Never say there is nothing beautiful in the World anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf, or a rambling Victorian. The deeper we look into nature the more we recognize that is it full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret, and we are all united to this life. We can begin our battle to prevent future shock at the most personal level. It is clear, whether we know it or not, that much of our daily behaviour is, in fact, an attempt to ward off future shock. We employ a variety of tactics to lower the levels of stimulation when they threaten to drive us above our adaptive range. For the most part, however, these techniques are employed unconsciously. We can increase their effectiveness by raising them to consciousness. We can, for example, introvert periodically to examine our own bodily and psychological reactions to change, briefly turning out to the external environment to evaluate our inner environment. This is not a matter of wallowing in subjectivity, but of coolly appraising our own performance. In the words of Hans Selye, whose work on stress opened new frontiers in biology and psychiatry, the individual can “consciously look for signs of being keyed up too much.” Heart palpitations, tremours, insomnia or unexplained fatigue may well signal overstimulation, just as confusion, unusual irritability, profound lassitude and a panicky sense that things are slipping out of control are psychological indications. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

By observing ourselves, looking back over changes in our recent past, we can determine whether we are operating comfortably within our adaptive range or pressing its outer limits. We can, in short, consciously assess our own life pace. Having done this, we can also begin consciously to influence it—speeding it up or slowing it down—first with respect to small things, the micro-environment, and then in terms of the larger, structural patterns of experience. We can learn how by scrutinizing our own unpremeditated responses to overstimulation. We employ a de-stimulating tactic, for example, when we storm into the teen-ager’s bedroom and turn off a stereo unit that has been battering our eardrums with unwanted and interruptive sounds. When the noise level drops, we virtually sign with relief. We act to reduce sensory bombardments in other ways, too—when we pull down the blinds to darken a room, or search for silence on a deserted strip of the beach. We may flip on an air conditioner not so much to loser the temperature as to mask novel and unpredictable street sounds with a steady, predictable drone. When we want to decrease novel sensory input, we close doors, wear sunglasses, avoid smelly places and shy away from touching strange surfaces. Similarly, when we choose a familiar route home from the office, instead of turning a fresh corner, we opt for a sensory non-novelty. We employ “sensory shielding”—a thousand subtle behavioural tricks to “turn off” sensory stimuli when they approach our upper adaptive limit. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

We use similar tactics to control the level of cognitive stimulation. Even the best of students periodically gazes out the window, blocking out the teacher, shutting off the flow of new data from the source. Even voracious readers sometimes go through periods when they cannot bear to pick up a book or a magazine. Why, during a gregarious evening at a friend’s house, odes one person in the group refuse to learn a new card game while others urger one on? Many factors play a part: the self-esteem of the individual, the fear of seeming foolish, and so on. However, one overlooked factor affecting willingness to learn may well be the general level of cognitive stimulation in the individual’s life at the time. “Do not bother me with new facts!” is a phrase usually uttered in jest. However, the joke often disguises a real wish to avoid being pressed too hard by new data. This accounts in part for our specific choices of entertainment—of leisure-time reading, movies or television programs. Sometimes we seek a high novelty ratio, a rich flow of information. At other moments we actively resist cognitive stimulation and reach for “light” entertainment. The typical detective yarn, for example, provides a trace of unpredictability—whodunnit? —within a carefully structured ritual framework, a set of non-novel, hence easily predictable relationships. In this way, we employ entertainment as a device to raise or lower stimulation, adjusting our intake rates so as to not overload our capacities. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

By making more conscious use of such tactics, we can “fine-tune” or micro-environment. We can also cut down on unwanted stimulation by acting to lighten our cognitive burdens. “Trying to remember too many things is certainly of one the major sources of psychological stress,” writes Dr. Selye. “I make a conscious effort to forget immediately all that is unimportant and to jot down data of possible value. This technique can help anyone to accomplish the greatest simplicity compatible with the degree of complexity of one’s intellectual life.” We also act to regulate the flow of decisioning. When we are suffering from decision overload, we postpone decisions or delegate the to others. Sometimes we “freeze up” decisionally. I have seen a sociologist, just returned from a crowded, highly stimulating professional conference, sit down in a restaurant and absolutely refuse to make any decisions whatever about one’s meal. “What would you like?” her husband asked. “You decide for me,” she replied. When pressed to choose between specific alternatives, she still explicitly refused, insisting angrily that she lacked the “energy” to make the decision. Through such methods we attempt, as best we can, to regulate the flow of sensory, cognitive and decisional stimulation, perhaps also attempting in some complicated and as yet unknown way to balance them with one another. However, we have stronger ways of coping with the threat to overstimulation. These involve attempts to control the rates of transience, novelty and diversity in our milieu. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

All thinking must renounce the attempt to explain the Universe. The spirit of the Universe is at once destructive and creative—it creates while it destroys, and destroys while it creates, and we must inevitably resign ourselves to this. As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible but more mysterious. On several occasions I have mentioned that perhaps the most important primary good is that of self-respect. We must make sure that the conception of goodness as rationality explains why this should be so. We may define self-respect (or self-esteem) as having two aspects. First of all, as we noted earlier, it includes a person’s sense of one’s own values, one’s secure conviction that one’s conception of one’s good, one’s plan of life, is worth carrying out. And second, self-respect implies a confidence in one’s ability, so far as it is within one’s power, to fulfill one’s intentions. When we feel that our plans are of little value, we cannot purse them with pleasure or take delight in their execution. Nor plague by failure and self-doubt can we continue in our endeavours. It is clear then why self-respect is a primary good. Without it nothing may seem worth doing, or if some things have value for us, we lack the will to strive for them. All desire and activity becomes empty and vain, and we sink into apathy and cynicism. Therefore the parties in the original positions would wish to avoid at almost any cost the social conditions that undermine self-respect. The fact that justice as fairness gives more support to self-esteem than our principles is a strong reason for them to adopt it. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

The conception of goodness as rationality allows us to characterize more fully the circumstances that support the first aspect of self-esteem, the sense of our own worth. These are essentially two: having a rational plan of life, and in particular one that satisfies the Aristotelian Principle (other things equal, human beings enjoy the exercise of their realized capacities, their innate or trained abilities, and this enjoyment increases the more the capacity is realized, or the greater its complexity is); and finding our person and deeds appreciated and confirmed by others who are likewise esteemed and their association enjoyed. I assume then that someone’s plan to life will lack a certain attraction to one if it fails to call upon one’s natural capacities in an interesting fashion. When activities fail to satisfy the Aristotelian Principle, they are likely to seem dull and flat, and to give us no feeling of competence or a sense that they are worth doing. When one’s abilities are both fully realized and organized in ways of suitable complexity and refinement, a person tends to be more confident of one’s value. However, the companion effect of the Aristotelian Principle influences the extent to which others confirm and take pleasure in what we do. For while it is true that unless our endeavours are appreciated by our associates it is impossible for us to maintain the conviction that they are worthwhile, it is also true that others tend to value them only if what we do elicits their admiration or gives them pleasure. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

Thus activities that display intricate and subtle talent, and manifest discrimination and refinement, are valued both the person oneself and those around one. Moreover the more someone experiences one’s own way of life as worth fulfilling, the more likely one is to welcome our attainments. One who is confident in oneself is not grudging n appreciation of others. Putting these remarks together, the conditions for persons respecting themselves and one another would seem to require that their common plan be both rational and complementary: they call upon their educated endowments and arouse in each a sense of mastery, and they fit together into a scheme of activity that all can appreciate and enjoy. Now it may be thought that these stipulations cannot be generally satisfied. One might suppose that only in a limited association of highly gifted individual united in the pursuit of common artistic, scientific, or social ends is anything of this sort possible. There would seem to be no way to establish an enduring basis of self-respect throughout society. Yet this surmise is mistaken. The application of the Aristotelian Principle is always relative to the individual and therefore to one’s national assets and particular situation. It normally suffices that for each person there is some association (one of more) to which one belongs and within which the activities that are rational for one are publicly affirmed by others. In this way we acquire a sense that what we do in everyday life is worthwhile. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

Moreover, associative ties strengthen the second aspect of self-esteem, since they tend to reduce the likelihood of failure and to provide support against the sense of self-doubt when mishaps occur. To be sure, humans have varying capacities and abilities, and what seems interesting and challenging to some will not seem so to others. Yet in a well-ordered society anyway, there are a variety of communities and associations, and the members of each have their own ideals appropriately matched to their aspirations and talents. Judged by the doctrine of perfectionism, the activities of many groups may not display a high degree of excellence. However, not matter. What counts is that the internal life of these associations is suitably adjusted to the abilities and wants of those belonging to them, and provides a secure basis for the sense of worth of their members. The absolute level of achievement, even if it could be defined, is irrelevant. However, in any case, as citizens we are to reject the standard of perfection as a political principle, and for the purposes of justice avoid any assessment of the relative value of one another’s way of life. Thus what is necessary is that there should be for each person at least one community of shared interests to which one belongs and where one finds one’s endeavours confirmed by one’s associates. And for the most part this assurance is sufficient whenever in public life citizens respect one another’s ends and adjudicate their political clams in way that also support their self-esteem. It is precisely his background condition that is maintained by the principles of justice. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

Th parties in the original position do not adopt the principle of perfection, for rejecting this criterion prepares the way to recognize the good of all activities that fulfill the Aristotelian Principle (and are compatible with the principles of justice). This democracy in judging each other’s aims is the foundation of self-respect in a well-ordered society. Now we may characterize shame as the feeling that someone has when one experiences an injury to one’s self-respect or suffers a blow to one’s self-esteem. Shame is painful since it is the loss of a prized good. There is a distinction however between shame and regret that should be noted. The latter is a feeling occasioned by the loss of most any sort of good, as when we regret having done something either imprudently or inadvertently that resulted in harm to ourselves. In explain regret we focus say on the opportunities missed of the means squandered. Yet we ma also regret having done something that put us to shame, or even having failed to carry out a plan of life that established a basis for our self-esteem. Thus we may regret the lack of a sense of our own worth. Regret is the general feeling aroused by the loss of absence of what we think good for us, whereas shame is the emotion evoked by shocks to our self-respect, a special kind of good. Now both regret and shame are self-regarding, but shame implies an especially intimate connection with our person and with those upon whom we depend to confirm the sense of our own worth. Also, shame is sometimes a moral feeling, a principle of right being cited to account for it. We must find an explanation of these facts. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

Let us distinguish between things that are good primarily for us (for the ones who possess them) and attributes of our person that are good both for us and for others as well. These two classes are not exhaustive but they indicate the relevant contrast. Thus commodities and items of property (exclusive goods) are goods mainly for those who own them and have use of them, and for others only indirectly. On the other hand, imagination and wit, beauty and grace, and other natural assets and abilities of the person are goods for others too: they are enjoyed by our associates as well as ourselves when properly displayed and rightly exercised. They form the human means for complementary activities in which person join together and take pleasure in their own and one another’s realization of their nature. This class of good constitutes the excellences: they are the characteristics and abilities of the person that it is rational for everyone (including ourselves) to want us to have. From our standpoint, the excellences are goods since they enable us to carry out a more satisfying plan of life enhancing our sense of mastery. At the same time these attributes are appreciated by those with whom we associate, and the pleasure they take in our person and in what we do supports our self-esteem. Thus the excellences are a condition of human flourishing; they are goods from everyone’s point of view. These facts relate them to the conditions of self-respect, and account for their connection with our confidence in our own value. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

 Considering first natural shame, it arises not from a loss or absence of exclusive goods, or at least not directly, but from the injury to our self-esteem owning to our not having or failing to exercise certain excellences. The lack of things primarily good for us would be an occasion for regret but not for shame. Thus one may be ashamed of one’s appearance or slow-wittedness. Normally these attributes are not voluntary and so they do not render us blameworthy; yet given the tie between shame and self-respect, the reason for being downcast by them is straightforward. With these defects our way of life is often less fulfilling and we receive less appreciative support from others. Thus natural shame is aroused by blemishes in our person, or by acts and attributes indicative thereof, that manifest the loss or lack of properties that others as well as ourselves would find it rational for us to have. However, as qualification is necessary. It is our plan of life that determines what we feel ashamed of, and so feelings of shame are relative to our aspirations, to what we try to do and with whim we wish to associate. Those with no musical ability do not strive to become musicians and feel no shame for this lack. Indeed it is no lack at all, not least if satisfying assocations can be formed by doing other things. Thus we should say that given our plan of life, we tend to be ashamed of those defects in our person and failures in our actions that indicate a loss or absence of the excellences essential to our carrying out our more important associative aims. We are like waves that do not move individually but rise and fall in rhythm. To share, to rise and fall in rhythm with life around us, is a spiritual necessity. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

When one prizes as excellences of one’s person those virtues that one’s plan of life requires and is framed to encourage, someone is liable for moral shame. One regards the virtues, or some of them anyway, as properties that one’s associates want in one and that one wants in oneself. To possess these excellences and to express them in one’s actions are among one’s regulative aims and are felt to be a condition of one’s being valued and esteemed by those with whom one cares to associate. Actions and traits that manifest or betray the absence of these attributes in one’s person are likely then to occasion shame, and so is the awareness of recollection of these defects. Since shame springs from a feeling of the diminishment of self, we must explain how moral shame can be so regarded. First of all, the Kantian interpretation of the original position means that the desire to do what is right and just is the main way for persons to express their nature as free and equal rational beings. And from the Aristotelian Principle it follows that this expression of their nature is a fundamental element of their good. Combined with the account of moral worth, we have, then, that the virtues are excellences. They are good from the standpoint of ourselves as well as from that of others. The lack of them will tend to undermine both our self-esteem and the esteem that our associates have for us. Therefore indications of these faults will wound one’s self-respect with accompanying feelings of shame. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

Love cannot be put under a system of rules and regulations. It issues absolute commands. Each of us must decide for oneself how far one can go towards carrying out the boundless commandment of love without surrendering one’s own existence and must decide, too, how much of one’s life and happiness one must sacrifice to the life and happiness of others. A man and a woman have not experienced everything together in life unless, looking at each other, they have involuntarily asked the questions: What would become of you without me? It is instructive to observe the differences between the feelings of moral shame and guilt. Although both may be occasioned by the same action, they do not have the same explanation. Imagine for example someone who cheats or gives int o cowardice and then feels both guilty and ashamed. One feels guilty because one has acted contrary to one’s sense of right and justice. By wrongly advancing one’s interests one has transgressed the rights of others, and one’s feelings of guilt will be more intense if one has ties of friendship and association to the injured parties. One expects others to be resentful and indignant at one’s conduct, and one fears their righteous anger and the possibility of reprisal. Yet one also feels ashamed because one’s conduct shows that one has failed to achieve the good of self-command, and one has been found unworthy of one’s associates upon whom one depends to confirm one’s sense of one’s own worth. One is apprehensive lest they reject one and find one contemptible, an object of ridicule. In one’s behaviour one has betrayed a lack of the moral excellences one prizes and to which one aspires. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

We see, then, that being excellences of our person which we bring to the affairs of social life, all of the virtues may be sought and their absence may render us liable to shame. However, some virtues are joined to shame in a special way, since they are peculiarly indicative of the failure to achieve self-command and its attendant excellences of strength, courage, and self-control. Wrongs manifesting the absence of these qualities are especially likely to subject us to painful feelings of shame. Thus while the principles of right and justice are used to describe the actions disposing us to feel both moral shame and guilt, the perspective is different in each case. In the one we focus on the infringement of the just claims of others and the injury we have done to them, and on their probable resentment or indignation should they discover our deed. Whereas in the other we are struck by the loss to our self-esteem and our inability to carry out our aims: we sense the diminishment of self from our anxiety about the lesser respect that others may have for us and from our disappointment with ourself for failing to live up to our ideals. Moral, shame, and guilt, it is clear, both involve our relation to others, and each is an expression of our acceptance of the first principles of right and justice. Nevertheless, these emotions occur within different points of view, our circumstances being seen in contrasting ways. We must become good plowmen. Hope is the prerequisite of plowing. What sort of farmer plows the furrow in the autumn but has no hope for the spring? #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

So, too, we accomplish nothing without hope, without a sure inner hope that a new age is about to dawn. Hope is strength. The energy in the World is equal to the hope in it. And even if only a few people share such hopes, a power is created which nothing can hold down—it inevitably spears to others. The second essential of plowing is silence. We must learn that all of our talking and planning is powerless. Modest, quiet work in the kingdom of God is the order of the day. The third need when plowing is to work in the solitude. We expect all kinds of salvation from meetings, congresses, and organized cooperation. However, we deceive ourselves. The most blessed labours can only be accomplished alone, and that is just what we must learn—to work independently. Even if several plowmen plow one field, each follows one’s own plow. They do not talk to one another; each sees one’s neighbour and senses the nearness to one’s fellow worker, all bound together in a common, wordless task. Whether out in this World of happenings or deep within the mind in a Heaven of beauty and peace, the observer is the same; but in the first case one is the little limited ego and in the second case one is THAT from which the ego draws its sustenance—the Overself. If there is not to be an endless series of observers, which would be unthinkable, there must be an ultimate one, itself unobserved and self-illuminated. Somewhere at the hidden core of human’s being there is light, goodness, power, and tranquility. The infinite divine life dwells within all embodied creatures, therefore in all humankind. It is the final source of one’s feelings and one’s consciousness, however limited they are here in the body itself. “If you honour the LORD with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase; then you will have plenty and have overflow,” reports Proverbs 3.9-10.  #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

There is nothing else like it; nothing with which the Overself could be compared. It has no form to be pictured and weighed, measures and numbered; it makes no movement to be timed and no sound to be registered on the ear drum. It could be said that the innermost essence of humans, be it one’s heart or one’s mind, is the Overself. No person can hope to discover what God is like since human beings do not possess the proper faculties for such an undertaking. The best one can do is to create for oneself an idea or interpretation of God that will suit one’s understanding and help one. Some people call it by different names; in fact, I have referred to it as the Soul, the Overself, the Higher Self, the True Self, and so on—all of which are quite correct. The word Overmind should never have been introduced but not that it is here it must be explained. There is only one Reality. The nearest notion we can form of it is that it is something mental. If we think of it as being the sum total of all individual minds, then it is Overmind; if we can rise higher and know that it cannot be totalized, it is Overself. The first explanation was originally introduced to explain why abnormal phenomena can happen but not as a final explanation of what Mind and Reality are. People have confused the two aim. Actually there is only One thing, whatever you call it, but it can be studied from different standpoints and thus we get different results. That thing is Mind—unindividuated, infinite. The planetary overmine is the active aspect of the Overself but still only an aspect. “If you first seek the LORD and His righteousness, then all things you need and desire will be added unto you,” reports Matthew 6.33. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

The overmind works with space and time although the latter assumes dimensions far beyond that with which waking human capacity can cope. The Overself in its passive purity is timeless and spaceless. The Overself has not expressed itself in matter simply because there is no matter! It has not improved itself by evolution, but finite, individual minds have done so. The universal gods are the Overminds, the sum totals of each system—that is, concepts of the human mind which are dropped by the adept when they have served their purpose in brining him to That which is unlimited. Seek the kingdom first, and all these occult powers will be added unto you. The point in the heart is a focus for prayer and also an experience during prayer. When, however, one rises to the ultimate path one disregards the heart because the Overself has nothing to do with localities or geography of any kind; it cannot be measured. It is often asked why we have so little contact with the Overself, why it is so hard to find the clues which shall lead us to it. There is more within one of the good than a human suspects, even though experience may make one believe otherwise. However, it lies in deeper layer, hence it needs a longer time to bring it up. It is not the Reality found by speculation or thinking alone, for intellect can err. It is the Reality found by the mystic intuition of mystic experience, by Reason (as opposed to intellect) of Philosophy, and verified by a realization more immediate and intimate then the ego of ordinary life, with its passions, emotions, and thoughts, and deeper than anything every before experienced. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

There is no single term satisfactory on all points for use when referring to THAT. The name “Overself” is no exception to this situation. However, to those who object to this coinage of the new word, the answer is best given by the editor of the latest edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Sir Ernest Gowers: “I am all in favour of new words. How else would a language live and flourish?” It is the observer which is itself unobserved. It is as difficult to trace the spiritual source of a human’s life as it is to trace the mathematical source of pi, of 3.14159…We may try o make this idea as clearly definable as we can, but nothing put into words can in the end be more than a hint, a clue, or merely suggestive. Just as the pearl is well hidden within the oyster and not apparent until searched for, so the Overself is well hidden in humans. The Christ-self who was Jesus is in us too. It is like nothing that we know from experience or can picture from imagination. Space does not hold it. Time does not condition it. There are some truths which are durable ones. Change cannot change them. This is one of them. If most humans fail to recognize the Overself, if they deny its presence in Nature or in themselves, can they be blamed? What else is so elusive? It was, I believe, Matthew Arnold who first used this term “higher self,” and it is certainly expressive enough for our present purpose. Here is one thing which does not have to move with the times, although the communication of it and instruction in it, do. Here is the concentrated ultimate essence of one’s being. In this spiritual self we may find the origin of life. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

That which is within us as the Overself, being Godlike, is out of time and enteral. There is something within one which is without personal existence, without a name, and without scrutable face. It is the Overself. Here is the beginning, the middle, and the end of all wisdom. All power and all intelligence reside within. It is “the sacred spirit dwelling within us, observer and guardian of all our evil and our good” of Seneca. The Overself is shrouded in seemingly inaccessible and impenetrable mystery. In the gravest depths of a human’s being one will find, not fouling slime an evil, but cleansing divinity and goodness. This is the irreducible essence of a human, where God is. It is inaccessible to the intellect, unknowable by ordinary egoistic humans. Yet there are some into whose consciousness It has entered. It is a felt presence. That from which the intellect’s power recoils and the ego’s pride suffers—that is the Overself! It embodies several true principles regarding communication from the Lord to His children here on Earth. I believe that you can leave the most precious, personal direction of the Spirit unheard because you do not respond to, record, and apply the first promptings that come to you. Impressions of the Spirit can come in response to urgent prayer or unsolicited when needed. Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this a practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance.  Then, when that guidance comes, sometimes when you least expect it, you will recognize it more easily. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

One is not separate from one’s own experience, not an observer watching it. For there is only the inner silence, with which one is identified if one turns to examine the I, only the pure consciousness. It is the presence of the Overself within us which makes more consciousness possible, whether it be the consciousness of the dream or the consciousness of waking. There are two biblical quotations, one from the Song of Solomon and one from Saint Paul, that accurately refer to the Overself. This indeed is the real soul of humans, whose findings here and now, during our life on Earth is the task silently set us by life itself. That which finds itself and lives within one, works through one and is the God within: a holy Presence. The inspiring influence of the Holy Spirit can be overcome or masked by strong emotions, such as anger, hate, passion, fear, or pride. When such influences are present, it is like trying to savour the delicate flavour of D’Artagnan Foie Gras while eating a Frrrozen Haute Chocolate ice cream sundae. Both flavours are present, but one completely overpowers the other. In like manner, strong emotions overcome delicate promptings of the Holy Spirit. Through our efforts, the chains of bondage will fall from around us, and the darkness surrounding our community will clear away, that light may shine upon all of society and we shall hear the spirit World of the work that has been done for us by our people here, and we will rejoice in our collective performance of these duties. May we be filled with the Spirit of the Lord as we listen and learn. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal. If you have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out. There is great purpose in our struggle in life. Happiness is written in such a way that is we continue to trust in God and follow His commandments through the challenging times, even those times will bring us close to the happiness we are seeking. The Saviour said, “In the World ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the World,” reports John 16.33. The Saviour, Jesus Christ, showed us the way to happiness and told us everything we need to do to be happy. As we study the teachings of the Saviour and thereby understand the purpose of our existence, we feel and express our happiness. In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord said that we should worship Him “with a glad heart and cheerful countenance,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 59.15. We can experience a speedier and more sure course to our “ever-after happiness” by developing certain habits and attitudes that encourage happiness. I am an optimist. My plea is that we stop seeking out storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life, we “accentuate the good.” Father, I come to Thou in the name of Jesus Christ. I ask Thou to forgive me for all my sins and the sins of my forefathers. Let all transgression and iniquities be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Right now, I break every spirit of poverty on my life in the name of Jesus Christ. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

No devourer will destroy the fruit of my labour. I break every curse of failure and lack in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I repent for any breaking of covenant with Thou tithe and offerings, LORD. I asked and receive forgiveness for disobedience and touching anything that is holy to Thou in the name of Jesus Christ. Let the rod of iron fall on any strange money that has passed through me in the name of Jesus Christ. I decree and declare, I am blessed of God! I break myself loose from the bondage of stagnancy and lack in the mighty name of Jesus! I am created to be fruitful and to multiply, to fill the Earth and subdue it. I have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the Heavens and over every living thing that moves on the Earth. Every curse of poverty, barrenness, unproductiveness, and ineffectiveness is broken off me in the name of Jesus! I am fruitful! The blessing of the LORD overtake me! Amen. “If you respect the LORD, you will lack nothing,” reports Psalm 34.9. I do invocate and conjure Thee, O Spirit, GUSION; and being with power armed from the SUPREME MAJESTY, I do strongly command Thee, by BERALANENSIS, BALADACHIRNSIS, PAUMACHIA, and APOLOGIAE SEDES; by the most Power Princes, Genii, Liachidae, and Ministers of the Taratrean Abode; and by the Chief Prince of the Seat of Apologia in the Ninth Legion, I do invoke Thee, and by invoking conjure Thee. And being armed with power from the SUPREME MAJESTY, I do strongly command Thee, by Him Who spake and it was done, and unto whom all creatures be obedient. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

Also, I being made after the image of GOD, endued with power from GOD and created according unto His will, do exorcise Thee that most mighty and powerful name of God, EL, strong and wonderful; O Thou Spirit, ZAGAN. And I command Thee and Him who spake the Word and HIS FIAT was accomplished, and by all the names of God. Also by the names ADONAI, EL, ELOHIM, ELOHI, EHYEH, ASHER EHYEH, ZABAOTH, ELION, IAH, TETRAGRAMMATON, SHADDAI, LORD GOD MOST HIGH, I do exorcise Thee and do powerfully command Thee, O Thou Spirit, VOLAC, that Thou dost forthwith appear unto me here before this Circle in a fair human shape, without any deformity or tortuosity. And by this ineffable name, TETRAGRAMMATON IEHOVAH, do I command Thee, at the which being heard the elements are overthrown, the air is shaken, the sea runneth back, the fire is quenched, the Earth trembelth, and all the hosts of the celestials, terrestrials, and infernals do tremble together, and are troubled and confounded. Wherefore come Thou, O Spirit CIMEJES, forthwith, and without delay, from any or all parts of the World wherever Thou mayest be, and make rational answers unto all things that I shall demand of Thee. Come Thou peaceably, visibly, and affably, now, and without delay, manifesting that which I shall desire. For Thou art conjured by the name of the LIVING and TRUE GOD, HELIOREN, wherefore fulfill Thou my commands, and persist Thou therein unto the end, and according unto mine interest, visibly and affably speaking unto me with a voice clear and intelligible without any ambiguity. “Jesus Christ has redeemed you and opened the door so that the blessing of Abraham can come to you. By faith, you receive the promise,” reports Galatians 3.14. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

Winchester Mystery House

What do you think motivated Sarah Winchester to keep building?

▪️ Built over 38 years
▪️ 24,000 square feet
▪️ 10,000 windows
▪️ 2,000 doors
▪️ 160 rooms
▪️ 52 skylights
▪️ 47 stairways and fireplaces
▪️ 17 chimneys
▪️ 13 bathrooms
▪️ 6 kitchens

In all my life I have met only one person who claims to have seen a ghost. And the interesting thing about the story is that that person disbelieved in the immortal soul before she saw the ghost and still disbelieves after seeing it. She says that what she saw must have been an illusion or a trick of the nerves. And obviously she may be right. Seeing is not believing. It was certainly not surprising that she had been researching the Devil’s Bible. We scholars like to call it the Codex Gigas—literally, “giant book,” it is an ancient text. It was the biggest book of the Middle Ages and compiled the most important historical and religious documents of its time. It was once considered an eighth wonder of the World. Giant, indeed. Monumental, even. Much like the Winchester mansion, it is unique, one of a kind, there is simply no other book like it in the World—not then, not now. And yet we know so little about it. Where was it scripted? What happened to the legendary missing pages? Who took them? And why? We have not even answered the most basic mystery of all: Who wrote it? A distorted, horned beast, clothed only in an ermine loincloth, split-tongue flickering and clawed hands? Was it the Devil, as legend claims? Did poor Herman the monk, walled up in his cell, eventually admit the impossibility of his penitent task—to write a single book containing all the World’s knowledge—and call on Satan to rescue him? Of course, it was not some demonic conspiracy any more than it was ancient angels. However, we have let the myth work their magic on us all the same. It is shrouded in mystery. No one even knows who wrote it or even where it was written. It is as mysterious as the blueprints to the Winchester mansion, where are they?

Did you know Adam and Eve had two sons? Cain, which means a possession, and Abel, which signifies sorrow. Michelanglo’s vision told a dark tale of the Fall of Man and a judgmental God. Michelangelo’s tormented souls had the hope of redemption. God willed, and Heaven and Earth, water, air, fire, the angels, and darkness came into being from nothing. Darkness is a self-existent nature. Other say that it is the shadow of bodies. When the soul goes froth from the body, the angles go with it: then the hosts of darkness come forth to meet it, seeking to seize and examine it, to see if there be anything of theirs in it.  The angels do not fight with the host of darkness, but those deeds which the soul has wrought protect it and guard it. If its deeds be victorious, then the angels sing praises before it until it meets God with joy. Redemption comes when we choose it, and not once, but over and over again. Long is the way, and hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light. Reach into the depths of your soul. Tell yourself that you are immortal. Tell yourself that death has no power over you. A glorious thing has befallen you here in the darkness. Do you know that the ancient Persians, they thought that during the last millennia before the final Resurrection humans would gradually turn away from the eating of meat and milk, and even plants, and that they would be sustained only on water? Pure water. And then would come the Resurrection. There are those who believe our Earthly bodies are only one biological stage, that spirits constitute another, that it is all a matter of atoms of particles.

The Winchester mansion is shrouded in mystery. There are many old stories about Sarah Winchester having unusual powers—an ability to call spirits, and ability to read minds, to know the future. When Mrs. Winchester was alive, few people outside the family ever got to see the interior of that mysterious Winchester Mansion. The Winchesters are a haunted family. Before when there was a nine-story tower, no one would go near that mansion. For years, it was a dreadful ghost. He did a lot more than push people off the tower. Besides this illustrious ghost, surrounding the Winchesters was talk of genetic mutations. They were half-ghost, a “halfa.” There genetic structure was fused with ectoplasm. People say the Winchesters had the ability to change between human and ghost forms at will, and possessed the same supernatural powers that ghost have. Legend has it that the family was exposed to an intense amount of ectoplasmic energy in New Haven, Connecticut. Oliver Fisher Winchester was the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The Winchester Rifle is hailed, “The Gun that Won the West.” It was used during the civil war in which approximately 750,000 soldiers were left dead, along with an undetermined number of civilians. It was those most deadliest military conflict in American history, and accounted for more American military deaths than all other wars combined until the Vietnam War.

At a time when black magic was relatively common, there was a curse cast on Oliver Winchester as the result of Alse Young’s husband, John Young, being killed by a Winchester rifle during the civil war. Alse Young had entered into a compact with the devil before she was chained to a tree and burned. The witch placed a curse on the Winchester family tree that they would have a hereditary blood disease. When Willian Wirt Winchester was born, he appeared frail, and required strict attention, as he bruised quickly from even the slightest bump. The nanny nicked named him “The Bleeding Prince” because he would bleed a lot and it was hard to stop. He would often bleed for years and the doctors had no idea what to do. Because he was an heir of the Winchester rifle and had a bleeding problem, legend has it that this opened a demon portal, and it started spawning demons—angry souls that were willed by the Winchester rifle. The curse rearranged William Winchester’s molecules and genetic structure. People knew who Mr. Winchester was because he would hemorrhage easily, often times coughing up blood as thick as jelly, he was very thin, had pain in his chest, and fatigue. He was so faint and pale that at times he appeared almost invisible. Town’s people said before he died he was often change into a ghost, then back into human form before their eyes. When Annie Winchester, Willam and Sarah’s daughter was born in 1866, she would often vanish, and it was unexplainable. Six weeks after she was born, little Annie vanished from her crib and was never seen again. No one had any idea what happened to her so they declared her dead.

It was also reported the Annie suffered from Marasmus, which is a severe malnutrition characterized by energy deficiency. The baby simply refused to eat and could not digest her food. A medium said this was because of the genetic curse and that the baby was born as ghost. Almost exactly 15 years to the date after the death of their daughter, the curse overcame William Winchester, and he was said to have died from Tuberculosis, but others think he was hemophiliac, and that his lungs filled with plasma and drowned in his own blood. Sarah Winchester was in a deep grief about what happened to her husband and daughter and wanted to find out how she could escape this curse. A witch told Mrs. Winchester because she was a Winchester by marriage, she was not cursed, but to keep the cruse from spreading to other generations, she would need to move West, and build a mansion to house all the spirits and never stop building or she would inherit the curse, too. The Winchester Legacy involves billions. It is like the capital of a small country. And Mrs. Winchester inherited an unimaginable fortune. Construction on the Winchester Mansion went on nonstop for 38-years, until her death 5 September 1922. Mrs. Winchester was one of the wealthiest women in the World. When she was not happy with a room, she would tear it down, or have it boarded up. Some suspect it was to keep something in. Evidence that Mrs. Winchester’s restless spirit was haunting the mansion began immediately after her death and continues even today. Some witnesses and paranormal investigators are also convinced that legions of other ghosts haunt the mansion as well. You ought to take the advantage of the privilege to visit one of the most unique places in the World.

Winchester Mystery House

A 160-room mansion built to appease the spirits who died at the hands of the Winchester Rifle 👻 🗝 winchestermysteryhouse.com

115 years ago today, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the Winchester Mystery House at 5.13am. Trapped in the Daisy Bedroom, Sarah Winchester and her mansion would never be the same.

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