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Since Ancient Times, Curses Have Fascinated People!

Since ancient times, curses have fascinated people, and left other deeply disturbed. It is important that the student should train himself to note, study, and state accurately views which he could not join in himself. To do this, he will have to keep his feelings against them out of his examination of statements. He will have to suspend his intellectual judgment of them also. However firmly he may hold his own views upon any subject, it is a useful discipline to subdue the ego and put himself into the mentality of those who hold different views and to try to understand why it is that they hold such views. This will be a valuable exercise in keeping bias out of his thinking and the conceit of always being right out of his opinion. Some people believe that dark skin is a curse. However, the power of a curse lies not in its words, but in the belief we place in it. A thought came to me one day, if Africa is the cradle of civilization, and all people come from Africa, did they start off light or dark? Because if people obtained light or pale skin from living in the cold and in caves, then maybe the people in Africa started off white and got darker from being in the sun? However, people in Africa have dark sin to protect themselves from ultraviolet rays. Their genetics provide a constant high content of melanin in skin cells, which helps them to withstand the scorching sun. Therefore, the darker skin color has allowed the African race to flourish and thrive. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25

However, genomes of 290 living people from southern, eastern and western Africa suggests that modern humans descended from at least two groups of ancient humans that were closely related and mixed genes on occasion. It is believed that there is no single birthplace. Yet, all humans share common ancestry. The oldest modern human fossils are found in Africa, and so are the oldest artifacts. The first modern humans likely came about around 315,00 0 years ago. The oldest artifact known to man is the Lomekwi Stone Tool, which are handmade stone tools that date back 3.3 million years ago and were discovered in West Turkana, Kenya. After that, the next oldest artifacts are Oldowan Stone Tools, which are handmade stone tools, which date back to 2.6 million years ago and were found in Gona, Ethiopia. And, 1.76 million years ago, Acheulean Stone Tools, which are handmade stone tools, were found spread across Africa, Asia, and Europe. That leads some to believe that human evolution is like a tree—with a single stem that splits into disconnected branches. And it would then later merge back together, creating various races. So, it is possible that without genetics with a high content of melanin skill cell, humanity would not exist as we know it today. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25

Men who are specialist in a single profession are usually men whose minds run in a single groove. Each can contribute his own viewpoint quite creditably, but he cannot understand and sympathize so readily with the viewpoint of another man whose experiences lies along totally different lines. Even if we go further and attempt to step beyond such limitations into a synthetic viewpoint and gather up into one coordinate whole the contributions of all our modern mentors, we shall yet fail to arrive at the deepest understanding of the world’s problem. This is because these men deal not with root causes but with effects, the effects of profounder causes which ultimately take their rise in subtler, less obvious sources. The difficulty in getting at the truth about controversial questions, whether they be economic, political, religious, or metaphysical, is that the advocate of a particular side pushes forward the good points of his own views and the bad points of his opponent’s views, whilst at the same time he suppresses both the bad points of his own and the good ones of his opponent’s views. Consequently, the only way to form a fair and just estimate of the question to construct our own picture, frankly and impartially incorporating in it all the essential points from both sides and those which they may have missed, too. Intellect is sharpened by frequent discussions and endless disputation. Recognizing a special brand of neurotic pride, he can be alert to the kind of provocation liable to produce shame or humiliation. And, vice versa, the occurrence of these reactions would stimulate him to discover the underlying pride and to examine its specific nature. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25

What complicates the matters is the fact that these reactions may be blurred by several factors. A person’s pride may be extremely vulnerable, but he does not consciously express any feeling of hurt. Self-righteousness, as we have already mentioned, can prohibit the feelings of shame. Moreover, a pride in invulnerability may forbid him to admit to himself that he feels hurt. A god may show wrath at the imperfection of mortals, but he just is not hurt by a boss or a taxi driver; he should be big enough to overlook it and strong enough to take everything in his stride. “Insults,” therefore hurt him in a twofold way: feeling humiliated by others and feeling ashamed of the very fact of his being hurt. Such a person is in an almost permanent dilemma: he is vulnerable to an absurd degree, but his pride does not allow him to be vulnerable at all. This inner condition greatly contributes to a diffuse irritability. The issue may also be blurred because the direct reactions to hurt pride can be automatically transformed into feelings other than shame or humiliation. If a lover is interested in another woman, does not remember our wishes, or is preoccupied with his work or hobbies, it may essentially hurt our pride. However, all we may consciously feel is grief over unrequited love. A slight may be felt merely as a disappointment. Feelings of shame may appear in our awareness as vague uneasiness, as embarrassment, or more specifically, as feelings of guilt. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25

The slave can only free himself by enslaving in his turn. Post-Hegelian doctrines, unmindful of the mystic aspect or certain of the master’s tendencies, have led his followers to absolute atheism and to scientific materialism. However, this evolution is inconceivable without the absolute disappearance of every principle of transcendent explanation, and without the complete destruction of the Jacobin ideal. Immanence, of course, is not atheism. However, immanence in the process of development, if one can say so, provisional atheism. The indefinite face of God which, with Hegel, is still reflected in the spirit of the world will not be difficult to efface. Hegel’s successors will draw decisive conclusions from him ambiguous formula: “God without man is no more than man without God.” David Strauss in his Life of Jesus isolates the theory of Christ considered as the God-man. Bruno Bauer (The Critique of Evangelist History) institutes a kind of materialist Christianity by insisting on the humanity of Jesus. Finally, Ludwig Feuerbach (whom Marx considered as a great mind and whom he acknowledges himself the critical disciple), in his Essence of Christianity, replaces all theology by a religion of man and the species, which has converted a large part of contemporary thought. His task is to demonstrate that the distinction between human and divine is illusory, that it is nothing but the distinction between the essence of humanity—in other words, human nature—and the individual. “The mystery of God is only the mystery of the love of man for himself.” #RandolphHarris 5 of 25

The accents of a strange new prophecy ring out: “Individuality has replaced faith, reason the” Christian “Bible, politics religion and the Church, the earth heaven, work prayer, poverty hell, and man Christ.” Thus, there is only one hell and it is on this earth: and it is against this that the struggle must be waged. Politics is religion, and transcendent Christianity—that of the hereafter—establishes the masters of the earth by means of the slave’s renunciation and creates one master more beneath the heavens. That is why atheism and the revolutionary spirit are only two aspects of the same movement of liberation. That is the answer to the question which is always being asked: why has the revolutionary movement identified itself with materialism rather than with idealism? Because to conquer God, to make Him a slave, amounts to abolishing the transcendence that kept the former masters in power and to preparing, with ascendancy of the new tyrants, the advent of the man-king. When poverty is abolished, when the contradictions of history are resolved, “the real god, the human god, will be the State.” Then homo homini lupus becomes homo homini deus. This concept is at the root of the contemporary world. With Feuerbach, we assist at the birth of a terrible form of optimism which we can still observe at work today and which seems to be the very antithesis of nihilist despair. However, this is only in appearance. We must know Feuerbach’s conclusion in this Theogony to perceive the profoundly nihilist derivation of his inflamed imagination. In effect, Feuerbach affirms, in the face of Hegel, that man is only what he eats, and thus recapitulates his ideas and predicts the future in the following phrase: “The true philosophy is the negation of philosophy. No religion is my religion. No philosophy is my philosophy.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 25

We ought to put such a discussion, which deals with the sublimest topics that confront the human mind, upon a dignified basis. If we argue merely for the sake of scorning an intellectual victory over the opponent, or getting the upper hand over him, we argue wrongly. If, however, we argue with the sole desire that truth may appear out of the conflict of viewpoints, we argue rightly. Philosophy points out that we must study a subject not only from the outside but also from the inside—that is to say, not only critically but also sympathetically—if we would arrive at a just estimate of it. Those who paint it all black with defects or all white with virtues, and omit all intermediate or half-shades, make a serious mistake. Our approach to every doctrine must be to take its truth and leave its error. However, we must do this in appreciation rather than in disparagement. There is a need to develop flexibility by practicing the shift of attitudes, to see why others hold their beliefs, and to be able to stretch one’s own thought to enter sufficiently into theirs. This produces sympathetic understanding, but the opposite—critical judgment—must not be forsaken. There may however be one result of such comparative study which is as unpleasant as it is undesirable. If it is overdone and independent thinking underdone, it may breed confusion in the understanding and contradiction in the feelings. The more books written from different points of view he reads, the less certain of his knowledge he may become. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25

Concepts or ideas are clues, pointers, signposts to truth, perhaps helps toward the search, but ought not to be referred to a level beyond that of the intellect, which is limited. Fixation and dogmatism should be avoided. Words, definitions, even bibles are not absolute, but relative to our present mental state. We may know that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 18.10, but modern conditions and social pressures have blinded many people from this profound knowledge. As a result, choices are being made around the world that disregard the value of human life. Each life is truly a gift from God. We can honor His gift by cherishing our own lives as well as respecting and valuing the lives of others. We are precious in His sight, and by trusting Him and being diligent in our choices, we can share light and truth with the world around us. Our research shows a parallel or correlation between actualization and time competence. Self-actualizing people, those who trust in self-support, are oriented to the here and now. “I have tried to express this,” said Maslow, “as a contrast between living fully and preparing to live fully, between growing up and being grown. Actualizers are functioning now. Manipulators are paralyzed by regret (the past) and intent (the future). Manipulators talk a lot. “Things were better then.” (the good old days). “He ruined my life twenty years ago when he…” (the bad old days). “Everything will be okay someday, if only…” (supernatural intervention). “I do not know what I will do if…” (dire prediction). #RandolphHarris 8 of 25

However, they function only marginally. Persons who live in the future rely in expected events to motivate them. Frederick Perls suggests that ideals or goals are means by which the manipulator’s need for affection, appreciation, and admiration is gratified. That is, manipulators gratify their vanity by picturing themselves in terms of their goals. They invent a meaning for life to justify their experience. However, by this very striving for the goal of future perfections, manipulators turn their lives into a living hell. They achieve just the opposite of their intentions, arresting their own development and promoting feelings of inferiority in themselves. By the same token, individuals who live in the past rely on blaming others as a substitute for self-support. Our problems exist in the here and now, regardless of when they were born, and their solutions must be found in the here and now. Quite literally, the only time we can live is in the present. We can remember the past; we can anticipate the future, but we live only in the present. Even when we reexperience the past, we have not reversed time. We have, in effect, only moved the past up to the present. So, if psychotherapy is to help us solve our problems, it must work within the framework we have: the here and now. It is important to stress again that memory (from the past) and anticipation (toward the future) are acts in the present. “Now here I am remembering my mistakes,” says the patient. Note the difference between that and merely wandering off into memory. Or one might say: “I am planning to do the job on Wednesday,” and we would have to consider it as more then idle anticipation.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 25

Manipulators who are given to reminiscence of the past or idle talk of the future are not refreshed by these mental wanderings. They are exhausted and emptied, for such behavior is not active but passive. As Perls implies, one’s worthiness cannot be put forth in explanations for the past or by promises for the future. “It was not my fault,” whines the manipulator in referring to the past. “I am as good as anybody else.” Referring to the future, he says: “I am not very well right now, but I will make my mark.” Unlike either of these, actualizers get their feelings of worthiness from their adequacy in an activity that is going on now, or in relaxation after finishing it. They feel that explaining or promising is a lie, either a consoling or a self—punishing one. However, to do something and to be oneself are self-trusting and self-justifying. Here are examples of self-actualizing, present behavior. “I feel so alive working in the yard today.” “I really got a lot done today.” Love may be defined as wanting fulfillment or happiness for the other person as much for oneself—there is no doubt that it implies that the loved person is perceived as being part of the lover’s self-concept. Perhaps the most significant composition of the self-concept of the healthy personality are the ideas, ideals, or other abstractions that are suggested to be particularly characteristic of the high-level-functioning person. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25

For example, martyrs of all religions have given up their lives and have suffered torture to lesser parts of their self-concept, that is, their bodies, to maintain their abstract faith. Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident author who was expelled from his motherland, was in constant danger of his life, and perhaps still is; yet, he continued to write of the injustices of the Soviet prison system. His belief in “freedom,” and abstract concept, was easily as great as his valuation of his own life. Othe abstractions that for many people become a part of their self-concept include a particular political system, such as democracy or socialism; a particular philosophy, such as pragmatism or empiricism; even a particular theory in one’s profession, such as quantum theory or behaviorism; belief in ghosts, demons, heaven or hell, in science or in witches and magic—all of these are abstractions, or ideas, in many instance held by persons who would willingly give up their bodies to maintain or defend those abstractions. This is because our movement must, and always has proclaimed that external national freedom is never a given as gift by heavenly or earthly powers, but it can only be the fruit that results from inner strength of the nation. Everyone must to their part. We offered blood in the old days; now these people do nothing but sharpen their beaks. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25

How is it that the members of humanity, with all their accumulated wisdom, self-awareness, and desire for truth and self, can permit themselves to remain in such a mechanical situation, with its pathos and self-deception? People really should do only their jobs and mind their own business and follow the laws, rules, and regulations. Humanity is going to die out, eventually, but most importantly, we need to get through this financial crisis and stabilize the economy, not keep boosting up taxes and prices. Governor Gavin Newsom of California does not have bad timing; he creates disasters on purpose so he can get his way. People believe that Los Angeles was allowed to burn down, so they African American community could be relocated out of Altadena. Then, Altadena and Palisades would build new million and multi-million-dollar homes located in “Smart Cities,” repopulated by more “desirable” people. Also, Gavin Newsom purposes raised auto insurance limits by three times as high as they were over a period of two years, and raised the tax on gasoline 1 July 2025, right before the Independence Day holiday, while more people are going to be on the road, so he could replenish all the taxpayers’ money he blew on illegal immigrants. He is trying to bankrupt the American people. Also, gas prices in California are expected to rise again in 2026, not only because two refineries in California are closing, but also because Governor Gavin Newsom is also requiring refineries to produce a new blend of gas for California. Newsome is making automobile insurance to high, and gas prices so high to force people into buying electric cars. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25

This price gouging in California is happening partly because we allowing by voting democrats into office who do not have the minds for handling economics. We are more aware of ourselves than apes are, but obviously, not very much. Scripts are only possible because people do not know what they are doing to themselves and to others. In fact, to know what one is doing is the opposite of being scripted. There are certain aspects of bodily, mental, and social functioning which happen to man despite himself, which slip out, as it were, because they are programed to do so. These heavily influence his destiny through the people around him, while he still retains the illusion of autonomy. However, there are also certain remedies which can be applied. It is, above all, the plasticity of the human face which makes life an adventure rather than a controlled experience. This is based on an apparently trivial biological principle which has an enormous social power. The human nervous system is so constructed that the visual impact on the onlooker of small movements of the facial muscles is greater than the kinesthetic impact on the subject. When a man begins to lay down in advance the conclusions to which his thinking is to lead him, he is not really seeking truth. We must so care for the facts that we welcome them even when they are personally and profoundly distasteful. Nothing can be gained by shutting our eyes to them or by concealing them from our mental horizon, or by examining them with partiality and prejudice. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25

If we are to view the problem of truth aright, we must view it in proper proportions. We waste much mental energy in whole-heatedly denying this or contending for that; truth is like a diamond; it has several facets: we could be better employed seeing all the facets than in splitting them up. Analyze all round a subject’s head, but do not split its hairs. He who cannot reject his personal preferences at the higher bedding of truth; he who has no aptitude for reflecting upon abstract philosophical ideas or is unwilling to overcome inertia and labor at its creation; he who impertinently matches his individual opinions against the proved facts of science or philosophy as though they were of equal or superior value—such a man is quite unfit for this knowledge and can never master it. The very fact which may be put forth in support of one point of view may be triumphantly hailed by someone else as proof of a different point of view! Even the full debate and discussion cannot lead to full truth about any issue, spiritual or secular, when all the necessary information is not there. However, even if it is there, it will twist and prevent truth if the minds approaching it are seriously flawed. Too many arguments have mere egoistic self-expression as their purpose, and not the pursuit of truth. Neither arguer is really interested in seeing the fallacies and weaknesses of his own case, but only those of his opponent’s. Neither will be willing to abandon his own standpoint or theory no matter how much evidence or facts disprove it. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25

This battle of conflicting explanations is not necessary, since both refer to different aspects of the subject and as such are both correct. Conventional people, fond only of commonplace idea, may feel shocked at some philosophical statements. They do not see that their thinking is falsified because they have prejudiced their quest of truth from the start, because it is done within the context of convention attitudes. How few can free themselves from the thick incrustations of prejudice; how many are unable to approach an idea with calm, impersonal, detached open-mindedness! Most people naturally pick out from a teaching those views which please them and reject the others. Only the seeker who has disciplined himself morally and intellectually will ne heroic enough to take unpleasing views along with the pleasing ones. Philosophy’s teaching will appeal, and can only appeal, to those who have striven to escape from dogmatism, who have shaken off widespread prejudices and outgrown crudely materialistic ideas, and whose minds are sufficiently developed to realize the value of free views and flexible attitudes. Where that has been insufficiently achieved, a special discipline is prescribed to complete the preparation. Any many can fool himself by the trick of finding out just those facts that fit his fancy. All such pickings are easy, but they are also worthless. Any fuddle-minded person can twist and turn a situation into a painfully sorry caricature of itself. However, in doing that his is simply twisting his own head, to ignore conveniently what he does not wish to see. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25

The appreciation of a doctrine ought to be balanced and reasoned, not exaggerated or hysterical. The wish ought not to be made the father to the evaluation of it, nor to the judgment of its results. We must rid our minds of this cannot. We must clear our eyes of this cataract of prejudice which covers them and dims the sight against out real remedy. When a man’s thinking unconsciously mixes up the central issue of a problem with diverse other issues, and does not keep that entirely to itself, his conclusions are likely to be self-deceptive ones. When a man first starts to think, he must pass through the disease of mental measles, and get not a few obnoxious prejudices out of his head. People who live in the suburbs of thought have the sheeplike mentality which fears originality. When I meet with certain persons or certain books, I am often reminded of a certain sentence in Roman Seneca’s writings: “There are many who might have attained to wisdom, had they not fancied they had attained it already.” A small mentality can only mangle a large truth. It seems then evident, that the paramount duty of an American citizen, is, to put in requisition every possible means for elevating universally the intellectual and moral character of our people. When we speak of intellectual elevation, we would not suggest that all our citizens are to become able linguists, or profound mathematicians. That, at least for the present, is not practicable; it certainly is not necessary. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25

The object at which we aim will be attained, when every man is familiarly acquainted with what are now considered the ordinary branches of an English education. The intellectual stores of one language are then open before him; a language in which he may find all the knowledge that he shall ever need to form his opinions upon any subjects on which it shall be his duty to decide. A man who cannot read, let us always remember, is being not contemplated by the genius of our constitution. Where the right of suffrage is extended to all, he is certainly a dangerous member of community who has not qualified himself to exercise it. However, on this part of the subject, I need not enlarge. The proceedings of our general and State Legislatures already furnish ample proof that our people are tremblingly alive to its importance. We do firmly believe the time to be not far distance, when there will not be found a single citizen of these United States of America, who is not entitled to the appellation of a well-informed man. However, supposing all this to be done, still only a part and by far the least important part of our work will have been accomplished. We have increased the power of the people, but we have left it doubtful in what direction that power will be exerted. We have made it certain that a public opinion will be formed; but whether that opinion will be healthful or destructive is yet to be decided. There are so many men who believe that they know very well where they stand, but who believe wrongly. “When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too. The Governments applications to partially stay the preliminary injunctions are granted, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue,” reports Justice Amy Coney Barrett. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25

California is the third most expensive state in the nation. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now consider low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruze, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsom of Democratic controlled California, brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also facing a $12 billion deficit, looking to cut $747 million for state worker’s pay, pushing to keep medical insurance for illegal immigrants, but wants to cut medical for anyone who has assets over $2,000 and the state has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25

Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. Desalination has been identified as one technology that will help solve California’s water scarcity problem. Desalination is a cost-effective technology that can transform an abundance of salt water into a reliable supply of potable, fresh water, which is a great way to fight climate change and have enough water for our region’s water requirements. Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia is producing 1,036,000 meters (273,682,192) per day of desalinated water. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25

The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25

The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. Mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 or $88,724.00 and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Prices in Sacramento County are actually rivaling the Bay Area, and the Bay Aera is so expensive because they have more higher paying jobs and is a tourist destination. And with the State of California being in a budget deficit of $12 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom Granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion annually, while cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless, and is proposing to fast-track his plan to build a $20 billion water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by eliminating environmental reviews and limit avenues for legal challenges. Gavin Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25

In fact, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach, and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of poop, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century. However, it has become a public health crisis as the population of Tijuana has drastically increased, in recent years, and the waste treatment plants have no longer usable. The beach has been closed for more than three years, and evidence suggests that even breathing the air may be harmful, as toxic particles in the water can become airborne. Yet, even though Gavin Newsom has been governor for six years, he has not rushed into action to stop this very preventable environmental disaster. Why? Because he is not getting kickbacks from China and Mexico, not being gifted mansions and cars, and he cannot tax the struggling California taxpayers to clean up this mess. Simply, it is not profitable for him. Gavin Newsom has been a total tyrant with no regard for taxpayers and does not have a mind for business and should be impeached as soon as possible. He has criminalized poverty, increased taxes, increased tax on gas, and insurance rates so high that people are struggling to survive. In addition to Gavin Newsom’s increased gas prices starting 1 July 2025, the war between Iran and Israel is going to further exacerbate the prices of gas and cause more inflation and economic hardship for people in California. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has also given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. Wars have been started over governments who tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. If Gavin Newsom is not stopped, next he will euthanize the poor and sterilize the disabled. Gavin Newsom has wars and fires breaking out on the streets, but goes out of his way to arrest people who have no place to live. This monster is unfit to be governor and must never be allowed to be President of America! Stop Gavin Newsom now! Save California and impeach this unreasonable man. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25

Meanwhile, with President Trump, we are seeing crime rates sharply decrease, and he recently secured $10 trillion in investments. Additionally, in May of 2025 the United States of America collected a record $22.3 billion in tariff revenue. President Trump has also been nominated for a Noble Peace Prize for making Iran and Israel crease fire. If elected president for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25

When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25

As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrived at this fulness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 25 of 25


Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.

For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

We wish to express our gratitude to our families, ancestors, spirits, and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.) https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/


Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/


BMW continues to dominate the luxury car space. With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands.

BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers

Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html

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Choose from five beautifully crafted floor plans ranging from approximately 1,342 to 2,547 square feet, with options for 3 to 5 bedrooms, flexible living spaces, and open-concept layouts designed for today’s lifestyles. Whether you’re a first-time buyer, growing family, or looking to simplify without sacrificing style, Park Haven offers a home that fits your needs.

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If You Loved Me, You Would…

Justice, reason, truth once shone in the Jacobin heaven, performing the function of fixed stars, which can, at least, serve as guidelines. The reason for this was the fact that German nineteenth-century thinkers, particularly Hegel, wanted to continue the work of the French Revolution while suppressing the causes of its failure. Hegel thought that he discerned the seeds of the Terror contained in the abstract principles of the Jacobins. According to him, absolute and abstract freedom must inevitably lead to terrorism; the rule of abstract law is identical with the rule of oppression. For example, Hegel remarks that the period between the time of Augustus and Alexander Severus (A.D. 235) is the period of the greatest legal proficiency but also the period of the most ruthless tyranny. To avoid this contradiction, it was therefore necessary to wish to construct a concrete society, invigorated by a principle that was not formal and in which freedom could be reconciled with necessity. German philosophy therefore finished by substituting, for the universal but abstract reason of Saint-Just and Rousseau, a less artificial but more ambiguous idea: concrete universal reason. Up to this point, reason had soared above the phenomena which were related to it. Now reason is, henceforth, incorporated in the stream of historical events, which it explains while deriving its substance from them. #RandolphHarris 1 of 27

It can certainly be said that Hegel rationalized to the point of being irrational. However, at the same time, he gave reason an unreasonable shock by endowing it with a lack of moderation, the results of which are now before our eyes. Into the fixed ideas of this period, German thought suddenly introduced an irresistible urge to movement. Truth, reason, and justice were abruptly incarnated in the progress of the world. However, if there was to be one, by committing them to perpetual acceleration, German ideology confused their existence with their impulse and fixed the conclusion of this existence at the final stage of this historical future. These values have ceased to be guides in order to become goals. As for the means of attaining these goals, specifically life and history, no preexistent value can point the way. On the contrary, a large part of Hegelian demonstration is devoted to proving that moral conscience, by being so banal as to obey justice and truth, as though these values existed independently of the world, jeopardizes, precisely for this reason, the advent of these values. The rule of action has thus become action itself—which must be performed in darkness while awaiting the final illumination. Reason, annexed by this form of romanticism, is nothing more than an inflexible passion. #RandolphHarris 2 of 27

The ends have remained the same, only ambition has increased; thought has become dynamic, reason has embraced the future and aspired to conquest. Action is no more than a calculation based on results, not on principles. Consequently, it confounds itself with perpetual movement. In the same way, all the disciplines that characterized eighteenth-century thought as rigid and addicted to classification were abandoned in the nineteenth century. Just as Dr. Darwin replaced Linnaeus, the philosophers who supported the doctrine of an incessant dialectic replaced the harmonious and strict constructors of reason. From this moment dates the idea (hostile to every concept of ancient thought, which, on the contrary, reappeared to a certain extent in the mind of revolutionary France) that man has not been endowed with a definitive human nature, that he is not a finished creation but an experiment, of which he can be partly the creator. With Napolean and the Napoleonic philosopher Hegal, the period of efficacy begins. Before Napolean, men had discovered space and the universe; with Napolean, they discovered time and the future in terms of this world; and by this discovery the spirit of rebellion is going to be profoundly transformed. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27

In any case, it is strange to find Hegel’s philosophy at this new stage in the development of the spirit of rebellion. Actually, in one sense, his work exudes an absolute horror of dissidence: he wanted to be the very essence of reconciliation. However, this is only one aspect of a system which, by its very method, is the most ambiguous in all philosophic literature. To the extent that, for him, what is real is rational, he justifies every ideological encroachment upon reality. What has been called Hegel’s panlogism is a justification of the condition of fact. However, his philosophy also exalts destruction for its own sake. Everything is reconciled, of course, in the dialectic, and one extreme cannot be stated without the other arising; there exists in Hegel, as in all great thinkers, the material for contradicting Hegel. Philosophers, however, are rarely read with the head alone, but often with the heart and all its passions, which can accept no kind of reconciliation. Nevertheless, the revolutionaries of the twenty-first century have borrowed from Hegel the weapons with which they definitively destroyed the formal principles of virtue. All that they have preserved is the vision of a history without any kind of transcendence, dedicated to perpetual strife and to the struggle of wills bent on seizing power. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27

In its critical aspect, the revolutionary movement of our times is primarily a violent denunciation of the formal hypocrisy that presides over bourgeois society. The partially justified pretension of modern Communism, like the more frivolous claims of Fascism, is to denounce the mystification that undermines the principles and virtues of the bourgeois type of democracy. Divine transcendence, up to 1789, served to justify the arbitrary actions of the kind. After the French Revolution, the transcendence of formal principles of reason or justice serves to justify a rule that is neither just nor reasonable. This transcendence is therefore a mask that must be torn off. God is dead, but Stirner predicted, the morality of principles in which the memory of God is still preserved must also be killed. Therefore, atheist not only want you to believe God is dead, they want to remove Him from the government, and banish Him from your memory so society can totally decay and the world become unlivable due to harsh climate changes, sharply rising housing and food prices, and social chaos. The hatred of formal virtue—degraded witness to divinity and false witness in the service of injustice—has remained one of the principal themes in history today. #RandolphHarris 5 of 27

Nothing is pure: that is the cry which convulses our period. Impurity, the equivalent of history, is going to become the rule, and the abandoned earth will be delivered to naked force, which will decide whether or not man is divine. Thus, lies and violence are adopted in the same spirit in which a religion is adopted and on the same heartrending impulse. Still, the feelings of callousness and ruthlessness can also be exaggerated. The taboos on feelings of tenderness, sympathy, and confidence can be just as great in some neurotics as the taboos on hostility and vindictiveness are in others. These people feel that they should be able to live without any close personal relations, so they believe that they do not need them. They should not enjoy anything; so, they believe they do not care. Their emotional life then is less distorted than plainly impoverished. Naturally, the emotional pictures engendered by the inner commanders are not always streamlined. The orders issued can be contradictory. You should be so sympathetic that you shun no sacrifices whatever, but you should also be so coldblooded that you can carry out any act of vengeance. As a result, a person is convinced at times that he is callous and at others that he is extremely kindhearted. In other people so many feelings and wishes are checked that a general emotional deadness ensues. #RandolphHarris 6 of 27

There may be, for instance, a taboo on wanting anything for themselves, which puts the lid on all alive wishes and create pervasive inhibitions about doing anything for themselves. Then, partly because of these inhibitions, they develop just as pervasive claims on the grounds of which they feel entitled to have everything in life presented on a silver platter. And then, the resentment over the frustration of such claims may be choked off by a dictate that they should put up with life. We are less aware of the harm done our feelings by the pervasive should than of other damage inflicted by them. Yet, it is actually the heaviest price we pay for trying to mold ourselves into perfection. Feelings are the most alive part of ourselves; if they are put under a dictatorial regime, a profound uncertainty is created in our essential being which must affect adversely our relations to everything inside and outside ourselves. We can hardly overrate the intensity of the impact of the inner dictates. The more the drive to actualize his idealized self prevails in a person, the more the shoulds become the sole motor force moving him, driving him, whipping him into action. When a patient who is still far removed from his real self discovers some of the cramping effects of his should, he can nevertheless be entirely unable to consider relinquishing then because without them—so he feels—he would or could not do anything. He may sometimes express this concern in terms of the belief that one cannot make other people do the “right” thing except by force, which is an externalized expression of his inner experience. The shoulds then acquire a subjective value for the patient which he can dispense only when he experiences the existence of other spontaneous forces in himself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 27

When we realize the enormous coercive power of the shoulds, we must raise one question. What does it do to a person when he recognizes that he cannot measure up to his inner dictates? To anticipate the answer briefly: then he starts to hate and despise himself. We cannot, in fact, understand the full impact of the should unless we see the extent to which they are interwoven with self-hate. It is the threat of a punitive self-hate that lurks behind them, that truly makes them a regime of terror. When all five feelings, anger, fear, hurt, joy, love, are expressed honestly, the individual is more real, more actualized. However, manipulators, aware of the power of feelings, will try to use them to control others. By using anger, a manipulator attempts to intimidate and create fear in others. All of us have met manipulators who by their shouting and screaming keep others from communicating with them. Some manipulators provoke anger in others in order to play the role of the weak victim of the brutal attack. The weak victim can then easily shame the others into compliance. “Gotcha!” A manipulator also uses fear in tandem with hate. He sits at the console and gives ‘em what he thinks they need; a little fear today, a little hate tomorrow. Some days he gives them both. And they stand together and shiver and think he is the greatest guy in the world and [they] love him. #RandolphHarris 8 of 27

The “silent treatment” is a tried-and-true favorite of manipulators. The manipulator looks as if he or she has been auditioning for a sinus medication commercial. Note the squint of the eyes, the furrow of the brow, the downward curve of the lips—the pained expression that can only come from eight undrained sinus cavities. However, no matter how many entreaties the victim makes to find out what is wrong, the response is always, “I am okay. What makes you think something is wrong? Do not mine me, I will just go to bed early.” Manipulators do not like to express joy they might feel, and they sure do not want anyone else to either. They are the joy killers: “You are sure lucky you got an A on your term paper, but I have heard that Professor Winchester grades easy on papers and hard on the final exam.” Love, perhaps the least likely to be thought is as a manipulative weapon, is paradoxically one of the most common manipulative techniques. How often has the phrase, “If you loved me, you would…” been used to win a point, gain a goal, or exert control over a partner? A clever manipulator can use love to dominate a relationship or, conversely, to bring one to an end by saying, for example, “If you really loved me, you would let me go.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 27

However, we do not overcome our doubts by suppressing them, we do not meet our misgivings by denying them, and we do not refute falsehood by shirking questions which happen to be inconvenient. I am too much aware of the diversity of intellectual truths to regard them as other than merely relative. Therefore, I prefer a light skepticism. Is it not ironic that the only creature in the universe which doubts God’s existence is also the only one—up to that grade—which contains the proof of that existence? The countless germs, worms, insects, reptiles, and mammals below man lack the rational capacity to question, while the higher types of individuated beings above him know too much to utter such a doubt. Reason begins by being skeptical of everything else. It ends by becoming skeptical about itself. It is unwise skeptically to let these truths vanish from our sight, as though we had not even heard of them, for then the grove of old suffering will have to be cut anew. These secret doubts, these inward vacillations, must be faced and overcome. To doubt is not to deny. If we were to end in it, we must begin with doubt in order to clear the ground, but we would be in a sorry state. No doctrine is so sacred that it is not to be questioned. Man cannot escape from his duty to doubt. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27

Each generation must reflect in its own way on the conundrums of existence and be vigorously alive to its own problems, which are not wholly the problems of other epochs, and must face them in a fresh living manner. However, when uneasy doubt is pushed to the extreme of settled cynicism, when needful caution is elongated to paralyzing cowardice, when skepticism is grown so big that it cannot let the divine get past it into his heart, then the man falls into a bog of materialism and becomes its pitiable victim. Doubt has a legitimate use in the would of thought. Without it, we should be at the mercy of every charlatan, every fool, every exploiter, and every false doctrine. We need not be ashamed therefore to avail ourselves of it at times. Doubt tears the veil off deceit and exposes humbug hidden beneath benevolence. We need not be afraid to question everything, to doubt everything, even the words we use and our own very selves. If we take nothing for granted, we have nothing but falsehood, illusion, and self-deception to lose. How shall we begin this study? The best way is the only way for us. We must begin by doubting everything; thus, alone may we hope to end by knowing everything. Although we have to begin our metaphysical life by doubting accepted values, we cannot end there; we cannot love forever in an atmosphere of suspended judgment. If tentative, even without reaching absolute certainty, the process of active living demands that sooner or later, we commit ourselves to a definite standpoint. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27

In adulthood, many of us are live deviant school boys. Perhaps without realizing it, we continue to play the same childish game and risk far more than a bruised shoulder in the process. Unwillingness to accept the responsibility for and consequences of one’s actions is an all-too-common condition in today’s world. Who has not hurt of the drunken driver who uses his host for allowing him to get drunk, or of the accident victim who claims damages from the physician who tries to help him? Perpetrators of the most heinous crimes often plead guilty by reason of insanity or claim that they are victims of society’s ills. The reckless blame alcohol. Christians blame the devil. Abusers and adulterers blame the broken homes of their childhood. And, if they do not want to, there are enough who agree with them to ensure that no one need feel terribly guilty for long. The habit of shifting the burden of guilt onto someone else, while perhaps understandable in a secular setting, has more serious consequences in a spiritual one. There too it has an ancient but not honorable tradition. When his sacrifice was not accepted, Cain blamed God. “I was worth,” he said, “for his offering thou didst accept and not mine,” reports Moses 5.38. Even the very elite have sometimes succumbed to the temptation to blame others for their disobedience or their failure to receive blessings. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27

When faced with the consequences of transgression, rather than looking to ourselves as the source of the discomfort which always accompanies sin, many of us tend to blame someone else. Rather than getting out of a vicious and senseless circle, we fault our neighbor for our pain and try to pass it on. However, to repent, we must leave the circle. The first step in the repentance process has always been simply to recognize that we have done wrong. If we are so hedged about by pride, rationalization, machismo, or a misdirected sense of self-esteem as to prevent us from every admitting that we are part of the problem, we are in trouble. We then may not even know of our need to repent. We will have no idea whether the Lord is pleased with us or not and may become past feeling. “We are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were divided,” reports 1 Nephi 17.45. To fail to repent is to perish. “And except ye repent, ye shall perish; yea, even your lands shall be taken from you, and ye shall be destroyed from off the face of the earth,” reports Helaman 7.28. To excuse misconduct by blaming others is presumptuous at best and is fatally flawed with regard to spiritual things, for “we believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression,” reports Articles of Faith 1.2. #RandolphHarris 13 of 27

People typically eat without consideration of what they need for optimum nourishment or for full consciousness of body and world. Excessive eating is a sedative, insuring that persons will not feel the impact of their life styles upon them. Fasting has played a crucial role in every religious tradition and every discipline that aims at enlightenment. Avoiding food for periods ranging from a day to a month or longer will result not only in some loss of weight, but also in heightened somatic perception and keener senses of touch, taste, and smell. In my own experiences at fasting, I have gone no longer than six days without food; I completed a partial fast for forty days, however, limiting my nourishment to vegetable and fruit juices. The fasting was not unlike a trip to another culture—it gave me a changed perspective upon the situation within which I had been enmeshed. Many persons in recent years have begun to experiment with vegetarian diets, with organically grown foods, with foods that have not been preserved with chemicals. Such intelligent concern with one’s nourishment is quite compatible with healthy personality, and it certainly contributes to the experience of re-embodiment. Just as we need nourishing food to survive physically, we need the gospel of Jesus Christ to survive spiritually. Our souls are nourished by whatever speaks of Christ and lead us to Him, whether it is written in the scriptures, spoken by latter-day prophets, or taught by other humble servants of God. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27

Paramedics, EMTs, and firefighters with the Sacramento Fire Depart also save our souls and lives by providing medical care, and identifying and remediating hazards and teaching us how to rectify those threats. To bring their vision to life and accomplish their personal mission, members of the Sacramento Fire Department set definite goals. One way they think about these goals is by thinking of their vision and mission as their life strategy and their goals as tactics that will help then work within and toward that strategy. The Sacramento Fire Department thinks of goals as dots they connect to create the picture described by their vision and mission. They are the short-term milestones that keep them on track and help them achieve their greater mission. However, how do they write effective goals? One technique is that they write SMART goals. SMART goals have built-in features that help the Sacramento Fire Department attain them. Here is an example of how they write SMART goals. If your vision, is to be an excellent firefighter and your mission in support of that is to attain excellent performance reviews, how exactly do you get there? A SMART goal that implements those vision and mission statements might be to eat a balanced diet, get proper rest, go to the gym, show up for work early, and display discipline and determination. Notice how the goals seta specific measurable benchmark and an attainable deadline. If you find it helpful, you can write goals for your job, class, home or whatever you want to exceed in. #RandolphHarris 15 of 27

The last step in this process is to prioritize your SMART goals. Put them in order of importance, time due, or time required to complete, overall attainability, cost, geographic location, outside help, required, or another organizing scheme. You should not randomly list your goals; otherwise, you will waste time and effort. Whether you do the small stuff first and the challenging ones later—or vice versa—is up to you, but organize your time and effort. Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. Crafting a personal vision statement, mission statement, and SMART goals is a key step in how members of the Sacramento Fire Department develop their identity as adults and members of a team. Vision, mission, and goals help bring out the best qualities of personality in the Sacramento Fire Departments and makes them desirable role models for their peers and the public. You never know the limit of your potential until you reach it—and then step further. A clear vision, a specific mission, and definite goals are important tools that will help you reach and then exceed your expectations. #RandolphHarris 16 of 27

“It can’t be the money that keeps me in, I’ll tell you that. It can’t be the money. It’s just that, even after I’ve been off a week, I still have that desire to get back and get in there. I like the action. I enjoy getting out there and helping people. A lot of guys don’t like to say that. It’s not the macho image. But there are so many out there who need some help, it’s unreal. Especially in the areas where I’ve been working. I never worked in high-class areas, but in my areas it gives you a good feeling to help people who need it. I can go home and say I love life. Very seldom am I down, very seldom. I think that the department has helped. I would say to a young man coming in that it’s going to be a rough road ahead, it’s not going to be easy by a long shot. You have to put a lot into it. Of course, the outlook is different now than when I came in, and much to the better. It’s tough for old-timers to give up the old macho way with smoke, for instance. That’s dumb. I did it, but it’s dumb. Now the new guys are oriented to wearing a mask at all times, and this is a great safety feature. With a young guy coming in now, it’s a good job, and you get out of it what you put into it. There are guys that come in strictly for security, and there are guys that come in for the love of the job. There’s a twenty-two-year-old fellow coming in now, and that’s all he wants—the fire department. Luckily he got up on the list, and he was sweating taking the physical, and he was sweating taking the interview. He finally got appointed, and he’s elated. #RandolphHarris 17 of 27

“He called me up at work. ‘Hey, are there any openings at your house? I want to come and work with you.’ I said, ‘You don’t want to come here.’ He said, ‘Yes, I do.’ ‘Well, I’ll tell you what,’ I said. ‘You couldn’t make a better choice if you want to get experience and work with a bunch of guys that are like a top-notch baseball team. It’s a team that’s always there. If someone has a problem, somebody can look out for you.’ I love it. I feel good about my life. I enjoy the department, and with working on the side on my other jobs, I have enough money to enjoy the other things in life, vacations, taking trips. If I had stayed with the post office, I would have been a different person. In the Sacramento Fire Department, when I’ve been off for a week or two, either sick or on a double, I think, ‘Boy, I hope I can get back to work soon. I’m ready to go back.’ A week off, fine, that’s enough. I’m ready to get back.” Because truth has been bound up with such absurdities, often for self-interested motives, it behooves us to accept no message without due investigation and deep caution. Because people do not feel their inward divinity, they often deny it. In ancient and even medieval times, they were satisfied that it did exist because their simplicity, their uncultivated intellects, created no barriers to this feeling or to faith in it on the authority of tradition and their prophets. We must understand the inevitability of their present skepticism and prove the fact of the Soul as logically, as evidentially as possible. Yet to offer intellectual proof alone is not enough, although a truly excellent step forward. We must also show them how to get the experience of verification for themselves. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27

If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency situation and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way. Sometimes fire fighters are getting back into their vehicle and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals, sometimes emergency vehicles are in motions, albeit, slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27

As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. To help our firefighters, pleasure donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to ensure they have all the resources they require. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America, out pacing Christianity. While American was once a nation of generations, there are still many indigenous people lift and others who have been here for generations. To protect America and make sure it will remain a land of the free and home of the brave, we must be patriotic and put Americans first. Democrats and Atheists would like nothing more than red blooded American warriors to become slaves in their own country. They would like nothing more than to close American schools so children can be forced into child labor again. It is not time to roll back, nor will it ever be to remove protection for American citizens. If you have not noticed, crime is spreading to communities that had never seen crime before. Homelessness is on the rise. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27

In fact, Democratic controlled California brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27

Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 22 of 27

The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 23 of 27

In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. As an incentive to buy American made cars, President Trump plans to made interest on loans for American cars tax deductible. Americans surely make superior products, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. Las Vegas is running out of buildable land and is expected to reach its maximum number of homes in 2032. So, home prices are expected to rise dramatically. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27

Additionally, State Farm did ask the California Department of Insurance if they could raise homeowner insurance rates by 22 percent, but this request was denied. However, in 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1107, also known as the Protection California Drivers Act, into law which increases the minimum auto lability limits for bodily injury to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. Senate Bill 1107 also increased the minimum liability limits for property damage to $15,000 per accident and the DMV deposit for uninsured drivers to $75,000. The bill went into effect on January 1, 2025. This means that drivers with existing policies with lower limits will renew at the new minimum limits on or after January 1, 2025, and insurance premiums could increase by as much as 54 percent. America is in a state of crisis right now because of mismanagement by democrats. If elected for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27

Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 26 of 27

When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 27 of 27

The Winchester Mystery House

Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.

For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

We wish to express our gratitude to our families and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.) https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/

BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers
Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html


Old Soldiers Never Die

Our problems can never be solved by dealing with them as we do, in passion and prejudice, unless indeed we find a new passion for Rightness and a new prejudice for Truth. The integrity of a man’s intellectual conscience will one day demand from every man a search for spiritual knowledge to confirm, sustain, or even replace his present spiritual faith. The studies should stimulate him to start, continue, or intensify the exercises, regimes, and practices, but they cannot act as a substitute for them. When it is hard to balance the claims of opposing doctrines, it is easier to substitute feeling for thinking. A manipulator’s life involves four fundamental characteristics: deception, unawareness, control, and cynicism. The actualizer’s life is marked by four opposing characteristics: honesty, awareness, freedom, and trust. Manipulators use deception, tricks, techniques, and maneuvers. They put on an act, and play roles to create an impression. Their expressed feelings are deliberately chosen to fit a “secret agenda.” Unawareness is another technique used my manipulators. They miss meaning and significance in experience, through the use of a collection of common heuristics and logical fallacies that lead individuals to focus on cues that are consistent with their opinion and filter out cues that are inconsistent with their viewpoint. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

Manipulators control people by deliberately concealing their motives from their opponents. Manipulators tend to be cynics. They distrust themselves and others. Down deep, they do not trust human nature. They see relationships as having only two alternatives: to control or to be controlled. In a sharp contrast, actualizers tend to be honest and authentic. Actualizers are able to be and to express their feelings, whatever they may be. There is a congruence between an actualizer’s feelings and expressions, actions and situations. Actualizers also tend to be very aware. They have an accurate perceptions, appropriate responses. Actualizers fully see and listen to themselves and others. They find meaning and significance in life experience. Actualizers express their freedom through spontaneity. They have the freedom to be and to express their potentials, and this allows them to master life rather than be puppets. They are subject, instead of being objects. Actualizers also have deep trust in themselves and others. They can relate to and cope with life in the here and now. Without deserting the use of sharp reasoning, yet without abandoning the piety of worshipful feeling, an actualizer follows obediently the light which has been show him. Using the symbols of the Light of Christ, it is a harmonious cooperation of head and heart. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

Humans have many actualizing potentials. Some we come to appreciate or value more than others. The more we can appreciate all aspects of ourselves, the more fully actualizing we become. We can be angry at times, loving at others, strong sometimes and weak sometimes. We must fearlessly subpoena our faith to appear before the court of common sense; if it is afraid to do that, it is not worthy of being held. As actualizers, we want vigorous facts, not the vague sentimentalities. However, as manipulators, each aspect ourselves that we disvalue becomes an act of disowning a part of ourselves. And what we disown, we must treat as “things.” When we do something we dislike, we say, “That is not like me!” “It came over me,” instead of “I regret that I did that”or “I am sorry I said that.” Soon this tendency to disown or to deny ourselves spreads into all areas of our lives. When the home team is losing, it is no longer “our team” but “that team.” Similarly, one’s spouse becomes a “nag,” a “ball and chain,” a “meal ticket.” When you feel like an “it,” others about you seem like “its” too. As actualizers, we appreciate ourselves and others and do not need to manipulate others to control them. We operate from a position of self-worth rather than from a position of deficiency. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

The manipulator, always assuming a deficiency in self and others, is compelled to fight. Life is a battle with strategy, tactics, tricks, or games necessary for survival. When a manipulator loses a battle or contest, he or she feels that everything is lost. The actualizer, assuming sufficiency in self and others and not hampered by the manipulator’s battle gear, sees life as an endless array of exciting opportunities to learn and to grow and to share. While the manipulator is a many-faceted person of antagonistic opposites, the actualizer is a many-faceted person of complementary opposites. From Dictator to Leader. The leader guides and serves rather than controls and dictates. The leader is forceful and decisive, yet not domineering and arbitrary. The complementary opposite to the leader is the empathizer. The empathizer not only talks, but also listens and is aware of his or her weaknesses. Although the empathizer has high expectations of self and others, he or she can understand and accept human fallibility. The actualizer integrates his or her leadership and empathy. The qualities of leadership and empathy are dependent upon each other. Without empathy, a leader is more likely to be a dictator; without leadership, the quality of empathy may be hollow. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

From Calculator to Respecter. The respecter, rather than using or exploiting others, creatively participates in cooperative endeavors with others. The respecter, trusting and respecting the qualities of self an others, is able to bring out the best in both. The complementary opposite of the respecter is the appreciator. The appreciator is able to celebrate and admire the talents of others without envy. He or she can tolerate differences in others and does not need to have others to think, believe, and behave the same as he or she thinks, believes, and behaves. The actualizer integrates his or her respect and appreciation. A respecter without appreciation is a calculator. Appreciation without the creativity and cooperation of a respecter is like a birthday card bought but never given. From Bully to Assertor. The assertor, confident of his or her rights and strength, is direct and straightforward. Assertors do not view others as enemies to be vanquished, but are also not afraid to stand up and be counted. The complementary opposite of the assertor is the cater. The carer is not the obsequious Nice Guy, but is affectionate and friendly. The actualizer integrates his or her assertion and caring. An assertor without caring is a bully. And a carer who will not assert his or her needs is just playing the “martyr” role. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

From Judge to Expresser. The expresser is not judgmental of others, but is able to express his or her convictions strongly and well. The complementary opposite of the expressor is the guide. The guide does not presume to protect and teach others, but willingly encouraged others onto the path of understanding. A guide, knowing that each person must find his or her own way, offers the greatest gift one can give to another: belief in him or her. The actualizers integrates his or her expression and guidance. The actualizer does not think for others but with others, having his or her own opinions and beliefs at the same time he or she allows others to have theirs. The mystical attack upon intellect has sufficient basis to justify it up to a certain point. However, when it goes beyond that point and unreservedly praises the holy imbecile and listens with bated breath to his utterances, it renders a disservice to mysticism. If all this enormous human evolution is to end in men feeling like children and acting like fools, is there not a danger that they may go father and turn into idiots? Life, today, is too challenging to be met successfully by the brainless or foolish. It is also nonsense for any mystic of the religious devotional school to say that intellect is useless and unnecessary on the spiritual path. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

It may be so on his particular path—although even there his assertion is arguable—but it is certainly not so on the other paths. How can it harm a seeker to acquire all possible knowledge about the quest, to know all that he can gather from the history of mysticism, the biography of mystics, the psychology of mystical states, and the philosophy of mystical thinkers? Thus equipped, he is surely better equipped to find his way in what is, after all, a dim and obscure territory. And how can he learn these things without studying books, listening to lectures, discussing ideas, and exchanging experiences with others? If men of high intelligence are trained in theology, at some point the intelligence is forsaken or led to subserve faith. The cleavage of the mental functions in the form of an irrational attitude towards religion combined with a rational attitude towards everything else, is quite common. It is not distant from the mental disease called schizophrenia. Each mistake in action is the result of a preceding mistake in thought. What is lost by bringing a higher intelligence to they study of spiritual topics? If the person is sufficiently balanced to use it properly—nothing. Too many mystics of the emotional-devotional type have, while rightly scorning intellect’s limitations, wrongly decried reason’s services. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

Dynamite serves the mining engineer and the road builder very well. Fire serves the kitchen cook very well. However, if he or she brings dynamite into contact with fire in the kitchen, both may destroy the individual. Knowledge is not only one’s power but also one’s protector. When the aspirant has great devotion to the Overself but little understanding of it, Nature will halt him at a certain stage of his spiritual career and compel him to redress the balance. Whatever the prevailing attitude, a great deal of the process is always externalized; it is experienced as going on between self and others. Variations in this regard concern the particular aspect that is externalized, and the way in which it is done. Roughly, a person may primarily impose his standards upon others and make relentless demands as to their perfection. The more he feels himself to be the measure of all things, the more he insists—not upon general perfection but upon his particular norms being measured up to. The failure of others to do so arouses his own irritation with himself for not being, at any moment and under all conditions, what he should be may be turned outward. Thus, for instace, when he is not the perfect lover, or is caught in a lie, he may turn angrily against those he failed and build up a case against them. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

Again, he may primarily experience his expectations of himself as coming from others. And, whether these others actually do expect something or whether he merely thinks they do, their expectations then turn into demands to be fulfilled. In analysis, he feels that the analyst expects the impossible from him. He attributes to the analyst his own feelings that he should always be productive, should always have a dream to report, should always talk about what he thinks the analyst wants him to discuss, should always be appreciative of help and show it by getting better. If he believes in this way that others are expecting or demanding things of him, he may, again, respond in two different ways. He may try to anticipate or guess at their expectations and e eager to live up to them. In that case, if he fails, he usually also anticipates that they would condemn him or drop him at a moment’s notice. Or, if he is hypersensitive to coercion, he feels that they are imposing upon him, meddling in his affairs, pushing him or coercing him. He then minds it bitterly, or even openly rebels against them. He may object to giving Christmas present, because they are expected. He will be at his office or at any appointment just a little later than expected. He will forget anniversaries, letters, or any favor for which he has been asked. He may forget a visit to relatives just because his mother had asked him to make it, although he liked them and meant to see them. He will overact to any request made. He will then be less afraid of the criticism of others than resentful of it. His vivid and unfair self-criticism also becomes tenaciously externalized. He then feels that others are unfair in their judgement of him or that they always suspect ulterior motives. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

Or, if his rebellion is more aggressive, he will flaunt his defiance and believe the he does not in the least care what they think of him. The overreaction to requests made is a good lead to recognizing the inner demands. Reactions which strike us ourselves as being out of proportion may be particularly helpful in self-analysis. Also, we may draw certain faulty conclusions from self-observations. For example, a busy executive whom I saw occasionally, was asked by phone whether he could go to the pier and meet a refugee writer coming from Europe. He had always admired this writer and had met him socially on a visit to European. Since his time was jammed with conferences and other work, it would actually have been unfeasible to comply with this request, particularly since it might have involved waiting on the pier for hours. As he realized later on, he could have reacted in two ways, both of them sensible. He could either have said that he would think it over and see whether he could make it, or he could have declined with regret and asked whether there was anything else he could do for the writer. Instead, he reacted with immediate irritation and said abruptly that he was too busy and never would call for anybody at the pier. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

Soon after this, he regretted his response, and later went to some length to find out where the writer was located so that he could help him if necessary. He not only regretted the incident; he also felt puzzled. Did he not think as highly of the writer as he had thought he did? He felt sure that he did. Was he not as friendly and helpful as he believed himself to be? If so, was he irritated because he was put on the spot in being asked to prove his friendliness and helpfulness? Here he was on a good track. The mere fact of his being able to question the genuineness of his generosity was for him quite a step to take—for, in his idealized image, he was the benefactor of mankind. It was, however, more than he could digest at this juncture. He rejected this possibility by remembering that afterward he was eager to offer and give help. However, while closing one avenue in his thought he suddenly hit upon another clue. When he offered help the initiative was his, but the first time he had been asked to do something. He then realized that he had felt the request as an unfair imposition. Provided he had known about the writer’s arrival, he would certainly have considered on his own the possibility of meeting hum at the boat. He now thought of many similar incidents in which he had reacted irritably to a favor asked and realized that apparently, he felt as imposition or coercion many things which in actual fact were mere requests or suggestions. He also thought of his irritability over disagreements or criticism. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

The conclusion he arrived at was that he was a bully and wanted to dominate. Reactions of this kind are easily mistake for tendencies to dominate. What he had seen on his own was his hypersensitivity to coercion and to criticism. He could not stand coercion because he felt in a strait jacket anyhow. And he could not stand criticism because he was his own worst critic. In this context, we also could pick up the track he had abandoned when questioning his friendliness. To a large extent, he was helpful because he should be helpful and not because of his rather abstract love for humanity. His attitude toward concrete individuals was much more divided than he realized. Thus, any request plunged him into an inner conflict: he should accede to it and be very generous also he should not allow anybody to coerce him. The irritability was an expression of feeling caught in a dilemma which at that time was insoluble. The effects the should have on a person’s personality and life vary to some extent with his way of responding to them or experiencing them. However, certain effects show inevitably and regularly, though to a greater or lesser degree. The should always produce a feeling of strain, which is all the greater the more a person tries to actualize his shoulds in his behavior. He may feel that he stands on tiptoe all the time, and may suffer from a chronic exhaustion. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

Or he may feel vaguely cramped, tense, or hemmed in. Or, if his should coincide with attitudes culturally expected of him, he may feel merely an almost imperceptible strain. It may be strong enough, however, to contribute to a desire in an otherwise active person to retire from activities or obligations. Furthermore, because of externalizations, the shoulds always contribute to disturbances in human relations in one way or another. The most general disturbance on this score is hypersensitivity to criticism. Being merciless toward himself, he cannot help experiencing any criticism on the part of others—whether actual or merely anticipated, whether friendly or unfriendly—as being just as condemnatory as his own. We shall understand the intensity of this sensitivity better when we realize how much he hates himself for any lagging behind his self-imposed standards. Otherwise, the kinds of disturbance in human relations depend upon the kinds of prevailing externalization. They may render him too critical and harsh of others or too apprehensive, too defiant, or too complaint. Most important of all, the shoulds further impair the spontaneity of feelings, wishes, thoughts, and beliefs—id est, the ability to his own feelings, etcetera, and to express them. The person, then, can at best be “spontaneously compulsive” (to quote a patient) and express “freely” what he should feel, whish, think, or believe. We are accustomed to think that we cannot control feelings but only behavior. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

In dealing with others, we can enforce labor but we cannot force anybody to love his work. Just so, we are accustomed to think that we can force ourselves to act as if we were not suspicious but we cannot enforce a feeling of confidence. This remains especially true. And, if we needed a new proof, analysis could supply it. However, if the should issue an order as to feelings, imagination waves its magic wand and the border line between what we should feel and what we do feel evaporates. We consciously believe or feel then as we should believe or feel. For instance, Mac was a brave soldier and took good care of his men. However, one day, through ignorance or disobedience a lot of them got killed, and Mac blamed himself. That, along with malaria, malnutrition, and a few other things, caused him to break down. When he recovered, he worked and worked and worked so he would not think, but no matter how hard he worked he never seemed to get ahead, and there was always more work to be done if he wanted to get out of debt. Mac was a caterer and went to all sorts of weddings and other celebrations, but he never had anything to celebrate himself. He was always an onlooker, helping other people feel good with food, drunk, comfort, and advice, and that made him feel needed, as much as he could feel that way. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

The worst time was at night when he was alone and his thoughts went round and round. The best times were on Saturday night, when he got drunk and could forget and was almost one of the crowd. This started long before he went into the army. His mother ran away with a soldier when he was six, and when he knew she was gone for sure, he fell into a raging fever and tried to die, because that meant she did not need him. He began to work hard very early in high school, but whenever he got a little ahead, his father would somehow trick him out of the money. If he bought something for himself, his father would sell it. He was jealous of the other boys at school because they had mothers, and got into lots of fights. He did not mind bloody noses in the schoolyard, but he could not stand the sight of dead bodies in the war. He was a good marksman, but he always felt sorry for the enemies he killed, not did he hold it against them that his own men got killed. Because he blamed himself for that, he felt that his dead buddies were watching from somewhere, so he was very careful not to add insult to injury by having a good time. Except when he was drunk, and that did not count—or did it? He could never be sure. Once or twice, he tried to crash his car, and did het badly banged up, but survived. His chief way of trying to kill himself was by smoking heavily even when he had bronchitis. After a long period of treatment, he made friends with his mother, and that made him feel better again. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

Clinical Analysis. Thesis: The old soldier was not good enough for his mother and failed his friends. As a result, he is condemned to work hard forever without getting ahead. He is a spectator in life and cannot join in the fun. He is always willing to help others, and that means more work, but it makes him feel needed. Death will be his only release, but he cannot hurt the ones who love him by actual death by suicide. All he can do is slowly fade away. Clinical Diagnosis: Compensated schizophrenia. Song: Old Soldiers Never Die. Roles: Failed Rescuer, Persecutor, Victim. Switches: Victim (of mother and father) to Rescuer (of men) to Victim (of circumstances). Parental Precept: “Work hard and help people.” Parental Pattern: “Here is how to endure it—drink.” Parental Injunction: “Do not get ahead.” Position: “I am not-O.K.” Decision: “I will work myself to death.” Sweatshirt: Front—“I am a nice guy.” Back—“Even if it kills me.” Pastime: Reminiscing about the war. Game: “I am Only Trying to Help You.” Antithesis: Stop killing yourself. Permission: Tune in and get ahead. Classification—Old Solider is a nonwinner’s script because it is a point of honor with old soldiers not to get ahead. It is a Goal-Structured Cannot script with the slogan: “You cannot get ahead until they need you again.” It is based on an “After” plan, “After the war is over, you can only fade away.” The waiting time is filled by helping people and soldier talk. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

The educated mind is repelled by superstition, the reasonable mind by fanaticism. Yet both need the fortifying support of a spiritual teaching. Every error rejected and every truth accepted strengthens a man in character and mind. Parts of the organizational structure of the Sacramento Fire Department are built from military traditions. Not everyone can become a fire fighter, EMT, or paramedic. Those who do succeed in achieving this status understand the vital mission of the Sacramento Fire Department. They understand that they must be healthy and in good physical condition and assertive enough to enter a dangerous situation yet mature enough to work as a member of a team. The job requires a person who has the desire to learn, the will to practice, and the ability to apply the skills of the trade. A fire fighter, EMT, and paramedic are constantly learning as the body of knowledge about fires expands and the technology used in fighting fires and saving lives evolves. The job can also be stressful, however. The most frequent reasons for “stressing out” fall into three main categories: The unsettling effects of change, the feeling that an outside force is challenging or threatening you, the feeling that you have lost personal control. Life events such as marriage, changing jobs, divorce, or the death of a relative or friend are the most common cases of stress. Although life-threatening events are less common, they can be the most physiological and psychologically acute. They are usually associated with public service career fields in which people experience intense stress levels because of imminent danger and a high degree of uncertainty—police officer, fire and rescue worker, emergency relief worker, and the military. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

You may not plan to enter a high-stress career, but as a college student, you may find that the demands of college life can create stressful situation. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) notes some of the more common stressors for college students: Increased academic demands, being on your own in a new environment, changes in family relations, financial responsibilities, changes in your social life, exposure to new people, ideas, and temptations, awareness of your sexual identity and orientation, preparing for life after graduation. Symptoms of distress fall into three general, but interrelated, categories—physical, mental, and emotional. Review this list carefully. If you find yourself frequently experiencing these symptoms, you are likely feeling distressed: Headaches, fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, hypertension (high blood pressure), heart problems, such as palpitations, inability to focus/lack of concentration, sleep disturbances, whether it is sleeping too much or an inability to sleep, sweating palms/shaking hands, anxiety, and problems with pleasures of the flesh. Even when you do not realize it, stress can cause or contribute to serious physical disorders. It increases hormones such as adrenaline and corticosterone, which affect your metabolism, immune reactions, and other stress responses. That can lead to increases in your heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and physical demands on your internal organs. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

Behavioral changes are also expressions of stress. They can include: Irritability, disruptive eating patterns (overeating or under eating), harsh treatment of others, increases smoking or alcohol consumption, isolation, compulsive shopping. A sustained high level of stress is no laughing matter. It can affect every area of your life—productivity in the workplace and classroom, increased health risks, and relationships, to name just a few. However, you can learn to manage your stress. The first step is understanding yourself better—how you react in different situations, what causes you stress, and how you behave when you feel stressed. Once you have done that, take the following steps: Set priorities. Use the time-management tips. Make a To-Do list. Decide what is really important to get done today, and what can wait. This helps you to know that you are working on your most immediate priorities, and you do not have the stress of trying to remember what you should be doing. Practice facing stressful moments. Think about the event or situation you expect to face and rehearse your reactions. Find ways to practice dealing with the challenge. If you know that speaking in front of a group of friends frightens you, practice doing it, perhaps with a trusted friend or fellow team member. If the pressure of taking test causes you to freeze up, buy some practice tests and work with them when there are no time pressures. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

Examine your expectations. Try to set realistic goals. It is good to push yourself to achieve, but make sure your expectations are realistic. Watch out for perfectionism. Be satisfied with doing the best you can. Nobody’s perfect—not you, not your fellow Cadet, nobody. Allow people the liberty to make mistakes, remember that mistakes can be a good teacher. However, if you keep making the same mistakes over and over, people are going to think that there is something wrong with you. Live a healthy lifestyle. Get plenty of exercise. Eat healthy foods. Allow time for rest and relaxation. Find a relaxation technique that works for you—prayer, sports, reading a book, taking a bath, playing video games, or breathing exercises. Look for the humor in life, and enjoy yourself. Learn to accept change as part of life. Nothing stays the same. Develop a support system of friends and relatives you can talk to when needed. Believe in yourself and your potential. Remember that many people from disadvantaged backgrounds have gone on to enjoy great success in life. At the same time, avoid those activities that promise release from stress while actually adding to it. Drinking alcohol (despite what all those TV commercials imply), drinking caffeine, smoking, and overeating all add to the body’s stress in addition to their other harmful effects. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

Here are some other strategies for dealing with stress: Schedule time for vacation, breaks in your routine, hobbies and fun activities. Try to arrange for uninterrupted time to accomplish tasks that need your concentration. Arrange some leisure time during which you can do things that you really enjoy. Avoid scheduling too many appointments, meetings, and classes back-to-back. Allow breaks to catch your breath. Take a few slow, deep breathe whenever you feel stressed. Breathe from the abdomen and, as you exhale, silently say to yourself, “I feel calm.” Become an expert at managing your time. Read books, view videos, and attend seminars on time management. Once you cut down on time wasters, you will find more time to recharge yourself. Learn to say, “no.” Setting limits can minimize stress. Spend time on your main responsibilities and priorities rather than allowing other people’s priorities or needs to dictate how you spend time. Exercise regularly to reduce muscle tension and promote a sense of well-being. Tap into your support network. Family, friends, and social groups can help when dealing with stressful events. All of us can improve our ability to recognize when we are under too much stress or anxiety. We can also improve our ability to turn to the Lord for help. “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved,” reports Psalm 55.22. By seeking guidance from the Lord to make a plan of what to do and when and how, the Savior will help us to manage our stress and anxiety. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

“I don’t want to be on an ego trip, but I tell you there is nothing else in the World like firefighting. I have dedicated myself to it, and I’ve trued to implement a lot of things in the Sacramento Fire Department. As you get higher in rank, obviously, it gives you a better chance to do those things. I have a large family, and there are always money concerns. You say, ‘I wish I could afford to pay my kids’ way through college completely.’ I have a number of children who have completed college. I have a couple of degrees in fire science. I did teaching at a community college. I’ve done a lot of things in the Sacramento Fire Department to improve protective clothing and to improve our fire ground tactics to make things safer for firefighters. Obviously I could have made more money doing something else, but it wouldn’t be the same career. After twenty-seven years, if you’re doing a job, and you still like going to work and look forward to going to work, then you know it’s worthwhile. Money isn’t everything, I guess, compared to the special feeling you have being a firefighter. I have a son now who is going to take the fire exam. He had gone to college for a couple of years, then stopped. It’s really hard to postpone gratification. If he wants to be a firefighter, that’s great. I know he’ll make a living. Hopefully, he’ll have equal opportunity and a fair opportunity for promotion. That’s one of the sad parts of the fire service. We don’t want to eliminate anybody from equal treatment, but I think you end up with reverse discrimination, when other firefighters are entitled to something and don’t get it. A career in the fire service—there’s nothing like it. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. To help our firefighters, pleasure donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to ensure they have all the resources they require. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

The Winchester Mystery House

Happy halfway to Halloween from the sheet ghost 🎃 it isn’t just a season, it’s a lifestyle 🏖️👻

Don’t forget! we’re celebrating halfway to Halloween with flashlight tours 👻🔦 only two Saturdays left — may 3 + may 10!

For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

If Life is Not to be Trivial, it Must be Hard

Several people say they turn to the TV news to figure out what is going on in the World. However, only 20 percent of Americans regularly attend church, but 57 percent of Americans tune in to TV news. The Christian Bible is the account of God’s action in the World, and His purpose for creation. Therefore, it is more logical to attend church and learn more about the World, yourself and God. Psychology is a nice supplement to religion. Maslow continuously pondered what humans might become, in the hope of learning how more of us might grow toward those seemingly Utopian levels of being. Maslow’s work remains as one of the most helpful sets of principles governing the development of the healthy personality. He suggested the existence of two kinds of motivation: B, or being motivation, and D, or deficiency motivation. D-motivations are those that grab us when we are deeply deprived or have a loss of some basic need, such as the burglar who may be driven by hunger or the coward who may be driven by fear for personal safety. In contrast, the self-actualizing person is seen as motivated by the being needs, to be the fullest possible self, to be able to sing, create, work at highest capacity. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

The peak experience concept has met with a great deal of interest. Maslow suggests the existence of these marvelous experiences that overwhelm the person and are great heights of delight and joy or meaningfulness, awesome experiences that may occur to a self-actualizing person but are not exclusively confined to that kind of person. Here are two contrasting examples of the more moderate peak or positive experiences collected from tenth-grade students: “Mine happened just last night. I love the summer and hate the winter. So last night when I stepped outside and found how warm it was I just couldn’t go back into the house. I walked around the house and then looked around. You can see all the houses around from our house and just looking around at them and hearing the sounds of the night relaxed me and I felt like I was watching over the whole World. It was a gentle feeling and gave me a little bit of a thrill.” “Yes, in the winter I love to walk out in the snow and let it fall lightly on my face. When this happens it seems to make a strange sort of happiness fall on me also.” Deep philosophic courage is a power not easily gained. A man must overcome much within himself, must hold his spine unbending and his effort undeviating. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

All those negative qualities which act as encumbrances to true understanding of situations, occasions, events, and persons must be guarded against in attitude and action. Amid his gross brutalization and maniacal exaggerations, Nietzsche’s evil mysticism expressed some truth. He affirmed rightly that if life is not to be trivial, it must be hard. His quest of the Overself must be an untiring one. It is to be his way of looking at the World, his attitude toward life. It is far more important to develop the strength within himself needful to break the spell than to be for preventative protection against it. In the first case, he progresses enormously and rapidly; in the second, he is static. Each difficulty surmounted, each weakness resisted will fortify his will and increase his perseverance. It will evoke the better part of his nature and discipline the baser, and thus fit him more adequately to cope with the next ones. He must be equally steadfast in adhering to this attitude whether other people utter complaints against him or make compliments to him. We must retain our determination and our loyalty to the quest in all circumstances. Physical pains, climatic extremes must not deter us. We must console ourselves with the thought that these things are certain to pass away. They are mental figments, ideas which will be negated, whereas the truth and reality we seek belong to the immutable, and can never be negated. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

Few of us can withdraw from the World and most of us must engage in its activity. However, that is no reason for accepting the evils which are mixed in with this activity. Tenacity of purpose is a characteristic of all who accomplish great things. Drawbacks cannot disgust him, labour cannot weary him, hardships cannot discourage him in whom the quality of persistence is always present. However, to the man without persistence every defeat is a Waterloo. Indecision of purpose and infirmity of will must yield to the resolute mind and the determined act. The person who sways uncertainly between one side and the other misses opportunity. The student’s inner reactions to outer events provide him with the opportunity to use his free will in the right direction. His attitude towards his lower nature, that is, how far he encourages or discourages it, is another. And his recognition of what are good opportunities and what should be avoided, together with his acceptance or rejection of them, is still another. Mental indolence and moral lethargy are hardly likely to waft us into the high haven of spiritual peace. We must learn to think fearlessly and courageously about every problem that faces us; we must try to elevate our hearts above the level of the moral lepers and spiritually disabled of our time. He will learn to endure the blows of misfortune with a bravery heretofore unknown and a serenity heretofore unexperienced. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

If he is to achieve a full self-mastery, the strength of will which can lead a man to command of his desires for pleasure of the flesh cannot stop there. It must also go on to his diet and feelings, his speech and habits. However, many people, including the less affluent not only practice age discrimination, but they also advocate a lower-class bias. Class-stereotype is ambivalent, describing lower class people both negatively (less competent, less human, more objectified), and sometimes positively, perhaps warmer than upper class people. At a variety of levels and life stages, social-class stereotypes reinforce inequality. Sometimes, people who have benefited from Affirmative Actions like to uplift people of their culture, but discriminate against others as an act of revenge for bias that have faced. Social class matters, as a social construction, can be described in terms of what persons do; their jobs, habits, hobbies, lifestyles, but also in terms of what other people expect from them, their personality traits, life choices, aspirations, motivations. These oversimplified characterizations (id est, stereotypes) entail descriptions and prescriptions that impact individuals’ achievements, self-evaluations, and well-being. However, some of the elite feel a certain personal alienation from the dominant characters and opinions of American intellectual life, which doubtlessly quickens their championship of those who are thought to have little chance of succeeding in life. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

Some think that free silver is a poor social remedy, and it will only lead to monetary inflation like what many are experiencing since the COVID pandemic. There are also those who think the proper way to deal with poverty and inequality is by advocating careful elimination of the unfit and dependent, chiefly by eugenic methods. While others believe that education is a great way to end inequality. Proponents of equality want a field that shall be broad enough to embrace the whole human race. However, as it stands, we are assimilating a mass crude material from the bottom and they are just exacerbating conditions of racism, agism, discrimination, harassment, and facilitating the expansion of criminal activity. This is leading many to believe that society is doomed to hopeless degeneracy. Yet, it is possible to take another view. The only consolation, the only hope, lies in the truth that so far as the native capacity, the potential quality, the promise and potency of a higher life are concerned, those swarming, spawning millions, the bottom layer of society, the proletariat, the working class, the hewers of wood and drawers of water, nay even the denizens of the slums—that all these are by nature the peers of the boasted aristocracy of brains that now dominates society and looks down upon them, and the equals in all but privilege of the most enlightened teachers of eugenics. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

In the past, sociocracy, or the planned control of society by society was considered a solution. Under sociocracy, purposeful social activity, or collective telesis, could be harmonized with individual self-interest by means of attractive legislation designed to release the springs of human action for socially beneficial deeds by positive rather than negative and compulsory devices. Where individualism has created artificial inequalities, sociocracy would abolish them; and while socialism seeks to create artificial equalities, sociocracy would recognize inequalities that are natural. A sociocratic World would distribute its favours according to merit, as individualist demand, but by equalizing opportunity for all it would eliminate advantages now possessed by those with underserved power, accidental position or wealth, or antisocial cunning. We need to arrive at a better understanding of the importance of feeling in human motivation. The unique and artificial character of social organization and social processes are an odd inconsistency to deck out sociology with physics, chemistry, and biology, and to set it in the framework of a cosmological system. Some are not only ahead of the masses in point of time, but they are head, shoulders and hips above the general population in many respects scientifically. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

All the efforts which are made to develop and maintain the mental hygiene practices of our citizens help to restrain what would otherwise be an ever-growing demand for psychiatric services. The role of the family in contributing to emotional stability is a most crucial one and the programs in parent education which are offered under a variety of auspices play a vital role in contributing to sound psychological environments in the home. We would do well to give all possible support to programs in parent education and to resources for parent consultation; we should be particularly concerned to provide programs for parental guidance in those areas and communities in which they are presently lacking. The psychiatrist and psychologist can find especially effective avenues for their services as consultants in clinics or other programs for parent education. Next to home, the school provides a universal setting with potential for teaching and demonstrating sound mental hygiene principles. If the schools have been less than optimally effective in this responsibility in the past it is partly because they have been uncertain of the relative priorities of the provision of subject-matter instruction versus the stimulation of the pupil’s total personal growth. While the contribution of the individual teacher can occur in a variety of way, ranging from early detection of emotional distress and referral to provision of “emergency” tension relief and even relationship therapy, the optimal participation of teachers in mental hygiene activities is greatly enhanced in those schools that have provided for formal integration of mental health services, with the consultative assistance of professional workers. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

Better preparation of teachers for their opportunities, responsibilities, and limitations as mental hygienists can help much to reduce the demand for specifically psychiatric or psychological treatment. Such resources for expert treatment of childhood problems are even more severely restricted than are those for adult patients, and there must be increasing attention to the development of consultative skills—on the part both of teachers and experts. The potential of the church and the clergy in helping to promote mental health and to render assistance in cases of milder personal maladjustments is presently only partially realized. Based on a questionnaire survey, it was found that the average clergyman devotes only about two hours per week to personal counseling. Fewer than one out ten spend as much as ten hours a week on this activity. There is, considering the readiness of the distressed person to turn to his clergyman, a clear need to augment the preparation of the minister for this activity and to support him in his endeavours to render assistance, especially by giving him access to consultation. Increasing the effectiveness of our public education toward positive mental health and working toward more effective utilization of the front-line troops in early recognition and treatment of emotional upset constitute two ways of holding down the always excessive demand for psychiatric help. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

A third avenue deserving careful consideration would consist of efforts to educate the public more specifically as to the precise nature of psychiatric treatment, specifically of psychotherapy, to try to lower the public’s presently naïve and immodest expectations of what occurs in and what can happen because of psychotherapy, and to encourage a proper appreciation for therapeutic conversation. As an important part of this effort, both psychotherapists and potential patients should be helped to recognize that there is neither magical cure nor specific expert treatment for the philosophical neuroses. If all of these methods of reducing the demand for the psychotherapeutic services of psychiatrist, psychologist, and social worker are vigorously pursued, the problem of manpower shortage will be alleviated but not solved. There will still be a fully “legitimate” call for individual psychotherapy exceeding the supply available through the present and future supply of the acknowledged specialist. Is there a rational and socially conscionable answer to this problem? The man who seeks to release himself from moral responsibility for his actions or his fortunes can in no way make any real progress on the spiritual path. He may improve his capacity to mediate, he may become more sensitive physically, but his real battle—against the ego—remains unfought and therefore unwon. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

We have looked at social character as the structure through which human energy is molded in such specific ways, that it is usable for the purposes of any given society. It is also the basis from which certain ideas and ideals draw their strength and attractiveness. This relation between character and ideas is easy to recognize in the case of the individual character structure. A person with a hoarding (anal, according to Dr. Freud) character orientation, will be attracted to the ideal of saving, he will be repelled by ideas of what he would call “reckless spending.” On the other hand, the person with a productive character will find a philosophy centered around saving “dirty,” and will embrace idea which emphasize creative efforts and the use of material goods is concerned, the relationship between character and ideas is the same. Some examples ought to show this relation clearly. With the end of the feudal age, private property became the central factor in the economic and social system. There had been, of course, private property before. However, in feudalism private property consisted largely of land, and it was connected to the social situation of the landowner in the hierarchic system. Since it was part of the social sole of the owner, it was not salable on the market. Modern capitalism destroyed the feudal system. Private property is not only property in land, it is also property in the means of production. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

All property is alienable; it can be bought and sold on the market, and its value is expressed in an abstract form—that of money. Land, machines, gold, diamonds—they all have in common the abstract money form in which their value can be expressed. Anybody can acquire private property, regardless of his position in the social system. It may be through industriousness, creativeness, luck, ruthlessness, or inheritance—the ownership of private property is not affected by the means of its acquisition. The security, power, sense of strength of a person does not, as in the feudal system, depend any longer on a person’s status, which was relatively unalterable, but on the possession of private property. If the man of the modern era loses his private property he is nobody—socially speaking; the feudal lord could not lose it as long as the feudal system remained intact. As a result, the respective ideals are different. For the feudal lord, and even for the artisan belonging to a guild, the main concern was the stability of the traditional order, the harmonious relation to his superiors, the concept of a God who was the final guarantor of the stability of the feudal system. If any of those ideas were attacked, a member of feudal society would even risk his life to defend what he considered to be his deepest convictions. For modern man the ideals are different. His fate, security, and power rest on private property; hence for bourgeois society, private property is sacred, and the ideal of the invulnerability of private property is a cornerstone in its ideological edifice. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

Although the majority of people in any of the capitalist societies do not own private property in the sense used here (property in the means of production), but only “personal” property such as a BMW, television set, etcetera—that is, consumer goods—the great bourgeois revolution against the feudal order has nevertheless formulated the principle of the invulnerability of private property so that even those who do not belong to the economic elite have the same feeling, in this respect, as those who belong. Just as the member of the feudal society considered an attack against the feudal system immoral, and even inhuman, so the average person in a capitalist society considers an attack against private property a sign of barbarism and inhumanity. He will often not say so directly but rationalize his hate against the violators of private property in terms of their godlessness, injustice, and so on; yet and often unconsciously, they appear to him as inhuman because they have violated the sanctity of private property. The point is not that they have hurt him economically, or that they even threaten his economic interests realistically; the point is that they threaten a vital ideal. It seems, for instance, that the repugnance and hate which so many people in capitalistic countries have against communist countries is largely based on the very repugnance they feel against the outright violators of private property. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

There are so many other examples of ideas which are rooted in the socio-economic structure of a society that it is hard to select the most representative ones. Thus, liberty became the paramount idea for a middle class fighting against the restrictions that the feudal class imposed upon them. “Individual initiative” become an ideal in the highly competitive capitalism of the nineteenth century. Teamwork and “human relations” became the ideals of the capitalism of the twentieth century. Since “fairness” is the basic law of the free market in which commodities and labour are exchanged without force or fraud, fairness became the most popular norm in capitalist society. At the same time, the idea of fairness became identified with an older norm, “love thy neighbour,” via the popularized version of this norm in the form of the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The theory that ideas are determined by the forms of economic and social life does not imply that they have no validity of their own, or that they are mere “reflexes” of economic needs. The ideal of freedom, for instance, is deeply rooted in man, and it is precisely for this reason that it was ideal for the Hebrews in Egypt, the slaves in Rome, the German peasants in the sixteenth century, the German workers who fought the dictators of East Germany. On the other hand, the idea of authority and order is also deeply implanted in human existence. It is precisely because any given social order can appeal to ideas which transcend the necessities of this order that they can become so potent and so appealing to the human heart. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

Yet why a certain idea gains ascendance and popularity is to be understood in historical terms, that is, in terms of the social character produced in each culture. One more qualification must be made. It is not only the “economic basis” which creates a certain social character which, in turn, creates certain ideas. The ideas, once created, also influence the social character and, indirectly, the social economic structure. Social character is the intermediary between the socioeconomic structure and the ideas and ideals prevalent in a society. It is the intermediary in both directions, from the economic basis to the ideas and from the ideas to the economic basis. Many people are confronted by a confusing false dichotomy. They believe that the choice is between an anarchic system without any organization and control and, on the other hand, the kind of bureaucracy which is typical both for contemporary industrialism. However, this alternative is by no means the only one, and we have other options. One option is between the “humanistic bureaucratic” or “humanistic management” method and the “alienated bureaucratic” method by which we conduct our affairs. This alienated bureaucratic procedure can be characterized in several ways. First, it is a one-way system; orders, suggestions, planning emanate from the top and are directed to the bottom of the pyramid. There is no room for the individual’s initiative. Persons are “cases,” whether welfare cases of medical cases, or, whatever the frame of reference is, cases which can all be put down on a computer card without those individual features which designate the difference between a “person” and a “case.” #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

Our bureaucratic method is irresponsible, in the sense that it does not “respond” to the needs, views, requirements of an individual. This irresponsibility is closely related to the case-character of the person who becomes an “object” of the bureaucracy. One cannot respond to a case, but one can respond to a person. This irresponsibility of the bureaucrat, feeling himself part of the bureaucratic machine, most of all wishes not to take responsibility to make decisions for which he could be criticized. He tries to avoid making any decisions which are not clearly formulated by his case rules and, if in doubt, he sends the person to another bureaucrat who, in turn, does the same. Anyone who has dealt with a bureaucratic organization knows this process of being sent around from one bureaucrat to the other and, sometimes after much effort, coming out at the same door which he had entered without ever having been listened to except in the peculiar way in which bureaucrats listen, sometimes pleasantly, sometimes impatiently, but also always with an attitude which is a mixture of their own helplessness, irresponsibility, sense of superiority toward the “petitioning” subject. Our bureaucratic method gives the individual the feeling that there is nothing which he can initiate and organize without the help of the bureaucratic machine. As a result, it paralyzes initiative and creates a deep sense of impotence. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

Firefighters are important because they save lives. The Sacramento Fire Department is a highly skilled organization which makes huge contributions to the community. “I was lucky enough to make a rescue after eight or nine months in the volunteers. Luck is a factor because, you have to be at a fire where somebody needs to be rescued. Then you have to be at the right place at that fire. You have to have enough knowledge to know how to do it and then be lucky enough to successfully pull it off. You can’t plan it. I don’t believe in fate per se, but I think there are certain things in the cards. I was fairly young. I was on a pumper, and we were the third or fourth pumper there. The truck company was pretty heavily engaged, and there were a number of people on the fire escapes. Sacramento is basically a bedroom community. You know, little private dwellings. All of a sudden, we had an -apartment house fire, which was taxing. It was a nine-story building, and the fire was in the cellar, so the whole building was at risk. My pumper pulled up, and another fellow and I reported to the chief. “What do you want us to do?” He said, “I’ve got a report that there’s a baby in that apartment.” A baby, right. It happens so often it seems to be a cliché. So we went up the hallway, it was pretty smoky, and we came to two doors. I had a feeling that the baby was to the right. The other guy said, “I’ll go straight.” I went into the room at the right, it wasn’t extremely hot, but it was smoky. On my first search I didn’t find anybody, but I figured I better do it again. The second time around, I found the baby lying on the floor between a night table and a bed, I guess he rolled off the bed or something, I’m not sure. He had on a little green-and-white-striped shirt and Pampers. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

“Right then, when I took him out, I knew that the rewarding feeling was similar to putting a fire out, only more so. Shortly after probie school, I was assigned to Engine Company 2 in Midtown Sacramento. There I was fortunate enough to be involved in my first City of Sacramento rescue. You make your own luck in many instances. It was very unusual for a probie in an engine company to be put into a search with an officer. We were at a false alarm when the dispatcher asked us if we were available. The battalion chief gave us the go-ahead, and we were first at the fire by a good fire minutes. It was a high-rise apartment building. Being a gung-ho probie, I had gotten completely geared up for the false alarm. I had a mask on and everything. The other guys, because it was a hot summer night and although this was a known false alarm box, hurried to the scene. People at the apartment were screaming that there was a baby trapped. Another baby, right. People leave them behind like old bathrobes. The lieutenant, seeing I was a new guy said, “Let’s go.” We went up the elevator part of the way, then ran up the stairs to the hallways leading to the fire apartment. The door was open, and the smoke was nearly to the floor. It was hot. We went in the direct of the heat. Again it was another one of those, he went to the left, and I went to the right, and I found this little boy on the floor. He was conscious, and I removed him to the street and took him to the hospital. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

“The sad part was that there was another child in the apartment, the lady’s nephew. A guy, I think he was from another truck, went in off the aerial ladder, got in the window, cut himself on the glass, and made a real spectacular rescue of the child. The kid was badly burned, and he didn’t make it. It was just one of those things again. You just go along doing your job, and there you are. It was unusual for me to be there, because the truck company is in charge of forcible entry, going in and searching for victims, and they work more or less independently. Whereas in an engine company the people work together in one group to fight the fire. It was not so much aggressiveness on my part, it was my ‘gung-ho-ness.’ I was serious about every aspect of the job, even cleaning the brass, and every time we went out the door, I wanted to be fully prepared. And it paid off. Sure, putting out a fire is satisfying, there’s nothing like it except making a grab, rescuing somebody. But even in a busy area, some companies don’t make one grab a year. While a nozzle man in a busy area is going to put out three, four fire a night. There’s a lot to be said for that. That’s an enjoyable part of it, too.” Life safety is the primary job of the Sacramento Fire Department. You can help save lives by making a contribution. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19


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