Home » church (Page 9)
Category Archives: church
Wealth is Innocent Until Proven Guilty–Healing Cannot Occur without a Walk through Hades!
I live in the intermediate reaches of love. Not the best place, but certainly not the worst. I should count myself fortunate. Be alert. Love is where you find it. Do not be blinded by your categories. Loves comes unexpectedly in many forms. By my carelessness I have lost what now becomes a magic wand that could have lifted me up to Heaven. No one to blame but myself. I am the sole agent of my ruin. It is worthwhile to look to the Parmenides and the Gospel of John. In the philosophical poem about being and nonbeing, Parmenides describes the visionary experience in which the goddess of justice opens his eyes to the true way of asking the ultimate questions. He derives his insight from a kind of revelatory act which takes away his blindness to the truth, and guides him not to a better method of research (although this is an important consequence of his insight), but to a way of life as a whole. In the Fourth Gospel we find passages in which truth is being. Jesus Christ says, “I am the truth.” There are others which state that truth can be done, those who do the truth will recognize the truth. Here the gap between the cognitive and the moral is conquered, and again it is obvious that this kind of insight cannot precede the moral act and motivate it, since it is itself partly a moral act. A modern analogy to these ideas is provided by the psychotherapeutic experience. It clearly shows the difference between detached knowledge and participating insight. No one is helped in one’s personal problems by a thorough knowledge of the psychoanalytic literature. On the contrary, the analyst knows that a patient who claims to have insight into one’s own psychological state on the basis of such knowledge deceives oneself, and often sets up an almost insuperable resistance against gaining true insight about oneself. Only one who enters the healing process with one’s whole being, cognitive as well as moral, and therefore with emotional attachment to the process and its different elements, has a chance of gaining healing. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
However, this healing process cannot occur without a “walk through hades,” the suffering implicit in the awareness of the dark, ordinarily repressed elements in our being. Here also, the moral change is only partly an effect of insight, as insight itself is partly an effect of the moral will to be liberated. There is another concept by which classical Greek humanism attempted to answer the question of moral motivation. It is the concept of eros as used by Plato. Eros is defined as the mystical quality of love. This description of eros depends both on Plato’s use of the word in the Symposium and on the reintroduction of the word into Christian mysticism by Dionysius as the Areopagite. Eros for Plato is a mediating power, elevating the human mind out of existential bondage into the realm of pure essences, and finally to the essence of all essences—the idea of the good that is, at the same time, the idea of the beautiful and the true. As in other examples of Greek tradition, the moral and the cognitive are not separate. Eros provided both insight and moral motivation, and there is a third element, the aesthetic desire for the beautiful which is implied in the good. This goal can be attained by eros as a divine-human power that transcends the moral command without denying it. Eros is the transmoral motivation for moral action. To be impelled by eros can also be described as being grasped by that toward which eros drives. And thus we return to the principle of love. It is one of the qualities of love that concerns us here—the mystical, the drive toward reunion with essential being in everything, ultimately with the good as the principle of being and knowing (in Platonic terms). Love in all its qualities drives toward reunion. Eros, as distinct from philia and libido, drives toward reunion with things and persons in their essential goodness and with the good itself. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
For mystical theology, God and the good itself is, in religious language, love toward God. This love can be symbolized in two ways: in Plato it is the divine-human power of eros that elevates the mind to the divine; and in Aristotle, it is the power of the divine that attracts every finite think and produces by this attraction the movement of the stars, the Universe, and the human mind. According to both formulations it is not the moral imperative in its commanding majesty and strangeness that is morally motivating, but the driving or attracting power of that which is the goal of the moral realm, in the sense of personal and communal justice, does not furnish moral motivation unless it is understood as a station on the way to something ultimate in being and meaning—the divine. And the aim of everything finite is to participate in the life of the divine. And the aim of everything finite is to participate in the life of the divine. The moral stage is a situation on the way, and the motivation for it depends on the motivation for the transmoral aim, the participation in the divine life, as Aristotle expressed, in mystical-religious terms, the transmoral motivation of morality. Again I should like to point out a contemporary analogy in the realm of therapeutic psychology. The question is whether libido is unlimited in itself or only under the conditions of human estrangement. Our line of thought decides for the latter (as opposed to Dr. Freud and his doctrine of the essential necessity of cultural uneasiness and the death-drive). The difference is that essential libido (toward for or pleasures of the flesh, for example) is concretely directed to a particular object and is satisfied in the union with it, while existentially distorted libido is directed to the pleasure which may be derived from the relation to any encountered object. This drives existential libido boundlessly from object to object, while the essential libido is fulfilled if union with a particular object is achieved. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
This distinguishes the lover from the “Don Juan,” and agape-directed libido from undirected libido. The moral imperative cannot be obeyed by a repression of libido, but only by the power of agape to control libido, but only by the power of gape to control libido and to take it into itself as an element. Eros is a divine-human power. It cannot be produced at will. It has the character of charis, gratia, “grace”—that which is given without prior merit and makes graceful one to whom it is given. It is useful to remember the origins of the word “grace,” because it plays an immense role in Christian religion and theology, and its meaning and relevance have become incomprehensible for most contemporaries both inside and outside the church. Graces are divine gifts, independent of human merit, but dependent on the human readiness to receive them. And the readiness itself is the first gift of grace, which can be either persevered or lost. Theology has distinguished between “common” grace that works in all realms of life and in all human relations, and the special grace bestowed upon those who are grasped by the new reality that has appeared in the Christ. In both respects, the problem of moral motivation is decisive. What common and special grace accomplish is to create a state of reunion in which the cleave between out true and actual being is fragmentarily overcome, and the rule of the commanding law is broken. Where there is grace there is no command and no struggle to obey the command. This is true of all realms of life. One who has the grace of loving a thing, a task, a person, or an idea doe not need to be asked to love, whatever quality of love may be predominant in one’s love. A reunion of something separated has already taken place, and with it a partial fulfillment of the moral imperative. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
As a gift of grace, it is not produced by one’s will and one’s endeavour. One simply receives it. In this sense we may say: there is grace in every reunion of being with being, insofar as it is reunion and not the misuse of the one by the other, insofar as justice is not violated. Elements of grace permeate everyone’s life. Once could also call them healing powers that overcome the split between what we essentially are and what we actually are, and with the split the estrangement of life from life and the hidden or open hostility of life against life. Whenever elements of grace appear, the moral command is fulfilled. What was demanded now is given. However, what was given can be lost. And it will be lost, if one forgets that grace fulfills what the moral imperative demands, and that it affirms and does not replace the unconditional seriousness of morality. Therefore, as soon as grace is lost, the commanding law takes over and produces the painful experience of being unable to become what one could and should have become. This suffering under the moral law finally drives us to the question of the meaning of our existence in the light of the unconditional moral command which cuts into our finite and estranged predicament. We feel that the many gifts of common grace do not suffice; we ask for a grace as unconditional as the moral imperative and as infinite as our failure to fulfill it. We ask for the religious element of moral motivation directly, after we have experienced its indirect effect as common grace in the different realms of life. This Christian message is above all a message of grace. There is no religion without this element. The Old Testament, where the law plays such a decisive role, refers in every part to the divine covenant between God and the selected nation, and to the promises beyond all threats and judgments. We might cite similar examples from many other religions. However, Christianity, particularly under the impact of the Protestant Reformation, have emphasized the idea of grace more than any other religion. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
Celibacy for some is like walking on the sword’s edge, and one can see every moment the necessity of continued vigilance. Many people are not blessed with a propensity for celibacy. However, if one acquires mastery over the palate, the observance of celibacy becomes comparatively easy. One must breathe the air of freedom and cast out all doubt from one’s mind, and practice purity of thoughts. Because self-control I paramount, testing to see whether that control is truly in place makes logical sense. One must grow to empathize with others on many issues. The concept of grace in Christian thought contains a polarity between the element of forgiveness and the element of fulfillment. The former can be expressed as the forgiveness of sins or—in a paradoxical phrase—the acceptance of the unacceptable. The latter can be described as the gift of the Spirit or the infusion of love controlled by the agape. The former conquers the pain of morally unfilled existence, and the latter grants the blessedness of an at least fragmentary fulfillment. Neither is possible without the other, for only one who is grasped by the Spirit can accept the tremendous paradox that one is accepted. Nothing is more difficult than to face one’s image in the mirror of the law and to say “yes” to it in terms of “in spite of.” It demands much grace to reach this state. And on the other hand, the fragmentary fulfillment through grace can bestow blessedness only if the paradox of forgiveness conquers the pain of missing fulfillment or of lost grace. Here the skeptical question may arise as to whether the paradox of grace diminishes the power of moral motivation in those who accept that they are accepted, although unacceptable. It is a very old question, used against Paul as well as against Augustine, against Luther as well as against Calvin, and against the Reformation as a whole by the humanists and the evangelical radicals. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
It is a justified question insofar as it points to the possibility of converting the paradox of grace into a cover for lawlessness. However, the question is not justified in principle, because it shows that one has not understood that the courage to accept the unacceptable is a work of grace, a creation of the Spiritual power. Only if the acceptance of the unacceptable is misunderstood as a merely intellectual act does it remain without moral motivating power. Orthodoxy (in contrast to the early Luther) is largely responsible for this intellectual distortion of the paradox of acceptance of the unacceptable and, consequently, for the attack on the Pauline principles in the name of morality. The question of moral motivation can be answered only transmorally. For the law demands, but cannot forgive; it judges, but cannot accept. Therefore, forgiveness and acceptance, the conditions of the fulfillment of the law, must come from something above the law, or more precisely, from something in which the split between our essential being and our existence is overcome and healing power has appeared. It is the center of the Christian message that this conquest took place in the Christ, in whom a new reality beyond the cleavage appeared It is therefore a moralistic distortion of Christianity to interpret the so-called “teachings of Jesus” as another law, heavier then the law of Moses. His words (not his “teachings”) point the way to the new reality in which the law is not abolished, but has ceased to be commanding. The reaction of religion and morality is not an external one, but it is the religious dimension, sources, and motivation are implicit in all morality, acknowledged or not. Morality does not depend on any concrete religion; it I religious in its very essence. The unconditional character of the moral imperative, love as the ultimate source of the moral commands, and grace as the power of moral motivation are the concepts through which the question of the relation of religion and morality is fundamentally answered. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
Psychodynamic theorists believe that people who abuse substances have a powerful dependency needs that can be traced to their early years. They claim that when parents fail to satisfy a young child’s need for nurturance, the child is likely to grow up depending excessively on others for help and comfort, trying to find the nurturance that was lacking during the early years. If this search for outside support includes experimentation with a drug, the person may well develop a dependent relationship with the substance. Some psychodynamic theorists also believe that certain people respond to their early deprivations by developing a substance abuse personality that leaves them particularly prone to drug abuse. Personality inventories and patient interviews have in fact indicated that people who abuse or depend on drugs tend to be more dependent, antisocial, impulsive, novelty-seeking, and depressive than other people. These findings are correlational, however, and do not clarify whether such personality traits lead to drug use or whether drug use causes people to be dependent, impulsive, and the like. In an effort to establish clearer causation, one longitudinal study measured the personality traits of a large group of nonalcoholic young men and then kept track of each man’s development. Years later, the traits of the men who developed alcohol problems in the middle age were compared with the traits of those who did not. The men who developed alcohol problems had been more impulsive as teenagers and continued to be so in middle age, a finding suggesting that impulsive men are indeed more prone to develop alcohol problems. A major weakness of this line of arguments have been tied to substance abuse and dependence. In fact, different studies point to different “key” traits. Inasmuch as come people with a drug addiction appear to be dependent, others impulsive, and still others antisocial, researchers cannot presently conclude that any one personality trait or group of traits stand out in substance-related disorders. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
Our subject is the present waste of human resources. Yet this waste is nothing new. Considering our wonderful faculties and powers, people on the average have never accomplished much. Regarded just as machines of virtue, pleasure, wisdom, battle, or friendship, we have always operated at a tiny fraction of capacity. This is evident if we contrast how people usually hang around with how people come across in emergencies, or when they are enthusiastic, or when they are calmly absorbed. Children find the average inactivity very painful and they nag, “What can I do? Tell me something to do.” Adolescents are restive hanging around, and they think up ways to make trouble. Adults are inured to it, and Schopenhauer claimed that boredom is a metaphysical attribute of the World as Will. Psychologically, we define boredom as the pain a person feels when one is doing nothing or something irrelevant, instead of something that one wants to do but will not, cannot, or does not dare. Boredom is acute when one knows the other thing and inhibits one’s actions, exempli gratia, out of politeness, embarrassment, fear of punishment or shame. Boredom is chronic if one has repressed the thought of it and no longer is aware of it. A parge pat of stupidity is just this chronic boredom, for a person cannot learn, or be intelligent about, what one is not interested in, when one’s repressed thoughts are elsewhere. (Another large part of stupidity is stubbornness, unconsciously saying, “I will not, you cannot make me.”) Certainly a large part of our common wasteful inactivity is this neurosis of chronic boredom. Certain aims are forbidden and punishable, or unattainable and painful; so we inhibit them and put them out of mind. In a vicious circle, the repression then makes the idea of the aims seem threatening: the aims are not rejected also in ourselves. So we are bored and inactive. We see how boredom easily turns into apathy, the lack of incentive. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
At first this Sunday-afternoon neurosis, of lively children brought to a pause, is worse among the middle class than among the poor, for the middle class is less permissive, it has stricter standards to maintain and more expensive furniture to protect. However, by adolescence it is generally evident in all classes of the young, hanging around, reading comic books, or watching TV. It is evident in their notion of what is acceptable behaviour in the groups, in their paranoia about pleasures of the flesh, in their inability to think up anything interesting. Their hearts are elsewhere and they do not remember where. Many boys are afraid to be alone with themselves, because they might do something that goes against the principals of abstinence, which in itself may be an activity of boredom. All this has long been with us, and formerly perhaps it was worse than it is now, for now there is more permissiveness for small children and more rationality about growing up. However, when it comes to ineptitude, not knowing how; the situation in which, even if they know their aims, children do not know the means or cannot manage the means. I propose that in this respect our present system is uniquely bad and getting worse. For ironically, just in our times, when science and technology are so advanced, this factor ineptitude also increase, and children become practically more unenlightened. How many can take this essential step of a moral about-turn? Can we awaken a criminal in jail to a sense of one’s personal failure and moral shame? Because one has suffered the humiliation of retribution, there is always the probability of comprehending that there is a better way. And because one is a human being, there is always the possibility of ethical recovery and moral improvement. Those who believe that they can solve such a problem as criminality on a merely practical basis alone are wrong. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
Experience will teach them that it is inseparable from a moral one, too. For if the criminal really repents, then our duty is to forgive one. A moral shift on one’s part should lead to a practical shift on ours. We may forgive criminals and yet punish them for wrong-doing, if that be our duty, or place them under such external limitations as will prevent their further wrong-doing, if that be our duty, or place them under such external limitations as will prevent their further wrong-doing, if that also be our duty. The two are not contradictory. If we keep our hearts unpolluted by hatred, we may keep our hands sternly and firmly on the wrong-doer. This is included in what is meant as the skillful performance of action. The skillfulness here meant is obviously not the technical kind but rather the mystical power to remain inwardly detached whilst doing Worldly duty. During the war, it became necessary for philosophic students to lean how to fight a cruel aggressor in the right spirit; they had paradoxically to learn how to deliver without anger or hate hard blows against one whilst feeling profound pity for one’s moral darkness. However, philosophic students are few. It is useless to ask humanity in its present state of evolution to behave on this high plane. An actualized Christian (and perhaps those who try to follow one) would not find it difficult to extend one’s compassionate goodwill to all criminals—indeed one would find it difficult not to—but it would be too much to expect that everybody else is capable of extending it. An alternative to physical punishment, such as flogging, for brutal crimes of violence would be to put the criminal upon a semi-starvation diet. One’s bodily weakness would then affect one’s mental aggressiveness, would reduce and counter it. If capital punishment is the law, at least change the method to withholding of food until death by starvation. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20
The rise of a de-massified civilization brings to the surface deep, unsettling questions about the future of majority rule and the entire mechanistic system of voting to express preferences. Someday future historians may look back on voting and the search for majorities as an archaic ritual engaged in by communicational primitives. Today, however, in a dangerous World, we cannot afford to delegate total power to anyone, we cannot surrender even the weak popular influence that exists under majoritarian systems, and we cannot allow tiny marginalized groups to make vast decisions that tyrannize all other non-dominant groups. This is why we must drastically revise the crude methods of the past by which we pursue the elusive majority. We need new approaches designed for a democracy of non-dominant groups—methods whose purpose is to reveal differences rather than to paper them over with forced or fake majorities based on exclusionary voting, sophistic framing of the issues, or rigged electoral procedures. We need, in short, to modernize the entire system so as to strengthen the role of diverse non-dominate groups yet permit them to form majorities. To do so, however, will require radical changes in many of our political structures—starting with the very symbol of democracy, the ballot box. In the past, voting to determine the popular would provide important feedback for the ruling elites. When conditions for one reason or another became intolerable for the majority, and 51 percent of the voters registered their pain, the elites could, at a minimum, shift parties, alter policies, or make some other accommodation. Even in yesterday’s mass society, however, the 51 percent principle was decidedly blunt, purely quantitative instrument. Voting to determine the majority tells us nothing about the quality of people’s views. It can tell us how many people, at a given moment, want X, but not how badly they want it. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
Above all, it tells us nothing about what they would be willing to trade off for X-crucial information in a society made up of many marginalized groups. Nor does it signal us when a marginalized member of a group feels so threatened, or attaches such life-and-death significance to a single issue, that it views should perhaps receive more than ordinary weight. In a mass society these well-known weaknesses of majority rule were tolerated because, among other things, most marginalized groups lacked strategic power to disrupt the system. In today’s finely wired society, in which all of us are members of minority groups, that is no longer true. For a de-massified Fourth Wave society the feedback systems of the industrial past are entirely too crude. Thus we will have to use voting, and the polls, in a radically new way. Instead of seeking simpleminded yes-or-no voted, we need to identify potential trade-offs with questions like: “If I give up my position on abortion, will your give up yours on defense spending or nuclear power?” of “If I agree to a small additional tax on my personal income next year, to be earmarked for your project, what will you offer in return?” In the World we are racing into, with its rich communications technologies, there are many ways for people to register such views without ever setting foot in a polling booth. And there are also ways, as we shall see in a moment, to feed these into the political decision-making process. We may also want to de-rig our voting laws to eliminate anti-minority biases. There are many ways to do this. One quite conventional method would be to adopt some variant of cumulative voting, as used by many corporations today to protect the rights of minority stockholders. Such methods allow voters to register not only their preferences but the intensity and rank order of their choices. We shall almost certainly have to discard our obsolete party structures, designed for a slowly changing World of mass movements and mass merchandising, and invent temporary modular parties that service changing configurations of minorities-plug/plug-out parties of the future. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
We may, for instance, need to provide arenas in which different minorities, on a rotating, perhaps even random basis, are brought together to trade problems, negotiate deals, and resolve disputes. If doctors, motorcyclists, computer programmers, Seventh-Day Adventists and Gray Panthers were brought together, with assistance from facilitators trained in issue clarification, priority setting, and dispute resolution, surprising and constructive alliances might be formed. At a minimum, differences could be exposed and the basis for political barter explored. Such measures will not (and should not) eliminate all conflict. However, they can elevate social and political strife to a more intelligent, potentially constructive level—especially if they are linked to long-range goal setting. Today the very complexity of issues inherently provides a greater variety of bargainable points. Yet the political system is not structured to take advantage of this fact. Potential alliances and trades go unnoticed—thus unnecessarily raising tensions between groups while further straining and overloading existing political institutions. Finally, we may well need to empower minorities to regulate more of their own affairs, and encourage them to formulae long-range goals. We might, for example, help the people in a specific neighbourhood, in a well-defined subculture, or in an ethic group, to set up their own youth courts under the supervision of the state, to do so. Such institutions would build community and identity, and contribute to law and order, while relieving the overburdened government institutions of unnecessary work. We may, however, find it necessary to go far beyond such reformist measures. To strengthen minority representation in a political system designed for a de-massified society, we may even eventually have to elect at least some of our officials in the oldest way of all: by drawing lots. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
Thus some people have seriously suggested choosing members of the legislature or parliament of the future the way we choose jury members or armies today. Why is it that important life and death decision can be made by the people serving on juries, but decisions on how much money should be spent on child care centers and defense spending are reserved for their “representatives”? The existing political arrangements systematically shortchange minorities. Poor people, young people, smart but inarticulate people, and many other groups are similarly disadvantaged. Nor is this merely true of the United States of American. Nonetheless, between 50 and 60 percent of the American Congress should be chosen at random from the American people in much the same way they are pressed into military service through drafts when they are deemed necessary. Startling as the suggestion is at first blush, it forces us to consider seriously whether randomly chosen representatives would (or could) do worse than those chosen through today’s methods. If we let ourselves imagine freely for the moment, we can come up with many other surprising alternatives. Indeed, we now have the techniques necessary to choose far more truly representative samples than the jury system or the draft, with their preferential exclusions, ever did. We can build an even more innovative congress or parliament of the future—and do it, paradoxically, with less disturbance of tradition. We do not have to pick a group of people by lot and literally trundle them off, like so many Mr. Smiths, to Washington, London, Bonn, Paris, or Moscow. We could, if we chose, keep our elected representatives, allowing them, however, to cast only 50 percent of the votes on any issue, while turning the other 50 percent of the votes over to a random sample of the public. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
By using computers, advanced telecommunications, and polling methods, it has become simple not only to select a random sample of the public but to keep updating that sample from day to day and to provide it with up-to-the-minute information on the issues at hand. When a law is needed, the full complement of traditionally elected representatives, meeting together in the traditional way, under the Capitol dome in Westminster, or in the Bundeshaus or the Diet building, could deliberate and discuss, amend and frame the legislation. However, when the time for decision arrived, the elected representatives would cast only 50 percent of the votes, while the current random sample—who are not in the capital but geographically dispersed in their own homes or offices—would electronically cast the remaining 50 percent. Such a system would not merely provide a more representative process than “representative” government ever did, but would strike a devastating blow at the special interest groups and lobbies who infest the corridors of most parliaments. Such groups would have to lobby the people—not just a few elected officials. Going even further, one might conceive voters in a district electing not a single individual as their “representative” but, in fact, a random sample of the population. This random sample could “serve in Congress” directly—as though it were a person—its opinions statistically tallied into votes. Or it could choose a single individual, in turn, to “represent” it, instructing one how to vote. Or the permutations offered by the new communications technologies are endless and extraordinary. Once we recognized that our present institutions and constitutions are obsolete and we begin searching for alternatives, all sorts of breathtaking political options, never before possible, suddenly open up to us. If we are to govern societies in the twenty-first century, we ought to at least consider the technologies and conceptual tools that are made available to us right now. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
What is important here are not these specific suggestions. By working at it together, we can no doubt come up with far better ideas, easier to implement, less drastic in design. What is important is the general path we choose to travel. We can fight a losing battle to suppress or submerge today’s burgeoning minorities, or we can reconstitute our political systems to accommodate the new diversity. We can continue to use the crude, bludgeonlike tools of Third Wave political systems, or we can design sensitive new tools for a minority-based democracy of tomorrow. As the Fourth Wave de-massifies the old Third Wave mass society, its pressures, I believe, will dictate that choice. For if politics were “pre-majoritarian” during the First Wave, and “majoritarian” during the Second, they are likely to be “mini-majoritarian” tomorrow—a fusion of majority rule with minority power. Wealth has a future. Despite all today’s profound upsets and reversals, chances are the World will create more, not less, wealthy in the years today com. However, that is not universally regarded as a good thing. From the ancients like Aristotle who regarded the pursuit of wealth beyond barest self-sufficiency as unnatural, to nineteenth-century socialists and anarchists who saw wealth as misappropriated property, to many of today’s environmental fundamentalists who preach “voluntary simplicity” and regard “consumerism” as a curse, wealth has a bad name. Unlike a defendant in an American courtroom, wealth does not enjoy a presumption of innocence. Yet wealth, in itself, is neutral. Which is why, in these pages, wealth is innocent until proven guilty. What matters is who has it and has not got it and what purposes it serves. Wealth is above all an accumulation of possibilities. Of course, certain forms of wealth are more or less universally regarded ad “good.” Health. A strong and loving family. Respect from those we respect. Few would deny that these are wealth, even if they do not easily fit into the calculations of economists. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
In everyday usage, however, the term usually refers, all too narrowly, to financial assets, and often carries a connotation of excess. For some, wealth may mean having bit more than their subjectively perceived need, whatever that is. For others no amount suffices. Among the less affluent, matters are less subjective. For the mother whose child is starving, a daily handful of rice may be wealth beyond measure. Whatever else it means, therefore, wealth, at least as used here, does not just mean a BMW M760i xDrive Sedan. Nor is wealth synonymous with money, as popular misconception might have it. Money is only one of many tokens or symbolic expression of wealth. In fact, wealth can sometimes buy things money cannot. To understand the future of wealth—our own or anybody else’s—in the fullest sense, we need to start with its very origin: Desire. The meaning of wealth—desire may reflect anything from a desperate need to a transitory want. In either case, wealth is anything that satisfies the craving. It applies balm to the itch. It may, in fact, gratify more than one desire at a time. We may want a touch of beauty on our living room wall. A painting, even an inexpensive reproduction, may provide a small surge of pleasure every time we pause to look at it. The same work of art may simultaneously fulfill our desire to impress visitors with our splendid good taste or our social importance. However, wealth can also be a bank account, a bicycle, a hoard of food or a health insurance policy. In fact, we can roughly define wealth as any possession, shared or not, that has what economists call “utility”—it provides us with some form of well-being or can be traded for some other form of wealth that does. In any case, wealth is the child of desire. Which is yet another reason some people detest the very thought of it. Managers of desire—some religions, for example, stigmatize desire. Ascetic beliefs propagate passivity in the face of poverty and tell us to seek happiness by reducing, rather than fulfilling, our desires. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
Want less. Live without. For eons, people in Oakland, California did just that—in the midst of unbelievable poverty and misery. By contrast, Protestantism, when it arose in the West, sent, if anything, the opposite message. Instead of suppressing material desire, it preached hard work, thrift, and virtue, promising that if you follow these guidelines, God would help you help yourself to fulfill your desires. The West very largely adopted those values and grew wealthy. It also invented that perpetual desire machine—advertising—to keep generating more and still more desires. Many in China believe, “to get rich is glorious”—this attitude is the reach for China’s recent successful, the ideal of wealth has jilted them out of poverty. In the United States of America, TV screes blare financial advice. Ads for stockbrokers and publications like Money and The Wall Street Journal erupt from the screen. Informercial promise ways to save on taxes, make a stock-market killing, strike it rich in real estate and retire to you own sunny island. An enormous barrage of messages legitimatizes and promotes desire. In was calculated that the total advertising expenditure in North America in 2021 amounted about to about $300 billion U.S.D. However, the spending increased by 19 percent that year. The total advertising expenditure in Japan amounted to 6.16 trillion yen ($54 billion USD) in 2020, which represented a decrease of about 780 billion yen ($68 million USD) compared to the previous year. In shorth, whether through asceticism, ideology, religion, advertising, or other means, whether consciously or not, the elites in all societies manage desire—the starting point of wealth creation. Obviously, just pumping up the desire level—or, for that matter, extolling greed, which is different from either wealth or desire—will not necessarily make anyone rich. Cultures that promote desire and pursue wealth do not necessarily attain it. On the other hand, cultures that preach the virtues of poverty usually get precisely what they pray for. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
O my brothers of the wilderness, my little brothers, may the Master of Life who made you, in the form of the quarry provide you with a forever home; so there may be peace between the World and thy spirit. “The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable deeds; there is none that does good or right. The Lord looed down from Heaven upon the children of humans to see if there were any who understood, dealt wisely, and sought after God, inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him [of vital necessity], reports Psalm 14.1-2. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast kept us in life, and hast preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season. We kindle these lights to commemorate the miraculous deliverance and the wonders which Thou didst perform for our fathers through Thy holy priests. During all the blessed days of life, lights are sacred and are not to be used for ordinary purposes; we are only to behold them. We kindle these lights to offer thanks and praise to Thy name for Thy miracles, Thy deliverances and Thy wonders. I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains; from whence shall my help come? My help cometh from the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth America doth neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon they right hand. The Sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the Moon by night. The Lord shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul. The Lord shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and forever. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; He maketh me lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; He guideth me in straight paths for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’ and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
Cresleigh Homes
Two things to note about this wonderful photo from our Meadows Residence 2 model…
✨ 2022 will see the rise of green as a neutral!
✨ Statement walls will always be one of our favorite ways to decorate. They say you found someone new, but that won’t stop my loving you.
Guess I could find another home, too. But I don’t want no one but you. How could I leave without regret?
A Cresleigh Home is not easy to forget. I long to know the feeling of you sweet embrace, but when we are face to face I just look at you. https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-meadows-at-plumas-ranch/residence-2/
Ready to see what you do when you move into your #CresleighHome at #PlumasRanch!
It Takes More than Strong Leadership to Make the Trains Run on Time!
Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. What is worth doing is worth doing well. Therefore, the task to which you dedicate yourself can never become a drudgery. The unexpected success of S.L Millers experiment of a mixture of water vapor, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen past an electric discharge to simulate the ultraviolet radiation of the sun, which at the end of the experiment created unmistakable traces of “organic” compounds, including several of the amino acids, neatly inspired others to undertake similar investigations. It was soon learned that Miller’s results could be duplicated and extended. Some of the most important results were obtained by the University of California chemist Melvin Calvin. (Some of Calvin’s work actually preceded Miller’s discovery, but in his earlier work ammonia was not present so that nothing as complex and significant as amino acids had been observed.) Calin employed high-energy electrons, rather than ultraviolet radiation, as his source of disruptive energy. Using the facilities of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley, he was able to simulate the kind of electron bombardment that might have resulted in primordial times from the natural disintegration of the radioactive elements. When a mixture of water, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen was subjected to the high-energy electrons and then analyzed for new ingredients, a veritable storehouse of complex molecules was discovered. In addition to amino acids of several kinds, there were sugars, fatty acids, hydroxy acids, urea, and even several of the bases that, as we shall learn later, play in the nucleic acid molecules a component role similar to that played by the side chains of the amino acids in protein molecules. In short, Calvin’s experiment yielded an impressive number of the different kinds of molecular units employed in nature in the construction not only of proteins but also of carbohydrates, fates, oils, and nucleic acids—the essential materials of living organisms. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
The results of Calvin and Miller have been repeated and extended by other experimenters. It has been shown that a methane-ammonia-water mixture, heated to high temperatures such as would have been occasionally produced by meteoritic impact in the primordial atmosphere, produced by meteorite impact in the primordial atmosphere, produces at least 14 of the 20 amino acids that occur in living organisms. And ultraviolet irradiation at cool temperatures of a mixture of water and hydrogen cyanide—a compound that is frequently formed in experiments such as those of Miller and Calvin—has been found to result in two of the key nucleic acid bases. Similar treatment of mixtures of water and formaldehyde—another common product of the experiments—has produced the two sugars that are found in the nucleic acid. In short, it has by now been demonstrated that almost any kind of input to a suitable atmosphere of energy—whether from heart, ultraviolet, electric discharge, or radioactivity—will synthesize the building blocks of life’s molecules. Of course, it should not be imagined that the only new ingredients produced by the irradiation or bombardment of a “primeval atmosphere” are those which are essential to the construction of organic molecules. In Calvin’s work, for example, there were in addition a number of other molecular products, not all of which were completely analyzed. However, the important point is that, when the simple molecules of water, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen believed to have comprised the major part of the primeval atmosphere are torn asunder by electric discharge, heat, radiation, or radioactive bombardment, an appreciable fraction of the resulting fragments automatically recombine into just the kinds of molecules that have turned out to be the basic structural units of all living matter. In experiments such as these described, the variety of organic building blocks produced was, of course, limited by the starting ingredients used. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
In a real primeval atmosphere, there would be traces of sulfur, phosphorous, sodium, potassium, and other elements that would presumably permit the formation of amino acids and other organic molecules with side chains including these materials. Although such experiments convincingly establish the point that we need in order to get on with our task of reactivating the doctrine of spontaneous generation, it is hard to avoid a digression at this point to consider a troublesome question. Why do things work out this way? Why should amino acids, for example, just happen to have been among the prominent products formed when the primeval atmosphere was disrupted by the naturally existing forces of the heat, lightening, ultraviolet radiation, and radioactive bombardment? There is an answer to this question. In physico/chemical terms, there are various stable configurations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms. Their mutual electric forces of attraction and repulsion are that, if such atoms of the four species are brought near one another and jostled about by the effects of external sources of energy, they will tend to stick together in one or another of these stable three-dimensional arrangements. Depending upon the accidental details of atomic juxtaposition and jostling, the result may be one or another amino acid, a sugar, a nucleic acid base, or an inorganic molecule. Such an explanation may convince us of the prosaic inevitability of the early formation of amino acids, but it is not likely thereby to suppress our tendency to feel that there is still something peculiar going on here. Granted that amnio acids had to be formed out of the inevitable workings of the laws of physics on the atmospheric ingredients of the preanimate World, how did it happen that they were just the structural units needed for the clues that, a billion or so years later, contributed to the appearance of the remarkable new phenomenon of life? This question, too, has a nonvitalistic answer. It epitomized in the assertion that modern organisms are based on amino-acids-containing substances because they constitute a class of long-chain, complex molecular material that happened to be available in the primordial Earth, not because they were uniquely required for the creation of life. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
As we move along into aspects of our treatment in which the principles of evolution and natural selection come into play in the development of the progenitors of living organisms, we shall encounter no reason to believe that the specific kind of chemistry that could support life. If we only imagine that the only form of life possible is that which we know, which is so strongly dependent on just the kinds of products that they looked for and found in their experiments, then the results obtained by Calvin and Miller seem mysterious. If instead we imagine that there are various possible molecular components on which life might be based, that among them are those found in the experiments and presumably therefore generated in the atmosphere of our preanimate Earth, and that the natural processes of evolution and selection (yet to be treated) did the rest, the mystery vanishes. Evolution is a gradual change to the DNA of s species over many generations. It can occur by natural selection, when certain traits created by genetic mutations help an organism survive or reproduce. Such mutations are thus more likely to be passed on to the next generation, so they increase in frequency in a population. Gradually, these mutations and their associated traits become more common among the whole group. By looking at global studies of our DNA, we can see evidence that natural selection has recently made changes and continues to do so. Though modern healthcare frees us from many causes of death, in countries without access to good healthcare, populations are continuing to evolve. Survivours of infectious diseases outbreaks drive natural selection by giving their genetic resistance to offspring. Our DNA shows evidence for recent selection for resistance of killer diseases like Lassa fever and malaria. Selection in response to malaria is still ongoing in regions where the diseases remain common. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
Humans are also adapting to their environment. Mutations allowing humans to live at high altitudes have become more common in populations in Tibet, Ethiopia, and the Andes. The spread of genetic mutations in Tibet is possibly the fastest evolutionary change in humans, occurring over the last 3,000 years. This rapid surge in frequency of a mutated gene that increases blood oxygen content gives locals a survival advantage in higher altitudes, resulting in more surviving children. Diet is another source of adaptations. Evidence from Inuit DNA shows a recent adaptation that allows them to thrive on their fat-rich diet of Arctic mammals. Studies also show that natural selection favouring a mutation allow adults to produce lactase—the enzyme that breaks down milk sugars—is why some groups of people can digest milk after weaning. Over 80 percent of north-west Europeans can, but in parts of East Asia, where milk is much less commonly drunk, an inability to digest lactose is the norm. Like high altitude adaptation, selection to digest milk had evolved more than once in humans and may be the strongest kind of recent selection. We may well be adapting to unhealthy diets too. One study of family genetic changes in the United States of America during the 20th century found selection for reduced blood pressure and cholesterol levels, both of which can be lethally raised by modern diets. Yet, despite these changes, natural selection only affects about 8 percent of our genome. According to the neutral evolution theory, mutations in the rest of the genome may freely change frequency in populations by chance. If natural selection is weakened, mutations it would normally purge are not removed as efficiently, which could increase their frequency and so increase the rate of evolution. However, neutral evolution cannot explain why some genes are evolving much faster than others. We measure the speed of gene evolution by comparing human DNA with that of other species, which also allows us to determine which genes are fast-evolving in humans alone. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
One fast-evolving gene is human accelerated region 1 (HAR1), which is needed during brain development. A random section of human DNA is on average more than 98 percent identical to the chimp comparator, but HAR1 is so fast evolving that it is only around 85 percent similar. Though scientist can see these changes are happening—and how quickly—we still do not fully understand why fast evolution happens to some genes but not to others. Originally thought to be the result of natural selection exclusively, we now know this is not always true. Realizing evolution does not only happen by natural selection makes it clear the process is not likely to ever stop. Freeing our genomes from the pressures of natural selection only opens them up to other evolutionary processes—making it even harder to predict what future humans will be like. However, it is quite possible that with modern medicine’s protections, there will be more genetic problems in store for future generations. Historically, male sexuality has been perceived as both a moral issues and a physical phenomenon. The moral plane involves passion and lust, seduction and conquest, lack of restraint and weakness. It is interesting, however, that Hippocrates told women is was best to be unchaste and had a different message for men, who he advised to abstain from pleasures of the flesh to retain their seed, which energized their bodies. Pleasures of the flesh, though salutary for women, was detrimental to men because it brained away their lifeforce. He was cited as warning a young man who was over active in pleasures of the flesh who had actually died, raving mad, after a simple stomach ailment escalated to fatal illness, so drastically had he weakened his body by recklessly depleting his stores of seed. The practical significance of this was not entirely clear, because what was beneficial for women might be detrimental for men. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
Celibacy was, after all, simply another tool, like diet, exercise, message, and bathing, to improve health in a fanatically health-conscious people. By the early second century, creeping asceticism was reflected in medical writings. Galen, the great second-century Greek doctor who supplanted Hippocrates as the medical genius, reached conclusions that clashed with previous medical wisdom. Galen’s personal preference was virginity for both men and women, but as a doctor, he worried about the disorder celibacy could cause. Specifically, a glut of surplus seed, like putrefying garbage, could cause health problems such as slothfulness and listlessness. His prescription? Pleasures of the flesh. However, he warned that pleasures of the flesh was tiring because the seed consisted of pneuma or vital spirit, and orgasms warmed the blood, a debilitating process. Young men who overindulged in pleasures of the flesh, for example, dried out their bodies and require humidification. Galen believed in moderation. However, through Adam’s semen, the entire human race had inherited a nature irrevocably marred by sin. The mechanism for this tragic collective flaw? “The nature of the semen from which we are to be propagated, Adam’s semen was shackled by the bond of death, and so every human born through semen is contaminated by sin. Only Christ, conceived without semen, is devoid of sin. In Augustine’s mind, semen was inherently evil, a virulent poison that has infected the World since the time of the Fall. When one looks at it through the lenses of moral and social issues—celibacy and its opposite were seen purely as prescriptions for health, little different from a course of exercise of diet. Some thinkers interpreted this vital force as magnetism, electricity, galvanism, animal heart, nervous energy, or never force; other preferred simply the vital force. What all systems had in common was the belief that vital energy transmitted life itself and that energy from pleasures of the flesh as the great conductor. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
Swiss doctor Samuel A. Tissot thought celibacy was a good idea because loss of once ounce of this vital force would weaken more than [the loss of] of forty ounces of bloody. Of course this was also because this vital force, when it is preserved in the chaste body was reabsorbed, enriching the blood and revitalizing the brain. Celibacy, therefore, was presented not merely as a moral choice but a physiological necessity. Chastity was in vogue as part of the respectable gentleman’s gear, with John Locke and William Pitt, who held up as models for lifetime celibates. Dr. William Acton, a British proselytizer for the ideal of respectable chastity, recommended daily baths, a hard bed, a balanced diet without alcohol, intellectual stimulation, religious study, and rigorous physical exercise. The latter was incorporated enthusiastically into school curricula and idealized as Muscular Christianity. Celibacy was considered the accumulation of capital. Incontinence, on the other hand, was bad and provoked too early marriages and poverty. Based on these premises, it followed that celibacy—until appropriately late marriage, after enough wealth has been amassed to buy a decent house—should be an integral part of England’s new industrial society. After all, were not continence dealing with pleasures of the flesh and industry linked as values in a single system? The same vaunted thrift that had build England’s industrial empire could, applied to an individual’s limited supply of seed, stabilize society and produce fewer but superior citizens. The Male Purity Movement, as it was known, everywhere rolled over the decades successfully, until it was finally spent. There is, however, a limit to the formulation of the moral principle of justice thus far. The acknowledgement of somebody as a person remains an external act that can be performed with legal detachment or cool objectivity. It can achieve justice without creating a relationship. Under many conditions this is the only way of actualizing justice, especially in encounters of social groups. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
However, mere objectivity never occurs between human beings. Accompanying “pure” detachment is always an element of involvement. In the encounter of person with person within a community of persons, “community” also expresses involvement. In the encounter of person with person within a community of person, community also expressed involvement because it implies mutual participation, and, by participation, union. And the desire for union of the separated (which is ultimately re-union) is love. All communions are embodiments of love, the urge for participation in the other one. If the acknowledgment of the other person as person is not detached but involved. In this way, loved becomes the ultimate moral principle, including justice and transcending it at the same time. However, at this point it is necessary to combat several misinterpretations of the principle of love. First, it must be emphasized that is love takes justice into itself, justice is not diminished but enhanced. It has become creative justice in the sense of the Old and New Testament concepts of the Yedaquah and Dikaiosyne of God that both judges and saves. The frequent cry of the Jewish people who has suffered immeasurable injustice through two millennia of church history—“We do not want love, we want justice”—is based on a misunderstanding of the biblical idea of love. Love, in the sese of agape, contains justice in itself as its unconditional element and as its weapon against its own sentimentalization. It is regrettable that Christianity has often concealed its unwillingness to do justice, or to fight for it, by setting off love against injustice, and performing works of love in the sense of “charity” instead of battling for the removal of social injustice. One of the reasons for this misunderstanding of love it the identification of love with emotion. Love, like every human experience, of course includes an emotional element, and this can in the case of love prove to be overwhelmingly strong. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
However, this element is not the whole of love. Above all, love as agape is far removed from pity, although it can have elements of pity within a particular situation. Nietzsche’s attack on the Christian idea of love is caused by this confusion. However, it should serve to warn the Christian church to demonstrate in teaching, preaching, and liturgy the unconditional demand for justice in the very nature of agape. (If the word “love” in the sense of agape could be avoided for a long time, and the word agape introduced into modern language, I believe it would be salutary.) Agape is a quality of love, that quality which expresses the self-transcendence of the religious element in love. If love is the ultimate norm of all moral demands, its agape quality points to the transcendent source of the content of the moral imperative. For agape transcends the finite possibilities of humans. Paul indicates this is his great hymn to love (I Corinthians 13) when he describes agape as the highest work of the divine Spirit, and as an element of the eternal life, even beyond faith and hope. Agape as the self-transcending element of love is not separated from the other elements that usually are described as epithymia—the libido quality of love, philia—the friendship quality of love, and eros—the mystical quality of love. In all of them what we have called “the urge toward the union of the separated” is effective, and all of them stand under the judgment of agape. For love is one, even if one of tis qualities predominates. None of the qualities is every completely absent. There is, for example, the compassion element of philia and eros in agape, and there is the agape quality in genuine compassion (a fact important for the dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism). It is this agape element that prevents participation in the other one from becoming mere identification with one, as compassion prevents agape from becoming a detached act of mere obedience to the “law of love.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
And there is eros in agape, and agape in eros, a fact that permitted Christianity to receive into itself the eros-created classical culture, both rational and mystical. It is the agape element in eros that prevents culture from becoming a nonserious, merely transitory entertainment, just as eros prevents agape from becoming a moralistic turning away from the creative potentialities in nature and humans toward an exclusive commitment to a God who can only be feared or obeyed, but not loved. For without eros toward the ultimate good there is no love toward God. Even the libidinous quality of love is always present in the highest forms of eros, philia, and agape. Humans are multidimensional unity and not a composite of parts. Therefore, all elements of a living soul being participate in every moral decision and action. When, in the evolution of human life, consciousness so expands that the individual sees oneself as separate from the group, unique, possessed of an inner life oriented by fixed memories, living out a personal history that moves toward its own termination, one becomes aware that the drive for pleasures of the flesh which impels one so powerfully will not safeguard that uniqueness. Pleasures of the flesh is being used, and used up, and soon discarded, by a life force that cares nothing for the individual. All those monuments and spires, the swooning sonnets, like flaking paint, the crashing chords, are the residue of protest against such waste. Uniqueness and morality are our condition, impel us to create legacies meant to last forever. The creative impulses, writes Otto Rank, is anti-pleasures of the flesh in its yearning for immortality. Whereas Dr. Freud had traced the repressions of pleasures of the flesh to social constraint, Mrs. Rank sees it as driven by an individual dread of death no less inherent in the individual than the impulse of pleasures of the flesh. Hers is an offering of self that hold nothing back. Nothing in reserve, she gives it all. No barter, no exception of return, no maneuvering for advantage. Just upfront conversation. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
Who could resist such a gift? The fact that it is free both renders it more enchanting and breaks your heart, moves you to an unfamiliar generosity, you want to protect this vulnerable being who cannot arrange for her own security. However, what is offered as love, I warn myself, is in fact a camouflaged raid, and if the gift is accepted she will begin to exact in exchange what then is due and payable, the tribute owed the victorious weak by the vanquished strong; and whatever the outcome of those unhappy negotiations, love, it will transpire, will have played no part at all. A beautiful woman is always in danger of becoming a witch. Because beauty evokes desire, and desire enslaves; and when the slave eventually rebels, the angel who evoked the desire and, as one then sees it, cast the spell becomes a witch. “The recurring comforts us,” she says, “the singular is tragic, must not be missed. This is singular. Once, only once, never again. I love you. I trust you. I have never, until now, trusted any being I have become a different person. The wildness is gone. It was like a storm. All is calm now. All my life I have moved from person to person, denying possession to any. However, you have tamed me. No one could have predicted it. I would not have thought it possible. With you I would stay forever.” The master teacher that lurks within each of us is likelier to burst forth within the intellectual atmosphere that collegiality can create. Absolutely, the delinquent behavior seems to speak clearly enough. It asks for what we cannot give, but it is in this direction we must go. It asks for manly opportunities to work, make a little money, and have self-esteem; to have some space to bang around in, that is not always somebody’s property; to have better schools to open for them horizons of interest; to have more and better friendships without fear or shame; to share somehow in the symbolic goods (like the cars) that are made so much of; to have a community and a country to be loyal to; to claim attention and have a voice. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
These are not outlandish demands. Certainly they cannot be satisfied directly in our present system; they are baffling. That is why the problem is baffling, and the final recourse is to a curfew, to ordinances against carrying knives (imagine that, people feel that unsafe), to threatening the parents, to reformatories with newfangled names, and having 696,644 full-time law enforcement officers employed in the United States of America. The Number of full-time officers reached a peak in 2008 with 708,569 officers, and hit a low in 2012 with 626,942 officers. Sources of information interviews indicate that elementary school children learn about suicide most often from television and discussions with other children, and rarely discuss suicide with adults. Where we turn to—one survey of 396 high school students indicated that teenagers are unlikely to initiate contact with a counselor during a suicidal crisis, but over half would probably tell a friend. Teenage Anomie, in a study across several midwestern states, half of the 300 homeless and runaway teenagers said that they had thought of suicide, and over one-quarter had attempted suicide in the previous year. The likelihood of committing suicide generally increases with age, although people of all ages may try to kill themselves. Recently clinicians have paid particular attention to self-destructive behaviour in three age groups: children, partly because suicide at their young age contradicts society’s perception that childhood is an enjoyable period; adolescents, because of the steady and highly publicized rise in their suicide rate; and the elderly, because suicide is more prevalent in this age group than any other. Although the features and theories of suicide we discuss apply to all age groups, each of these groups faces unique problems that may play key roles in the suicidal acts of its members. Tommy [age 7] and his younger brother were playing together, and an altercation arose that was settled by the mother, who then left the room. The mother recalled nothing to distinguish this incident from innumerable similar ones. Several minutes after she left, she considered Tommy strangely and quiet and returned to find him crimson-faced and struggling for air, having knotted a jumping rope around his neck and jerked it tight. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
Although suicide is infrequent among children, it has been increasing over the past several decades. “Dear Mom and Dad, I love you. Please tell my teacher that I cannot take it anymore. I quit. Please don’t take me to school anymore. Please help me. I will run away so don’t stop me. I will kill myself. So don’t look for me because I will be dead. I love you. I will always love you. Remember me. Help me. Love Justin [age 10].” Approximately 500 children under 14 years of age in the United States of America now commit suicide each year—around 0.9 per 100,000 in this age group, a rate nearly 800 percent higher than that of 1950. Boys outnumber girls by as much as 5 to 1. In addition, it has been estimated that one of every 100 children tries to harm him- or herself, and many thousands of children are hospitalized each year for deliberately self-destructive acts, such as stabbing, cutting, burning, overdosing, or jumping from high places. One study of suicide attempts by children revealed that the majority had taken an overdose of drugs at home, half were living with only one parent, and a quarter had attempted suicide before. Recent studies further suggest that the use of guns is increasing among children who attempt suicide. Researchers have found that suicide attempts by the very young are commonly preceded by such behavioural patterns as running away from home, accident proneness, acting out, temper tantrums, self-depreciation, social withdrawal and loneliness, extreme sensitivity to criticism, low tolerance of frustration, dark fantasies and daydreams, marked personality change, and overwhelming interest in death and suicide. Studies have further linked child suicides to the recent or anticipated loss of a loved one, family stress and parent unemployment, abuse by parents, and a clinical level of depression. Most people find it hard to believe that children fully comprehend the meaning of a suicidal act. They argue that because a child’s thinking is so limited, children who attempt suicide fall into Shneidman’s category of “death ignorers,” like Billy who sought to join his mother in Heaven. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
Many child suicides, however, appear to be based on a clear understanding of death and on a clear wish to die. In addition, suicidal thinking among even normal children is apparently more common than most people once believed. Clinical interviews with schoolchildren have revealed that between 6 and 33 percent have thought about suicide. Changing suicide rates—the suicide rates of elderly people has been generally declining for over half a century, while that of young adults is increasing. Still, older people continue to be at higher risk for suicide. “O Lord, correct, instruct, and chastise me, but with judgment and in just measure—not in Your anger, lest You diminish me and bring me to nothing. Put out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know or recognize You and upon the peoples that do not call upon Your name. For they have devoured Jacob, yes, devoured him and consumed him and made his habitation a desolate waste,” Jeremiah 10.24-25. The Messiah Complex is the illusion that we can somehow save ourselves by changing the man (or woman) on top. Watching Second Wave politician stumble and flail drunkenly at the problem arising from the emergence of the Fourth Wave, millions of people, spurred on by the press, have arrived at a single, simply, easy-to-understand explanation of our woes: the “failure of leadership.” If only a messiah would appear on the political horizon and pit things back together again! This craving for a masterful, macho leader is voiced today by even the most well-meaning of people as their familiar World crumbles, as their environment grows more unpredictable and their hunger for order, structure, and predictability increases. Thus, a formidable cry, rising like the howling of innumerable dogs to the stars, asking for someone or something to take command. In the United States of America, President Joe Biden is violently condemned for “lack of leadership.” However, in the Communist industrial nations, where leadership is anything but timid, the pressure from still “stronger leadership” is intensifying. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
Modern Russia glorifies Stalin’s ability to draw the necessary political conclusions. To this day, little pictures of Stalin sprout on windshields, in homes, hotels, and kiosks. Stalin on the windshield today is an upsurge from below…a protest, however paradoxical, against the present disintegration and lack of leadership. As dangerous decade opens, today’s demand for “leadership” strikes at a moment when long-forgotten dark forces are stirring anew in our midst. Because the Republican Party had been viewed as racist in the past, many egalitarians were happy to see the country to become more Democratic. However, now, America is stuck in a dangerous cycle of Democratic overdrive that is ripping the country apart. As a result, after more than three decades in hibernation, small but influential right-wing groups are again seeking the intellectual limelight, expounding theories on race, biology and political elitism discredited by the fascism of the Democracy majority. Aryan racial supremacy used to control several journalistic outlets. Some believe that the races are born unequal. Across the globe in Japan, my wife and I not long ago spent 45 minutes in a massive traffic pile-up watching a procession of trucks crawl by, bearing uniformed and helmeted political toughs, chanting and flinging their fists skyward to protest some government policy. Our Japanese friends tell us these proto-storm troopers are linked to the mafia-like yakuza hangs and are financed by powerful political figures eager to see a return to prewar authoritarianism. Each of these phenomena in turn has its “left” counterpart-terrorist gangs who mouth the slogans of socialist democracy but are prepared to impose their own brand of totalitarian leadership on society with Kalashnikovs and plastic bombs. In the United Sates of American, among other unsettling signs. There is a surge of demand for “stronger leadership” coincides precisely with the recrudescence of highly authoritarian groups who hope to profit from the breakdown of representative government. The tinder and the spark are coming perilously close to one another. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
This intensifying cry for leadership is based on three misconceptions, the first of which is the myth of authoritarian efficiency. If nothing else, few ideas are more widely held than the conation that the train must run on time. Today so many institutions are breaking down and unpredictability is so rife that millions of people would willingly trade some freedom (someone else’s, preferably) to make their economic, social, and political trains run on time. Yet stronger leadership—and even totalitarianism—has little to do with efficiency. There is not much evidence to suggest that counties with assuredly stronger and more authoritarian than that United States of America, France, or Sweden are run more efficiently. Apart from the military, the secret police, and a few other functions vital to the perpetuation of these tyrannical countries are run much better, but they are more loyal to their leaders, more serious and more willing to accept authority. When a society is crippled by waste, irresponsibility, inertia, and corruption—in short, by lassie fare inefficiency, it will fail. Sloppy ships use scientists very poorly. Much of the breakthrough technology and inventions of great significance never get into production because of the prevailing inefficiency and regulation. It takes more than strong leadership, as we shall see, to make the trains run on time. Different civilizations require vastly different leadership qualities. And what is strong in one may be inept and disastrously weak in another. During the First Wave, peasant-based civilization, leadership typically derived from birth, not achievement. A monarch needed certain limited practical skills—the ability to lead men in combat, the shrewdness to play off his barons against one another, the cleverness to consummate an advantageous marriage. Literacy and broad powers of abstract thought were not among the basic requirements. Moreover, the leader was typically free to exercise sweeping personal authority in the most capricious, even whimsical fashion, unchecked by constitution, legislature, or public opinion. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
If approval was needed, it was only from a small coterie of nobles, lords, and ministers. The leader able to mobilize this support was “strong.” The Second Wave leader, by contrast, dealt in impersonal and increasingly abstract power. One had many more decisions to make on a far wider variety of matters, from manipulating the media to managing the marco-economy. One’s decisions had to be implemented through a chain of organizations and agencies whose complex relationships to one another he understood and orchestrated. One had to be literate and capable of abstract reasoning. Instead of a handful of barons, one has to play off a complex array of elites and sub-elites. Moreover, one’s authority—even if one were a totalitarian dictator—was at least nominally constrained by constitution, legal precedent, party political requirements, and the force of mass opinion. Given these contrasts, the “strongest” First Wave leader plunged into a Second Wave political framework would have appeared even more weak, confused, erratic, and inept then the “weakest” Second Wave leader. Similarly today, as we race into a new stage of civilization—the strong leaders of the Fourth Wave Capitalistic society, like President Trump, were illegally ousted for a confused President, who is unwilling to help the American people advance. However, people are still searching for seemingly decisive, jut-jawed, sharply opinionated leaders—whether Trumps, Lincolns, Reagans, Chiracs, or Thatchers—is in exercise in nostalgia, a search for father- or mother-figure based on obsolete assumptions. For the “weakness” of today’s leaders is less a reflection of personal qualities than it is a consequence of the breakdown of the institutions on which their power depends. In fact, their seeming “weakness” is the exact result of their increased “power.” Thus, as the Fourth Wave continues to transform society, raising it to a much higher level of diversity and complexity, all leaders become dependent on increasing numbers of people for help in making and implementing decisions. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
The more powerful the tools at a leader’s command—supersonic fighters, nuclear weapons, computers, telecommunications—the more, not less, dependent the leader becomes. This is an unbreakable relationship because it reflects the rising complexity on which power today necessarily rests. This is why the American President can sit next to the nuclear push button, which give one the power to pulverize the planet, and still feel as helpless as though there were “nobody at the other end” of one’s telephone line. Power and powerlessness are opposite sides of the same semiconductor chip. The emerging civilization of the Fourth Wave demands, for these reasons, a wholly new type of leadership. The requisite qualities of the Fourth Wave leaders are not yet entirely clear. We may well find that strength lies not in a leader’s assertiveness but precisely in one’s ability to listen to others; not in bulldozer force but in imagination; not in megalomania but in a recognition of the limited nature of leadership in the New World. The leaders of tomorrow may well have to deal with a far more decentralized and participator society—one even more diverse than today’s. They can never again be all things to all people. Indeed, it is unlikely that one human being will ever embody all the traits required. Leadership may well prove to be more temporary, collegial, and consensual. As the World shrinks, the problems are so general, so basic and so interdependent that they cannot be solved, as once problems were, by one human or one Government’s initiative. In short, we are moving painfully toward a new kind of leader not because someone thinks this a good thing but because the nature of the problems makes it necessary. Yesterday’s strong human may turn out to be tomorrow’s 98-pound weakling. Whether or not this proves to be the case, there is one final, even more damming flaw in the argument that some political messiah is needed to save us from disaster. For this nation presupposed that our basic problem is personnel. And it is not. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
Even if we had saints, geniuses, and heroes in charge, we would still be facing the terminal crisis of representative government—the political technology of the Third Wave era. The descent into materialism will be intellectually checked by science reversing its own nineteenth-century conclusions; the lapse into immorality by the vivid demonstration of its tragic results in recent national and individual history; the fall into irreligion by the uprise of a more personal and more mystical faith. The first social goal which philosophy sets before its votary is the dropping of class race and creed prejudices—not, be it remembered, of their actualities. Although racial differences must be taken into account, cultural variations must be recognized and the contrasts of living standards must be noted; although the oneness of humankind is a metaphysical and not a practical uniformity, all this is no excuse for racial prejudices and hatreds or for unfair partialities and discriminations. In the case of the colour bar, this has been particularly cruel in the past and will be dangerous in the future. One must be too wise, too tolerant, and too decent to be caught up by the fanatic nationalisms, the unashamed savageries, the battling brutalities, the social hostilities, the racial animosities and religious intolerances of unenlightened humans. Whoever breathes the rarefied atmosphere of truth can only regard with sorrow those who insist on breathing the murky fogs of overweening race, nationality, sect, or colour discriminations. Whoever practices the philosophic discipline is walking the path to the consciousness of being a World citizen. One cannot help but be a confirmed internationalist. This is a logical and practical result of one’s knowledge and attitude. One sees clearly that we are all children of the same supreme Father, all rooted in the same infinite Mind, all brought together on this planet to carry out the same noble tasks of self-regeneration and self-realization. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
Consequently one is friendly to humans of all nationalities, all races, all countries. They are not disliked, suspected, nor hated, ignored, neglected, nor ill-treated because in the flesh they happen to be foreigners. One sees that the truth is there are no Englishmen, Frenchmen, or Germans, but only human beings harbouring stuffy mental complexes that they are English, French, or Germany. Nevertheless, the human who has liberated oneself from this fleshly materialism need not cease thinking of oneself as a citizen of one’s particular country. However, one will alongside of that think of oneself as a citizen of the World. Their high pitched baying as if in prayer’s unison, remote, undistracted, given over utterly to belief, the skein of geese voyages south, hierarchic arrow of its convergence toward the point of grace swinging and rippling, ribbon tail of a kite, loftily over lakes where they have not elected to rest, over humans who suppose Earth is human’s, over golden Earth preparing itself for night and winter. We humans are smaller than they, and crawl unnoticed, about and about the smoky map. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the light of the fire. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who didst make a distinction between America and the heathen, between the seventh day and the six working days. Praised be Thou, O Lord, who makest a distinction between holy and profane. May He who sets the holy and profane apart, blot out our sins before His sight, and make our numbers as the sand again, and as the stars of night. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us by Thy precepts, and hast enjoined upon us the kindling of the Hanukkah and Kwanza and Christmas light. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who art this season wroughtest miracles for our fathers in the old days. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast kept us in life, and hast preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
Cresleigh Homes
Seriously, could you dream of a more dreamy laundry room? It’s beyond our wildest dreams! (yes, yes we hear it too…but it’s seriously that awesome!)
Laundry is fun when you’ve got all the space you need; not to mention that chic floor in the Mills Station Residence 2 model.
The very thought of you, and I forget to do, the little ordinary things that everyone ought to do. I’m living in a kind of day dream. I’m happy as a King in my Cresleigh Homes. To me that is everything. The mere idea of you, the longing to be near you.
The very though of my love, my Cresleigh Home. There mere idea of you, the long here for you. I see your architecture in every flower, your windows in stars above. It is just the thought of you, the very though of you, my Cresleigh Homes.
There is a summer place, where it may rain or storm, yet I’m safe and for within my Cresleigh Home, your arms reach out to me and my heart is free from all care.
For it knows there are no gloomy skies. I am blessed with the secret of a forever home. I used to daze at the doorstep and picture me there. Chances are my Cresleigh Home is my Valentine! https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-2/
Why Do You Close Your Eyes to Pray?
Demonic activity is not uniform in the World over nor in historical experience. It appears that there was a great increase in demonic activity preceding and during the life of the Lord Jesus Christ here on Earth. There does appear to be a present increase of an awareness of the part of the powers of darkness that their time is short and that the second coming of Christ is at hand. It is therefore particularly imperative for Christians to be informed in spiritual warfare. There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. My file of occult cases has already grown to other 20,000 in number in regards to the Winchester Mansion. A woman, one of Mrs. Winchester’s servants, appeared at the police station and stated that she had just shot and killed her son. A demon had told her that her son would never regain his full mental health. Wanting to save the boy from his terrible future, she shot and killed him. The woman was arrested and finally sentenced after a long trial. This day-to-day experience show the suggestive powers and effects that demons and spirits have. This is an age of phenomenal progress in human’s conquest of the Universe. Awestruck observers are flocking to the altars erected by science to revere human achievements in the realm of the natural laws. Meanwhile, the alters of God are forsaken as naturalism in theology threatens to eliminate the supernatural from every day life. The situation is particularly ironical to the Christian who sees God permitting man to achieve feats bordering on the miraculous. Why should humans become skeptical and apathetic toward religious supernaturalism at a time when science is demonstrating how “close” the natural and supernatural can be? The fact that supernaturalism embraces not only the morally good—God and his elect angels—but the morally evil—Satan and the fallen angels or demons—aggravates modern human’s unbelief. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
For while some people have always denied the existence of God and the holy angels, skepticism has especially attended the sphere of evil supernaturalism. Many who profess faith in God question the existence of personal devil and casually relegate evil spirits or demons to the realm of folklore and superstition. If Satan and demons are merely the creation of superstition and imagination, the whole filed of demonism belongs to the World of fairytale and folklore, and not to the sphere of Christian theology. If there are n demons, evil cannot be traced to their activity and depraved aspects of human behaviour must be attributed to other cases. The Word of God attests the reality of evil supernaturalism through the career of both Satan and his myriads of helpers called demons or evil spirits (Luke 10.17, 20). Satan is presented as Lucifer, the first and most glorious creature of God, who subsequently sinned (Isaiah 14.12, 13; Ezekiel 28.11-19; Revelation 12.7-10). In his rebellion, Lucifer drew a multitude of angels with him and became “Satan,” a Hebrew word meaning “opposer” or “adversary.” Satan reigns over a kingdom of darkness organized in opposition to God (Matthew 12.26). This opposition crystallized in connection with humans and God’s purpose for him upon the Earth (Genesis 3.1-15). The angels who followed Satan became the demons or evil spirits, Satan’s minion. Apparently Lucifer, the first of the angels, was created to have dominion over the Earth (Job 38.1-7; Ezekiel 28.11-19). Satan was exalted and sinless before he rebelled and brough judgment and chaos upon the Earth. The Creator was now faced with the problem of evil and sin in a hitherto sinless Universe. God chose the Earth as the theater in which to present the great drama of human redemption. This great redemptive demonstration not only shows how God, in his infinite love and holiness, deals with evil, it will culminate in the conquest of sin, its banishment from a sin-scarred Universe, and its rigid isolation for all eternity, together with its perpetrations, in a place of confinement called “the lake of fire,” Gehenna or eternal hell (Revelation 20.11-15). #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
The Old Testament is replete with demonological phenomena because since the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden, God’s saints have been the object of satanic attack (Genesis 4.1-6; 6.1-10). Israel was surrounded by pagan nations which manifested the whole gamut of demonological practices and beliefs and clashed with Israel’s monotheistic faith. The New Testament presents overwhelming evidence for the existence of demons. Jesus’ powerful spiritual ministry precipitated a violent outburst of evil supernaturalism. Satan and demons opposed his mighty mission among humans, know well it could lead to their own undoing (Matthew 4.1-10; Mark 5.1-10). Our Lord gave his disciples authority to expel demons (Matthew 10.1) and expelled them himself (Matthew 15.22, 28), viewing his conquest over the demons as over Satan (Luke 10,17, 18). The New Testament speaks of demons (James 2.19; Revelation 9.20), described their nature (Luke 4.33; 6.18), their activity (1 Timothy 4.1; Revelation 16.14), their opposition to the believer (Ephesians 6.10-20), their abode (Luke 8.31; Revelation 9.11) and their eternal doom (Matthew 25.41). The tormentors and troublemakers of nature offer an interesting analogy to the evil agencies of the spiritual realm. In the planet kingdom, pest, insects, and blight continually harass the famer. In the animal kingdom, all creatures have their deadly enemy. And the human body is relentlessly attacked by a multitude of bacteria which cause disease and death. Those who hesitate to accept the testimony of Scripture about the reality of demons may thus find both scientific and philosophical corroboration in the nature which has been called God’s “oldest testament.” The natural World vividly illustrates the activity of demonic beings in the spiritual World. Of all the current methods of foretelling the future, the most popular is astrology. Astrologers claim that by observing the position of the sun, moon, fixed stars, and planets they can predict significant events that will take place on Earth. Palm reading is another method of fortunetelling, but it is close related to astrology that it does not require special consideration. The person who engages in this practice divides the hand into seven mounds which are named after Heavenly bodies—Venus, Mercury, Apollo (the Sun), Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
In addition, the palm has four lines, which are “read” by the palmist. He calls them the heart, head, life, and fate lines and sees each of them as having special significance. Everything we will say about the evils, dangers, and deceitfulness of astrology applies to palmistry as well. One must, however, recognize that astrology is classified as a pseudoscience, and it should not be confused with astronomy, a legitimate field of study Astrology originated about 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and flourished in Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, and Greece. It began with people who worshipped the sun, moon, and the five known planets of that time as gods They thought each of these seven deities owned a certain section of the Heavens as his “house.” They there established the zodiac the wild belt of fixed starts that appear in the course of a year, and divided it into twelve “houses.” As a result, there were twelve dwelling places for seven deities. The early astrologers decided that the sun and moon needed only one “house” each, and therefore assigned two dwelling places to Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Mercury. These planets had one “house” for the day and another for the night. This heathen concept of the planets as gods with dwelling places in the Heavens gradually developed into a detailed system of religion. Men carefully studied the Heavenly bodies, and noted how they positions of the planets changed. They theorized that whenever two or more of these planets (which they considered gods) were positioned in a direct radial line or within a ten-degree angle, some extremely significant events World occurs upon the Earth. They called this a “conjunction” of the planets. Since the movements of the Heavenly bodies is perfectly predictable, they had given to each of the “houses” through which the planet moved. For many years educated people mingled their astrological superstitions with their studies of nature, mathematics, physics, and astronomy. Some have assumed that the Magi, who came to Jerusalem looking for the King of the Jews when Jesus was born, came because of an astrological sign. This is a mistaken assumption, and the idea should never be used as evidence that the New Testament condones the practice of astrology. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
Although the wise men as learned sages of the East undoubtedly shared in some superstitions of their day, the light that led them to make their journey to Jerusalem was a miraculously placed sign of God, not a mere configuration of the stars. It has been theorized that the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, which took place in 747 A.U.C (7 B.C.), or with Mars added in 748 A.U.C. (6 B.C.), led the to look for Jesus Christ. This supposition is without validity, however. In the first place, the Christian Bible nowhere declares that Heavenly bodies in their normal movements furnish this kind of information. Second, a similar conjunction of planes had taken place about fifty-nine years earlier, but this had not led an investigating body to Jerusalem. Third, when the planets move near to one another to form a conjunction, they are never so close tht they appear as one star. Fourth, the light miraculously appeared over the house where Jesus was living when the Magi arrived. These factors prove conclusively that the light in the Heavens was a miracle. We repeat, the wise men who presented their gifts to Jesus Christ did not receive information of His birth through astrology. However, I am not really convinced that astrology, all demons, and all spirits lie. I think perhaps messages are distorted or maybe they are seeing the future and warning people about what their actions will cause. Maybe some things are destined to happen and messages are incomplete. To further illustrate this example, Mrs. Winchester servant, who shot and killed her own son, after the message from a demon, perhaps what was to happen was fate and the demon was seeing the future and warning her not to shot her son. Of course, no one who is dead can regain their mental health because they cease to exist. I think that is why it is dangerous to peer into the future and listen to spirits sometimes. Maybe one may distort the message and actually cause the situation to happen. So it is not necessarily that demons and spirits are lying, but most people do not have the psychic ability to see what they see and cannot understand the context of the message. The story is told of how an astrologer Stoeffler made a complete fool of himself. He predicted a diluvian flood for February 1524. The population was terrified. Nobody wanted to work. The fields were not tilled. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
The rich either had ships built for themselves or they retreated for safety into the mountains. Even the Elector of Brandenburg made preparations to escae the flood. The great astronomer Kepler was also not free from the contamination of astrology. A well-know example of this is his prediction tht Wallenstein would die a peaceful death in his prediction that Wallenstein would die a peaceful death in his 70th year. However, he was killed in his 50th year. Yet Kepler only engaged in astrology out of economic necessity. He wrote, “Astrology is to me an unbearable but necessary slavery. To keep my yearly income, my title, and my living quarters, I have to comply with ignorant curiosity. Astronomy is the wise mother, and astrology the foolish daughter who gives herself to anyone who pays her, so that she can support her wise mother.” Maybe consulting demons reduced the life of Wallenstein by 20 years. Perhaps he unknowingly made a deal and soul his soul to a crossroads demon, and would have lived to 70 had it not made a deal with the devil. Perhaps that is why people say make the best out of your life and enjoy what is here and now, and try not to look into the future. When consulting spirits and demons, you may be unknowingly entering into a contract. And it is possible that by listening to the supernatural will sometimes avert tragedy. The demons and Satan do have dominion of this Earth, and they could be testing your faith. So when Stoeffler consulted as Astrologer, and took action, perhaps this leap of faith diverted the flood, and if they had set idol, it would have happened. It is truly hard to understand how the supernatural works, which is why so many place their faith in God and choose not to work with demons and the devil. An important witch-case occurred in Scotland in 1678, the account of which is the interest to u as it incidentally makes mentions of the fact that one of the guilty persons had been previously tried and condemned in Ireland for the crime of witchcraft. Four women and one man were strangled and burnt at Paisley for having attempted to kill by magic Sir George Maxwell of Pollock. They had formed a wax image of him, into which the Devil himself had struck the necessary pins; it was then turned on a spit before the fire, the entire band repeating in unison the name of one whose death they desired to compass. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
Amongst the women was “one Bessie Weir, who was hanged up the last of the four (one that had been taken fore in Ireland and was condemned to the fyre for malefice before; and when the hangman there was about to cast her over the gallows, the devil takes her away from them out of their sight; her dittay [indictment] was sent over here to Scotland), who at this tyme, when she was cast off the gallows, there appears a raven, and approaches the hangman within an ell of him, and flyes away again. All the people observed it, and cried out at the sight of it.” A clergyman, the Rev. Daniel Williams (evidently the man who was pastor of Wood Street, Dublin, and subsequently founded Dr. William’s Library in London), relates the manner in which he freed a girl from strange and unpleasant noises which disturbed her; the incident might have developed into something analogous to the Drummer of Tedworth in England, but on the whole works out rather tamely. He tells us that about the year 1678 the niece of Alderman Arundel of Dublin was troubled by noises in her uncle’s house, “as by violent Sthroaks on the Wainsocts and Chests, in what Chambers she frequented.” In the hope that they would cease she removed to a house near Smithfield, but the disturbances pursued her thither, and were no longer heard in her former dwelling. She thereupon betook herself to a little house in Patrick Street, near the gate, but to no purpose. The noises lasted in all for about three months, and were generally at their worst about two o’clock in the morning. Certain ministers spent several nights in prayer with her, heard the strange sounds, but did not succeed in causing their cessation. Finally the natator, Williams, was called in, and came upon a night agreed to the house, where several persons had assembled. He says: “I preached from Hebrews ii. 18, and contrived to be at Prayer at that Time when the Noise used to be greatest. When I was at Prayer the Woman, kneeling by me, catched violently at my Arm, and afterwards told us that she saw a terrible Sight—but it pleased God there was no noise at all. And from that Time God graciously freed her from all that Disturbance.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
Many strange stories of apparitions seen in the air come from all parts of the World, and are recorded by writers both ancient and modern, but there are certainly few of them that can equal the account of that weird series of incidents that was seen in the sky by a goodly crowd of ladies and gentlemen in Co. Tipperary on 2nd March 1678. “At Pointstown in the country of Tepperary were seen drivers strange and prodigious apparitions. On Sunday in the evening several gentlemen and others, after named, walked forth in the fields, and the Sun going down, and appearing somewhat bigger than usual, they discoursed about it, directing their eyes toward the place where the Sun set; when one of the company observed in the air, near the place where the Sun went down, an Arm of a blackish blue colour, with a ruddy complection’d Hand at one end, and at the other end a cross piece with a ring fasten’d to the middle of it, like one end of an anchor, which stood still for a while, and then made northwards, and so disappeared. Next, there appeared at a great distance in the air, from the same part of the sky, something like a Ship coming towards them; and it came so near that they could distinctly perceived the masts, sails, tacklings, and men; she then seem’d to tack about, and sail’d with the stern foremost, northwards, upon a dark smooth sea, which stretched itself from south-west to north-west. Having seem’s thus to sail some few minutes she sunk they perceived her men plainly running up tacklings in the forepart of the Ship, as it were to save themselves from drowning. Then appeared a Fort, with somewhat like a Castle on the top of it; out of the sides of which, by reason of some clouds of smoak and a flash of fire suddenly issuing out, they concluded some shot to be made. The Fort then was immediately divided in two parts, which were in an instant transformed into two exact Ships, like the other they had seen, with their head towards each other. That towards the south seem’d to chase the other with its stem [stern?] foremost, northwards, till it sunk with its stem first, as the first Ship had done; the other Ship sail’s some time after, and then sunk with its head first. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
It was observ’d that men were running upon the decks of these two Ships, but they did not see them climb up, as in the last Ship, excepting one man, whom they saw distinctly to get up with much haste upon the very top of the Bowsprit of the second Ship as they were sinking. They supposed the two last Ships were engaged, and fighting, for they saw the likeness of bullets rouling upon the sea, while they were both visible. Then there appear’d a Chariot, dawn with two horses, which turn’d as the Ships had done, northward, and immediately after it came a strange frightful creature, which they concluded to be come kind of serpent, having a head like a snake, and a knotted bunch or bulk at the other end, something resembling a snail’s house. This monster came swiftly behind the chariot and gave it a sudden violent blow, then out of the chariot leaped a Bull and a Dog, which follow’d him [the bull], and seem’d to bait him. These also went northwards, ad the former had done, the Bull first, holding his head downwards, then the Dog, and then the Chariot, till all sunk down one after another about the same place, and just in the same manner as the former. These meteors being vanished, there were several appearances like ships and other things. The whole time of the vision lasted near an hour, and it was a very clear and calm evening, no cloud seen, no mist, nor any wind stirring. All the phenomena came out of the West or Southwest, and all moved Northwards; they all sunk out of sight much about the same place. Of the whole company there was not any one but saw all these things, as above-written, whose names follow: “Mr. Allye, a minister, living near the place. Lieutenant Dunsterville, and his son. Mr. Grace, his son-in-law. Lieutenant Dwine. Mr. Dwine, his bother Mr. Christopher Hewelson. Mr. Richard Foster. Mr. Adam Hewelson. Mr. Bates, a schoolmaster. Mr. Larkin. Mrs. Dunsterville. Her daughter-in-law. Her maiden daughter. Mr. Dwine’s daughter. Mrs. Grace, and her daughter.” The first of the sixteen persons who subscribed to the truth of above was the Rev. Peter Alley, who had been appointed curate Killenaule Union (Dio. Cashel) in 1672, but was promoted to livings in the same diocese in the autumn of the year the apparitions appeared. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
There is a townland named Poyntstown in the parish of Buolick and barony of Sliveardagh, and another of the same name in the adjoining parish of Fennor. It must have been at one or other of these places that the sights were witnessed, as both parishes are only a few miles distant from Killenaule. Another supernatural event was Mrs. Winchester’s arrival to the Santa Clara Valley in the late 1800’s was a sensation event. Our valley was thrilled by this dramatic entrance of a millionairess; by those freight cars sidetracked in Sant Clara, unloading rich imported furnishings; by building a two-story farm house into a 26-room mansion, in the first six months, and she did not stop going, she kept building for 38-years. Mrs. Winchester had nine cooks, and supervised 113 employees. She also devoted much energy to managing her estate, trading in gold and diamonds, renting out fields, orchards, houses, employees and horses. Here was fair gamed for all! The town talked about Mrs. Winchester! Gossiped would be a more fitting word, gossip no one claimed to like—but everyone enjoyed Talk begat rumors and as the years passed and new towers gables rose behind the six-foot hedge of Llanda Villa, the rumors grew to established legend. We shall recall a few, some containing a faith faint hint of truth, others, the inevitable product of unbridled conjecture. I want to share some of the astounding things that took place in the famous Blue Séance Room of Mrs. Winchesters mansion. Her family gathered there frequently before going to bed to find out what the spirit World might reveal to them. Here they experienced the thirteen séances of spiritualism: passivity, vocal reality, golden key revelation, lights, transfiguration, and levitation. Séances are noted for quietness. As the participants enter and meditate, they block out their tensions, worries, anxieties, and problems. Through mental discipline they try to be as passive as possible, with eagerness and expectation for what the spirit has for them. Lights are turned down at every séance. Shades are drawn in the daytime and at night. At some places rheostats dramatically control the lighting. Once when Mrs. Winchester asked a spirit why the lights were turned down, the reply was, “My daughter, why do you close your eyes to pray?” “For better concentration,” she said. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
“Just so it is,” said the spirit, “that you turn down the lights. It is for better concentration.” Séances always start on time. The exact hour is eagerly anticipated. To arrive late would grieve the spirits. Séances have top priority in the plans of those who attend regularly. Young people give the séance priority in their schedules over athletic events and other school activities. Sometimes the spirit messages came to them in other languages. Mrs. Winchester heard Spanish, German, French, and the language of the Chippewa Indians being spoken. When they did not recognize a language the control spirit would tell then what is was and would interpret the central message. It often went something like this: “Jesus Christ is coming soon. He is even now at the threshold of the parapet of the Heaveniles awaiting the word of the great spirits of lights. Wherefore, comfort ye one another with these words, and be ye ready; for ye know not what hour he will come.” When Mrs. Winchester asked the spirit how they could be ready, the answer was always,” “Live a good life, my child. Follow in the steps of the master the greatest medium of all.” This was a vague reference to Jesus Christ, without instructing them in what those steps were. When a medium went into a trance for any length of time, his or her body became very tired, causing the medium to spend a day or two in bed after the séance. Because of this, they could not have a séance as often as they wanted in Mrs. Winchester’s Castle and they went to séances in the homes of other mediums. However, the most striking phenomenon was a séance of vocal reality some witnessed in Mrs. Winchester’s estate in connected with her deceased cousin, Richard Pardee, who had been in the Spanish American War; he was a drummer. During the séance they wars feet marching in perfect cadence, the music of a fife, and the beat of drums. Each time, the music was a popular tune of the times, “The Jingo’s Soliloquy.” No one knew how all these sound vibrations could be distinctly produced through the vocal apparatus of the medium. The spirit constantly reminded them that public manifestations were for a later time, and so they must keep those revelations to themselves. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
The séances of lights were always preceded by a half hour or so of passive meditation during which each person prepared oneself by discipline of mind and emotions for the coming of the spirit. In this séance, the darkened room was filled with drifting lights until it became a mass of colours, each light indicating the spirit of someone who had passed on Each colour had significance. Little blue lights meant that the spirit of a departed baby was present. There were large orange lights and many yellow and green lights. Green represented spirits that were growing or progressing to a higher plane of spiritual development. A white light indicated a spirit that had progressed to the level of the master oneself. Spiritual advancement at this level was signified by the size of the white light. A read light was considered an “evil” spirit. It was greeted in the circle with a gasp of disappointment and sometimes fear. If a read light appeared, all the other lights would disappear, usually ending the séance. In the séance of transfiguration, the transfigured form of a loved one who has died appears. Mrs. Winchester was really plagued by a lot of deaths in a short time. It started with a new born daughter, her parents, mother and father-in-law, then her husband. You can be she was grieving to have almost her entire family wiped out like, many all within the same year. During a séance her deceased mother seemed to appear, cloth with light. Sarah W. Burns Pardee drifted across the room to her daughter, Sarah Winchester, stopped and gave her a gentle smile. Them medium said she was trying to tell Mrs. Winchester she was proud she was building a house for earth bound spirits. Mrs. Winchester shouted “Mother!” she leaped up to embrace her, only to have her disappear. Little is known about the séance of levitation. Levitation is sometimes called “soul travel,” the phenomenon of spirit development whereby a medium or advances convert to spiritualism can leave one’s body by complete yieldedness to control spirit. One is not completely disunited from one’s body, but is able to take conscious flight from it to distant places. Mrs. Winchester said she experienced this: she was taken into the spirit dimension and witnessed indescribable beauties. It was something she did not want to talk about, but tried to reproduce in her mansion and the Victorian gardens. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
Two people in Mrs. Winchester’s spiritualist group enter the stated of levitation from time to time. During these periods they could read the headlines of the Oakland Tribune as it came off the press before it hit the city streets. Because Mrs. Winchester took architectural precautions to enlist the assistance of her friendly spirits, they were able to protect her from the Great San Francisco Bay Area Earthquake of 1906. The quake registered 8.3 on the Richter scale and stretched all the way from Oregon to Los Angeles It severely damaged Mrs. Winchester’s home, toppling the nine-story Observation Tower and some cupolas. She herself was badly shaken in her favorite Daisy Bedroom near the front of the mansion. It took several servants hours to locate her and then pry open the bedroom door and recue her, but Mrs. Winchester and everyone in the estate survived. Mrs. Winchester, however, felt the Earthquake was a warning from the spirits that they did not want her estate visible from the freeway that would be built in the future and also that such a large estate of 500 rooms, a nine-story tower, and 65,000 square feet would be too expensive to maintain after her passing, so she removed the tower, and much of the fourth floor. However, scientists, to this day, have said the mansion is one of the saftest places in the state to be during an Earthquake. Later, after having the structural damage repaired, the spirits ordered Mrs. Winchester to immediately bored up the front thirty rooms—including the Daisy Bedroom, Grand Ballroom, and the beautiful front doors—sealed up. The heavy, ornate front doors, which had just been installed just prior to the Earthquake had only been used by three people—Mrs. Winchester and the two carpenters who installed them. Apparently, the spirits used the reflections of spiritual light in the Daisy-stained glass windows to power beams of light energy to protect her and not allowed the nine-story tower to crash on the house and rip the mansion in pieces. Matter is composed of energy and energy is never destroyed. When the voltage of an electric current to atom-smashing velocity, certain elements, when they are bombarded with this electrical force, can be transformed into other elements. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
Perhaps, similarly, the energy in humans can be attuned to a vital spiritual force to make matter visible. The number 13 occurs often on the grounds as well as in the house; for example, there are 13 cupolas in the greenhouse, and 13 fan palms lining the front gate. A craftsman in Italy, called Pietro Bossi, was told by a spirit to create an ornate sink made of Italian porcelain with 13 drain holes. There is a striking account that in which the a medium’s control spirit much wanted this sink and it appeared in the table in the Blue Séance Room from 6,212 miles away and there was a receipt explaining it had been paid for in gold and was addressed to Mrs. Winchester. There was a convincing story of the events. Mr. Bossi was renowned for his Neoclassical fire surround with exquisitely detailed inlaid marble work and specialist craftsmanship. Very little is known about Pietro Bossi. He was a man of mystery, and it is not known when or where he died. His legacy, however, has had long lasting implications for this history of art and design. Spiriting writing is accomplished by a medium who possessed the gift of writing while under the power of a spirit. The medium takes pen or pencil in hand and relaxes one’s arm on a table. One goes into a trance, yielding completely to the spirit force. The following is an actual sample of spirit writing. While Mrs. Winchester was alive, a tree in front of the Winchester mansion turned blood-red and it was blood. (The tree actually did exist and was cut down approximately in the first decade of the 2000s.) Huge slate-coloured clouds gathered around the tree. They whirled as they feel, and became darker It was symbolic of the waste of blood. The deadly clouds portend the battle of the near future when they very tree of life, every branch leaf, shall suffer unto death, for as this tree is, so is the World scene and its many branches, its may countries, for every branch shall be affected. Prepare the way for the Lord and He shall do battle He shall make war with the elements, and you shall stand. Yes, in the midst of chaos, ye shall stand and messengers of peace, love and unity. The battle will rage and rage, but by the law of polarity it will be met by its own destruction. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
The light of the higher forces, God-sent, shall redeem the World. Yes, even as the twinkling of an eye can this be made to pass. Again, the servant of the Light are countless—their name is Legion. Have no fear, ye of Christ, for ye shall see what ye shall see—miracles. Yet shall ye know them as the working of the Word of Light, for surely one in the power of Light may rule this World unto its God-purpose. So from the realms of light I come—I am that I am. Amen. Mrs. Winchester said Emoah and Amoah were two of the control spirits she had when she was in spiritualism. In the séance wither one could be a control spirit, or they might speak occasionally when another control spirit was presiding. Hundreds of spirit messages came through the seances. They referred to God as Light and always contain a smattering of Scripture. Because these messages used scared terminology and came from a spirit, many people accepted them as God’s messages. When the construction workers were working on the Winchester Mansion, an occasional black spot, dotted against the grey distance, marked a hay-rick or labourer’s cottage on the estate. Mrs. Winchester provided a tenth of her income to provide for the poor farmers in California. One night on the Winchester estate, it was beginning to rain steadily. A worker, Jesse Evans, could see that he was in for dirty weather, and became a little anxious about how he was to get back to his cottage, especially as it was now rapidly growing dark. So thick was it that one could not see the low land anywhere, and could only judge of its position by remembering where the mansion was. He had not seen sign of a human being the whole day. It was not likely anymore would be about at night. However, he shouted as loud as he could, and then waited to hear if there were any response. There was not a sound, only the wind moaned slightly through the trees, and something creaked loudly. The prospect was not inviting. The light was dim; Jesse could scarcely make out objects near him, all else was obscurity. What little light there was came through the mansion’s windows. A small round speck of light looked at him out of the darkness ahead. Jesse took this as a sight to take shelter in the mansion. Groping his way with increasing caution, he stepped across the field and made his way to an opened window. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
In the window was blackness itself. He felt it would be useless to attempt to go further. As Jesse stood looking into the darkness, a cold chilly shudder passed over him, and with a shiver he turned round to look. Deeper patches of darkness on his right suggested it was best seek refuge inside the mansion. Here at least he could find rest, if he found it impossible to get to his cottage on the estate. Having some wax vestas in his pocket, he struck a light and examined the room. It was better than he had expected, It was quite clear that Jesse must pass the night here. Before going to look around, he shouted at the top of his voice, more to keep up his own spirits than with any hope of being heard and then paused to listen. Not a sound of any sort replied. Jesse now prepared to make himself as comfortable as he could. However, the silence only seemed the more oppressive, and the blackness all the darker. “It is no good; I will turn in,” Jesse though dejectedly. By contriving a succession of matches, Jesse was enabled to have enough light to see to eat his frugal supper; for he had kept a little sherry and a few sandwiches to meet emergencies, and it was a fortunate thing he had. The light and the food made him feel more cheery, and by the time the last match had gone out, he felt worse might have happened to him by a long way. As Jesse lay still, waiting for sleep to come, the absurdity of the situation forced itself upon him. As if he were cast away upon a desert island, here was Jesse, to all intents and purposes as much cut off from all communication with the rest of the World. The silence of the place was perfect; and if silence can woo sleep, sleep ought very soon to have come However, when one is hungry and we, and in a beautiful and uncanny place, besides being in one’s clothes, it is a very difficult thing to go to sleep. After sighing and groaning for sometime, Jesse sat up for change of position, and nearly fractured his skull in so doing. There was nothing for it but to it still, or lie down and wait for daylight. He had no means of telling time. Fixed upon the arduous business of counting an imaginary and interminable flock of sheep pass one by one through an ideal gate, he went to sleep. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
He was awakened by the sound of the two most horrible yells ringing through the darkness. Jesse sat bolting upright; and as a proof that he senses were “all there,” he did not bring his head up this time. There was another sound. The silence was as absolute as the darkness. He though his must have been dreaming, but the sounds ringing in his ears, and his heart was beating with excitement. It would have been madness to attempt to move in that blackness. And so he lay still and tried to sleep. However, now there was a sound, indistinct, but no mere fancy; a muffled sound, as of some movement in the forepart of the mansion. What was the sound? It did not seem like Mrs. Winchester’s dog Zip. It was a full, shuffling kind of noise, very indistinct, and conveying no clue whatever as to its cause. It lasted for only a short time. However, now the cold dam air seemed to have become more piercingly chilly. The raw iciness seemed to strike into the very marrow of his bones, and his teeth chattered. Rising to put this resolve in execution, he was arrested by the noise beginning again. Jesse listened. This time he distinctly distinguished two separate sounds: one, like a heavy soft weight being dragged along with difficulty; the other like the hard sound of boots on boards. Could there be others in the mansion after all? If son, why had they made no sound when he made his present noticed by shouting and firing his gun? Clearly, if there were people, they wished to remain concealed, and his presence was inconvenient to them. However, how absolutely still and quiet they had kept! It appeared incredible that there should be anyone. Jesse listened intently. The sound had ceased again, and once more the most absolute stillness reigned around. A gentle swishing, wobbling, lapping noise seemed to form itself in the darkness. It increased until Jesse recognized the chattering and bubbling of water. And he could not get rid of the chilly horrified feeling those two screams had produced. He derided the fear of the supernatural when comfortably seated in a drawing-room well lighted, and with company. Jesse felt her could face any number of spiritual manifestation. But the icy coldness of the air was eating into his bones, and he shivered until his teeth chattered. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18
Suddenly he became all attention again. An entirely different sound now arrested him. It was distinctly a low groan, and followed almost immediately by heavy blows—blows which fell on a soft substance, and then more groans, and again those sickening blows. He was frightened. He heard shrieks, the blows, the groans, the dull thumping sounds, and it compelled him to suspect the worse—to feel convinced that he was actually within some few feet of a horrible murders then being committed. Jesse could form no idea of who the victim was, or who was the assassin. He actually heard the sounds and they were growing louder and more distinct. He was painfully aware The horror of the situation was intense. Bump, thump, the thing was dragged up the steps with many pauses, and at last it seemed to have reached the landing. A long pause now followed. The silence grew dense around. Jesse dreaded the stillness—the silence that made itself be heard almost more than the sounds. What now horror would that awful quiet bring forth? He felt something drop on to his head and slowly trickly over his forehead. It was blood. The bewildering realization that he was not in bed, that he did not know where he was, which way to go, or what to do to get back again; everything he touched seem strange, and one piece of furniture much the same as any other. The reality of his struggles had almost made him forget the mysterious phenomena he had been listening to. No one knows what became of Jesse. The fact is, we cannot, in this prosaic age, cannot dismiss the supernatural. Mental illness, drugs, money, and the supernatural can be a dangerous combination. People let their id (the id operates based on the pleasure principle, which demands immediate gratification of needs. Many people confuse the id with ego. However, the ego eventually emerges to moderate between the urges of the id and demands of reality. The id tends to be infantile, instinctive and primal; it is not in touch with reality, or logic, or social norms.) If the ego cannot balance the id, people began to think they are a god, always right, better than others because of their economic standing, and they turn into everything the Bible calls a demon. God tells people to be humble, love thy neighbour, share, and forgive. I would say, be careful when consulting the supernatural and with judgment. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
Winchester Mystery House
Unique from all angles 😮
What do you think inspired Sarah Winchester to continuously build such a beautiful and bizarre home? http://winchestermysteryhouse.com
I Should Have the Right to this Possibility, and to Waste Myself!
The truth of the matter is tht you always know the right thing to do. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. The development of science can be descried as the process of transferring one after another aspect of human experience from the supernatural category into the realm of natural law. The rain and wind, lightning and earthquake, the rising and setting of the sun and stars have long since been accepted as the manifestations of the workings of the laws of gravity, mechanics, thermodynamics, and electricity. In more modern times the aurora borealis, the Van Allen belt, the propagation of radio waves, the properties of chemical dyes and plastics, and the principles of rocket propulsion are all “understood” in terms of generally accepted natural laws. And there are surprising few of these laws. With a couple of dozen subnuclear particles and a similar number of fundamental physical laws we are today able to derive explanations for a tremendous variety of physical and chemical phenomena, and most of those we cannot explain appear to be beyond our reach because of their complexity, rather than because of any inadequacy in the fundamental laws. To be sure, the last word has not yet been said relative to the basic particles from which matter and energy are derived and we have good reason to believe that we have not yet precisely formulated the natural laws, since new discoveries require us to refine and restate them from time to time. We cannot even be sure that there do not still exist undiscovered phenomena whose explanation will require major additions to our present statement of the body of natural law. However, all this is beside the point. The fact that our knowledge of the laws and particles that govern and inhabit the Universe is less than perfect must not obscure the tremendous body of evidence attesting to the orderliness of all natural phenomena that are generally classified as “physical” or “chemical.” In this very broad area, the crutch of a supernatural explanation now has to be used almost not at all. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
Almost, but not quite. The explanations of physical phenomena must always start with the fundamental particles and the natural laws. Assuming the laws always existed and the particles were somehow provided in suitable number and distribution, plausible theories can be devised for the formation of the stars, the planet, the galaxies, and even for the subsequent course of billions of years of geological development that have made the Earth what it is today. However, since science is by its very nature based upon the process of reasoning from cause to effect, or of deducing probable causes from known effects, it is intrinsically incapable of carrying us back behind first causes. No scientist can “explain” the natural laws on which one’s science is ultimately based. One may invent a term such as “gravitational attraction” to enable one to discuss a phenomenon one wishes to deal with, and one may agree with other scientists on techniques for measuring the gravitational attraction between material object. One may then perform experiments that ultimately permit one to deduce relations, or “laws,” connecting gravitational attraction between material objects. One may then perform experiments that ultimately permit one to deduce relations, or “laws,” connecting gravitational forced and the masses and positions of the bodies involved. Thus one can learn how to predict the gravitational effects that will be produced by a specified configuration of objects or, conversely, to arrive at valid configurational deductions in terms of measured gravitational forces. However, what is gravity, really? What causes it? Where des it come from? How did it get started? The scientist has no answers. One’s delineation of the relations between gravitational forces and other properties of matter and space, and one’s discovery that the relationships so delineated are immutable and unchanging, may cause one to develop such a sense of familiarity with gravity that one is no longer curious about it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
Nevertheless, in a fundamental sense, it is still as mysterious and inexplicable s it ever was, and it seems destined to remain so. Science can never tell us why the natural laws of physics exist or where the matter that started the Universe came from. It is good that our ancestors invented the concept of the supernatural, for if we are to answer such questions, we need it. We define ethic are the “science of the moral.” However, this is not a generally accepted definition, the chief reason being that the word “moral,” through historical accidents, has received several distorting connotations. Since the eighteenth century, at least in Europe, it has carried the implications of “moralism” in the sense of graceless legalistic ethics. And the United States of America, it has, under the influence of Puritanism, taken on a significance in pleasures of the flesh: to be “amoral” means to be lawless in the pleasures of the flesh, or at least to deny conventional pleasures of the flesh ethics. Because of these two connotations, one has tried to replace “moral,” and there would be no change. Therefore, I recommend that “ethical” be reserved for the theory of morals, and that the term “moral” and its derivatives be purged of those associations, and used to describe the moral act itself in its fundamental significance. We have discussed the nature of the moral act, its all-permeating character, and its immanence in the other two chief functions of man’s spirit—the cultural and the religious. We must now ask: what is the religious dimension of the moral imperative, and what is the relation of cultural creativity to morality? We can say: the religious dimension of the moral imperative is its unconditional character. This, of course, leads to a subsequent question: why is the moral imperative unconditional, and in which respects can one call it so, and in which not? In our daily life we used innumerable imperatives; but most of them are conditional: “if you want to catch your plane, you ought to leave now.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
However, perhaps you prefer to stay, even through you miss the plane. This is obviously a conditional imperative. However, if getting to the plane should be a matter of life and death, as, for example, in the case of a physician who must immediately operate upon a patient, the conditional imperative becomes unconditional. To miss the plane through negligence would than be an antimoral act, and would affect the person of the physician in a disintegrating manner. We might compare the disintegration effect that the failure to save a drowning woman has on the main character in Camus’ The Fall. There are many cases in which conditional imperatives have some bearing on an unconditional imperative. The missing plane might also arouse anxiety in those who expect the arrival of a friend. And there are cases in which several imperatives compete for supreme validity, and in which the decision is a moral risk. However, despite these “mixed” cases the moral imperative in itself is, as Immanuel Kant called it, “categorical” rather than “hypothetical,” or as I would say, unconditional as opposed to conditional. We may ask, however, if the decision is a moral risk—the “risk” implying that it might prove to be the wrong decision, whether a moral decision can stand under an unconditional imperative. The answer to this question is that the unconditional character does not refer to the content, but to the form of the moral decision. If it be a moral decision, it is dependent only on the pure “ought to be” of the moral imperative, whichever side of a moral alternative might be chosen, however great the risk in a bold decision may be. And should anyone be in doubt as to which of several possible acts conforms to the moral imperative, one should be reminded that each of them might be justified in a particular situation, but that whatever one chooses must be done with the consciousness of standing under an unconditional imperative. The doubt concerning the justice of a moral act does not contradict the certainty of its ultimate seriousness. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
The assertion of the intrinsically religions character of the moral imperative can be criticized from different points of view. Theology can strongly affirm that unconditioned character of the moral imperative, but deny that this character makes it religious. Moral commands, one argues then, are religious because they are divine commandments. They are ultimately serious because they express the “Will of God.” This alone makes them unconditional. God could have willed differently, and we must open our eyes to His revelation in order to know what His Will actually is. Such an argument, of course, would exclude any kind of secular ethics. Not only the content but also the unconditional character of the moral imperative would have to be sanctioned by a divine command, and conserved in holy traditions or scared books. I maintain, however, that the term “Will of God” can and must be understood differently. It is not an external will imposed upon us, and arbitrary law laid down by a Heavenly tyrant, who is strange to our essential nature and therefore whom we resist justifiably from the point of view of our nature. The “Will of God” for us is precisely our essential being with all its potentialities, our created nature declare as “very good” by God, as, in terms of the Creation myth, He “saw everything that He made.” For us the “Will of God” is manifest in our essential being; and only because of this can we accept the moral imperative as valid. It is not a strange law that demands our obedience, but the “silent voice” of our own nature as man, and as man with an individual character. However, we must go a step further. We can say: to fulfill one’s own nature is certainly a moral demand intrinsic in one’s being. However, why is it an unconditional imperative? Do I not have the right to leave my potentialities unfulfilled, to remain less than a person, to contradict my essential goodness, and thus to destroy myself? As a being that has the freedom of self-contradiction, I should have the right to this possibility, and to waste myself! If I choose to affirm my own essential nature, and this is a condition, the moral imperative is unconditional! The experience that has been expressed in the doctrine of the infinite value of every human soul in the view of the Eternal. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
It is not an external prohibition against self-destruction—bodily, psychologically, or morally—that we experience in states of despair, but the silent voice of our own being which denies us the right to self-destruction. It is the awareness of our belonging to a dimension that transcends our own finite freedom and our ability to affirm or to negate ourselves. So I maintain my basic assertion that the unconditional character of the moral imperative is its religious quality. If we maintain the immanence of religion in the moral command, no religious heteronomy, subjection to external commands is implied. The intrinsically religious character of the moral imperative is indirectly denied by the philosophy of values. Its representatives think in terms of a hierarchy of values, in which the value of the holy may or may not find a place; when it does, it is often on the top of this pyramid, above the moral, legal, social, political, and economic values. For our problem, this means first of all that values lie above and below each other and that there can be no immanence of one within another. The value of the holy, for example, cannot be immanent in the value of the good, and conversely. The relationship is external and may lead to the elimination of one or the other—most frequently, in this case, the value of the holy. In the World’s atavistic religions, where omnipresent gods reside in the trees, rocks, rivers, and Earth, and in animals, shamans or priests are charged with the delicate task of communicating across Earthly boundaries into the realm of the supernatural. Most come to the vocation at the invitation of divinities who appear to them in dreams. These men and women require a special sensitivity, and their training requires intense concentration, profound spirituality, and psychic and carnal purity achievable only through ritual purification. Usually this involves a retreat from daily life, dietary restrictions or fasting, and prayer and other devotions. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
Almost always, a period of enforced celibacy is essential. Removed from intimate human relations, the shaman or priest experiences heightened spirituality, and can focus fully on the spirits and the work at hand. In the stake, late-nineteenth-century northern World, Heave had no snow, ice, or storms, and hell was a sunless darkness with raging snowstorms and massive ice blocks that kept it cold. Every object was governed by an invisible force, and spirits could be contacted by wise humans. Only when a hooded, well-mitted, surrendered to a trance religious human sat, and, being careful not to spit on the ground or to take off one’s mittens, surrendered to a trace, could this communication could take place. Often one would have visions or successfully summon one’s spirit helpers. Such an individual had undergone initiation rites so rigorous one risked dying at any moment from cold, hunger, drowning, or bullets. The two things most dangerous to humans are hunger and cold. One’s monthlong fast, doubly dangerous in the arctic chill, was broken only twice, by single mouthfuls of warm water. For the next year, this individual ate only certain foods. When one was exhibited to the spirits, one sat for a month, without daring to lie down, in an unprotected snow hunt on an exposed ledge, with no caribou cover and only a scrap of hide to sit on. As one’s novitiate took place in the dead of winter, this individual who never got anything to warm one, and must not move, was very cold, and it was so tiring having to sit without daring to lie down that sometimes it was as if the individual died a little. This torment continued for a month, after which this spiritual person no longer had the strength to stand. He was not very much alive anymore, and now so completely emaciated that the veins on his hands and body and feet had quite disappeared. For an entire year, this spiritual individual was forbidden to sleep with his wife. Even his food, which she cooked in a separate little pot, was segregated. No one else was permitted to share his meat. After he had recovered from his ordeal and maintained strict chastity, his reward was that his village approved him as the new religion leader of his community. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
Such extended abstinence was exceedingly rare in his culture, though among ordinary folks it was fairly common in the short term—for example during mourning the whaling season, and the Bladder Festival, when the spirits were known to be deeply offended by any violation of the prohibition against pleasures of the flesh. The Bladder Festival lasted one month, during which the humans moved into the dance house and women visited them only to bring food. Even then, they had to bathe before their daily visit and swaddle themselves in waterproof raincoats. These precautions were crucial, for without the assistance of the spirit World, starvation was inevitable. When the spirits demanded that the mortals abstain from pleasures of the flesh, defiance would have been suicidal—there was simply too much at stake. Their rites of passage were, in their intensity, harshness, and celibate isolation, typical of truly religious beings everywhere. In many societies, actualized Christians are the only religious practitioners, and they hone their ability to communicate with the spirits through subjecting themselves, body and psyche, to grueling and terrifying experiences. The other denominator that cuts across cultures north to sound, east to west, is abstinence, which is always required at least for short periods and often extensively, even for years. Far away from the frozen north, actualized Christians exact similarly distinctive requirements, with strict observance of abstinence always a crucial factor in strengthening candidates for their roles as mediums between mortals and spirits. Their World was a treacherous quagmire of mystic forces, spirit helpers, cunning enemies, and vengeful clients. They believed that witchcraft caused most sickness and nonviolent deaths and that daily, waking life is mere illusion, “a lie.” Reality is supernatural, and they key to perceiving it was through prayer and fasting. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
Only the most powerful in the church, however, can traverse the barriers between the human and the supernatural Worlds and interfere with the spirits sent to work there by rival church leaders. This form of Christianity has two dimensions: bewitching or cursing, and curing, the opposite sides of the same machine. Both kinds of Christians rely on blind faith, for the power to penetrate and interpret the supernatural World. In intercessional prayer, the trances that become bridges between the spirit and the real World and are so widely available that anyone can experience their wonders. As a result, about one in four actualized Christian’s humans are leaders in the church. These leaders work through spirit helpers. The learn and teach by apprenticeship. They accept novices, who pay them to reveal their skills and transmit their knowledge. To initiate a novice, the actualized Christian will spend ten days praying. To fortify oneself for upcoming battles with the otherworld, the novice must rest for three months and abstain from pleasures of the flesh. If one is too weak to observe this rule, one will be a feeble, unsuccessful actualized Christian. After one month, one will release one’s spirit helper. Now one faces a curious decision. One will long to send this spirit to someone else, or if one decides to hold on to it, it is believed that individual has healing powers. Celibacy and abstinence play a crucial role in the actualized Christian’s future. This prolong chastity is allows one to gain truly great power. However, celibacy is considered an ordeal that deters many men from pursuing a career as an actualized Christian. The period of abstinence is not wasted. The novice makes use of the energy he is conserving by learn how to heal others and speak the Lord’s Word. When this period of abstinence is over and one has amassed all the flora and fauna one intends to use, the new actualized Christian sets about invading one’s neighbor’s body, or alternately, setting spirit helpers to suck out evil another human has lodged inside the ailing person. About five years after one’s novitiate, when he swallowed the evil out of one individual, the actualized Christian subjects oneself to a sort of performance review. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
More rest is expected to help the cycle of accumulating enough energizing celibacy. Finally, one is again ready to male a foray into the World of Heavenly spirits. People also turn to priests to guide them through their complicated and confusing World. However, as children, they do not choose their vocation, which is revealed at birth by divination. Infants born to hold these positions in the church, their callings are revealed at birth by divination. Infants born to be actualized Christians are removed from their parents and takes them high into the mountains for years of preparation. The priest and his wife raise the child in darkness, forbidden to look upon the sun or even the moon when it is full. The child sleeps by day and rises at night to eat and learn all the actualized Christian’s songs, dances, legends, divine secrets, the language known only to priests. This lasts nine years and is followed by deeper education in the mysteries of the Earth and the sky. During this time, the novice actualized Christian eats only simple, traditional food and must never taste salt. At puberty, one is first given men. After eighteen years of instruction, the young man is taken outside at dawn and for the first time permitted to see the World illuminated. One is ready to receive its knowledge, the next stage in his priesthood. Until then, the young man who has never seen sunlight had also been prevented from seeing a woman of reproductive age. During adolescence, when one is absorbing the accumulated wisdom of one’s priestly mentor, the experienced actualized Christian ensures one is never exposed to temptation. If one is to concentrate all one’s energy and force on assimilating the vast amount of material the experienced actualized Christian has spent so many years imparting, the strictest celibacy is necessary. One angel enlightens another. We must observe intellectual light is nothing else than a manifestation of truth, according to Ephesians 5.13: “All that is made manifest is light.” Hence to enlighten means nothing else but to communicate to others the manifestation of the known truth; according to the Apostle (Ephesians 3.8): “To me the least of all the saints is given this grace to enlighten all humans in God.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
Therefore one angels is said to enlighten another by manifesting the truth which one knows one self. Theologians plainly show that the orders of the Heavenly beings are taught Divine science by their minds. One angel can notify the known truth to another. First, by strengthening one’s intellectual power; for just as the power of an imperfect body is strengthened by the neighborhood of a more perfect body—for instance, the less hot is made hotter by the presence of what is hotter; so the intellectual power; for just as the power of an imperfect body is strengthened by the neighborhood of a more perfect body—for instance, the less hot is made hotter by the presence of what is hotter; so the intellectual power of an inferior angel is strengthened by the superior angel turning to one: since in spiritual things, for one thing to turn to another, corresponds to neighborhood in corporeal things. Secondly, one angel manifests the truth to another as regard the likeness of the thing understand. For the superior angel receives the knowledge of truth by a kind of universal conception, to receive which the inferior angel’s intellect is not sufficiently powerful, for it is natural to one to receive truth in a more particular manner. Therefore the superior angel distinguishes, in a way, the truth which one conceives universally, so that it can be grasped by the inferior angel; and this one proposes it to one’s knowledge. Thus it is with us that the teacher, in order to adapt oneself to others, divines into many points the knowledge which one possesses in the universal. This is the expressed by Dionysius (Coel. Hier. Vx): “Every intellectual substance with provident power divides and multiples the uniform knowledge bestowed on it by one nearer to God, so as to lead its inferiors upwards by analogy.” All the angels, both inferior and superior, see the Essence of God immediately, and in this respect one does not teach another. It is of this truth that the prophet speaks; wherefore he adds: “They shall teach no more every human one’s brothers, saying ‘Know the Lord’: for all shall know Me, from the least of them even to the greatest.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
However, all the types of the Divine works which are known in God as their cause, God knows in Himself, because He comprehends Himself; but of others who see God, each one knows the more types, the more perfectly one sees God. Hence a superior angel knows more about the types of the Divine works than an inferior angel, and concerning these the former enlightens the latter; that the angels are enlightened by types of existing things. An angel does not enlighten another by giving one the light of nature, grace, or glory; but by strengthening one’s natural light, and by manifesting to one the truth concerning the state of nature, of grace, and of glory, as explained above. The rational mind is formed immediately by God, either as the image from the exemplar, forasmuch as it made to the image of God alone; or as the subject by the ultimate perfecting form; for the created mind is always considered to be unformed, except it adhere to the first truth; while the other kinds of enlightenment that proceed from human or angel, are, as it were, dispositions to this ultimate form. The word-of-mouth publicity that attends suicides in a school, workplace, or small community may trigger suicide attempts. The suicide of a recruit at a U.S. Navy training school, for example, was followed within two weeks by another and also by an attempted suicide at the school. To head off what threatened to become a suicide epidemic, the school began a program of staff education on suicide and group therapy sessions for recruits who had been close to the suicide victims. Most people faced with difficult situations never try to kill themselves. In an effort to understand why some people are more prone to suicide than others, theorists have proposed more fundamental explanations for the self-destructive action than the immediate triggers considered in the past. The leading theories come from the psychodynamic, sociocultural, and biological perspectives. As a group, however, these hypotheses have received limited research support and fail to address the full range of suicidal acts. Thus the clinical field currently lacks a satisfactory understanding of suicide. 3.5 percent of suicides in which someone else—a spouse, intimate friend, relative—is murdered at the same time 5 percent of individual who make a suicide attempt soon after committing a homicide. 20 percent of persons who a suicide attempt soon after killing a child. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
The simple job plight of these adolescents could not be remedied without a social revolution. Therefore, if the most well-intentioned public spokesmen do not mention it at all, it is not astonishing. However, it is hard to grow up in a society in which one’s important problems are treated as nonexistence. It is impossible to belong to it, it is hard to fight to change it. If one is smothered by well-meaning social workers and PaL’s who do not seem to understand the real irk, the effect must be rather to feel disaffected, and all the more restive. The boys cannot articulate the real irks themselves. For instance, what public spokesman could discuss the jobs? The ideal of having a real job that you risk your soul in and make good or be damned, belongs to the heroic age of capitalist enterprise, imbued with self-righteous beliefs about hard work, thrift, and public morals. Such an ideal might still have been mentioned in public ninety years ago; in our era of risk-insured semimonopolies and advertised vices it would be met with a ghastly stillness. Or alternately, to want a job that exercises a man’s capacities in an enterprise useful to society, is utopia anarcho-syndicalism; it is labour invading the domain of management. No labor leader has entertained such a though in our generation. Management has the “sole prerogative” to determine the products and the machines. Again, to speak of the likelihood or the desirability of unemployment, like Norbert Wiener of J.K. Galbraith, is to b politically nonprofessional. Yet every kid somehow knows that if he quits school he will not get ahead—and the majority quit. During, let us say, 1890-1936, on Marxist grounds, the fight for working conditions, for security, wages, hours, the union, the dignity of labour, was mentioned, and it gave the worker or the youth something worthwhile. However, because of their historical theory of the “alienation of labour” (that the worker must become less and less in control of the work of his hands) the Marxist parties never fought for the man-worthy job itself. If workmen accept their alienation, and are indifferent also to Marxist politics, it is not surprising now. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
When humans live each other on one’s own, should ever this have been the case, morality does not exist. Such humans have freedom without limit, but the enjoyment of that freedom is slight; for each must be on guard against all others, and each must scrounge alone for food and shelter. If each surrenders a bit of freedom in exchange for group solidarity, it appears advantageous of all. So each gives up one’s right to murder, to steal, to deceive. Now all are less free but more safe. Without fear they live together, secure against predators, hunt more successfully in a group, build better shelters. The group comes into being by collecting the surrendered rights of its constituent individuals. The group itself surrenders nothing, is subject to no rules, is free to use its aggregate force for such acts of murder, of stealing, of deceiving, as it may see fit. And it does often so see fit. The members of the group is now the predator. The individual freedoms constitute the stuff of morality. The aggregate power of the surrendered rights is exercise not by all acting in concert but by rulers. We hope that the freedoms we have surrendered will be exercised by our rulers for the benefit of all. Such is rarely the case. The relationship of the individual to the state is not that of cell to multicellular organism. For the cell surrenders all autonomy to the organism, whereas the individual person withholds some initiative from the state. The state, in its will to power, would have it that individual become like cells; and occasionally, when the state is exceedingly powerful, it may bring this about. The autonomy we retain as individuals constitutes a limit to the degree to which the state may command our compliance. The extent to which the individual is committed to the shared beliefs of one’s community measures the extent to which one has been willing to give up individual power in the interest of community. When shared beliefs are firm, the collective wields great power, its constituents correspondingly less. When shared beliefs are destroyed, the collective loses power. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
At the top of the hierarchy of social organization is the realm of sovereignty, where there is no effective constraint. Here the hypocrisy is extreme; for the security of the collective is dependent upon the confidence of its constituents that the government is itself bound by those principles which protect its constituents, as well as its neighbours, from the abuse of its power. So the spokesmen for the sovereign amoral nation are constantly proclaiming the nation’s morality, its commitment to justice, freedom, and peace, whereas in fact they are leading the nation in the pursuit of more power by whatever means promise success. Insofar as this pursuit is cured at all, it is curbed by fear of retaliation by other sovereign states and fear of insurrection at home. When seeking the ultimate sources of human error and human wrong-doing, the philosopher must look very far into human history and very deep into human nature. One must look farther than their social, economic, and political courses. This done, one will trace them to the animalistic instincts inherited from pre-human and primitive human incarnations. As long as these instincts remain undisciplined, and as long as the higher nature is not more eagerly cultivated, so long must we expect to witness the strife which produces war—whether between nations of inside them. It is quite proper to make the necessary remedial efforts through social, political, educational, organizational, and other means, but their benefits will disappear in the end if they are not made side by side with the effort to teach the necessity of liberation from these instincts by the appropriate mental and spiritual techniques. The more numerous the individuals who can find peace and joy inside their own hearts, the more will the dangers and horrors which threaten humankind be curbed. There is no perpetual peace anywhere on this planet, only perpetual strife. However, it is open to humans to take the violence, the murder, and the war out of this strife. One may purge it of its savage beast qualities. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
The greatest spiritual needs of the modern World are more depth and more width. It needs to deepen its field of consciousness so as to include the true spiritual self and the divine laws governing life. It needs to widen out into loving thoughts and compassionate deeds. With right ethical ideals and sound nonmaterialistic ideas the external activities which will fill the postwar stage would then bring true progress to humankind. However, with unworthy ideals and false ideas humanity would only fall into greater disaster and eventual destruction. Without knowing the real and hidden causes of the malady of war, we cannot find the real and lasting cure of war. The reconstruction of community, however, must be seen as only a small part of a larger process. For the collapse of Third Wave institutions also break down structure and meaning in our lives. Individuals need life structure. A life lacking in comprehensible structure is an aimless wreck. The absence of structure breeds breakdown. Structure provides the relatively fixed points of reference we need. That is why, for many people, a job is crucial psychologically, over and above the paycheck. By making clear demands on their time and energy, it provides an element of structure around which the rest of the lives can be organized. The absolute demands imposed on a parent by an infant, the responsibility to care for an invalid, the tight discipline demanded by membership in a church or, in some countries, a political party—all these may also impose a simple structure on life. Faced with an absence of visible structure, some young people use drugs to create it. “Heroin addiction,” writes psychologist Rollo May, “gives a way of life to the young person. Having suffered under perpetual purposelessness, one’s structure now consists of how to escape law enforcement, how to get the money one needs, where to get one’s next fix—all these give one a new web of energy in place of one’s previous structure World.” The nuclear family, socially imposed schedules, well-defined roles, visible status distinctions, and comprehensible lines of authority—all these factors created adequate life structure for the majority of people during the Third Wave era. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19
Today the breakup of the Third Wave is dissolving the structure in many individual lives before the new structure-providing institutions of the Fourth Wave future are laid into place. This, not merely some personal failing, explains why for millions today daily life is experienced as lacking any semblance of recognizable order. To this loss of order, we must also add the loss of meaning. The feeling that our lives “count” comes from healthy relationships with the surrounding society—from family, corporation, church, or political movement. It also depends on being able to see ourselves as part of a larger, even cosmic, scheme of things. The sudden shirt of social ground rules today, the smudging of roles, status distinctions, and lines of authority, the immersion in blip culture and, above all, the breakup of the great thought-system, indust-reality, have shattered the World-image most of us carry around in our skulls. In consequence, most people surveying the World around them today only see chaos. They suffer a sense of personal powerlessness and pointlessness. It is only when we put all this together—the loneliness, the loss of structure, and the collapse of meaning attendant on the decline of industrial civilization—that we can begin to make sense of some of the most puzzling social phenomena of our time, not the least of which is the astonishing rise of the cult. Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals, especially for animals who are suffering; for any that are hunted or lost, or deserted of frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death. We entreat for them all thy mercy and pity and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words. Please make us, ourselves to be true friend to animals and so to share the blessings of the merciful. And God will love thee and bless thee and multiply thee; He will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy cattle and the young of thy flock, in the land which He promised unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples; there shall be n more barren or sterile ones among you or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness; and He will put none of the evil diseases of sin, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will inflict them upon all them that hate thee. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
When one prays the Word of God, you are praying the perfect will of God. It will tear down Satan’s strong hold. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” reports Hebrews 4.12. The Word of God is alive and powerful, more powerful than any tongue that could speak against you. That is the towedged sword He is talking about. One translation says, “The Word of God is a living thing.” Revelation 1.16 says, “And out of His (Jesus’) mouth went a sharp twoedged sword. The tongue will cut or heal. “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health,” reports Proverbs 4.22. Therefore we should proclaim it. You might pray this way: “I am redeemed from the curse of the Law; and in the name of Jesus Christ, I refuse to bow to sickness or disease. Every disease germ and every virus that touches this body dies instantly, in the name of Jesus. Then make that your confession everyday, not just when you feel like it. Your body is like a child, it will do anything you let it do, and sometimes it would rather be sick than have to go to work. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,” reports Galatians 5.17. If you give in to the flesh continually, your body will be sick. Galatians 5.19-21 lists the works of the flesh. Each one, or any combination of these, is very capable of producing sickness and disease in the body. Paul said, “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live,” reports Romans 8.13. No, this is not the power of optimistic thinking. It is the power of God’s Word. It is creative power—the ability of God released when you pray the Word of God. Take the things God has said about your situation and put them in prayer from. Here is a simple way to pray the World of God: “Father, in the name of Jesus, I am the body of Christ. I overcome evil with good. Satan has no power over me for the Greater One dwells in me. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the World. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
“No evil will befall me; neither shall any plague come nigh my dwelling, for He has given His angels charge over me. They keep me in all my ways and in my pathway is life. I thank You, Father, that no weapon formed against me will prosper, but whatever I do will prosper. I am like a tree planted by the rivers of water. My God supplies all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I have all sufficiency in all things. I do abound to all good works for my God has made all grace around toward me. Every word is based on the Word of God. You are proclaiming the answer, not the problem. Someone says, “You do not understand. I do not have abundance.” No, if you continue to disagree with God, you never will. Learn to call those things that be not as though they were. It is when you continually agree with and proclaim boldly the things God has said about you that He will perform His Word. Most Christians have tried it for a day or two, then given up. For nearly two years I prayed the World of God before some things became a revelation in my spirit. Just because we have said it two or three times does not mean we believe it. Sometimes it is necessary to say it over and over to bring faith. The Bible says, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If we hear ourselves speaking what God said, it will get in our spirits more quickly than if we hear someone else say it. If we confess God’s Word audibly, faith will come more quickly. The angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; and let them grown into a multitude in the midst of the Earth. The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and behold ye are this says as the stars of Heaven for the multitude. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, multiply you a thousand-fold, and bless you, as He hath promised you. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
Cresleigh Homes
We’re so excited about our newest community, #Havenwood, and we’d love for you to see it, too!
There are four spacious floorplans to choose from, and we know you’ll fall in love with at least one. 😍
Mr. Cresleigh, bring me a dream, make my Cresleigh Home the cutest thing that you ever have seen. Please turn on your beam and bring me the Cresleigh Home of my dreams. https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/
It Was the Control Spirit–Shall I Never be Delivered from this Mystery?
The Christian Bible tells us plainly there will be a great increase in demon activity as we approach the end of human history. The Apostle makes specific reference to this in 1 Timothy 4.1. The Book of Revelation, chapters 16 and 18, predicts almost universal demonic domination in the final days of God’s judgments on the Earth. This surge of demonism will be amazingly deceptive, luring the masses and even converting nominal Christians. Veneration for the evil spirits will lead to depraved conduct, and the pinnacle of demonic achievement will be their control of World leaders. As incredible as it may seem, this revelation from the Word of God assures us that dependence on these unseen spiritual forces will increase even as scientific knowledge increasing. There is a lot of reality and power that evil spirits possess. Many people have become involved in communication with evil spirits, these spirits—both appealing and loathsome—enslave them, but Jesus Christ can set them free. There are people in this World that have firsthand experience dealing with spirits. Spiritualism is very attractive because it promises knowledge of the future and communication with dead loved ones. Many people will be influenced by demonic spirits in this way without realizing it. However, the only sure guide into the shadowy spirit World is the Christian Bible, and we neglect it at the peril of our souls. The person who denies the phenomena of spiritism today is not entitled to be called a skeptic, one is simply ignorant. A finial, clinching reason for our refusal to consider any of today’s seers as divinely inspired is our conviction that the gift of prophecy ceased when the Scriptures were completed. Prophets uttered truths they had received directly from God, and the Lord used this means of revelation during the years from the creation of man until the time of Malachi. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
From Malachi until John the Baptist can on the scene, Israel had not prophets. Then, in the brief period between Christ’s ascension and the completion of the gospels and epistles, the gift of prophecy was present in the Church. However, gradually the New Testament writings took the place of a prophetic ministry. The apostles were aware that God had given them special authority when they wrote, and that believers were to place greater value upon these gospels and epistles than so-called prophetic declarations. For example, although Paul was not speaking primarily of prophets, he definitely asserted the authoritative nature of his writings when he made the demand, “if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him,” reports 2 Thessalonians 3.14. Again, writing to the Christians in Corinth, he said that his words were they very commandment of God, and that they constituted the standard by which God’s people could evaluate the declarations of men considered to be prophets. “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord,” reports 1 Corinthians 14.37.” The priority of these apostolic writing over the declarations of other humans who claimed to be prophets is further indicated by the apostle John as he brought the book of Revelation to a close. He know that he was writing the authoritative message of God, and therefore could issues this strong warning: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book,” reports Revelations 22.18, 19. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
No one claiming a prophetic gift had any right to tamper with the written Word. It is obvious, therefore, that the inspired writing of the apostles gradually superseded prophetic utterances in the early church. Special gifts like prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, healings, and tongues were gradually withdrawn, and in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul declared that the quiet, unselfish pursuit of love is a far more excellent path than that of always desiring the more spectacular activities. He continued, “whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; where there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, the that which is in part shall be done away,” reports 1 Corinthians 13.8-10. When Paul writes these words, the New Testament as a whole was not yet in existence, but he declared that special gifts of the Holy Spirit such as prophecy and tongues would become a thing of the past. They would merge into the complete revelation of the New Testament and no longer be needed. They belonged to the childhood state of the Church; therefore, we conclude that the gift of prophecy cannot be in existence today. God has spoken in the Scriptures, and it is to them that we must turn to find His message to us. No one today can rightly claim that he speaks a message by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We do not believe that anyone today who claims to receive visions directly from the Lord should be acknowledged as a spiritual leader. None of these so-called prophets are correct in every single prediction they make, and therefore they do not meet the test the Lord prescribed in Deuteronomy 18. Most of them are also guilty of disobeying the Biblical warnings of Paul against occultism. In addition, they tend to speak ambiguously and manifest an ignorance of what the Bible really teaches. Finally, we believe that we have logical, historical, and Biblical grounds for affirming that the gift of prophecy was temporary, and that it gave way and disappeared from the Church when the New Testament was completed. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
In the year, 1663, a quaintly humorous story of a most persistent and troublesome ghostly visitant comes from the Ireland, though in this particular instance its efforts to right the wrong did not produce a lawsuit: the narrator was Mr. Alcock, who appears in the preceding story. One David Hunter, who was neat-herd to the Bishop of Down (Jeremy Taylor) at his house near Portmore, saw one night, as he was carrying a log of wood into the dairy, an old woman who he did not recognize, but apparently some subtle intuition told him that she was not of mortal mould, for incontinent he flung away the log, and ran terrified into his house. She appeared again to him the next night, and from that on nearly every night for the next nine months. “Whenever she came he must go with her through the Woods at a good round rate; and the poor fellow look’d as if he was bewitch’d and travell’d off his legs.” Even if he were in bed he had to rise and follow her wherever she went, and because his wife could not restrain him she would rise and follow him till daybreak, although no apparition was visible to her. The only member of the family that took the matter philosophically was Hunter’s little dog, and he became so accustomed to the ghost that he would inevitably bring up the rear of the strange procession—if it be true that the lower classes dispensed with the use of night-garments when in bed, the sight must truly have been a most remarkable one. All this time the ghost afforded no indication as to the nature and object of her frequent appearances. “But one day the said David going over a Hedge into the Highway, she came just against him, and he cry’d out, ‘Lord bless me, I would I were dead; shall I never be delivered from this misery?’ At which, ‘And the Lord bless me too,’ says she. ‘It was very happy you spoke first, for till then I had no power to speak, though I have followed you so long. My name,’ says she, ‘is Margaret—-. I lived here before the Wat, and had one son by my Husband; when he died I married a soldier, by whom I had several children which the former Son maintained, else we must all have starved. He lives beyond the Ban-water; pray go to him and bid him dig under such a hearth, and there he shall find 28s. Let him pay what I owe in such place, and the rest to the charge unpay’d at my funeral, and go to my Son that lives here, which I had by my latter Husband, and tell him that he lives a very wicked and dissolute life, and is very unnatural ad ungrateful to his Brother that nurtured him, and if he does not mend his life God will destroy him.” #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
David Hunter told her he never knew her. “No,” says she, “I died seven years before you came into this Country”; but she promised that, if he would carry her message, she would never hurt him. However, he deferred doing what the apparition bade him, with the result that she appeared the night after, as he lay in bed, and struck him on the shoulder very hard; at which he cried out, and reminded her that she had promised to do him hurt. She replied that was if he did her message; if not, she would kill him. He told her he could not go now, because the waters were out. She said that she was content that he should wait until they were abated; but charged him afterwards not to fail her. Ultimately he did her errand, and afterwards she appeared and thanked him. “For now,” said he, “I shall be at rest, and therefore I pray you lift me up from the ground, and I will trouble you no more.” So Hunter lifted her up, and declared afterwards the she felt just like a bag of feathers in his arms; so she vanished, and he heard most delicate music as she went off over his head. In the late 19th century, Mrs. Winchester used to have séances in the Blue Séance Room in her mansion, which was constantly being expanded and remolded for 38 years. It once stood nine stories high, had 500 rooms, and was approximately 65,000 square feet. Here is the transcript from one of her sessions: “I could hardly wait for the next séance to take place so I could talk to my departed husband….six more days seemed like an eternity. I had not doubt that William would be present, though we had failed on the first attempt. I had talked with the spirit World many times in in my forty-four years, just as I talked with anyone else. I had listened to the spirits give lectures, sermons, exhortations, and counsel to the construction crew assembled at the seances in my mansion. However, I never tired to talk with a dead person. My family, especially my mother’s relatives, had been involved with spiritualism for several generations. They came to the United States of America on the Mayflower. My father was a very religious mand. He often remarked that if any of his children were to die, he would become a spiritualist. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
“On March 7th 1881, my brave forty-four-year-old husband died, and soon afterward a family from New Haven, Connecticut, told me they had contacted the spirit of my dead husband and the he was eager to talk to me. I was very excited, and I agree to let the spiritus to come to my home at the appointed time for a séance in the Bule Séance Room. There were perhaps thirteen people gathered in my home for the séance. We sat quietly, meditatively, and expectantly. The medium sat at one end of our circle of chairs and led us in singing hymns and prayer. It did not seem strange to us to open the séance by saying the Lord’s Prayer. We even ended: ‘…in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ A prayer for a séance went like this: ‘Eternal God and Father of Lights, we gather as thy expectant children. We are eager to communicate with the spirit World and the spirits of our departed friends and loved ones. We pray that you would look favorably upon us. Bless us this night with communications from our friends in the spirit World. In the name of the great Father of Lights. Amen.’ Then we sang familiar church hymns such as: ‘Face to Face,’ ‘In the Garden,’ ‘Beautiful Isle of Somewhere,’ and ‘Nearer My God to Thee.’ While we were singing, the medium slumped into unconsciousness, and before long a strange voice spoke through the medium’s lips; it was the control spirit. ‘Good evening, my children. There are many of the departed here, and all are eager to speak with you. The spirit World welcomes you to another opportunity to contact your departed loved one.’ We listened eagerly to the spirit as the medium sat limply, eyes closed, in her chair. The spirit said that a family was present whose departed loved one wanted very much to speak with them, but since he had been in the spirit World so short a time he was still adjusting to his new spiritual dimension and would have to communicate the following week. That was a terrible disappointment, and the whole family could hardly wait until the next séance when we could contact my beloved husband. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
“At the second meeting we encountered another phase of spiritualism, the gold key séance (sometimes called a séance of vocal revelation). A metal key, made of solid gold, stood upright in a damp saucer on a table in the middle of the room. When the medium entered her trance, the solid gold key rose slowly from the table and dipped into a horizontal position. Eerily, it began spinning with a soft whir and moved around the room, stopping at intervals in midair. I sat rigid in amazement. I saw the floating key, but I could not believe it. The others in the séance seemed to accept the experience as a very common thing. The key went first to my father and then to other members of our family. And we heard a voice, supposedly my departed husband’s, but at first we could not distinguish the words. Then the key came to me. My first reaction was to grab it, and I snatched at the key, but it darted away with amazing swiftness. I tried again, but it moved faster than I did. The key finally settled directly in front of me, just out of my reach. Then the control spirit launched into a lecture about my unbelief, speaking through the unconscious medium. She said if I were to get anything for this meeting, I must conduct be patient. As my emotions subsided, the golden key hovered closer and closer to me until it was near my ear, the key was stroking my hair in the way my husband used to comb it. A voice flowed from the key saying, ‘I love you; I love you.’ It was supposed to be my husband’s voice, but it did not sound like him to me. Everyone else accepted it as William’s voice, but I was disappointed; it was not William. That was the first of many occasions when he supposedly spoke to the family, but I was never convinced. At later séances my niece and I were told we could become gifted spirit mediums. By following the instructions of the spirit voice in the séance of passivity we would in time be able to contact the spirits in our own home. My niece and I began to practice the séance of passivity for thirteen minutes each evening. During these periods we tried to blot out every conscious thought from our minds. Eventually we could sit for an hour and thirteen minutes without being distracted by a single conscious thought. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
“In one of the longer periods, the phenomenon finally took place that we had been waiting for. I witnessed the spirit taking control of my niece as she lost consciousness and a voice completely foreign to her soft contralto boomed out: ‘My child, be not afraid. You have done well. If you only believe, greater things than these you will do. Continue in this way, and the marvels of the spirit World will be revealed to you.’ With that, the spirit departed and my niece regained consciousness. She asked what had happened, and I told her the words of the spirit. She was thrilled! She had arrived at a coveted place of spiritual development, and from that time on we held séances in my mansion in private, with my young niece as the gifted medium. Some people say this is all a hoax, that spirits do not talk with human beings and that floating objects are mere trickery. I would agree that a great many of the eerie demonstrations we hear about are clever illusions, but I believe on the basis of personal experience and the plain words of Scripture that spirits of the invisible World do communicate with humanity and do wield supernatural power in our visible World. And the ominous truth is that these spirits are not from God, but fallen angles controlled by Satan. Their unholy mission is to lead human beings—by refined or gross means—away from dependence on God, their Creator, and they are active in spiritualist churches, séances, psychic phenomena, witchcraft, and idol-worship. However, some of these spirits are good and convey helpful messages. Yet, individuals and nations who reject God, no matter how educated and prosperous they are, fall prey to the other god, Satan.” Believe it or not, the key to the massive front door was made of solid gold and the keys for the other 2,000 doors of this Eight Wonder of the World filled two water buckets. One day, Mrs. Winchester stood at the sitting-room window, after the butler left her, looking at the dull grey of the January sky and the yellowing pastures of the dairy county. There was no rain, but also no gleam of sunshine. I always wanted a private tour of her mansion. My father was on the construction crew and he promised one day when Mrs. Winchester was away, I would get my chance. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
One morning Mrs. Winchester went off in her carriage for a trip to San Francisco, California. My father let me in the mansion and told me I could look around, but warned me not to touch anything and not to get lost. I walked through the beautiful jewel crested front doors, and they closed behind me. I did not think anything of it. However, suddenly, I stumbled, tripped over the carpet, and fell on my hands and knees, managing—and only just managing—to save the lantern which I carried from being extinguished in the fall. The floor of the mansion was very uneven in that part, and I had inadvertently walked into a sort of loose floor board, more or less I was pulverized. I rose and looked about me. evidently, I had strayed from the direct track, thanks to my old habit of indulging in reverie, and had mechanically taken a wrong turning among some of the many passages. The place where I now found myself was by no means similar to the part of the mansion that was in full yield, and from which I had wandered. Instead of being dry, airy, and full of life and bustle, the passage where I stood was damp, and quite silent, not a sound being audible except the drip, drip of blood that oozed through the roof in fifty places, and fell splashing into the little pools of bright red blood that lay among the bricks. The floor was of brick, not wood. It was plain that I was in some neglected corner of the mansion; it was plain, to, that I had lost my way. Now the warning my father gave me came back to me with unwelcome emphasis, and as I breathed with difficulty the clammy and heavy air of the mansion, a shudder ran through my whole frame. In the next instant, I rallied my courage, laughed contemptuously at my own fears, and stepped out manfully along the passage. I knew I must have entered the mansion from the right. But alas! On emerging from the hallway into a sort of square chamber, in which some rude benches, carved out of mahogany, were cut in the gleaming walls, I found that no less than thirteen openings gave access to different parts of the mansion, and I was fairly at fault. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
How I had strayed so far without paying any attention to the bearings of my heedless course, is what, perhaps, none but an absent man can understand; and I, unluckily, was an absent man. It was strange to be lost, or to roam in circles among the great hallways of this estate, and to be lost in what seemed to be an underground tomb, which had dank air and darkness for miles to come. I remarked, too, that the candle in my lantern would not last very long—from one to two hours perhaps, but certainly not longer. It was annoying, very annoying, to be left thus alone. I did not like to own to myself that it was dangerous. How strange it was, I thought, that I did not hear the very faintest sound from the scene of all those busy construction workers working on the Winchester mansion. I listened—listened intently. Not a sound; not so much as the faint hammer; not the welcoming sound of a human voice; not the tramp of one of those shaggy ponies that drew the wood. I had never before realized what the weight of solitude—enforced solitude—could be. I listened; I waited. Not the faintest indication that any other mortal but myself was below ground, reached my ears. Angry with my own fears, vexed with my own carelessness, that had brought me to this pass, I selected at hazard one of the passages opening into the mansion, and entered it, walking fast, but holding the lantern well in front, to avoid any fresh trip falls which might lie in wait for the unwary foot. The hallway was but some thirteen yards long, and then into two narrower corridors, the widest of which led me to a narrow pathway of tiny stairs that seemed to zigzag up the mansion. I entered it stooping, but soon found it was so dizzying that I should be obliged to proceed on hands and knees, if at all, so I retraced my steps: and, tracing them to another stairwell, and found myself atop of the stairs, but unable to proceed any further for the top was cut off by the ceiling. I was wondering aimlessly, as in a labyrinth, unless my candle was spent, and then I should be indeed in sorry case. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
Already my feet were cold and wet with the tenacious brine; the cold moist air had brought back my cough, and I shivered in the chill atmosphere of the vault where were I stood. Yet, perhaps there were people near me, within earshot all the time, for I could not believe that the mansion had been suddenly deserted. I shouted, and shouted again, the many hallways and rooms giving back the sound of my voice with strange and sullen dissonance. Presently, though no answering call was returned, I saw a light, far off and dim, but rapidly advancing towards me along the gallery that lay on my left, and which was one of the six I have mentioned. Nearer and nearer it came; no flare of torches, but the steady gleam of a small lamp; and then, to my surprise, I saw that the human figure that soon became visible was not that of a construction worker. The light of the lantern fell faintly on the pale face, colourless as marble, but delicate and pretty enough, of a young and slender girl—a lady, evidently, by her dress, and whom I instantly conjecture to have been one of the staff. However, how she came there, and alone? Was she lost, like me? or—“Did you not call a minute ago? I can show you the way, if you like.” Common-place words these; but they were spoken with a peculiar quiet intonation, that impressed me in spit of myself. The voice was sweet and low, but almost solemn in its calm. There was something strange, too, in the composure and the unsmiling gravity of one so young, while her very presence in the out-of-the-way part the mansion perplexed me. My first idea was, that the young lady, like myself, had lost her way in the intricacies of the mansion; but this supposition her confidence of bearing seemed to contradict. No doubt she knew the mansion well, or she would scarcely have offered to guide me to safety. This was an additional proof the she could not have been one of the merry, rosy-cheeked servants in the mansion. Most likely, some young lady had entered the mansion to see the mysteries inside, and she was some resident in the neighbourhood. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
Nonetheless, the beauty in this place was in the infinite variety of fantastic columns, some of pure white marble, others of mahogany, and shimmering gold wallpaper, that composed the walls. As the feeble light of the lanterns flashed on the pellucid surfaces and frail, some more elaborate in the intricacies of their mouldings than the than the Corinthian or Byzantine, I could not restrain my exclamations of surprise and delight. For a moment I forgot the cold, the damp, the discomfort, and said, half to myself: “What a wonderful sight! If a human artist had carved those delicate capitals and rich decorations, what a rush would there be to see his handiwork! But I dare say even the county handbook does not condescend to describe this place, which is worthy to be the palace of the king of gnomes.” “Few know of this place,” said my conductress, in the same measured, passionless voice as before. She had stopped when I stopped, and she stood motionless as a statue, and as pale as if she had been a figure hewn out of alabaster, rather than a creature of flesh and blood. It was the first word of the nature of a remark which had fallen from her, and I tried to draw her into conversation by descanting on the beauty of the singular grotto, and the spaciousness of the mansion. She said very little, but her reticence sis not seem to be caused by any poverty of intellect. There was, however, a peculiar want of warmth or enthusiasm, whether the subject were are or nature, in what little my fair guide could be induced to say. Nor was she by any means communicative as to herself. My attempts to discover whether she really lived in the neighbourhood, were quietly baffled, and when I said that “doubtless her friends would begin to be alarmed at her long absence for which I feared that my own stupid blundering was to blame,” she was merely bowed, and led the way as before. On we went, through a network of hallways, that only seemed to grow more Daedalian every moment, but through which my companion glided along the as unswervingly as if she held in her hand an unfailing clue. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
Many of these galleries were evidently the work of man. In all, however, the air was heavy, chill, and moist, and blood dripped from the walls, and fell gurgling down hidden fissures into some unseen depths below. I was confident that I had passed none of these places that day, and began to suspect that my guide was leading me a long round, so as to shew me all the lions of the mansion, instead of taking a short-cut to the workings. At another time, this desire to impress a stranger with a full notion of local marvels would have amused me; but my cough got worse; I shivered, and longed for the excursion to come to a close. Yet there was an awkwardness in suggesting this. I ventured on a safe remark. “It is bitterly cold,” said I, with a shudder, for the damp seemed to be piercing to the very marrow of my bones. “Do you not find it so?” “Very cold!” She said no more; but those two common-place words were spoken in a voice that awed me, somehow, in spite of myself, and seemed to freeze me into silence. On we went, and I trusted that we may be approaching the work-part of the mansion, for the candle in my lantern was reduced to a mere morsel, and must soon be burned out. However, ill as I felt, and hard as it was for my weak lungs to endure the unwholesome air, I almost forgot this in my perplexity as to my conductress. I could not make her out at all. I have met with romantic young ladies, silly young ladies, sensible young ladies, even haughty and vain young ladies, but never with anyone like my guide. Why was she leading me thus, what I felt must be a circuitous course through the mansion? Why—She came to a dead stop, slowly-turned, and confronted me. The hood of her grey cloak, an old-fashion article of attire, such as I had not seen for many years, was drawn over her head, and it threw her pretty face partly into shadow; but her eyes were bright and clear, though there was something in their cold steady look that made me shiver afresh, as if the air of the mansion had grown even more icy and oppressive than before. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
“Tell me about yourself. Tell me what you are going to do. What are your plans, I mean,” she said in the same manner as before, like a sleepwalker unconsciously uttering words that volition does not prompt. I laughed, and blurted out some could-be witty rejoinder on my own good-fortune in having inspired so charming a person with sufficient interest in my fate to suggest the question; but the flippant words died away on my lips half spoken, as she waved her hand, not impatiently, not coquettishly, but with a calm dignity of bearing that matched well her bloodless cheek and the carriage of her proud head. “You are to sail in the Chester—is it not so?” said this singular girl, without a smile or a falter in her low but very distinctive voice. I owned the fact, in so slight surprise. I had not mentioned to no one at the Winchester Mansion the name of the ship in which my passage was taken. The idea of a mystification, of a trick, dawned upon me, but I was at a loss to guess how my beautiful nightmare of a guide could have obtained the information she evidently possessed. Did she know more of men than this? My name, for instance, my profession, and my reason for quitting the Bank of Italy? If so, at any rate she made no parade of her knowledge. She merely raised her hand for a moment—it was ungloved, and there were rings of price sparkling on the thin white fingers—and her eyes seemed to gather a new expression of sadness and warning as she said: “Beware of the Chester! If you love your life—and on, it is bitter to die young—do not sail in that ship.” Slowly the hand she had lifted in warning fell to her side, and holding up the lamp as before, she turned away, and preceded me along the galleries. I followed her, perplexed, half angry, half alarmed. I began to fear that I was the sport of a mad woman. And then a new fancy sized me. Perhaps I myself might be delirious, and the mansion, the endless galleries, and my beautiful nightmare guide, were visions of a disordered brain, a sweet dream or a frightful nightmare, from which I vainly strove to awake. Presently, it occurred to me for the first time that my new-found friend’s feet made no sound as they trod the wooden floor, and twisted stairways. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
Certain it was that she moved firmly and swiftly on, without any sign of difficulty or fatigue, while I stumbled and slipped, slipped and stumbled, and at times found it hard to keep up with her. However, as regarded the noiselessness of her tread, I could not solve the doubt. If I stopped, she stopped too, not after a pause, but instantly. And I heard nothing but my own labouring breath and hacking cough, and the sound of my own weary feet. A little while, and even this was forgotten in a new source of apprehension. I had for some time vaguely conceived the idea that, as in labyrinth, we were walking in a circle; and gradually I began to fancy that I had seen this or that sofa and parlour table or that mahogany arch before, and that I had passed through some of the corridors at least once before. However, suspicion was changed to certainty when I suddenly espied, lying on the ground in one of the galleries, one of my own gloves. I had dropped this glove some time before, for I had missed it soon after the arrival of the Unknown. As I picked it up, I glanced keenly around me, and thought I recognized the opening that led into the hall of fires. I was right; in another moment I had followed my mysterious guide into the hall of fires itself. More than an hour’s weary toil, for my candle was all but spent, had brought us back to the point from which we had started. I was angry at last; all my involuntary awe for my strange conductress was lost, and I stamped my foot hard upon the floor as I asked if she had been amusing herself at my expense, or whether she, too, were unaware of the topography of the mansion, and had misled me by accident. I spoke in wrath, and almost in menace; but there was no reply, save one long moan, as from a child in pain, that rang sadly through the mansion. I turned my head, but I could see nothing; and when I again confronted what I now deemed my treacherous guide, a sort of mist seemed to dim my eyes, and I saw, or thought I saw, her form grow faint and indistinct, fading and fading like breath upon a mirror, but with still the same calm face, the same grave look of sorrow and warning, until that too faded, and nothing was left opposite to me—nothing but a masonry wall. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
I sprang forward, incredulous, and touched the wall with my hand. As I did so, a repetition of the moaning cry made me start, and far down the passage where I had seen her first, I saw her again—the pure, pale outline of the young face, the tall slender form in the grey mantel, with the hood drawn over the head, the lamp shining in the outstretched hand. How came she there? “This is too much!” cried I passionately, and convinced that I was the victim of a trick, though how such a trick could have been effected, I did not care to consider. “I will not bear this juggling. I will not—” As I spoke, I darted forward to overtake the receding figure, and my foot tripping among the loose stones of the floor, as I ran, I fell heavily, crushing the lantern beneath me, and being instantly involved in the demonic darkness. Bruised and hurt, I have no heed to the pain of the fall from the door to nowhere, but sprang up, and strained my eyes in the direction where the lamp had been last seen. There was not a spark—not a sound. No light, no rustle of her dress, no faint sound of a distant footfall, nothing but darkness and silence. Eagerly I listened, eagerly I watched, but in vain. I tried to call aloud, but my tongues refused its office; and when I did raise a weak shout, I felt natural repugnance to the darkness deepen as no answer came. “She is doing this to frighten me,” I murmured; “she is hiding behind some bush. Whoever she is, she could be cruel enough to leave me here in the dark alone, to perish.” Silence, still silence. Any sound, even that moan, at which my very heartstrings had quivered, would have been better than that. Darkness, blank, blank darkness. I tried to shout, tried to group my way back in, but I was limp. I had not the strength to rise. Oh, it was very cold, cold and dark. This must be death. “A drop more brandy, Jim; the last did him good, I cannot feel any pulse yet, though. Do not crowd so about him, lads. Give him air! That is enough brandy, do not leave off the chafing the hands. He will come round!” #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
With my dulled ear, I heard these words, but scarcely understood them, and from between the half-closed lids my weak eyes could feebly distinguish a glare of torches, and several rough me in construction garb, and one in black with a kind, shrewd face—the doctor, no doubt. I saw all his, in a stupid sort of indifferent way, as if he had been a pageant, and then I seemed to sink down into a black sea of roaring water, and fainted for the second time. I was in bed at last. I had been in bed some days, very ill, and with a brain too deadened, and a frame too exhausted, to take note of time. When my senses returned, I asked what was the date, and hearing it, knew that the Chester had sailed without me, and that my passage-money was lost. It was not for weeks, and until my slow convalescence had ripened into recovery from the illness brought on by cold and the wetting I had experienced, that the doctor asked me how I came to separate myself from the construction crew, and to get lost in the Winchester Mansion. “It so happened,” he said, “that work was suspended unusually early on that day, as there was a wake at Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco, and the construction workers had a sort of half-holiday by annual custom. The mansion was therefore abandoned, and but for the lucky chance, that when you were missed at home, and inquiries were made, and intelligent boy, the son of another construction worker, declared that you have never left the estate at all, it is probable that no search would have taken place. As it was, long hours passed before a party started in quest for you; and it is fortunate they there were in time. The Winchester has witnessed more than one tragic incident, even in my day.” “To what do you allude, doctor?” asked I eagerly. “Three year ago, a young lady, a Miss Mary Seward, because separated from her friends, as you did, in that mansion,” answered the doctor. “I had not as yet settled in the district, and only know the details from report, and very imperfectly. I believe, however, that the poor girl, who had made one of a large family art, was bound on a visit to an aunt who lived in England; her own parents then residing at the Rengstoff House, near here. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18
“The day was a stormy one; the carriages drove off in a heavy fall of rain; and I believe the missing one was understood by her mother to be staying at her aunt’s, and vice versa, for there was no alarm till help was impossible. The poor girl’s body was found—for she perished of cold and hunger in that maze of galleries. Bless me, how pale you look, my dear sir. Take some cordial, and lie down, and no more talking—not a word more, I insist.” I have no explanation of the above facts to offer. I have endeavoured, far from San Jose, to set down every detail of the occurrence as simply and succinctly as possible. If I could disabuse my mind of the ghastly doubt and horror that cling to it, and which haunt me when I recall the events of that day in the Winchester Mansion, I should be very thankful. The good doctor, when he heard my statement, did his best to convince me that what I saw was a mere hallucination, due to my disordered health and excited nerves. I wish I could think so; but further inquiries, made before I left San Jose, served to assure me that I was not the only person who was supposed to have seen the presence that I had beheld in the disused portion of the mansion. One word more. The warning was no idle one, though I doubt whether I should have been ashamed to have heeded it, had not illness chained me to my sick-bed. Before I was able to quit the Winchester Mansion, news came that a dense fog enveloped the iron and wood steamship City of Chester and its 106 passengers as they began the slow journey north from San Francisco Bay to Eureka. It was 1888, and family members bid their loved one’s safe passage from the Broadway dock as the vessel disappeared into the pea soup fog. Moments later, the Chester was split in two by a ship more than twice its size, killing 16 people—13 passengers, including two children and three crew members—and becoming the bay’s second-worst maritime disaster. Some people may believe all spirituals are evil and trying to harms us or that they are demonic, but it seems some are good and really trying to save our lives. Perhaps some of these spirits are our guardian angels. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
Winchester Mystery House
What a lovely weekend for a bit of mystery👻 winchestermysteryhouse.com
I Felt, My God, I Could Not Face this thing!
There are risks and costs to a program of action. Make sure that what you aspire to accomplish is worth accomplishing, and then throw your whole vitality into it. Excellence in education is the key to our nation’s future. Celibacy, of course, is a fundamental dimension of moral purity, and it provides disciplines that enhance mental and spiritual qualities. This allows one to sublimate the creative force into a God-directed, selfless love, the chaste joy of longing for the untouched beloved, a pure passion much like the agape ideal of many early Christian nuns. The focus on celibacy and the conservation of the creative force, allows the source of one’s spiritual power and their mystical ability to partake in God’s transcendental nature by transforming one’s energy into spiritual energy. Celibacy, therefore, is a critical instrument for achieving spiritual goals. All people are souls coupled with physical bodies, and they exist withing the chronological context of historical cycles of moral and physical decline. At the beginning, the ages were perfect and pure. Men and women were equal, and neither adversity nor affliction existed. The principal cause of this flawlessness was the absence of pleasures of the flesh. However, pleasures of the flesh entered the scene. Gradually, these Godly folk deteriorated, morally and physically, until corruption and torment prevailed. Heaven became hell, and the fleshly desires of the body came to dominate the World. Hand in hand with the degeneration of human standards came the bondage of humans, enslaved by another’s lust. The goal of the celibates is to end this cycle and purify themselves on Earth so they may be reborn at or soon after the pristine beginning of each successive cycle. They wish to be liberated from sinful births rather than rebirth itself. The only was they can achieve this is by renouncing the evil that is pleasures of the flesh and adopting complete celibacy. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
Celibacy promises enormous reward. To begin with, it fulfills the theological condition for assuring perfect future births. It also relives people from the chains of marriage. Cleansed of pleasures of they flesh, some find their true spiritual identities and such off their ties with the ungodly, material World. It religious terms, it promised unheard-of opportunities that allowed individuals to move to positions of power. Inspired with these new ideas, people explained to their significant other that they should live together chastely, loving each other with a pure and spiritual devotion. Pleasures of the flesh, conversely, has overpopulated and made a slum of the planet. Some liken pleasures of the flesh as to foraging about in a sewer. Pleasures of the flesh love has no vindicative features, either. True love is loving someone’s essence—one’s soul. Pleasures of the flesh expends previous energy. Lust renders people powerless and demands for its fulfillment. Celibacy allows people to be pure and liberates individuals from bondage and frees them to achieve the enormous power of absolute chastity. Ethics is treated separately only as a matter of experience. Morality is grounded in our essential being. In this respect, these principals of ethics stand in continuity with traditional Roman Catholic natural law ethics and other forms of moral realism. What is morally right and good is the realization through action of human natural potentialities. These ethics are not judgmental, but verge on intuitionism because of its appeal to the “silent voice” of conscience about essential nature. Ethics on this point deals with how to specify the precise relation between casuistry, that is, reasoning about moral cases, and claims about human nature. If we are going to reason rightly about moral cases, must we assume something about the nature of human beings? #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
If we cannot reach agreement about the nature of human life or its good—a consensus difficult to reach in wildly pluralistic societies—does this invalidate casuistic thinking? Theologians and philosophers currently have attempted to server the connection between casuistry and claims about human nature. Ethics, while itself deficient on matters of casuistry, challenges this move by questioning the point of morality itself. If morality is about the realization of human potentialities, the come conception of human nature seems required in addressing practical moral questions. The demand on the casuist is either to show that this is not the point of morality so that no claim about human nature is needed in ethics or, conversely, to provide a different account of human nature, such as the found in traditional natural law ethics. Morality, then, is grounded in our essential being. What is means, is that morality finds its source in God as the ground and power of being. Ethics is in this respect necessarily theological in character. However, this raises two questions. First, how is the idea of God related to some conception of what is morally good? That is, even if one grants the claim about the religions character or morality, it is another question to ask about the content of claims about God and goodness. How does a conception of the good, whether grounded in claims about human nature or historically specific beliefs, relate to Christian ideas about God and agape? Some moral theorists argue that in ethics we need only a thing theory of the good, because the point of the moral life in a pluralistic society is just relations between persons rather than establishing the human good. At issues then are the substance of claims about the human good, the status of those claims, their place in ethics, and the relation between those claims and discourse about God. This leads to the second question: Given the fact of moral diversity on this planet, can one sustain the claim that morality is theistic? #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
Indeed, is that claim actually needed in ethics? Is an appeal to agape morally adequate in our time? Put differently, the concern to combat moralism and relativism must be rethought in terms of the reality of moral pluralism and also of debates about how to understand moral goodness. The final challenge to this thought poses to theological ethics is at the level of basic moral problems. The moral problem is the fragmentation of life; the moral act is a victory of self-integration against forces that lead to human estrangement. This means that the power to act is essential to how one conceives of the human good because only through exercise of power in action is life realized. Now in our time, technology has radically increased human power to the point that we can alter the environment and even the human species. This makes the reality of power and human responsibility basic to contemporary ethical reflection. These concerns have been addressed in matters of terms of the dominance of technical rationality in the modern World and also theologically by understanding the term God as symbolizing the power of being itself. The question that remains open, however, is the extent to which claims about rationality and the symbol God can contribute to current ethical reflection on the reality of human power and the demands of responsibility. Thus one challenges theological ethics in terms of patterns of practical moral reasoning, the relation between claims about God and those of moral goodness, and also the contribution of theological discourse to reflection on human power and responsibility. Any assessment of these ethics in terms of the history of thought or contemporary ethical reflection must engage one’s work on each of these points. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
God as the Ground and Aim of our being has been transformed into a multiplicity of laws, partly doctrinal and partly ethical. The moral “yoke” that Jesus wished to make easy had only been made heavier, and the message of grace has largely been lost, despite the numerous liturgical prayers for the forgiveness of sins. They do not express the vision that appears in Paul’s Letters and John’s Gospel, or is expressed in the seventh petition of the Lord’s Prayer—“save us from the evil one”—namely, the image of a demonic power ruling the universe and driving humans into separation from God and into hostility against Him. The prayers for forgiveness have, for many people, only the function of relieving the uneasy conscience produced by trespasses against traditional and often absurd rules of behaviour, mostly a prohibitive character. However, they do not express the great paradox, that there is a reunion with the eternal “Ground of our being” without “right” action on our part, without being “good people,” or the “people of good will.” Therefore, despite liturgical formulae, hymns, and the reading o lessons from the Pauline Epistles, the message of grace has been lost. Grace as the power of accepting the person who is unacceptable, and of healing the person who is mortally sick, has disappeared behind the preaching of the religious and moral laws. It is understandable that people, in view of this graceless moralism turn to secular ethics. However, when they find nothing more than the logical analysis of ethical theory, they turn easily to a cynical relativism or to a totalitarian absolutism in ethics, each often a consequence of the other. The question that is implicit in this situation is: Can we point to something that transcends both graceless moralism and normless relativism in ethical theory and moral action? #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
The response of Christianity is the message that a new reality has appeared with the coming of the Christ, a power of being in which we can participate, and out of which true thought and right action can follow, however fragmentarily. We find analogous affirmations in other religions and even in secular movements of an implicitly religious character, such as nationalism, socialism, and liberal humanism. Being precedes action in everything that is, including man, although in man as the bearer of freedom, previous action also determines present being. This answer stand in opposition to both moral legalism and amoral lawlessness. It affirms morality and points beyond it to its religious foundation. If morality is intrinsically religious, as religion is intrinsically ethical, neither is dependent on the other, and neither can be substituted for the other. Power is protean. When, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States of American and the Soviet Union squared off against each other, the power of each was a function of bombs, ships, missiles, planes, tanks, armored divisions. These were the factors that each had to reckon with as it braced itself for struggle. However, within each nation the enormous power, respectively, of Kennedy and of Khrushchev was charismatic, depending upon the ability of each to inspire belief that one dividually did possess those magical powers which the peoples of those countries had as children experienced in their fathers and now unconsciously imputed to their leaders. When a profound patriotic passion is aroused, it will make people weep, and evokes and shapes in them a mood of fervent devotion and self-sacrifice. As people listen, more and more will they want to go into the battle field. It is considered a great honor to die for such a powerful leader. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
Most significant power is composite, being both instrumental and charismatic. Instrumental power is that which accrues in consequence of competence at the work of the World—the growing of wheat, the building of houses, the designing of an airplane, the composing of a sonnet. The smaller the extent of power, the more likely it is to be instrumental. The greater the power, the more likely it is to be charismatic. Many of the greatest World leaders have held power primarily by virtue of their ability to embody protection from our deepest fears and gratification of our primitive and grandiose fantasies, and perhaps not at all by virtue of competence at directing the affairs of a nation. Indeed, some such leaders, far from being competent to govern, lead the nations for which they are responsible straight to destruction. Once nature was the danger and the challenge. The cave drawings of Stone Age man bear witness to his preoccupying concerns with animals as a source of food and as a source of danger. The ability to elude these animals, to capture or to kill them, was the locus of power. Now anyone can shoot a rifle, no animal poses a threat, the ability to fell a charging elephant wins us no fame, perhaps even contempt, and we know that we may, if careless, destroy animals utterly. Most significant power now is power over people. The ability to win the respect, the belief, the support, the allegiance, the following, the obedience, of people—this is power. Morality, law, and custom comprise the rules by which the group expect us, as individuals, to live. These rules allow for a modest accumulation of power by way of instrumental competence. If we respect the rules, we cannot hope for more. We shall be conformists, the salt of the Earth but never its giants. A more venturesome order of normality calls for one to be as free in pursuit of power as a prudent, though often but nominal, regard for rules will permit. With less than that prudent regard, one is likely to land in disfavor or in jail—though sometimes, with a little luck, an adventurous thug may become a ruler. With more than a prudent regard one is disabled in the race. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
Neurotics are those who are crippled in the pursuit of power by internal constraints, impediments built into character by childhood experience. All of us start out weak in the hands of the strong, and a parent inclined to exploit that discrepancy can teach a child that any transgression of rules will yield pain and humiliation. Such an early education can bring it about that in later life, long after the tyrant is dead, any tentative reaching for power will be aborted by anxiety. The awareness of vulnerability prompts one to look about carefully, to take the measure of things. It leads to knowledge, is essential to good judgement. Without it one’s vision of one’s self and the World is determined, not by the way things are but by one’s will, one’s desire. When power is absolute, distortion is extreme; the real World is replaced by fantasy. When one possesses greater power than any despot of the past, one will ask for ultimate power: Every individual will henceforth follow this person’s personal order of suffer death. The congressional deputies will enthusiastically and unanimously approve the measure. One will now, legally, be above any law. That is why it is important that we do not have one party with a supermajority. However, people are so unwillingly to talk about politics to the extent that they ignore what is going on, and this can eventually become the result. So empowered, and thereby more and more out of touch with the reality one is imperiously undertaking to shape and to control, and with no compunction to heed the advice of one’s general, who are in touch, one will proceed to make those disastrous mistakes which will led to the destruction of the army and the loss of the war. Nothing within the state impedes the pursuit of power by the state. Empires expand. Any of them, are it able, will encompass the World. They go as far as they can, stop only where the lines of communication and supply are stretched too thin, where the conduits of power can no longer deliver effective force. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
In the individual, however, morality is a brake and may at any point set a limit. A truly Christian position calls for the abnegation of power, requires one to give all one has to the poor, to be meek, to love one’s enemy, to turn the other cheek. A measure of the instinctual force of the drive for power is given by the rarity with which such an ethic has in fact been practiced. The other internal obstacle is fear. One can go quite far in the acquisition of instrumental power without struggling with another human being and hence without encounter fear, power growing as a function of one’s kill in becoming a good pianist, carpenter, bookkeeper, or surgeon. However, the point is reached eventually beyond which any further gain can be achieved only in struggle with another person, in defeating or besting or outmaneuvering someone. In such contest one is vulnerable, there is no sure win. One may show one’s self a fool, may be humiliated. Fear may become so intense that one’s life comes to be structed around it. Whoever arranges for oneself an isolated life (a write, an artist, a forest-fire watcher, a drawbridge keeper) or a vocation with built-in advantages over the people with whom one deal (a psychoanalyst, and anesthesiologist) is likely to be the who feels keenly the danger of pursuing power through interpersonal struggle. The hurdy-gurdy plays, and around and around they go, the charioteer, the legionnaire, the cuirassier, up and down, sailing around, the president, the foreign minister, the chiefs of staff, varnished faces frozen in arrogance and disdain, the bombardier, the cavalryman, the machine gunner, around and around, as the band plays on. When the oppressed take up arms and rebel, they do so in the name of principles that asset basic human rights and so constitute an insurgent morality which justified the overthrow of the existing order. The existing order has a morality of its own, an establishment morality, which holds that the security and welfare of each individual are contingent on the state, that the state therefore is owed allegiance, that its laws must be obeyed, its leaders respect it. It labels the leaders of the rebellion as traitors, criminal, fanatics, and will crush them if it can. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
As rebels confront government troops, so insurgent morality confronts established morality. If government troops prevail, the insurgent morality is discredited, disappears. If the rebels are victorious, the establishment morality is discredited, succeeded by the insurgent morality. In the latter event the insurgent morality comes to be allied with power, becomes the new establishment morality, ancillary to the safeguarding and expansion of power. In this new role it sanctifies power, reassures the now newly oppressed that their oppression is in the nature of things, perhaps ordained by divine will, that no protest is indicated but rather patience and cooperation, that all must make sacrifices, that the leaders act for the welfare of all, that laws must be obeyed. Thus a morality which began as protest against power becomes the servant of power. The insurgent morality in its insurgency declares that power is corrupt and tends to corrupt everyone and everything allied to it; and when the revolution succeeds, it proves the truth of its indictment by corrupting first those exalted principles under whose banners it rode to power, along with the warriors who bore them. The striking way in which the modern World is moving toward its doom is not accidental but predetermined. Yet this terrible inevitability is not imposed from without by arbitrary power. It arises from within, from the World’s own characteristics. During the First World War, a civilization ridden by pleasures of the flesh which had sought intense pleasures found intense pain. Did it learn the implicit lesson? No! It plunged more wildly than ever in the quest for joy involving pleasures of the flesh, only to find still worse agony in the Second World War. The more it has wasted the gift of life, the creative force, the more it has lost the essence of life, blood. The creative force of life is white blood. Nature has punished human’s careless dissipation of the one with a forced loss of the other. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
The time has come to teach the lesson of responsibility about pleasures of the flesh in clear words. If humanity refuses to learn and obey spiritual laws, the horror of a third World War, compared with which the second will be mere child’s play, cannot be escaped. It would be agreeable and pleasant to share such optimism about the non-inevitableness of war, but it would also be self-deceptive. When the terrors and horrors of one war fail to have the effect of arousing people to thinking for themselves instead of in a mass, that is to say, of seeking truth individually, then the war will repeat itself again and again. If the war comes, it will have been brought by the erring nations upon themselves. If the war is not to come, they must change their ideas and their actions now. Some believe that war might come in a few years’ time; it might also come in only one year’s time; but it would be folly to deny that it might not even come at all. If no efforts at all had ben made on both the physical and mystical planes to counteract the threatened conflict, it could have broken out in the Cuban crisis year. The situation is still an anxious one but it is not a hopeless one. Piety alone will not suffice to meet it, just as politics alone has already failed to do so. However, the mystical efforts are being kept up. War is not inevitable. No one knows the outcome of the tremendous struggle going on between the atheistic hate forces and the constructive love forces on the mental level. The intercessory and contributory meditations of a few knowledgeable sages afford whatever real hope exists today. If the peoples and leaders fail to respond to those contributions, they will then have to carry the responsibility for its destruction. It is folly not to see that war is inevitable, folly to blind oneself deliberately to what is coming merely because one dreads it. While our human interest and nature shudder at the though of such war, our human wisdom and insight have no doubt it will take place. The dander is not only that a Third World War will come, but that it will come during an inconvenient time. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
None of the wars which humankind have hitherto suffered was Armageddon, for the last war was fought out fully and extended its devastations only in three continents and partly on the fourth, but the fifth was not affected in the same way. When Armageddon comes, it will devastate five continents. The mass of people does not take to truly spiritual concepts. Extroversion, egoism, and preoccupation with personal or Worldly affairs keep out any interest or attention in such concepts. Only the crushing shock of atomic war will provide an impulsion toward them from without. Even the new polarization of attitudes which is emerging as a consequence of the war, is confused rather than clear-cut. The ghastly tragedy of this confusion would show itself at its very worst in Armageddon. In the Second World War the issues between good and evil were clear-cut and easily discernible. However, in the Third World War they would be confused, chaotic, and mixed. It does not require much perceptiveness to perceived the inevitability of Armageddon. This fear haunts millions today and is one of the impulsions to the search for spiritual comfort, in one group, and the search for forgetfulness in pleasures, with the larger group. We may face the tragic inevitability of a Third World War with fear and gloom or with calm and resignation. Many suicide attempts are preceded by a change in mood. The change may not be severe enough to warrant a diagnosis of mental disorder, but it does represent a significant shift from the person’s past mood. The most common change is an increase in sadness. Also common are increases in feelings of anxiety, tension, frustration, anger, or shame. In fact, the key to suicide may be “psychache,” a feeling of psychological pian that seems intolerable to the person. Suicide attempts may also be preceded by shifts in patterns of thinking. Individuals may become preoccupied with their problems, or mood will not change. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
Some clinicians believe that a feeling of hopelessness is the single most likely indicator of suicidal intent, and they take special care to look for signs of hopelessness when they access the risk of suicide. Many people who attempt suicide fall victim to dichotomous thinking, viewing problems and solutions in rigid either/or terms. Indeed, the “four-letter word” in suicide is “only,” as in “suicide was the only thing I could do.” In the following statement a woman who survived her leap from a building describes her dichotomous thinking at the time. She saw death as the only alternative to her pain. “I was so desperate. I felt my God, I could not face this thing. Everything was like a terrible whirlpool of confusion. And I though to myself: There is only one thing to do. I just have to lose consciousness. That is the only way to get away from it. The only way to lose consciousness, I thought, was to jump off something good and high.” Studies indicate that as many as 60 percent of the people who attempt suicide drink alcohol just before the act. Autopsies reveal that about 25 percent of these people are legally intoxicated. In fact, considering that coroners are more likely to classify deaths as accidental when they detect high alcohol levels, the excessive use of alcohol just before death by suicide is probably much higher. Such statistics suggest to many clinical researchers that alcohol often helps trigger suicidal behaviour. A variety of factors may account for this relationship between alcohol use and suicide. Alcohol’s disinhibiting effects may allow people who are considering suicide to overcome the fears that would otherwise restrain them. Alternatively, alcohol may contribute to suicide by lowering an individual’s inhibitions against violence and helping to release underlying aggressive feelings. Yet another possibility is that alcohol further impairs a suicidal person’s judgment and problem-solving abilities. Research suggests that the use of other kinds of drugs may have a similar tie to death by suicide, particularly in teenagers and young adults. A high level of heroine, for example, was found in the blood of a popular musician at the time the individual died by death from suicide. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
Holiday effect—studied in countries throughout Europe indicate the suicide rates tend to drop before Christmas and Easter but then increase after those holidays. Seasonal violence—although findings are sometimes mixed, many studies suggest that suicides committed by violent methods are highest during the spring and lowest in the late fall. Most common killings—more suicides (31,000) than homicides (23,000) are committed in the United State of America each year. Yet, economically and vocationally, a very large population of the young people are in a plight more drastic than anything so far mentioned. In our society as it is, there are not enough worthy jobs. However, if our society, being as it is, were run more efficiently and soberly, for a majority there would soon not be any jobs at all. There is at present nearly full employment and there may be for some years, yet a vast number of young people are rationally unemployable, useless. This paradox is essential to explain their present temper. Our society, which is not geared to the cultivation of its young, is geared to a profitable expanding production, a so-called high standard of living of mediocre value, a so-called high standard of living of mediocre value, and the maintenance of nearly full employment. Politically, the chief of these is full employment. In a crisis, when profitable production is temporarily curtailed, government spending increases and jobs are manufactured. In “normalcy”—a condition of slow boom—the easy credit, installment buying, and artificially induced demand for useless goods create jobs for all and good profits for some. Now, back when the pandemic started, when the stimulus attempted by hook or crook to put people back to work and give them money to revive a shattered economy, there was an outcry of moral indignation from the conservatives that many of the jobs were “boondoggling,” useless made-work. It was insisted, and rightly, that such work was demoralizing to the workers themselves. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
It was insisted, and rightly, that such work was demoralizing to the workers themselves. It is a question of a word, but a candid critic might certainly say that many of the jobs in our present “normal” production are useless made-work. The tail fins and built-in obsolescence might be called boondoggling. The $64,000 Question and the busy hum of Madison Avenue might certainly be called boondoggling. Certain tax-dodge Foundations are boondoggling. What of business lunches and expense accounts? fringe benefits? The comic categories of occupation in the building trades? the extra stage hands and musicians of the theater crafts? These jolly devices to put money back to work no doubt have a demoralizing effect on somebody or other (certainly on me, they make me green with envy), but where is the moral indignation from Top Management? Supposed we would cut out the boondoggling and gear our society to a more sensible abundance, with efficient production of quality goods, distribution in a natural market, counterinflation and sober credit. At once the work week would be cut to, stay, twenty hours instead of forty. (Important People have already mentioned the figure thirty.) Or alternately, half of the labor force would be unemployed. Suppose too—and how can we not suppose it?—that the automatic machines are used generally, rather than just to get rid of badly organized unskilled labor. The unemployment will be still more drastic. (To give the most striking example: in steel, the annual increase in productivity is 4 percent, the plants work at 50 percent of capacity, and the companies can break even stop producing at less than 30 percent of capacity. These are the conditions that forced the steel strike, as desperate self-protection.) Everybody knows this, nobody wants to talk about it much, for we do not know how to cope with it. The effect is that we are living a kind of lie. Long ago, labor leaders used to fight for the shorter work week, but not they do not, because they are pretty sure they do not want it. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
Indeed, when hours are reduced, the tendency is to get a second, part-time, job and raise the standard of living, because the job is meaningless and one must have something; but the standard of living is pretty meaningless, too. Nor is this strange atmosphere a new thing. For at least a generation the maximum sensible use of our productivity could have thrown a vast population out of work, or relieved everybody a lot of useless work, depending on how you take it. (Consider with how little cutback of useful civilian production the economy produced the war goods and maintained an Army, economically unemployed.) The plain truth is that at present very many of us are useless, not needed, rationally unemployable. It is this paradoxical atmosphere that young persons’ grow up. It looks busy and expansive, but it is rationally at a stalemate. A new civilization is forming. However, where do we fit into it? Do not today’s technological changes and social upheavals mean the end of friendship, love, commitment, community, and caring? Will not tomorrow’s electronic marvels make human relationships even more vacuous and vicarious then they are today? For example, so many people are impressed by the new BMW IX M60, which can change exterior paint colors by the push of a button, and also has the technology to heal the kidney grill if it is injured. Nonetheless, these are legitimate questions. They arise from reasonable fears, and only a naïve technocrat would brush them lightly aside. For if we look around us, we find widespread evidence of psychological breakdown. It is as though a bomb had gone off in out communal “psycho-sphere.” We are, in fact, experiencing not merely the breakup of the Second Wave techno-sphere, info-sphere, or socio-sphere but the crack-up of its psycho-sphere as well. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
Throughout the affluent nations the litany is all too familiar: rising rates of juvenile suicide, dizzying high levels of alcoholism, widespread psychological depression, vandalism, and crime. In the United States of America, emergency rooms are crowded with “potheads,” “speed freaks,” “Quaalude kids,” “coke sniffers,” “heroin junkies,” “fentanyl fires,” “molly malfunctions,” “ecstasy electrocutes,” “lean limps,” and not to mention people having “nervous breakdowns.” Social work and mental healthy industries are booming everywhere. In Washington a President’s Commission on Mental Health announces that fully one fourth of all citizens in the United States of America suffers from some form of severe emotional stress. And a National Institute of Mental Health psychologist, charging that almost no family is free of some form of mental disorder, declares that “psycological turbulence is rampant in an American society that is confused, divided and concerned about its future.” It is true that spongy definitions and unreliable statistics make such sweeping generations suspect, and it is doubly true that earlier societies were such sweeping generations suspect, and it is doubly true that earlier societies were scarcely models of good mental health. Yet something is terribly wrong today. There is a harassed, knife-edge quality to daily life. Nerves are ragged, and—as the scuffles and shootings in subways or on gas queues suggest—tempers are barely under hair-trigger control. Millions of people are terminally fed up. They are, moreover, increasingly hassled by an apparently swelling army of heavy breathers, kooks, flakes, weirdos, and psycho whose antisocial behavior is frequently glamorized by the media. In the West at least, we see a pernicious romanticization of insanity, a glorification of the “cuckoo nest” inmate. Best-sellers proclaim that madness is a myth, and a literary journal springs up in Berkeley decided to the notion that “Madness, Genius, and Sainthood all lie in the same realm, and should be given the same name and prestige.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
Meanwhile, millions of individuals search frantically for their own identities or for some magic therapy to re-integrate their personalities, provide instant intimacy or ecstasy, or lead them to “higher” states of consciousness. By the late 2000’s a human potential movement, spreading eastward from California, had spawned some 8,000 different “therapies” consisting of odds and ends of psychoanalysis, Eastern religion, experimentations with pleasures of the flesh, game playing, and old-time revivalism. In the words of one critical survey, “these techniques were neatly packaged and distributed coast to coast under like Mind Dynamic, Arica, and Silva Mind Control. Transcendental Meditation was already being peddled like speed reading; Scientology’s Dianetics had been mass-marketing its own popular therapy since the fifties. At the same time, America’s religious cults got into the swing, fanning out quietly across the country in massive fund-raising and recruitment drives.” More important than the growing human-potential industry is the Christian evangelical movement. Appealing to poorer and less educated segments of the public, making sophistical use of high-powered radio and television, the “born again” movement is ballooning in size. Religious huckster, riding its crest, send their followers scrambling for salvation in a society they picture as decadent and doomed. This wave of malaise had not struck all parts of the technological World with equal force. For this reason, readers in Europe and elsewhere may be tempted to shrug it off as a largely American phenomenon, while in the United States of America itself some still regard it as just another manifestation of California’s fabled flakiness. Neither view could be further from the truth. If psychic distress and disintegration are most strikingly evident in the Untied States of America, and especially in California, it merely reflects the fact that the Fourth Wave has arrived a bit earlier than elsewhere, causing Third Wave social structures to topple sooner and more spectacularly. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
Indeed, a kind of paranoia has settled over many communities, and not just the United States of America. In Rome, Turin, and even in America, terrorists stalk the streets and secretly are employed in many communities. They have become like the old day klan, where many of their members hold jobs in the TV new media, at law firms, in the courthouses, in law enforcement, property management and the supermarket. They are everywhere. In Paris, and even in once peaceful London, muggings and vandalism increase. In Chicago, San Francisco, and Downtown Sacramento, elderly people are afraid to walk the streets after the street lights come on. In New York, schools and subways crackle with violence. And back in California, a magazine offers its readers a supposedly practical guide to “handguns and gun courses, attack-trained dogs, burglar alarm in door and outdoor home surveillance audio and visual, personal-safety devices, self-defense courses and computerized security systems that update homeowners on their mobile devices if fire or other danger is detected.” There is a sick odor in the air. It is the smell of a dying Third Wave civilization. Thank God, I found out Satan is no match for the believer who knows his authority, and position in Jesus Christ! When you are born again, you become the righteousness of God and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. All that Jesus has is yours. His righteousness is imputed to you. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,” reports 2 Corinthians 5.21. He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” reports Ephesians 2.6. When you stand before Satan, he does not see you—he sees the authority of Jesus. The Word says you are the righteousness of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained. We have sung those old unbelieving songs so long that we thought it was true. “Jus a weary pilgrim, struggling through this World, I know not today what tomorrow will bring, shadows, sunshine or rain.” #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
Do not just show up for work. Do not just go through the motions. No, be passionately fulfilling your destiny. That is the way we should be. Have some enthusiasm. Choose to be happy; live with excellence and integrity, and put a spring in your step. Put a smile on your face, and let the World know that you are enjoying the life God has given you! If you want to see God’s favor, do everything with your whole heart. Do it with passion and some fire. Not only will you feel better, but that energy will spread, and soon other people will want what you have. Do you want your life to make an impact? You can change the atmosphere of your home or your entire office with a little bit of enthusiasm. You may have to live or work around people who are prone to being pessimistic, who tend to drag you down. However, do not let them throw mud on your shine. Do not their lack of enthusiasm squelch your passion. If you live with a deadbeat spouse, make a decision tht you are going to be happy and enthusiastic anyway. If you work around people who are always negative, try to overcome that negativity by being optimistic, encouraging, and uplifting. Polish your shine more than usual to make sure the glow does not go out. When everybody else is down and defeated, when you are all alone with nobody nearby to encourage you, simply encourage yourself. Your attitude should be: It does not matter what anybody else does or does not do, I am going to live my life with enthusiasm! I am going to stay on fire. I am going to be aglow. I am going to be passionate about seeing my dreams come to pass. Stay full of zeal. Stay passionate about seeing your dreams come to pass. Stay on fire and aglow. Whatever you do, do it with enthusiasm! The Holy Bible says, “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land,” reports Isaiah 1.19. Notice, we have to be more than obedient; we must be willing—willing to do the right thing, willing to live with a good attitude and with enthusiasm. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
God does not want you to drag through life defeated and depressed. No matter what you have been through, no matter whose fault it was, no matter how impossible your situation may look, the good news is that God wants to turn it around and restore everything that has been stolen from you. He wants to restore your marriage, your family, your career. God wants to restore your joy and give you a peace and happiness you have never known before. Most of all, He wants to restore your relationship with Him. God wants you to live a satisfied life. God does not want you simply to feel a little better for a few days. No, God is in the long-term restoration business. He wants you to have a life filled with an abundance of joy, an abundance of happiness. God does not want you simply to survive that marriage. God wants to turn it around and restore you with a strong, healthy, rewarding relationship. God does not want your business to merely make it through the murky economic waters. He wants your business to sail and to excel! When God restores, He always brings you out better, improved, increased, and multiplied. He has a vision of total victory for your life! Hold on to that new, enlarged vision of victory that God has given you. Start expecting things to change in your favor. Dare to boldly declare that you are standing strong against the forces of darkness. You will not settle for a life of mediocrity! Raise your level of expectancy. It is our faith that activates the power of God. Let us quit limiting Him with our small-minded thinking and start believing Him for bigger and better things. You can start to day to live a successful life now. Remember, if you obey God and are willing to trust Him, you will have the best this life has to offer—and more! Animals, referred to by John Muir as our horizontal brothers, have long been recognized as essential to our development and well-being. Throughout history they have played a major role in human thought and culture. They inhabit our myth, fables, proverbs, and stories. There is a profound, inescapable need for animals among all peoples, for while animals have inhabited a World without people, we have never lived without the companionship, example, and practical help of animals. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
Today, because of the wide-spread pollution of air and water, the rapid expansion of cities, and the destruction of wilderness habitat, we are seeing an imminent and irreversible loss of untamed animal life. We can only guess at the future effect on our children of living in a World in which elephants exist only in zoos, the great whales no longer fill the seas with their song, and the remaining forests are silent. The fact that so many of us are increasingly isolated from the presence of animals may contribute to the growing despair we feel. Direct encounter with animals, meeting them eye to eye on their own ground, evokes a sudden wonder and respect. Their vivid life brings us alive to the source that creates and sustains all beings. Without such encounters we risk losing that part of ourselves which most deeply resonates with nature—the heart of compassion. In safety and in Bliss, may all creature be of a blissful heart. If our greatest loss with the animals have been to lose touch with the reality of their existence, our second loss has been to banish them from our minds. We assume they have nothing to teach us about the predicaments of our existence. We no longer know how to listen to the wisdom of the various four-legged, six-legged, finned and winged creatures that share our life on this Earth. We forget they are ancestors as well as kindred. Long before we existed, they worked out the round of life in thousands of variations, as though anticipating the experiments of human cultures. We must remember how to call upon our powers of empathy and compassion. We are asked to awaken to the plight of our animal relatives, to let their beauty and power come alive for us once more. Humanity has long been a pandemic on this Earth, on nature, and on the animals. We are members of a human family and society, but the presence of animal “others” enlarges our perception of the self beyond the city and opens us inward to that ground of being where live the lizard and monkey, the fish and the bear. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
These are our relations. These are, like us, offspring of the great mystery, and necessary parts of a balanced and living whole. Dear Lord in Heaven, thank You, Father, for giving me this amazing, incredible life, and for making it possible to enjoy every part of it, even the tough times. Thank You for being my Future; I know You have good things in store. I will praise You now and forever for all that You have done for me! O Lord, God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this forever in the inward thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and direct their heart unto Thee, for Thou being merciful, full of compassion, forgives iniquity and destroyest not; yea, many a time Thou turnest anger away. For Thou, O Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and abounding in mercy unto all who call upon Thee. Thy righteousness is everlasting and Thy Law is truth. Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, as Thou hast promised unto our fathers from the days of old. Blessed be the Lord who day by day bears our burden. He is the God of Jacob be a stronghold unto us. O Lord of hosts, happy is the man that trusteth in Thee. Save, O Lord; O King, answer us on the day when we call. Blessed be our God hath created us for His glory, and hath separated us from them that go astray by giving us the Torah of truth, thus planting everlasting life in our midst. May He opened our hearts unto His Law, and with love and reverence may we do His will and serve Him with a perfect heart that we may not labour in vain, nor bring forth confusion. May it be Thy will, O Lord, our God and God of our fathers, that we keep Thy statutes in the World to come. May my soul sing Thy praise and not be silent; O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee, forever. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee, O Lord, and whose trust Thou art. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting Rock. And they that know Thy name put their trust in Thee; Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee. Thou, O Lord, desirest for the sake of Thy righteousness to make the Torah great and glorious. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
Cresleigh Homes
One of the best parts about moving into a new home is decorating! Make your space come alive with a gallery wall that reflects your unique style and sensibilities.
Hey, don’t write yourself off yet. It’s only in your head that you feel left out or looked down on. Just try your best. Try everything you can and don’t worry what the bitter hearts tell themselves when you’re away.
It just takes some time, you’re in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything in your new Cresleigh Home will be just fine.
Everything, everything will be alright, alright! Even heroes have the right to have their dreams come true! Smile for your heart is beating. When there are clouds in the sky, and maybe tomorrow, you will see the sun shining for you.
Wise people never fall in love, so how are they to know when I first saw my Cresleigh Home, I felt my life begin. So open up your heart to Cresleigh Homes and feel the love rush in. I found you just in time, and changed my lonely life that day.
We Are Endangered, Our Way of Life is Threatened, We Must Avenge Our Loss!
One thing I know: kindness is more important than wisdom. To know others is to know wisdom, to know oneself—enlightenment. “Peace!” was the watchword of the World into which baby George Baker was born in 1879, in Rockville, Maryland USA. The founder of the USA’s most successful twentieth-century Christian celibate communities was the son of former slaves whose struggling family needed even the tiny wages he earned as a part-time child labourer. George also attended school long enough to become an avid reader and a lifelong devotee of his teachers’ dogma of punctuality, cleanliness, temperance, and hard work. Rockville’s Jerusalem Methodist Church was George’s other transformative experience. Its African America lay preachers inspired him and its tightly knit community embraced him, protecting him against those who sneered at his slight stature: a mere five foot two when fully grown. When he was a teenager, George’s mother died, at 480 pounds “the largest woman in the county, is not the state,” the local newspaper noted. Soon after Nancy Baker’s death, George left home for Baltimore. In a permanent break with his past, he renounced all family ties and set out alone in pursuit of his personal truths. Baltimore taught the newcomer about urban-style brute labour, poverty, unionism, and racism as destructive as the lynch mods of rural Maryland. However, God had not abandoned the wicked city. George took refuge in its storefront churches, where he molded his oratorical powers and deepened his religious commitment. Gradually he developed a theology that combined African-American spirituality with current beliefs about the power is optimistic thinking, achieving oneness with God, embracing celibacy, and obliterating not merely racism but race itself, a construct he came to believe did not exist. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
George Baker’s intense religiosity led to a mystical experience in which he spoke in tongues and reached a new level of being. Afterward, he began to call himself the Messenger. By 1907, the Messenger believed he was the son of God and tht his destiny was to spread God’s word to the unenlightened and unredeemed. Once again, the God of celibacy had chosen as His representative one of the reviled, this time a man from a people recently delivered from slavery, still ground down by hatred and fear, habit and history, the might of unmajestic law and the forces of repressive order. The Messenger’s antiracist mission sent him south, to destroy Jim Crowism—“if it costs me my life,” he declared. It well could have—lynching, often accompanied by castration, was a common enough fate for unlucky or unwise Black men. Ignoring these dangers, the Messenger traveled to Georgia. There, the electrifying itinerant preacher exhorted his audiences to follow a loving God who had created a World where gender and race were meaningless labels. How were his listeners to experience this World, to defy the illusory existence of gender and race? Through the power of thought, the Messenger taught, for thought, clarified through celibacy, could overcome the terrible obstacles that race and gender created. This was a unique and stern message gently told: transform society by conquering your own most basic urges. In challenging the notion of race, the Messenger struck at the very foundations of American social structure. Here was a Black preacher, handsome and adored by his congregations, so scrupulous in his personal chastity that no undercover investigator or dissident follower would ever find a particle of evidence to suggest even a single lapse. The actual practice of and primacy of celibacy in the Messenger’s teachings strongly suggested that he was an honest man. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
The Messenger’s devotees found his strictures against pleasures of the flesh unusual and exacting. However, to overburdened women, celibacy had the same enormous appeal Mother Ann Lee had encountered generations earlier. Before long, many wives attempted to break off pleasures of the flesh relations. Several even left their homes and moved in with the celibate Messenger. Suddenly, through celibacy, the Messenger had liberated the women in his impoverished commune. Most of these women were exhausted from lifetimes of drudgery, prolapsed uteruses from too frequent childbearing, and subservience to their “so-called males”—for the Messenger, remember, taught the gender, like race, did not exist. Frustrated husbands and African-American religious leaders banded together against the diminutive but handsome preacher. He had cast spells, they charged, and cause their wives and mothers to lose their minds. “If something was not done, the whole community would be crazed.” The police were brought in and the Messenger’s Black male accusers backed them up. Their combined strength overpowered the phalanx of enraged women protecting the Messenger and he was thrown into jail. The Messenger flourished. Visitors swarmed to his cell and converted en masse, even Caucasian men who seemed to be as wild over him as the African Americans. In segregated, small-town Georgia, this was a near miracle and strong testimony to the Messenger’s sincerity and charisma. Afterward, the Messenger led his mainly female followers throughout the South on a punishing, five-years trek of proselytizing. Finally, in 1917, with the handful of faithful who continued to travel with him, he settled down in Brooklyn. He also married the most devoted woman in his entourage, tall, stately Penniniah, who lived with him in obviously contented celibacy until her death. #RandolphHarri 3 of 23
Why would this virgin bachelor who preached the sanctity of celibacy get married? Of course, skeptics questioned whether the marriage was, indeed celibate, but all evidence indicates it was. It seems likely that, from the Messenger’s perspective, Mother Penniniah fended off seductive women attracted to the larger-than-life (figuratively if not literally) leader. She also lent credibility to her husband’s mission and, with the power of her own religious fervor, attracted many new disciples to the former bachelor’s movement. About this time, the Messenger adopted a new name, the Reverend Major Jealous Divine, implying religious and military authority, the jealousy of the biblical God, and his own divinity. His flock shortened this to Father Divine and chanted, “God is here on Earth today. Father Divine is his name.” Penniniah, of course, became Mother Divine. Soon after, Father Divine scraped together $700 plus a mortgage and purchased a Sayville, Long Island, property to house his commune. To maintain it, he established the Busy Bee employment agency, which furnished his neighbours with trustworthy hired help made up of his own people. In this commune, everyone worked with evenings and Sundays devoted to religious services. Even Father Divine tended chickens and gardened on top of his onerous pastoral duties. The difference between the new and the old way of life, however, was through his savvy management, Father Divine provided the Busy Bees with lodgings in a fine home, generous quantities of food, security from all want. On their own, as they well knew, they could never have achieved this. Like the old Shaker communes, Father Divine’s household was rigidly structured and monitored to ensure strict celibacy, devout religious observance, hard work, and shared prosperity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
Smoking, swearing, drugs, and alcohol were banned. The house was “heaven” and Father Divine was “God.” His followers were “angels” who addressed each other as “brother” and “sister.” Each angel had a single room—surely a luxury for most—with men and women separated except when religion or business required their collaboration. As in Shaker communities, with their vitriolic, self-righteous lyrics, language in Heaven was also regulated. However, Father Divine forbade his angels to use negative words and banned (rather than trumpeted) hell, Devil,and even hello, which he believed was a corruption of hell. He originated today’s wide spread greeting “Peace!” and the mantra “It is wonderful,” which dispelled negative ideas and conjured up optimistic thoughts that would lead, one day, to a peaceful World. Like the Shakers, Father Divine welcomed parents and their children, though he believed the latter were products of the sin of pleasures of the flesh that drained the body of “spiritual energy.” Also like the Shakers, he required his disciples to renounce Earthly kinships, including marriage, and substitute fraternal kinships with his other angels. Like Mother Ann, Father Divine devised mechanism to enforce celibacy by providing acceptable outlets for sublimating pleasures of the flesh. Not surprisingly, given Nancy Baker’s fatal obesity, her son was so obsessed with food that he used it as a took of ministry. The tasty fare at his bulging tables consoled, nursed, and converted, and his “Holy Communion banquets,” modeled on the Last Supper, were legendary. Decades earlier, he had inaugurated them in the South as potlucks. Later, they nourished overworked, underpaid Africa-Americans who packed into his dining room in such numbers that he had to host multiple sittings rather than turn anyone away. On the weekends, Father Divine often spent twelve hours daily hosting them. The banquets also plumped up his angels and ensured that at least one of their Earthly appetites was sated. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
For Father Divine eating was a consuming passion. Twice weekly he weighed the angels and chided any who lost weight. This, it would appear, was difficult to do. Consider a typical, Depression-era Holy Communion banquet menu: macaroni, rice, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, turnips, baked beans, turkey and pork chops, corn bread, biscuits, Graham bread, cake, pie, peaches, tea, milk, and Postum. After these feats, the stuffed diners burst into song and prayer, witnessing and confessing, shouting and dancing and speaking in tongues. Like Mother Ann, Father Divine favoured these exhausting and emotional outpourings, which obviously served to dissipate any erotic feelings that gluttony had not obliterated. (Even though gluttony is also a sin.) Father Divine’s commune had at least a couple of scandals. After an initial period of tolerance, the neighbour’s decided they hated living close to a large, pulsating community of Black people. They went on the attack, beginning with false rumors. They only actual scandal involved “John the Revelator,” a California millionaire disciple, who lured a seventeen-year-old he christened “Virgin Mary” into the movement, seduced her, then confessed his evildoing. Father Divine immediately expelled him and separated him from the young woman. Yet despite Father Divine’s overwhelming probity, the Heavenly movement was tarred by gossipmongers skeptical about the dapper little preacher’s personal chastity. His neighbours’ hostility, coinciding with an intensive crusade in New York City, finally drove Father Divine to relocate to welcoming Harlem. There an explosion of disciples recast his sect into a movement, as new angels replicated his commune in other location and baptized his crusade the Peace Mission. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
Ironically, the Peace Mission’s expansion into business, and from East to West Coast, precipitated its decline. Its mainstay continued to be less affluent Blacks, though a small number of wealthy Whites also joined. One problem was that the public vastly overestimated the movement’s membership, making Father Divine more influential than the true number of his followers warranted. In consequence, the Mission was increasingly drawn into political debates and destructive ideological battles with other Black movements that deplored Father Divine’s steadfast refusal to segregation. Yet how could he, when a fundamental part of his creed was that race did not exist? By the end of the Depression, the Peace Mission was restructured as a church. Its membership shrank and new orders were born. A flamboyant California branch sprouted the Rosebubs, young virgin females who swore eternal celibacy, wore uniforms emblazoned with Vs for virginity, and celebrated Father Divine in giddy song. The male Crusaders, though not necessarily virginal, pledged themselves to celibacy and to Father Divine’s theology. However, the Rosebuds’ subservience—they strove to be submissive, meek, and sweet; they have hearts where Christ alone is heard to speak”—and the Crusaders’ militancy clashed with Father Divine’s genderless teaching. They were celibate but far from egalitarian. By 1943, when Penniniah died, Father Divine and his churches were in free fall. In 1946, he made the situation worse by marrying Edna Rose Ritchings, aka Sweet Angel, a pretty Caucasian, twenty-one-year-old Canadian. Father Divine justified this risky adventure by claiming that the new Mother Divine was Penniniah and the Virgin Mary reincarnated, and he likened their union to “the Marriage of CHRIST to HIS Church.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
Ah, Father Divine! At sixty-seven, he was suddenly seized by irresistible longings and reincarnated in the skin of the young George Baker so long ago shucked off. Yet from all accounts, this second marriage was as successful as the first, with the new Mother Divine thriving on the same celibate regimen as her predecessor. And celibate she was, for Father Divine preempted suspicion about any possible pleasures of the flesh by assigning a Black angel to monitor her and presumably be a living witness to his Heavenly wife’s intact virginity. From a larger perspective, its leader’s questionable remarriage and, in 1965, his death certainly did not help the Peace Mission. However, the root causes of its decline lay elsewhere. By then, in a new era of permissiveness with pleasures of the flesh, widely available birther control, and the civil rights movement, celibacy was a harder sell except to those who could be convinced it was a moral imperative. The Peace Mission’s communal life seemed rigorous and restrictive, even bizarre. Its insistence on severing the parent-child bond has serious psychological and judicial implications. And though he was very old, Father Divine made the tactical error, nineteen years after he married again, of anointing his untested young wife, rather than a well-groomed protégé, to head his shriveled church. Today the Peace Mission sighs on in anachronistic relics, including Mother Divine’s mansion. Another is Philadelphia’s Divine Tracy Hotel, which segregates guests in gendered floors and prohibits tobacco, alcohol, and swearing. Women, in obligatory dress and hosiery, and men, in pants and shirts, mingle together only in the lobby. In the Divine Tracy Hotel, only the most determined guests can avoid a celibate sojourn. It is an odd but fitting monument to a movement that, at one time, ushered thousands of weary and oppressed converts into similar Heavens on Earth. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
America’s Shakers and Father Divine’s angels had much in common, and he proudly acknowledged his debt to Mother Anne Lee’s theology. Most important of their shared tenets was the pleasures of the flesh were the root of human evil and therefore celibacy was essential in a righteous life. Their notion of celibacy stretched further than mere sexual negativism. It allowed them to redefine gender differences, so they effectively offered feminist lifestyles to their followers. Unlike cloisters, however, their communes included men and women, and Father Divine’s Heavens were located in the World into which most angels trooped out to work. Just as important, in America’s racially troubled society, celibacy defused the minefield of interracial pleasures of the flesh. It permitted African American Shakers to head communes and African American angels to live alongside European American ones, all under the guidance of a Black leaders who dismissed race as a meaningless designation and celebrated chaste marriage, first with an African American woman, and them with a Canadian European woman. Both Mother Less and Father Divine proselytized among people oppressed by an unfair World and offered them safe haven in a new, righteous one. They taught tht celibacy was a great moral good that required the sacrifice of all blood ties, including children, who became the responsibility of the commune rather than individual parents. The rewards for joining either sect were immediate and substantial. Women won unheard-of equality, while hard work, discipline, and obedience provided collective material comfort, security, and the camaraderie of the spiritual fraternity that replaced blood relationships. Mother Ann and father Divine adopted remarkably similar strategies to enforce celibacy. They segregated men and women, permitted them to mix only in controlled situations. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
They addressed the need to sublimate passions of pleasures of the flesh through rituals of frenzied dancing and singing, speaking in tongues, public confessions, and near-hysterical worship. They even regulated language to promote their sectarian metaphors. Above all, Mother Lee and Father Divine exemplified the celibate life they demanded of others and never succumbed to temptation. Ironically, the twice married but never bedded Father Divine faulted Mother Ann for having once had a life involving pleasures of the flesh. That she had terminated it, after divine revelation taught her that pleasures of the flesh were the root of all evil, was not sufficient. From the vantage point of his own sinlessness, the virgin Father Divine judged the long-celibate Mother Ann and found her wanting. He believed her pleasures of the flesh experience in marriage, though short-lived and unwilling, had deprived her of immortality. However, if it is not taught by their parents as being necessary, it is rare that someone would adopt celibacy and remain a virgin before having a divine revelation because everyone else teachers that pleasures of the flesh are natural, normal, and the thing to do. So it takes one to mature and establish their own values after they are socially engineered in a particular manner. Perhaps Father Divine was trying to do that very thing, stop people from engaging in pleasures of the flesh and keep their virginity and stay celibate, which is why he called out Mother Ann. Shakerism and the Peace Mission were not failed experiments, though neither outlasted its founder for more than a few decades. What has endured are their legacies of a courageous celibacy that dared to challenge society’s underpinnings of women’s inequality and racial subjugation. The illiterate immigrant women and the disempowered African American man defied their social realities and bestowed on their followers the equality and personal dignity the law denied. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Celibacy, combined with highly structured discipline and hard work, was briefly the answer for thousands of aliened, mostly unaffluent Americans. However, what turns people from Christian morality to secular ethics is the loss of the reality of grace, the power to accept the unacceptable person, and the turn to moralistic preaching centered on religious and moral law. Yet unless principles for right action are rooted in being and thus in some religious depth to existence, one can never escape relativism. The reality of grace is the principle of morality rooted in being itself. Still, modern moral philosophers have insisted that morality is autonomous, unrelated to religion. The question of what is right and good must be determined on grounds other than appeal to God and God’s will because one can always ask whether obedience to the divine will is itself good. Yet to ask that question is to demand a standard outside of the will of God. Ethics is thus autonomous, independent of religion. Second, in reaction to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century liberal theologians, from Friedrich Schleiermacher to Albrecht Ritschl, Wilhelm Herrmann, and the Social Gospelers, who often granted the autonomy of morals, many twentieth-century theologians have attempted to reassert the distinctiveness of Christian ethics. This was done, as in the case of Karl Barth, through the revealed Word and command of God or, more recently, by appeal to the distinct practices, beliefs, and narratives of the Christian community insofar as these constitute a distinctive way of life. In making these arguments, theologians claim that the validity of Christian ethics can be established only internal to Christian beliefs or God’s commands. Once again, the connection between religion and general moral reflection seems cut. However, one can find graceless moralism, ethical relativism, and the reduction of reason to merely technical rationality. The moral aim is becoming a person within a community of persons. This aim is essentially religious. The modern philosophical attempt to sever the connection between religion and morality is foiled at the outside. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
However, by the same token, the demand that this places upon the theologian is not to establish the particularity of the Christian moral vision, but rather to show how Christian faith answers the moral aim. We must relate properly ethical thinking to systematic theology. A thought experiment. I am in the World alone. I have always been alone. Nothing and no one to protect me. Just my wits and my strength and such weapons as I find or contrive. In the driving wind the freezing rain is like arrows. I find a cave—a cave, I discover, that has been found already by a bear. If I can, I will drive him out. I do not think: This is not fair, it belongs to him. I do not wonder: Who has the greater need, he or I? I drive him out. I am hungry; a fawn comes within range of my stone/ I do not ponder contending rights, do not weigh the fawn’s life against my own; I kill. I am warm; I am full, the day is over, I lie down to sleep. I keep my club close to hand. One day I encounter another man. I cannot read his gestures or understand his strange sounds. I give him a wide berth, go on my own way. He follows. I make threatening gestures, he retreats. At night I do not sleep well. How close is he? What does he intend? The next day, at my bidding, he comes closer. I kill him. For the solitary savage, should ever a creature have existed, there is no guilt, no right and no wrong. Years pass. Millennia. Now I live in a community. There are thirty or forty of us. We hunt together, sit around the fire together, are frightened as one by the evil spirits of the forest. Withing this group I do not kill, do not steal, do not deceive. I am no longer free, I live within limits, I have become moral. Another group moves into our territory. They are fishing in our streams, killing our game. One of our men is found with an arrow in his back. We lament, we wail, we rage. Our chief calls a council. We are endangered, he tells us; our way of life is threatened; we must avenge our loss. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
We beat our drums to drive away our fear, paint horizontal stripes of red and white on our bodies. At midnight we set forth. In silence and stealth we approach the sleeping camp. We drink strong spirits. Two boys with torches set fire to the straw huts. As the occupants rush out, silhouetted by the flames, we let loose our arrows, our spears. When our enemies are in blind panic, we fall upon them, club them to death. And totally destroy the village and everyone in it and violate their ways of life. On the march home we are content, relaxed, fulfilled. We sing, we laugh, we are triumphant. The members of the group have become moral, they live within limits, while the group itself there is no good and no evil. Morality is conservative, aims to preserve what is valuable in life. Meaning, therefore, must be antecedent to morality. For meaning establishes value. If life is without meaning, there is nothing worth preserving: All is equal, anything goes. What binds us together in a community is shared beliefs. Vital yet unnoticed, like the air we breathe, they constitute the meaning of life, tell us how to interpret our experience, determine what we experience. With them we grasp the World, make sense of what happens to us, find our place, arrange our lives into know patterns. We feel at home; we know how to live. They constitute our scheme of things. However, something is left over. Something of bereavement or pain or mystery is unaccounted for, experience of which we cannot make sense, with which we cannot come to terms. This is the margin of terror. If we are loyal to the received wisdom, we look away, pretend it does not exist, is of no importance, a deviation, a neurosis perhaps; experience is falsified, but the scheme of things is not impugned. The received wisdom spreads it sheltering umbrellas. If one is loyal to deviant experience, to the pain and the mystery, one is apostate to the common faith and hence estranged from those who live by it, which is pretty much everybody. Once finds oneself alone in a desert where one’s specialness is scant comfort. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
Nothing stays. The World would fling us away, spins like a carousel. Do you know? Do you feel it, this losing of grip? The received interpretations no longer work, do not fit, do not take hold. We cannot grasp the World. Some people do not hear the screaming; the old fictions still work. Some hear it keenly: The chalk has worn down, the fingernail drags across an endless blackboard, the sky is empty. In times of peace most people find it possible to believe, at lest nominally, in the received wisdom. In times of great social upheaval—the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian Revolution—the received wisdom is shattered for everyone. The World is lost—because it was those shared beliefs, now overturned and discredited, that constituted the World. Our holiest fictions designate what is right and what is wrong, constitute a scheme of things that redeems the way things are. The way things are is the will to power of groups. The scheme of things conceals the ways of power behind a lofty and glittering façade. The whole system hands on the efficacy of images and words, the keeping of promises, the observance of convention. The reign of order which is that of symbols and signs, always results in fairly general disarmament, beginning with visible arms and gradually spreading to the will. Swords get thinner and vanish, characters get rounder. The age when fact was dominant fades imperceptibly away. Under the names of foresight and tradition, the future and the past, which are imaginary perspectives, dominate and restrain the present. However, the general disbarment is only within the system of order. The brutality and barbarism of the individual have but passed to the collective. The sword of the citizen gets thinner, vanishes; the sword of the state gets longer and sharper. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
Parts serve the whole. The organism grows larger and more powerful by virtue of finding better and better ways to exploit its constituents. Slaves may be made to man the oars and drive the galley, but it requires the constant attention of a slave master cracking the whip. However, if the slaves can be converted to a faith in the ship and its mission, then no slave master will be needed—he will now be free to help with the cannon—while the ship slices forward ever fast, with more power, more dangerous to its enemies. There is no alternative to power, no other position—not Christianity nor the Golden Rule nor brotherly love nor nonviolence; not self-sacrifice nor the turning of the other cheek. For all these various abnegations of power by parts of a whole are, unwittingly, in the service of increased power to the whole; and the whole morality created by such renunciations is used by the aggregate to increase the power with which it then pursues more power. Good and evil come into existence as defined by power and are shaped to protect power. They filter down from rulers, magistrates, educators, from bishops, priests, and Sunday school teachers to parents, who shape the conscience of children, imprint the limits, instill the guilt. Order and safety are maintained; citizens need not bear arms; violence is proscribed, banished beyond borders. (More important than gun control is violence control and self-control.) And so it comes about that the modern state is thought to be a moral state, even a Christian state, the source and the defender of morality, of civilization, of high culture. However, the morality that is here, rightly, ascribed to the state is internal, the lawfulness of cells within an organism. In its conduct with other states, and with those barbarians beyond its borders, the state is a killer. And utterly self-righteous in its exterminations. The state claiming morality is like a murderer claiming innocence by pointing out that his hands and feet moved lawfully during the performance of the crime. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
The state does not intend itself to become moral; it requires morality of its subjects as the necessary basis of its own amoral power, of its continued ability to conduct international brigandage abroad and the torture of political prisoners at home. The unselfishness of individuals empowers the selfishness of states. The selflessness of patriots becomes the arrogance of nations. Morality constricts and diminishes the life of the individual as its strengths and enlarges the life of the collective. The cohesiveness of the group, achieved by the morality and lawfulness of its constituents, enables the group to become larger and stronger. The morality of the individual thus has survival value for the amora collective and, insofar as the safety of the individual depends upon the power of the collective, also for the individual. However, the group can never, as a group, govern itself, cannot organize and exploit its potential power. For this, leaders are required, leaders with a vision of how the group may become even stronger. If only certain individuals within the morally organized collective are themselves immoral, and break the rules in pursuit of personal power, such leaders can appear. So the greatest chance of survival falls, paradoxically, to that collective which has achieved solidarity by mortality and, at the same time, contains within itself a leaven of opportunists who will exploit that morality for personal power. Let us go on to the Occupational Outlook of those who are verbally bright. Among this group, simply because they cannot help asking more general questions—exempli gratia, about utility—the problem of finding man’s work is harder, and their disillusion is more poignant. He explained to her why it was hard to find a satisfactory job of work to do. He had liked working with the power drill, testing the rocky envelope of the shore, but then the employers asked him to take a great oath of loyalty. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
“What!” cried Rosalind. “Do you have scruples about telling a convenient fib?” “No, I do not. However, I felt uneasy about the sanity of the director asking me to swear to opinions on such complicated questions when my job was digging with a power drill. I cannot work with a man who might suddenly had a wild fit.” “Why do you not get a job driving one of the big trucks along here?” “I do not like what is in the boxes,” said Horatio sadly. “It could just as well drop in the river—and I would make mistakes and drop it there.” “Is it had stuff?” “No, just useless. It takes the heart out of me to work at something useless and I begin to make mistakes. I do not mind putting profits in somebody’s pocket—but the job also has to be useful for something.” “Why do you not go to the woods and be a lumberjack?” “No! they chop down the trees just to print off the New York Times!” The more intelligent worker’s “indifference” is likely to appear more nakedly as profound resignation, and his cynicism may sharpen to outright racketeering. “Teaching,” says the Handbook, “is the largest of the professions.” So suppose our now verbally bright young man chooses for teacher, in the high school system or, by exception, in the elementary schools if he understands that the elementary grades are the vitally important ones and require the most ability to tech well (and of course they have less prestige). Teaching is necessary and useful work; it is real and creative, for it directly confronts an important subject matter, the children themselves; it is obviously self-justifying; and it is ennobled by the arts and sciences. Those who practice teaching do not for the most part succumb to cynicism or indifference—the children are too immediate and real for the teachers to become callous—but, most of the school systems being what they are, can teacher fail to come to suffer first despair and then deep resignation? Resignation occurs psychologically as follows: frustrated in essential actions, they nevertheless cannot quit in anger, because the task is necessary; so the anger turns inward and is felt as resignation. (Naturally, the resigned teacher may then put on a happy face and keep very busy.) #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
For the job is carried on under impossible conditions of overcrowding and saving public money. Not that there is not enough social wealth, but first things are not put first. Also, the school system has spurious aims. It soon becomes clear that the underlying aims are to relieve the home and keep the kids quiet; or suddenly, the aim is to produce physicists. Timid supervisors, bigoted clerics, and ignorant school boards forbid real teaching. The emotional release and the pleasures of the flesh expression of the children are taboo. A commercially debauched popular culture makes learning disesteemed. The academic curriculum is mangled by the demands of reactionaries, liberals, and demented warriors. Progressive methods are emasculated. Attention to each case is out of the questions, and all the children—the bright, the average, and the dull—are systematically intellectually disabled one way or another, while the teacher’s hands are tired. Naturally the pay is low—for the work is hard, useful, and of public concern, all three of which qualities tend to bring lower pay. It is alleged that the low pay is why there is a shortage of teachers and why the best do not choose the profession. My guess is that the best avoid it because of the certainty of miseducating. Nor are the best wanted by the system, for they are not safe. Bertrand Russel was rejected by New York’s City College and would not have been accepted in a New York grade school. What we see here are the outlines, therefore, of a wholly new way of life, affecting not only individuals but the planet as well. The new civilization sketched here can hardly be termed a utopia. It will be agitated by deep problems, sone of which we will explore in the future. Problems of self and community. Political problems. Problems of justice, equity, and morality. Problems with the new economy (and especially the relationship between employment, welfare, and presumption). All these and many more will arouse fighting passions. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
However, the Fourth Wave is also no “anti-utopia.” It is not 1984 writ large nor Brave New World brought to life. Both these brilliants books—and hundred of derivative science fiction stories—paint a future based on highly centralized, bureaucratized, and standardized societies, in which individual differences are eradicated. We are now heading in exactly the opposite direction. While the Fourth Wave carries with it a deep challenge for humanity, from ecological threats to danger of nuclear terrorism and electronic fascism, it is not simply a nightmarish linear extension of industrialism. We glimpse here instead the emergence of what might be called a “pratopia”—neither the best nor the worst of all possible Worlds, but one that is both practical and preferable to the one we had. Unlike a utopia, a practopia is not free of disease, political nastiness, and bad manners. Unlike most utopias, it is not static or frozen in unreal perfection. Nor is it reversionary, modeling itself on some imagine ideal of the past. Conversely, a practopia does not embody the crystallized evil of a utopia turned inside out. It is not ruthlessly antidemocratic. It is not inherently militarist. It does not reduce its citizens to faceless uniformity. It does not destroy its neighbours and degrade its environment. In short, a practopia offers a beneficial, even a revolutionary alternative, yet lies within the range of the realistically attainable. Fourth Wave civilization, in this sense, is precisely that: a practopian future. One can glimpse in it a civilization that makes allowance for individual differences, and embraces (rather than suppresses) racial, regional, religious, and subcultural variety. A civilization built in considerable measure around the home. A civilization that is not frozen in amber but pulsing with innovation, yet which is also capable of providing enclaves of relative stability for those who need or want them. A civilization no longer required to pour its best energies into marketization. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
A civilization capable of directing great passion into art. A civilization facing unprecedented historical choices—about genetics and evolution, to choose a single example—and inventing new ethical or moral standards to deal with such complex issues. A civilization, finally, that is at least potentially democratic and humane, in better balance with the biosphere and no longer dangerously dependent on exploitative subsidies from the rest of the World. Hard work to achieve, but not impossible. Flowing together in grand confluence, today’s changes thus point to a workable countercivilization, an alternative to the increasingly obsolete and unworkable industrial system. They point, in a word, to practopia. Life brings humans what they need, which is sometimes what one desires but at other times what one fears. The modern World badly needed a shake-up, and got one. However, it received only what it deserved. The war descended on it in accordance with Universal Law. When nation arouse against nation, it was only an end-expression of the innate selfishness which had been actuating them. We must expect such situations, for they are the natural and inevitable consequence of all that has happened before. Unless the war has brought a vivid realization of the truth of law of compensation, it has not brought any spiritual progress. However, it is too much at this time to expect the modern World to understand the cause of its tribulations. What valuable ethical and psychological significances, what striking illustrations of the inexorable law of retribution, could be drawn from the War! The evolutionary pressure upon humanity is not to give up its fratricidal warfare, although it will eventuate in that, but to give up the aggressive selfishness in which such warfare has its roots. If the nations cannot settle their differences peacefully it is because the ego in them is too strong, the passions too violent, and the antagonisms too blind. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
The differences must be faced on deeper than physical levels, and the refusal to do this on the grounds that such are idealistic and not practical results in superficial and not true considerations and results. How hard it is to get people to draw accurate conclusions from their experience one can read from the annals of history. Again and again the people of one nation, race, or religion who have been subjected to persecution by a different one, have failed to behave justly and tolerantly when the turning wheel of destiny put them later into power. The gusts of hate or anger or greed which blow humans off their mental balance, blow them eventually to war. In spite of the spiritual messages which have been given to humankind by the great prophets, the savagery of war still continues to show the strength of the animal in humans. If their compassion for helpless animas is so small that they will not give up fighting each other, by what right do they call upon God to show compassion toward them and stop war? The World war was not only the consequence of the desecration of the Egyptian graves, of course. It was much more a consequence of the evil thoughts and feelings which exit in human’s hearts and of the spiritual ignorance which exists in their minds. The desecration was itself only one of the symptoms of that ignorance. Evil desires and unjust acts were the seed: the horrors of war were the fruit. The awful retribution which fell upon whole nations was impelled and guided by the power behind the eternal an immutable law of consequences. Up to a certain point, it could have been modified and even prevented, but beyond this point nothing could annul its appointed course. Let us blame none but ourselves. This holocaust was needed in order to bring humanity fully to its senses, to purge its materialistic atheism of its pride, and to show it how hollow and hypocritical was its façade of civilization. When we penetrate these social, economic, political, educational, and national problems to rock bottom, we find that they are really ethical problems. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
Virgil, the Roman, dreamt of Universal Peace. Many today entertain the same dream but at the same time they are contradicted by piled-up evidences of the violence in human nature, the strife engendered by blind self-interest, the killing instinct that is a heritage from the animal. So long as egos come into conflict with one another, so long will nation do the same. We are to expect the brutal carnage and concentrated massacre of war until and unless we are impelled to renounce it at last as a method of removing affronts to justice. Be open and honest and tell the whole truth. Learn to listen to your conscience. God put that inside of you so you would have an inner rule by which to know right from wrong. When you start to compromise, you will hear that alarm go off in your conscience. Do not ignore it. Do what you know in your heart is the right thing. Is somebody watching you? Oh, yes; people are watching, and so is your Heavenly Father. Live this day to please Him, and you will be pleased with yourself. “Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically,” reports Romans 12.11. Make a decision that you are not going to live another day without the joy of the Lord in your life; without love, peace, and passion; without being excited about your life. And understanding that you do not have to have something extraordinary happening in your life to be excited. You may not live in the perfect environment or have the perfect job or the perfect marriage, but you can still leave each day with enthusiasm. Wherever you are in life, make the most of it and be the best that you can be. Do your work with such excellence that others will be impressed with your God merely by observing you excellent work ethic. We should be so excited, and so full of joy that other people will want what we have. In other words, are you drawing people to God because of your joy, your friendliness, your enthusiasm, your attitude of faith? If you want to point people to God, or simply to a better way of living, have some enthusiasm and be excited about life. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
Dear Lord in Heaven, please help me to do the right thing whether anyone is watching or not. I know you see my actions, and beyond that, You know the motives of my heart. I want my words and deeds to be pleasing to you. Please let my enthuaism for life be contagious; may I live in such a way that causes other people to want to know You and how they can discover a different, better quality of life now and forever. Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you, we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings, we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to look at the sky, and say thank you. We are standing by the water looking out in difference direction, back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging, after funerals we are saying thank you, After the news of the pandemic, we are saying thank you. Whether or not we knew those who died, we are saying thank you. Looking up from tables we are saying thank you. In a culture up to its chin in shame, we are saying thank you. Living in the stench it has chosen, we are saying thank you. Over telephones, we are saying thank you. In doorways and in the backs of cares and in elevators, remembering the wars and the police at the back door, and the beatings on stairs, we are saying thank you. In the banks that use us, we are saying thank you. With the crooks in the office with the rich and fashionable unchanged we go on saying thank you. With the animals dying around us, our feelings we are saying thank you. With our forests falling faster than the minutes of our lives, we are saying thank you. With the words going out like cells of a brain, with the cities growing over us like the Earth, we are saying thank you faster and faster with nobody listening, we are saying thank you. We are saying thank you and waving, dark though it is. And wind lifted me up, and I heard behind me a mighty chorus proclaiming: Blessed be the glory of the Lord everywhere. [Then a wind lifted me up, and I heard behind me the mighty moving sound of those who uttered praises and said: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from the place of His abode.] The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. [The kingdom of the Lord is established forever and to all eternity.] #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
You may not guess that the inside of our Brighton Station Residence 3 model boasts 4 bedrooms!
Feelin’ sunny about our pretty new house – the perfect way to start 2022! https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/residence-3/
I’ve got a heart that hollers when my Cresleigh Home is not close to me. But when I am near my Cresleigh Homes it sorta follows that there isn’t a lovelier Heaven or a bubblier place to be.
You Understand that Harsh Night Was Only a Comedy!
We judge ourselves by what we are capable of doing; try not to become a human of success but rather a human of value. There are many reasons celibacy was so population in the 18th century. Youth were sometimes exposed to adults involved in pleasures of the flesh and they did not like seeing that, and these adults when then prey on the youth and try to get them involved. Because of how disgusted they were, a lot of women did not want to marry, but it was not just because of what they were exposed to, but some other things as well. Mother Ann Lee, the founder of American Shakerism, was born in 1736 into misery and degradation of Manchester, England. As a child, she did have the luxury of attending school, and joined the racks of child labour with her job in a textile factory. Against her repeated pleas, her father forced Ann into marriage—and its dread conjugal duties—with blacksmith Abraham Stanley. Sadly, the union produced three babies, who died soon after birth, which was the fate of half Manchester’s children, and this was a true depression. Nothing is more sad than the loss of life. Ann had a fourth child called Elizabeth, who lived for only six years. This left her tormented by grief and guilt. Ann concluded that the root of her personal tragedy, and indeed of all human depravity was pleasures of the flesh. As if it had embers in it, Ann’s shattered psyche inspire her to avoid her own marriage bed. Despite Stanley’s passion for his beautiful, blue-eyed, chestnut-haired wife, he was willing to forgo pleasures of the flesh and accepted her religion and celibacy. With her new found freedom, Anne became a preacher. She was so passionate and enthusiastic that she converted her faither and two brothers. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
However, Ann’s new found freedom did not last for long. Patriarchal England was hostile to women preachers. Persecution, including imprisonment began. While in a brutal dungeon, Ann had a vision. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, fornicating, whereupon God flung them out of sight. This was, Ann believed, a divine revelation. Just as the regimen of healthy people is not suitable for the sick, one should not want to govern a corrupt people by means of the same laws that are suited to a good people. Pleasures of the flesh had caused humankind’s alienation from God. We are told that people of true Christians would form the most perfect society imaginable. Celibacy, therefore, was essential for spiritual rebirth. We have based our words about virginity on the fact that it is first of all a charism, a gift received from God and, consequently, a vocation. Virginity must be received as a gift—an offering to God’s majesty, a living sacrifice and imitation of the imitation of the Eucharist of Christ. Ann’s version of the Fall of Man differed radically from the Church’s. God had punished Adam and Eve equally, so their longings for pleasures of the flesh, not Eve’s special wickedness, were at the crux of His fury. Maybe God wanted humans to procreate like the Virgin Mary, spontaneously and without indulging in pleasures of the flesh. Ann wasted no hatred on womankind but spent it all on the great evil, pleasures of the flesh. The Fathers of the Church were not content to observe the commandments, but also offered God gifts. Christ’s commandments have been given to all Christians, and every Christian is obliged to observe them. The most beautiful thing we can do is renew this gift of ourselves. What makes a gift beautiful and precious is its integrity. The object must be new and intact. We must all nothing in ourselves—in thoughts, looks, or actions—to offend His presence or “grieve” the Spirit. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
It was Ann’s startling message—celibacy, even after marriage—that converted people. Women had their own special reasons to welcome celibacy. With no effective birth control or it not being allowed by the Church, abstinence was a great idea. Many people still enjoyed bearing children, but they also feared what could happen, so some dreaded it. Childbirth could be agonizing and often fatal: morality rates for mothers and newborns were sky-high. Women delivered squatting over filthy birthing stools or straw, and postpartum puerperal fever killed them in droves. Poor nutrition deformed pelvic bones so bad that babies were trapped in misshapen birth canals. Midwives used hooks to extract the babies, often in bloody chunks. Those children who survived into adulthood faced only the same bleak poverty their parents could never escape. Abstinence was a woman’s main defense against these prospects, but husbands, churches, and society would not tolerate it. Mother Ann’s style of celibacy was different. It was a form of devotion, a duty to God, a conscious renunciation of odious carnal indulgence. It bestowed on the believer the moral authority to resist opposition, including irate husbands. Slowly, the number of Shakers grew. The idea that one had a higher self, the conviction that on had a soul, broke in upon their little existence with great revelatory force, and the people felt it emerging into glorious lighter after a dreary journey though a long dark tunnel. The Overself was enthroned. The disciples realized its presence in their inmost feelings. Nothing on their experience, intellectual or emotional, had possessed for the member such satisfying ecstasy, such as paradisical contentment. For the delight of the higher levels of spiritual experience, unlike the delight of passionate Earthly experience, never palls but remains ever fresh and vivid as through encountered for the first time. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
The World took on the texture of a lovely half-dream. God’s feet treaded air. Blissfully, wondrously, and overwhelmingly the disciple became that which one sought. The delight of these exalted moments and the fragrance of these Heavenly visitations lingered in the Shaker’s memories for years after they themselves had vanished, and the influence on subsequent life and thought was as long and they themselves were short and beautiful. The experienced would slip away, but the memory of its certitude would remain. This all happened deep in the secret places of one’s own heart. As Ann’s fame increased, so did the hatred of civil authorities. They imprisoned her time and again and did little to prevent enraged citizens from chasing, kicking, and stoning her. Ann’s sufferings simply strengthened her faith and honed her theology. Ann saw her marriage to Christ as evidence of her own greatly exalted status as a person entrusted with divine truths and wisdom. Shaker celibacy was not only its own reward but also the precursor of other, tangible offices and honours. Something similar happens in the life of a young man or woman when they really fall in love. While they were “free” and open to various possibilities, any man or woman who passed by might have drawn their attention and “distracted” them, just as a sheep always leaves a scrap of its wool on the thorns of a hedge when it comes too close. However, one true love for someone has taken hold, every other person and in fact the whole World, respectfully steps back and even fades away entirely for a while. Their hearts are not fixed on one person. A kind of catharsis happens: the new relationship does not destroy all others—companions, relatives or friends—but puts each one in its proper place. Something similar happens to the consecrated soul on the day when, moved by the uncreated love which is the Holy Spirit, one chooses Jesus as Lord and Spouse. The heart is no longer “free,” no longer wanders, and is no longer so easily “distracted” this way and that. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
This is true virginity for the sake of the Kingdom. God grant that we may desire it, even if from a distance, and make our way towards it, albeit haltingly, with the steps of a child. To encourage one to do this and to strengthen one’s willingness to turn away from the lower nature, the higher self alternately reveals and hides itself at intervals. Once the Overself has vouchsafed to one its Grace, one must make oneself increasingly worthy of the gift. The aspirant should regard the glimpse afforded one in the glow of one’s best moments as a working blueprint. One has to make oneself over again according to the mental picture thus placed before one. The purpose is to call one to more serious, more frequent, and sterner efforts, and to arouse one in increased ardours of moral self-improvement. Mother Ann designed Shaker society so that even its physical plant reflected the celibacy at its ideological core. Men and women lived in segregated quarters and were never alone. At religious services, they sat apart. However, Mother Ann was too wise to suppose that forced separation could, by itself, forestall all lapses in conduct. Lust, she knew all too well, was a powerful force: her husband, Abraham, for one, had lusted after he for years. In fact, his unquenchable longing for a carnal relationship was one of the first things she dealt with in America. Somehow, she managed to convince him that she would never relent about pleasures of the flesh, and her grieving husband finally walked out, leaving his wife alone in her splendid celibacy. To that diviner self thus glimpsed, one must henceforth address all one’s prayers; through its remembrance one must seek succor; in its reliance one must perform all one’s endeavours; by its light one must plead for grace. For the Overself to give itself wholly and perpetually to a human is a rare and wonderful event. Most often it gives itself only for a short time. This serves to intensify and enlarge his love and attraction for it, and to provide one with beautiful memories to support and sustain one in faithfulness to the quest in the fatiguing long-drawn years of struggle and darkness. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
When the Grace has led one sufficiently far, one will be distinctly aware of an inner presence. It will think for one, feel for one, and even act for one. This is the beginning of, and what it means to have, an egoless life. Just as the sun’s rays are reflected on a burnished silver plate, so the Overself’s attributes are faithfully reflected on a purified and egoless mind. For socializing, the Shakers enjoyed thrice-weekly “union meetings” where men and women sat face-to-face, talking or reading or singing. They released their tensions by speaking in tongues: we can only guess what streamy yearnings were dissipated in the babel. No great sexual scandals ever surfaced. Sexual sublimation, orchestrated into daily life, made celibacy joyous for many believers, tolerable for those with aching loins. However, celibacy was not enough: even loyalty between celibate spouses threatened the tightly knit Shaker community. As late as 1810, an Ohio Shaker meeting-house was mobbed by five hundred angry men. It took six bitter years to establish equilibrium in the commune. By then Shaker core had become Americanized. New rituals and traditions replaced the lost ones, and internal harmony developed. And, thanks to Shaker industry and ingenuity, poverty gave way to prosperity and financial security. However, they failed to interest their growing children into staying. The most serious point of dissension was the most fundamental: celibacy, which dictated the Shaker’s architecture, regulations, and way of life. The Shaker’s worst failure was with their children, most of whom rejected the austere religion and lifestyle. At New Lebanon between 1821 and 1864, of 144 boys admitted, some foundlings but most with their parents, 8 died, 10 were “carried away,” 2 were sent away, 22 became Shakers, and 102 left “for the World.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
Many suicide notes go undetected or unconfirmed because the only people who could tell us the truth are gone from the World. Many other people who commit suicide, however, an estimated 12 to 33 percent—leave notes that reveal their intentions and psychological state only hours or minutes before they died. “Bill: I am sorry for causing you so much trouble. I really did not want to and if you would have told me at the first time the truth probably both of us would be very happy now. Bill I am sorry but I cannot take the life any more, I do not think there is any goodness in the World. I love you very very much and I want you to be as happy in your life as I wanted to make you. Tell your parents I am very sorry and please if you can do it do not ever let my parents know what happened. Please, do not hate me Bill, I love you. -Mary.” “Dear Jean, Unfortunately this is the only way to make good the frightful wrong I have done you and to wipe out my abject humanity, I love you. -Paul (You understand that hash night was only a comedy.)” Each suicide note is a personal document, unique to the writer and the circumstances. Some are barely a single sentence; others run several pages. People who leave noted clearly wish to send a powerful message to those they leave behind, whether it be “a cry for help, an epitaph, or a last will and testament.” Most suicide notes are addressed to specific individuals. Survivours’ reactions to suicide notes vary. A note can clarify the cause of death, thus saving relatives the ordeal of a legal investigation. Friends and relative may find that it eases their grief to know the person’s reasons for committing suicide. Yet some suicide notes add to the confusion, guilt, or horror that survivours experience, as was the following case. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
Rather than permit his wife to leave him, twenty-year-old Mr. Jefferson hanged himself in the bathroom, leaving a note on the front door for his wife, saying, “Cathy I love you. You’re right, I am crazy…and thank you for trying to love me. Phil.” Mrs. Jefferson felt and frequently insisted that she “killed Phil.” She attempted suicide herself a week after. Clinical researcher have tried to improve their understanding of suicide by studying differences between genuine and fake suicide notes, the age and gender of note writers, the grammar of notes, the type and frequency of words used, conscious and unconscious contents, handwriting, and emotional, cognitive, and motivational themes. One important finding is that suicide notes vary significantly with age. Younger persons express more hostility toward themselves and site more interpersonal problems in their notes; those between 40 and 49 report being unable to cope with life; those between 50 and 59 tend not to cite a reason for their suicide; and those over 60 are motivated by such problems as illness, pain, disability, and loneliness. Studies of notes have also revealed that the nature of suicide had changed little since the 1940s, except that we are seeing more “suicide by police officers,” which is when people do things to intentionally get killed by a law enforcement officer. Suicide notes written in the 1940s, and the 1950s, are similar in content to modern notes, with one exception: modern notes show less confusion and more limited thinking. A number of studies have also been conducted on writings that are similar to suicide notes. For example, one team of investigators compared poems by nine poets who committed suicide to those written by nine poets who did not commit suicide. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
The poets who experienced death by suicide used more first-person self-references in their works, such as “I” and “me,” as well as more words associated with death. In addition, the poets who experienced death by suicide used fewer communication terms (such as “talk” and “listen”) in the poems they had written close to the time of their death by suicide, while nonsuicial poets actually increased their use of such words during this same period of time. Thus, it may be that people who are contemplating suicide tend to use language in distinct ways—ways that may eventually help clinicians identify and distinguish a person’s risk for suicide. A suicide note (or similar offering) provides only a partial picture of the writer’s experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and emotions. Moreover, the writers themselves may not be fully aware of their motives; their desperate thinking prevents them from being truly insightful. Suicide notes are not the royal road to an easy understanding of suicidal phenomena, but in combination with other sources they can point clinicians and researchers in the right direction. Research use a strategy to determine who is at risk of death by suicide by studying people who survive their death by suicide attempts. It is estimated that there are 8 to 20 nonfatal suicide attempts for every fatal suicide. However, it may be that people who survive death by suicide differ in important ways from those who do not. Many of them may not really have wanted to die, for example. Nevertheless, suicide researchers have found it useful to study survivours of suicide; and we shall consider those who attempt death by suicide and those who experience death by suicide as more or less alike. To help address the psychological trauma experienced by many fans of celebrities who have recently experienced death by suicide, postvention” approached are often employed, including counseling sessions in schools and special media programs. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
In the days following the death of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, a candlelight vigil in Seattle was attended by 5,000 people. What triggers death by suicide? Sometimes people are trying to silence a victim or witness, and faking a suicide is a way to cover up a murder. Often times if the family does not press for an investigation, if it looks like death by suicide, that is how it is labeled, even though it may not be. Suicidal acts may be connected to recent events or current conditions in a person’s life. Although such factors may not be the basic motivation for the death by suicide, they can precipitate it. Common triggering factors include stressful events in the recent lives of suicide attempters than in the lives of matched control subjects. In one study, suicide attempters reported twice as many stressful events in the year before their attempts as nonsuicial depressed patients or patients with other kinds of psychological problems. One form of immediate stress seen in cases of suicide is the loss of a loved one through death, divorce, or rejection. Another is the loss of a job. Still another is the stress experienced during pandemics, hurricanes or other natural disasters, even by young children. A suicide attempt may also be precipitated by a series of recent events that have a combined impact, rather than by a single event, as in the following case. Aaliyah’s suicide attempt took place in the context of a very difficult year for the family. Aaliyah’s mother and father separated after 9 years of marriage. Father the father moved out, he visited the family erratically. Four months after he loved out of the house, the mother’s boyfriend moved into the house. The mother planned to divorce her husband and marry her boyfriend, Robert, who had become the major disciplinarian for the children, a fact that Aaliyah intensely resented. Aaliyah also complained of being “left out” in relation to the closeness she had with her mother. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Another problem Aaliyah had was that she and her mother looked alike, so people thought Robert was her boyfriend. Also, Aaliyah had experienced two changes in schools in the last two years which left her feeling friendless. In addition, she received a 4.0, but it was totally overshadowed by rumors of a marriage and a new baby sibling. China’s 300,000 annual suicides, 10 times the United States of Americas’ toll, represents 40 percent of all suicides in the World. China is the only country in which female suicides are more common than male suicides, account for more than 50 percent of suicides by women Worldwide. Research finds that fans of heavy metal rock consider suicide more acceptable then do people who are not fans. However, this attitude does not seem to result from the music or the lifestyle it espouses. Rather, heavy metal fans tend to be low in religiosity, and low religiosity relates to greater acceptability of suicide. Those fans who are religious rate suicide just as unacceptable as nonfans do. There is authority in faith-filled words. The authority in the widow’s words changed the unjust man’s decision. Though he would not do it for a while, her words—the authority in those words—troubled him, and he finally gave in. Many have thought Jesus Christ was teaching us to keep pestering God until we finally wear him down. This could never be representative of God. This was an unjust judge, who had all the qualities of Satan. The authority in the window’s voice changed the decision of the unjust judge. Her words changed his mind. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life,” reports John 6.63. The words that Jesus Christ spoke are not just printed pages. They are spirit life. When you get them on the side of you, they will transform your spirit. They will cause you to speak words of faith, driving out defeat and bring victory. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
Jesus said, “Hear what the unjust judge saith.” People try to relate the unjust judge to God, but how can you compare an unjust judge to God? Rome perished in the same way, and the excessive power of the tribunes, which they had gradually usurped, finally served, with the help of the laws that were made to protect liberty, as a safeguard, with the help of the laws that were made to protect liberty, as a safeguard for the emperors who destroyed it. As for the Council of Ten in Venice, it is a tribunal of blood, equally horrible to the patricians and the people, and which, far from proudly protecting the laws, no longer serves any purpose, after their degradation, beyond that of delivering blows in the dark which no one dares notice. If we do that, we have missed the whole point of what Jesus was teaching. Let us rightly divine the Word of Truth: “Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, least by her continual coming she weary me.” In other words, “That woman meant what she said. I know by the tone of her voice, she will be back.” The unjust judge is only troubled. He is not weary yet. However, her continual coming would cause him to be weary. Since he is not weary yet, evidently she had not been coming. She only came once. He said, “I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” The unjust judge granted her request so she would not come back. The Lord said, “Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though he bear long with them? He is not saying they were crying day and night over the same thing; yet we have read that into it. We have had the same idea here as in the first verse when Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray, and not faint.” In other words, “You have a need this morning, pray about it. If it is not manifest and you have another need tonight, do not sit around wringing your hands saying, ‘Since God did not answer my first prayer, He will not answer this one.’” #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
God has to bear long with us at times. However, that is because we are not in line with the Word of God and we try to do it our way. There have been times when I have prayed about everything and just thrown out a scatter load, hoping to God some of it would work. Once in a while, some of it would and I would be surprised. That is what you call a “faith accident.” You finally come across something that you believe, and it happens. Jesus said, “I tell you that He (God) will avenge them speedily.” The unjust judge did not avenge speedily, but Jesus said that God would avenge us speedily. “Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on Earth?” Will He find the kind of faith this woman possessed? Even though she was so insignificant in the eyes of the public, she went to the unjust judge—a man who feared neither God nor man—and her request was granted. Will the Son of man find that kind of faith when He comes back? “There was a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man.” As we have noted, he would qualify for the devil. It certainly could not be God. The unjust judge is representative of the evil one or Satan. The widow represents that individual believer. Jesus is showing us the power of speaking boldly. Without Christ, we can not do nothing; but, praise God, we are not without Him! Jesus said, “Hear what the unjust judge saith.” Now when Jesus says hear something, He means to pay special attention to it. Hear what Satan will say when a believer comes to him and demands boldly, “Avenge me of my adversary.” As believers today we would say, “I demand my rights in Jesus’ name.” This little woman was coming in the authority of her faith and not by sight. The unjust judge is representative of Satan who is subject to the authority of faith-filled words. When the Son of man returns, will He find this kind of faith on Earth—that a believer would dare to stand before the unjust one and tell him what to do? #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
This not only portrays the individual believer using his authority, but also the Church using the name of Jesus. Isaiah 54.4-5, says she shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name. Ephesians 3.9-10, outlines the role of Church is to play: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in Heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” What principalities and powers is he talking about? The same principalities and powers mentioned in Ephesians 6.12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this World, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” He is saying, “For we wrestle…against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this World, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” He is talking about the devil, his angels, and all his evil forces. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers might be known by the church manifold wisdom of God. The Church is going to reveal the manifold wisdom of God, showing that God was in Christ reconciling the World to Himself, declaring His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past and bestowing on us His righteousness. The Church can come forth wearing the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation, having our loins grit with the Truth and our feet sod with the gospel of peace, with the shield of faith in our hands and the Sword of the Spirit in our mouths. We can come boldly before the unjust judge and say, “In the name of Jesus, get your hand off me, off my finances, off of God’s property! I am redeemed from the curse and delivered from the powers of darkness!” #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
Experience teaches us every day the causes that lead to the revolutions of empires. However, since peoples are no longer being formed, we have almost nothing but conjecture to explain how they were formed. The majority vote in each tribe determined the tribe’s vote; the majority vote of the tribes determined the people’s vote; and the same went for the curia and the centuries. This custom was good so long as honesty reigned among the citizens and each was ashamed to give one’s vote publicly in favour of an unjust proposal or an unworthy subject. However, when the people became corrupt and votes were bought, it was fitting that they should give their votes in secret in order to restrain the buyers through distrust and to provide scoundrels the means of not being traitors. Only the greatest dangers can counterbalance the danger of altering the public order, and the sacred power of the laws should never be suspended except when it is a question of the safety of the homeland. In these rare and obvious cases, public safety can be provided for by a special act which confers the responsibility for it on someone who is most worthy. Hence this the judgment whose regulation is the point at issue. Whoever judges more judges honour; and whoever judges honour derives one’s law from opinion. The opinions of a people arise from its constitution. Although the law does not regulate mores, legislation is what gives rise to them. When legislation weakens, mores degenerate; but then the judgment of the censors will not do what the force of the laws has not down. It follows from this that the censorship can be useful for preserving mores, but never for reestablishing them. Establish censors while the laws are vigorous. Once they have lost their vigour, everything is hopeless. Nothing legitimate has any force once the laws no longer have force. The censorship maintains mores by preventing opinions from becoming corrupt, by preserving their rectitude through wise applications, and sometimes even by making a determination on them when they are still uncertain. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
What is honour for the one, what is shame for the other; and without having given praise of blame to either of the two! By the mere fact that a god was placed at the head of every political society, it followed that there were as many gods as there were peoples. Two peoples who were alien to one another and nearly always enemies could not recognize the same master for very long. Two armies in combat with one another could not obey the same leader. Thus national divisions led to polytheism, and this in turn led to theological and civil intolerance which are by nature the same. However, if asked how in pagan cultures, where each state has its own cult and its own gods, there are no wars of religion, it was for this very reason that each state, having its own cult as well as its own government, did not distinguish its gods from its laws. Political war was theological as well. The departments of the gods were, so to speak, fixed by national boundaries. The gods of one people had no rights over other peoples. The gods of the pagans were not jealous gods. They divided dominion over the Word among themselves. Moses himself and the Hebrew people sometimes countenanced this idea in speaking of the god of Israel. It is true they regarded as nothing the gods of the Canaanites, a proscribed people destined for destruction, and whose land they were to occupy. However, note how they spoke of the divinities of neighbouring peoples whom they were forbidden to attack! Is not the possession of what belongs to you god Chamos, said Jephthah to the Ammonites, lawfully yours? By the same right we possess the lands our victorious god has acquired for himself? It appears to me that here was a clear recognition of the parity between the rights of Chamos and those of the god of Israel. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
The Romans having spread their cult and their gods, along with their empire, and having themselves often adopted the gods of the vanquished by granting the right of the city to both alike, the peoples of this vast empire gradually found themselves to have multitudes of gods and cults, which were nearly the same everywhere. And that is how paganism finally became a single, identical religion in the known World. Such were the circumstances under which Jesus came to establish a spiritual kingdom on Earth. In separating the theological system from the political system, this made the state to cease being united and caused internal division that never ceased to agitate Christian peoples. However, since this new idea of an otherworldly kingdom had never entered the heads of the pagans, they always regarded the Christians as true rebels who, underneath their hypocritical submission, were only waiting for the moment when they would become independent and the masters, and adroitly usurp the authority they pretended in their weakness to respect. This is the reason for the persecutions. What the pagans feared happened. Then everything changes its appearance. The humble Christians changed their language, and soon this so-called otherworldly kingdom became, under a visible leader, the most violent despotism in this World. However, since there has always been a prince and civil laws, this double power have given rise to a perpetual jurisdictional conflict that has made all good polity impossible in Christian states, and no one has ever been able to know whether it is the priest or the master whom one is obliged to obey. Nevertheless, several peoples, even in Europe or nearby have wanted to preserve or reestablish the ancient system, but without success. The spirit of Christianity has won everything. The sacred cult has always remained or again become independent of the sovereign and without any necessary link to the state. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
Christianity is a completely spiritual religion, concerned exclusively with things Heavenly. The homeland of the Christian is not of this World. One does one’s duty, it is true, but one does it with a profound indifference toward the success or failure of one’s efforts. So long as one has nothing to reproach oneself for, it matters little to one whether anything is going well or poorly down here. If the state is flourishing, one hardly dares to enjoy public felicity, for fear of becoming puffed up with one’s country’s glory. If the state is in decline, one blessed the hand of God that weighs heavily on one’s people. For the society to be peaceful and for harmony to be maintained, every citizen without exception would have to be an equally good Christian. However, if, unhappily, there is a single ambition human, a single hypocrite, a Cataline, for example, or a Cromwell, one would quite undoubtedly gain the upper hand on one’s pious compatriots. Christian charity does not readily allow one to think ill of one’s neighbours. Once one has discovered by some ruse the art of deceiving them and of laying hold of a part of the public authority, behold a human established in dignity! God will that He be respected. Soon, behold a power! God wills that he be obeyed. Does the trustee of His power abuse it? He is the rod with which God punishes his children. It would be against one’s conscience to expel the usurper. It would be necessary to disturb the public tranquility, use violence and shed blood. All this accords ill with the meekness of a Christian. And after all, what difference does it make weather one is a free human or a surf in this value of tears? The essential thing is getting to Heaven, and reignation is but another means to that end. What is a foreign war breaks out? The citizens march without reservation into combat; none among them dread of deserting. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
Christians do their duty, but without passion for victory; they know how to die better than how to be victorious. What difference does it make whether they are the victors of the vanquished? Does not providence know better than they what they need? Just imagine the advantage a fierce, impetuous and passionate enemy could draw from their stoicism! Set them face to face with those generous peoples who were devoured by an ardent love of glory and homeland. Suppose your Christian republic is face to face with Sparta or Rome. The pious Christians will be beaten, crushed and destroyed before they realize where they are, or else they will owe their safety only to the scorn their enemies will conceive for them. To my way of thinking, the oath taken by Fabius’ soldiers was a fine one. They did not swear to die or to win; they swore to return victorious. And they kept their promise. Christians would never have taken such an oath; they would have believed they were tempting God. However, I am deceiving myself in talking about a Christian republic; these terms are mutually exclusive. Christianity preaches only servitude and dependence. Its spirit is too favourable to tyranny for tyranny not to take advantage of it at all times. True Christians are made to be slaves. They know it and are hardly moved by this. This brief life has too little value in their eyes. Christian troops, we are told, are excellent. Crusades were soldiers of the priest; they were citizens of the church; they were fighting for its spiritual country which the church, God knows how, had made temporal. Properly understood, this is a throwback to paganism. Since the Gospel does not establish a national religion, no holy war is possible among Christians. Under the pagan emperors, Christian soldiers were brave. All the Christian authors affirm this, and I believe it. This was a competition for honour against the pagan troops. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
Once the emperors were Christians, this competition ceased. And when the cross expelled the eagle, all Roman valour disappeared. The doctrines and covenants of the civil religion ought to be simple, few in number, precisely worded, without explanations or commentaries. The existence of a powerful, intelligent, beneficent divinity that foresees and provides; the life to come; the happiness of the just; the punishment of the wicked; the sanctity of the social contact and of the laws. These are beneficial doctrines and covenants. As for the negative doctrines and covenants, I am limiting them to just one, namely intolerance. It is part of the cults we have excluded. Those who distinguish between civil and theological intolerance are mistaken, in my opinion. Those two types of intolerance are inseparable. It is impossible to live in peace with those one believes to be damned. To love them would be to hate God who punishes them. It is absolutely necessary either to reclaim them or torment them. Whatever theological intolerance is allowed, it is impossible for it not to have some civil effect; and once it does, the sovereign no longer is sovereign, not even over temporal affairs. Thenceforward, priests are the true masters; kings are simply their officers. Now that there are no longer is and never again can be an exclusive national religion, tolerance should be shown to all those that tolerate others, so long as their doctrine and covenants contain nothing contrary to the duties of a citizen. However, whoever dares stay outside the church there is no salvation ought to be expelled from the state, unless the state is the church and the prince is the pontiff. Such a doctrine and convent is good only in a theocratic government; in all other forms of government it is ruinous. The reason why Henry IV is said to have embraced the Roman religion should make every decent man, and above all any prince who knows how to reason, leave it. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
I should always set my sights on things that are nearer at hand to me. The Fourth Wave society, unlike its predecessor, must (and will) draw on an amazing variety of energy sources—hydrogen, solar, geothermal, tidal, biomass, lightning discharges, ultimately perhaps advanced fusion power, as well as other courses not yet imagined in 2022. Fourth wave civilization will rely on a far more diversified technological base as well, springing from biology, genetics, electronics, materials science, as well as on outer space and under-the-sea operations. While some new technologies will require high energy inputs, much Fourth Wave technology will be designed to use less, not more, energy. Nor will these new technologies be as massive and ecologically dangerous as those of the past. Look how much smaller computers, hot water heaters, heaters, and many other things have become and how efficient LED lights are, and how long they last. Many of our new technologies will continue to be small in scale, simple to operate, with the waste of one industry predesigned for recycling into primary materials for another. For Fourth Wave civilization, the most basic raw material of all—and one that can never be exhausted—is information, including imagination. Through imagination and information, substitutes will be found for many of today’s exhaustible resources—although this substitution, once more, will all too frequently be accompanied by drastic economic swings and lurches. With information becoming more important than ever before, the new civilization will restructure education, redefine scientific research and, above all, reorganize the media of communication. Today’s mass media, both print and electronic, are wholly inadequate to cope with the communications load and to provide the requisite cultural variety for survival. Instead of being culturally dominated by a few mass media, Fourth Wave civilization will rest om interactive, de-massified media, feeding extremely diverse and often highly personalized imagery into and out of the mind-stream of the society. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
Television has already given way to “indi-video”—narrow-casting by the Internet of thousands of shows that have never aired on television, images addressed to a single individual at a time. We may also eventually use medication, direct brain-to-brain communication, and other forms of electrochemical communication only vaguely hinted at until now. All of which will raise startling, though not insoluble, political and moral problems. The fusion of Fourth Wave energy forms, technologies, and information media will speed revolutionary changes in the way we work. Factories are still being built (and in some parts of the World they will continue to be built for decades to come), but Fourth Wave factory already bears little resemblance to those we have known until now, and—in the rich nations—the number of people in factor jobs will continue to plummet. The factory will no longer serve as a model for other types of institutions. Nor will its primary function be that of mass production. Even now the Fourth Wave factor produces de-massified—often customized—end products. It relies on advanced methos such as wholistic or “presto” production. It will ultimately use less energy, waste less raw material, employ fewer components, and demand far more design intelligence. Most significantly, many of its machines will be directly activated not by workers but as a distance, by consumers themselves. Those who do work in Fourth Wave factories will perform far less brutalizing or repetitive work than those still trapped in traditional jobs. They will not be paced by mechanical conveyor belts. Noise levels will be low. Workers will come and go at hours convenient for them. The actual workplace will be far more humane and individualized, often with flowers and greenery sharing the space with machines. Within fixed limits, payment and fringe benefit packages will be increasingly tailored to individual preference. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
As we are seeing, many jobs will shift of work from both office and factory back into the home and remain there. However, not all jobs can, will, or should be caried out in people’s homes. Some doctors and dentists may even buy mansions and work out of their homes like in the Victorian days. As low-cost communications are substituted for high-cost transportation, as we increase the role of intelligence and imagination in production, further reducing the role of brute force or routine mental labour, a significant slice of the work in Fourth Wave societies will perform at least part of its work at home, factories remaining only for those who must actually handle physical materials. With information increasing in importance, universities will replace the factory as the central institution. Multinational executives, for their part, see the executive suite as the pivot of today. The new profession of “information manager” pictures their computer rooms as the center of the new civilization. Scientists look to the industrial research laboratory. A few remaining hipsters dream of restoring the agricultural commune to the center of a neo-medieval future. Others may nominate the “gratification chambers” of a leisure-drenched society. Yet, it is unlikely that any institution—not even the home—will play as central a role as the cathedral or the factory did in the past. For the society is likely to be built around a network rather than a hierarchy of new institutions. Corporations will stop towering over other social institutions and will be recognized as complex organizations that pursue multiple goals simultaneously—not just profit or production quotes. These managers will watch over (and be held personally responsible for) multiple “bottom lines.” #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
Executive paychecks and bonuses will gradually come to reflect this new multi-functionality, as the corporation, either through voluntary means or because it is compelled to, becomes more responsive to what today are regarded as non-economic and hence largely irrelevant factors—ecological, political, social, cultural, and moral. This society will also be built on segmentation and diversity. Instead of a society that concentrates population, energy flows, and other features of life Fourth Wave Society will understand the meaning of “appropriate scale.” Many new organizations will do away with the old insistence on one person is the boss—all of which suggests a work World in which more people share temporary decisional power. Vast increases in white-collar and service work will be absorbed who had been previously laid off by the shrinking manufacturing sector. The sufferings that World War II brought to so many have deeply shocked us but the significance of those sufferings must also be examined from a fresh standpoint. In all theories offered to a bewildered World concerning it own woes, there is much anxiety and alarm at the symptoms but little search for the causes. If people accept a deceptive World-view as the Germans did and as the Russian do, or a defective one as so many others did and do, they must also accept the troubles and disaster which go with it. We must push the spade of enquiry deep down into the Earth that surrounds the roots of this problem of wars and riots, aggression and crimes, rather than be content with a mere surface view. The evils that menace our existence will then be found to grow out of two roots: ignorant egoism and unchecked emotion. The one is unnecessary, the others unreasonable. Each of the World Wars which afflicted humankind was the inevitable self-earned effect of causes previously set going. The unerring law of Karma brings whatever good or evil recompense is deserved. The debit account of wrong done is allowed to run on until the end of the page and then it has to be totalled and the balance entered to adjust the total. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
The great famines, like the great wars, which afflicted and still afflict humankind, constitute part of this adjustment, part of the payment which humankind is forced to make by the higher governing law of karma. Their causes are as plural as the causes of the wars, although on the deepest level there is only the same single cause of human ignorance leading to human wrong-doing. One of them is the refusal of humankind to utilize the Earth’s grain harvests for its own direct use, diverting them instead to the use of animals deliberately bred for slaughter and then eating the grain indirectly in the form of those animals’ corpses. Such a way of supporting life is both utterly unnecessary and utterly cruel. The life of innocent creatures cannot be taken upon such baseless grounds with impunity. Retribution has hit humankind again and again in the past, with the weapons of hunger, disease, and war, and it is hitting them again in the present. If it does not face the real challenge and meet it, no reorganization of agricultural methods on more efficient and more productive lines, no re-arrangement of trading relations, no governmental subsidies in cash, tractors, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, or equipment will save humankind from suffering famines and enduring starvation. A radical change of life is demanded from humanity, a repentant change of heart is the only way to win back Nature’s smile. It must stop this unjustified murder of helpless living beings, murdered merely because they are considered to be less important on the scale of evolution. It must accept the perfectly sufficient diet of grains, cereals, vegetables, pulses, fruits, nuts, and dairy produce which will enable it to live with less suffering and more healthy, less punishment and more conscience, than other diets permit. All praise be yours through Brother Sun. All praise be your through Sister Moon. By Mother Earth, the Spirit be Praised. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
By Brother Mountain, Sister Sea, through Brother Wind and Brother Air, through Sister Water, Brother Fire, the Stars above give thank to Thee, all praise to those who live in Peace. All praise be yours, through Brother World. All praise be yours, through Sister Whale. By nature’s song, the spirit be praised. By Brother Eagle, Sister Loon, though Brother Tiger, Sister Seal, let creatures all give thanks to Thee. All praise to those who live in peace. Ask of the beasts and they shall teach you the beauty of the Earth. Ask of the Trees and they shall teach you the beauty of the Earth. Ask of the Flowers and they shall teach you the beauty of the Earth. Ask of the Wind and it shall teach you the beauty of the Earth. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. You shall behold only with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your fortress, and the Most High your refuge, no evil shall befall you, neither shall any plague come near your tent. For He will give His Angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways. They shall bear you upon their hands, lest your strike your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and asp, you shall trample on the young lion and serpent. Because he has set his love upon Me, I will deliver him, I will protect him because he has known my name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him to honour. I will give him abundance of long life, and he shall witness My salvation. Thou art holy, O Thou that art enthroned upon the praises of America. And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole Earth is full of His glory. [And they receive sanction one from the other, and say: Holy in the highest Heavens, the place of His abode; Holy upon Earth, the work of His might power, Holy forever and to all eternity is the Lord of hosts; the whole Earth is full of the radiance of His glory.] #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
CRESLEIGH HAVENWOOD
Lincoln, CA | from the mid $600s
Now Selling!
No appointment needed! Cresleigh Havenwood features four distinct floor plans ranging from 2,293 – 3,489 square feet and offering up to five bedrooms.
Each plan has been thoughtfully designed and includes great features such as single story homes, guest suites, optional offices, garage workshops, and more!
Get the most out of your new home with Cresleigh’s All Ready smart home featuring all the connectivity needed to keep your house running. Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes with owned solar included!
Located off of Virginiatown Road and McCourtney Road, residents of the 83 homesites of Cresleigh Havenwood will benefit from a brand new neighborhood in the charming City of Lincoln.
Palo Verde Park, is just down the street and there’s plenty of recreation to take part in all around town. You will love your Cresleigh Home for sentimental reasons. I hope you do believe me.
Your Cresleigh Home has given you its heart. This home was meant for you and you alone. Please give your heart to your Cresleigh Home for the New Year and forever more. When the World is cold, you will feel a glow. https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/
The World is in for an Eyeopener–We are Tapping a Source of Power that is Undefeatable!
The great secret to success is commitment and motivation from with. Winners make goals because they consider how hard it is to change oneself. Some celibate people live alone, insisting that only solitude could properly test them and also preserve them from the great majority, however, congregate in small bands under the spiritual guidance of such holy humans as Anthony the hermit and Pachomius the cenobite, the founders of Christian monasticism. Life is a celibate community, no matter how small and haphazardly organized, centers on the spiritual authority of an Old Man. The father, wrestling with his demons, could only hope to elude them if he opened his heart to the Old Man. For nothing displeases the demon of fornication more than to reveal his works, and nothing gives him greater pleasure than to keep one’s thoughts to oneself. The heart is where the body and soul converge, the point at which the subconscious is linked with conscious and the supraconscious, and the human with the divine. Christian monasticism is the revolutionary movement that ultimately queries the very existence of nonmonastic life: Could true Christians exist outside the chaste, austere, and otherworldly precincts of these great, walled-in monasteries in clusters of cells built into haven communities and considered fairy-tale towns. Could the outside World, with its sinful distractions, rampant corruption, and errant rulers, tolerate citizens loyal and accountable only to their God? Should all Christians renounce the World and flee to these havens? Of course, monasticism fostered Christians, its logical theological extensions, which develop from mature reflections on the nature and working of monasteries. It was not the fathers wandering up and down the Egyptian desert or tucked away in caves, sand dunes, mountainside huts, and other hermitages who inspired monasteries. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
That honour of establishing these communities goes to the cenobites, who were drawn to a spiritual leader and settled in close proximity to hum. These early Christian pioneer Desert Fathers in their improvised cells became known as monachos—from the Greek word monos, one who lives alone, though they were quite different from the later fathers, who belonged to more structured establishments. To save your souls you must bring them together by penetrating into the inner depts of a Christian’s heart. When that heart is pure, the Invisible God becomes a mirror. To achieve that purity in the collectively, some modern people form haven communities with McMansions, and made their children go to church and focus on education and work ethic. A legion of rules governed their conduct. Celibacy was the key precept, and man of the rules were designed to safeguard it. The monastic silence served to nip deepening, interpersonal relationships in the bud, as well as to promote self-reflection and ambulatory prayer. Other rules quite clearly related to concerns about celibacy, for away from women, some men turned to each other. However, in these Precepts, spelled out correctly was chaste and brotherly behaviour. First of all, these humans were not supposed to tempt each other. They were expected therefore, to observe the following niceties: covering their knees when sitting together; remembering not to hike their tunics too high when bending over doing laundry; keeping eyes lowered and avoiding direct glances at other brothers, at work and even during the silent meals; never borrowing from or lending to each other; never doing or requesting a brotherly favour; never performing such intimacies as removing a thorn from another person’s foot or bathing or oiling one another. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
There was also to never contrive to be alone with another brother either in a cell, on sleeping mats on the terraces, in a boat, or riding in a transportation machine; never talking to each other in the dark; never holding hands; always maintaining an arm’s length distance between each other; abstaining from joining in the games and laughter of children raised in the community; never locking the cell door; and always knocking before entering a cell. These rules had nothing to do with the ascetic regime that underlay monastery’s existence. They dealt specifically with the causes of erotic temptations and lapses in pleasures of the flesh, so celibacy could reign, at all costs. The ascetic regimen was also strict, though not as severe as among the fathers. Fasting was the daily habit, with a recommended single, simple meal. Bread, with salt, was the main stable. Celibates who could not wait it out till the setting sun summoned them to the day’s repast were permitted to eat twice, the first time in early afternoon. However, they did not receive more rations. The usual amount was merely divided into two portions. The timing of the evening meal permitted the brothers to sleep without the camps that otherwise attacked their shrunken, rumbling stomachs. In wintertime, some are only allowed to eat every third day. This near-starvation diet, of course, was a principal tool in the struggle to maintain chastity in the pleasures of the flesh by dampening all desires for pleasures of the flesh. It is one of the reason anorexic women tend to be non-sexual. It makes sense, they do not have mother bearing hips and many times their bodies cannot carry a baby due to its small size and lack of nutrients. Celibates are supposed to have nothing whatever to do with the sensual appetites. Otherwise how would one differ from men living in the World? In fact, hungry celibates are not substantially hungrier than their nonreligious compatriots. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
When wellborn novices sit down to their first meal in a monastery, the shock to their systems is considerable, whereas those from humbler circumstances often find the fare tolerably generous. A former senator who lamented his new regime to a shepherd was told that the portions sounded ampler, and the quality finer, than anything in his listener’s experience. In a stratified society where rich and poor live wildly disparate lives, the senator-and-shepherd syndrome is common, so much so that celibates come to suspect that economic hardships rather than religious vocations or idealism drives newcomers to seek admission to the monasteries. Some monasteries even initiate probationary periods to eliminate such applicants. Despite the minimalist lifestyle, the rigid regulations, and the spiritual challenges of the monastery, some celibates still have terrible trouble subduing their desires for pleasures of the flesh. So many refused to allow them to have wine or be around anyone they may find attractive. As a result, some turned to bestiality. I think a lot of it has to do with a person’s upbringing and focus. Someone who is brought up not to be sexual and decided they want to be celibate will have an easier time avoiding pleasures of the flesh, especially if they exercise. Many sports players, for example, who may not be celibate tend to not desire pleasures of the flesh because they release that energy through intense exercise. Conversely, people who have loins of virility and are religions, but have to become celibate may behave like a drug addict with an addiction who is around a stimulant, when they are around a man, woman, or child. Also, the Catholic church received a bad reputation because it was sabotaged by perverts who wanted to demonize celibacy to make people treat true celibates like criminals in an effort to normalize “free love.” #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
Sexual abuse has been recorded on camera and going on forever in Hollywood, but yet only the Catholic church and Mormon Church are being demonized, while people totally overlook all the credible abuse stories that happen in Hollywood. Typically is a female victim has an injured cervix or a male or a female has anything torn or bleeding, medical experts say those are typically signs of physically forced pleasures of the flesh because when a woman is into it, the cervix has a way to make sure it does not get damaged, and if anything is painful and there are signs of abuse, it does not seem like someone would consent to that. In our day, celibacy or virginity has become an institution in the Church. As far as society is concerned, it is a “state,” and in fact our identification cards say: Civil Status—“bachelor,” “single,” or “unmarried.” So, it is a state now regulated by laws. Within the Church celibacy is the subject of endless debate (should it, for example, be maintained or abolished for priests, and so on). Outside it, it has been viewed with suspicion and sometimes with pity by many representatives of the so-called human sciences, such as psychology and sociology. One of these—to quote the most famous of all—said that, “In our age, neurosis has taken the place of the convent, which used to be the refuge of all who had been let down by life or who felt too weak to face it.” According to this view, virginity and celibacy were the ancient equivalent of modern neurosis! In such an atmosphere it is very likely that the words “celibacy” and “virginity” immediately bring to mind the idea of an unresolved problem, a “burning issue,” rather than an ideal, a divine “innovation” by Christ Himself. There is a danger of losing sight of essentials and concentrating on accidental matters which are merely side-issues. What is needed, therefore, is a change of mind, a conversion, and this can only happen by the work of the Holy Spirit. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
The Holy Spirit does not do new things, but makes new things. One renews persons and institutions, even including celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom and virginity for love of the Lord. They Holy Spirit is moving powerfully in the Church, giving everything in it a new authenticity and evangelical splendour. I never grow tired of quoting the words of John Paul II, written on the occasion of the sixteenth centenary of the ecumenical Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.), which proclaimed the divinity of the Holy Spirit “The entire work of renewal in the Church, which Vatican II so providentially proposed and initiated cannot be fulfilled except in the Holy Spirit, that is, with the help of God’s strength and God’s light.” What actually is virginity, either for men or for women? Starting with a word from St. Paul, which we commented on earlier (“Regard those who are unmarried, I have no directions from the Lord, but I give my own opinion,” reports 1 Corinthians 7.25, the preference in the past was for virginity—like voluntary poverty and obedience—to be viewed and explained in terms of “evangelical counsels.” As such, they were different from “precepts,” such as conjugal fidelity for example. I believe that whatever could be said and understood about virginity using such a concept has been amply illustrated already, and there is very little new to add to the clear synthesis St. Thomas makes in His Summa Theologica. This is why it may perhaps be useful for us to try to see what new understanding can be derived by starting from another category the Apostle uses, in the same context, to define marriage and virginity: the category of a charism. “All,” he says, “have their own gift (charism) from God, one of one sort, another of a different kind,” reports 1 Corinthians 7.7. In other words, married people have their charism and virgins have theirs. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
Besides, the idea of a “gift” is implicit in the words Jesus Himself uses to institute celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, when He says that not everyone can understand this proposal, but only those to who it is granted (Matthew 19.11). If the glimpse is intermittent, let one not mourn the fact but remember that one was fortunate enough to get it. If the glimpse becomes a continuous thing, one will accept if humbly because of its very mysteriousness to oneself. No glimpse is ever full and complete. If it were, the person experiencing it would be unable to all into spiritual ignorance again. From this we may understand that however wonderful a glimpse of the Overself may be, it is still only a cloudy reflection of the real thing. This illumination does not make one an adept at the end of one’s path. One is a seeker still, albeit a highly advance seeker. These experiences are only foretastes of the farthest one which lies at the end of this quest, and only limited partial tastes at that. The mystical feeling of divine presence and the direct revelation of divine truth for which they long may come but, unless they are among the rare exceptions, will also wane and finally get lost. In most cases the Glimpse is but transitory. Dorje, “the Heavenly lightening,” is a Himalayan and trans-Himalayan symbol both of the Glimpse and of the final illumination. These glimpses may be looked upon as brief, minor illuminations leading to the final major illumination that will quash the ego’s rule forever. These are the ultimate phenomena—that is, appearances and experiences—before realization. They differ at different times, or with different person, but that is because they come into being as human reactions, as the self’s final point of view before its own dissolution. In spite of itself the ego is drawn more and more to the spiritual grandeur revealed by these glimpses. Its ties to selfishness, animality, and materiality are loosened. Finally it comes to see that it is standing in its own way and light and then lets itself be effaced. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
Although the universal and particular exist in every genus, nevertheless, in a certain special way, the individual belongs to the genus of substance. For substance is individualized by itself, whereas the accidents are individualized by the subject, which is the substance; since this particular whiteness is called “this,” because it exists in this particular subject. Ans so it is reasonable that the individuals of the genus substance should have a special name of their own; for they are called “hypostases,” of substances. Further still, in a more special and perfect way, the particular and the individual are found in the rational substances which have dominion over their own actions; and which are not only made to act, like others; but which can act of themselves; for actions belong to singulars. Therefore also the individuals of the rational nature have special name even among other substances; and this name is “person.” Thus the term “individual substance” is placed in the definition of person, as signifying the singular in the genus of substance; and the term “rational nature” is added, as signifying the singular in rational substances. The human nature in Christ is not a person, since it is assumed by a greater—that is, by the Word of God. It is, however, better to say that substance is here taken in a general sense, as divided into first and second, and when “individual” is added, it is restricted to the first substance. With devotion and love, with heart and fevour, humans must desire to receive Jesus Christ, our Lord, just as many of the Saints and Devouts before this time desire to receive Jesus in Holy Communion. Holiness of life is their chiefest concern, and they fanned the flame of devotion in the most ardent way. Our God, Love Eternal, Good Entire, Felicity Interminable. We want to receive You with more desire and reverence than any of the Saints before! #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
We know we are all unworthy to have these sentiments of devotion, yet we offer then to You as if we were the only ones every to have these flaming desires. Whatever our pious if pitiful mind conceives, all these we put in front of You and offer up to You with veneration and fervour We burningly desire to hold nothing bac for ourselves, not even our dearest possessions. O Lord, our God, our Creator, and our Redeemer, we desire to receive You today with affection, reverence, praise, and honour; with faith, hope, and purity. Our model is Your Most Holy Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary. When the Angel informed her of the mystery of the Incarnation, she replied in a humble and devout manner: “That is why I am, a handmaid of the Lord’s. If there is more to it than that, then so be it.” That is how the Evangelist Luke recorded it (1.38). On the foundation of emotional and spiritual freedom, the actualizing Christian needs to build bridges to others. Love of self and love of others are meant to run parallel. The harmonious functioning of the individual and society depends upon: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Not less, but also not more. Only when one learns to strike the balance between egoism and altruism—between identification with one’s own and other people’s requirements—will one find peace of mind. Giving and taking are both vital parts of loving in an actualizing manner. We do not grow by either giving all the time or receiving all the time. Both are needed for balanced relationships with others. This means both being able to stand on our own feet and reaching out to others. It means being able to handle a certain degree of aloneness and desiring the company of others. It means having a sense of personal power and choosing to bare our deepest heart in love with others. As actualizing Christians, we should be humble enough to ask for and receive help when it is needed. At the same time, we should be able to handle many things for ourselves. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
We should learn to take responsibility for our own fulfillment, yet be able to look beyond ourselves and, whenever possible, give freely to meet the needs of others. We go though life becoming both more capable and more aware of our limitations and needs. This is the pathway of genuine interdependence, a crucial dynamic of actualizing love. The power of the Highest shall be manifest in the spoken Word. Then humans shall speak My Word boldly and believe what they say will come to pass. It will be even as though I said it. For when you mix faith with your words, it is as though I said it, for your breathe spirit life into the words that you speak. Your words shall flow forth, even as the words of Jesus when He spoke for He said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. The flesh profiteth nothing, but the words that I speak they are spirit, they are life.” These words have come before, but humans turned a deaf ear to them. However, these are the days that I am raising up a new generation of people. In My Word I have said that you do not put new premium cranberry juice in old bottles lest it break the bottles. You put new premium cranberry juice in new bottles that they will both be preserved. When the human spirit is reborn, the Spirit of God releases creative ability within and it becomes for new bottle that will preserve the new premium cranberry juice. The rebirth shall come to the front in this generation and ye shall observe the mighty works of God in it. I have chosen a people and I shall bring them to a land and they shall dominate it. They shall have dominion. For I am coming for a Church that is without spot or wrinkle. I am coming for a Church that is not weak. I am coming for a Church that is victorious. I am coming, and ye shall see the manifestation of My power, for I have chosen the Church to reveal the wisdom of God to the generations and to the principalities and powers. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
When humans shall conform to the Word of the living God, then the power of the Highest shall flow unhindered out of their voices. Out of their mouths shall flow spirit words that will control the forces that have controlled them in days past. They will proclaim, “The enemy is defeated” and one shall be defeated. For I say that the battle is the Lord’s and victory is yours. Learn to walk in victory, saith the Lord. Thank God for sharing this so others could hear it. I hear it. I have been hearing it in my spirit for months. The World is in for an eyeopener in these last days. We are tapping a source of power that is not capable of being defeated. The scheme of things is a system of order. Beginning as our view of the World, it finally becomes our World. We live within the space defined by its coordinates. It is self-evidently true, is accepted so naturally and automatically that one is not aware of an act of acceptance having taken place. It comes with our mother’s milk, is chanted in school, proclaimed from the White House, insinuated by television, validated at Princeton. Like the air we breathe, the scheme of things disappears, becomes simply reality, becomes, as far as we can tell, the way things are. It is the lie necessary to life. The World as it exists beyond that scheme becomes vague, irrelevant, largely unperceived, finally nonexistent. As son as the scheme of things is questioned, it has lost its capacity to redeem. “What then,” Camus writes, “is that incalculable feeling that deprives the mind of the sleep necessary to life? World that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar World. However, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, humans feel an alien, a stranger.” An examination of the scientific literature on interpersonal processes and mental health problems shows that mental illness and interpersonal illness are inseparable concepts. There are cases of psychological disorders whose origins clearly lie in problematic interpersonal relationships. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
At the same time, it is apparent that many and perhaps most forms of psychopathology have serious interpersonal ramifications that are unfortunately negative in nature. People with psychological problems, of whatever specific type, will often find that their personal relationships are not what they were during their premorbid state. This deterioration of interpersonal well-being undoubtedly complicates the course of psychosocial problems, and thus afflicted individuals often wind up in a vicious cycle of interpersonal and psychological problems that perpetuate each other. The analysis of interpersonal issues in mental health problems has thus far been presented in the context of particular problems. At this juncture, it is instructive to move up a level of abstraction to identify interpersonal motifs that cut across multiple mental health problems. The phenomena constitute the building blocks of a more general interpersonal paradigm in mental health. One of the most fundamental, yet controversial, functions of research programs or paradigms is the stipulation of what count as data. Paradigms focus attention on phenomena of interest, and away from variables that are not central to the key assumptions embedded within the paradigm. The interpersonal paradigm was developed over many decades by a loosely organized collection of theorists and researchers. Unlike other paradigms in mental health with an identifiable starting point and scripture, the components of the interpersonal paradigm must be inferred from an analysis of what the researchers working within this tradition have identified and accepted as central constructs. For ease of reference, the interpersonal phenomena associated with various mental health problems have generally four domains of inquiry: experiences in the family or origin, occurring during early childhood as well as adulthood; experiences in the family of orientation, namely marriage and parenthood; general personal relationships, such as dating relationships, work relationships, friendships, and even interactions with strangers; and characteristic styles of interpersonal communication. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) holds that any of the four interpersonal problem areas may lead to depression and must be addressed: interpersonal loss, interpersonal role dispute, interpersonal role transition, and interpersonal deficits. Over the course of 16 sessions, IPT therapists addressed these issues. First, depressed persons may, as psychodynamic theorists suggest, be experiencing a grief rection over an interpersonal loss, the loss of an important loved one. In such cases, IPT therapist encourage clients to explore their relationships with the departed person and express any feelings of anger they may discover. Eventually clients develop new ways of remembering the lost person and also seek new relationships. Second, depressed people may find themselves in the midst of an interpersonal role dispute. Role disputes occur when two people have different expectations of their relationship and of the role each should play. IPT therapists help clients examine whatever role disputes they may be involved in and then develop ways of solving them. Depressed people may also be experiencing an interpersonal role transition, brought about by major life changes such as divorce or the birth of a child. They may feel overwhelmed by the role changes that accompany the life changes. In such cases IPT therapists help them develop the social supports and skills the new roles require. Finally, some depressed people display interpersonal deficits, such as extreme shyness, insensitivity to others’ needs, or social awkwardness, which present them from having intimate relationships. Many depressed people experienced disrupted relationships as children and have failed to establish intimate relationships as adults. IPT therapists my help them to recognize their deficits and may tach them social skills and assertiveness in order to improve their social effectiveness. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
The success rate similar to that of cognitive therapy. That is, symptoms almost totally disappear in 50 to 60 percent of clients who receive treatment. After IPT, clients not only experience a reduction of depressive symptoms but also function more effetely in their social and family interactions. Not surprisingly, IPT is considered especially useful for depressed people who are struggling with social conflicts or undergoing changes in their careers or social roles. “Abraham never wavered in believing in God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God,” reports Romans 4.20. When you bless someone else, you never lose out. Even if someone takes advantage of your good nature, God will not allow your generosity to go unrewarded. For instance, when God told Abraham to pack up his family and head toward a better land, Abraham moved all his flocks, his herds, his family, and even his extended family members. They traveled for months and finally made it to their new land. After living there for a while, they discovered that the portion of land where they settled was not able to support them with enough food and water for all the people and their flocks and herds. Abraham said to his nephew Lot, “We need to split up.” He said, “You choose which part of the land you would like to have, and I will take whatever is left.” Notice how kind Abraham was to his nephew. Lot looked around and saw a beautiful valley with lush green pastures and rolling hills and ponds. He said, “Abraham, that is what I want. That is where my part of the family will settle.” Abraham said, “Fine; go and be blessed.” Abraham could have said, “Lot, you are not going to have that land. That is the best land. I have done all the work. I have led this journey. God spoke to me, not to you. I should get the first choice.” Abraham did not do that. He believed that God would make it up to him. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
However, I am sure when Abraham took one look at the land left over for him, he was disappointed nonetheless. His portion was arid, barren, desolate wasteland. Think of it; Abraham had traveled a long distance. He had gone to great effort in search of a better life for his family members. Now, because of his generosity and kind heart, he was relegated to living on the scruffy part of the land. I am sure he thought, God, why do people always take advantage of my goodness? God, why do I always get the short end of the stick? That boy Lot would not have had anything if I had not given it to him. Maybe you feel that you are the one who is doing all the giving in some situation. Perhaps you are the parent of an ungrateful child. Or the child of ungrateful parents. Maybe your former spouse is taking advantage of you in a divorce settlement. Likewise, the government could be using and abusing and breaking and bankrupting you. Possibly your company is talking about “downsizing” after you have given them the best years of your life. Perhaps you are the one who is always going the extra kilometer. You are the peacemaker in the family. Because people know you are kind, generous, and friendly, they tend to take advantage of you. However, know that everything has consequences. God sees your integrity. Nothing that you do goes unnoticed by God. He is keeping the records, and He will reward you in due time. That is what He did for Abraham. In essence, God told Abraham, “Because you treated your relative kindly, because you went the extra kilometer to do what is right, I am not going to give you a small portion of land; I am going to give you an abundant blessing. I am going to give you hundreds and hundreds of hectares of land. All that you can see is going to be yours.” Therefore, do not grow weary in well-doing. God is a more than fair God, and He sees not just what you are doing but why you are doing it. God judges our motives as well as our actions. And because you are aiming for kindness, one day God will say to you as He did to Abraham, “As far as you can see, I am going to give it to you.” #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
Sometimes when we are good to people and we go the extra kilometer, we have a tendency to think, I am letting people walk all over me. I am letting them take advantage of me. They are taking what rightfully belongs to me. That is when you have to say, “Nobody is taking anything from me. I am freely giving it to them. I am blessing them on purpose, knowing that God is going to make it up to me.” Today, look for an opportunity to do something extra to bless someone who does not deserve it. God will honour you for your gesture. The concept of “human nature” has had a varied political history in modern times. If we trace it, we can see the present disagreement developing. In the eighteenth century, the Age of Reason and the early Romantic Movement, the emphasis was on “human nature,” referring to humans’ naturally sympathetic sentiments, one’s communicative faculties, and unalienable dignity. (Immanuel Kant immortally thought up a philosophy to make these cohere.) Now this human nature was powerfully enlisted in revolutionary struggles against courts and classes, poverty and humiliation, and it began to invent progressive education. Human nature unmistakably demanded liberty, equality, and fraternity—and every human a philosopher and poet. As an heir of the French Revolution, Karl Marx kept much of this concept. Sympathy recurred as solidarity. Dignity and intellect were perhaps still in the future. However, he found an important new essential: humans are makers, they must use their productive nature or be miserable. This too involves a revolutionary program, to give back to humans their tools. During the course of the nineteenth century, however, “human nature” came to be associated with conservative and even reactionary politics. The later Romantics were historical minded and found humans naturally traditional and not to be uprooted. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
A few decades later, narrow interpretations of Dr. Darwin were being used to support capitalist enterprise; and racial and somatic theories were used to advance imperial and elite interests. (The emphasis was now on “nature”; the humanity became dubious.) It was during this later period that the social scientists began to be different about “human nature”; for, politically, the wanted fundamental social changes, different from those indicated by the “natural” theory of the survival of the fittest; and, scientifically, it was evident that many anthropological facts were being called natural which were overwhelmingly cultural. Most of the social scientists began to lay all their stress on political organization, to being about reform. Nevertheless, scientifically trained anarchists like Kropotkin insisted that “human nature”—which had not become mutual-aiding, knightly, and craftsmanlike—was still on the side of revolution. Since last century, especially the in 1920s and 1930s, the social scientists have found another reason for diffidence: it seems to them that “human nature” implies “not social” and refers to something prior to society, belonging to an isolated individual. They have felt that too much importance has been assigned to Individual Psychology (they were reacting to Dr. Freud) and this has stood in the way of organizing people for political reform. It is on this view, finally, that growing up is now interpreted as a process of socializing some rather indefinite kind of animal, and “socializing” is used as a synonym for teaching one the culture. Dear Lord in Heaven, thank You, Father, that nobody can take anything away from me that You are not able to restore. I will live unselfishly as a manager of all that You have given me. I will trust You, and rather than clutching what is legitimately mine, I will live with my hands and heart open to others. No one today, from the experts in the White House or the Kremlin to the proverbial human in the street, can be sure how the New World system will shake out—what new kinds of institutions will arise to provide regional or global order. However, it is possible to dispel several popular myths. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
The first of these is the myth propagated by such films as Queen of the Damned and Romeo Must Die, in which seductively beautiful villain (or Saviours) announce that the World is, or will be, divided up and run by a group of transnational corporations. In its most common form of this myth pictures a single Worldwide Energy Corporation, a single Food Corporation, a single Housing Corporation, and a single Recreation Corporation, and so forth. In a variant, each of these is seen as department of an even larger mega-corporations (Amel aka Satan and the Triad aka Hong Kong Government). Queen Akasha is simply the beautiful messenger and Kai is the tall, dark, and handsome knight in shining armour of Hong Kong Government. This simplistic image is based on straight-line extrapolations from the Second Wave trends: specialization, maximization, and centralization. The plot actually seems realistic with the pandemic surging, supply chains freezing and unable to meet demands and more products on the market than any store can make room for. These films also take into account the fantastic diversity of real life conditions, the clash of cultures, religions, and traditions in the World, the speed of change, and the historic thrust now carrying in the high-technology nations toward de-massification; it is very realistic that such needs as energy, housing, ad food can be neatly compartmentalized; when prices are so high that people cannot afford anything, they will take what you give them. Acknowledged are the fundamental changes now revolutionizing the structure and purpose of the corporation itself. These plots are based, in short, on a very relevant, Second Wave image of what a corporation is and how it is structured. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
These films depict a planet run by a single, centralized World Government. This is usually imagined as an extension of some existing institution or government—a “United Sates of the Word,” a “Planetary Proletarian State,” or simply the United Nations writ large. Again the thinking is based on simplistic extensions of Second Wave principles. However, what appears to be emerging is neither a corporation-dominated future nor a global government but a far more complex system similar to the matrix organizations we saw spring up in certain advanced industries. Rather then one or a few pyramidal global bureaucracies, we are weaving nets or matrices that mesh different kinds of organizations with common interest. This may be a good idea because the government does not care about its image as a governmental citizen. They do not reach out to human capital how have been abused and hurt by their products and try to resolve the situation. The government takes more of the role of a tyrant. “You take what I give you, and I may or may not save your life. Just know I am in control.” Whereas in the days of social media and so many competing products and corporations, businesses seem to be trying hard to provide pleasant experiences, treat people with respect, accommodate them, and educate them. Nonetheless, we may, for example, see the emergence of the next decade of an Oceans Matrix, composed not solely of nation-states but of regions, cities, corporations, environmental organizations, scientific groups, and others with an interest in the sea. As changes occur new groupings would emerge and plug into the matrix, while others would drop out. Similar organizational structures may well emerge—are, in some sense, already emerging—to deal with other issues: a Space Matrix, a Food Matrix, a Transport Matrix, and Energy Matrix, and the like, all flowing into and out of one another, overlapping and forming a messily open, rather than a neatly closed, system. In short, we are moving toward a World system composed of units densely interrelated like the neurons in a brain rather than organized like the departments of a bureaucracy. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
As this happens, we can expect a tremendous struggle to break out within the United Nations over whether that organization shall remain a “trade association of nation-states” or whether other types of units—regions, perhaps religions, even corporations or ethnic groups—should be represented in it. As nations are torn apart and restructured, as Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and other new actors move onto the global scene, as instabilities and the threats of war erupt, we shall be called upon to invent wholly new political forms or “containers” to bring a semblance of order to the World—a World in which the nation-state has become, for many purposes, a dangerous anachronism. It is not enough for an assembled people to have once determined the constitution of the state by sanctioning a body of laws. It is not enough for it to have established a perpetual government or to have provided once and for all the election of magistrates. In addition to the extraordinary assemblies that unforeseen situations can necessitate, there must be some fixed, periodic assemblies that nothing can abolish or prorogue, so that on a specific day the populace is rightfully convened by law, without the need for any other formal convocation. However, apart from these assemblies which are lawful by their date alone, any assembly of the people that has not been convened by the magistrates appointed for the task and in accordance with the prescribed forms should be regarded as illegitimate, and all that takes place there should be regarded as null, since the order itself to assemble ought to emanate from the law. As to the question of the greater or lesser frequency of legitimate assemblies, this depends on so many considerations that no precise rules can be given about it. All that can be said is that in general the more force a government has, the more frequently a sovereign ought t show itself. I will be told that this may be fine for a single town, but what is to be done when the state includes several? Will the sovereign authority be divided, or will it be concentrated in a single town with all the rest made subject to it? #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
Neither should be done. In the first place, the sovereign authority is simple and one; it cannot be divided without being destroyed. In the second place, a town cannot legitimately be in subjection to another town, any more than a nation can be in subjection to another nation, since the essence of the body politic consists in the harmony of obedience and liberty; and the words subject and sovereign are identical correlatives, whose meaning is combined in the single word “citizen.” Further it is always an evil to unite several towns in a single city, and anyone wanting to bring about this union should not expect to avoid its natural disadvantages. The abuses of large states should not be raised as an objection against someone who wants only small ones. However, how are small states to be given enough force to resist the large ones? Just as the Greek cities long ago resisted a great king, and more recently Holland and Switzerland have resisted the house of Austria and America has led a coupe d’état on the Republican party while they stick their heads and the sand like ostriches. Nevertheless, if the state cannot be reduced to appropriate boundaries, one expedient still remains: not to allow a fixed capital, to make the seat of government move from one town to another, and to assemble the estates of the country in each of them in their turn. Populate the territory uniformly, extend the same rights everywhere, spread abundance and life all over. In this way the state will become simultaneously as strong and as well governed as possible. Recall that town walks are made from the mere debris of rural houses. With each palace I see being erected in the capital, I believe I see an entire countryside turned into hovels. War is a leveller which spreads suffering with a wide swathe. It is also a teacher which pulls humans up sharply and forces them to look at their lives and, even more important, at themselves. War is the normal state of wild beasts. If human beings engage in it too, that is because they have not got rid of the tiger and wolf within themselves. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
For the marvelous grace of Your Creation—we put out our thanks to You, our God, for sun and moon and stars, for rain and dew and winds, for winter cod and summer heart. We pour forth our praise to You for mountains and hills, for springs and valleys, for rivers and seas. We praise You, O Lord, for planets growing in the Earth and water, for life inhabiting lakes and seas, for life creeping in soils and land, for creatures living in wetlands and waters, for life flying above Earth and sea, for beasts dwelling in woods and fields. How many and wonderful are Your works, our God! In wisdom you have made them all! However, we confess, dear Lord, as creatures privileged with the care and keeping of Your Creation that we have abused your Creation gifts through arrogance, ignorance, and greed. We confess risking permanent damage to Your handiwork; we confess impoverishing Creation’s ability to bring You praise. Yet, we confess that Your handiwork displays Your glory leaving all of us without excuse but to know You, we confess that Your handiwork provides the context of our living; it is our home, it is the realm in which we live the life of Your kingdom: Your kingdom that is now in our midst and coming yet more fully. We confess, Lord, that we often are unaware of how deeply we have hurt Your good Earth and its marvelous gifts. We confess that we often are unaware of how our abuse of Creation has also been an abuse of ourselves. O Lord, how long will it take before we are awaken to what we have done? How many waters must we pollute? How many woodlots must we destroy? How many forests must we despoil? How much soil must we erode and poison, O Lord? How much of Earth’s atmosphere must we contaminate? How many species must we abuse and extinguish? How many people must we degrade and kill with toxic wastes before we learn to love and respect your Creation; before we learn to love and respect our home? For our wrongs, Lord, we ask forgiveness. In sorrow for what we have done, we offer our repentance. We pray that our actions toward You and Your Creation are worthy of our repentance; that we will so act here on Earth that Heaven will not be a shock to us. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
We promise to reverence Your Creation as a gracious gift entrusted to us by You, our God. We promise anew to be stewards and not pillagers of what You have entrusted to us. Creator God, You have given us every reason to learn and promote this wisdom of lives lived in harmony with Creation. May we, your servants, increasingly serve. May we, your servants, increasingly come to love Your Creation as we increasingly come to love You, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Thou causest the wind to blow and the rain to fall. Thou sustainest the living with lovingkindness, and in great mercy callest the departed to everlasting life. Thou upholdest the falling, healest the sick, settest free those who are in bondage and keepest faith with those that sleep in the dust. Who is like unto Thee, Almighty King, who decreest death and life and bringest forth salvation? Who may be compared to Thee, Father of mercy, who in love rememberest Thy creatures unto life? Faithful art Thou to grant eternal life to the departed. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who callest the dead to life everlasting. Holy art Thou and Holy is Thy name and unto Thee holy beings render praise daily. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the holy King. Thou endowest humans with knowledge and teachest humans understanding. May You continue to bless us with aspirational thought that is not suspended and be combined with a still mind. As we seek the Kingdom of Heaven, please open the gate way to our higher consciousness. We know this may certainly produce queer effects, beautiful reveries, refreshing deep sleep, Truth and Peace. The only way we can arrive at the goal we seek is by disciplining thought, prayer, and concentration, and the use it for all it is worth in enquiry into the meaning of life. Please protect us from the great dangers on Earth and the ill-formed experiments holding us down. May we be your students of the ultimate path and usefully practise using speech to uplift others. Please remove the sale air from the lungs and allow us to deeply inhale pure fresh air. The heart pumps about seventeen tons of blood a day, and gets no rest at night, hence it is the most overworked organ in the body. Please teach as you taught the ancients how to rest our hearts, thus increasing the span of life an also how to liberate a tremendous amount of life power, which revitalizes the cells of the body. Amen. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
Cresleigh Homes
We’re so excited to unveil our newest community – just in time for the calendar to turn!
Havewood Model 1 is an absolute dream for anyone with a big family or a love of entertaining…or just anyone who loves the space to spread out! https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/residence-one/
Why Can they Not Understand the Cold Logic of it?
Leaders have a significant role in creating a state of mind that promotes wisdom. They can serve as symbols of the moral unity of a community. They can express values and show one how to make the impossible dream become attained in possible stages. To know how to do it is skill. This World as we know it is passing away. God wants us to be free from anxiety. These are now the end times in which it is possible to live already as “children of the resurrection” in the manner of the World to come. However, there is a danger in seeing virginity and celibacy as a wonderful opportunity for a tranquil life, with no problems or worries. God wants us to be free from all anxiety. No matter what lifestyle one leads, there may be some things that one faces that are unpleasant. Yet, the goods, or affairs, of the Lord are the souls He died for: the Kingdom. This is why celibates and virgins exist: so that there will be someone, in the Church and in the World, who is concerned solely for God’s interests. It is not true that such people do not marry. Virgins are not people who renounce marriage. They are people who renounce life-long commitment to a creature. This becomes true and obvious for virgins from the moment when they make the person discover of Jesus as “Lord” of their life, and realize that this Lord is not Someone Who belongs only to the past (when He was on Earth), or only to the future (when we too will be with Him in Heave), but that, in virtue of His resurrection He is alive “in the Spirit” and is present at every moment in His Church. So it is not a questions of a virgin man or woman renouncing a “concrete” love for the sake of an “abstract” one, a real person for an imaginary Christ and with God, even leaving aside all the mystical significance usually associated with this term in religious language. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
We say of someone metaphorically that they have “espoused” a cause when they have given themselves wholly to it, body and soul, making the interests, risks, and success of that cause their own. In this sense we are entitled to say that the virgin has espoused the Kingdom or the Lord, but to a much greater degree, because virginity is not just espousing a “cause,” but also a person; not just for a time, but for eternity. The bond that binds the celibate and the virgin to the Lord is so total, so exclusive, that its only equivalent on the human level is when a man marries a woman. With all the more reason, the Christian celibate or virgin can make these words their own and say: “My soul is in love with Jesus Christ. Others will make sure that the World survives.” Having espoused the cause of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are called to serve that cause; having married a person, the Lord, we are called to please that person. “The unmarried person,” St. Paul says, “is concerned with the Lord’s affairs, with how to please the Lord.” Manicheanism was a dualistic, contrasting a Prince of Darkness with a God of Light. In this contest between light and dark, good and evil, the body of the Manichean was no more than a prison, created by demons, which trapped the good light withing. The great Manichean goal was to liberate that imprisoned light. The only way to achieve this was through celibacy, which would prevent the creation of new prisons, and other ascetic practices, which would release trapped light. In a maze of lost, we search for an informing principle, a truth that will teach us how to live, will define our task, enable us to transcend our folly and cruelty, to use ourselves up in a way that counts. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
The way to live should issue from our nature, from what it is we believer ourselves most deeply to be. We tend to assume that we know what we are, that our nature is obvious, given to us by direct observation of others and of ourselves; Just look around the World and look into your own heart and you will know the human condition. It is not so. What it is to be a human being is not clear at all, but deeply shrouded. Because, in the evolution from medieval times to present awareness, we have gained knowledge and the ability to deceive ourselves. We arrange not to know our nature, not to see what we are up to. Our self-deceptions are so dense, piled on so thick, like layers of paint on a Victorian being painted without stripping for over a century, layer after layer, laid on until it gets so thick it becomes an enamel. We have gone from stories to book, to the Internet and Television. There are so many layers of what we are supposed to be that it is hard to get a clear view of what we really are. Behind our loudly professed values of freedom, justice, and equality lies a propensity to violence far stronger and far deeper than is known to any of us, even the most cynical. It is all but invincible, invades even the bedroom, and corrupts what we call love. We indulge in vast hypocrisies, flagrant and subtle, to conceal from ourselves this destructiveness. We are in fact largely the opposite of what we think we are. And as we deceive ourselves, we deceive also others. Self-awareness comes into being in the midst of struggles for power and is immediately put to use. One defends oneself, or seeks advantage, by misrepresenting oneself. One does not think about it; it happens instantly, automatically, inalienably. It is not possible to abstain. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
One cannot be oneself. To be human is to be false. Awareness is inseparable from misrepresentation. The soul of self-awareness is deception. Somatoform disorders are often accompanied by other psychological problems. A study of over 1,000 adolescents indicated that almost half of those with a somatoform disorder also had at least one other documentable psychological disorder. Among adults with somatization disorder, 23 percent had one personality disorder, and 37 percent had two or more. The most frequently occurring personality disorder among the patients with somatization disorder in this study were avoidant, paranoid, self-defeating, obsessive-compulsive, histrionic, and antisocial. Some have estimated the rate of personality disorders to be as high as 60-70 percent among people with somatoform disorders. The pure heart, blind to its own purity, sees only outward; the reflective heart is devious. They reality to which that “truly” refers is a slippery item. “Say everything that comes to mind,” the analyst says to the analysand, “nothing must remain hidden”; but the first association scurries for cover as the second is being staged by the third, and the bottom of that barrel can never be scraped. Below the deepest uncovering one yet deeper is possible. From an interpersonal perspective, the coincidence of somatoform disorders and personality disorders is understandable. In most patients with somatoform disorders, illness behaviour is a lifestyle in which the sick role is a mode of relating to self and others…in relation to others the role provides strategies for eliciting care and exercising control. Recall that, by definition, personality disorders involve inflexible and maladaptive patterns of behaviour, with problems in the interpersonal domain. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
People with personality disorders often related to other people in ways that ill suited for the situation. The same reasons for this maladaptive relating to others undoubtedly also cause the somatization. In fact, somatization could be understood as an interpersonal manifestation of a personality disorder. Instead of communicating with other directly and openly, the person with a somatoform disorder develops symptoms in an effort to convey a message (neediness, desire for attention, et cetera) to other people. It is ways to envision how somatization could be a “functional” form of communication for persons with avoidant personality disorder, who shun direct communication with others; those histrionic personality disorders, who have a taste for drama; or those with dependent personality disorder, who want to be taken care of. However, the most important thing about human life is that we come upon from within and can know only from within. Many people stage their existence and block it from view with contrived sets that they call reality, and though they know those sets to be fake, so many labour endlessly to make them look real. And they go about those actions on that stage which accord with those sets, individuals come finally to believe they are real. The backdrop being them is forgotten. Somatoform disorders involve the experience and expression of distressing physical symptoms in the absence of any medical cause. The expression of distress through physical symptoms serves a number of social functions, such as secondary gain, signaling intrapersonal and interpersonal distress, and providing a temporary solution to a systemwide problem. The unchanging backdrop, the raw nature of existence, unadorned, unmediated, overwhelming one with dread, the way things are becoming too awful and too fearful to be endured. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
The set changes over the course of history, though they may seem fixed over the course of a lifetime. The set, as in a play, is the arrangement in which one lives, the scheme of things. Psychoanalysis attends to those distortions of mind that have come about as a result of mishaps and mistreatments in childhood. Not just analysts and analysands, but all of us, simply by being members of a culture permeated with the promise of psychology, share in the belief that such is possible. And as one, acting on tis belief go about the processing of analyzing the miseries visited upon us by the preceding generation, it comes insidiously to seem that all misery is of this kind, not destiny but mishap, that therefore if people generally were free of neuroses they would no longer torment themselves and their families, nor would tyrants torment their subjects (nor themselves even want to be tyrants), and that human life would then be happy and secure. Thus psychology slides into place as the modern ideology, the heir to religion. It is the scheme of things in which we live. Many people with somatoform disorders have a history of adverse childhood experiences, ranging from growing up in a family characterized by conflict, poor boundary regulation, little intimacy, excessive control, and exaggerate demands for success, to outright physical and sexual abuse. As in the case of substance use problems and eating disorders, modeling may play a role in the pathogenesis of somatoform disorders. Many such patients witnessed serious illness in their parents, and have a history of illness themselves. Two psychodynamically oriented theories of somatoform disorder postulate that insecure attachments prompt excessive care seeking in the form of physical symptom expression. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
Many investigators see somatoform disorders as maladaptive attempts to communicate psychological and interpersonal distress. Research findings reveal a number of interpersonal problems that tend to covary with somatoform disorders, although some of these problems may be due to psychological distress more generally, rather than to somatoform disorders in particular. What is the minimum penalty for being a conscious and self-conscious creature living simultaneously in an eternal symbolic World of one’s own construction and in the natural World in which, looking straight ahead, one sees one’s death oncoming? Indeed, suffering that one might wish to consider as avoidable or treatable must one conclude issues, not from mistreatment, but from this condition? And, further, what portion of that mistreatment of human by human and of child by parent, all of which appears gratuitous, may prove to be the unavoidable outcome of conditions that define the human state itself? Alexithymia is a communicative phenomenon that is common among people with somatoform disorders; it entails an inability to express emotions and feelings to other people. This condition may contribute to the expression of distress through physical symptoms. At a sociological level, somatoform disorders may represent cultural idioms of distress. In many cultures, it may be more socially acceptable to have a “physical” illness than to express psychological distress. In such cultures, the expression of physical symptoms may be a proxy for conveying emotional distress to others. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
Somatoform disorders tend to be comorbid with personality disorders. In many cases, the somatization may be a manifestation of the maladaptive interpersonal styles that are inherent in personality disorders. However, it is still possible to set forth—with great clarity, concision, and bluntness—what one knows of the ways of power and the ways of the heart. Magic money and commerce keeps problems far away, their screams unheard. So it comes about to teach us what life is, or should be. The innocence we ascribe to the childhood of humanity is the innocence we have come to know only much later, east of Eden, the innocence possible to us within the knowledge of good and evil. Such innocence consists in following the rules that banish violence. Therefore, as one projects such obedience backward, one pictures a gentle Eden wherein the lion and the lamb lie down together. And right there we have got it dead wrong. The innocence of our prehistory, our Garden of Eden, is the innocence of our prehistory, our Garden of Eden, is the innocence of unlimited violence, of acting according to nature. There were then no taboos to set limits, hence no good and no evil. The boundary zone of our existence is a forbidden territory called the sacred. We know we are there by signs. Voices are lowered and hushed, we tread softly, look up respectfully, apprehensively. We are warned to keep away. Near the boundary itself we are taken over by fear and trembling. We are too close to God. Common sense tugs at our sleeve: Turn back! Beyond the limit is great power. Those who cross that limit are struck down. Some few, able to seize and control the thunderbolts, become gods. The sacred is a minefield barring the way back. It lies between us and the freedom we have lost, the violence we so fear and so desire, the rush, the oneness of life, the fusion, the continuity, the not-knowing. The approach is posted with taboos. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
God patrols the border ceaselessly, drive us onward, warn us not to look back. We can never go home again. Nor can we ever forget or stop longing. Before humankind was enlightened, the awful power beyond the natural limits, securely removed from the ability of humans to reach control or to manipulate, was invoked by our priests and medicine men and women to strengthen those moral and pleasures of the flesh limits that human, by one’s own will, is capable of violating. The giant lurking in the Earth who shakes our house down, one or some other giant just like him or her, we are told, patrols also the pleasures of the flesh and moral boundaries. Watch out! God is everywhere. If you transgress, He will punish you. Now we are enlightened; and enlightenment, it transpires, draws in its train strange, perhaps sinister implications. After the initial grand victories of reason come disturbing aftershocks. Natural limits have been devastated of meaning. If famine sweeps the land, that is bad luck, but it is not God punishing us or telling us something. It is but the impersonal, meaningless operation of natural forces. The awful and the terrifying beyond the natural limits, therefore, cannot be used to maintain the inviolability of moral and pleasures of the flesh limits. No longer can we lend to morality the authority of lightning, of earthquake, of tidal wave. The Enlightenment has washed us up on an alien shore: All of our limits are variables, all are withing our control. We may draw them in closer or push them out farther. With no authority beyond humanity, by what standard can we designate anything as absolutely wrong? Wrong beyond reach of reconsideration? Whatever the nature of the limit, beyond that limit lies power. And that further increment of power will increase the temptation to yet further violation for a yet further augmentation of power. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
Free to choose how to live, the way we choose is meaningless; living in the certainty of meaning, we live a life that is imposed. How did we arrive at such a condition? Try to imagine it. People are so bemused by the way business and politics are carried on at present, with all their intricate relationships, that they have ceased to be able to imagine alternatives. We seem to have lost our genius for inventing changes to satisfy crying needs. However, this stupor is inevitably the baleful influence of the very kind of organizational network that we have: the system pre-empts the available means and capital; it buys up as much of the intelligence as it can and muffles the voices of dissent; and then it irrefutably proclaims that itself is the only possibility of society, for nothing else is thinkable. Let me give a couple of examples of how this works. Supposed (as is the case) that a group of radio and TV broadcasters, competing in the Pickwickian fashion of semi-monopolies, control all the stations and channels in an area, amassing the capital and variously bribing Communications Commissioners in order to get them; and the broadcasters tailor their programs to meet the requirements of their advertisers, of the censorship, of their own slick and clique tastes, and of a broad common denominator of the audience, none of whom may be offended; They will then claim not only that the public wants the drivel that they give them, but indeed that nothing else is being created. Of course it is not! not for these media; why should a serious artist bother? Or suppose again (as is not quite the case) that in a group of universities only faculties are chosen that are “safe” to business people trustees or the politically appointed regents, and these faculties give out all the degrees and licenses and union cares to the new generation of students, and only such universities can get Foundation or government money for research, and research is incestuously staffed by the same sponsors and according to the same policy, and they allow no one but those they choose, to have access to either the classroom or expensive apparatus. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
With such a limited selection being allowed, it will then be claimed that there is no other learning or professional competence; that an inspired teacher is not “solid”; that the official projects are the direction of science; that progressive education is a failure; and finally, indeed—as in Dr. James Conant’s report on the high schools—that only 15 percent of the youth are “academically talented” enough to be taught hard subjects. This pre-empting of the means and the brains by the organization, and the shutting out of those who do not conform, can go so far as to cause delusions, as when recently the president of Merck and Company had the effrontery to warn the Congress that its investigation of profiteering in drugs might hinder the quest of scientific knowledge! as if the spirit of Vesalius and Pasteur depended on the financial arrangements of Merch and Company. However, it is in these circumstances that people put up with a system because “there are no alternatives.” And when one cannot think of anything to do, soon one ceases to think at all. To my mind the worst feature of our present organized system of doing things is its indirectness, its blurring of the object. The idea of directly addressing crying objective public needs, like shelter or education, and using our immense and indeed surplus resources to satisfy them, is anathema. For in the great interlocking system of corporations people live not by attending to the job, but by status, role playing, and tenure, and they work to maximize profits, prestige, or votes regardless of utility or even public disutility—exempli gratia, the plethora of cares has now become a public disutility, but automobile companies continue to manufacture them and persuade people to buy them. The indispensable premise of city planning, according to vice president of Webb and Knapp, is to make a “modest long-term profit on the promoter’s investment.” (His exact sentence, to a meeting of young planners, was, “What we’re going to build will be built only if some developer is going to make a profit from it.”!) #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
Obviously he is not directly interested in housing people or in city convenience and beauty; he is directly interested in being a good vice president of Webb and Knapp. That is his privilege, but it I not a useful goal, and an idealistic young fellow would not want to be such a man. Another example: Some earnest liberal Congress people are baffled “how to give Federal aid to education and not interfere in the curriculum and teaching.” However, when the teaching function is respected and assayed by the teacher’s peers-in-skill, no one can interfere, no one would dare (just as Harvard tossed out McCarthy). The sole function of administration is to smooth the way, but in this country we have the topsy-turvy situation that a teacher must devote oneself to satisfying the administrator and financier rather than to doing one’s job, and a universally admired teacher is fired for disobeying an administrative other that would hinder teaching. To further illustration the situation, these same Congress people are concerned “how to discourage low-level programming in private TV stations without censorship.” Their questions presupposes that in communication the prior thing is the existence of networks and channels, rather than something to communicate that needs diffusing. However, the prior thing is the program, and the only grounds for the license to the situation is its ability to transmit it. Nothing could be more uneducated than for the communications commission to give people who handle the means of broadcasting the inventing of what to broadcast, and then, disturbed at the poor quality, to worry about censorship. We live increasingly, then, in a system in which little direct attention is paid to the object, the function, the program, the task, the need; but immense attention to the role, procedure, prestige, and profit. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
We do not get the shelter and education because not enough mind is paid to those things. Naturally the system is inefficient; the overhead is high; the task is rarely done with love, style, and excitement, for such beauties emerge only from absorption in real objects; sometimes the task is not done at all; and those who could do it best become either cynical or resigned. “One human gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty,” reports Proverbs 11.24. When you center your life around yourself, not only do you miss out on God’s best, but you rob other people of the joy and blessings that God wants to give them through you. The Scripture says, “We should encourage one another daily,” reports Hebrews 3.13. It is easy to criticize and condemn, to point out everyone’s flaws and failures. However, God wants us to build people up, to be a blessing, speaking words of faith and success into their lives. It does not cost anything or take a lot of time to give somebody a compliment. What does it cost to tell your wife, “I love you. You are great. I am glad you are mind”? How long does it take to tell your employee, “You are doing a fine job. I appreciate your hard work”? Many people think those nice thoughts, but faith to verbalize them. It is not enough to think kind compliments; we need to express them. As the old saying puts it: Love is not love until you give it away.” We should get up each morning with an attitude that says: I am going to make somebody else happy today. I am going to help met somebody else’s need. Do not go through life as a taker; become a giver. Waste no time. Hop to it! Look for the grace of devotion. Alas, the search for it may take some time. Be patient and faithful. Accept the fact that there may be a waiting period. When it does return, welcome it warmly, and do not let it out of your grasp. Follow it wherever it leads. What else can you do? Except perhaps to commit to God the when’s and how’s of the Supernal Visitation. Just know that if devotion has come and gone, it will come again. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
What do you do when you feel interior devotion ebbing? Take great pains to humble yourself—that is about the only thing one can do. At the same time keep your spirits up. Why? Simple. God often gives you in one moment what He has denied you for a long time. That is to say, He sometimes waits for the end of your prayer before He gives the grace of devotion; He could just as well have given it at the beginning. Whatever, whichever, just do not get caught with a hangdog face when the Hound of Heaven comes a-calling. If grace were always sudden—that is to say, came when you prayed for it—it would catch you in your infirmity, and you would not be able to lift it off the floor. However, if it came later, when hope was green and Impatience wore Impatiens—that is when the grace of devotion seems destined to come. However, what happens when devotion does not come? What happens when it comes but then tiptoes out the back way without your noticing it? Well, if you are looking for someone to point a finger at, blame it all on yourself and your sins. What gets in the way of grace is often something quite small and manageable. However, if it is minuscule, then it should not be labeled majuscule. Except that in the matter of grace nothing is small, everything is humongous; any obstacle whether small or large, stops that flow of good. Remove it, the flow is restored, and all of the sudden, right before your eyes, is the grace of devotion you have been seeking so strenuously. What happens then? Immediately one has handed oneself over to God from the bottom of one’s heart, no longer hithering and dithering with this with this or that thing. Place yourself in His palm, and you will find yourself at home with you One True Friend. Why? That is because nothing will please or taste so well as the pleasure of the Divine Will. Who is the sort of person grace will occasionally grace? The one who pulls one’s intention up to God with a simple heart as one’s only winch and hoists oneself out of the slough of self-love. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
Yes, My beloved friend, you re a vase, an empty vase, and yes, Jesus Christ sometimes parades around with an empty watering can. However, some days the can is full, and would He bother to water one with His blessings if He thought one was full? One must renounce more perfectly than the lowest and, using contempt of self as a tool, die more to oneself, if one ever wants sudden grace to come again, to flood one till one overflows, and to save one’s heart from drowning. Then one will feel enriched, and one’s eyes will wonder, and one’s heart will enlarge, as Isaiah descried the phenomenon (60.5), because the hand of God is with one—an expression from Acts (11.21), and one has placed oneself on that hand forever. Behold that this is the kind of person who is blessed because one seeks God with one’s whole heart—a thought from the Psalmist (119.2)—and “does not let one’s soul slip into vanity,” as the Psalmist described one’s own spiritual journey (24.4). This person in receiving the Holy Eucharist is promised the great grace of Divine Union. That is because one does not dote on devotion and consolation as personal gifts to oneself. All one is concerned about is the Grand Dote, that is to say, devotion and consolation only as they are applied to the glory and honour of God. Get your mind off your problems and begin to help others, you will not have to worry about your needs. God will take care of them for you. Something supernatural happens when we get our eyes off ourselves and turn to the needs of those around us. The Old Testament teaches, “When you feed the hungry, when you clothe the naked, when you encourage the oppressed, then your life is going to break forth like dawn. Then your healing is going to quickly come,” reports Isaiah 58.7-8. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
In other words, when you reach out to hurting people, that is when God ensures that your needs are supplied. When you focus on being a blessing, God make sure that you are always blessed in abundance. When you are feeling sick, refuse to dwell in that sickness. In your time of greatest need, go to church and pray for other people who are sick and in need. Sow those seeds of healing. And just as the Scripture says, as one begins to help others people in need, you light will break forth like the dawn, and your own healing will come. If they would simply turn their attention away from their own needs and problems, and start to focus on being a blessing to other people, I am convinced that may people will receive the miracle they have been praying about. All too often we spend most of our time trying to be blessed. “God, what can You do for me? God, here is my prayer list. Can I have it by next Monday?” We need to look for opportunities to share God’s love, His gifts, and His goodness with others. The truth is, the more you help other, the more God will make sure that you are helped. You can do this in many practical ways. If you have things lying around your house or in storage that you are never going to use again, why not give those things away to someone who could use them? Those extra things are not doing you any good stacked in your attic, basement, or garage. If it is not meeting a need, turn it into a seed! Our minds can conjure up all kinds of excuses when God begins unclasping them. Human nature wants to hold on to everything. However, you probably have some clothes you have not worn in years; cooking utensils still packed in boxes from your last move, books, your children’s crib, and baby clothing, and all sorts of other things that you have not used in ages! #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
Most clutter experts say, “If you have not used an item within the past year, give it away!” If it is not meeting a need, turn it into a seed. Remember, we will reap what we sow. When you do good for other people, that is when God is going to make sure that His abundant blessings overtake you. If you want to live your best lie now, you must develop a lifestyle of giving: living to give instead of living to get. Have an attitude that says, Who can I bless today? Rather than Who can I get over on today? Dear Lord in Heaven, I know You have blessed me, and I want to be a blessing to others. Please help me not to be simply a consumer of Your blessings, but a person who passes blessings on to others. Other than God, the best-publicized and most powerful of the new forces is the transnational, or more commonly, the more commonly, the multinational corporation. What we have seen in the past 50 years is an extraordinary globalization of production, based not merely on the export of raw materials or finished manufactured goods from one country to another, but on the organization of production across national lines. The transnational corporation (or TNC) may do research in one country, manufacture components in another, assemble them in a third, sell the manufactured goods in a fourth, deposit its surplus funds in a fifth, and so on. It may have operating affiliates in hundreds of countries. The size, importance, and political power of this new player in the global game has skyrocketed. Unilever, McDonalds, Apple, and BMW are all examples of TNCs. Transnational Corporations are among the World’s biggest economic institutions. Some experts suggest that the 300 largest TNCs own or control at least one-quarter of the entire World’s productive assets. This is worth approximately $5 trillion USD. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
Recent years have seen rapid growth in global trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) in all sectors of activity. Transnational corporations from developed countries have been driving this growth, but increasingly, TNCs from developed countries have been driving this growth, but increasingly TNCs from developing countries are contributing. Between 1990 and 2003, the values of assets of foreign affiliates of the World’s TNC’s increased by a factor of five, and sales and employment have multiplied respectively by three and two. At the same time, World gross domestic product (GDP) in current prices increased by 160 percent. Today, there are an estimated 77,000 TNCs in the World, with more than 770,000 foreign affiliates. As stated above, these affiliates generated approximately $5 Trillion USD in value added, employed some 65 million workers, and exported goods and services valued at more than $4.5 trillion USD. Even those figures probably understand the role of TNCs in the global economy, both because of measurement difficulties and because firms carry out their transnational activities through a variety of non-equity arrangements—subcontracting, franchising, licensing, and the like, as well as through the formation of strategic alliances. One of the most “transnational” major TNCs is Nestle, the Swiss food giant; 91 percent of its total assets, 98 percent of its sales, and 97 percent of its workforce are foreign based. These TNCs represent a crucial new factor in the World system—and a challenge to the nation-state. TNCs have invested significantly in developing countries. During the period 1996-2006, such commitments amounted to about $246 billion, with a concentration in Latin America. That is more than the approved budget for the 2021-2022 of the United Nations, which is $6.37 billion. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
Currently, General Motors annual sales revenue of $122.5 billion is higher than the Gross National Product of Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and several other countries. It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Today the sun does set on the British Empire, but not on the scores of global corporate empires including GM, BMW, Samsung, and Maytag. Marxists tend to see national governments as handmaidens of corporate power, and therefore stress the commonality of interests between the two, yet the TNCs very often have their own interest that run counter to those of their “home” nations, and vice versa. “British” TNCs have violated British embargos. “American” TNCs have violated U.S. regulations. During the OPEC embargo the transnational oil companies rationed deliveries between countries according to their own, not national, priorities. National loyalties fade quickly when opportunities present themselves elsewhere, so tht TNCs transfer jobs from country to country to escape environmental rules, and play off host countries against one another. So it is not just because of taxes that companies are leaving the California and the United States of America. For the past few centuries, the World had been neatly divided into a set of independent, sovereign nation-states. With the emergence of literally hundred of multinational or global corporations, this organization of the World into mutually exclusive political entities is now being overlaid by a network of economic institutions. In this matrix, the power that once belonged exclusively to the nation-state when it was the only major force operating on the World scene is, at least in relative terms, sharply reduced. Indeed, transnationals have already grown so large that they have taken on some of the features of the nation-state itself-including their own corps of quasi-diplomats and their own highly effective intelligence agencies. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
The multinationals intelligence needs are not much different from those of the United States of America, France, or any other country. Indeed, if it does not describe the increasingly important roles played by the apparats of Exxon, Chase Manhattan, Honda, Lockheed Phillis and others, any discussion of the intelligence battles among the CIA, KGB, and their satellite agencies will be incomplete. Sometimes cooperating with their “home” nation, sometimes exploiting it, sometimes executing its policies, sometimes using it to execute their own, the TNCs are neither all good nor all bad. However, with their ability to shunt billions back and forth instantly across national boundaries, their power to deploy technology and to move relatively quickly, they have often outflanked and outrun national governments. It is not just, or even mainly, a question of whether international companies can circumvent particular regional laws and regulations. It is that our whole framework of thought and reaction is founded in the concept of the sovereign nation state [while] international corporations are rendering this notion invalid. In terms of the global power system, the rise of the great transnationals has reduced, rather than strengthen, the role of the nation-state at precisely the time when centrifugal pressures from blow threaten to part it at the seams. And with that in mind, many are also concerned that Russia has 12,000 tankers, while the United States of America has 6,000. Looks like America needs to bulk up its defense budget, and take care of its own people to make sure they remain “The World’s Super Holy One.” Dear Lord in Heaven, I ran through the fields and gathered flowers of a thousand colours—and now I pour them out at Your feet. Their beauty and their brightness shout for joy in Your presence. You created the flowers of the fields and made each one far more lovely than all the skill of humans could design. Please accept my joy along with theirs, this field of blossoms at Your feet. Holy One, as the wind blows through these flowers till they dance in the ecstasy of creation, please send Your Spirit to blow through my being till I too bloom and dance with the fulness of Your life. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
The glimpse is a precious thing but it is not enough. The human who has had it has also a new problem: how to find it again and how to turn it into an all-time state of mind, continuing through all kinds of circumstances and experiences. And how can one bring one’s everyday life into harmony with it? Please cause us, O Lord our God, to lie down in peace, and raise us up again, O our King, unto life Spread over us Thy tabernacle of peace. Direct us aright through Thine own good counsel. Save us for Thy name’s sake. Be Thou a shield about us. Remove from us every enemy, pestilence, sword, famine, and sorrow. Please help us, O Lord, to resist temptation. Please shelter us with Thy protecting love, for Thou art our guardian and deliver. Yea, Thou God and King art gracious and compassionate. Please Guard Thou our going out and our coming in unto life and peace, hence forth and forevermore. Please blessed be Thou, O Lord, who guardest Thy people of America forever. Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and Amen. Blessed from America be the Lord who dwelleth in America. Praise the Lord. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of America, who alone doeth wondrous things. Blessed be His glorious name forever. Let the whole Earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; let the Lord rejoice in His works. Blessed be the nae of the Lord from this time forth and forever. For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake; for the Lord taketh delight in making you a people for Himself. And when all the people beheld the glory of the Lord, they fell on their faces and exclaimed: The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God. And the Lord shall be King over all the Earth; on that day shall the Lord be One, and His name one. May Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, for we have placed our hope in Thee. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
Cresleigh Homes
With 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and the largest square footage in the Mills Station community, you wouldn’t think that we’d need any extra space. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-4/
You’d be wrong. Backyards are made for secret clubhouses! 😉
Randolph Harris II International Institute 