Home » Folsom (Page 34)

Category Archives: Folsom

May the Angel of Peace Come in—One’s Over-Great Hat to Repay an Obligation is a Kind of Ingratitude!

August 17, 2020 11:39 pm

It is very peaceful to be able to live for your work alone. The self-denial, the sacrifices that our work demands are all compensated for by that lovely serenity of giving yourself up to dance. People also need to understand their existential freedom and their responsibility in exercising that freedom. One must develop the chance to experience one’s self as an entity separate from one’s environment, with the capacity to respond to one’s own initiative rather than merely reacting. Does emotion have a presence r identity independent of the person it is “in”? We talk as if it did. We commonly speak of expression, storing, getting in touch with, or even spreading and emotion. We speak of guilt as something that haunts us, or fear as something the grips, strikes, betrays, paralyzes, or overwhelms us. Fear, as we talk about is, is something that can lurk, hide, creep, look up, or attack. Love is something we fall into or out of. Anger is something that overtakes or overwhelms us. In this way of talking we use the fiction of some independent, outside agency in order to describe a contrasting inner state. It is important for a person to understand the sociohistorical precedence for the present attitudes one felt victim to. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

Whether one’s experience is valid in an objective sense is irrelevant. It is irrelevant because the sociohistorical context already provides for the possibility of the pervasiveness of these unjust attitudes one feels one is forced to deal with. However, it is equally important for individuals to realize their own responsibility in exercising their freedom to transcend the negative confines f the sociohistorical context. What many people need to confront ultimately is not inferiority and self-doubt imposed from without but inferiority that emerges from within when the choice is made to abandon, not only responsibility, but also the ability to respond. Often times, they veil of inferiority and self-doubt is lifted when one begins experiencing one’s self as a person apart of their race or gender; that is, as one who is free to choose, to act, and to be. While race and gender can be a source of identity, that which is invalid racial-cultural heritage and gender (id est, nonbeing, inferiority), and that which is valid immediate experience (id est, freedom, meaning, being) are reconciled in an existential encounter that encompasses the sociohistorical context. To dismiss the influence of the past or present social context would be delusional. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

However, freedom comes with awareness that one’s personal and collective history does not determine present choice but rather acknowledges the past in order that one may fruitfully move beyond it to facilitate the cycle of freedom. One’s journey toward freedom begins with one’s recognition that the choices one has made in the past could be made meaningful in the present when one recognizes one’s responsibility for those choices. Moreover, personal acknowledgment of one’s ability to respond opens one up to heretofore unrecognized potentialities. Some people disparage themselves. Lacking their own cultural yardstick, one squeezes into the yardstick of the majority and distances themselves from that which is dynamic in their soul. Becoming increasingly depersonalized, many will start to lose interest in their responsibilities and duties. Commonly we find ourselves speaking of emotion as if it had a location or residence. When we speak of love as residing in the heart and envy in the bible, the heart and the bile are put in place of the person. The speaker personifies an organ or portrays emotion as a substance or quantity of energy of a certain kind. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

We also speak of emotions as having some sort of continuous identity, as when we say an emotion is “stored” or “accumulated,” we when we refer to an “old” emotion. Metaphors that suggest agency, residence, and continuity through time often convey with uncanny precision just what it feels like to experience an emotion; they enjoy a poetic accuracy. However, they can get in the way of understanding how emotion works. A second idea that impedes our understanding of emotion is that the inner state of emotion is always associated with outer action that is irrational. This is sometimes the case and sometimes not. A person who feels fear at the sight of a rattlesnake moving toward one may run to safety. One may act rationally Were one not afraid, one might not run, which in the absence of other forms of protection, would be irrational. Again, a mother may, with the feeling of love, reach out to hug her child. Here, too, the feeling and act seem consonant and “rational” in the sense that what a person does, under the influence of feeling, gets people where they want to go as much if not more than what a person would do if not under the influence of feeling. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

The only reason I pose these obvious examples is that when people talk about “acting emotionally,” it is often not these examples they cite. That is, we tend to associate the idea of emotion more with irrational or unwise actions than with rational or wise actions. This tendency result more from our cultural policy toward emotional life (“watch out for it, manage it”) than it results from observing the relation between feeling and action in all the common but inconspicuous instances in which they are related. One must be careful not to choke off their developmental promise. Some people may become depressed and periodically grandiose—to counter their empty spirit. To break this debilitating cycle, one must pause over one’s expansive and conservative fears, clarify them, and learn to become response-able toward them, turning the, to one’s advantage. Until individuals are both ready and capable of change, experiential inquiry is fruitless. It is highly important, therefore, to clear the space for such experiential inquiry by addressing the crises that prevent it. One has to be aware of that fact that by keeping oneself from full presence sets one up for dysfunction. However, there are ways to demystify the obstacles in our lives and learn how to empower our lives and be able to productively respond to adverse conditions. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

Emotion is mainly a biological process. We know that a feeling tone, an affective quality, is always present as a part of our stream of experience, conscious or unconscious. One must ultimately respond to, and take responsibility for one’s own destiny. It is a profound point, really. If, indeed, we rush in to act without giving pause, then we are simply instruments in a great chain of cause and effect and are ourselves hardly free to actualize our own potential in any way. Indeed, we may define compulsivity quite simply as the failure to pause between stimulus and response. And sometimes professionals are not able to help us because it is all too easy for rational, articulate professionals to theorize and discuss endlessly without truly or deeply understanding, and an individual may experience the hazards of well-practiced chatter. A dog is not reckoned good because it barks well, and a human is not reckoned wise because one speaks skillfully. Let us slow down, then, and pause. The self can never be apprehended with certainty. We may become aware of our themes and those of other people—indeed we may act on these themes—but the themes are never static or fixed, never resolved in any absolute way. Still—this is the important point—one cannot escape one’s life theme. This, quite simply, is destiny. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

If one travels down the wrong path, one does not find fulfillment. External reward and validation, perhaps; fulfillment, no. Every human should behave according to one’s rung. If one does not, if one seizes the rung of a fellow being and abandons one’s own, one will actualize neither the one nor the other. We have already seen that external stimuli are not necessary for central processes to be active. As networks of assemblies and phase-cycles are activated and continue their processes in semi-independence of further incoming information, we get something like “looking ahead.” The pattern of impulses formed within the structure of connexions will function as an apparatus of orientation by representing both the actual state of the environment and the changes to be expected. Here we are back to the process of expectancy. Our expectations of what will happen are already on the map. Either a similar sequence of events has happened in the past and for that reason may be expected again in the future; or high-order processes have formed an image of what can happen, on the basis of whatever information is available about what has happened in the past. Thus behaviour now is guided and directed by an expectation, just as the concept t (for triangle) could direct and guide the eye to look for angles. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

The representation or model of the environment will thus constantly tend to run ahead of the actual situation. This representation of the possible results following from the existing position will of course be constantly checked and corrected by the newly arriving sensory signals which record actual developments in the environment. The representations of the external environment which will guide behaviour will thus be not only representations of the actually existing environment, but also representation of the changes to be expected in that environment. We must therefore conceive of the model as constantly trying out possible developments and determining action in the light of the consequences which, from the representations of such actions, would appear to follow from it. One the map are good places, and paths to good places—goals, we might say, and steps to those goals. The model is the active part of the map which shows at any moment where we are in relation to the good places on our map (and in relation to the painful places as well). The map enables us to look ahead to some extent, that is to have expectations of what can happen next. What can happen next may lead to good places eventually or to painful places. Expectations can turn into preferred or dreaded outcomes. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

The image on the map which already has good feelings attached to it may be kept in mind by the processes of reverberation. It is thereby likely to steer the organism to respond selectively to further information, according to the messages’ congruity with a good path. The part of the map associated with good feelings, which hold our preferences, can this act as gyroscopes, bringing the organism back on course towards good things when it has deviated. Parts of the map associated with bad feelings may of course operate in a similar way. Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. Indeed, this tension is played out in other aspects of one’s interpersonal life, such that—although the individual is rarely aware of it—extant relationship fail to assuage one’s chronic existential loneliness. One may be ever afraid to move further out into life, which one might find circumstances more rewarding. There is also related to these theme’s the individual’s spiritual void, a thoroughly modern dilemma. People often speak of needing to find meaning in life, a desire that life should matter. From becoming an individual, no one at all is excluded, expect one who excludes oneself by becoming a coward. What does your conscience say? – “You shall become who you are.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

Irrespective of the external rewards that may accrue, the individual is unable, in one’s avoidance of oneself, to experience a genuine sense of peace with either oneself or the World. For example, unless a little animal is severely frightened, it moves, in strange surroundings, only step by step, whiskering right and left all the time and following a path that is anything but straight. Its course is determined by a hundred fortuitous factors when it walks that way for the first time. However, after a few repetitions, it is evident that the shrew recognizes the locality in which it finds itself and that it repeats, with the utmost exactitude, the movements which it performed the previous time. At the same time, it is noticeable that the animal moves along much faster whenever it is repeating what is has already learned. When placed on a path which is has already traversed a few times, the shrew starts on its way slowly, carefully whiskering. Suddenly it finds known bearings, and now rushes forward a short distance, repeating exactly every step and turn which it executed on the last occasion. Then when it comes to a spot where it ceases to know its way by heart, it is reduced to whiskering again and to feeling its way step by step. Soon, another bursts of speed follows and the same thing is repeated, bursts of speed alternating with very slow progress. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

In the beginning of this process of learning their way, the shrews move along a an extremely slow average rate and their little bursts of speed are few and far between. However, gradually the little laps of the course which have been learnt by heart and which can be covered quickly begin to increase in length as well as in number until they fuse and the whole course can be completed in a fast-unbroken rush. Often, when such a path-habit is almost completely formed, there still remains one particularly difficult pace where the shrew always loses its bearings and has to resort to its sense of small and touch, sniffing and whiskering vigorously to find out there the next reach of its path “joins on.” Once the shrew is well settled in its path-habits it is as strictly bound to them as a railway engine to its tracks and as unable to deviate from them by even a few centimeters. What happened with the little shrew? Short sequences which had often happened in the past (its path-habits) have been mapped and guide its behaviour now. Path-habits are expectancies. Whenever it encounters an expected path, it knows where it is and rushes forward for a short distance. Being only a simple shrew, these more enduring neural path-habits are established with some difficulty, and so it often has to rely on further sensory input, sniffing and whiskering vigorously. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

The sensory input gets the reverberations going again so as t reinforce its fading purposes. The shrew is searching and attending selectively in environment, and incidentally providing us with a nice example of central reinforcement of a sensory process. The shrew, it is commonly assumed, runs through its paths because of rewards (good feelings) which are associated on its map with the end of the run. That is what established the feedback process. INPUT: “I want water” and “Here is a blade of grass.” TEST: “Does my map show this blade of grass to be on the path to nice water?”, that is, “Is the model (of this blade of grass being on the right path for water) congruent with the map?” If the answer is yes—if there is no incongruity—OPERATION: carry on. If no (that is, there is incongruity)—OPERATION: quarter the area sniffing and whiskering, repeating the INPUT: “Here is the blade of grass”, and TEST: “Does this blade of grass have the right place on my map?”, “Or this one?”, “Or this one?” until one of them does. This is also how we find the path to success or failure. It all depends on your motivation. If success is you object, you keep sniffing and whiskering until you find it because it feels good. However, to some people deviant behaviour feels good and is rewarding and they keep sniffing and whiskering until they find it. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

The only thing is deviant behaviour, even if it is rewarding and feels good, leads to punishment. This is a form of resistance to conformity. Resistance has many dimensions and refers at its deepest level to the all-too-human tendency toward self-betrayal, the maneuvering by which one avoids oneself. Perhaps the most tragic thing about the human situation is that a person may try to supplant oneself, that is, to falsify one’s life. The most common lie is the lie we tell to ourselves. Beneath a veneer of bravado, many people often harbour deep-seated feelings of insecurity and a concomitant resentment of authority. Clashes with the law and its enforcers, ambivalence about a rigid moral code that the individual has inherited but not chosen, and oftentimes judgmental and supercilious attitude toward loved one’s all related to unresolved themes revolving around an overly constricted World. One’s authentic confrontation with these themes can come about only through a corrective relationship, one based on presence and genuine empathy. Sometimes this chance might involve needing to find a new career, by acknowledging what truly interests an individual, and this will allow one to move forward in embracing existential freedom. Being more willing to live in the moment, accepting the inevitable pangs of life and death anxiety will lead, yet again, to further change. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

The mental apparatus is made up of a number of complex systems organized in a loosely hierarchical way with a highly complex network of communication between them. These systems are controlling and evaluative in function, though the controlling and evaluative roles are played by feelings: sensations, emotions, preferences, and so on. These systems act as instructions or programmes, words which help to remind us that they are not static but dynamic. They are images and plans, maps and models. They act on feedback principles, so that deviations from the desired state bring warning feelings, often of anxiety, whose effect is to correct the course of action to a more desired direction. Anxiety, no longer circumvented, is now accepted as the way of life—indeed, as normal. The struggle is significantly internal. The more one realizes that, the more one becomes self-accepting (of doubt, of passion, of the daimonic) and better able to accept others. Life is hard, but one is getting to the next step. The emphasis is not on self and genuine relationship, not on external validation. Imagine something like a hierarchical structure, with, at the center or at the top (depending on how you draw it), one or more principal systems of this evaluating and controlling kind. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

One of the conveniences of this way of thinking is that it allows us to imagine different personality-structures, which is what different organizations of principal system would be. The little shrew was guided by the congruity between the information it already had (on its map) and the information which it was currently acquiring (its model). Whenever it moved, it acquired more information, on the basis of which it made its next move, which brought it yet more information. The sensory order is both a result and a cause of the motor activities of the body. Behaviour has to be seen in a double role: it is both input and output of the activities of the higher nervous centers. The actions which take place independently of the higher centers help to create order of the sensory impulses arriving at that center, while the actions directed from that center are determined by that order. Map and model together steer the organism. The evaluation of sensory impulse arriving at the highest centers maybe compared to the appreciation of events on the road observed by a person who is being driven in a car, or to the judgments of the pilot of an aeroplane which is being steered by an automatic pilot. In these instances, different observed events will lead the passenger of the car, or the pilot of the plane, to expect certain responses of the car or plane, and those events will come to mean particular kinds of responses of the vehicle, just as certain kinds of stimuli mean certain spontaneous responses of the body. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

The sight of an oncoming car will come to mean the sensation of the car in which the person rides drawing to the side, and the sight of a red traffic light will mean the feeling of the car slowing down. Very soon what will actually be noticed will no longer ne that normal response, but only its absence if it fails to occur. To mean = to stand for = to symbolize. We have arrived at the idea that the motivation for an action is implied in the meaning of the whole situation. In simple human terms, the alarm clock rings, and that means it is seven o’clock; seven o’ clock means it is time to get up, which means tottering toward the coffee-machine, and so on. Thus, within a general framework of meaning, subsystems have autonomy, provided that they do not act incongruously in relation to the more comprehensive systems to which they contribute. So when we compare how the World works as an organism to our self-image, whatever frustrations now ensure, they are, at least, a consequence of choosing our own life rather than soul muting experiences. This is genuine freedom, one that encompasses destiny. In relationships, one may still struggle with feelings of uneasiness and inconsistency. Here, too, however, there will be signs of real growth as the individual has become far less defensive and more open to others than was once the case. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

The psychotherapeutic process has separated the individual further from anonymous and everyday relationships while heightening an existential loneliness as one searches for others to whom one can deeply relate. That is, perhaps, the price one pays for authentication of one’s existence. The individual now seeks authentic relationships, hardly something that can be ordered up at all. Also, when this is done at early stages of life, one can foresee a future for one’s self that is open and full of possibility. One may not even know what happened. One will just simply know that from experience one can expect certain things can happen if they were handled rightly and if their psyche and personality can be influenced for the better along certain lines. The individual will be able to see further into one’s life as one embraces the joys and burdens of freedom. One is no longer a wheelhorse. The result, I am convinced, will be a more fulfilled existence, one in which one does not flinch from life or death, nor from one’s particular way. And that is life: it does not resemble a picaresque novel in which from one chapter to the net the hero is continually being surprised by new events that have no common denominator. It resembles a composition that musicians call a theme with variations. Who can say more? #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

To cultivate this aliveness, one has to be offered a genuine relationship. One needs someone willing to be present with them, with as little pretense as possible. There has to even be a sprinkling of humour in the relationship, and some candid sharing of emotions. Also, prayer has a way of uniting people. Prayer is not just a private matter. Sometimes a group will be draw together by circumstances—anything from a funeral to a seasonal celebration—and they will want to pray together. The most important rationale for a set prayers, however, is a phenomenon I call “deepening.” The more often a prayer is said, the deeper in sinks into your consciousness. Eventually, it sinks into your unconscious mind. When this happens, it can be said that they prayer prays you. It becomes part of who you are. It changes you in a way that would not have been possible with a prayer said once and forgotten. God’s grace is sufficient for both our unworthiness and our inadequacy. We are what we are by the grace of God. Our success is a result of God’s unmerited favour shown to us and as a result of God’s enabling power to work in us. We need God’s grace to become like Him, and we are neither worthy nor adequate. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

A school board interviewing men and women for the position of school principal should look for evidence of sterling character (worthiness) and professional competence (adequacy). Some candidates might be worthy but not competent; others competent, but not worthy. The school board must insist on both. However, God insists on neither. Instead He glories in calling into His service people who are neither worthy nor adequate. He makes them worthy in Christ alone, never in themselves. Then He makes them adequate through the might working of His spirit within them. Listen to how Paul expressed this thought in Colossians 1.28-29: “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Paul found his worthiness in the worthiness of Christ and his adequacy in the power of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 2.14-17, Paul spoke of his ministry of the gospel, which in its eventual effect leads either to life or death. To those who believe, it leads to life; but to those who reject it, it leads to death. The eternal consequences of proclaiming such a gospel led Paul to explain, “And who is equal to such a task?” (verse 16). “And behold, now it came to pass that those Lamanites were more angry because they had slain their brethren; therefore they swore vengeance upon the Nephites; and they did no more attempt to play the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi at that time. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

“However, they took their armies and went over into the borders of the land of Zarahemla, and fell upon the people who were in the land of Ammnihah and destroyed them. And after that, they had many battles with the Nephites, in the which they were driven and slain. And among the Lamanites who were slain were almost all the seed of Amulon and his brethren, who were the priests of Noah, and they were slain by the hands of the Nephites; and the remainder, having fled into the east wilderness, and having usurped the power and authority over the Lamanites, caused that many of the Lamanites should perish by fire because of their belief—for many of them, after having suffered much loss and so many afflictions, began to be stirred up in remembrance of the words which Aaron and his brethren had preached to them in their land; therefore they began to disbelieve the traditions of their fathers, and to believe in the Lord, and that He gave great power unto the Nephites; and this there were many of them converted in the wilderness. And it came to pass that those rulers who were the remnant of the children of Amulon caused that they should be put to death, yea, all those that believed in these things. Now this martyrdom caused that many of their brethren should be stirred up to anger. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

“And there began to be contention in the wilderness; and the Lamanites began to hunt the seed of Amulon and his brethren and began to slay them; and they fled into the east wilderness. And behold they are hunted at this day by the Lamanites. Thus the words of Abinadi were brought to pass, which he said concerning the seed of the priests who caused that he should suffer death by fire. For he said unto them: What ye shall do unto me shall be a type of things to come. And now Abinadi was the first that suffered death by fire because of his belief in God; now this is what he meant, that many should suffer death by fire, accord as he had suffered. And he said unto the priests of Noah that their seed should cause many to be put to death, in the like manner as he was, and that they should be scattered abroad and slain, even as a sheep having no shepherd is driven and slain by wild beasts; and now behold, these words were verified, for they were driven by the Lamanites, and they were hunted, and they were smitten. And it came to pass that when the Lamanites saw that they could not overpower the Nephites they returned again to their own land; and many of them came over to dwell in the land of Ishmael and the land of Nephi, and did join themselves to the people of God, who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22

“And they did also bury their weapons of war, according as their brethren had, and they began to be a righteous people; and they did walk in the ways of the Lord, and did observe to keep his commandments and his statutes. Yea, and they did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. However, notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them. Now they did not supposed that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come. And now behold, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni, and their brethren did rejoice exceedingly, for success which they had among the Lamanites, seeing that the Lord had granted unto them according to their prayers, and that he had also verified his word unto them in every particular way,” reports Alma 25-1-17. May the almighty and merciful God hear our call, we beseech Thee in Thy boundless love, in order that as the entrance to the source of our humiliation be healed, according to your deign to us. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22

Cresleigh Homes

Go ahead! Get comfortable, put your feet up, and soak up everything your spacious Great

Room has to offer. 😍

Live life at #PlumasRanch with an open floor plan, generous kitchen island, and plenty of natural light. 😌 Get in touch to schedule a viewing of a model home, or take a virtual tour on our website! https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-riverside-at-plumas-ranch/

Almighty and merciful God, Who art pleased to use the ministry of priests for the rendering of service and prayer to Thee; we implore Thy boundless mercy, that whatever we now visit Thou wouldest visit, whatever we bless Thou wouldest bless, and that at Thy humble servants’ entrance evil spirits may flee away, and the Angel of peace may come in; through Jesus Christ our Lord may this be. #CresleighHomes

Music, When Soft Voices Die, Vibrates in the Memory—If Music be the Food of Love, Play on!

August 15, 2020 12:25 am

There is a young and impressionable mind out there that is very hungry for information…It has latched on to an electronic tube as its main source of nourishment. As a whole, the Democratic Republic of the Congo contains 615,942 square miles of forest. and it is known for its high levels of biodiversity, including more than 600 tree species and 10,000 animal species. Some of its most famous residents include forest elephant, gorillas, chimpanzees, okapi, leopards, hippos, and lions. Researchers has found that Central African forests generally have taller trees but lower density of small tress than forest in the Amazon or Borneo. That is because Elephants, gorillas, and large herbivores keep the density of small trees very low through predation, reducing competition for large trees. However, in areas where these animals have been depleted by hunting, forests tend to be shorter and denser with small trees. However, between 2000 and 2010, the country lost 14,331 square miles of forest. It risks being left in a fragmented and severely degraded state due to the growing threat of deforestation carried out to clear the illegal logging. If the current trend continues, the entire forest will be gone by the end of this century, 2100 A.D. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

Understanding tropical deforestation is important because forests store vast amounts of carbon. Deforestation releases carbon to the atmosphere and prevents the forest from taking up more carbon, and this increases global temperatures and poor air quality. Deforestation also leads to the death of animals and makes it hard for the native to find much needed food. Also, the natives are not allowed to cut down trees because every tree that cut down costs them a fine that is ten times the minimum wages, and a jail sentence. However, since this country is poor, big corporations cannot be stopped from logging trees, and cut them down to plunder. The first inhabitants of these lands, the indigenous, are left forgotten in a corner, while the looters grow and become stronger. The natives have their history and try to defend themselves and their homes so they will not die. The threat to the rainforest seems like a joke because it is a single county, the country of money, put itself above all flags. When they utter, “Globalization,” many think it is absurd because it is an order in which money is the only country served and the borders are erased, not our of fraternity but because of the bleeding that fattens the powerful without nationality. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

The lie of globalization became a universal coin, and for a few in the Congo, it wove a dream of prosperity above everyone else’s nightmare. Corruption and falsehoods are used to deceive the masses. Being poor, the people are dressed in the wealth of their scarcities, and because the lie is so deep and so broad, they end up mistaking it for truth. The people prepared for the great international forums and, by the will of the government, poverty was declared an illusion that faded before the development proclaimed by economic statistics. The people of the land became even more forgotten, and their history was not enough to keep the from dying, forgotten and humiliated. However, death did not hurt them as much as being forgotten did. They discovered that they no longer existed, and those who govern had forgotten about them in their euphoria of statistics and growth. A similar phenomenon is happening in the City of Sacramento with the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on sports complexes and theater expansions, which cannot even be used, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but nothing being done to make sure people have affordable housing. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

A country that forgets itself is a sad country. A country that forgets its past cannot have a future. I have said that the original position is the appropriate initial status quo which ensures that the fundamental agreements reached in it are fair. This fact yields that name “justice as fairness.” It is clear, then, that I want to say that one conception of justice is more reasonable than another, or justifiable with respect to it, if rational persons in the initial situation would choose its principles over those of the other for the role of justice. Conceptions of justice are to be ranked by their acceptability to persons so circumstanced. Understood in this way the question of justification is settled by working out a problem of deliberation: we have to ascertain which principles it would be rational to adopt given the contractual situation. This connects the theory of justice with the theory of rational choice. If this view of the problem of justification is to succeed, we must, of course, describe in some detail the nature of this choice problem. A problem of rational decision has a definite answer only if we know the beliefs and interests of the parties, their relations with respect to one another, the alternatives between which they are to choose, the procedure whereby they make up their minds, and so on. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

As the circumstances are presented in different ways, correspondingly different principles are accepted. The concept of the original position, as I shall refer to it, is that of the most philosophically favoured interpretation of this initial choice situation for the purposes of a theory of justice. However, how are we to decide what is the most favoured interpretation? I assume, for one thing, that there is a broad measure of agreement that principles of justice should be chosen under certain conditions. To justify a particular description of the initial situation one shows that is incorporates these commonly shared presumptions. One argues from widely accepted but weak premises to more specific conclusions. Each of the presumptions should by itself be natural and plausible; some of them may seem innocuous or even trivial. The aim of the contract approach is to establish that taken together they impose significant bounds on acceptable principles of justice. The ideal outcome would be that these conditions determine a unique set of principles; but I shall be satisfied if they suffice to rank the main traditional conceptions of social justice. One should not be misled, then, by the somewhat unusual conditions which characterize the original position. The idea here is simply to make vivid to ourselves the restrictions that it seems reasonable to impose on arguments for principles of justice, and therefore on these principles themselves. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

Thus it seems reasonable and generally acceptable that no one should be advantaged or disadvantaged by natural fortune or social circumstances in the choice of principles. It also seems widely agreed that it should be impossible to tailor principles to the circumstances of one’s own case. We should ensure further that particular inclinations and aspirations, and persons’ conceptions of their good do not affect the principles adopted. The aim is to rule out those principles that it would be rational to propose for acceptance, however little the chance of success, only if one knew certain things that are irrelevant from the standpoint of justice. For example, if a one knew that one was wealthy, one might find it rational to advance the principle that various taxes for welfare measures be counted unjust; if one knew that one was poor, one would most likely propose the contrary principle. To represent the desired restrictions one imagines a situation in which everyone is deprived of this sort of information. One excludes the knowledge of those contingencies which sets humans at odds and allows the to be guided by their prejudices. In this manner the veil of ignorance is arrived at in a natural way. If we keep in mind the constraints on arguments that it is meant to express, this concept should cause no difficulty. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

At any time we can enter the original position, so to speak, simply by following a certain procedure, namely, by arguing for principles of justice in accordance with these restrictions. It seems reasonable to suppose that the parties in the original positions are equal. That is, all have the same rights in the procedure for choosing principles; each can make proposals, submit reasons for their acceptance, and so on. Obviously the purpose of these conditions is to represent equality between human beings as moral persons, as creatures having a conception of their good and capable of a sense of justice. The basis of equality is taken to be similarity in these two respects. Systems of ends are not ranked in value; and each human is presumed to have the requisite ability to understand and to act upon whatever principles are adopted. Together with the veil of ignorance, these conditions define the principles of justice as those which rational persons concerned to advance their interests would consent to as equals when none are known to be advantaged or disadvantage by social and natural contingencies. There is, however, another side to justifying a particular description of the original position. This is to see if the principles which would be chosen match our considered convictions of justice or extend them in an acceptable way. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

We can note whether applying these principles would lead us to make the same judgments about the basic structure of society which we now make intuitively and in which we have the greatest confidence; or whether, in cases where our present judgements are in doubt and given with hesitation, these principles offer a resolution which we can affirm on reflection. There are questions which we feel sure must be answered in a certain way. For example, we are confident that religious intolerance and racial discrimination are unjust. We think that we have examined these things with care and have reached what we believe is an impartial judgment not likely to be distorted by an excessive attention to our own interests. These convictions are provisional fixed points which we presume any conception of justice must fit. However, we have much less assurance as to what is the correct distribution of wealth and authority. Here we may be looking for a way to remove our doubts. We can check an interpretation of the initial situation, then, by the capacity of its principles to accommodate our firmest convictions and to provide guidance where guided is needed. In searching for the most favoured description of this situation we work from both ends. We begin by describing it so that it represents generally shared and preferably weak conditions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

We then see if these conditions are strong enough to yield a significant set of principles. If not, we look for further premises equally reasonable. However, if so, and these principles match our considered convictions of justice, then so far well and good. However, presumably there will be discrepancies. In this case we have a choice. We can either modify the account of the initial situation or we can revise our existing judgments, for even the judgments we take provisionally as fixed points are liable to revision. By going back and forth, sometimes altering the conditions of the contractual circumstances, at others withdrawing our judgments and conforming them to principle, I assume that eventually we shall find a description of the initial situation that both expresses reasonable conditions and yields principles which match our considered judgments duly pruned and adjusted. This state of affairs I refer to as reflective equilibrium. It is an equilibrium because at last our principles and judgments coincide; and it is reflective since we known to what principles our judgments conform and the premises of their derivation. At the moment everything is in order. However, this equilibrium is not necessarily stable. It is liable to be upset by further examination of the conditions which should be imposed on the contractual situation and by particular cases which may lead us to revise our judgments. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

Yet for the time being we have done what we can to render coherent and to justify our convictions of social justice. We have reached a conception of the original position. I shall not, of course, actually work through this process. Still, we may think of the interpretation of the original position that I shall present as the result of such a hypothetical course of reflection. It represents the attempt to accommodate within one scheme both reasonable philosophical conditions on principles as well as our considered judgments of justice. In arriving at the favoured interpretation of the initial situation there is no point at which an appeal is made to self-evidence in the traditional sense either or general conceptions or particular convictions. I do not claim for the principles of justice proposed that they are necessary truths or derivable from such truths. A conception of justice cannot be deduced from self-evident premises or conditions on principles; instead, its justification is a matter of the mutual support of many considerations, of everything fitting together into one coherent view. We shall want to say that certain principles of justice are justified because they would be agreed to in an initial situation of equality. I have emphasized that this original position is purely hypothetical. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

It is natural to ask why, if this agreement is never actually entered into, we should take any interest in these principles, moral or otherwise. The conditions embodied in the description of the original position are ones that we do in fact accept. Or if we do not, then perhaps we can be persuaded to do so by philosophical reflection. Each aspect of the contractual situation can be given supporting grounds. Thus what we shall do is to collect together into one conception a number of conditions on principles that we are ready upon due consideration to recognize as reasonable. These constraints express what we are prepared to regard as limits on fair terms of social cooperation. One way to look at the idea of the original position, therefore, is to see it as an expository device which sums up the meaning of these conditions and helps us to extract their consequences. On the other hand, this conception is also an intuitive notion that suggests its own elaboration, so that led on by it we are drawn to define more clearly the standpoint from which we can best interpret moral relationship We need a conception that enables us to envision our objective from afar: the intuitive notion of the original position is to do this for us. When I am your president, I hope you will come see me. Please do not leave me up there in the White House all by myself. I grew up watching PBS, and still watch it. For enlightened news coverage, tune in to PBS. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

Love must be aggressively translated into simple justice. “Each one should use whatever gift one has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms,” reports 1 Peter 4.10. Peter and Paul are saying the same thing. The spiritual gifts we have, and the ministries we perform are gifts of God’s grace. None of us deserves the gifts one has been given. They are given to us by God’s undeserved favour to us through Christ. This means the most “worthy” and the most “unworthy” of all Christians both receive their gifts and their ministries on the same basis. The “unworthy” person surely does not deserve one’s gift, but neither does the most “worthy.” They both receive them as unmerited favours from God. There are quotations marks around worthy and unworthy in above because in reality there is no such distinction in God’s sight. In His sight, we are all totally and permanently bankrupt spiritually. Paul’s statement, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3.22-23), is just as true for believers as for unbelievers. We never earn our privileges of ministry because of our heard work or faithfulness in previous service to God. I taught adult Saturday school for many years in a small church before God launched me into a much wider sphere of ministry. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

However, I did not earn an enlarged ministry through my “faithful” teaching; rather, it was a gift of God’s grace. We are so accustomed to thinking of spiritual gifts in terms of abilities to minister that we lose sight of the ordinary meaning of the word. A gift is something given to us; something we do not earn. However, even our ordinary meaning fails to adequately convey the biblical sense. We tend to give gifts to people who, even though they have not earned them, in some sense deserve them because of their relationship to us or because they have done us a favour of some kind. However, God gives spiritual gifts to people who do not deserve them. None of us deserves to be in God’s service on some far away mission field. It is an awesome thing to attempt to speak on behalf of God. Yet that is exactly what we do when we teach, or preach, or write. It matters not whether our audience is one person or fifty thousand, whether they are kindergarten pupils or graduate theological students. Any time we say or write something that we hold out to be biblical truth, we are putting ourselves in the position of being God’s spokes-person. Peter said, “If anyone speaks, one should do it as one peaking the very words of God,” reports 1 Peter 4.11. I suspect that most people who these essays do teach the Scriptures occasionally if not regularly. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

Do we appreciate the awesomeness of our responsibility, to be speaking on behalf of God? Do we consider the accountability that comes with being entrusted with the divine message? Paul himself was keenly conscious of his immense responsibility when he said, “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like humans sent from God,” reports 2 Corinthians 2.17. He said he spoke like a human sent from God, but he also said he spoke before God, or in the sight of God. That is, God not only sent him, but observed him. One Saturday as I stood up to teach my adult Saturday school class, to my dismay, I realized the president of our denominational seminary was sitting in the class. To make matters more intense, he also happened to be the professor of homiletics (the art of preaching). I was sure he was critiquing everything I said, both in content and delivery. Now if the presence of a seminary president in my class was an awesome experience, how much more awed should I be when I realize I speak, or write, in the very presence of God and on His behalf. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

What, then, will gives us the courage to undertake or continue to teach the Scriptures or, for that matter, to exercise any other spiritual gift? The heartfelt conviction that we have our ministry by God’s grace. Again, as Paul said, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart,” reports 2 Corinthians 4.1. It was a sense of God’s mercy that gave Paul courage or, as he expressed it, caused him not to lose heart. Mercy is God’s grace expressed specifically toward people who are viewed by Him as guilty, condemned, and helpless. It is generally expressed in terms of relieving the misery due to their sin. However, God not only relieved Paul’s misery, He elevated him to the office of apostle and gave him the ministry of proclaiming the richest of Christ. However, Paul never lost sight of his own unworthiness, even when exercising his office of apostleship. He never forgot he held that office by God’s mercy. Here we see the biblical relationship between a sense of one’s utter unworthiness on the one hand, and the courage to undertake a ministry for God on the other. To lose sight of our unworthiness is to risk exercising our gifts and fulfilling our ministries in a spirit of presumptuous pride, as if God were fortunate to have us on His team. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

However, to focus too much on our unworthiness, to the neglect of God’s grace, will effectively immobilize us for His service. That attitude is also an expression of pride because we are still focusing on ourselves and our worthiness or unworthiness, as if God were dependent on some innate quality within us to equip us for His service. Remember we did not declare temporary spiritual bankruptcy. Our bankruptcy is total and permanent. The only worthiness we have with which to come before God is in Christ. And the only worthiness we have to qualify us for ministry is in Christ. If we are to progress in any aspect of the Christian life, we must look outside ourselves and only to Christ. It is in Him that the grace of God is so abundantly poured out on us. God may be generous enough to accept us as we are, with our weaknesses and mistakes, but the law of Karma is above all human emotions, whether they be generous or ingenerous. It demands full payment and distributes to them the consequences of their actions. There is a strong similarity between this and law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundations of this World, upon which all blessings are predicated. We believe we are born where we should be, but that a just and loving Father in Heaven has decided where we can best perform in this mortal sphere of activity. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

We believe we reap the rewards of our actions, but we also believe in the atonement of Jesus. Were it not for this merciful provision, we would be left with nearly the same doctrine as others who believe that karma cannot change. That is, we would be left to eternally pay the price of our sins. Christians are taught to be involved in the actions of others through doing good deeds and teaching the gospel. This is the doctrine of loving your neighbour as yourself. Spiritual insights surpass our mere powers of reason. We realize, however, that these moments of enlightenment are given to us by God through the power of the Holy Ghost and that we must study some things out for ourselves and then seek a spiritual confirmation. The gospel also teaches us to follow a wise, God-revealed health law. Physical care and conditioning have been taught since the early days of the Church. “Behold, now it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites sent a proclamation among all this people, that they should not lay their hands on Ammon, or Aaron, or Mmner, or Himni, nor either of their brethren who should go forth preaching the word of God, in whatsoever place they should be, in any part of their land. Yea, he sent a decree among them, that they should not lay their hands on them to bind them, or to cast them into prison. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

“Neither should they spit upon them, nor smite them, nor cast them out of their synagogues, nor scourge them; neither should they cast stones at them, but that they should have free access to their houses, and also their temples, and their sanctuaries. And thus they might go forth and preach the word according to their desires, for the king as been converted unto the Lord, and all his household; therefore he sent his proclamation throughout the land unto his people, that the word of God might have no obstruction, but that it might go forth throughout the land unto his people, that the word of God might have no obstruction, but that it might go forth throughout all the land, that his people might be convinced concerning the wicked traditions of their fathers, and that they might be convinced that they might be convinced that they were all brethren and that they ought not to murder, nor to plunder, nor to steal, nor to commit adultery, nor commit any manner of wickedness. And now it came to pass that when the kind had sent forth this proclamation, that Aaron and his brethren went forth from city to city, and from one house of worship to another, establishing churches, and consecrating priests and teachers throughout the land among the Lamanites, to preach and to teach the word of God among them; and thus they began to have great success. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

“And thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord, yea, thousands were brought to believe in the traditions of the Nephites; and they were taught the records and prophecies which were handed down even to the present time. And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away. For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren. Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord: The people of the Lamanites who were in the land of Ishmael; and also of the people of the Lamanites who were in the land of Middoni; and also of the people of the Lamanites who were in the city of Nephi; and also of the people of the Lamanites who were in the land of Shemlon, and in the city of Lemuel, and in the city of Shimnilom. And these are the names of cities of the Lamanites which were converted unto the Lord; and these are they that laid down the weapons of their rebellion, yea, all their weapons of war; and they were all Lamanites. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

“And the Amalekites were not converted, save only one; neither were any of the Amulonites; but they did harden their heart, and also the hearts of the Lamanites in that part of the land wheresoever they dwelt, yea and all their villages and all their cities. Therefore, we have named all the cities of the Lamanites in which they did repent and come to the knowledge of truth, and were converted. And now it came to pass that the king and those who were converted were desirous that they might be distinguished from their brethren; therefore the king consulted with Aaron and many of their priests, concerning the name that they should take upon them, that they might be distinguished. And it came to pass that they called their names Anti-Nephi-Lehies; and they were called by this name and were no more called Lamanites. And they began to be a very industrious people; yea, and they were friendly with the Nephite; therefore, they did open a correspondence with them, and the curse of God did no more follow them,” Alma 23.1-18. Our Lord Jesus Christ be near thee to defend thee, within thee to refresh thee, around thee to preserve thee, before three to guide thee, behind thee to justify thee, above thee to bless thee; Who liveth and reigneth, thank you for bestowing us with your grace. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

Cresleigh Homes

Today’s blog features some inspiring houseplant ideas from plant and interior stylist @hiltoncarter! We are loving the unique decor hacks he has been featuring on his profile lately. Check it out at the link in bio! https://cresleigh.com/blog/

Bless us, O Lord, we welcome you in our house, and may you bless all that dwell in it, as we are graciously pleased to bless the house of Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; we dwell in the walls of an angel of light. As people enter our atmosphere, they feel the abundance of Jesus Christ residing. God gives us the dew of heaven, and the richness of Earth. Be glad for the peacemakers, and through the indulgence of grace bless the Earth with your presence.

God of the hearth, beat strong and pure in the heart of my home. Lord of the threshold, keep vigilant guard over the entrance of my home. Spirits of the land, keep watch throughout the yard of my home. God of the borders, stand ready to repulse all disorder from my home. #CresleighHomes

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord!

August 14, 2020 12:03 am

When bad people combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. People who live for the next miracle cream do not realize that beauty comes from a secret happiness and equilibrium within themselves. Today I learned something about the house into which she disappeared. It belongs to a widow with three lovely daughters. Information in abundance is to be had there—that is, provided they have any. The only difficulty is to understand these details raised to the third power, for they are three speak at once. Her name is Cordelia Wahl, and she is the daughter of an officer in the Royal Navy. He has been dead for some years—the mother, too. He was a very severe and strict man. She now lives with her aunt, her father’s sister, who is supposed to be like her brother but otherwise is a very respectable woman. Now that is all very fine, but in other respects they know nothing about this household; they never visit there, but Cordelia visits them frequently. She and the two other young ladies take a course in the royal kitchen. Therefore, she generally visits there early in the afternoon, sometimes in the morning, never in the evening. They keep very much to themselves. So this is the end of the story; it is appear that there is no bridge over which I can steal into Cordelia’s house. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

Consequently, she does have a conception of the pains in life, of the dark side. Who would have said this to her. Yet these recollections probably belong to an earlier period; this is a horizon under which she has lived without really being aware of it. That is fine—it has saved her femininity; she is not warped. On the other hand, it will also have significance in elevating her, if one really knows how to call it forth. All such things usually teach pride, provided they do not break one, and she is far from being broken. She lives near the embankment; they locality is not the best, no neighbours whose acquaintance one could make, no public places where one can make observations unnoticed. The embankment itself is not very suitable; one is too visible. If one walk below on the street, one cannot very well walk on the side next to the embankment, because no one walks there, and it would be too conspicuous, or one would have to walk close to the houses, and then one can see nothing. It is a corner house. Since the house has no neighbouring house, the widows to the courtyard are also visible from the street. Presumably her bedroom is there. No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. What therefore God hath joined together, let not humans put asunder. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

When people are working out, they tend to get lost in the own thoughts. More than once, I have waited for a circuit machine to free up, only to watch Mr. Oblivious finish with a set and just sit there, hogging he machine. He could easily have alternated sets with me—but he simply was not aware of what was happening around him or he just did not care. In either case, he failed to realize the reality that in a public setting like a fitness center, you are not alone. You are in a group setting that requires being aware at all times of how your actions affect others. Here are some of the most common fitness club flubs that men make: Leaving a pool of sweat. Mr. Buff is really pushing his physical limits on an exercise bike. Finally the session ends, and he steps off the bike, still totally focused on his effort, and walk away. Behind him, the handles glisten with his manly perspiration, and the seat has a small pool of sweat on it, waiting for the next lucky exerciser to climb on—maybe even that certain someone he has been trying to impress. It is not that Mr. Buff refused to clean the machine on purpose—he just did not think of it. His mind was far, far, away, in an endorphin haze. Which brings us back to the central premise of the fitness center etiquette: Be conscious of the people around you. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

Imagine this scenario instead: When Mr. Buffy steps off, he turns to the next person and says cheerfully, “Just a second—let me clean this off for you.” A handy bottle of cleanser and a towel are nearby. He squirts the towel and then wipes the bike down. This is called being considerate. It is also a great way to make the right kind of impression on your fellow fitness center member. So gross! “They do not wipe down their machines and weights when they are done. So gross!” Over and over women spoke loudly and clearly about the failure of men to wipe down the equipment after using it. It takes just a minute. Fitness centers keep pray bottles and wipe-down rags nearby. A quick spray and wipe will do more to ingratiate you with your fellow fitness buffs than any other thing you can do at the gym. By the way, it is not just women who are frustrated by this gross behaviour. Twenty-nine percent of the respondents who brought up this issue were men and, by a wide margin, this was the biggest complaint about the fitness center in a 2019 survey. The unwanted stare. This one is a toughie. Those close-fitting sports bras and shorts do not always leave much to the imagination. And then there is all that uncovered skin—sometimes lots of it—not to mention the occasional tattoo. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

Somehow I have always thought of a tattoo as an invitation to look: After all, why else is it there but to be noticed? The other day, for example, a woman on the tennis court next to mine took off her jacket to reveal what looked like a tiny fairy tattoo of one of the fairies from William Blake’s painting Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, circa 1786, one of the great works of modern art, on her back. I had to consciously work at not staring at her. I would have loved to really study that tattoo, but I limited myself to a few discreet looks when her back was turned toward me. The point is there is a difference between a look and a stare. Here is the distinction: When you look around you are you work out, your gaze falls naturally on another person but your focus is on what you are doing. When you stare, you focus on the object of your staring rather than on what you are doing. The bottom line: Women know when you are staring at them, especially when you are staring at their chest (“and I have a normal-sized bustline,” fumed one respondent). They do not like it. Do you want to impress a woman? Then look, do not stare. And look in her eyes, not at her assets. You will impress her most by showing that you are a man who knows how to respect a woman, tattooed, voluptuous, or otherwise. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

Grunting—“In through the nose, out through the mouth. Exhale!” Dana, my trainer, exhorts me. And then I realize I can hear myself. I wonder if other people are hearing me, too. Now, there is a difference between an exhale—whooooosh—and a decibel shattering grunt. When your woosh becomes a grunt you have crossed a line, and when you do, men and women are equally irritated. You do not have to grunt to exhale and when you do grunt, as one respondent put it so eloquently, “You are just showing off.” Now it is time to pretend we are on an episode of Family Feud with Steve Harvey. Survey says: What Women Really Think About Macho Men. Here is what the women in our surveys had to say about men who are fitness center show-offs: Acts like Homey D. Clown trying to impress attractive women. Acts like The Rock when he is really In Living Color’s— Men On Films II, and deserves the new and improved, “Two snaps and a twist and a kiss. Pilot to Co-Pilot, we goin’ down in flames!” Admires himself excessively in the surrounding mirrors. Flexes constantly. Grunts and groans excessively. Lifts more weight than he can handle. Shows off his form in a spandex suit when he is overweight and his belly is popping out the shirt. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

Nonetheless, in the realm of human destiny, the depth of a human’s questioning is more important than one’s answers. Our society is set up so that most women lose their identities when their husbands die…It is wrenching enough to lose the man who is your beloved, your companion, your best friend, the father of your children, without losing yourself as well. This is why some are bothered by the, “I am more important than you are” syndrome. I was on a Love Boat cruise ship recently where the line of jogging machines all face out the top deck windows, providing a fabulous view of the ocean as you work out. The sign-up system for these machines was pretty strict, I was told, for a good reason: It seems a woman had overstayed her time limit on one of the machines a while back, and the guy, who looked like Tattoo, waiting took a swing at her when she did not get off. Of course, she did not help matters by refusing to get off the machine when her time was up. Both individuals had fitness goals and needed to find a compromise. Otherwise it may seem they maybe guilty of the all-too-prevalent “I am more important than you are” syndrome, which seems to be a hazard of working out. The best way to deal with difficult people, and to avoid getting labeled as one yourself, is to respect the fitness center’s rules: Follow the schedules for all machines—start on time and end on time. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

Do not monopolize the machines. Do not use the as spare seats, and do not stand around them whole talking with your buddies. If a conflict does arise, do not take it upon yourself to be the “twelve” or SWAT of the club. Instead, kindly point out the issue to the staff, and let them take care of it. In the event that you are the culprit, admit your mistake forthrightly and make a conscious effort to change your habits. Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but, unlike charity, it should end there. Flirting with women in midworkout may not be a good idea. Do you ever read those relationship advice columns in Men’s Health? They are full of guidance on how to meet women, and one of the places they often recommend is the fitness center. You have got to wonder if any of these writers has ever actually been to a fitness center. However, I do love the trend they started with the bright neon shoes of any color with matching shorts. I admit, the idea of meeting the love of your life at the fitness center sound great in theory: After all, it is a place where a lot of fit, attractive people are gathered to pursue a common interest. So what exactly is the appropriate application for getting a woman’s attention that you are interested in doing a Richard Simmons Sweatin’ to the 80s on the Stairmaster, or straining to complete the Suzanne Somers thighmaster with? #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

Well, since the days of the Jane Fonda workout tapes, there has not been one. Most women like to look like Farrah Fawcett, Aaliyah, or Viola Davis at the gym, but they do not want some beef cake like Brad Pitt, or hunk David Hasselhoff, or a tall cup of hot chocolate like Billy D. Williams in their face, breaking their concentration while they are trying to get their body like Beyonce. What they want is to be left alone so they can do their routine. The bottom line: Even if you look like Davey Fisher, back off. Do your workout and let her finish hers. On your way out of the club, after you have showered and dressed (and are looking and smelling great), you can try striking up a conversation by treating her to The Donna, a soy, caramel latte with a double shot and whipped cream, and a homemade, semi-sweet chocolate chip cookie, with a dollop of butterscotch, and pistachios at your local coffee shop, where you can strike up a conversation. At that point she may be as interested in talking to you as Rachel Zane was at getting into Harvard Law. Life is an unanswered question, but let us believe in the dignity and importance of the question. Also, when at the fitness center, remember your personal trainer is a person. My brother called me the other day. “Where are you?” he asked. “You were not at your workout with Dana, and she was surprised because she said you always call or text her if you are going to miss an appointment.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

I thought I had arranged with my wife that she would take my appointment and I would take hers, but we got our signals crossed and neither of us showed up. In five years of working with Dana, our personal trainer, I have heard over and over from her how frustrating it is to have an appointment not show up. She loses with the person who is skipped and she has a vacancy in her schedule someone else could have used, so from Dana’s point of view she loses twice. Personal trainers are like your best friend and confident like officer Poncherello and officer Jonathan from CHiPs. So it is natural to assume that when you happen to see him or her at the gym you can stop by for a chat. Unfortunately for your trainer and the client he or she is working with, your interruption takes away from the client’s time with the trainer. These sessions are as serious as doctor’s appointments. While a quick “Hello” is totally acceptable, it is better to save longer conversations for breaks between clients. Conversing with your trainer is a fun part of your workout (sometime the only fun part), but be careful about gossiping. Sure, your trainer is like a confidant, but do not say anything to one you would not want posted on a bulletin board for anyone to read. Even if your trainer is the most discreet person in the World, others working out nearby can overhear your conversation. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

Also, class courtesy is very important. You can get a great workout from taking one of the many classes fitness centers offer members. Just be careful not to overdo it, and respect the other class participants as well. Cleanliness matters—weight training class had started when Mike Ross waltzed in and set up right next to me. Unfortunately, I almost had to leave class. He brought his Betty Crocker Tuna Salad Sandwiches with him. I felt awkward moving to another location so I had to bear it. Just because you are in a hurry to the gym does not mean you should bring your lunch with you. Hygiene and personal habits matter. Maybe consider buying lunch at the café. Therefore, leave your lunch at home. And always do your fellow fitness buffs a courtesy: Wash your clothes, wash your body, brush your teeth, and use a deodorant. Even more so, know your limitations. Do not try to poses or push yourself beyond your body’s limits. I have seen to many people exit a class and not be able to come back for weeks just because they pushed the limits and ended up straining their backs or a muscle. If you do want to try a new position or exercise, do not rock the boat, talk with the instructor ahead of time and get his or her help in making sure you can do so safely. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

If you are at a more advanced level than the class, it is respectful to ask if you can execute a more advanced move, say, a handstand instead of a headstand, before just going ahead and doing it. If you have preexisting conditions take that into consideration. Before you start a class, give the instructor a heads up about any injuries you may currently be dealing with. That was he or she knows the limitations you have and will not inadvertently push you beyond your current capabilities. In the silence of night I have often wished for just a few words of wisdom from one person, rather than unsolicited advice from thousands of people. Success means never having to admit you are unhappy. If you cannot make a class, call. Weight training and tennis classes are very popular at my fitness center, and there are often more people who want to attend them than there are open slots. When someone blows off a class without calling, these folks get very upset and with good reason. There are plenty of people on the waiting list who would have enthusiastically taken the spot, and even at four in the morning they would have showed up religiously. The final thoughts: If you cannot make a class you have signed up for, be like Harvey or Jessica and call the center well in advance and let them know you will not be there. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

The soul is a very complicated thing with an intricate internal structure that we need to understand if we are to appreciate the mind’s role in spiritual transformation. In order to understand that structure, we need to grasp two important issues: the different types of states within the soul and the notion of a faculty of the sou. The soul is a substantial, unified reality that informs its body. The soul is to the body what God is to space—it is fully “present” at each point within the body. Further, the soul and the body relate to each other in a cause-effect way. For example, if I worry in my soul, my brain chemistry will change; if I exercise my will to raise my arm in my soul, the arm goes up. If I experience brain cell damage, this can cause me to lose the ability to remember certain things in my soul. And so forth. The soul also contains various mental states within it—for example, sensations, thoughts, beliefs, desires, and acts of will. This is not as complicated as it sounds. Water can be in a cold or a hot state. Likewise, the soul can be in a feeling or thinking state. The soul contains several states. There is a belief that sounds have this kind of power. The awareness of God and your soul may percolate in your unconscious for some time; then, all of the sudden, you have an epiphany and a flash of insight comes to you, seemingly from out of nowhere. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

O God, the Protector of the faithful, and constant Visitor of souls obedient unto Thee; may it please Thee to be present, with Thy favour, to Thy servants who dwell in this house; that while we visit them with human solicitude, Thou mayest guard them with Divine favour; through our Lord. “Now, as Ammon was thus teaching the people of Lamoni continually, we will return to the account of Aaron and his brethren; for after he departed from the land of Middoni he was led by the Spirit to the land of Nephi, even to the house of the king which was over all the land save it were the land of Ishmael; and he was the father of Lamoni. And it came to pass that he went in unto him into the king’s palace, with his brethren, and bowed himself before the king, and said unto him: Behold, O king, we are the brethren of Ammon, whom thou hast delivered out of prison. And now, O king, if thou wilt spare our lives, we will be thy servants. And the king said unto them: Arise, for I will grant unto you your lives, and I will not suffer that ye shall be my servants; but I will insist that ye shall administer unto me; for I have been somewhat troubled in mind because of the generosity and the greatness of the words of thy brother Ammon; and I desire to know the cause why he has not come up out of Middoni with thee. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

“And Aaron said unto the king: Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called him another way; he has called him another way; he has gone to the land of Ishmael, to teach the people of Lamoni. Now the king said unto them: What is this that ye have said concerning the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, this is the thing which doth trouble me. And also, what is this that Ammon said—if ye will not repent, ye shall be cast off at the last day? And Aaron answered him and said unto them: Believest thou that there is a God? And the king said: I know that the Amalekites say that there is a God, and I have granted unto them that they may assemble themselves together to worship him. And if now thou sayest there is a God, behold I will believe. And now when Aaron heard this, his heart began to rejoice, and he said: Behold, assuredly as thou livest, O king, there is a God. And the kind said: Is God that Great Spirit that brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem? And Aaron said unto him: Yea, he is that Great Spirit, and he created all things both in Heaven and in Earth. Believest thou this? And he said: Yea, I believe that the Great Spirit created all things, and I desire that ye should tell me concerning all these things, and I will believe thy words. And it came to pass that when Aaron saw that the king would believe his words, he began from the creation of Adam, reading the scriptures unto the king—how God created humans after his own image, and that God gave him commandments, and that because of transgression, humans had fallen. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

“And Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the creation of Adam, laying the fall of human before him, and their carnal state and also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the World, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name. And since the human had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grace shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did expound all these things unto the king. And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my heart, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy. However, Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive he hope which thou desirest. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

“And it came to pass that when Aaron has said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the Earth, and cried mightily, saying: O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead. And it came to pass that his servants ran and told the queen all that had happened unto the king. And she same in unto the king; and when she saw him lay as if he were dead, and also Aaron and his brethren standing as though they had been the cause of his fall, she was angry with them, and commanded that her servants, or the servants of the king, should take them and lay them. Now the servants had seen the cause of the king’s fall, therefore they durst not lay their hands on Aaron and his brethren; and they pled with the queen saying: Why commandest thou that we should slay these men, when behold one of them is mightier than us all? Therefore we shall fall before them. Now when the queen saw the fear of the servants she also began to fear exceedingly, lest there should some evil some upon her. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

“And she commanded her servants that they should go and call the people, that hey might slay Aaron and his brethren. And when Aaron saw the determination of the queen, he, also knowing the hardness of their hearts of the people, feared lest that a multitude should assemble themselves together, and should be a great contention and a disturbance among them; therefore he put forth his hand and raised the king from the Earth, and said unto him: Stand. And he stood upon his feet, receiving his strength. Now this was done in the presence of the queen and many of the servants. And when they saw it they greatly marveled, and began to fear. And the king stood forth, and began to minister unto them. And he did minister unto them, insomuch that his whole household were converted unto the Lord. Now there was a multitude gathered together because of the commandment of the queen, and there began to be great murmurings among them because of Aaron and his brethren. However, the king stood forth among them and administered unto them. And they were pacified towards Aaron and those who were with him. And it came to pass that when the king saw that the people were pacified, he caused that Aaron and his brethren should stand forth in the midst of the multitude, and that they should preach the word unto them. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

“And it came to pass that the kind sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even o the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, running from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided. Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers’ first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore. And also there were many Lamanites on the east by the seashores, whither the Nephites had driven them. And thus the Nephites were nearly surrounded by the Lamanites; nevertheless the Nephites had taken possession of all the northern parts of the land bordering on the wilderness, at the head of the west, round about on the wilderness side; on the north, even until they came to then land which they called Bountiful. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

“And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing. And they came from there up into the south wilderness. Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful, it being the wilderness which is filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the land northward for food. And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, for the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward. And it came to pass that the Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful, even from the east unto the west sea, and thus the Nephites in their wisdom, with their guards and their armies, had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby they should have no more possession on the north, that they might not overrun the land northward. Therefore the Lamanites could have no more possessions only the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

“Now this was wisdom in the Nephites—as the Lamanites were an enemy to them, they would not suffer their afflictions on every hand, and also that they might have a country whither they might flee, according to their desires. And now I, after having said this, return again to the account of Ammon and Aaron, Omner and Himni, and their brethren,” reports Alma 22.1-35. Bless, O Lord, this house and all who dwell in it, as Thou wast pleased to bless the house of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that within these walls may dwell an Angel of light, and that those who dwell together in it may receive the abundant dew of Heavenly blessing, and though Thy tenderness rejoice in peace and quiet; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Although the supreme cause is necessary, the effect may be contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause; just as the germination of a plant is contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause, although the movement of the Sun which is the first cause, is necessary. So likewise things known by God are contingent on account of their proximate cases, while the knowledge of God, which is the first cause is necessary. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome,” reports Mrs. Rosa Parks. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

Cresleigh Homes

Blue as the color of the sky! @HUBApts is a colorful community just minutes from @Intel in the heart of Folsom. Visit their account to learn more!

At 1,103 sq ft, the two bedroom, two bathroom unit is the size of a modest home and comes with its own washer and dryer, a chef inspired kitchen with quartz countertops, dishwasher, and garbage disposal, and it is a roommate style apartment with bedrooms on opposite sides of the apartment. There is also plenty of storage.

There is also access to your private garage from your apartment. In addition, community also with other amenities such as a business center, club house, pet wash station, fitness center,,pool with barbeque grill, and recreational areas. This luxury apartment complex has plenty of parking for residents and guest, and is close Intel and Folsom Lake. https://sites.google.com/fpimgt.com/hubvirtualtours/home

God is the protector of the faithful, the God of, all and in subjection to them in your mind reminding you to celebrate, be merciful to the inhabitants of Thy servants. Thou wouldst live in this house; so that those whom enter, the human visitors form care, and promise to protect you, as you are the power of the divine.

There are inexorable laws, not of one’s making, which govern the opening of spiritual relation between a self-actualized teacher and a would-be pupil, however, much of one’s devotion and loyalty are appreciated. The chance remains open to one on a probation only, which is necessarily of a limited number of years. If during that period, (and we all are on mortal probation and if we pass, we will live in Heaven with God) they are able to make personal contact, it will be helpful for the pupil’s progress in understanding the teaching, and one can profit by it to clear up misconceptions and filter out faults.
#HUBApts
#CresleighHomes

Randolph Harris II International Institute

Category Archives: Folsom

Post navigation