams that convey into our sleep the many painful emotions of life, there are also anxiety-dreams, in which this most terrible of all the painful emotions torment us until we wake. Now it is precisely by these anxiety-dreams that children are so often haunted. The anxiety-dream does really seem to preclude a generalization of the thesis that dreams are wish-fulfillments, and even to condemn it as an absurdity. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to parry these apparently invincible objections. It is merely necessary to observe that our doctrine is not based upon the obvious dream-content, but relates to the thought-content, which, in the course of interpretation is found to life behind the dream. It is true that there are dreams the manifest content of which is the most painful nature. However, has anyone ever tried to interpret these dreams—to discover their latent thought-content? #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The decay of the family has long been a favourite them of social alarmists. Looking back on the conventions which in their own early days were held to be sacred, whether or not they were actually observed, seniors exclaim on the bankruptcy of those marriage conventions today and the consequence dissolution of home life. Even under modification, there has always been some form of marriage, and the home in some shape has still persisted. It is, therefore, only the shallow and the ignorant who can mistake the changes that take place in their own little day and environment for the obliteration of great landmarks—that is, when we have put aside those well-meaning people who like to pay with the idea of the bankruptcy of marries in order to startle their fellows into a more lively concern with social problems. It is not only a truth for the human species that marriage is omnipresent; it is also found among other beings. As a matter of fact, marriage, so far from dying out, tends in various countries of the West to increase in frequency. Dr. Malinowski reports that the elements of soundness and truth in rival doctrines that procreative institutions of humankind are more or less transformation into culturally socialized forms. What mainly concerns us here to observe is that, whatever view of the family we adopt, we are still constrained to admit that, under all changes of forms, it has always persisted, so that its existence may even be said to be woven into the texture of the species. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
Obedience to the law of chastity will increase our happiness in mortality and make possible our progress in eternity. Why is the law of chastity so important? The law of chastity is a moral code that only allows intimate, adult relationships between a man and a woman who are legally and lawfully wedded as husband and wife. The eternal importance of chastity can only be understood within the overarching context of our Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness of the Lord’s children. “For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of men and women,” reports Jacob 2.28. All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of Heavenly parents, and has a divine nature and destiny. All men and women lived with God as the Lord’s spirit children before coming to the Earth as mortal beings. The Father’s plan enabled his spirit sons and daughters to obtain physical bodies, to gain mortal experience, and to progress toward exaltation. The fundamental principle is that unfreakish human populations possess a power of multiplying in a geometrical possession. The next step is to urge that this power always is and must be checked by countervailing forces; for, on the most optimistic supposition, means of subsistence could in the long run at best be increased only in an arithmetical progression. However, no human population ever does achieve its full multiplicative potential. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Do not allow yourself to be alone and walk in the darkness without light. The problem of the origin of species in natural selection is that there is constantly a struggle for existence because our inordinate power of multiplication is bound—sooner or later, and usually sooner—to run up against the inexorably constricting walls of scarcity. All measures of intended amelioration which directly or indirectly encourage an increase of population that outstrips resources—and most do—will, in the not very distant end, merely multiply the number of bearers of misery and agents of vice. These harsh and gloomy conclusions were only modified, not upset, by the belated recognition of the option of moral restraint. For it was, and remains, hard to cherish high hopes from the preaching of such prudence; and in any society which did generally accept such preaching all but the richest would have to marry women nearing the evening of their reproductive powers. In the school of mortality, we experience tenderness, love, kindness, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, pain, and even the challenges of physical limitations in ways that prepare us for eternity. Simply stated, there are lessons we must learn and experience we must have while we are human. The means by which mortal life is created is divinely appointed. The power of procreation is spiritually significant. Misuse of this power subverts the purpose of the Father’s plan and our mortal existence. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
It is perfectly impossible to conceive that any creatures of God’s hand can be condemned to eternal suffering. Could we once admit such an idea, all our natural conceptions of goodness and justice would be completely overthrown, and we could no longer look on God as a merciful and righteous Being. Eternal death means eternal death and not eternal life in torment. The doctrine of life and immortality which was brought to life by the gospel is the doctrine that the end of righteousness is everlasting life, but the wages of sin are death. What that means is when you are sinning and hurting people and you know it is wrong, you will be repaid by eternal death and will not go to Heaven with all the good people. So, even if you think you are getting away with doing bad and appear to be doing well in this life, remember, God sees everything. Specific guidelines for the proper use of the ability to create life are vital elements in the Father’s plan. How we feel about and use that supernal power will determine in large measure our happiness in mortality and our destiny. The power to create mortal life is the most exalted power God has given his children. Its use was mandated in the first commandment, but another important commandment was given to forbid its misuse. The emphasis we place on the law of chastity is explained by our understanding of the purpose of our procreative powers in the accomplishment of God’s plan. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Intimate relations are proper only between a man and a woman in the marriage relationship prescribed in God’s plan. Such relations are not merely a curiosity to be explored, an appetite to be satisfied, or a type of recreation or entertainment to be pursued selfishly. They are not a conquest to be achieved or simply an act to be performed. Rather, they are in mortality one of the ultimate expressions of our divine nature and potential and a way of strengthening emotional and spiritual bounds between husband and wife. We are agents blessed with moral agency and are defined by our divine heritage as children of God—and not by sexual behaviors, contemporary attitudes, or secular philosophies. Contraception is one kind of preventive check; none at all would be required if the multiplicative power was not still there to be checked. Catastrophe does not have to be a tendency—not if people can be persuaded to employ the means which science has and will put into our hands. No plan for social improvement can be complete, unless it embraces the means both of increasing production, and of preventing population making a proportionate advance. We are here on Earth to develop Godlike qualities and to bridle all of the passions of the flesh. The Father’s plan is designed to provide direction for His Children, to help them become happy, and bring them safely home to him with resurrected, exalted bodies. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
God is Up in His Ivory Shower!
When people are talking to people, it is important that one darn sure understands what is going on. Cultural legacies matter—they are powerful and pervasive and they persist, long after their original usefulness has passed. However, do not assume that legacies are an indelible part of who we are. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good and edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers,” reports Ephesians 4.29. If we are honest about where we come from and are willing to confront those aspects of our heritage that do not suit the professional World, we can change. We can and should participate in continuing civil dialogue, especially when we view the World from differing perspectives. When we understand what it really means to be a good person—when we understand how much culture and history and the World outside of the individual matter to professional success—then we do not have to throw up our hands in despair at other people when they make mistakes. We have a way to make success out of the unsuccessful. “A soft answer turns away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger,” reports Proverbs 15.1. Although it is important to be frank about a subject we would all too often rather ignore, a soft answer consists of a reasoned response—disciplined words from a humble heart. Words that may be firm in information can be soft in spirit. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Why are we so squeamish? Why is the fact that each of us comes from a culture with its own distinctive mix of strength and weaknesses, tendencies and predispositions, so difficult to acknowledge? Who we are cannot be separated from where we are from—and when we ignore that fact, accidents happen. You can imagine how frustrating it can be when people are all thinking furiously, trying to square their assumptions about a person or situation they know nothing about. There exists today a great need for people to cultivate respect for each other across wide distances of belief and behavior and across deep canyons of conflicting agendas. It is impossible to know all that informs our minds and hearts or even to fully understand the context for the trials and choices we each face. Even intelligent individuals have trouble with the group mentality trap. In order to avoid the hazards of hardheadedness and self-interest in a group setting where the issues at hand may appear to be impossible to solve, we need to understand a genuine dialogue that will free individuals to do their best thinking. When each person feels that his or her opinions and emotions are taken seriously, the intelligence of a group or community can move beyond the intelligence quotient of any of the individuals, into the collective genius. Learning to relate to the person behind the opinions by shifting to a more beneficial point of view is the most effective way of ending the conflict. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
When a person is trying to express to you what is going on, it is never a good idea to compare and contrast their situation with someone you think who has a more difficult time. Whatever the person talking to you is going through has nothing to do with comparing their situation to someone else’s. They are trying to explain what is going on with them and get some kind of empathy or advice. Sometimes we need to fully own the limits of our own imperfections and rough edges in communicating with others, and practice with tender regard for another’s experience what we are thinking. Hearing someone who has it harder does not and should not make us feel better. It would be like a struggling adult talking about their situation and someone saying, “Well, when your father was twenty-one he has a successful career, a house in the hills, and a brand-new car.” And it is like, that is nice, but there may be something someone is trying to express about their situation that has nothing to do with a comparison. They may be looking for help on how to deal with something they think is personal. Rising above our own feelings requires an unselfish generosity, the kind of generosity that contributes to happiness. Everyone has a different lifestyle and other people’s failures of successes have nothing to do with one’s situation. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
It is sometimes like because people, even if they are older, get together in groups and because they have had a hard life, they want to take it out on someone who was rising above the doom and gloom and mistakes others made with their life. And when they finally bring that person down and that person is suffering, they want that individual to know that they have had a hard life and why should you have it any different. It is like seeing you suffer makes them feel better, and they want to blame you for their problems. Typically as we age, empathy for another person’s perspective comes easier than it does during earlier periods, but not always for some. Research on healthy adult development reveals that one key characteristic of maturity is the increased capacity to respect and even embrace another person’s point of view. Vast improvements in relationships are made when we can move beyond our rigid ideas and attempt to encounter others as people, not positions. Perhaps most exciting are the community—even global—implications of simply getting to know each other before we attempt to “solve” problems. “For the Lord sees not as people see; people look at the outside appearance, but God look at the heart,” reports 1 Samuel 16.7. It does not matter who is more right. What matters is listening to each other an understanding the other’s perspective. The willingness to see through each other’s eyes will transform corrupt communication in ministering grace. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Western communication has what linguists call a transmitter orientation—that is, it is considered the responsibility of the speaker to communicate ideas clearly and unambiguously. However, there is something beautiful in the subtlety of the exchange in Eastern culture, in the attention that each party must pay to the motivations and desires of the other. It is civilized, in the truest sense of that word: it does not permit insensitivity or insensitivity or indifference. However, high-power distance communication works only when the listener is capable of paying close attention, and it only works if the two parties in a conversation have the luxury of time, in order to unwind each other’s meanings. It does not work in high finance when time is an issue and people are exhausted and trying to get a situation taken care of before a deadline. Speaking through grace and compassionate language when the cultivated gift of the Holy Ghost pierces our hearts with empathy for the feelings and context of others. It enables us to transform hazardous situations into holy places. God looks upon our hearts and cares what we are thinking. It is also important to understand that sometimes people have had discussions in the past, and they only reason they may revisit them is because some third-party steps in with their opinions. So people who have had a discussion in the past understand what the other is saying and does not have to go into much detail. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
And, frankly, sometimes people just need to mind their own business and keep their opinions to themselves, especially if you start trying to power force in a situation that has nothing to do with you and there is clear evidence that your influence has made the situation much worse. No one asked for your opinion, no one asked for your help and if you had followed the law all the pain and suffer and decades of corrective action and millions of dollars would not have been spent trying to correct a problem you created by trying to force your influence over a situation that was under control. People are not here to have their faith questioned and challenged. We are here to remind ourselves that we are not alone, to reaffirm centuries-old traditions with like-minded souls from around the World. We are not brainwashed, we are not being forced, we are all confirmed, we are doing this on our own. The Church does not make mistakes. We are all sinners, we are not perfect, we cannot expect anyone to be perfect like God, but it is important to show respect and not try to force your situations or ways onto others, especially when they can have fatal and lifelong impacts. Sometimes when people are watching you, they cannot help but feel jealous because you believe in something; it is more than they can say. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
When you follow a leader, a code, a God, and it give your life meaning not by seeking to attain control of someone else’s narrative and reshaping, but through the opposite: by relinquishing it; we shall go one pursuing the path which the Lord has marked out before us. We have the right to influence who gets elected, what gets taught in schools, what gets sold in stores, and what rights we have in order to make decisions about our own bodies in lives. You cannot own a person and try to control their lives by using political forces. You cannot assume you know more than a person does about their products when you are not an expect. America is a law of lands and we have a capitalistic system because other systems can be very dangerous and deadly, as they do not respect human lives nor freedom of choice. America used to be a different World, where slavery was legal and everyone can see how deadly and dangerous it is when people do not have the freedom to make choices about their own lives, bodies, health and occupations. “Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; of both in Heaven and in the Earth, and under the Earth; things which must shortly come to pass; thing which are at home; things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 88.78-80. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
There is Power in Being an Understander and Listener
Pure mind is in a state of harmony. We want to be encircled in the arms of our Heavenly Father’s love and guidance. At different times in our history we have denied soul to classes of beings we have wanted to control. Certain groups of people, at one time, had been deprived of having the ability to possess a soul. In our day, we assume that things have no soul, and thus we can do to them what we will. If we knew in our hearts that all beings and all things have a soul, we could not govern them as conscious subject over inert objects. Instead, we would have a mutual relationship of affection, respect, and care. We would be less lonely in a World that is alive with its own kind of soul than we are in a mechanical World we think we need to sustain with our technological efforts. Collectively we are like the burdened individual who thinks he or she has to get up early every morning in order to help sun rise. This is not all that uncommon a neurotic conception, and it reflects an attitude we all share, in part, as participants in the spirit of the times. If there is such a thing as mental healing it must be based on the supposition that all form is a manifestation of mind and that mind controls its manifestation. If God is all, there is nothing of which to be afraid, for perfect love casts out fear; where love is, fear cannot enter. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
There once was a boy who used to put all of his stuff animals on his bed in alphabetical order. Bear, cat, dog, elephant and so on. One day, his mother realized that they were in a different order and she asked why? The boy responded, “I put them in the order that I love them. Please do not tell them, I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.” In all of us there is a profound longing for friendship, a deep yearning for the satisfaction and security that close and lasting relationships can give. Much conspires against friendship in later life. Retirement removes the context from which work friendship may have drawn their momentum. Physical problems may interfere with the nature of our activities and the frequency of our contacts with others. Above all, the passing of old friends may rob us of the will for friendship. When new friends beckon, we are reluctant to put heart and the energy into making news ones. Many people will limit themselves to superficial friendships. They insist that nothing further is possible, staying within safe conversational topics, such as the doings of family members and the trivialities of work. They then point to these dull friendships as proof of their initial belief. Some believe that the new friendships have no place to grow together and that they have heard it all before, and there is nothing left to say. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
Simple love, honestly expressed, gives hope and value to others. We tend to shun in others what we fear in ourselves. Yet mustering our willingness to look beneath the surface of other people’s dispositions if the only way to counter this fear with hope. If instead we keep averting our eyes and refusing to make accommodations, our intolerance will fill us with dread as our own surfaces deteriorates. We may leave ourselves stranded when we disallow soul to simple things around us because we lose that important source of soul for ourselves. Concretely, a tree can tell us much in the language of its form, texture, age, and colour and in the way in presents itself as an individual. However, in this expression of itself, it is also showing us the secretes of our own souls, for there is no absolute separation between the World’s soul and our own. We are truly the World, and the World is us. When we are satisfied that we know all that is worth knowing about ourselves, or when we accept that there is nothing more to day or to learn from others, we close off our curiosity. We tell ourselves, “I have had enough,” and we stay sad and exhausted. Some people would rather have dinner in complete silence instead of talking about the same problems over and over and so they push themselves to find new ideas and concepts to discuss to keep life interesting. Like the fact that we can clone or pets and buy land on the Moon. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
Perhaps our life in a loving premortal World set up our yearning for true, lasting love here on Earth. Taking an interest is half of inspiration. There is power in being an understander and listener. As life gets physically more difficult, we need commitments to others to bind us to life. Those who stay insular find that their spirit for life dwindles along with their physical powers. Gift have to move from one person or another, or they lose their values. Anything contained within a boundary must contain as well its own exhaustion. The gift that is not used will be lost, while the one that is passed along remains abundant. The gift of continuing to be alive, when passed on to others through friendship, makes the spirit abundant every as the body wanes. Many people surprise themselves with the quality of the friendships they are able to form, once they put aside their biases. Most people want sibling-like equality and reciprocity in their friendships. Individuals who are open to their needs and back up the relationships. We need to cultivate our relationships to the ensouled World through simple daily mindfulness and imaginative practices. We must carefully expose ourselves to art, architecture, food, landscapes, cultures, and climate. Life is rich in what it can offer the soul, but in order to receive that richness we must learn to enjoy things in moderation and use them with great discernment. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
We are divinely designed to give love and be loved, and the deepest love comes when we are one with God. The soul straddles the eternal and the temporal and the full blend of these two dimensions gives life depth and vitality. The body of God is perfect, including every manifestation of itself. Humans are the body of God. Turn things into thoughts and heal the thought. Spiritual enlightenment in the mind heals the body because the body is mind in form and because spiritual enlightenment changes the form of thought in mind. Religion and theology show us the mysteries and the rites that inform every piece of ordinary modern life. To care for the soul we will need to give up our limited ideas of what psychology is, our attempts to gain rational control over our moods and emotions, our illusion that our consciousness is the only sign of soul in Universe, and our desire for dominance over nature and fabricated things. We will have to expose ourselves to beauty, risking the irrationality it stirs up and the interference it can pace in the way of our march toward technological progress. We may have to give up many projects that seem important to modern life, in the name of sacred nature and the need for beautiful things. And we may have to do these things both communally and individually, as part of our effort finally to care for the soul. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Healing emotional distance between each other will require our acceptance of God’s love, coupled with a sacrifice of our natural selfish and fearful tendencies. There is no necessary enmity between technology and beauty, or between care of the soul and development of culture. Science has as much capacity for soulfulness as do art and religion. However, in all these areas we have lived for a long time now as though soul were not a factor and consequently encounter soul only in intractable problems and deep-seated neuroses. For instance, we have amazingly efficient cars, but marriage is becoming impossible to sustain. We produce movies and television programs without end, but we have little imagination about living in a peaceful international community. We have many instruments for medicine, but we do not understand except on the most rudimentary ways the relationship between life and ailments. We do not have to lose pleasure and fun in order to give the soul what it needs, but we do have to give it attention and articulation. As long as we leave care of the soul out of our daily lives we will suffer the loneliness of living in a dead, cold, unrelated World. We can improve ourselves to the maximum, and yet we will still feel the alienation inherent in a divided existence. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
We will continue to exploit nature and our capacity to invent new things, but both will continue to overpower us, if we do not approach them with enough depth and imagination. The way out of this neurosis is to leave our modern divisions behind and learn from other cultures, from art and religion, and from new movements in philosophy that there is another way to perceive the World. We can replace our modernist psychology with care of the soul, and we can begin building a culture that is sensitivity to matters of the heart. As the physical Universe has been linked to prayer to God, so our individual experiences may be linked to our spirituality. Spirituality forms our awareness, our realization—an inner feeling and conviction which transcends the experience taking place in an objective World. Take a definite time at least twice each day to be alone, sit down, compose your mind, and think about God. Try to arrive at a deep sense of peace and calm. Then assume an attitude of faith in a power greater than you are. We need to continually deepen our knowledge of and obedience to Heavenly Father. Our relationship with God is eternal. We are his beloved children, and that will not change. How are we going to wholeheartedly accept his invitation to draw near to God and this enjoy the blessing he longs to give us in this life and in the World to come? #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
We are here on this Earth to learn and grow, and the most important learning and growing will come from our covenant connection to Heavenly Father. From our faithful relationship with God comes superior knowledge, love, power, and capacity to serve. We are duty-bound to learn all that God has revealed about himself. We need to know that Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation is that we obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel and gain eternal life and thus become as God is. This is the true and lasting happiness Heavenly Father offers us. There is no other true and lasting happiness. Our challenges can pull us off this course of happiness. We can lose our trusting connection to God if trials drive us to distraction instead of sending us to our knees. A matter of lasting value to the Father is that we learn of him, humble ourselves, and grow in obedience to him through Earthly experiences. God wants us to change our selfishness into service, our fears into faith. These lasting matters can test us to our core. It is now, with our mortal limitations, that the Father asks us to love when loving is most difficult, to serve when serving is inconvenient, to forgive when forgiving is soul stretching. Sacrifice of our personal agendas is required to make room for the eternal plans of God. To live with high degree of prophetic counsel means attending to the small things that keep the soul engaged in whatever we are doing, and it is the very heart of soul-making. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Our Degree of Gratitude is a Means of Love for God
Think of our physical sustenance. It is truly Heaven sent. We are at home here on Earth. So many people who come here seem lost and emotionally or spiritually homeless. They keep moving, but they never really live anywhere. To get to Heaven, we need to focus less on saving our own soul and more time loving all souls. Loyalty is a reward for remembered generosity. Community, friendship, and generosity are three aspects of life that we may squander until we fully admit to our dependence on one another. Throughout history we find certain schools of thought, such as the Renaissance Platonists and the Romantic poets, that have focused on the soul. It is interesting to note that these soul-minded writers have emphasized certain common themes. Relatedness, particularity, imagination, mortality, and pleasure are among them; another is beauty. In a World where soul is neglected, beauty is placed last on its list of priorities. There are moments in life when our true dependence on one another breaks through. Loyalty is the attribute we most value in our relatives and celebrate in our friends. If we conducted the middle of our lives with an eye to the end of our lives, we would choose a place to live and we would stay. Residing near others with whom we establish a history of reciprocity is the best hope for our future stability, whether we manage to live near blood relations or choose to develop family-like bonds with others. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
No amount of self-reliance can match the confidence derived from years of faithfulness and accumulated gratitude. The assumption that beauty is an accessory, and dispensable, show that some may not understand the importance of giving the soul what it needs. The soul is nurtured by beauty. Many people like to keep close contact with good people they have known since their youth. Some of our friends have been part of the landscape of our lives as far back as we can remember. Having someone to talk to at the end of the day does people a World of good, even just for a few minutes. They know someone is thinking of them, and they can say a thing or two about how their day was. Most people look forward to a short conversation at the end of the day. This is food to the body and pleasing to the soul. If we have lack of beauty in our lives, we will probably suffer familiar disturbances in the soul—depression, paranoia, meaninglessness, and addiction. The soul craves beauty and, in its absence, suffers beauty neurosis. Beauty neurosis is a hyperactive lifestyle that confuses intense activity for the ability to engage with the World. It is not the threat of death, illness, hardship, or poverty that crushes the human spirit; it is the fear of being alone and unloved in the Universe. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
The process that drives creativity has been so mysterious to us throughout human history. The problem with our modern networks is that they become useless once physical frailty catapults our mobility back into the nineteenth century. When our face-to-face contact is cut off, we may as well be three thousand miles away. Prior to reaching our time of frailty, we are wise to survey our lives for pockets of loyalty worth preserving. Starting over is strenuous at any age, but especially when we are emotionally vulnerable or physically fragile. Divine inspiration and reciprocation keeps relationships alive. Bonds with friends and neighbors may mean more than blood oaths, especially if a recent history of giving and receiving animates thee other relationship. Such discoveries contradict what we prefer to believe about the strength of family bonds and our ability to overcome the effects of geographical separation. Scattering across the country causes family members to become strangers to each other, no matter how often they write or call. Verbal contact is not the same as meshing the routines of daily life: going shopping together, exchanging help back and forth, and witnessing each other’s victories and sorrows first-hand. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Our bonds remain strongest when they are sustained by both proximity and mutual need. Beauty assists the soul in its own peculiar ways of being. For the soul, it is important to be taken out of the rush of practical life for the contemplation of timeless and eternal realities. Beauty is arresting. You may find yourself driving along a highway when you suddenly pass a vista that catches your breath. You stop the car, get out for just a few minutes, and behold the grandeur of nature. This is the arresting power of beauty and giving in to that sudden longing of the soul is a way of giving it what it needs. Discussion of beauty can sometimes sound ethereal and philosophical, but from the soul viewpoint, beauty is a necessary part of ordinary life. If only passing a store window and stopping for a second to notice a beautiful ring or amazing car, every day we will find moments when the soul glimpses an occasion for beauty. We know that the objective person, place, and condition are all effects following the causation, which is the mind. And we know that thought is the instrument of mind. The arrow of desire and attachment stops us in our tracks—we are taken by the beauty and feel its pleasure. The point of the momentary seizure is simply to feel the soul with its preferred diet—a sight that invites contemplation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
From this viewpoint, the word does not have to reach any objective place; it merely describes the place. Identifying itself in mind with the place, it is instantly at that place. For the soul, then, beauty is not defined as pleasantness of form but rather as the quality in things that invites absorption and contemplation. Beauty is something that unlimited gives scope to the imagination; beauty is a source of imagination, and it never dries up. A thing so attractive and absorbing may seize the soul in a special sense. Some of the ancients has reported that the truth is that whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. It will help us to have a complete conviction that our word will always reach the desired condition; it will never fail to objectify where it should, when it should, and in the right way. Nothing but the absolute faith in the Law of Cause and Effect can give us this confidence. If we are going to care for the soul, and if we know that the soul is nurtured by beauty, then we will have to understand beauty more deeply and give it more prominent place in life. It is self-evident that all things come from the invisible, are projected by it, and remain with it. Religion has always understood the value of beauty, as we can see in churches and temples, which are never built for purely practical considerations, but always for the imagination. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
A tall steeple or a rose window are not designed to allow additional seating or better light for reading. They speak to the soul’s need for beauty, for love of the building itself as well as its use, for a special opportunity for sacred imagination. Our thought is an activity of this invisible causation, and when we say, “This word shall manifest in this place,” we may be and we must be certain that it will do so. How much better it would be if all could be more aware of God’s providence and love and express that gratitude to him. Could we not learn from our churches and Victorian homes and temples, to give attention and funding to this same need in our modern homes, our commercial buildings, our highways, and our schools? An appreciation for beauty is simply an openness to the power of things to stir the soul. If we can be affected by beauty, then soul is alive and well in us, because the soul’s great talent is for being affected. The word passion means basically to be affected, and passion is the essential energy of the soul. Let us give thanks to God, for he does work righteousness forever. Our degree of gratitude is a means of love for him. God is the Father of our spirits. He has glorified, perfected body of flesh and bone. We have lived with him in Heaven before we were born. And when he created us physically, we were created in the image of God each with a personal body. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
The Demands of Divine Justice Awaken the Immortal Soul
Pondering takes our thoughts from the trivial things of this World and brings us closer to the gentle, guiding hand of our Maker as we heed the still small voice. We decorate our homes with antiques as a way of capturing soul, and museums are a focal point in our cities because people want to remember vitality. We try to make things and people last forever, but we know that everything has a definite lifespan. That is why opposite tendencies can coexist in us, feelings coexist in us, feelings contradicting each other live together, and what is true and what false can be confused. So much lives in us—wishes and their denials, faith and mistrust, appetites and distastes. They change places so frequently that what is fair becomes foul and what is foul, fair. The more independence we lose, the more torn we become by contradictory urges. Outbursts of anger at family, friends, colleagues, and assistants can take places as some people may resent being rescued as success at ordinary tasks become elusive. However, at the same times they desperately want to be spared their frustrations at not being able to accomplish a project on their own. For many people, to accept help is to miss a chance to prevail, and to go on struggling is taxing and upsetting. We do not want things to die, we do not want life to end, and we are angry if they do—if things no longer function as intended it is an inescapable reminder that everything in the material World is finite. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible. The programming of human concerns as a legitimate scientific endeavor represents the central hope in society. The fundamental principle in care of the soul is that soul needs tending. If we do not tend to things in their erosion of independence, we will take that suffering upon ourselves. Asking for assistance is more complicated than it seems, often evoking a host of conflicted emotions. Some dependent people find the mere act of calling attention to themselves abhorrent. Others can bear this indignity but dislike having to spell out exactly what has to be done on their behalf. Almost all tire of explaining, revealing, and excusing themselves, wish that people would just know what to do and would simply do it without having to be asked or reminded. The best assistance is that which is unobtrusive. Helpers who quietly get things done, rather than announcing their efforts, leave a dependent person’s pride intact. The indebted position is not emphasized, and no mention is made of special accommodations. The fact of vulnerability then recedes into the background, where it can reside without hammering the person’s self-esteem. Thus, we have seen how the emergence of how teaching humans how to once again get in touch with one other is helpful and a necessity. Our Savior knows the heart of each of us. He knows the pains of our hearts. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
Repeatedly needing to ask for rides, favors, and special adaptations causes many vulnerable people to feel they must ask for nothing on other levels. Some try to compensate by extending themselves in every other way. For example, an attractive housewife had recently moved into a new neighborhood and was desperately anxious to meet her new neighbors because her husband worked all the time. Finally, someone rings the doorbell; it is the next-door neighbor. She thought to herself, “Thank God I just happened to be brewing coffee, because if I were not, the neighbor just might go away and never come back.” For this woman, the coffee helped to fill the void of loneliness, as it was a tool to use to get her neighbors to sit down and chit chat. This woman survives by remaining attuned to what her friends expect in return for their kindness. She carefully maintains the exchanging, watching to see that each of her acquaintances leaves satisfied. She derives pride and security from accurately detecting what each is getting out of helping her and making sure that these rewards continue to satisfy them. Soul is then revealed, as though it had been hidden for years. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Concealment, whether physical or emotional, only produces a lonely form of dignity. The exercise of influence is essential to retaining both vibrancy and self-respect. Unless we exert control over some aspect of our lives, no matter how mundane or seemingly inconsequential, a significant part of our spirit dies. In situations of dependence, power can be reclaimed through many routes. Any strategy that lessens ambiguity restores authority to dependent people. Insisting that people function accord to a schedule is better for their endurance than putting up with long hours of waiting, especially when they are not feeling well. Just as waiting reminds them minute-by-minute of their helplessness, firm plans convey a semblance of their former control over their lives. When dependent people can count on events taking place at a set time, they can anticipate them almost as if autonomy were still in their possession. There is no waiting, no asking, and no infuriating uncertainty. Until they arrive at compromises that allow for both self-assertion and collaboration, dependent people are often drawn back and forth on a confusing pendulum of contradictions. They are never sure how much leaning on others is acceptable and how much effort they should exert in their attempts to overcome obstacles and frustrations. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
When they are reduced to their function, things and people suffer. Asking for help has always been difficult for a young woman who has mobility issue. She still feels vivacious, but some mornings can hardly walk across the room—even though she wakes up raring to go. What helps her is, “I remember that I’m a gorgeous dame. This is the price I pay to be alive!” Soul is not about the function, it is about the beauty and form and memory. Care of the World soul, therefore, requires that we see things less for what they can do and more for what they are. If we seek the truth, develop faith in Him, and sincerely repent, we will receive a spiritual change of heart which only comes from our Savior. Our hearts will become new again. If we dwell only on our pain, it will inhibit the healing process. Pondering on things that bring us joy and happiness are very important elements in the healing process for the body and soul. We need to spend our time and energy building our faith by turning to the Lord and asking for strength to overcome the pains and trails of this World and to endure to the end for greater understanding. As we ponder the path of life, we can focus our path on righteousness and feel the spirit direct us. “Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the Earth will honor him,” reports Psalm 67.6-7. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Out of the abundance of the heart and the mouth speak. Today we are keeping careful watch that we think and speak only those things that we wish to broadcast from our minds and returned to us. We desire that everything we think shall be from the hearts as well as from the head. We wish to broadcast kindness and love, and sympathy and understanding, peace and joy. No condemnation, judgment, or fear shall go from us to anyone nor anything. Turning our minds to the divine, we draw into our own souls the essence of everything that is good, true, and beautiful. We draw into our own minds the realization of God and the power of God until our whole beings responds. And this is all we wish to broadcast to the World—something that will help and heal and bless, something that will cause everyone we meet to feel a new strength, a new faith, a new hope. Desiring to receive the divine blessing into our own lives, we wish to broadcast it to the whole Word. Lord, bless and keep us. Make your face to shine up the beautiful World you created. Please be gracious to all of your children. God, lift up your countenance upon the people of this World, and give your faithful peace, both now and forevermore. Resurrection assures us that we will be reunited with our loved ones in the not-too-distant future. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Randolph Harris II International Institute 