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The Drama Triangle
As neatly as we may try to package our ideas about people, the fact is, people do not fit into neat little packages. A human being is a constantly changing bundle of thoughts, fears, emotions, values, hunches, impressions, judgments, hopes and insights, all tumbling over one another with lightening speed, in no particular order and with no apparent purpose. Yet to understand this jumble, we must first pick it apart and then try to blend it all back together in a coherent whole. This process of picking apart/blending together (or isolation/integration) is as necessary to the living of our lives as it is to the understanding of psychology. Sooner or later, we must gather together our mind-boggling bundle of thoughts, feat, et cetera, and use it as something to operate from. Integrating is a crucial step. It occurs in that most vital of all places, your core. It takes in all you have learned and all you know intuitively. It is the equivalent of master. Integration involves first recognizing the differences between the master and the manipulator, and then allowing the master to take over—effortlessly. The result will be not necessarily a victory for the master or a defeat for the manipulator, but merely an armistice in our own little internal civil wars. Insights come slowly, fitfully, over many months, and in many therapy sessions. Once an insight or a breakthrough is achieved, it is common for the person to return to his or her old pattern of manipulation again and again before developing a new, more productive, pattern. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
Developing eternal values will help us become all our Heavenly Father wants us to be. In contrast, crime is considered destructive and expensive because it not only directly harms victims through physical injury, property damage, and financial loss, but also creates significant indirect costs for society, including the need for extensive law enforcement, court systems, and incarceration, as well as the negative impacts on community safety, economic productivity, and quality of life for residents due to fear of crime. In a piece of literature called, The Man Who Watched the Train Go By, we have a conscientious clerk, subdued in his home life and in his office, apparently never thinking of anything but doing his duty. Through the discovery of the fraudulent maneuvers of his boss, with the resultant bankruptcy of the firm, his scale of values crashes. The artificial distinction between superior beings, to whom everything is allowed, and inferior ones like himself, to whom only the narrow path of correct behaviour is permitted, crumbles. He too, he realizes, could be “great” and “free.” He could have a mistress, even the very glamorous mistress of his boss. And his pride is by now so inflated that when he actually approaches her, and is rejected, he strangles her. Sought by the police, he is at times afraid, but his main incentive is to defeat the police triumphantly. Even in his attempted suicide this is the chief motivating force. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
Much more frequently the drive toward a vindictive triumph is hidden. Indeed, because of its destructive nature, it is the most hidden element in the search for glory. It may be that only a rather frantic ambition will be apparent. In analysis alone are we able to see that the driving power behind it is the need to defeat and humiliate others by rising above them. The less harmful need for superiority can, as it were, absorbs the more destructive compulsion. This allows a person to act out his need, and yet feel righteous about it. It is of course important to recognize the specific features of the individual trends involved in the search for glory, because it is always the specific constellation that must be analyzed. However, we can understand neither the nature nor the impact of these trends unless we see them as parts of a coherent entity. Alfred Adler was the first psychoanalyst to see it as a comprehensive phenomenon, and to point out its crucial significance in neurosis. There are various solid proofs that the search for glory is a comprehensive and coherent entity. In the first place, all the individual trends described above regularly occur together in one person. Of course, one or another element may so predominate as to make us speak loosely of, say, an ambitious person, or of a dreamer. However, that does not mean that the dominance of one element indicates the absence of others. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
The ambitious person will have his grandiose image of himself too; the dreamer will want realistic supremacy, even though the latter factor may be apparent only in the way in which his pride is offended by the success of others. Furthermore, all the individual trends involved are so closely related that the prevailing trend may change during the lifetime of a given person. He may turn from glamorous daydreams to being the perfect father and employer, and again to being the greatest at intimate passions of all times. Lately, they all have in common two general characteristics, both understandable from the genesis and the functions of the whole phenomenon: their compulsive nature and their imaginative character. Both have been mentioned, but it is desirable to have a completer and more succinct picture of their meaning. Their compulsive nature stems from the fact that the self-idealization (and the whole search for glory developing as its sequel) is a neurotic solution. When we call a drive compulsive, we mean the opposite of spontaneous wishes or strivings. The latter are an expression of the real self; the former are determined by the inner necessities of the neurotic structure. The individual must abide by them regardless of his real wishes, feelings, or interests lest he incur anxiety, feel torn by conflicts, be overwhelmed by guilt feelings, feel rejected by others, et cetera. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
In other words, the difference between spontaneous and compulsive is one between “I want” and “I must in order to avoid some danger.” Although the individual may consciously feel his ambition or his standards of perfection to be what he wants to attain, he is actually driven to attain it. The need for glory has him in its clutches. Since he himself is unaware of the difference between wanting and being driven, we must establish criteria for a distinction between the two. The most decisive one is the fact that he is driven on the road to glory with an utter disregard for himself, for his best interests. (I remember, for example, an ambitious girl, aged ten, who thought she would rather be blind than not become the first in her class.) We have reason to wonder whether more human lives—literally and figuratively—are not sacrificed on the altar of glory then for any other reason. John Gabriel Borkman died when he started to doubt the validity and the possibility of realizing his grandiose mission. Here a truly tragic element enters into the picture. If we sacrifice ourselves for a cause which we, and most healthy people, can realistically find constructive in terms of its value to human beings, that is certainly tragic, but also meaningful. If we fritter away our lives enslaved to the phantom of glory for reasons unknown to ourselves, that assumes the unrelieved proportion of tragic waste—the more so, the more valuable these lives potentially are. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
Ego and l’atutre moi can be seen as one or split into two. Often ego overlooks the wild utterances of its other side. Worse yet, it may fight against them. All psychopathology seems of this nature. What is not accepted as truly one’s own returns to plague one as a psychic or psychosomatic symptom. It becomes a thorn in the side made thorny by one’s rejection of it. Schizophrenia is an example of the revolution of l’autre moi. It musters force and descends on hapless ego, buffeting it with hallucinations and misperceptions so that vaunted ego can hardly find the rea World anymore. The chronic schizophrenic is a sad and comic picture of a tiny ego claiming victory while all the while pronouncing the very words of l’autre moi. One schizophrenic aptly saw a giant beast wearing pants like a man, having in its long snout-jaw a tiny man which it endlessly tossed around, neither spitting man out into the World nor swallowing him in death. Such a monster I can appreciate and respect. This was an accurate picture of this man’s state—a hapless victim of a monster. This is the end result of the long road of the little ego that cannot meet or learn from its other side. The servant who shares in the wealth of his master enjoys peace. The ego self is a small segment of self, merely the self of public places in a World that is mostly private. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
If ego and l’autre moi are seen as one, then the conception of self is enlarged. In spite of extensive training to express one’s self in a language, one would need to accept an inner native ability and predilection for representing one’s state in another primal and even archaic language. In this older language, endless images of the World or phrases of the World language are used to faithfully represent one’s state. Here the difficulty lies. Can I speak a language not taught me, a rich language, faithfully showing myself even when I am relatively lost and ignorant? And how can I do this effortlessly? To do this one has to let go of a conventional picture of the self to permit this effortless, wiser one to stand forth. Were I a primitive, I might pray to the inner one, seeking its guidance in signs. However, as a psychologist, I stand in awesome respect for its richness and its spontaneous wisdom. It is appropriate perhaps simply to notice, describe and respect what lies beyond the bounds of struggling ego. Gabriel Marcel describes a mystery as what transcends the data given us. Is the innermost faculty a symbolic mirror which can but represent? Since it lies at the threshold of what we know ourselves to be, and it implies more than can be understood, this faculty deserves respect. There is much more than could be said, some of it requiring many images and dreams to substantiate. One is that this inner self seems to have different values from the ego. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
What these inner values are cannot be described easily though they seem to involve inner truth, inner worth, and inner uses that transcend ordinary values in the World. Certainly, the inner can be more critical of ourselves and our motives than we are inclined to be. The pursuit of nonviolence in the international field is like the pursuit of politico-economic utopia—a dream. It is laudably idealistic but, unfortunately, it is also ill-founded. The pacifism which preaches a total and absolute nonviolence, applicable all the time and in all situations, fails to recognize what is written all over the universe—the law of opposites. It is their balance which holds all things in the World, all creatures in Nature, together. In human life their conflict breeds violence, and their recession, peace. War can change its form, can lose its brutality, can be lifted to a higher level altogether where words displace weapons, and this will certainly happen. However, war at worst friction at best, will not disappear so long as the ego in man with its negative emotions is his ruler. The common attitude which thoughtlessly proclaims that everything on one side of a case is good and everything on the other is bad, cannot be adopted by a philosopher. For it is dictated by the unconscious complexes of egoism. It brushes aside what is unpleasing or unselfish. It is not honestly concerned, as he is, with truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
A wise student, therefore, will not accept the demand to choose between two extremes. He will take something from each but tie himself to neither. The part of a fanatic who forces all questions into an “either-or” steel frame is not for him. These sharp divisions into two opposite camps are uncalled for. There is a third alternative which not only combines their own best features but also rises superior to them both. Philosophy seeks this higher view as the outcome of its refusal to take a partisan one, for partisan views contain truth but, because they are too prejudiced or too exaggerated or too one-sided, they also contain untruth. Thus, he will never make the common and harmful error of confusing sentimentality with spirituality. The propagation of the doctrine of pacifist nonviolence as a universal ethic arises out of such an error. Pacifism is a dream. The only practical rule is to meet force with force, to deal firmly when you are dealing with ruthless men, and to renounce the use of violence only when you are dealing with nonviolent men. So it is that while mystical ethics lend themselves to conscientious objections to war, such an attitude is defective from the philosophic standpoint. The philosophic student must be guided by the ideal of service and should not hesitate about the form of service whether it be soldiering or otherwise. Nevertheless, it is necessary to be tolerant and respect the inner voice of others. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
Certainly, the surrealists wanted to profess materialism. “We are pleased to recognize as one of the prime causes of the muntin non board the battleship Potemkin that terrible piece of meat.” However, there is not with them, as with the Marxists, a feeling of friendship, even intellectual, for that piece of meat. Putrid meat typifies only the real World, which in fact gives birth to revolt, but against itself. It explains nothing, even though it justifies everything. Revolution, for the surrealists, was not an end to be realized day by day, in action, but an absolute and consolatory myth. It was “the real life, like love,” of which Eluard spoke, who at that time had no idea that his friend Kalandra would die of that sort of life. They wanted the “communism of genius,” not the other form of Communism. These peculiar Marxists declared themselves in rebellion against history and extolled the heroic individual. “History is governed by laws, which are conditioned by the cowardice of individuals.” Andre Breton wanted revolution and love together—and they are incompatible. Revolution consists in loving a man who does not yet exist. If he really loves, however, he who loves a living being can only consent to die for the sake of the being he loves. In reality, revolution for Andre Breton was only a particular aspect of rebellion, while for Marxists and, in general, for all political persuasion, only the contrary is true. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Mr. Breton was not trying to create, by action, the promised land that was supposed to crown history. One of the fundamental theses of surrealism is, in fact, that there is no salvation. The advantage of revolution was not that it gives mankind happiness, “abominable material comfort.” On the contrary, according to Mr. Breton, it should purify and illuminate man’s tragic condition. World revolution and the terrible sacrifices it implies would only bring one advantage: “preventing the completely artificial precariousness of the social condition from screening the real precariousness of the human condition.” Quite simply, for Mr. Breton, this form of progress was excessive. One might as well say that revolution should be enrolled in the service of the inner asceticism by which individual men can transfigure reality into the supernatural, “the brilliant revenge of man’s imagination.” With Andre Breton, the supernatural holds the same place as the rational does with Hegel. Thus, it would be impossible to imagine a more complete antithesis to the political philosophy of Marxism. The lengthy hesitations of those whom Artaud called the Amiels or revolutions are easily explained. The surrealists were more different from Marx than were reactionaries like Joseph de Maistre, for example. The reactionaries made use of the tragedy of existence to reject revolution—in other words, to preserve a historical situation. The Marxists made us of it to justify revolution—in other words, to preserve a historical situation. Both make use of the human tragedy to further their pragmatic ends. However, Mr. Breton made use of the revolution to consummate the tragedy and, in spite of the tile of his magazine, made use of the revolution to further the surrealist adventure. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
Evolutionary agent Werner von Braun was born of a noble family in Silesian Germany. Members of predom castes born to aristocratic gene pools at times of technological advance are unusually free to attain stage thirteen Me-generation Self-indulgence and stage fourteen self-actualized status and this choose—id est, are allowed to follow DNA intuitions—to select their robot-role. Von Braun’s mother, another Evolutionary Agent, encouraged her son to study the stars. “For my confirmation,” confided von Braun, “I got a telescope. My mother thought this would make the best gift.” According to biographer Shirley Thomas, “Through this hobby, he happened upon an article in an astronomy magazine that crystallized the patterns his life should take. He relates, ‘I don’t remember the name of the magazine or the author, but the article described an imaginary voyage to the moon. It filled me with a romantic urge. Interplanetary travel! Here was a task worth dedicating one’s life to! Not just to stare through a telescope at the moon and the planets but to soar through the heavens and actually explore the mysterious universe. I new how Columbus had felt.” Reflect on this amazing statement. This preadolescent larval understood how an Evolutionary Agent, who lived 450 years before him, felt about his genetic task. Columbus was clear about his destiny, his obligation to the species. However, the significance of his genetic clarity is, of course, lost upon most biographers. That the young von Braun responded to the genetic imperative behind the Columbus mission is comforting evidence that pre-programmed nervous systems can be activated in preadolescence to extraordinary futique missions. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
During the period if maturity, the dramatic nature of the script is brought into full flower. Drama in life, as in the theater, is based on “switches,” and these switches have been neatly summarized by Stephen Karpman in a simple diagram her calls “The Drama Triangle.” Each hero in a drama or in life (the protagonists) starts off in one of the three main roles: Rescuer, Persecutor, or Victim, with the other principal player (the antagonist) in one of the other roles. When the crisis occurs, the two players move around the triangle, thus switching roles. One of the commonest switches occurs in divorce. During the marriage, for example, the husband is the persecutor and the wife plays the part of the victim. Once the divorce complaint is filed, these roles are reversed: the wife becomes the persecutor, and the husband the victim, while his lawyer and her lawyer play the part of competing rescuers. In fact, all struggles in life are struggles to move around the triangle in accordance with the demands of the script. Thus, the criminal persecutes his victims; the victim then files a complaint, and becomes the plaintiff or persecutor with the criminal now the victim. If he is caught, the police also become his persecutors. He then hires a professional rescuer, a lawyer, who persecutes the policeman. In an interrupted rape, there is a race around the triangle. The criminal who is persecuting the girl or boy victim becomes the victim of the rescuing police man. The criminal’s lawyer tries to rescue him by persecuting the girl or boy victim and the policeman as well. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
Fairy tales, treated as dramas, show the exact feature of the drama triangle. Little Red Riding Hood, for example, is a victim of the persecuting wolf until the hunter rescues her, when she suddenly becomes the persecutor, putting stones in the belly of the now victimized wolf. Minor roles in script drama are the Connection and the Patsy, who are available to all three of the main characters. The Connection is the person who supplies what is needed for the switch, usually for a price, and is fully aware of his role: the man who sells liquor, drugs, influence, or guns. A gun, for example, often called an “equalizer,” turns a coward (victim) into a braggart (persecutor), or switches the defensive into the offensive. The Patsy is there to be conned into preventing the switch, or speeding it up. The classical Patsies are juries, and the most poignant are mothers who pay to keep their sons out of jail. Sometimes the Patsy is passive and merely acts as bait for the switch, like Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. Mr. Karpman has many interesting variables in his fully developed theory, besides role switches. These include space switches (private-public, open-closed, near-far) which preceded, cause, or follow role switches, and script velocity (number of roles switches in a given unit of time). Thus, his thinking reaches far beyond the original roles as described for the game of “Alcoholic,” and brings fascinating insight into numerous aspects of life, psychotherapy, and the theater. Marriages can sometimes also seem like a drama triangle, as mentioned above. What a great many men and women must learn is that they cannot achieve the pleasures they both want until they realize that the most effective relationship is one where a couple views each other as equals. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
This deceptively simple truth points to one of the most valuable contributions a woman can make to a man’s ability to function effectively, from which she, of course, benefits. The liberated woman learns, among other things, the importance of being free, as men have always been free, to express openly the full range of her intimate excitement and involvement—the delight of wanting and being wanted, being intimate, seeing and being seen, hearing words and uttering them of fragrances and textures, silences and sounds. Her spontaneous feelings, spontaneously communicated, stimulate her partner and heighten his tension, impelling him to act on his own impulses. Whatever she gives him returns to her and whatever he gives her comes back to him. More than half the pleasures of the experience of intimate passions depends on a partner’s response. If there is virtually no reaction at all, or at best passive acceptance, the emotional current steadily weakens and eventually flickers and goes dead. In too many marriages the wife may never say no but never really says yes—and then is puzzled later in life that when she does to bed, her husband stays up to watch television. However, even when saying yes—and meaning it—is not the answer. Active participation does not consist of merely initiating matters which the man is then expected to complete. The woman who wholeheartedly commits herself as an equal in a union of pleasures of the flesh is involved in continuous response to her husband’s changing needs and desires, as he is involved in hers. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
Like him, she values freshness and variety and from time to time willingly experiments with the many modes of arousal as an expression of her personality and mood of the moment, not as an artificial contrivance to resuscitate flagging desire. The responsiveness of both partners is based on their mutual acceptance as vulnerable human beings with unique needs, expectations and capabilities. The wife does not assume that her husband wants what all men are supposed to want. Sensitive to what he says or reveals without words, she responds to his actual feelings at a specific moment—and she counts on him to do the same for her. Emotional needs, which vary with the mood, time and place, are not labeled “masculine” and “feminine.” If he enjoys it when she manifests a strong urge for pleasures of the flesh, that is fine; and if—as inevitably happens at times—their needs are not complementary, they will gently make their way to the best solution they can negotiate, not as representatives of two different genders but as two separate partners united by a mutual concern. Together they succeed or together they fail in the encounter of pleasures of the flesh, sharing the responsibility for failure, whether it is reflected in his performance or hers. While conclusive proof is still lacking, there are firm grounds for believing that the female who esteems herself as something more than a collector’s item, who has a beneficial appreciation of her biological nature and enters into pleasures of the flesh as a free and equal partner—and who is as responsive to her partner’s needs as she wants him to be to hers—will do more to eliminate male fears of functional failure than all the therapy in the World. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
One way for persons to rid themselves of the body is to pretend to be somebody else. In so doing, they are “in” neither their actions nor their bodies. If they can obliterate the experience of the body, this pretense is abetted. Such obliteration is carried out through repression of unwelcome somatic experience. Persons will repress any dimensions of their experience that terrify them, or that have led to unbearable pain. Thus, when parents observe children masturbating, they may punish them severely. To avoid future pain, the children may repress all pleasurably body experience. It is as if they have divested themselves of their genitalia to avoid rejections by parents who cannot love a child with urges for pleasures of the flesh. Chronic repression of body experience must manifest itself in some way. Subjectively, repression of bodily experience is experienced as no experience, as a “hole” or an absence in the person’s experience of being. Thus, one person complained, “I feel numb, like a robot.” Objectively, somatic repression manifests itself as character structure, or muscular armour—a peculiar configuration of muscular tonus and flaccidity, which results in a person’s characteristic bodily posture, style of movement, and tone of voice. Somatic repression has profound effects upon autonomic functions of the body, such as breathing, elimination, circulation, and rest. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
Wilhelm Reich was adept at looking at a naked body and “reading” from it what impulses a person was repressing, and what kinds of conflicts the person likely had with parents. There is no magic in this. If persons have been obliged to live dutiful, unpleasurable lives, and dare not experience, much less express, their rage and resentment, then they must hold the rage in. If you will clench your teeth, tighten your neck, pinch your buttocks tightly together, and then look in the mirror, you will improve your ability to empathize with others who are repressed. A person who has repressed his or her sense of vitality may inhibit the vitality of another person who, before the encounter, felt “full of beans and juices,” very much alive. On making contact with the unembodied one, the individual begins to feel diminished in vitality and zest for life. T is the faculty of reason which differentiates human beings from all Nature’s other creatures. It is this which sets man beyond the animals. However, reason untouched by the finer promptings of the heart, and unillumined by the sublimer intuitions of the mind, degenerates easily into selfish, cunning, and degrades instead of dignifying man. It may be they find it too hard to make the crossing from the older way of thinking to what is demanded of them by the new knowledge: a willingness to accept paradox. For otherwise, they get only a half-truth. Reason gradually becomes paramount as man develops through life after life. #RandolphHarris #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
Unit readiness in the Sacramento Fire Department begins with physically fit firefighters and EMT’s because emergencies drain people physically, mentally, and emotionally. Physical fitness, while crucial for success in the fire department, is important for all members of the team. Physically git people feel more competent and confident, handle stress better, work longer and harder, and recover faster. These attributes provide valuable payoffs in any environment. The physical demand of the job, prolonged hours, and continuous operations can erode more than your body. Physical fitness and adequate rests support mental functioning and emotional stability, both essential for sound leadership. You must be prepared for deprivation. It is difficult to maintain a high level of fitness during fast-paced, demanding operations. If you are not physically fit, your mental and emotional fitness will suffer as well. Sacramento firefighters and EMT’s operate in difficult terrain, extreme climates, and at high altitudes, and this requires extensive physical preconditioning. Once you are in the area of operations, you must make every effort to sustain physical readiness. Preparedness for operational missions is the primary focus of the Sacramento Fire Department’s physical fitness program. Fitness programs that merely emphasize top scores on the Fire Department Fitness Test do not prepare firefighters for the strenuous demands of firefighting and rescue. As forward-looking leaders, the Sacramento Fire Department has developed a balanced physical fitness program that enables fire fighters and EMT’s to execute the department’s mission-essential task last. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
Ultimately, the Sacramento Fire Department’s physical fitness requirements have a significant impact on the team’s personal performance and health. Since their decisions affect their organization’s response times and performance, health and safety, it is an ethical as well as a practical imperative to remain health and fit. “I got married after I got into the fire department. I met my wide when we were both in college. We have one child, a baby girl, two months old. My wife doesn’t like me being in the fire department, and since I got hurt, she is really kind of scared. But she knows that it’s what I want to do. I’m sure she wouldn’t want our girl to be a firefighter when she grows up. I’d just like her, the baby, to do what she wants to do. When my wife had our first child at the hospital, I went in there and helped deliver it. It was a lot of fun, and I assisted. I was trained in Lamaze classes. I was there with our second child also. It’s a tremendous feeling to be there, bringing a new individual into the World. They teach in Lamaze class that it creates a bonding effect between you and the mother, and you and the child. I believe that 100 percent. My kids are real special. And as you grow up as an individual yourself, you see mistakes that you made, and you want to make sure that your child doesn’t make those same mistakes. You want to the best for your children. They are too young to have an interest in the fire service. My little boy’s only seven. They like going to the station. I just want them to grow up happy, to live a good life and live long, and be happy in what they do. Material things aren’t important. It would be nice if Nicholas became a firefighter. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
The Sacramento Fire Department is older than the City of Sacramento. Today, 5 February 2025, the Sacramento Fire Department is celebrating their 175th birthday. This is a very important milestone. Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. The proud members of the Sacramento Fire Department are committed to providing the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of Sacramento. This is accomplished by implementing comprehensive strategies and training in fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and all risk mitigation, including human-caused and natural disasters, emergency preparedness, emergency services and community-based fire services. The Sacramento Fire Department physical requirements for the firefighters and EMTs state that you must be medically and physically fit, and able to pass the Occupational Physical Assessment Test. Therefore, physical and mental toughness are just the basic requirements. You achieve excellence when you habitually show discipline and commitment to the department’s values. Individuals and organizations pursue excellence to improve. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
Citizens, remember to give the right-of-way to any law enforcement vehicle, fire engine, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights. Failure to pull over may result in a ticket. Drive to the right edge of the road and stop until the emergency vehicles(s) have passed. When approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing emergency signal lights (hazard lights), move over and slow down. If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. Moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on values, principles, and convictions. It enables you to stand up for what you believe is right, regardless of the consequences. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. Las Vegas is running out of buildable land and is expected to reach its maximum number of homes in 2032. So, home prices are expected to rise dramatically. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
The Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.)
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
Certainly Man No Longer Consents to Unite with Nature Except in Crime
Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself. Alienation is considered a definite way of being, chosen by a human, which violates a human’s ontological freedom, thereby leading to a decline in his subjectivity. Not only is a man’s real self prevented from a straight growth, but in addition his need to evolve artificial, strategic ways to cope with others has forced him to override his genuine feelings, wishes, and thoughts. To the extent that safety has become paramount, his innermost feelings and thoughts have receded in importance—in fact, have had to be silenced and have become indistinct. (If only he is safe, it does not matter what he feels.) His feelings and wishes thus cease to be determining factors; he is no longer, so to speak, the driver, but is driven. Also, the division in himself not only weakens him in general, but reinforces the alienation by adding an element of confusion; he no longer knows where he stands, or “who” he is. This beginning alienation from self is more basic because it lends to the other impairments their injurious intensity. If we imagine what would happen, if it were possible for the other processes to occur without this alienation from the alive center of oneself, we can understand this more clearly. In that case, the person would have conflicts, but would not be tossed around by them; his self-confidence (as the very word indicates, it requires a self upon which to place confidence) would be impaired, but not uprooted; and his relations to others would be disturbed without his having become inwardly unrelated to them. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
Hence, most of all, the individual alienated from himself needs—it would be absurd to say a “substitute” for his real self, because there is no such thing—something that will give him a hold, a feeling of identity. This could make him meaningful to himself and, despite all the weakness in his structure, give him a feeling of power and significance. Provided his inner conditions do not change (though fortunate life circumstances), so that he can dispense with his need, there is only one way in which he can seem to fulfill them, and seem to fulfill all of them at one stroke: through imagination. Gradually and unconsciously, the imagination sets to work and creates in his mind an idealized image of himself. In this process he endows himself with unlimited powers and with exalted faculties; he becomes a hero, a genius, a supreme love, a saint, a god. Self-idealization always entails a general self-glorification, and thereby gives the individual much-needed feeling of significance and of superiority over others. However, it is by no means a blind self-aggrandizement. Each person builds up his personal idealized image from the materials of his own special experiences, his earlier fantasies, his particular needs, and also his given faculties. If it were not for the personal character of the image, he would not attain a feeling of identity and unity. He idealizes, to begin with, his particular “solution” of his basic conflict: compliance becomes goodness; love, saintliness; aggressiveness becomes strength, leadership, heroism, omnipotence; aloofness becomes wisdom, self-sufficiency, independence. What—according to his particular solution—appear as shortcomings or flaws are always dimmed out or retouched. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
He may deal with his contradictory trends in one of the course of analysis that an aggressive person, to whim love seems unpermissible softness, is in his idealized image not only a knight in shining armour but also a great lover. Secondly, contradictory trends, besides being glorified, may be isolated in the person’s mind that they no longer constitute disturbing conflicts. One patient was, in his image, a benefactor of mankind, a wise man who had achieved a self-contained serenity, and a person who could without qualms kill his enemies. These aspects—all of them conscious—were to him not only uncontradictory but also even unconflicting. In literature this way of removing conflicts by isolating them has been presented by Stevenson in Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Lastly, the contradictory trends may be exalted as beneficial faculties or accomplishments so that they become compatible aspects of a rich personality. An example is a gifted person who turns his complaint trends into Christlike virtues, his aggressive trends into a unique faculty for political leadership, and his detachment into the wisdom of a philosopher. Thus, the three aspects of his basic conflict were at once glorified and reconciled each with the others. He became, in his own mind, a sort of modern equivalent to l’uomo universale of the Renaissance. Eventually, the individual may come to identify himself with his idealized, integrated image. Then it does not remain a visionary image which he secretly cherishes; imperceptibly he becomes this image: the idealized image becomes an idealized self. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
And this idealized self becomes more real to him than his real self, not primarily because it is more appealing but because it answers all his stringent needs. This transfer of his center of gravity is an entirely inward process; there is no observable or conspicuous outward change in him. The change is in the core of his being, in his feeling about himself. It is a curious and exclusively human process. It would hardly occur to a cocker spaniel that he “really” is an Irish setter. And the transition can occur in a person only because his real self has previously become indistinct. While the healthy course at this phase of development—and at any phase—would be a move toward his real self. The latter begins to represent to him what he “really” is, or potentially is—what he could be, and should be. It becomes the perspective from which he looks at himself, the measuring rod with which he measures himself. Self-idealization, in its various aspect, is called a comprehensive neurotic solution—id est, a solution not only for a particular conflict but one that implicitly promises to satisfy all the inner needs that have arisen in an individual at a given time. Moreover, it promises not only a riddance from his painful and unbearable feelings (feeling lost, anxious, inferior, and divided), but in addition an ultimately mysterious fulfilment of himself and his life. No wonder, then that when he believes he has found such a solution he clings to it for dear life. No wonder that, to use a good psychiatric term, it becomes compulsive. The regular occurrence of the compulsive needs bred in a neurosis-prone environment. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
We can look at self-idealization from two major vantage points: it is the logical outcome of an early development and it is also the beginning of a new one. It is bound to have far-reaching influence upon further development because there simply is no more consequential step to be taken than the abandoning of the real self. However, the main reason for its revolutionary effect lies in another implication of this step. The energies driving toward self-realization are shifted to the aim of actualizing the idealized self. This shift means no more and no lees than a change in the course of the individual’s whole life and development. Furthermore, as we focus on the private relationship, what are some ways that the equal rights movement may affect the intimate man-woman bond? If it does not lead to emotional fulfilment in their private Worlds, while feminism today is moving forward with all the fervour of a fad, for how long will women continue to purse the principle of gender equality? And fulfillment for the overwhelming majority of women requires an enduring relationship with a man. Militant Women’s Liberation advocates may deplore that fact, and although marriage rates are declining, fact it remains. The statistics do not reflect the full extent to which men and women choose to be united as couples, since living together without being legally wed seems an accelerating trend. All things considered, we have ample persuasive proof that the man-woman bond still plays a crucial role in the lives of individuals of both genders—and appears likely to continue in importance in the future. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
If some leaders of the women’s movement make the strategic mistake of attacking marriage as part of a male plot to keep women under control, they will almost surely find themselves out of touch with most other women. If there is a campaign that projects the concept that equality and independence are assets only for the unmarried and the childless, the attempt to persuade the average woman that she too has an important stake in the outcome to extend women’s rights, it will fall on deaf ears. Such a misconception is regrettable. The emancipation movement has much to contribute to society as a whole, but it cannot succeed without widespread support from the general public, men as well as women. Before the feminists can hope to win over any substantial number of the opposite gender, however, they must first find ways to convince most members of their own. The nonconformist minority must be joined by the traditionalist majority. However, what have Liberation spokeswomen to say to a woman who dream of having a husband, a home and a family? If any, this woman wants to know what part gender equality can play in helping her to find happiness in the World she shares with friends and family. Her questions are simple, personal and practical. If she is single and acts with more self-reliance and initiative than most men are accustomed to, and she wants to be accepted as a person first and a female second, she may wonder whether her attractiveness will be diminished. If she selects a job not usually performed by a female, makes friends with men as naturally as with women, and accepts premarital pleasures of the flesh as a healthy consequence of emotional commitment, will she jeopardize the future she desires? #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
Or if she married and has as much to say as her husband in making decisions that concern them both, if she chooses to work or be of service in the community even though this takes her out of the house during the day, and if she makes it clear that she enjoys being an active partner in marital pleasures of the flesh, she may worry about undermining her marriage. There are good reasons to believe that such fears are groundless. By disregarding outdated social stereotypes and searching instead to discover what she can do and wants to do, a woman improves her chances of becoming a happier and more fulfilled person—and this improves her chances of achieving and maintaining a rewarding marriage. This is a general principle, of course, and what happens in any given case can never be predicted. If she respects herself as an individual in her own right, although a woman can always make an unfortunate choice of partner, such an error of judgment is less likely. Secure in her identity as a female, she will not feel compelled to marry to prove that she is a woman; confident of her worth as a person, she will no be vulnerable to the man who needs to dominate a woman to prove his masculinity. In seeking a partner to marry or to live with, she will be looking for her male counterpart: a man who rejects the stereotypes of pleasures of the flesh that prevail in society, who will accept her as his equal and will prize her individuality. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
With such a man, she can avoid the trap in which so many wives are caught, where roles are assigned on the basis of pleasures of the flesh alone, where both man and woman act on cue in standardized ways according to a script written centuries ago, no matter how awkward or compromised they may feel, and where, barred from the kind of sharing relationship that would extend their sense of themselves as individuals, they live out their lives locked side by side in separate cells labeled His and Hers. Any woman who has the will and the courage to break out of the cell that historically been considered appropriate for females, a cell comfortably padded with privileges, has something of tremendous value to offer a man—the key to his own prison door. For wherever equality of the genders exists, and especially in the intimate World of marriage, liberation of the female liberates the male. This can be seen with striking clarity in the relationship of pleasures of the flesh. Traditionally, pleasures of the flesh have been something a man does to a woman. During a consider period in history, this arrangement served a purpose. It offered the man a release from physical tension whenever he needed it so that he could concentrate on earning a living for himself and his family. And it resulted in pregnancy and children for the woman, which represented justification of her existence. Under these circumstances, most husbands could perform adequately because nothing was required beyond a brief coupling. They themselves were led to expect little pleasure from marital pleasures of the flesh; and their wives, none at all. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
A person is made up of a number of polarities: anger and love, strength and weakness, et cetera. When we apply the idea of rhythmic relating to them, we find that all the polarities exist in a continuous state of contact with and withdrawal from one another. A person cannot stay in the polarity of anger without eventually experiencing it opposite, love. An exercise with this polarity would be to have one person in a relationship have a “hostilectomy”—two or three minutes of constant anger. When he or she fully experiences the anger, the feeling is invariably followed by an experience of love toward the other person. A person who fully experiences weakness for a while will almost always experience strength. There is a pendular rhythm between the polarities. Dr. Freud was aware of this phenomenon. He said that whenever we experience human love, we also hate. When a couple fights authentically, they gather the momentum on the “hate” end of the pendulum to swing to the “love” end when the fight is naturally played out. There is a rhythmic balancing process causing the flow to move from one polarity to another. Mastery, as we have viewed it, is the willingness to risk continuous expression of all the values and their polar opposites, to whatever degree they come up. Just as some men are unwilling to have people express anything other than love toward them, they are also unwilling to risk expressing any other value. To these men, life is “love, love, love” or it is nothing. Unfortunately, life foes not work that way. Life works according to its own rules. It is up to us to discover and operate within the rules—not to try getting around them. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
All of this make fairly substantial differences between a person on the surface and a person in depth. One could devise a fairly adequate boundary between these regions. The ego seems to choose its thoughts and act. L’autre moi is given. Ego understands its meaning, but l’autre moi speaks a symbolic and somewhat alien language. When ego fashions a fantasy only to find that the fantasy develops surprising changes in a life of its own, the boundary is crossed, pointing beyond the little scope of ego. The schizophrenic who has approached this boundary from the other side often finds it difficult to locate. For instance, some who have recovered from manifest hallucinations that faded into their thoughts are then in some doubt (and are sometimes technically delusional) over which thoughts were theirs and which were given by other forces. The more I look at the hypnogogic process in which thoughts are drawn out of themselves, the less I am sure there is a valid boundary. The thoughts that come into my head also seem to come out of nowhere. I cannot grasp or really know how my thoughts are thought. It is clear that thoughts arise out of feelings, and one has little to do with fashioning feelings which are the supportive background of thought and key to its meaning and use. Feeling seems to be the root out of which thought comes. In order to play for keeps, put himself to the test, and know who he is, Jeder must take on a mortgage. In this country, he is not a man until he makes a downpayment on a house, goes heavily into debt in business, or mortgages his working years to bring up children. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
Those who have no mortgages are regarded as carefree, beautiful, or lucky people, but not as real people. The banker’s television commercials show the great day in Jeder’s life: the day he mortgages his earnings for the next twenty or thirty years to buy a house. The day he pays off the mortgage, he is out of it and ready for the old people’s home. This danger can be averted by taking on a larger mortgage for a more massive house. In other parts of the World, he can mortgage himself for a bride. If he works hard, just as the young man here, can become the “owner” or ower of a $700,000 house, so the young man in New Guinea can be comes the “owner” or ower of a 700,000-potato bride. If he pays that off too fast, he may be able to move up to a roomier 1,000,000-potato model. Most well-organized societies, in one way or another, provide a way for young people to mortgage themselves and thus give meaning to their lives. Otherwise, they might just spend their time enjoying themselves, as they do still in a few places. In that case, there is no easy way of telling the winners from the losers. With a mortgage system, the population readily divides itself. People who do not even have enough gumption to mortgage themselves are losers (according to those who run the system). People who spend their lives paying off the mortgage, so that they can never get much ahead, are the silent majority of nonwinners. The people who hold the mortgages are the winners. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
People who are not interested in money-or-potato mortgages can do it another way—by becoming addicts. In that way there is a lifelong mortgage on their bodies which they can never pay off, so they are always playing for keeps. Whoever refuses to recognize any other determining factor apart from the individual and his desires, any priority other than that of the unconscious, actually succeeds in rebelling simultaneously against society and against reason. The theory of the gratuitous act is the culmination of the demand for absolute freedom. If this freedom ends by being embodied in the solitude defined by Jarry: “When I’ll have collected all the ready cash, in the World, I’ll kill everybody and go away,” what does it matter? The essential thing is that every obstacle should be denied and that the irrational should be triumphant. What, in fact, does this apology for murder signify if not that, in a World without meaning and without honour, only the desire for existence, in all its forms, is legitimate? The instinctive joy of being alive, the stimulus of the unconscious, the cry of the irrational, are the only pure truths that must be professed. Everything that stands in the ways of desire—principally society—must therefore be mercilessly destroyed. Now we can understand Andre Breton’s remark about Sade: “Certainly man no longer consents to unite with nature except in crime; it remains to be seen if this is not one of the wildest, the most incontestable, ways of loving.” It is easy to see that he is talking of love without an object, which is love as experienced by people who are torn asunder. However, this empty, avoid love, this insane desire for possession, is precisely the love that society inevitably thwarts. That is why Mr. Breton, who still bears the stigma of his declarations, was able to sing the praises of treason and declare (as the surrealist have tried to prove) that violence is the only adequate mode of expression. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
In the early decades of the 20th Century traces of industrial pollution manufactured by domesticated adults initiated the activation of the first post-terrestrial hum-models. Thousands of hedonic networkers were produced in gene pools located in the forward technological niches of Western Europe. Most of these premature evolutes ended up as weirdo artists or in asylums. The more fortunate appeared in environments where their neural programs could find external supports. Robert Goodard, the Wizard of Worcester, flourished in the Snow Belt of the New World. Konstantin Edouradovich, the genius of Kaluga, was produced by a dissenting science intellectual gene pool. Space-visionary Krafft A. Ehricke sprung from parents who were scientifically trained. The most successful of the proto-post-terrestrial was Werner von Braun. In studying the personal evolution of these mutants, the neurogeneticist is not surprised to discover that during the vulnerable-to-imprint adolescent years, there occurred the revelation, the flash insight that they were not terrestrials. Goddard’s unfolding pre-sexual brain was stimulated, as were millions of preadolescent lobes, by the science fiction of Jules Verne and by the standard “fantasy” stories of Mars exploration in daily newspapers. The effect of science fiction and of “fake news” in activating post-terrestrial circuits cannot be overestimated! UFO rumours, Sci-Fi hoaxes, lurid unscientific news stories are key signals which awaken young brains to futique possibilities. Newspapers are powerful reality-transmission tools during the preflight years. When a newspaper publishes a wild, unfounded hoax story with a science fiction theme, it is performing a key role in evolution by using the hive-ritual of “news” to transmit a future reality trace. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
It is important to take the Republic out of the claws of the revolutionary vultures of the fake news media and deliver it to God. If we do not, the government will become nothing but a type of decorative knot; officials will be kept as decoration only. It is important to break down the wall of division in America. Our opponents must know that anyone who dares to incite trouble will be harshly thrown out, even thought we might be a dozen against five hundred. It is the duty of pioneer thinkers to help mankind move up towards a higher life. This duty will be made clearer when the implications of the destructive period though which the World is passing are made plain. The ideal of pacifism are those who have renounced the World. For all others the full discharge of responsibilities is necessary. The truth is that the present crisis has no parallel in history except that which preceded the destruction of Atlantis. For present-day circumstances are the material objectifications of the struggle between unseen powers representing hood and evil, light and darkness. In World War II, the Nazis and the Japanese were the focal points for an attack upon the highest ideals of mankind, were the human instruments for vile eruption of evil and lying spirits. It is the duty of those who care for these ideals to protect them. This can only be done by fighting and defeating the instruments of the forces of darkness. This battle must be waged in an impersonal spirit without hatred and with deep recognition that mankind without exception forms one great spiritual family and with the consciousness that this must constitute the ultimate ethical idea for every nation. Thus, mankind must first be purged by suffering and later healed by love. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
When science is balanced by the intuitive heart-forces, it brings well-being to man but where it is controlled by the cold, selfish, head-forces alone, it brings him to black magic and destroys him. Emotion is a quality of experience and an expressive quality of action it is composed of strengthened feelings, positive or negative. When persons are stimulated to express emotion, their awareness, their behaviour, and their physiological functioning all change. There is no complete catalogue of emotional experience, but emotional expression is a kind of communication, and some “states” of emotion are identifiable by individuals and by those who associate with them: pleasure, depression, anxiety and dread, anger, weeping, humour, the experience of freedom, boredom, and affection and tenderness. The capacity to experience a broad range of emotion is an indication of healthy personality. Our emotional habits are acquired through conditioning, though the learning of expectancies, and through identification with significant others in our lives. Immediate uncontrolled expression of emotion and chronic suppression and repression are incompatible with healthy personality. The ability to suppress and express emotion selectively and work through and understand one’s own emotionality are the patterns of emotional control most compatible with healthy personality. Growth-producing human relationships are facilitated by being authentically receptive and understanding of the other’s emotional expression. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
Every organization has an internal culture and ethos. A true warrior ethos must underpin the Sacramento Fire Department’s enduring traditions and values. Firefighters and EMTs imbued with an ethically ground warrior ethos clearly symbolize the Sacramento Fire Department’s unwavering commitment to the nation they serve. The Sacramento Fire Department has always embraced this ethos, but the demand of transformation has required a renewed effort to ensure that all crew members truly understand and embody this warrior ethos. The Warrior Ethos refers to the professional attitudes and beliefs that characterize a hero. It echoes through the precepts of the Code of Conduct and reflects your selfless commitment to the nation, mission, units, and team. Discipline, commitment to the Sacramento Fire Department’s Values, and pride in the heritage of the Sacramento Fire Department develop and sustain the Warrior Ethos. Lived by firefighters and EMTs and supported by the dedicated citizens of Sacramento, a strong Warrior Ethos is the foundation for the winning spirit that permeates the institution. It fuels the drive to fight fires through any demanding conditions—no matter the time or effort required. It is one thing to make a snap decision to risk your life for a brief period. It is another to sustain the will to win when the situation looks hopeless and shows no indication of getting better, when being away from home and family is already a profound hardship. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
The firefighter who runs into a fire or the EMT who races into a dangerous situation before the police arrive to save lives is courageous without question—that action requires great mental and physical courage. Pursuing victory over extended periods with multiple situations requires deep moral courage, one that focuses on this mission. This is the Warrior Ethos. The actions of all who have fought fires and provided medical assistance exemplifies the essence of the Sacramento Fire Department’s Warrior Ethos. Developed through discipline, commitment to the Sacramento Fire Department’s Values, and knowledge of the Sacramento Fire Department’s proud heritage, the Warrior Ethos makes it clear that being a firefighter or EMT is much more than just another job. It is about your total commitment. It is your absolute faith in yourself and your comrades that makes the Sacramento Fire Department invariably persuasive in saving lives and invincible in fighting fires. The Warrior Ethos forges victory from the chaos of duty. It fortifies you and your crew to overcome fear, hunger, deprivation, and fatigue. It is linked tightly to the Sacramento Fire Department’s Values such as personal courage, loyalty, and dedication to duty. “My mother is an amazing woman. She is a real stickler. She stood behind us through everything. My older brother has been married three times. The third marriage looked like it was going to break up, and she kept trying to keep them together. They have a little two-year old girl, and I think the ordeal I went through on the job helped bring them back together. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
“I met my wife at Church. I was twenty and working as a draftsman, and she was in college. The pastor of the church was a friend of mind, and I was helping out as in usher. I first notice myself when I was directing her to her seat. After service she asked if I would help her study the Bible and teach her how to pray. So I started teaching her. We have two boys, the eldest is six years old, fixing to be seven. The youngest, he’s three. Both of the kids are great. You couldn’t ask for better kids. When they’re apart, there’s no trouble at all, but you put the two together, it’s like mixing a group of kids are having a playdate at McDonald’s. They laugh, they play, and they run around. I guess my brothers and I were somewhat like that, I don’t know.” The Warrior Ethos requires firefighters and EMT’s unrelenting and consistent determination to do what is right and to do it with pride. Understanding what is right requires that you respect both comrades and all people involved in complex missions, such as search and rescue operations. The Sacramento Fire Department continually affirms, develops, and sustains the Warrior Ethos. It connects them the organization’s past and gives them the passion to continue to be the best, to triumph over all adversity, and to remain focused on mission accomplishment, and it does ore than preserve the Sacramento Fire Department’s institutional culture—it sustains the City, the State, and America. Tue leaders are made, not born. And True authority derives first from self-control. Sacramento firefighters and EMT’s take direction from leaders who themselves are self-directed, and they learn that success and respect are natural outcomes of their purist of excellence as leaders in the community. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
The Sacramento Fire Department is older than the City of Sacramento. On 5 February 2025, the Sacramento Fire Department will be celebrating their 175th birthday. This is a very important milestone. Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. The proud members of the Sacramento Fire Department are committed to providing the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of Sacramento. This is accomplished by implementing comprehensive strategies and training in fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and all risk mitigation, including human-caused and natural disasters, emergency preparedness, emergency services and community-based fire services. The Sacramento Fire Department physical requirements for the firefighters and EMTs state that you must be medically and physically fit, and able to pass the Occupational Physical Assessment Test. Therefore, physical and mental toughness are just the basic requirements. You achieve excellence when you habitually show discipline and commitment to the department’s values. Individuals and organizations pursue excellence to improve. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
Citizens, remember to give the right-of-way to any law enforcement vehicle, fire engine, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights. Failure to pull over may result in a ticket. Drive to the right edge of the road and stop until the emergency vehicles(s) have passed. When approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing emergency signal lights (hazard lights), move over and slow down. If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. Moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on values, principles, and convictions. It enables you to stand up for what you believe is right, regardless of the consequences. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. Las Vegas is running out of buildable land and is expected to reach its maximum number of homes in 2032. So, home prices are expected to rise dramatically. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
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Public Attitudes Influence Private Relationships
A relationship takes time to develop. When we have meaningful relations with them, our ability to care for others is increased. Look for opportunities to maintain contact. Studies show that letting people know you care is essential to healthy relationships. Visit often with those you care about. In healthy human relationships, the moves toward, against, or away from others are not mutually exclusive. The ability to want and to give affection, or to give in; the ability to fight, and the ability to keep to oneself—these are complementary capacities necessary for good human relations. However, in the child who feels himself on precarious ground because of his basic anxiety, these moves become extreme and rigid. Affection, for instance, becomes clinging; compliance becomes appeasement. Similarly, he is driven to rebel or to keep aloof, without reference to his real feelings and regardless of the inappropriateness of his attitude in a particular situation. The degree of blindness and rigidity in his attitudes is in proportion to the intensity of the basic anxiety lurking within him. Since under these conditions the child is driven not only in one of these directions, but in all of them, he develops fundamentally contradictory attitudes toward others. The three moves toward, against, and away from others therefore constitute a conflict, his basic conflict with others. In time, he tries to solve it by making one of these moves consistently predominant—tries to make his prevailing attitude one of compliance, or aggressive, or aloofness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
This first attempt at solving neurotic conflicts is by no means superficial. On the contrary, it has a determining influence upon the further course his neurotic development takes. Not does it exclusively concern attitudes toward others; inevitably, it entails certain changes in the whole personality. According to his main direction, the child also develops certain appropriate needs, sensitivities, inhibitions, and the beginnings of moral values. The predominately complying child, for instance, tends not only to subordinate himself to others and to lean on them, but also tries to be unselfish and good. Similarly, the aggressive child starts to place value on strength and on the capacity to endure and to fight. However, the integrating effect of this first solution is not as firm or comprehensive as in the neurotic solutions. In one girl, for instance, complaint trends had become predominant. They showed in a blind adoration of certain authoritative figures, in tendencies to please and appease, in a timidity about expressing her own wishes, and in sporadic attempts to sacrifice. At the age of eight, she placed some of her toys in the street for some less affluent child to find, without telling anybody about it. At the age of eleven, she tried in her childish way for a kind of mystic surrender in prayer. There were fantasies of being punished by teachers on whom she had a crush. However, up to the age of nineteen, she also could easily fall in with plans evolved by others to take revenge on some teacher; while mostly being like a little lamb, she did occasionally take the lead in rebellious activities at school. And, when disappointed in the minister of her church, she switched from a seeming religious devotion to a temporary cynicism. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
The reasons for the looseness of integration achieved—of which this illustration is typical—lie partly in the immaturity of the growing individual and partly in the fact that the early solutions aims chiefly at a unification of relations with others. There is therefore room, and indeed a need, for firmer integration. The particulars of the unfavourable environmental conditions are different in each case, as are those of the course the development takes, and its outcome. However, it always impairs the inner strength and coherence of the individual, and thereby always generates certain vital needs for remedying the resulting deficiencies. Although these are closely interwoven, we can distinguish the following aspects: Despite his early attempts at solving his conflicts with others, the individual is still divided and needs a firmer and more comprehensive integration. For many reasons, he has not had the chance to develop real self-confidence: his inner strength has been sapped by his having to be on the defensive, by his being divided, by the way in which his early “solution” initiated a one-side development, thereby making large areas of his personality unavailable for constructive uses. Hence, he desperately needs self-confidence, or a substitute for it. He does not feel weakened in a vacuum, but feels specifically less substantial, less well equipped for life than others. If he had a sense of belonging, his feeling inferior to others would not be so serious a limitation. However, living in a competitive society, and feeling at bottom—as he does—isolated and hostile, he can only develop an urgent need to life himself above others. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
In our case studying involving Nick, one of his problems was that he wanted all his relationships to consist of core-to-core contact. He expected people, in the normal course of dealing with him, to express their deepest feelings of love—often in situations which where such expression was inappropriate. When people did not contact him core-to-core, he took it as evidence that they did not love him. Based on his early training, Nick believed that not being loved was tantamount to being killed. At the same time, he was constantly exaggerating his own feelings of love when dealing with others. Often, he could not refuse to do favours for casual acquaintances. Deep down, he welcomed the opportunity to do the favours—no matter how inconvenient—because in doing them, he would build up a “love debt.” To Nick’s type of manipulator, a “love dept” works like this: “Just to show you what a nice guy I am and how much I love you, I will do you this favour. However, when I ask you for a favour, I expect you to pay me back—whether you want to or not.” When I asked Nick to do the bust, I suspected that he would interpret everyone’s reaction as a core-to-core contact. He did this, and everything was fine as long as people were saying, “The statue is good.” Nick was translating that as, “You did a good job. You are a good boy, Nick. I love you.” However, when people started saying things like, “The brow is too heavy,” Nick translated it as, “You did a bad job. You are a bad boy. I do not love you.” Naturally, the people in the group were making only peripheral contact. They were not talking about him; they were talking about his work. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
Nick’s problem with criticism is a common one. Most people take criticism personally—that is, they assume that what other people say about their work is a criticism of them as human beings. They mistake peripheral contact for core-to-core contact. In real life, a comment about someone’s work is usually peripheral. Work is something a person does; it is not who he is. A comment about someone’s work can be core-to-core contact, however. Example: “Nick, I see you really express yourself in your work. It is great that you are able to do that.” A comment can also be critical and be core-to-core. Example: “I see a lot of ugliness in your work. This ugliness is an outgrowth of how ugly you are as a person.” Both of these examples are meant to be evaluations of the person as well as the work. Viewed as such, both are considerably “heavier” than a peripheral remark about some aspect of the work. There is another kind of problem with the rhythm of people relating that is the opposite of Nick’s. It occurs with people who never permit-core-to-core contact. In the extreme, someone who does this would be a schizophrenic—more or less permanently withdraw. For most people, the rhythm of relating naturally flows from withdrawal to peripheral contact to core-to-core, back to peripheral and withdrawal, over and over in random patterns. This is the rhythm of life. Disruptions in relationships occur when the rhythm is disrupted. Divorce, for example, often results when one spouse refuses either core contact or withdrawal by the other spouse. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
A wife who refuses to allow her husband’s withdrawal might make a comment like, “If you loved me, you would not want to go out with the boys.” A husband who refuses core-to-core contact might say, “Quit asking me to tell you, ‘I love you,’ all the time. It is not manly.” As a result, many woman have a double-standard residual—a reflection of the traditional view of the woman’s role, with the culture assigning her the responsibility of meeting the man’s needs…Today we are in transition, and we will have to assume that a young couple does not want to live in accord with that traditional standard. However, can they really make progress towards gender equality without undermining the relationship of pleasures of the flesh itself? The increasing acceptance of American women as independent persons is an irreversible process. And the final outcome seems clear: women will join men as full partners. This prospect evokes uneasiness and even anxiety in many people, women as well as men. Change is never more unsettling than when it raises questions about fundamental matters that have always been taken for granted. And few matters seem less open to question than the nature of sexual identity and the importance of differences between the genders. Both women and men are thus understandably disturbed to find themselves confronted with the possibility of much of what they believe about the female gender may be inaccurate or untrue. The new outlook introduced a disconcerting and troubling element into their World. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
Such alarm is groundless, based for the most part on confusion and misconceptions that need clarification. Not all aspects of the problem can be dealt with in this limited space, but several important considerations can be raised as a contribution to the dialogue now going on between women and men all over the World. A primary and rather obvious distinction must first be made. The common basis on which men and women cooperate in society at large is not the same as the unique basis on which a specific couple coexist in private. The two Worlds are separate realms of experience with radically different requirements for success—performance at work, fulfillment at home—and they involve different risks and rewards. For any woman determined to develop her independence beyond traditional lines, there is no possibility of weighing the consequences without taking into account whether the steps she takes will influence the life she leads in public or in private. The Liberation Movement possesses a different significance in each of these Worlds. To overlook this distinction is to blur the meaning of the movement and to transform any discussion of the matter into a futile debate. Both Worlds, of course, do interact. If she were in the usual subordinate position at work, dominated by males, a self-assured woman who works on a basis of equality with male colleagues, for example, is likely to find it easier to establish a personal relationship with a man based on mutual needs. This highly complex crossover effect—from public to private life—deserves further careful study. All that can be noted now is that public attitudes influence private relationships. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
There are relatively consistent difference between what can be identified as ego consciousness and l’autre moi. Ego anticipates its acts and appears to choose them. They have an immediate meaning to ego. In contrast l’autre moi seems unanticipated, surprising, and the choosing is not apparent. To ego it is more or less alien. What ego does has immediate meaning to itself. The acts of l’autre moi appear meaningless or difficult to translate into usable meaning. The majority of people in the World discard messages of l’ature moi as useless, unimportant (how many study their dreams?), or even non-existent. Meaning to l’ature moi exists in itself. Ego acts in a temporal landscape with past and future. Within the view of l’autre moi there is timelessness. Everything is now. Now is the whole scope of things. Ego has a single identity. I am Lestat De Lioncourt. L’autre moi can be said to either have no identity or all identities. The two seem to be the same. Though invisible in itself, it can represent itself in all things. Ego sees itself as an agent in an independent real World. L’autre moi is itself its own agent-World. From the viewpoint of l’autre moi all Worlds are representations of itself. Ego must search for what is true and carefully check on it. L’autre moi represents truth instantly and without effort. After years of work with people’s dreams I have far more respect for the unfailing accuracy of dreams than I have for what people say of themselves. All considered, it seems l’autre moi is wiser than ego. There are two aspects of the other me that are difficult to see from ego’s limited view. L’autre moi sees the World as representative of itself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
In dreams, friend may be used as examples of one’s own traits. The same is true of houses, cats, et cetera. From the side view, all things are examples of aspects of this large self. I have received many humorous comments from l’ature moi when awakening, where the World was taken as its representation. For instance, I once heard someone say, “here is a mondo (problem in the Zen sense) for you.” In the next instant I was awake looking at the problem, the Word itself. The real World is the unsolved problem presented to me. L’autre moi also uses time itself as its representation. It is as though it uses time as one might use the sequence of a drama to illustrate the character of a person. Its aim seems to be to portray its nature with a time sequence as a device to do this. Its time-transcending quality seems to permit the occasional appearance of precognition. It is as though the past, present, and future were all one to it. An urgent appeal to the absent life is reinforced by a total rejection of the present World, as Breton’s arrogant statement indicates: “Incapable of accepting the fate assigned to me, my highest perceptions outraged by this denial of justice, I refrain from adapting my existence to the ridiculous conditions of existence here below.” The mind, according to Breton, can find no point of rest either in this life or beyond it. Surrealism wants to find a solution to this endless anxiety. It is “a cry of the mind which turns against itself and finally takes the desperate decision to throw off its bonds.” It protests against death and “the laughable duration” or a precarious condition. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
This, surrealism places itself at the mercy of impatience. It exists in a condition of wounded frenzy: at once inflexible and self-righteous, with the consequent implication of a moral philosophy. Surrealism, the gospel of chaos, found itself compelled, from its very inception, to create an order. However, at first it only dreamed of destruction—by poetry, to begin with—on the plane of imprecation, and later by the use of actual weapons. The trial of the real World has become, by logical development, the trial of creation. Surrealist irreligion is methodical and rational. At first it established itself on the idea of the absolute non-culpability of man, to whom one should render “all the power that he has been capable of putting into the word God.” As in every history of rebellion, this idea of absolute non-culpability, springing from despair, was little by little transformed into a mania for punishment. The surrealist, while simultaneously exalting human innocence, believed that they could exalt murder and suicide. They spoke of suicide as a solution and Crevel, who considered this solution “the most probable, just, and definitive,” killed himself, as did Rigaut and Vache. Later Aragon was to condemn the “babblers about suicide.” Nevertheless, the fact remains that to extol annihilation, without personal involvement, is not a very honourable course. On this point surrealism has retained, from the “litterature” it despised, the most facile excuses and has justified Rigaud’s staggering remark: “You are all poets, and I myself am on the side of death.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
The materialists resists evil from a selfish standpoint and with angry or hateful feeling, the mystic practises nonresistance to the point of martyrdom the philosopher resists evil but from the standpoint of common welfare and in a spirit of calm, impersonal duty. Sir Arthur Bryant: “Christ’s injunction to the angry and revengeful to turn the other cheek was addressed to the individual, seeking by forbearance to render unto God, for his soul’s sake, the things that are God’s, and not to the rulers of society. Christ never….bade his followers to turn someone else’s cheek to the lawless and aggressor.” He who would trust to the goodness of human nature at its present stage of evolution may meet with justification in some instances but with disappointment in many more. The primary and justifiable use of destructive weapons should be for self-defense. When however, through greed or fondness for fighting, they are turned to offensive and aggressive uses, he who thus violates ethical laws, will, sooner or later, have to pay the wages of sin. This is equally true of individual gangsters as of imperialistic militarists. When the bloodshed and horrors of fighting have to be experienced by the one of the Quest, let him steel his nerves and toughen his feelings by sheer effort of willpower. Let him console himself in the knowledge that it is only a temporary affair and will have to come to an end, at which time he can then live the kind of life he wants to live. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
Such a state of affairs, although a terrible business, underlines Jesus Christ’s teachings about the ever presence of suffering and the consequent necessity of finding an inner refuge from it. Whatever happens, he must try to keep his moral outlook undegraded by outside pressures. Good character is the foundation of a worthwhile life, spiritually and materially. In the 16th century, the Old World faced the challenging opportunity of colonizing a vast and rich New World. Two psychosocial systems—the Anglo-Celtic and the Mediterranean-set up civilizations in North America and South America respectively. The Anglo-Celtic psychosocial model is based upon individualism. It emphasizes democratic rule, open communication, free mobility, plurality of lifestyle, personal growth, tolerance of difference, encouragement of invention, competition, experimentation, creativity, decentralization, private enterprise, free market exchange, and distrust of military authority. The Mediterranean psychosocial model is derived from Eastern and Middle-Eastern philosophies. It emphasizes subordination of the individual to authoritarian hive-rues; restriction of communication—censorship; restriction of movement, controlled uniformity of lifestyle; discouragement of personal growth; rigid maintenance of herd-tradition; state monopoly; distrust of the inventive experimental approach; glorification of military control; centralization; enterprise; obedience to bureaucracy; and suppression of differences. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
The difference between the neuropolitics of the two experiments provide interesting perspectives for anticipating what will happen in the future as the limitless riches of post-terrestrial space attract Old World social competition. A brief examination of the evolution of these two social models in South and North America provides instructive suggestions for the future of space colonization. The technological and economic solutions necessary for permanent and highly profitable High Orbital Mini-Earths—H.O.M.E.S.—must be adequately worked out. The future of post-terrestrial Plan-It colonization depends on resolving software issues, including mobilization of public opinion supporting free migration, democratic access to available resources, political and cultural control, and psychosocial models and metaphours to guide life in the new custom-made Worlds. Plan-it colonies in high orbit provide a ecological vacuum in which human caste differences can blossom. The best way to avoid the emergence of civil-service bureaucracies, military dictatorships, class struggles, centralized monopolies, impositions of standardized life-styles—the South Americanization of space—is to reexamine the specific factors that led to the success of the North American model. Emphasis on individuality, the open invitation to migrants from every continent, and free communication made the emergence of a United States of America possible. It is equally important to review the mistakes made by the North American pioneers. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
The prospect of space settlement gracefully harnesses the imagination of freedom loving people throughout the planet. Many hope to recall, renew, reinvigorate and repeat the successful aspects of the Jeffersonian-Edisonian model. Among these factors are the frontier expansive spirit, the independent, self-actualized western hero-heroine, the small gene pool group seeking to live out a new vision, adventure and calculated risk, the genetic imperative, and the melting-pot open-society mystique. The rugged individual has tremendous allure. Maturity can be defined in four different ways. Trial by law. A person is mature when he is mentally competent and has reached the age of twenty-one. According to Hebrew law, a boy becomes a man when he reaches the age of thirteen. Trial by Parental prejudice. A person is mature when he does things my way, and immature if he does them his way. Trial by initiation. A person is mature when he has passed certain tests. In primitive societies these tests are tough and traditional. In industrial countries, he gets his maturity certificate when he passes his driving test. In special cases, he may be given psychological tests and his maturity or immaturity is then certified by the psychologist. Trial by living. For the script analyst, maturity is tested by external events. The tests begin when the person is about to come out of a supervised and sheltered environment and the World moves in on him on its own terms. They start in the senior year of college, the final year of apprenticeship, at promotion or parole time, at the end of the honeymoon, or whenever the first opportunity offers itself in open competition or cooperation from script failure or success. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
From this point of view, the common success and failures in life depend on parental permissions. Jeder does or does not have permission to graduate from college, complete his apprenticeship, stay married, stop drinking, get promoted or elected or paroled, stay out of the mental hospital, or get well if he goes to a psychiatrist. Through grade school and high school and the early years of college, it is possible to survive failures and even juvenile hall and reform school, especially in this country where minors are often given another chance. Nevertheless, there is a small number of suicides, homicides, and addictions among adolescents, and a larger number of optional car crashes and psychoses. In less lenient countries, a failure to matriculate into college, or a criminal record, are for real, and once such mark is enough to se the individual’s course for the rest of his life. For the most part, however, early failures are rehearsals rather than final performances, and playing for keeps does not begin until the twenties. Hardly anyone experience fullest range of emotions of which humans are capable. Not only does one’s culture impose limits upon the experience and expression of emotion; one’s own family will also influence which emotions are aroused and which will be expressed. Because the expression of emotion is so important to both the quality of life and to health, it is important to reflect upon your own emotional habits. What situations provoke you to anger, for example? And to fear or anxiety? Both fear and anger can enrich life and foster growth, but irrational fears and rage can destroy the quality of existence. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
If you are chronically in a fury about everything—if everyone’s behaviour seems imperfect, if their appearance angers you, if the slightest deviation from your view of perfection puts you into an ill-concealed rage—then your life might ne enhanced if you could alter your expectations in reasonable ways. You would seek help to achieve better use of your emotional life. If you are “running scared,” it is possible that you view yourself as weaker and more helpless than is warranted; you might be able to challenge yourself to face those situations you dread and discover that you can cope. Can you express your emotions without guilt or anxiety, and without being destructive to self and others? One of the most wholesome guarantors of healthy and joie de vivre is the freedom to express your feelings. If you are chronically suppressed and emotionally inhibited, it may be worthwhile to “let go” a little, to test whether it is really so dangerous to laugh, cry, become angry, or tender and affectionate. If available and properly led, encounter groups can provide persons with the opportunity to explore their possibilities for experiencing and expressing their genuine feelings. Falsifying emotion can be a pernicious influence upon your life. Let the other people in your life know your authentic feelings toward them, especially those with whom you have a personal relationship (as opposed to a more formal role relationship.) To be emotionally dishonest is to set the stage for estrangement from others and for self-alienation. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
Furthermore, your sensitivity to others’ emotions and your receptivity to their feelings, no matter how different from your own, can help your friends and those about you to grow and “become.” Can you show understanding and acceptance of emotions that are strong and even sudden in their expression, or do such expression frighten you and in turn discourage your friends from expressing themselves authentically? In dealing with temporary, short-term explosions of feeling, such as in temper tantrums, can you wait them out sympathetically, showing understanding of the person’s degree of upset—and yet not reward the child (or adult for that matter) by giving into what he or she wants just to gain quiet? One of the characteristics of good friendships and of good parenting is the freedom of the persons concerned to fully trust each other to express emotionality honestly and openly, especially when the emotional expression is not a particularly pretty one. At the same time, sharing another’s joys and delights also facilitates depth in friendships and in parent-child relationships. Nonviolence is, and always has been, desperately needed by the World. However, it must be applied sensibly and understood wisely. For, ill-placed or false, it will encourage crime, condoning it rather than deterring men from it. This is something we frequently see in Sacramento, California. Criminals in professional positions like to harass and target people and break the law and try to set the victim up to take their fall. Because so many of these professional criminals are connected, they often get others to back them up and send them their enforcers. Even when things go wrong, when you take full responsibility for your decisions and actions, you display moral courage. Moral courage also expresses itself as candor. Candor means being frank, honest, and sincere with others. It requires steering clear of bas, prejudice, or malice even when it is uncomfortable or may seem better to keep quiet. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
Trust relationships between you and your teammates rely on candor. Without it, your team members will not know if they have met the standard and you will not know what is going on in their organization. When planning and deciding an operation, try to envision the impact on firefighters, EMTs, and the public. The ability to see something from another person’s point of view, to identify with and enter into another person’s feelings and emotions, enables you to better care for everyone you work with. As a competent and empathetic leader, you take care of others by giving them the training, equipment, and all the support they need to keep them alive during an emergency situation and accomplish the mission. During a fire and difficult operations, you share the hardships with your people to gauge if their plans and decisions are realistic. As a competent and empathic leader, you also recognize the need to provide your team members with reasonable comforts and rest periods to maintain good morale and mission effectiveness. When a unit or organization suffers injuries or death, you can help ease the trauma and suffering in the Sacramento Fire Department to restore full readiness as quickly as possible. Empathy also includes nourishing a close relationship between the fire department, EMTs, and the families of those who work with the Sacramento Fire Department. To build a strong and ready force, you must promote self-sufficient and healthy families. Empathy for families includes allowing your crew recovery time from difficult missions, protecting leave periods, permitting critical appointments, as well as supporting events that allow information exchange and family team-building. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
The requirement for leader empathy in the Sacramento Fire Department extend beyond the firehouse. Within the larger operational environment, leader empathy may be helpful when dealing with local populations and victims. “I never pushed it with my two sons. They knew that I was involved, and it was always around them. I have one son who thought it was interesting, but never chose to get involved, which is perfectly okay. There is no reason why he should. I have another son who did choose to get involved. He became a volunteer and served on the rescue squad, became a firefighter and an EMT. He is now a professional ski patrolman. I think that it’s one of those things that people have to do for themselves, you can’t inflict it upon anybody else. There has to be a tremendous desire to want to do it.” The Sacramento Fire Department is older than the City of Sacramento. On 5 February 2025, the Sacramento Fire Department will be celebrating their 175th birthday. This is a very important milestone. Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. The proud members of the Sacramento Fire Department are committed to providing the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of Sacramento. This is accomplished by implementing comprehensive strategies and training in fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and all risk mitigation, including human-caused and natural disasters, emergency preparedness, emergency services and community-based fire services. The Sacramento Fire Department physical requirements for the firefighters and EMTs state that you must be medically and physically fit, and able to pass the Occupational Physical Assessment Test. Therefore, physical and mental toughness are just the basic requirements. You achieve excellence when you habitually show discipline and commitment to the department’s values. Individuals and organizations pursue excellence to improve. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
Citizens, remember to give the right-of-way to any law enforcement vehicle, fire engine, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights. Failure to pull over may result in a ticket. Drive to the right edge of the road and stop until the emergency vehicles(s) have passed. When approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing emergency signal lights (hazard lights), move over and slow down. If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. Moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on values, principles, and convictions. It enables you to stand up for what you believe is right, regardless of the consequences. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public healthy and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. Las Vegas is running out of buildable land and is expected to reach its maximum number of homes in 2032. So, home prices are expected to rise dramatically. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
Laguna Park, CA | From the Mid 500’s
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Welcome to the New Fabulous Forties! This intimate enclave of 37 homesites with available one- and two-story floorplans is the place to be in Sacramento. Waking up to a home you love sets just the right tone for what is ahead. Ventris Place offers beautifully designed homes. Danville, Residence 4, has 3 to 4 bedrooms and a loft across 1,846 square feet of living space.
Danville gives two levels, each one with its own defining purpose to create exactly what you need and want in the moment. Your home will flex with you, whether you need to invite work or play right into your comfort zone. There are also nooks that conjure up a visionary escape, welcoming you to lounge or create for the perfect work love balance. A main level with sweeping, open spaces and down to earth textures and tones, is designed with all the luxury details and faraway feels, much like the extended Laguna Park neighbourhood it occupies.
Organically designed to pull the outdoors and the indoors out, you can dine alfresco right of your gourmet kitchen or make the night bright, sitting on your side yard, for an entirely fresh perspective. A setting that is as cool as it is calm, elegant, and ready for the way you want to live. You will enjoy this home for generations to come.
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Must We Abandon All Hope at that Particular Point?
Our choice to obey or disobey God’s standard of morality will largely determine our happiness in life. Some years ago, my father, an attorney, was trying a lawsuit. For his authority, he cited only one case issued many years before. His opponent cited a numbers of lower-court decisions of more recent vintage. The honorable judge said to my father, “Mr. Harris, do you not have a more recent case than this?” My father looked at the judge and replied, “Your Honor, may I remind you what when the supreme court speaks on a matter, it only needs to speak once.” The judge nodded with approval. He was reminded that the supreme court trumps all lower-court decisions, however numerous or recent they may be. So it is with God our Father—He needs to speak only once on the issue of morality, and that one declaration trumps all the opinions of the lower courts, whether uttered by psychologist, managers, counselors, politicians, friends, parents, or would-be moralists of the day. It is almost unbelievable to think that God has given to His children the power that is most prized and sacred to Him—the power to create life. Because God gave us this power, He, and He alone, has the right to prescribe how it should be used. Contrary to much public sentiment, there is nothing negative or restraining about God’s moral standards. Rather, they are all beneficial and optimistic, uplifting and liberating. They build relationships of trust, they enhance self-esteem, they foster a clear conscience, and they invite the Spirit of the Lord to bless individual lives. They are the proven standards for happy marriages and stable communities. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25
We arrive thus at a morality of evolution, in which the criterion for what we cultivate or reject in ourselves lies in the question: is a particular attitude or drive inducive or obstructive to my human growth? As the frequency of neuroses shows, all kinds of pressure can easily divert our constructive energies into unconstructive or destructive channels. However, with such a belief in an autonomous striving toward self-realization, we do not need an inner strait jacket with which to shackle our spontaneity, nor the whip of inner dictates to drive us to perfection. There is no doubt that such disciplinary methods can succeed in suppressing undesirable factors, but there is also no doubt that they are injurious to our growth. We do not need them because we see a better possibility of dealing with destructive forces in ourselves: that of actually outgrowing them. The way toward this goal is an ever-increasing awareness and understanding of ourselves. Self-knowledge, then, is not an aim in itself, but a means of liberating the forces of spontaneous growth. In this sense, to work at ourselves becomes not only the prime moral obligation, but at the same time, in a very real sense, the prime moral privilege. To the extent that we take our growth seriously, it will be because of our own desire do to so. And as we lose the neurotic obsession with self, as we become free to grow ourselves, we also free ourselves to love and to feel concern for other people. We will then want to give them the opportunity for unhampered growth when they are young, and to help them in whatever way possible to find and realize themselves when they are blocked in their development. At any rate, whether for ourselves or for others, the ideal is the liberation and cultivations of the forces which lead to self-realization. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25
If not mentally defective, whatever the conditions under which a child grows up, he will learn to cope with others in one way or another and he will probably acquire some skills. However, there are also forces in him which he cannot acquire or even develop by learning. You need not, and in fact cannot, teach an seed to grow into a Monterey Ever Green Cypress tree, but when given a chance, its intrinsic potentialities will develop. Similarly, the human individual, given a chance, tends to develop his particular human potentialities. He will develop then the unique alive forces of his real self: the clarity and depth of his own resources, the strength of his will power; the special capacities or gifts he may have; the faculty to express himself, and to relate himself to others with this spontaneous feelings. All this will in time enable him to find his set of values and his aims in life. He will grow, substantially undiverted, toward self-relation. Thus, this is why the real self is that central inner force, common to all human beings and yet unique in each, which is the deep source of growth. (When in the future a reference is made to growth, it is always meant in the sense presented here—that of free, healthy development in accordance with the potentials of one’s generic and individual nature.) Only the individual himself can develop his given potentialities. However, like any other living organism, the human individuum needs favourable conditions for his growth “from seed into Monterey cypress evergreen tree”; he needs an atmosphere of warmth to give him both a feeling of inner security and the inner freedom enabling him to have his own feelings and thoughts and to express himself. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25
A man needs the good will of others, not only to help him in his many needs but to guide and encourage him to becomes a mature and fulfilled individual. He also needs healthy friction with the wishes and wills of others. If he can thus grow with others, in love and in friction, he will also grow in accordance with his real self. However, through a variety of adverse influences, a child may not be permitted to grow according to his individual needs and possibilities. Such unfavourable conditions are too manifold to list here. However, some include the fact that people in the environment are too wrapped up in their own neuroses to be able to love the child, or even to conceive of him as the particular individual he is; their attitudes toward him are determined by their own neurotic needs and responses. Essentially, they may be dominating, overprotective, intimidating, irritable, overexacting, overindulgent, erratic, partial to other siblings, hypocritical, indifferent, et cetera. It is never a matter of just a single factor, but always the whole constellation that exerts the untoward influence on a child’s growth. As a result, the child does not develop a feeling of belonging, of “we,” but instead a profound insecurity and vague apprehensiveness, for which I use the term basic anxiety. It is his feeling of being isolated and helpless in a World conceived of as potentially hostile. The cramping pressure of his basic anxiety prevents the child from relating himself to others with the spontaneity of his real feelings, and forces him to find ways to cope with them. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25
The child must (unconsciously) deal with them in ways which do not arouse, or increase, but rather alley his basic anxiety. The particular attitudes resulting from such unconscious strategical necessities are determined both by the child’s given temperament and by the contingencies of the environment. Briefly, he may try to cling to the most powerful person around him; he may try to rebel and fight; he may try to shut others out in his inner life and withdraw emotionally from them. In principle, this means that he can move toward, against, or away from others. Manifestations of childhood-onset schizophrenia are usually similar to those in adolescents and adults, but delusions and visual hallucinations (which may be more common among children) may be less elaborate. My guess is that psychotic hallucinations and hypnogogic experiences are related but not identical. Hallucinations are stronger, more durable, and more consistently organized. They are often more alien and negative too. It may be that these are one process made different by the patient’s poorer insight and greater struggle against l’autre moi. For instance, one child had loud voices shouting at him all day so that he killed one person, broke windows, et cetera. Nothing abated the voices so I helped him to meet and deal with them. As he came to accept what they suggested, they quietened, became less negative, and eventually merged into his thoughts. It would appear that the intensity of most schizophrenic hallucinations, as contrasted with the faint delicacy of hypnogogic experiences, is a function of the patient’s struggle against l’autre moi. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25
It looks as though hallucinations are generated by the patient’s rigid alienation from his other side, making it more attacking, fiercer, and alien in its aspects. There are less common beneficial, supportive hallucinations which are also alien and archetypal in nature. One man had a spirited female hallucination who was gay, humorous, and quite wise in matters of ancient symbols in marked contrast to the patient’s disinterest and lack of ability in the matter of symbols. In fact, this lady hallucination was the most gifted and sensitive person I have ever met! Hallucinations seem either lower than the patient (meaner, more involving of pleasures of the flesh, more limited and tormenting) or higher, but either way alien. They may be either higher or lower because they are the rejected, unused aspects of the person. A dream is a normal and common message from l’autre moi having less interference from consciousness in its creation than any of the phenomena (except hallucinations) touched upon this far. An example will remind the reader of its strange language and strange frame of reference. Most night I dreamt I saw a little something sticking out of my chest over to heart. To my horror it moved, making me feel that something alien was alive in me. I pulled it out, fearing it may mean there are more in me. It looked like an ancient creature one inch long, vaguely like a cobra in shape. It has a tail webbed like a duck’s foot. It moved and seemed very ancient. #RandolphHarris 6 of 25
At first, the dream meant almost nothing. Then it came to me. “Out of my chest, from the region of my heart,” I associated with this essay. I pulled something out of my heart. It is more living than I wanted it to be. Like the cobra, it is lovely (my association to my cobra—yours is a different creature), rhythmic and yet deadly in its possibilities. The deadly aspect of this paper will not be apparent yet, but it has to do with ego’s limited scope, being servant to an inner master. What I pull out of me is ancient, before man. It is conceivable that this inner World was latent before man and probably the first World known by man. It wiggles and frightens—this ancient knowledge I pull out of my chest—fearsome for there is more there that I have not yet met and understood. The dream images my feelings today. It was written in an ancient language I am only coming to understand. Emanuel Swedenborg, in the mid-18th century, aptly called this the language of representations. It was given from the region of mind that represents itself, endlessly. Mr. Swedenborg appears to have presented the most detailed study of this language ever attempted. As shown in his Spiritual Diary, most of his work was done in a state similar to hypnogogic. It is his contention, backed by much evidence, that this inner language of representations has as its reference innermost subjective qualities, and is the language of much of the Christian Bible. His material is so extensive that scholars have taken a lifetime to fully comprehend it. Seen in this light, much that seems obscure and archaic in the Christian Bible takes on great meaning. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25
One of the Ten Commandments in the Christian Bible state, “Thou shalt not kill.” Man may take whatever defensive preparations he pleases, but he must stop short at the point of killing other men. The refusal to slaughter would then evoke powerful spiritual forces, and if enough persons evoke them the end of war would be assured. However it is unlikely that such an idealistic course would appeal to more than a small minority of mankind, so that if the end of war is to be brought about in another way, it can be by the political method of an international policing army operated by a World federation of peoples. Since such a federation does not exist today, its only possibility of coming into existence is through the hard lessons learnt out of the appalling destructiveness of an atomic war. There is no other alternative to such a war than the renunciation of the right to kill. Philosophy is essentially realizable hence practical. It uses the idea of nonviolence only under the governance of wisdom. If violent punishment or causing pain will be better in the end than refraining, it would not hesitate. They have their place. However, because philosophy combines and balances its wisdom with compassion, with mercy and, if advisable, forgiveness, its violence operates side by side with nonviolence. To meet the assaults of vicious human beasts with sympathetic nonviolence in the optimistic belief that this attitude is not only morally correct but may also change the attacker’s character, is to deceive oneself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25
Such passivity invites the continuance of attack and promotes further crime. It persuades the criminal individual to turn potential victims into actual ones. It actually contributes to the other man’s delinquency by encouraging him to adventure father into wrong-doing. Himan interaction is nothing more than a continuous string of contact and withdrawal, contact and withdrawal. And for all the variations in the ways humans interact, there are only two kinds of contact and two kinds of withdrawal. The two kinds of contact are: Peripheral contact. This involves people “touching” each other at the edges of the self, normally through what each is saying or doing. It is essentially an impersonal or nonintimate form of communication. Examples: “Fill ‘er up.” “I will meet you for lunch Thursday.” “How is business?” Core-to-core contact. This involves people coming together at their innermost selves. As a result of this contact, they are moved or touched. Some examples: “I really enjoy being with you.” “You are a good boss—and you are also a good man.” Core-to-Core contact can also be unspoken, as with a look that says, “I love you.” Note that, to be core-to-core, contact does not have to be intimate or sexual, but must be deeply emotional. The two kinds of withdrawal are: Manipulative. The person withdrawing attempts to isolate himself or herself from another. Examples: “You are a big boy now; you should not talk that way.” “Do not call us, we will call you.” Healthy. Here, the person who breaks off contact does it out of a position of self-respect. He moves toward something, but just away. Examples: “I am really tired right now and I have to end this conversation because of that.” “Thanks, but I have heard that story before. I do not need to hear it again.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 25
Doesn’t Everybody? The thesis of this approach of life is: “it is all right to have measles, since everybody has it.” Of course it is not all right, since measles can be a dangerous disease. The classical example of “Doesn’t Everybody?” occurred when a woman who was addicted to colonic irrigations came into a therapy group. She began to talk about her adventures at the colonic-irrigation parlour and everybody listened tolerantly until someone asked “What is a colonic irrigation?” The woman seemed surprised to learn that there could be so many people in one room who did not take colonic irrigations. “Doesn’t everybody?” Both her parents did, and most of her friendships were made at the irrigation parlour. The chief topic of conversation at her bridge club was comparing one irrigation parlour with another. If it is reinforced by parents at home or teachers in the classroom, the “Doesn’t Everybody?” sweatshirt, which is a favourite at high school, especially among cheerleaders, drum majorettes, and boys on the make, even at that age, it may have sinister connotations. It is also good for business, where it is heavily exploited by undertakers, and in a lighter way by insurance salesmen. Interestingly enough, many stock salesman, who are almost as conservative as undertakers, are wary of it. The key word, and the one that gives it its explosive political quality, is “Everybody.” Who is Everybody? For the wearers of this sweatshirt, Everybody is “The people I say are O.K., including me, I hope.” For this reason, they usually have two other sweatshirts that they wear on appropriate occasions. They put on “Doesn’t Everybody?” when they go out among strangers. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
However, when they are with the people they admire, they wear either “How Am I Doing?” or “I know Prominent People.” They are devotees of what Sinclair Lewis made into Babbittry and what Alan Harrington satirically called “Centralism,” the doctrine that the safest place to be is in dead center; Mr. Harrington’s hero became such a thorough Centralist that he was able to sell an insurance policy every thirty second or so. The wearer of this sweatshirt has, for his favourite pastime, “Me Too,” and his favourite game is “Come To Find Out” that actually “everybody” does not, as he knew all along. Thus his favourite feeling is being taken by (phony) surprise. His nickname is Creepy and his hero is someone who keeps everybody in line. In the front room he does what he thinks the O.K. people are doing and conspicuously avoids the not-O.K. ones, while in the back room he performs outlandish deeds, or even horrors. He lives in a World where he is misunderstood except by his cronies, and his script calls for him to be done in for one of his secret misdeeds. When the end comes, he does not protest much because he feels he really deserves it according to his own slogan: “He who breaks the rules of everybody must suffer.” And that is the kicker on the back of his sweatshirt: “He is Different—Must be a Kook or a Communist or Something.” Closely allied to the sweatshirt is the tombstone. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25
The fury of annihilation, appropriate to every rebel, then assumes its most common form. The apocalypse of crime—as conceived by Mr. Rimbaud in the person of the prince who insatiably slaughters his subjects—and endless licentiousness are rebellious themes that will be taken up again by the surrealists. However, finally, even with Mr. Rimbaud, nihilist dejection prevailed; the struggle, the crime itself, proved too exacting for his exhausted mind. If we may venture to says so, the seer who drank in order not to forget ended by finding in drunkenness the heavy sleep so well known to our contemporaries. One can sleep on the beach, or at Aden. Even if the order is degrading, and one consents, no longer actively, but passively, to accept the order of the World. Mr. Rimbaud’s silence is also a preparation for the silence of authority, which hovers over minds resigned to everything save to the necessity of putting up a fight. Mr. Rimbaud’s great intellect, suddenly subordinated to money, proclaims the advent of other demands, which are at first excessive and which will later be put to use by the police. To be nothing—that is the cry of the mind exhausted by its own rebellion. This leads to the problem of suicide of the mind, which, after all, is less respectable than the surrealists’ suicide, and more fraught with consequences. Surrealism itself, coming at the end of this great act of rebellion, is only significant because it attempted to perpetuate that aspect of Mr. Rimbaud which alone evokes our sympathy. Deriving the rules for a rebellious asceticism for the letter about the seer and the system it implies, he illustrates the struggle between the will to be and the desire for annihilation, between the yes and the no, which we have discovered again and again at every stage of rebellion. For all these reasons, rather than repeat the endless commentaries that surround Mr. Rimbaud’s work, it seemed preferable to rediscover him and to follow him among his successors. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25
Absolute rebellion, total insubordination, sabotage on principle, the humour and cult of the absurd—such is the nature of surrealism, which defines itself, in its primary intent, as the incessant examination of all values. The refusal to draw any conclusions is flat, decisive, and provocative. “We are specialists in rebellion.” Surrealism, which according to Aragon, is a machine for capsizing the mind, was first conjured up by the Dadaist movement, whose romantic origins and anemic dandyism must be noted. Non-signification and contradiction are therefore cultivated for their own sakes. “The real Dadaists are against Dad. Everyone is a director of Sada.” Or again: “What is good? What is ugly? What is hreat, strong, weak…? Do not know! Do not know!” These parlour nihilists were obviously threatened with having to act as slaves to the strictest orthodoxies. However, there is something more surrealism than standard nonconformism, the legacy left by Mr. Rimbaud, which, in fact, Mr. Breton recapitulates as follows: “Must we abandon all hope at that particular point?” A glance at the notorious sake reminds us that the Human Race is literally a mobility-contest in which small gene pools race to keep ahead of the engulfing wave of insectoid collectivism. The Human Race is exactly a competition of speed. Small gene pools being squirted ahead by swarming pressures into empty ecological niches where new realities—plan-its—can be created. The Human Race is a run to the West. The Contest is between the collective and the individual. Cn the individual freedom-gene pools accelerate fast enough to leave the planet before being overrun by Eastern hivism? #RandolphHarris 13 of 25
Mobility is the key to increased intelligence. The issue is, however, never in doubt. The swarming pressure of the primitive-past lapping at the outskirts of the frontier is simply a signal to speed up. At exactly that moment when the forces of homogenous unity, oneness, socialist-equality, cultural-determinism seem to become strict and rigid doctrines—exactly at that moment genetic-elitism reappears among the outpost—outcastes and new gene pools assemble on the frontier outposts. Everyone on the frontier is self-selected for frontier behaviour. The new ecological niche is always filled by those who are robot-templated for mobility, independence and change. An important caste to any species. Everyone on the frontier is self-selected for frontier behaviour—mobility, independence and change. The ascent of gene pools up the Atlantic in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries was a genetic-selection process of gigantic significance. It must be recalled that immigration to North America involved an amazing seed blossoming of gene pools. Very few immigrants made the climb alone. Typically, each European gene pool sent its best fertile stock. Once a beachhead had been established in the new ecological niche, more settled members of the gene pools could follow. In most cases, however, new gene pools were formed by mutated-migrants of former Old World gene pools. The human race is a run to the West. The high-road North was a ladder, a series of ledges to be scaled. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25
The dimensions of healthy personality are interrelated. The capacity to experience a broad range of emotion, and to control its expression, is most likely to be found in persons who have been competent at satisfying their basic needs, who have retained a firm grasp on reality, who have achieved a healthy “self-structure,” and whose relationships with other people are secure and authentic. If persons repress their emotions or experience troubling emotional responses (such as irrational fears and manias), this suggest that they should endavour to improve their competence, their relationships with others, or their view of themselves. On the other hand, the work of behaviour therapists has shown that people who complain of excessive anxiety or a specific phobia can be aided to live more fully by a direct attack upon the symptom itself. The techniques of “extinguishing” unwanted emotional responses do work, and they can make life more livable for a person who has been thwarted by hitherto uncontrollable fear or rage. We have helped patients of ours to overcome a fear of the opposite gender, to accept their God-given gender, of public speaking, of authority figures, by methods of classical conditioning and behaviour modification, as well as through interviews aimed at encouraging patients to learn new skills, alter their self-concepts or self-ideals, and change their relationships with others in the direction of greater authenticity Patients who have been helped in these ways attest that there is great joy and enlivenment in overcoming the repression of feelings, so that one is free to feel and to express such feelings; and there is comparable joy in being free of a hitherto uncontrolled emotional response that rendered life unendurable. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25
Sometimes people do not realize the seriousness of a transgression or, in some cases, rationalize it away. No nation can safely trust its martial honour to leaders who do not maintain the universal code which distinguishes between those things that are right and those things that are wrong. Honour provides a moral compass for character and personal conduct in the Sacramento Fire Department. It means that you live by words and actions consistent with high ideals. Honour is the glue that holds the Sacramento Fire Department together. How you conduct yourself and meet obligations defines you as a person and a leader. As a Sacramento Firefighter or EMT you are a leader with integrity and act consistently according to clear principles, not just what works now. The Sacramento Fire Department riles on leaders of integrity who possess high moral standards and who are honest in word and deed. You are honest to others by not presenting yourself or your actions as anything other than what they are, remaining committed to the trust. If a mission cannot be accomplished, your integrity requires you to inform the chain of command. If your unit’s operational readiness rate is truly 70 percent, despite the senior commander’s required standard of 9- percent, you will not instruct team members to adjust numbers. It is your duty to report the truth and develop solutions to meet the standard with honour and integrity. Identifying the underlying maintenance issues and raising the quality bar could ultimately save lives. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25
If you inadvertently pass on bad information, you should correct it as soon as you discover the error. Do the right thing not because it is convenient or because you have no other choice. Choose the path of truth because your character permits nothing less. You should always be able to separate right from wrong in every situation. Just as important, you should do what is right, even at personal cost. As a Sacramento Firefighter or EMT, you cannot hide what you do, so you must carefully decide how to act. Sacramento Firefighters and EMTs are always on display. To instill the Sacramento Fire Department’s Values in others, you must demonstrate them personally. It is known that you always resolve conflicts between personal and Sacramento Fire Department’s Values, and that you are morally complete leaders. If you have doubts, please consult a mentor whose values and judgment you respect. Face fear, danger, or adversity (physical and moral). Personal courage is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to put fear aside and do what is necessary. Personal courage takes two forms: physical and moral. As a member of the Sacramento Fire Department, it has been noted that you demonstrate both. Your physical courage has allowed you to overcome fears of bodily harm and do your duty. It triggers bravery that allows has allowed you to take risks in firefighting and/or medical services in spite of the fear of wounds or even death. One lieutenant serving in Afghanistan displayed such courage despite serving in a time when he and his fellow African-American Soldiers were not fully recognized for their actions. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25
When you take full responsibility for your decisions and actions, even when things go wrong, you display moral courage. “I got married when I was going to school at Santa Clara University. My first wife, as I call her, and I have had three children—two boys and a girl, in that order. My two sons are both firefighters in Los Angeles. One is just about to be promoted to captain, and the other is in the process of taking the engineer’s exam. So they are starting to go through the system. My wife has always been concerned about the danger. I think most wives are. She was a registered nurse and worked in the emergency department and intensive care, so she understood the physical consequences of firefighting. But she has also understood its attraction for me. She says she has lived with “the other woman” for thirty years—the Sacramento Fire Department. Women who are able to maintain their profession both as a vocation and an avocation are basically saints. Which is the way that I would describe her. Just a super human being. Firefighters pay a unique price in the duty schedules, the danger, and the dedicated. And during the first twenty years in the service, I was working at least two jobs, sometimes three. I was going to school, I was teaching school. I got my bachelor’s degree in political science, and my master’s in public administration. I was head of the Fire Science Department. I taught three of four fire science classes for ten or twelve years. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25
“So there was my wife, bundling me up to go to work, or getting me ready to go to school, or ready to teach. Between all those activities, she was having babies. With all this, the time you spend together is very important, it is high-quality time. It is interesting that after your kids have gone through all that and have seen all of it, and their activities have had to take second place to yours, that you discover one day that they have joined the fire department. In a sense, my kids were raised by firefighters. It’s all they have ever seen, so it’s probably a very natural thing for these really first-class people to be comfortable figures and role models for my sons. And in my own case, I think of all the education I’ve gotten and realized that the really important education was from the guys who raised me in the fire department. You appreciate the support the whole things has given you, and you hope you’ll give some of it back to the service. I never said anything to my sons, I think they decided for themselves. They both came on the department, the first exam they took. They both have been active firefighters, and I am proud of that. They are not dire scholars, they are attracted to the firefighting part of it, the service delivery part. They are big, tough kids, and they like fire operations, and I like to think that I see some of myself in hat process. So I get to kind of relive all of that.” #RandolphHarris 19 of 25
Citizens, give the right-of-way to any law enforcement vehicle, fire engine, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights. Failure to pull over may result in a ticket. Drive to the right edge of the road and stop until the emergency vehicles(s) have passed. When approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing emergency signal lights (hazard lights), move over and slow down. If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. Moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on values, principles, and convictions. It enables you to stand up for what you believe is right, regardless of the consequences. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25
The Sacramento Fire Department is older than the City of Sacramento. On 5 February 2025, the Sacramento Fire Department will be celebrating their 175th birthday. This is a very important milestone. Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. The proud members of the Sacramento Fire Department are committed to providing the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of Sacramento. This is accomplished by implementing comprehensive strategies and training in fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and all risk mitigation, including human-caused and natural disasters, emergency preparedness, emergency cervices and community-based fire services. The Sacramento Fire Department physical requirements for the firefighters and EMTs state that you must be medically and physically fit, and able to pass the Occupational Physical Assessment Test. Therefore, physical and mental toughness are just the basic requirements. You achieve excellence when you habitually show discipline and commitment to the department’s values. Individuals and organizations pursue excellence to improve. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25
As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25
America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public healthy and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25
With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. Las Vegas is running out of buildable land and is expected to reach its maximum number of homes in 2032. So, home prices are expected to rise dramatically. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25
The Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.)
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
Ever wish you could go behind the ropes and explore the mansion freely?
You can with our virtual 360 tour! This online tour lets you wander through the home at your own pace and admire every intricate detail up close ✨Only $8.99. Link in bio to purchase. https://360tourwmh.com/
BMW’s M series is legendary among car enthusiasts. Launched in the 1970s, the M series was originally designed for racing but quickly became a favorite for everyday driving due to its unparalleled performance. Models like the M3 and M5 are considered benchmarks in the world of high-performance cars.
Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP
L. Randolph Harris
Partner
San Francisco
d. 415.984.9658
f. 877.597.8584
L. Randolph Harris is a partner in JMBM’s San Francisco office who works with a broad array of privately held companies and their owners on business and tax matters. Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. Randy’s experience includes counseling mature companies on operations, business transactions and mergers and acquisitions and counseling emerging and growth companies on business organization, financing and operations. He advises on income tax planning for individuals, partnerships and corporations and also advises clients on estate and gift tax planning, including business transition planning. Representative Merger and Acquisition Transactions
- Represented electronic game developer Respawn Entertainment LLC, as tax counsel, in its $450 million sale to Electronic Arts
- Represented the Polymer Technology Group in its approximately $200 million sale to DSM N.V.
- Represented seller in the sale of a ready mix concrete company for approximately $30 million
- Represented sellers and buyers in the sale and acquisition of electronic discovery companies ranging from approximately $3 million – $30 million
- Represented buyer in the acquisition of private mortgage brokerage company
- Represented seller in the sale of credit card service company
- Represented seller in the sale of building materials company
- Represented buyer of specialty architectural product manufacturing company
- Represented sellers and buyers in the sale and purchase of general building contractors
- Represented sellers and buyers in the sale and purchase of sub-contractors in various trades including plumbing, underground, electrical, landscaping and tile
- Represented seller in the sale of surgical centers
- Represented sellers and buyers in the sale and purchase of medical and dental practices
- Represented seller of fire protection companies
- Randy is certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization as a Specialist in Taxation Law. He has authored materials for the California Continuing Education of the Bar on Partnership Taxation, published in the tax, legal and business fields and has lectured on tax and business matters for the California Continuing Education of the Bar, the National Business Institute and national trade groups.
Services: Taxation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate, International Tax Group, Real Estate, Family Office, Opportunity Zone Group
Be Careful with Your Words, Thoughts, and Actions
The brain is regarded as the most complex anatomical structure in the human body that executes various functions. The concept of wholeness or oneness refers to not only humans, but also all of creation. Similarly, consciousness may not wholly exist inside the human brain. One consciousness could permeate the whole Universe as limitless energy; thus, human consciousness can be regarded as limited or partial in character. According to the limited consciousness concept, humans perceive projected waves or wave-vortices as waveless item. Therefore, human limited consciousness collapses the wave function or energy of particles; accordingly, we are only able to perceive them as particles. With this limited concept, the wave-vortex or wave movement comes into review, which also seems to have a limited concept, id est, the limited projected wave concept. Notably, this wave-vortex seems to embrace photonic light, as well as electricity and anything between them, which gives a sense of dimension to our brain. These elements of limited projected wave-vortex and limitless energy (consciousness) may coexist inside our brain as electric (directional pilot wave) and quantum (diffused oneness of waves) brainwaves, respectively with both of them giving rise to one brain field. Abnormality in either the electrical or the quantum field or their fusion may lead to abnormal brain function. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
The electromagnetic brainwaves or energy with its discrete network is commonly thought of as the sole contributor to various brain functions. Our thoughts, even fleeting ones, can seem an insignificant part of our day. However, in reality, our thoughts eventually determine or character. “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is her.” And, for those who are striving to be like the Saviour, being pure in heart and mind is a must. Your brain is comprised of a tight network of nerve cells, all interacting with one another and generating an overall electrical field. This electric field is detectable with standard medical equipment. Your brain waves are simply the superposition of the multitude of electrical states being formed by your nervous system. Anywhere there is a nerve cell, there is electricity. The light seen coming from a star and the energy in your mind are the same type. Your thoughts are formed in this electric field. The measurable perturbations and disturbances in the brain’s overall electric field are your actual thoughts racing through your mind. The thoughts you think and the words your mind processes are all electrical impulses that can be measured. Therefore, thoughts are energy. That means they are governed by all the same rules of quantum mechanics and Schrodinger’s wave of equations as well. All the fascinating things about quantum mechanics that describe how an electron or photon behave, apply to you and your thoughts as well. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
Like any other set of particles or source of energy, we are connected with everything we encounter, the environment around us and the rest of the Universe through the zero-point field. The difference between a human being and a photon is that human beings can think; they are conscious. As such, human beings can choose which of the possibilities before them to collapse their wave function into. However, because human beings are entangled with their environment, they can also affect the environment and influence the randomness, just as it can affect us. It is through the property of entanglement that human beings can affect change in their environment. Human minds are transceivers, and able to receive and send signals into the quantum sphere of the zero-point field by the way of the highly coherent frequencies of their thoughts. It is possible that some people have more powerful brain frequences than others and perhaps that is why people like Sarah L. Winchester could see ghosts and demons, and it is also perhaps why the Ancient Egyptian could use what is considered magic. They spent more time working with their brains and had less distractions, so their brains may have been more powerful. The higher the frequency of one’s thought and/or brain wave, the higher their consciousness. The level of a human being’s consciousness it what makes their reality what it is and what it will continue to be. That is why parents tell their children, “What you focus on you will attract.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
When behaviours or ideas are pushed to an incredible extreme, they are held up to ridicule either by mild humorous irony or by strong sarcasm. This brings a needed corrective to the exaggeration. Any good quality may be pushed to fanatical extremes, whereupon it may become a bad quality. It is hard to walk the pessimists and deny the will to live because birth is evil and deny the natural needs because desire is evil. A juster evaluation would find evil forms of living and evil desires, but the great current of Life itself is surely beyond such relativities as good and evil. A temperate self-discipline is certainly inculcated by philosophy bit it does not call for the extreme of rigorous asceticism. A reasoned austerity at certain times and a wise self-denial at other times fortify and purify a man. Ascetic disciplines take four channels: physical, mental, emotional, and vocal. This last one, the restraint of speech is threefold: First, Prayer. The Lord can help you overcome any problem, including unclean thoughts. Make sure you choose your surroundings carefully and that your activities inspire good thoughts. Surround yourself with good friends who uphold Church standards, and practice carefulness never to depart from truthfulness. The purpose of all balanced asceticism, whether physical or metaphysical, emotional or mental, is to pull the consciousness up from a lower outlook to a higher one. However, this is only to make it possible for the aspirant to get the loftier outlook. If he confuses asceticism with fanaticism, this cannot be done. It is properly a training of the body and thoughts to obey and work with his higher will. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
Some might consider all of this to be Women’s Lib. However, I would like to say that it seems unfortunate to lump everyone together under a single, catch-all label like “Women’s Lib,” when the fact is that there are different groups with different scientific views and philosophies and different goals. Some are doing important work while others, I am afraid, are just tilting at windmills. Nonetheless, let us not lose track of the issue. According to the familiar double standard, the man was active in intimate passions, the woman passive with in intimate passions. She served his needs. Today this master-servant kind of sexual exploitation is no longer acceptable, but the answer to the problem does not come from reversing roles. It is not either/or; it is neither/not. In most marriages today the goal of both partners is to be neither master nor servant. However, of course, it is more easily said than done, because the relationship with pleasures of the flesh is a subtle one, delicately constructed out of the needs and desires of two human beings who individually may not—probably do not—know fully what those needs and desires are. Their marriage is like a bridge from one to the other; somehow they can cross back and forth on it but they are not entirely sure just what is holding it up. Ans so if they arbitrarily decided to pull out one support and replace it with another, they may find the bridge in danger of collapsing. To more specific, let us suppose that the change they want to make to replace—concerns the pleasures of the flesh initiative. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
Traditionally this was the male’s privilege—to initiate or invite or suggest or request a physical response. This was his right because he was a man, and the exercise of that right proved he was a man. For the woman, naturally, it was the reverse. By exercising her right to respond or to refuse, she proved herself a woman. Today we are in transition, and we will assume that a young couple do not want to live in accord with that traditional standard. However, can they make progress toward equality in pleasures of the flesh without undermining the relationship of intimate passions itself? Suppose that a young woman has grown up, as so many still do, in a comparatively traditional climate. Her father, brother, boyfriends, teachers, in another way, her mother, older sisters, aunts, all have unwittingly conspired to make her see herself as being most female when she is most responsive or receptive to the male gender. In all her plans and dreams where boys are involved, she sees herself as being pursued, being desired, being enjoyed. You see, if we take a young lady with a basically traditional background, we can be almost certain that one of the things that turns her on is being pursued. The chase is delightful, and it has erotic value for her because being pursued intensifies her sense of herself as a female person. Both words count. She is happy with herself both as a female and as a person. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
Now, this does not mean that she cannot change and eventually be comfortable in a situation where she at least shares the initiative and where she participates more actively in a relationship with a man. She can learn and she can change. However, she needs time to allow her deepest feelings to adjust to these new values, to make them part of her pleasures of the flesh value system. She also needs to have the right man—or men—in her left at the time this is happening. After all, we are not talking about an intellectual abstraction. We are talking about flesh-and-blood human beings trying their best to work out their lives together as male and female. Here, by the way, the traditional female role helps the woman. Socially and culturally, it is perfectly acceptable for her to be the pupil. So, if the were teaching him to accept her as an equal, if she is fortunate enough to have the right man teaching her to take the initiative when the time and the circumstances and the mood seem favourable, she can be far more comfortable in the learning role than the man may be. From the male point of view, the problem is basically functional. If he is to perform at all, the situation must stimulate a spontaneous or voluntary physical response. This response is easily aborted, by fatigue, worries, fear, illness—you name it. If the male perceives the female is threatening him, even if in fact she intends the opposite, failure can be the result. She may, to further highlight this illustration, take off her nightgown before getting to bed, a gesture she intends to be stimulating and flattering, letting him know that she would be happy to join him. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
However, if he sees this as taking the initiative with pleasures of the flesh, making demands on him, he may feel threatened. He may then be unable to perform and, inevitably seeking an excuse, he will be furious with her for having taken what he sees as an aggressive step. This is not an extreme example; it is a situation we encounter frequently in our clinical work. The man is taking a traditional double-standard attitude. A man with this philosophy is unlikely to take kindly to having his wife teach him other ways. In therapy, however, he can be introduced to new concepts. He may then perceive his wife’s action quite differently, and he may account for himself very well indeed. You see this mostly with mature people, but you see it with surprising frequency among younger couples too—particularly after marriage. Marriage apparently does seem to change one’s outlook. I do not say that it should, mind you—just that it does. When a man looks at a woman, that is one thing. When he looks at the same woman, who is now his wife, it is something else. If he is a latent double-standard man, you will know it, all right. To practice the necessary trainings and disciplines which any improvement of self calls for is to embrace the correct kind of asceticism, not to fall into unnecessary and unbalanced ways which turn it into fanaticism. We practice asceticism not because we hate the body but because it calms the passions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
If we have to deny its most powerful manifestations, if we are taught to deny the body and ignore the senses, if we are to reject the national satisfactions and renounce the aesthetic ones, life makes no sense. To deny Nature in the name of some narrow ascetic doctrine, to judge men and art by its standards, is to introduce ugliness into life, prejudice into affairs, and imbalance into character. Not in ascetic despisal of the flesh nor in fascinated enslavement to it will peace be found. Two representative examples of those forms of asceticism which may be listed as unreasonable, extreme, or fanatical, and which are therefore taboo in philosophic practice are wearing hair shirts to cause irritation or itching of the skin, and deliberately inflicting pain by scourging or mutilating the body. An Asceticism which makes a moral distinction between the body and the Spirit is exaggerated or false. Ascetism is useful as training of the self but harmful as a shriveling of it. Ascetism serves a useful purpose, but the balanced man will not cling to it when the purpose has been achieved. He will let it go in order to reach the next step higher, where there is no room for one-sided things. Among the dangers of asceticism are its aptness to breed an intolerant mind, its proneness to harsh judgment on nonascetic human beings. As asceticism which rises from within, which is wholly spontaneous, natural, and unforced, which at the same time avoids fanaticism and imbalance, is not objectionable and may even be admirable. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
The ascetic who is ashamed to possess a body is as foolish as the one who hates it for the weakness, he thinks it produced in his feelings. The ascetic seeks for the impoverishment of life and the Worldling seeks for its enrichment. Both are right in their place. However, whereas the ascetic would impose his rule of life upon all others as constituting the highest one, the philosopher knows that it is but the mark of the beginner who has to disentangle himself from the dominion of desire and Worldliness. When we consider a person’s demeanor, the way he “comes on,” that is called his “sweatshirt.” The sweatshirt, in an exceedingly creative, artistic, and economical phrase or two, indicates to the experienced eye the person’s favourite pastime, game, and feeling, his nickname, what he does in the front room and the back room, what kind of a mental World he lives in, what kind of ending his script calls for, and sometimes the critical sphincter, his hero, and his totem. The sweatshirt is usually adopted in high school or early college years, the age when sweatshirts are popular. In later life it may be embroidered or the wording changed slightly, but the core of the meaning will remain unchanged. All competent clinicians, of whatever school, have one thing in common: they are good observers. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
Since they are all observing the same thing—human behaviour—there is bound to be some a similarity in what they see and how they sort our and account for their observations. Hence the psychoanalytic idea of “character defense” or “character armour,” the Jungian concept of “attitude,” the Adlerian notion of “life lie” or “life style,” and the transactional metaphour of “sweatshirt” all describer very similar phenomena. (Many psychoanalysts consider that “transactional games” is merely a synonym for character defenses. This is not so. The sweatshirt is the character defense. Games belong to the open system of social psychology, and not to the closed energy system described by Dr. Freud.) An actual sweatshirt (“Hell’s Angels,” “The Losers,” “Black Panthers,” “Harvard Track Team,” or even “Beethoven”) states which gang a person belongs to, and gives some indication of his philosophy and how he is likely to respond to certain stimuli; but it does not indicate exactly how he will go about conning someone and what payoff he expects. For example, it is clear that many members of the first three gangs mentioned above are riding on the “Forget You” streetcar, but without knowing each member of the gang intimately (in the clinical sense) it is not possible to predict which ones want to be killed in order to become martyrs, which ones want merely to be manhandled so that they can cry “Police brutality!” and which ones are straight. The sweatshirt indicates their collective attitude and the games they share in common, but each one is playing out his own script with its own individual payoff. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
A transactional or script sweatshirt is an attitude which is clearly advertised by the person’s demeanor, just as clearly as though he wore a sweatshirt with his script slogan printed on the front. Some common script sweatshirts are “Kick Me,” “Don’t Kick Me,” “I’m Proud I’m An Alcoholic,” “Look How Hard I’m Trying,” “Buzz Off,” “I Am Fragile,” and “Need a Fix?” Some sweatshirts have a message on the front and a “kicker” in the back: for example, a woman comes on like “I’m Looking For A Husband,” but when she turns her back it clearly says: “But You Don’t Qualify.” The man with “I’m Proud I’m An Alcoholic” on his forehead may have “But Remember It’s A Sickness” on the back. Homosexuals wear particularly flamboyant ones with the front slogan ‘Don’t You Think I’m Fascinating?” while on the back it says, “Isn’t That Enough?” Other sweatshirts give a picture of a more “clubbish” way of life. “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen” (NOKTIS) is a fraternity with many branches, one of which is the Melancholy Litvak’s Club. The Melancholy Litvaks’ Club can be visualized by a Martain as little wooden building, sparsely furnished with run-down furniture. There are no pictures on the wall, only a framed motto reading, “Why Not Kill Yourself Today?” There is a small library consisting of statistical reports and books by pessimistic philosophers. The point of NOKTIS is not the total amount of trouble, but the fact that Nobody Knows. The NOKTIS makes sure that nobody ever finds out, either, because if anybody did know, then he could not say “Nobody knows,” and his sweatshirt would lose its point. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
The sweatshirt is usually derived from a favourtie slogan of the parents, such as “Nobody in the World will love you like your father and mother do.” This resigned, plod-ahead sweatshirt is disjunctive, and merely serves to separate the wearer from the people around him. By a simple twist it can be transformed into a conjunctive one which will attract other people instead of putting them off, and lead to appropriate “Ain’t It Awful” pastimes and games: “Nobody loves me like my father and mother do.” What attracts other people is the back of this sweatshirt, which reads: “How about you?” Rimbaud was the poet of rebellion. His life, far from justifying the myth it created, only illustrates (an objective perusal of the letters from Harrar suffices to prove this) the fact that he surrendered to the worst form of nihilism imaginable. As if his renunciation implied superhuman virtue, Rimbaud has been defied for renouncing his genius. It must be pointed out, however, despite the fact that by doing so we disqualify the alibis of our contemporaries, that genius alone—and not the renunciation of genius—implies virtue. Rimbaud’s greatness does not lie in the first poems of Charleville nor in his trading at Harrar. It shines forth at the moment when, in giving the most peculiarly appropriate expression to rebellion that it has ever received, he simultaneously proclaims his triumph and his agony, his conception of a life beyond the confines of this World and the inescapability of the World, the yearning for the unattainable and reality brutally determined on restraint, the rejection of morality and the irresistible compulsion of duty. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
At the moment when he carries in his breast both illumination and the darkness of hell, when he hails and insults beauty, and creates, from an insoluble conflict, the intricate counterpoint of an exquisite song, he is the poet of rebellion—the greatest of all. The order in which he wrote his two great works is of no importance. In any case there was very little time between the conception of the two books, and any artists knows, with the certainty born of experience, that Rimbaud simultaneously carried the seeds of the Season in Hell (Une Saison en Enfer) and the Illuminations within him. Though he wrote them one after the other, there is no doubt of them at the same time. This contradiction, which killed him, was the real source of his genius. In view of the fact that chronic suppression and repression of affect produce such unhealthy consequences, we shall inquire into some of the factors responsible for the adoption of these unhealthy patterns. Dependency upon Others. When persons must depend upon others for the solution of their problems and the satisfaction of their needs, they are thrust into situations that can promote unhealthy suppression and repression. So long as they are in the dependent role and need the other person’s good will, they must express nothing which will incur the displeasure of the other person. Thus, a child, an employee, or an inadequate person may have to withhold honest expression of feelings and express (or pretend to feel) only those that will improve his or her status in the eyes of the dominant one. Most of us have had the fantasy at one time or another of telling someone with whom we have been solely associated in a dependent role just how we really feel toward them. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
Some people, on achieving autonomy, wealth, or courage, come right out and express long-withheld feelings. Sometimes the dissolution of a dependency relationship will remove only the motives for suppression, so that persons vent feelings they have long been aware of. Sometimes, however, with the breakup of the dependency relationship, long-standing repression will be undone, and persons will themselves be shocked and surprised at the feelings that well up for expression. Excessively Strict Conscience and Self-denial. Persons may chronically suppress or repress certain emotions not only for external reasons, such as avoiding rejection or criticism, but also to conform with demands of conscience. Persons may have acquired values that make certain emotions not only for external reasons, such as avoiding rejection or criticism, but also to conform with demands of conscience. Persons may have acquired values that make their self-esteem contingent on the exclusion of certain feelings and emotions not only from behaviour, but even from consciousness. They can accept themselves only as kind, pure, and strong, and so they must repress all those feelings that would produce guilt if they were recognized. Rigid Role Definitions. Everyone learns a variety of social roles include those associated with age, pleasures of the flesh, occupation, and one’s family position. Each role has strong social norms governing the experience and expression of emotion. To further highlight this illustration, a physician is expected to appear calm in situations of illness and crisis, whereas a layperson or a patient can experience and express panic without social blame. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
Similarly, men in our culture are expected to appear stronger, more competent, and more in control of their emotions than are women (although these roles are changing through the influence of women’s liberation advocates). Thus, if they experience tenderness, weakness, and dependency, or the impulse to weep, men commonly feel ashamed. The necessity to appear before others in conformity with conventional role definitions thus fosters suppression and repression of emotion. If a person cannot find opportunities to be “out” of these roles, in order to experience and express the feelings engendered by life happenings, then that person’s roles are endangering his or her health. The moral precepts which philosophy imparts to its votaries are based not only on the familiar laws of goodness being coincident with happiness and of suffering being a reaction of evil, but also on the lesser-known facts of psychic sensibility. If you have renounced the World outwardly and wear a halo, you would be right in regarding ambition as a sin. However, if you still live in the World and have renounced it inwardly, it would not be wrong to work like those who are ambitious and so fill a more useful and more powerful role in society. Capital punishment is unethical because it commits a second murder to punish the first one, and not everyone on death row is guilty. Ideals are good and needed, but impracticable ones are not. Their failure tests and show them up for the mere theories that they are. The balanced, practical idealist does more for humanity than the hazy, muddling theorist. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
When you are a member of the Sacramento Fire Department, you must always work not just to meet the minimum standard, but to do your very best. Your duty is to commit to excellence in all aspects of your professional responsibility. Part of fulfilling duty is to exercise initiative—anticipating what needs to be done before someone tells you what to do. You must exercise initiative when you fulfill the purpose, not merely the letter, of the tasks assigned you and the orders you have received. The task is not complete until you achieve the intended outcome. Conscientiousness is the internalization of duty. Conscientiousness means having a high sense of responsibility for your personal contributions to the Sacramento Fire Department, demonstrated through dedicated effort, organization, thoroughness, reliability, and practicality. Your own conscientiousness consistently alerts you to do what is right—even when you are tried or demoralized. In rare cases, your sense of duty also has to detect and prevent an illegal order. Duty requires refusal to obey. The Sacramento Fire Department has no choice but to do what is ethically and legally right. Treat people as they should be treated. Respect for the individual is the basis for the rule of law—the very essence of what the nation stands for. Respect means you must treat others as they should be treated—with dignity and respect. Over the course of history, America has become more culturally diverse, requiring firefighters to deal with people from a wider range of ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. You must prevent misunderstandings arising from cultural difference. Actively seek to learn about people whose culture is different. Be sensitive to other cultures. This will help you in mentoring, coaching, and counseling team members. See things from their perspective, and appreciate what is important to them. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
The Sacramento Fire Department consistently fosters a climate in which everyone is treated with dignity and respect, regardless of race, gender, creed, or religious belief. Fostering a balanced and dignified work climate begins with your personal example. How you live the Sacramento Fire Department values shows subordinates how they should behave. Teaching values is one of your most important responsibilities. It helps create a common understand of the Sacramento Fire Departments Values and standards. The discipline which makes the Sacramento Fire Department reliable is not gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make a fire department. The Sacramento Fire Department imparts instruction and gives commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice to inspire in the firefighters and EMTs no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with crew members springs from a corresponding split in the heart of the captain. He or she who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself or herself, while he or she who feels, and hence manifest, disrespect toward others, cannot fail to inspire hated against him or herself. “I got married within months of getting appointed to the department. My wife didn’t know much about the job, just that I wanted to get into the Sacramento Fire Department. I think it’s difficult for any wife to get used to the idea of her husband living with another family. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
“I realized immediately, even going to a slow company, that although firefighters are strangers at the outset, they become very close very quickly. It has a tremendous impact on your life, whether you want it to or not. Do I live here, or do I live there? But I live in both places, split equal time. It’s not like going to a factory and filling up a cardboard box with something, then putting tape on it and sending it out the shipping door, and you can’t wait to get out of there. This is totally the opposite. Going into the camaraderie of living with the other family in the firehouse is not that easy. I guess that wives, when they talk among themselves, feel that the husbands talk about things at the firehouse before they would discuss it at home, whatever the subject. I think a lot of families have trouble dealing with that. It’s not easy to say, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t care about the salary, the only reason I took this job was because I want to do it, I like it, and now that I’m doing it I like it even more. So don’t crowd my territory, please. If I like being in this family at the firehouse, let me be.’ But unless somebody loves there in the firehouse and goes through it, I don’t think they can see it. I think that wives sometimes mistakenly believe you’re trying to push them aside. We have four young children. I certainly wouldn’t tell them to take this job because their father loves it. I think they’re under more pressure than when we were their age. Television and movies have an unbelievable influence on them practically from the day they’re born. They’re still young. The oldest guy is interested right not in the sciences and astronomy and outer space and the whole NASA program. Like firefighting, it’s a challenge but of something else, where you’re taking your life in your hands and going out into the unknown. All I’d want to tell the kids is, do what you want, as long as you like what you’re doing. That’s the most I can do, not try to push them in one direction or another, in some kind of vicarious situation where I wish it was me.” #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
The proud members of the Sacramento Fire Department are committed to providing the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of Sacramento. This is accomplished by implementing comprehensive strategies and training in fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and all risk mitigation, including human-caused and natural disasters, emergency preparedness, emergency cervices and community-based fire services. The Sacramento Fire Department physical requirements for the firefighters and EMTs state that you must be medically and physically fit, and able to pass the Occupational Physical Assessment Test. Therefore, physical and mental toughness are just the basic requirements. You achieve excellence when you habitually show discipline and commitment to the department’s values. Individuals and organizations pursue excellence to improve. The Sacramento Fire Department cherishes leaders of character who are good role models, consistently set the example, and accomplish the mission while improving their skills. The values of the Sacramento Fire Department are never tested more strenuously than during times of crisis. Those who can keep a level head and act with character, particularly in the face of grave danger, testify to the importance of the values of the Sacramento Fire Department. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public healthy and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a populations that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
Laguna Park, CA | From the Mid 500’s
Now Selling!
Welcome to the New Fabulous Forties! This intimate enclave of 37 homesites with available one- and two-story floorplans is the place to be in Sacramento. Waking up to a home you love sets just the right tone for what is ahead. Ventris Place offers beautifully designed homes. Danville, Residence 4, has 3 to 4 bedrooms and a loft across 1,846 square feet of living space.
Danville gives two levels, each one with its own defining purpose to create exactly what you need and want in the moment. Your home will flex with you, whether you need to invite work or play right into your comfort zone. There are also nooks that conjure up a visionary escape, welcoming you to lounge or create for the perfect work love balance. A main level with sweeping, open spaces and down to earth textures and tones, is designed with all the luxury details and faraway feels, much like the extended Laguna Park neighbourhood it occupies.
Organically designed to pull the outdoors and the indoors out, you can dine alfresco right of your gourmet kitchen or make the night bright, sitting on your side yard, for an entirely fresh perspective. A setting that is as cool as it is calm, elegant, and ready for the way you want to live. You will enjoy this home for generations to come. Just a few steps from your door and located in the Elk Grove School District, enjoy the features of the 22 acres North Laguna Creek Park, which includes paved paths, tennis courts, a basketball court, playgrounds, picnic areas, ball fields and 119-acre Wildlife Area and Interpretive Trail.
Your new home is within walking distance to Cosumnes River College and Regal RA Laguna Village and 24-Hour Fitness Laguna Sport Gym. Also, in close proximity to Kaiser Medical Centers, Winco Foods, Shell and Chevron gas stations, Walmart, and highway 99. This is the perfect community for those who are on the go, or just want to enjoy life at a slower place. The convenience is uniquely charming. https://nextgenerationcapital.us/new-homes-elk-grove-ventris-place/
Wishing you lots of love and happiness in your new home. #VentrisPlace
The Ultimate Driving Machine
BMW is a leader in automotive technology, constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a car. From advanced infotainment systems to cutting-edge safety features, BMW cars are equipped with the latest technology to enhance the driving experience. The company’s commitment to innovation is also evident in its development of electric and hybrid vehicles, which offer the same performance and luxury as traditional models but with reduced environmental impact. https://bmw.niello.com/
Whatever He Did, He Did So People Would Love Him
Some people are so easily tempted to lie a little, to cheat a little, to steal a little, or to bear false witness—just a little. You cannot commit a little sin without being subject to the consequences. If you tolerate a little sin today, you tolerate a little more tomorrow, and before long, a cord of integrity is broken. In order to grasp the various formal characteristics of a lie, using a dictionary definition may be a good idea. A lie, according to Websters Ninth Collegiate Dictionary (1987) is “an untrue statement with intent to deceive.” Also included in the explanatory comments that follow the initial concise definition are the phrases, “an assertion something known or believed by the speaker to be untrue,” and the deliberate creation of a “false or misleading impression.” Gathering these statements with the notion of lying implicit in the in the well-known judicial instruction to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” leads one to the ideal that a lie can be told in many ways. Lying is a multifaceted sport with diverse moves available to the deft player. Some prominent forms of lying are: Not telling the truth. Remaining silent while being asked to respond to a question, the answer to which one actually knows, constitutes a lie. Replacing the facts one knows to be true by false and misleading information. Tell the truth but not the “whole truth” and, by such withholding of parts of relevant information, altering the inference to be drawn from one’s report. Telling the truth but embellishing it in a way that results in a caricature and thus puts its veracity in question. The mechanism of denial by exaggeration. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
Flatly and forcefully questioning and even repudiating an established truth. The phenomenon of “gas lighting,” where one individual seeks to drive someone into a state of psychosis and/or neurosis by stirring up doubts about the latter’s perception is an example of this type of lying. Instances of “soul murder” where a child’s perception is ruthlessly erased by cruel and abusive parent, and the denial of slavery are other examples from individual and collective arenas, respectively, of this very type of lie. Acknowledging the truth about a certain matter but retrospectively imputing motives to it that were not in operation earlier. The ego operation of “sliding of meanings” seen in a narcissistic personalities is an example par excellence of such a strategy. What all this demonstrates is that a lie comes in many forms. From baldfaced assertions of falsehood to subtle distortions or reality, lies elude simplistic nosological traps. To discern them, one not only requires paying close attention to what is being said and why but also to what is not being said, what is being exaggerated, what is being minimized, and what is being painted with a revisionist brush. Every time we are dishonest, we are really guilty of two lies: the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it. Failing to establish himself in the truth, he hides the weakness of his position under the abusiveness of his phraseology, and conceals his lack of rational arguments beneath the plenitude of his personal innuendoes. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
If we simply compare the two attitudes, instead of arbitrarily opposing them, we shall find that they usefully counterbalance each other. Why should we deny our human needs and human nature because we claim our divine needs and seek our divine nature? All external austerities are helpful in training the will but only some of them have any other value in themselves. And when they become fanatical and extreme and merely external, they become perilous and illusory. He is not so foolish as to seek to impose the austere ethical standards of the higher philosophy upon those who are still unable to get beyond the level of the lower religion. The self-actualized Christians were never so unpractical as to offer a rule of life whose logical application could only be that all men should enter monasteries and all women enter convents. How often in history do we find men and movements whose purpose is admirable but whose execution of it is execrable! A bad means used to attain a good end, turns the end itself into a bad thing. The man who sits encased in his own virtue, may unwittingly become encased in spiritual pride. Both conservative followers of tradition and progressive rebels against it may have something to offer which is worthy welcoming. Why not admit the truth and scrutinize each offering justly? Why immediately react against or in favour of it, only by looking at the name of its source? If there is willingness to accommodate the other, to get the entire picture and then only make a decision, it is better for everyone. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
In a marriage, there is no formula for success. No script can be provided for couples who want to use conflicts as a means of discovering new dimensions of themselves and their partners and thus enhance their physical relationship. Nor are there any shortcuts that will expedite the process of achieving genuine intimacy. However, if the principles of neutrality and mutuality are used guidelines in the negotiation of differences of intimate passions, there is every reason to be optimistic about the outcome. And this much is certain: all experience gained in resolving conflicts creates the facility for dealing constructively with future conflicts—which are inevitable. Conciliation is another word for marriage. We keep being told that in this “enlightened” age the double standard is disappearing. However, actually the truth is that time after time we find people saying one thing and doing something else. They believe what they are saying, all right, but they are not looking very carefully at what in fact they really do. Certainly you young people talk more freely; you communicate better. You accept the subject of functioning of pleasures of the flesh with much more aplomb. And yet there seems to be an awful lot of residual double standards in your generation, too. Many people wrestle with the idea that pleasures of the flesh are sinful, and I cannot really address that, but in the long-range, some psychiatrists believe this can be a harmful myth. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
For many boy, growing up, the most sinful thing was not pleasures of the flesh. What many really felt guilty about was masturbation. However, many religions teach this is also sinful, but it can also be useful in preventing unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Most married men masturbate at times. They do not do so with the same frequency that prevailed during their teens or during the years that preceded the establishment of a more or less regular coital pattern, whether in marriage or not. However, there are circumstances when the male has a high incidence of return to masturbatory tendencies, even though he has a partner who theoretically is available. When she is not available, when husband and wife are physically separated, the function of masturbation seems clear enough. However, there are other circumstances in which it serves a similar need. It is not uncommon, for example, for masturbation to be utilized during the wife’s menstrual period, particularly if at this time either partner feels negatively predisposed to pleasures of the flesh. Masturbation may be utilized during illness or the last stages of pregnancy or the first month or two after childbirth. And then there are occasions during the normal course of marital life when suddenly it just seems like a great idea to the male—or the female, for that matter. Obviously, the same principles should apply to the woman as to the man. And I know of no harm at all in this, but your religion may be against it. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
There is one other consideration I can think of, and it involves the stabilization and preservation of a valued partnership. Here is a way of satisfying extraneous sexual need without making excessive demands on the relationship. It enables a woman to cope with her tensions at a time when, because of special concerns, she feels she cannot involve her husband, or she chooses not to. Once she comes to terms with the fact that this does not take anything away from her marriage, it may help to keep the relationship in balance. For a number of women, this is not an infrequent experience. Fundamentally, this kind of situation exists when a marital unit is not dysfunctional with pleasures of the flesh but the partners have different tension levels for intimate passions. This difference in levels is found in an incredible number of cases and is often balanced by masturbation, which permits the partner with the higher tension level to relieve that tension occasionally and ease up a bit. It may be the husband who needs relief; it may be the wife. However, keep in mind that we are talking about occasional incidents. If we find an established masturbatory pattern of some significance, we then look into the relationship itself. When we counsel husbands and wives who have serious problems, we introduce the concept of mutuality. This requires them to be sensitive to inevitable differences in their individual needs and to be willing to meet and satisfy those needs together. In the circumstances we have been describing, this means that the couple must accept the fact that their desire for pleasures of the flesh and capacities are not always going to perfectly match. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
And the important question is how a couple handles that particular fact. If at a given moment one partner’s needs are on a slightly higher level, we would encourage him—or her—to task for the other’s cooperation so that together they can enjoy making it a mutual experience of pleasures of the flesh without putting performance pressure on the partner who is not quite so turned on. This can be a rather happy solution, because it uses the very differences that might otherwise have come between two people to bring them together. Just keep in mind that it is all right to play house when you are a kid, and it is not too bad to play doctor. However, if you are caught playing with yourself, good luck to you. Many marries men and women masturbate on occasion, for good reason and with no harm done. We discussed some of the circumstances—sickness, separation, impulse, what have you?—and I will add medical reason. If they are having dysmenorrhea—severe cramps–we know that many women will masturbate with the onset of their menstrual cycle. An “exciting” experience frequently will relieve the spasm of the uterus and the cramps will disappear. Many women learn this trick. Does it work for all? Of course not, but it helps some women and so they masturbate periodically, which seems sensible. Now, when we suggest to couples who have different levels of tension involving pleasures of the flesh that the partner with the lower level can—and should—help the partner with the higher level to achieve release, we are not discussing masturbation per se. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
We are discussing stimulation involving pleasures of the flesh, the various modes by which one partner gives pleasure to the other. If either partner rejects the idea of providing or accepting release this way, we continue our in-depth interview until we find out, if possible, the basis of rejection. Then we try to negate that attitude. In attempting to overcome any sense of rejection by either partner, our usual approach is to make a major issue of the naturalness of pleasures of the flesh functioning. This includes stressing the fact that functioning of pleasures of the flesh is a total body response and that this response generally can be enhanced by any form of physical stimulation. We find that a significant percentage of individuals who object to a particular form of play with pleasures of the flesh do so on the basis of preconceived ideas. These individuals are frequently intrigued by the concept but are concerned with how it will be received by the partner, or they may even be concerned with what other people might think. If they are given an adequate explanation of the naturalness of any form of expression with pleasures of the flesh, by persons who they accept as authorities, they feel they have what we call “authoritative permission” to indulge in the particular activity. Very often we find that negative attitudes are based on myths or half-truths or irrational notions carried over from childhood. In a surprising number of cases, all it takes to change those attitudes is for a minister or doctor, for example, or for an older, well-regarded person to say to the individual, “My wife and I have enjoyed doing this all our married life.” And suddenly it becomes a perfectly acceptable practice, especially for young people. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
Incidentally, often the woman feels that it is completely all right for her to release her husband but she does not feel the same about the reverse situation. There may be any number of different reasons for such an attitude, but one of the commonest is that she is afraid such a request might undermine her husband. It might make him feel that he is inadequate, that he is not capable of pleasing her. In fact, he himself may have communicated that idea to her. Here is another double-standard residual—a reflection of the traditional view of the woman’s role, with the culture assigning her the responsibility of meeting the man’s need. We must fly the kite of idealism, but we must also be able to jerk it back to Earth on a minute’s notice. The single-idea enthusiast, the fanatic persecutor, and the disproportioned extremist—these are all out of focus, out of harmony, and out of balance. The unbalanced fanatic merely makes a new attachment out of attempted detachment. The type to which a man belongs, the temperament which he possesses, will direct him to go along a certain way as being easiest for him. This limits his outlook, and leads to intolerance of other ways and imbalance of his own development. He should not fall into extremes and, in his care for self-protection, fall into an excessive prudence that risks nothing and consequently gains nothing. Sometimes one can address the process without disrupting too much. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
One can watch words and sounds arise around feelings as though they take the form of feelings and image them in a most intimate way. Difficulties in relationships have several characteristics. They arise without anticipation. They are usually not understood immediately, just as though one is suddenly shown an image or told something by another person. Most, if not all, of it is symbolic. Most, if not all, appears to be a representation of the innermost thought or feelings. It occurs in a kind of timeless World which is now without past or future. It borders memory and usually requires some extra work to fix in memory. Most importantly its frame of reference is the innermost-subjective-now reality of the individual. It is as though, at our core is a process which cannot help but accurately represent itself. One many I met was in the unfortunate position of having too much of a good thing. He, like St. Augustine, was in love with loving, and he found how difficult life can be, stranded in that polarity. The story of his life was simple: Whatever he did, he did so people would love him. “From the minute he was born, you could not help but love him,” Arkie’s mother used to say. “He was so small, so sickly. Until the operation, when he was six weeks old, we did not think he would make it. But we felt so sorry for him and we loved him so much! Maybe all that love is what kept him alive.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Maybe it was. However, getting “all that love” became an obsession with Arkie as he grew up, and especially after his first Sunday school lessons. “God loves you,” the hard-faced, icy-voiced teacher said, “and He showers you with his grace—as long as you are good. But when you are bad little boys and girls, God turns away from you, takes his grace away and stops loving you. When God stops loving you, you spiritually die.” As a six-year-old, Arkie had no idea what it means to die “spiritually.” To him the message was, “if God stops loving you, you die.” The way to get love was by “being good,” which meant pleasing God—and in the mind of the little boy, it meant pleasing everyone else too. Oddly enough, for all his desire to be a “good boy,” Arkie was not very well behaved. There was a sassy, rebellious side to him, a side which surfaced just when he thought he was doing well. And when his rebellious side got him in trouble, he felt the guilt, the remorse, and the deathly fear that God had turned away from him—perhaps forever. At these times, he thought that he would surely die. Arkie hated the boredom and discipline of school, but to please his parents, he studied hard, made “A’s,” and graduated with honors. His father died when he was a teenager and Arkie, wanting more than ever to please his mother, went to college. She wanted him to be a teacher; he wanted to be a sculptor. “A sculptor?” she wailed when he told her of his dream. “Who ever heard of such a thing? Look in the want ads. In all of Sacramento, all of California, is anybody looking for sculptors? It’s teachers, teachers they’re crying for. The work is clean, it’s honest, it’s professional. Be a good boy, Arike. Be a teacher.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
He became a teacher, reasoning that he could study his art in college and teach it when he finished, pleasing himself and his mother at the same time. The plan might have worked, except for one thing: he hated teaching. He found school more boring as a teacher then he ever had as a student. They pay was poor and after a full day of dragging himself through the work he hated, Arike was left with little enthusiasm for pursuing his own art. Besides sculpture, Arkie had a talent for drawing, so he took a job as an illustrator in an advertising agency where the pay was good and the rewards for hard work were fast in coming. Soon, he was an art director, with his own office, secretary, and printed business cards. One Saturday he took his mother to his office to show her how well he was doing. She was impressed by the big desk and the carpeting, but said, “Anyway, it’s too bad you left teaching. There you were a professional.” Arkie soon grew frustrated at the advertising agency; frustrated with working on paper. He longed for the challenge and realness of three-dimensional creation. He longed to carve, to mold, to shape. However, the want ads still showed no jobs for sculptors. So he went back to college and took a degree in architecture. The field promised everything he wanted: a chance to work with shapes, structure and real materials; a chance to be in business for himself; and, most of all, the status of a “professional.” His mother would surely be proud. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
In private practice, Arike was only marginally successful. With his easygoing, “anything-to-please” manner, he managed to get enough business, but he worked twice as hard as he needed to and charge half as much as he should have. After covering his overhead, there was little left for him to call profit. From time to time, his rebellious streak would surface. On one such occasion, he abruptly decided to close up shop and move. Three months later, he was sitting at a drawing board in a large architectural/engineering/construction firm in Orange County, trying to design office cubicles so that they would not all look identical. The work was not exactly exciting, but they pay was good and the position was “professional.” In Orange County, Arkie met and married Aerial, a pretty, energetic high-school speech teacher. She had a sweet voice, a sweet disposition and was passionately devoted to him. They got along well, did interesting things together, and fell more deeply in love every day. As Arkie was often told, he had everything a man could hope for: good job, lots of money, happy marriage, nice friends, bright future—everything. However, for Arkie, something was wrong. Drastically wrong. He was thirty-two years old and in good health, yet felt that his life was over. He had grown too fond of the wine which he drank in ever-larger amounts each evening. He found a certain amount of satisfaction in his work, but there was no joy in it, no life. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
He began to feel that somewhere along the line, he had been cheated. “Please people,” he had been told, “and they will love you. When people love you, you will be happy.” Arkie went out of his way to please people. He did favours whenever someone asked. He lent people money; he helped them in business. He was a nice guy. “Live so as to please God,” he had been told, “and God will love you; you will be happy.” Arkie lived as closely as possible to what he had been told would please God. At the age of thirty-two, he was hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying—in short, a “good boy.” Yet for all his willingness to please, to love and be loved, Arkie was not entirely happy. And he felt it was not fair. For him, life was not working as he was told it would. Something was not right. I first met Arkie at a party. We had both gone to the buffet table for more hors d’oeuvres and Arkie, while chatting amiably, made a sweeping gesture and knocked over a full glass of punch, staining the white slacks and the Air Force Ones I was wearing. From the effusiveness of his apologies, I would have thought he had just done something horrendous. It struck me as curious that such an obviously bright, apparently self-assumed young man would go almost entirely to pieces over such a small incident. Hoping to draw him out a bit, I invited him to sit down and chat some more. Still reeling from the accident, he was only too ready to do anything I asked. I got the feeling that had I asked him to slash his wrists, he would have been happy to oblige. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
Our conversation was the light, cocktail party variety, consisting mainly of describing what we each did for a living. Somehow we got on the subject of pet peeves and I mentioned that, as a psychotherapist, one of the things that bothers me is when people are not entirely honest and open in their communication about their feelings. I told him I felt it slowed the therapy process. Akie reacted as if he had been personally rebuked. “God, I don’t blame you, Ludolf,” he gushed. “It must be frustrating for you when people don’t open up. I admit I haven’t been entirely honest with you, even in this conversation. I, uh, I’m actually not as happy as I try to make it sound. I mean, I know I should be, but for some reason, I just feel, well…say, would it be all right if I came by your office?” He started therapy a few wees later. Persons are said to repress their emotions when they take active steps to avoid experiencing certain affects, and when confronted by stimuli adequate to induce an emotional response, they deny (and believe their own denial) that they are experiencing emotion. Repression in the first instance is achieved by regulating one’s life so that one will never encounter the objects known to induce feelings, and also by refusing to think about objects or events that might induce unwanted feelings. Repression in the second instance appears to be achieved by means of some form of self-deception or denial—as if the persons say to themselves, and believe, “I am not angry [afraid, sexy, amused].” #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
In order to rid their awareness of the unwanted emotional tensions, they may think about things and perform tasks that indue feelings incompatible with the unwanted emotional tension. Thus, a small child, confronted by a fear-inspiring dog, might say, “Nice puppy”—puppies evoke tender feelings, not fear in the child. The nervous and timid speaker at a banquet, who is afraid he or she will be ridiculed, may address the audience as “My friends.” If the speaker believes that they are friends, the fear will evaporate. Repression occurs automatically and unconsciously, because the emotional tension trigger off strong anxiety over the anticipated consequences of expressing them; too, the emotional tensions conflict strongly with persons’ conscience and self-ideals—if they admitted they had these feelings, they might have to change their concepts of themselves, with accompanying losses in self-esteem. In most, if not all, instances, professionals condemn repression of emotional tensions as unhealthy. The main reason for this condemnation lies in the fact that in spite of repression, the feelings exist—or at least the capacity to experience these feelings remains present and unchanged. When feelings have been provoked but are not recognized by the person, they produce both physical and psychological effects. In addition to psychological consequences, repressed affects produce the same effects on the body as do consciously suppressed feelings, except that the person is not aware that he or she has these feelings. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
When feeling have been repressed more or less successfully, it is not only the individual who is unaware of their presence. Other persons as well will not know how the person really feels. Thus, a husband may irritate his wife for years by certain of his habits. She, however, may have repressed her annoyance and hostility. Then, at some future date, she leaves him or becomes overwhelmed with uncontrollable rage at some trivial annoyance. Naturally, the husband is surprised and shocked. If she had openly vented her feelings, he might have altered his behaviour easily and without complaint. One of the most important tasks in psychotherapy and in the treatment of so-called psychosomatic illnesses is adiding patients to recognize their own feelings—to “unrepress” them, to experience and express them fully. This uncovering process generally is met with strong resistance on the part of the patient, however, for the experience of these feelings is threatening to security and to self-esteem. Do not in enthusiastically winning new qualities and virtues ignore and neglect the one which must regulate them all—balance. The beginner who develops a self-conscious measured spirituality is dangerously near to the vice of spiritual pride. In trying to mold himself on a higher pattern, a new fault may insert itself—the tendency to become self-righteous. He is in a hard state who is unable to make compromises and untempted to make concessions. Like the rudder on a boat, or the governor on a spring, the very quality which he lacks is needed by a man to keep him from going astray into extremes, follies, quicksands, and disasters. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
The proud members of the Sacramento Fire Department are committed to providing the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of Sacramento. This is accomplished by implementing comprehensive strategies and training in fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and all risk mitigation, including human-caused and natural disasters, emergency preparedness, emergency cervices and community-based fire services. The Sacramento Fire Department physical requirements for the firefighters and EMTs state that you must be medically and physically fit, and able to pass the Occupational Physical Assessment Test. Therefore, physical and mental toughness are just the basic requirements. You achieve excellence when you habitually show discipline and commitment to the department’s values. Individuals and organizations pursue excellence to improve. The Sacramento Fire Department cherishes leaders of character who are good role models, consistently set the example, and accomplish the mission while improving their skills. The values of the Sacramento Fire Department are never tested more strenuously than during times of crisis. Those who can keep a level head and act with character, particularly in the face of grave danger, testify to the importance of the values of the Sacramento Fire Department. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
If you qualify, you join the Sacramento Fire Department with your personal values developed in childhood and nurtured over many years of person experience. By taking an oath to serve the nation and the institution, you also agree to live and act by a new set of values—Sacramento Fire Department values. Values consist of the principles, standards, and qualities considered essential for successful firefighters and EMTs. They are fundamental to helping you make the right decision in any situation. Sacramento Fire Department Values firmly bind all members into a fellowship dedicated to serving the nation and the City of Sacramento. They apply to everyone, in every situation, anywhere. The trust firefighters and EMTs have for each other, and the trust the American people have in them, all depends on how well the crew embodies the Sacramento Fire Department Values. The Sacramento Fire Department recognizes seven values that must be developed in all firefighters and EMTs: Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. Sacramento firefighters and EMTs must bear the faith and allegiance to the US Constitution, the fire department, and their team members. All firefighters and EMTs swear a sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and their community. The Constitution establishes the legal basis for the existence of their organization. As a logical consequence, the Sacramento Fire Department has an obligation to be faithful to America and their community. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
Loyalty is the big thing, the greatest battle asset of all. However, no man ever wins the loyalty of team members by preaching loyalty. It is given him by them as he proves his possession of the other virtues. Firefighters and EMTs who are loyal to their family (crew members) never let them be misused or abused. The Sacramento Fire Department stands with their family no matter how difficult the situation. “I married shortly before I got on the department. Being in the fire academy that early on in the marriage was probably a test of whether the marriage was going to work. My wife is my rock and my salvation. There were many nights when I came home with tons of homework and assignments, and she gave me a lot of moral support. I’ll be forever grateful to her for that. I don’t think she had any sense of what the job was about. She was pretty much caught up in the basis syndrome everybody else has—you work, you do yogi, have faith in God, and are dedicated to the commitment of marriage. She’s never expressed any fears about the job. A lot of firefighters’ wives can name every tool and specification of every fire truck, and can tell you all the things that firefighters do on the day-to-day basis. My wife has never gotten involved to that point. She’s just tremendously happy that I was able to have the career I wanted. She is a teacher. We have two young children. Our lives are different from others in the neighborhood in the hours we work, the situations we’re confronted with, the things we see on a daily basis. I spend a normal amount of time with the children, but I also have hobby interests and semibusiness ventures that I attend to. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
“Free-lance photography, for one, generally in fire-related situations—for a magazine or a newspaper, a publication of some sorts. I suspect I’ll stay on the job for a minimum of twenty-five years. I can’t see myself retiring before that, not with the age of my kids. I’ve gotten fifteen years now, and if the next ten are as much fund as the last fifteen, I look forward to it. My mother and father are both college graduates and working in the professions. I think that now they’re real pleased that I’ve been so happy in the career that I chose. In addition to being a photographer, I’m a helicopter enthusiast. I spend some time at airports. Aviation has always been a part of my life. I’m not a pilot, but I have a number of buddies in the helicopter industry, who I ride with occasionally. They’re kind of another second family to me, in addition to the firefighter family and my own family. Unfortunately, the Sacramento Fire Department helicopters are out of the way to me. I flew with the guys a number of times, but I’m miles away from them now. In our off hours, my wife and I do whatever the kids want to do, or rather something that everybody wants to do. Not just to please Mom and Dad and not just to please the kids, but what the family wants to do. We go to amusement parks, the beach, depending on the time of the year. We go to the mountains. We took a trip to Hawaii. The kids are like their mother in regard to the department. You know, Dad’s a fireman, but we don’t really know a whole lot about what he does. They certainly could be firefighters, if they want, but I wouldn’t encourage them.” #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
The Sacramento Fire Department is older than the City of Sacramento. On 5 February 2025, the Sacramento Fire Department will be celebrating their 175th birthday. This is a very important milestone. Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. #RandolphHarris In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. Also, to ensure that we have farmland for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a populations that equally represents all races of people. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
Laguna Park, CA | From the Mid 500’s
Now Selling!
Welcome to the New Fabulous Forties! This intimate enclave of 37 homesites with available one- and two-story floorplans is the place to be in Sacramento. Waking up to a home you love sets just the right tone for what is ahead. Ventris Place offers beautifully designed homes. Danville, Residence 4, has 3 to 4 bedrooms and a loft across 1,846 square feet of living space.
Danville gives two levels, each one with its own defining purpose to create exactly what you need and want in the moment. Your home will flex with you, whether you need to invite work or play right into your comfort zone.
There are also nooks that conjure up a visionary escape, welcoming you to lounge or create for the perfect work love balance. A main level with sweeping, open spaces and down to earth textures and tones, is designed with all the luxury details and faraway feels, much like the extended Laguna Park neighbourhood it occupies.
Organically designed to pull the outdoors and the indoors out, you can dine alfresco right of your gourmet kitchen or make the night bright, sitting on your side yard, for an entirely fresh perspective. A setting that is as cool as it is calm, elegant, and ready for the way you want to live.
You will enjoy this home for generations to come. Just a few steps from your door and located in the Elk Grove School District, enjoy the features of the 22 acres North Laguna Creek Park, which includes paved paths, tennis courts, a basketball court, playgrounds, picnic areas, ball fields and 119-acre Wildlife Area and Interpretive Trail.
Your new home is within walking distance to Cosumnes River College and Regal RA Laguna Village and 24-Hour Fitness Laguna Sport Gym. Also, in close proximity to Kaiser Medical Centers, Winco Foods, Shell and Chevron gas stations, Walmart, and highway 99.
This is the perfect community for those who are on the go, or just want to enjoy life at a slower place. The convenience is uniquely charming. https://nextgenerationcapital.us/new-homes-elk-grove-ventris-place/
Wishing you lots of love and happiness in your new home. #VentrisPlace
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Set Goals and Work to Achieve them!
The purpose of this lesson here on Earth is to inspire of to set goals and work to achieve them. A goal is a standard, a skill, an ideal, or a destination that is to be achieved. When we decide to accomplish a particular thing, we set a goal. Some goals, such as cleaning the house or writing an essay, may take a short time to accomplish. Other goals, such as saving money to buy a new home or doing thing to improve the love and peace within the family, may take months or even years. Goal that will help us to become worthy to dwell eternally with our Heavenly Father may taken an entire lifetime. Some goals may not even be attained during a lifetime on Earth, but may require additional effort in the hereafter. It is one thing to set up such a goal in life; it is another to find the way to reach it. For the attempt to live in celibacy—unless wisely managed and informed with knowledge—provokes the animal in us to revolt. Some people often waste days, months, and even years of their lives going down paths that lead them to no worthwhile achievements. Other people set goals and progress steadily along paths that lead them to achieve much. When his involvement in the Quest has become a desperate affair to the point of morbid self-analysis endlessly repeated, it is time to restore his balance. How many misguided persons have condoned brining harm to a fellow human or animal creature by quoting a text or doctrine! #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
Without discipline the passions and emotions may run wild. With excess discipline the heart may freeze, the man become fanatic and intolerant. In the scriptures Heavenly Father has stated His major goal concerning His work: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man,” reports Moses 1.39. One who follows the ways of the Lord will be neither slavish sycophant of modern sophistication nor an over-enthusiastic votary of ancient folly. To feel detachment from Earthly pleasures is one thing, but to feel distaste for them is another. He must not so clamp himself in the rigidity of any system as to turn it into a superstition. When criticism becomes so harsh that it becomes hysteria, the man has lost his balance. A mind surcharged with hysteria or neuroticism will not be able to appreciate, let alone find, the highest truth. A man must know his limitations, must know that there are certain desires he can never attain and certain people with whom he can never be at ease. Moreover, he must know other men’s limitations too, must realize that he can never make some understand, let alone sympathize with, his mystical outlook and that he can never bring the unevolved herd to give up their materialistic, racial, or personal prejudices. The simple life need not be a squalid one. The austere life need not be an ascetic one. There is room for aesthetic appreciation in the first and for reasonable comfort in the second. Both must respect the finer instincts and not decry them. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
When it comes to marital life, a woman who was born with a mild drive for pleasures of the flesh and whose experiences while growing up did nothing to intensify that drive, for her, pleasures of the flesh in marriage is satisfying as long as it expresses warmth and tenderness and as long as she feels that her husband needs and values the love she is capable of giving him. And if, with good judgment and equally good luck, she has selected a man whose personality, attitudes and drive for pleasures of the flesh complement her own, she can have a genuinely happy marriage. Very few couples, however, start out perfectly matched. The question is whether a husband and wife can learn to respect and accommodate themselves to differences in the strength of their desires for pleasures of the flesh. Suppose, for example, that this young woman with limited drive for pleasures of the flesh marries a man whose enjoyment of pleasures of the flesh depends to some degree on the intensity of his partner’s enjoyment. In the beginning his pleasure inevitably will be somewhat tempered by his wife’s low-key responsiveness. If these two are to achieve a compatible relations with intimate passions, they must reach a mutual understanding of their individual natures. They must accept the fact that variations in drives for pleasures of the flesh do exist, that neither partner should apologize to the other for having more or less energy for pleasures of the flesh, that one is not “better” or “worse” than the other. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
The husband must make his wife feel that he accepts her nature for what it is and that any regret he may have about her inability to experience a more intense degree of pleasures of the flesh is genuine regret, not dissatisfaction. The wife in turn must make her husband feel that her muted response is not a reflection of his skill as a lover or in any way a personal rejection but her natural expression of fulfillment of pleasures of the flesh. Thus, instead of acting as two separate individuals with contrasting—or even conflicting—standards of behaviour involving pleasures of the flesh, they become a couple who honour the intimacy of their marriage. Limited responsiveness with pleasures of the flesh is, of course, often enough true of the male. The same principle applies—an acceptance of variations in natures of intimate passions. This means rejecting the idea that the husband is any less a man because his needs for pleasures of the flesh are less urgent than his wife expected, and it also means rejecting the idea that the wife is at fault because she fails to stimulate her husband to greater activity. The strength of the drive for pleasures of the flesh can change over a period of time. It is not fixed at a permanent level. A woman—and, of course, a man—may become more responsive; physical needs may surface more frequently and with greater intensity. If this happens, fine. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
However, it does not mean that there was anything wrong with that person before the change occurred. It simply indicated that the drives of pleasures of the flesh of this particular individual were stabilized at a lower level as a result of any number of factors, such as limited experience, personal problems, family demands and social pressures. As these things change, so does the behaviour of pleasures of the flesh. In trying to resolve their conflicts involving pleasures of the flesh by changing their ways of interacting, a man and woman can be easily discouraged. If their occasional and inevitable failures result in criticism or a loss of self-esteem, sooner or later the confidence that is needed to keep trying will evaporate and all efforts will stop. Continuation depends on encouragement, and the acceptance of failure as shared responsibility is encouraging. If only because it is preeminently realistic, the ability of both partners to share responsibility is additionally encouraging. Each is prepared to take into account the fact that both of them are not only fallible but temperamental, that they cannot and do not always act as they would like to, and that apologies are acceptable after something has gone wrong. This is an act of faith and it is crucial to the establishment of conciliation of intimate passions. To expect or want or need something of another person, and to let that person know this truth, is to be open to disappointment or denial. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
However, as long as the disappointment or denial is as long as it can be seen as a reflection of such things as forgetfulness, impatience, lethargy or unhappiness, the hurt can be accepted or at least put in perspective. And when forgiveness is later asked for—and given—sharing has taken place. Trust has been reaffirmed; openness to each other has been maintained; and the ongoing process of accommodation of pleasures of the flesh can continue. The “renunciate” who gloats over the miseries of life and points continually to its horrors is not necessarily wiser than the hedonist who sings over its joys and points continually to its beauties. Each has exaggerated his fact; each is too preoccupied with a single facet of existence. Wisdom lies in the impartial appraisal and the balanced view. We need all these virtues, yes, but we also need to practise them on the proper occasions—or they lose their values and do more harm than good. It is not the ordinary use and ingenious or aesthetic development of material things which corrupts man, but it is the excessive use of, and infatuated attachment to them which does so. The life of some unbalanced persons seems to be a periodic swing from one side of the pendulum to the other—that is, from extremes of emotional and physical sensuality to extremes of fanatic and wild asceticism. Their existence is filled with contradictions and discrepancies. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
The unseen source which suggests or encouraged fanatical austerities, extreme self-ordeals, or dramatically exaggerated sacrifices is suspect. When detachment is overdone it becomes a cold-bloodedness. The man then moves and acts like a marionette. There is a constant preaching of renunciation: abandon possessions, embrace poverty, chill off desires, and turn aside from luxuries. The high evaluation of poverty by holy men—in the preachments—is not seldom contradicted in their practice. If such ideas are not used to support harmful actions, why should he go out of his way to destroy religious ideas which others put their faith in. We must recognize that men are at different stages of response to the commands of Moses, the counsels of Jesus Christ. Consequently, it is vain to hope that they will accept or obey a universal rule of behaviour. Enthusiasm may degenerate into exaggeration. Note that ego consciousness needs to be stilled, and out of the way, for harmony to appear. It takes extra work to make a commitment last. Occasionally, an idea of what one is doing wrong in the relationship will break through clearly and be rememberable. Often why our relationships are not working out well tends out of reach because couples are not effectively communicating, which tends to create misunderstanding. It is possible to allow our experiences to grow strong and then deal with them without blocking them out. It is then more than likely that one will be able to address and deal with whatever images or voices appear. Sometimes they consist mainly of things said in a voice like one’s own thought. For others, images are more common than voices. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
What is said or imaged always rises unexpectedly and usually is not immediately understood. This is one difference from ego consciousness. When a man thinks of something, he has some anticipation for the next thought, and it appears familiar and understood. Conflict can be unanticipated, strange, surprising, and not even in one’s frame of reference. People often let experiences become frame of a single word or brief phrase said in an instant of time. The reaction for a lot of men is to grab onto the words, becoming too conscious and delaying the actual message. Autosymbolic refers to the mental process by which the mind easily forms representations of its own state. If one examines what was in consciousness at the moment the conflict arose, its meaning is clearer. If you are caught in a love polarity, you have an exaggerated desire to please and placate others, rather than express genuine caring. You have come to believe that relationships are best when you are kind to people, and so you “kill with kindness.” Part of your problem is that you have no real concept of your own self-worth, substituting it with the notion that you should “never be selfish” and care only for others. If instead you are a mater, you learn the beauty of self-expression. In other words, you become involved with what you like and thus you like being yourself. Not surprisingly, people then like you. You enjoy core-to-core contact with those you love. The contact need not be intimate passions, but an emotional kind of intimacy that can include tears, vulnerability, and trusting. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
On top of this, as a master, you enjoy the feeling of exhilaration in the natural swings between love and anger. When you can feel both of these things—without guilt, without apathy, and without fear—your life takes on a natural excitement. Your relationships are richer than before because you can recognize that people react according to their own feelings about things more so than according to anything you do. For many people, the script set can be so far removed from the reality of their life that there is no way to reconstruct it by mere observation or interpretation. The best way of getting a clear picture of what is going on with some people is through a dream. The “script-set dream” is recognizable because as soon as the person tells it, many things fall into place. Pictorially, it has no resemblance to the person’s actual way of life, but transactionally, it is an exact replica. A woman who was always “looking for a way out” dreamed that she was being chased, and found a tunnel that sloped downward. She crept into the tunnel and the people chasing her could not follow. They just stood guard hoping she would come out again. She discovered, however, that there was another gang of dangerous people waiting for her at the other end of the tunnel. Thus, she could go neither forward nor back; at the same time, if she relaxed, she would slide down into the arms of those who were waiting below. Therefore, she had to press with her hands against the side of the tunnel, and as long as she did that, she was safe. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
In script life, most of her life had been spent trapped in a tunnel in this cramped position, and it seemed clear from her attitudes and past history that the end of the script called for her to get tired of holding on and slide down into the arms of waiting death. She, too, had made considerable “progress” during her treatment up to that point. Translated, that progress meant “how to be more comfortable while holding on to the sides of a tunnel and waiting for death.” A script cure meant to get her out of the tunnel and into the real World, which again was a comfortable one for her. The tunnel was her script set. There are, of course, may other interpretations of this dream, as any freshman who has taken Psychology 1 can readily see. However, the script interpretation is important because it tells the therapist and the other group members, as well as the individual and her husband, what they are dealing with and what has to be done, and emphasizes that “progress” is not enough. The tunnel scene had probably remained unchanged since early childhood, as the patient had had this dream many times before. The concentration-camp scene is evidently a later adaptation of a child nightmare which the woman was able to recall. It was clearly based on early experiences modified by reading and adolescent fantasies. Adolescence, then, is the period when the fearsome tunnels of infancy are given a more realistic and contemporary form to build the operative script set for the individual’s life plan. This woman’s reluctance to probe into her husband’s “tricks” shows how tenaciously people cling to their script scenes while complaining about how disagreeable they are. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
The capacity to suppress emotional expression and to delay immediate responsiveness is valued by moralists and also by personality hygienists. However, the personality hygienist may differ from the moralist in that the hygienist affirms the value of the capacity to express emotional tensions just as much as the capacity to suppress them. The healthy personality displays neither immediate expression nor chronic suppression of emotion exclusively. Rather, the healthy personality displays a capacity to choose between the alternatives and suppression and expression. When it will not jeopardize important values, these people will express their feelings freely, laughing with gusto, crying without restraint, or expressing anger with vigour. If other values would be endangered by such emotionality, they are capable of suppressing their feelings and carrying on with whatever behaviour was in process at the time of emotional arousal. In the long run, however, this regime of selective suppression and release insures that the persons’ bodies and their ability to perform will not suffer the effects of prolonged emotion suppression and that they will not needlessly endanger their job, reputation, self-respect, and other important values by heedless emotional explosions. They can suppress when they choose, and they can let go when they choose—and it is they who do the choosing. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
Emotion suppression becomes unhealthy when it is prolonged for any reason. When persons chronically suppress their emotions, they generally do so because they fear the consequences of emotional expression. Fear of emotional expression is often irrational, based on overgeneralization from unpleasant occurrences in the past. Perhaps someone was severely punished, or lost a job, because of an emotional outburst. From this one event, the person may have generalized that all emotional expression is dangerous or bad. Thus, the person comes to suppress feelings—though he or she is fully aware of them—without discrimination. The longer-range consequences of chronic suppression may be psychosomatic illness (provided other necessary and sufficient causes are present), such as elevated blood pressure, mucous colitis, asthma, peptic ulcers, chronic fatigue (it consumes energy to suppress hostility and other strong feelings), muscular aches and pains, migraine like headaches, impaired work and study efficiency, inability to concentrate, impaired reality contact, and impaired relationships with people who want their friends and loved ones to be able to express feelings. The chronic suppressor is often derogated as a “sick,” “stone-face,” or “iceberg”—someone who is “less than human.” Every beginner must remember that his own way to the truth is not the only way. However perfectly it suits his need and temperament, it may not suit another man’s. Each gains his understanding of it according to the level of his evolution. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
The terrestrial politics are rooted Newtonian-Euclidean reality. They are based upon territorial mammalian competitions between neighbouring hives who share the same neurotechnological level. Each quantum jump in neurotechnology increases the size of the political unit. Tribes are swallowed up by neighbours who have superior artifacts. Higher technology nations set up territorial boundary tensions of greater extension. In the latter 20th Century China and Russian confronted each other along a 3000-mile border with the same nervous, bluffing robot postures of four-foot mammals protecting turf. Ideological differences are, of course, irrelevant in mammalian terrestrial politics. The enmity is instinct-robotic. Neighbouring gene pools have to compete according to a relentless law of territorial—plus-minus—magnetism. To occupy an ecological niche is automatically to be “against” those who inhabit the neighbouring niche. To illustrate the limbic, primitive-brain nature of the Old World politics consult the map illustrating the state of terrestrial politics in the latter 20th Century. We see that Morocco received its arms from America and that its neighbour, Algeria, obtained weapons from Russia. The border between the two neighbours was tense. The next country, Tunisia, received its arms from America and quarreled with both its neighbours, leftist Algeria and leftist Libya. Poor confused Egypt caught between Black and White ambiguity switched from Russian to America. For example, Egypt managed to maintain hostile contact with both its neighbour—Libya and Israel—regardless of the ideological paradox! #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
Continuing down our past, we note that Israel fought Syria. Syria growled at Israel above and Iraq below. Iraq fought Iran. Iran snarled at Afghanistan. Afghanistan frowned at Pakistan. Pakistan hated India. India tensed against China. China suspiciously rubbed up against Russia and the South East Asian states—all of which distrusted their neighbours, regardless of ideology. An examination of the politics of Southern Africa at that time reveals the same checkerboard sequence of neighborhood confrontations. South East Asia provided a similar confirmation of the theory that terrestrial politics produces an almost perfect unbroken sequence of robot mammalian-territorial confrontations. A magnetic ordering of plus-minus charges in neighbouring units develops. With robot regularity, and with an amazing disregard for common sense or political principles, each country opposes it neighbours. Even the renowned 20th Century political theorist Henry Kissinger failed to understand this neuro-political principle because he was so totally robotized—like iron filings held in a magnetic field—in confrontation with Russia. Mr. Kissinger believed in the Domino Theory—if South Vietnam fall, then all the South East Asian nations would topple shoulder-to-shoulder into monolithic Communism. This paranoia, for which 282,000 USA and allied military deaths occurred, completely disregarded the obvious. Once Saigon collapsed, then the nature took over! Cambodia attacked Vietnam. Vietnam raided Laos. Thailand snarled at Vietnam. And all Southeast Asian countries opposed their northern neighbour China. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
Being a member of the Sacramento Fire Department means being a leader, a counselor, a strategist, and a motivator. While it is important for fire fighters to be able to articulate the seven Fire Fighter Values, it is even more imperative that they be able to demonstrate these values in their daily interactions with others. Values are the foundation of the Sacramento Fire Department. Personal development, values, ethics, officership, tactics, and techniques, are the fundamentals for setting direction, problem solving, and methods for building stronger relationships. When thinking of the Sacramento Fire Department, some will undoubtedly pick out only those traits which are shown in deeds of physical prowess, or in firefighting, discovery, exploration and the like. However, we also have to see and appreciate those gentler traits that are no less heroic. The fact that patience under ordinary difficulties, persistent industry in mastering the ordinary and hard things of life, the ability to forgive injuries and rise to superior to petty annoyances are just as heroic, and quite as hard to cultivate, as courage in the face of danger, or brave fighting when all the accompanying circumstances tend to arouse the best that is in one. Good health and a strong body play a part in making a member of the Sacramento Fire Department. Courage and the power to do hard things is largely dependent upon these. Hence the duty of proper care for their health and their physical powers. Also, keep the education and training in mind. Many of these characters accomplish many of their greatest deeds through their intellectual power. And the Sacramento Fire Department also has heart qualities, the power of goodness. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
No amount of physical strength or intellectual power will ever make a man a hero worthy of the name unless he be also a good man, loving his fellow men and willing to give his life for service. It is not only missing the aim of such a course of study to allow it to pass without the effort to grow more worthy of one’s best ideals; it is even dangerous to allow one’s ideals to be enlarged and one’s better impulses to be quickened without such effort. It is the hope and prayer of the author of fire programs that out of them there may come to firefighters and EMTs a higher ideal and nobler purpose for living, a gleam of the divine ideal for us all that shall strengthen them to “Follow the Christ, the King, live pure, speak true, right wrong…else, wherefore born?” “I go trout fishing in the spring and duck hinting in the fall and play basketball in the summer. I also play football and tennis. When I was voted into the fire department, even as an apprentice, my kids were very proud of me. It was exciting for them to have a father who was a firefighter. A lot of their friends would come over to see what I looked like. When I was going through training, I would have the kids come over and teach them about what it means to be a fire fighter. I feel that all the children on the block have a good sense of fire prevention and fire safety now. On several occasions in the wintertime, without me knowing, my wife would go out in her robe and boots and start my car up. She’d warm it up while I was getting my gear on. She does have fears. It scares her at times that I may never come back. She’s been my childhood sweetheart since we were fifteen years old, and I’ve been married to her for sixteen years, so we’ve shared a good twenty-some years. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
This Friday I’ll be doing fire prevention for the sixth graders over at X school. And by daughter is in the fifth grade. She can’t wait till I come so people can see her dad is a firefighter. And my other daughter, who is six, is in the first grade. I’m also going to the first grade, so she is real excited and keeps telling her teacher every day that I’m coming in. I went this week, on my own time, to my son’s class. He’s eight. We weren’t scheduled to see his class, but his teacher called and said they were learning about fire departments and asked me to come in. So I came in with all my gear and showed the kids what a firefighter wears, and explained what happens when they call and how important it is that they give good direction and an address when they call. It was a rewarding half hour. I got a wonderful thank-you note signed by all the kids. That’s the kind of thing I think children really need: they need someone who really wants to tech them. My oldest son—he’s twelve—goes to private school. He’s near genius, that’s why we put him in a different school. I want for my children whatever they want for themselves. I try to trach them that no matter who you are, you can be whatever you want to be. In my house, to survive, I teach the kids to know how to do all the chores, whether you are a man or a lady. That’s how I was raised, boys and girls have to know how to cook and mow the lawn. Every week we had a different job to do, so we were very well rounded by the time we left home. Yes, they could be President, if they want. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
“I did teach them, too, that it’s not easy. If you want something, you have to work your arse off for it. It didn’t come easy to me, and I know from now till the day I die I will have to work to keep up, with everything in the fire service changing so fat. My wife and I both work at a heating and colling company. She’s president, and I’m vice president. We started out with only three of us, and now there are seventeen workers and nine trucks. It’s an enjoyable business, and what’s amazing is that we can go to work and still be together. A lot of people might find that difficult, but I enjoy it. I sometimes do the office work, and she helps with the bidding and proposals and blueprints, estimating, things like that. I think I’ve done right, I have no regrets. Just like going into business, this was a dream my wife and I had, and I knew that if we never tried it, we’d never know if we could make it. So we tried it and made it. If we hadn’t, at least we could say, “Hey, we tried.” We helped build our own home. We had both lived in Colfax all out lives, and we came out here in 2020. It took us six months. My wife and I did all the heating, electrical, and plumbing. She was right by my side. We would just take up a bunch of Pampers and food for the weekend, come down here with the kids, and we’d work on the house. My most relaxing time is to dim the lights and listen to some music. To sit down and watch football. To be human together. I think that’s most important. A lot of times when I come back from a fire scene or a medical run, I can’t go to sleep. And it’s sort of neat, because what I do then is, I clean. I turn the music on low and just go around the house and clean. My wife thinks it’s great. She’ll get up, look around, and say, “Oh, it was a good run last night, huh?” #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
“We have a small fireplace, and a lot of times it’s very relaxing for me to sit in front of it and see a controlled situation, where fire can be beautiful, as opposed to being so deadly in nature. That’s a really nice feeling. We take the kids everywhere we go. We go up north to her parents’ cottage. We took them on an airplane for the first time this year. We flew to Florida. We went to Disney World and Epcot Center. It wasn’t really long enough, it was only three days, but we all needed to get away from business and the fire service, and just from home, I think. My wife goes to fire department functions with me. I would never go without her.” Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. As money flows, it influences further investment. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. Also, to ensure that we have farmland for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a populations that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
The Winchester Mystery House
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Movement is Unsafe at Any Speed
The Saviour will not tolerate abuse, and as His disciples, neither can we. However, tragically, there are some communities determined to abuse others. If a man becomes cold, pitiless, impenetrable, if he sets himself altogether apart from the life and feelings of other men, if he is dead to the claims of music and the beauties of art, be sure he is an intellectualist or a fanatical ascetic—not a philosopher. We need not become less human because we seek to make ourselves better men. The Good, the True, and the Beautiful will refine, and not destroy, out human qualities. When you find it impossible to attain yourself, why demand it in others? When they mock your own strivings and aspirations, why impose ideal standards on them? When virtue is too self-conscious, it becomes Vanity. The path from arrogance to madness is a short one. If we want to keep sane, it is safer to keep humble. When mysticism leads stolid apathy toward World-suffering, when it paralyses all sympathy for fellow creatures, it is time to call a halt. The holier-than-thou attitude which condemns the sins of other men implies its own sinlessness. This is not only to commit the sin of spiritual pride but also to fall into the pit of self-deception. Do not maintain a position which conscience, common sense, or intuition show you later to be wrong. Have the willingness to withdraw from it. He should shun the unphilosophic attitude which sees one side as all pessimistic and the other side as all optimistic, for he should understand that both have a contribution to make. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
Nothing is to be hated but everything is to be understood. Nobody is his enemy for everybody is his tutor, albeit usually an unconscious one and often only teaching us by his own ugly example what to avoid. It is in the nature of unbalanced and unphilosophic mentalities to see everything in extremes only and to confront others with the unnecessary dilemmas which they pose for themselves. A book that has not taken a laugh at life somewhere in its ramble, becomes a born. A man who has not found the fun in life at some time, has somehow failed. However, at the same time everyone cannot give years and years of intense thought and concentration to trying to solve the most difficult problems of life without becoming stamped with gravity, not only in mind but also in body. If he is well-balanced, however, he will appreciate the lighter side of life and enjoy it without losing his earnestness. No single factor is usually responsible for a particular evil and no single remedy can cure it. Reformers are usually one-eyed and take our attention away from important contributory causes in order that we may fasten it upon the one which they happened to have picked out. They are doubtlessly well-meaning, but are apt to be dangerously fanatical. When fears and wishes wholly control a man’s thinking, instead of reason and truth, we must guard ourselves against his statements, commands, doctrines, and ideas. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
The average American wants economic security because he wants to satisfy a higher standard of material living than exists anywhere else in the World. And the average American is right. Let him not degrade himself materially at the behest of others who wish to impose an ideal on others which was never intended for the World at large. Philosophical mysticism cannot appreciate, much less accept, the kind of nonattachment which runs to fanatic extremes or which makes too great outward fuss of itself. It cannot find any enthusiasm for politicians’ refusal to handle money properly because they regard it with an immature mind as they are not held responsible for their spending. More politicians need to develop the moral purity and sincerity and learn to deplore their mental unbalance. The cynic who despises and distrusts human nature is seeing only a fragment of it, and not the full circle. It is good in a World where there is so much evil, so any wrong-doers, to be cautious. However, carry this quality to excess and you breed timidity or fear, which are evils in themselves. He should beware lest in his recoil against trying to satisfy the demands of an unworthy sensuality, he falls into the opposite extreme of trying to satisfy the demands of an impossible renunciation. It is possible to show a faithful devotion to principles without becoming either fierce or fanatical about them. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
These extremists tell us that such a reconciliation of the spiritual with the human is impossible, that the two aims are mutually discordant and utterly irreconcilable, that they contradict each other and if attained would destroy each other, and that either the first or the second will eventually and inevitably have to be abandoned. Sometimes it is better to be suspicious of such an oversimplification. It may lead us more quickly to truth, but it may also mislead us. And this is one of the times when such caution is called for. It is a common phrase in literature, instructions, and rules of totalitarian movements—especially political movements—to say that not the slightest deviation may be made from the line laid down by the authority. The ascetic demand that we renounce art, turn our backs on aesthetic feelings, and reject beauty may seem a necessary one. However, we have to beware here of falling into the danger which Angelique de Arnauld, Abbess de Port Royal, fell into. She said: “Love of poverty makes one whose what is ugliest, coarsest, and dirtiest.” She was the same Mother Superior who refused to allow any form of recreation to her nuns, so that some of them suffered from psychosis and/or neurosis. Those lovers of excessive asceticism who shiver at the sight of beauty, shrink from the thought of refinement, and brush off all suggestions of cleanliness as time-wasting, thereby proclaim the opposites by implication. That is to say, they proclaim dirt, squalor, and ugliness as being spiritual. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
This insistence on interfering with other people’s lives on behalf of some fanatical belief, this minding every business but one’s own is a great troublemaker. It is the cause of the World’s divisions into two fighting camps today. One of the signs of fanaticism is its conceited assurance; another its lunatic extremist attitude which denounces a moderate position as heretical. If he overdoes his remorse and stretches out his repentance too far; if his self-examination and self-criticism become unreasonably prolonged and unbearably overconcentrated, the actuating motive will then be not true humility but neurotic pity for himself. When active in the World, take the spiritual life seriously, but not too seriously to the extent of becoming a fool or a fanatic. The fanatic mutilates himself, deprives his kind of all the great accumulation of wide experience, original thought, and intuitive feeling which exists in the rest of the human race or in its records. He who has caught the spirit of philosophy cannot become a narrowminded fanatic or a conversational bore. He does not shut out the activities of human intelligence and human creativity from his interest, but lets them in. With fanatic hatred as his spirit and verbal violence as his expression, a man can never make a bad state of affairs better. By thinking such false thoughts, he can only make it worse. When views are so wide of the truth and so violent in expression, he cannot become a leader of people but only their misleader. He is an unfortunate sufferer in a psychopathic state and needs remedial treatment to restore his lost mental balance. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
The spirit appropriate to certain forms of rebellion which consists in re-establishing reason at the end of an irrational adventure, of rediscovering order by means of disorder and of voluntarily loading oneself down with chains still heavier than those from which release is sought, must constantly make allowances for the possibility that his own attitudes are not the higher self’s. Despair, fed by the prejudice of hallucination, imperturbably leads to the mass abrogation of laws both social and divine, and to theoretical and practical wickedness. However, conformity can be passionate, and thereby a out of the ordinary. To console humanity, to treat it as a brother, to return to Jesus Christ, Socrates, moralists who wandered through villages, dying of hunger, are still the projects of despair. Thus, virtue and an ordered life have a nostalgic appeal in the midst of vice. However, when confronted with life and death, no mind is an impartial one. The taste of the absolute and the frenzy of annihilation can sterilize a man. Conformity is one of the nihilistic temptations of rebellion which dominate a large part of our intellectual history. If he forgets his origins, it demonstrates how the rebel who take to action is tempted to succumb to the most absolute conformity. Ands so it explains the twenty-first century. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
Of course, genius cannot be separated from banality. However, it is not a question of the banality of others—the banality that we vainly try to capture and which itself captures the creative person, where necessary, with the help of the censors. For the creative person it is a question of his own form of banality, which must be completely created. Every genius is at once extraordinary and banal. If he is only one or the other, he is nothing. It has its dandies and its menials, but it does not recognize its legitimate sons. When the caravans of futique gene-pools fleeing West hit the beached of the North Atlantic, an interesting thing happened. The Dark Ages (sic) occurred when this Westward wave of intelligent gene-pools crashed against the North Atlantic wall. Thousands of restless gene-pools had to wait in Western Europe until they got smart enough—technologically skillful enough—to move sperm-egg flotilla up the North Atlantic. The vanguard elite clustered in Ireland—as far West as possible. Darwinians did not understand. It is not survival of the fittest; it is the evolution of the fastest in the Human Race. Cocoon preparation for migration—here was the familiar test of nerve and intelligence. During the Dark Ages, the hive fear merchants said, “Stay put. The World is flat. If you sail across the North Atlantic, you will fall off the edge. You will be eaten by dragons, or busted by narcotic agents.” Or whatever they spooked people with back them. Recall here the etymology of the World locomotor. Fast movers throughout the history of evolution have always been considered “loco” or “crazy” by static hive-establishments. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
The Paleolithic conservatives warned the restless marine creatures away from the shoreline. Unicellular bureaucrats warned protozoic out-cast about hooking up in multiceullar linkages. The explosion did take place. The World is not flat, it is a spinning sphere. Eventually the DNA code reacting to the stimuli of pollution and overpopulation activated the mobility-agents. Celtic Rangers were the first to climb the Atlantic. Prince Henry, the Navigator, sent Vasco da Gama around the Hord; Queen Isabella pawned her jewels to fund the NASA explorations of Christopher Columbus. Queen Elizabeth got an appropriation from Parliament to fund the astronaut voyages of Sir Francis Drake. At this swarming moment of expansion and exploration, the great European powers reached the high points of their culture, drama, poetry, art, science and philosophy. That Dark Age was a pre-mutation period of growth-limitation, fear, bureaucratic hive-restriction, proto-Naderism which said: “Movement is unsafe at any speed.” To say that Old World natives inhabit primitive ecological niches, is not to be chauvinistic. I descend from German stock. Californians are as far removed from the Reformation Wars as Luther was from the Neanderthal. To say that Europeans are feudal-insectoid, that Africans are tribal-primates, that Japanese are techno-insectoid, is not to deny the ecological unity of all life on this planet. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
DNA wants the whales to survive, DNA want the crafty Middles-Easterners to continue to quarrel over borders. We can respect the ant-hill commitment of the Chinese to the super-insect Mao, and appreciate the technological skill of the web-spinning spidery-electronic Japanese. We can revere our midbrain and spinal links to the Old World and at the same time we must recognize our genetic ascendance beyond our primate, mammalian, insectoid roots. Arizona and California are states totally populated by migrants squeezed forward by Old World gene-pools. The smart Africans have left African and are in America. Futique Mexicans swarm the river. The superior Jews landed at Ellis Island along with the genetically selected Germans—all of our ancestors moving to the Sunset Strip in response to the genetic imperative. Nor are these remarks demeaning to the Old-World Old Brain residents. Migration still continues. This week, several thousand Africans, Asians, Europeans left the Old Brain Hemisphere and carried their ovaries and testicles Westward. If any Old Brain citizen is insulted by these remarks, we repeat the affectionate invitation—of you are genetically selected to advance neurogenic intelligence on this nursery plant, you will head for the Western Frontier tomorrow. If you are geared to create the future gene-pools, move West to join us. Come on up, you happy Arabs and you mellow Jews and you clever Africans and you alert Mexicans and you restless, freedom-loving Asians. We need your adventurous intelligence to join us in the next great migration. If you are geared to creature the future gene-pools, move West to join us. Westward High. Regardless of race, creed, colour, national origin. We need you up here with us on the frontal lobe of this primitive planet. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
Living the law of chastity helps us to recognize our shared divine potentials be more confident in our relationships. Sometimes married couples have issues that they need to work out, and the time to listen is when someone needs to be heard. Talking is certainly not the only ways of communicating about pleasures of the flesh and it is not necessarily the best way; words can mislead as well as illuminate, and there can be many a slip between implication and inference. Nevertheless for most people, most of the time, talking is an indispensable line of communication, and the fact that the line goes dead when pleasures of the flesh are the subject means that in marriage a considerable amount of important information remains shrouded in silence. Assuming, however, that each partner sees the situation through the other’s eyes, the next step is to improve matters—to negotiate the differences that threaten to deprive the couple of the gratification they both want. Negotiating differences, however, is not a matter of bargaining or setting terms. Negotiate, in these circumstances, reflects its definition as meaning “to move through, around or over in a satisfactory way, as in dancing.” And the purpose of negotiation is conciliation. (Conciliate is derived from the Latin conciliare, meaning “to bring together, unite,” a term that seems singularly appropriate.) Business negotiations end with a conditional contract which states, in effect, “If and when you do X, I will do Y.” Pleasures of the flesh negotiations end with a trusting commitment which states, in effect, “I will do my best to do X because I know you will do you best to do Y.” If such expressions of willingness to change are to be anything more than the empty promises characteristics of couples who are making up after a quarrel, they must be translated into reciprocal action. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
Generally speaking, it is not enough for just one person to make an effort. Under those circumstances, what may seem to be passive acceptance of chance on the other person’s part is actually disguised passive resistance. A husband and wife, for instance, can agree that she has been much more eager for pleasures of the flesh than he has and that, without intending to, she has made him more resistant than he would otherwise be. If she makes an effort to restrain her expression of desire, he says that he will take the initiative more frequently than he has in the past. Each understands the other’s feelings; both express a determination to change their habitual ways of interacting. Soon enough, however, it becomes evident that while the wife is holding to her promise, the husband’s response is something less than impressive. From the wife’s point of view, pleasures of the flesh occur with frustrating infrequency. Again they talk; again they resolve to do better; and once again the husband’s actions fail to match his intentions. Plainly his avowed wish to improve his relationship with pleasures of the flesh with his wife is not a truthful representation of his deepest feelings. For reasons which he himself may not understand, he is not actively committed to conciliation. He is, in reality, resisting it. The commitment requires each partner to try—and to keep on trying. It is the effort itself that means so much, even when success is not immediately achieved. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
If, in the previous instance, the husband tries to reach out to his wife, no matter how ineffectually or stumblingly, the effort will tell her, without a word, that he cares about pleasing her and values their bonding with pleasures of the flesh; at the very least he will spare her the feelings or rejection and anger that must otherwise turn her completely against him. In fact, the struggle to do what is obviously difficult is often more impressive evidence of emotional commitment than the actual achievement. The struggle is a measure of devotion; the achievement is not necessarily so. However, simple tenacity of purpose is not the entire answer, either. The process of negotiation of pleasures of the flesh hinges, to a considerable degree, on how failure is handled. What a mane and woman need of each other is the security that comes from knowing that occasional failures will not be used against them—they will not ridiculed, scolded or punished. On the contrary, the failures will not be his or hers but theirs. The couple can wander through their feelings. The language is images. From the perspective of this mood the scientific way of presenting human matters looks like the naked timbers of a house constrained to rise vertically, evenly spaced, rising just so far under command. One’s mood wanders like water over ground, down through dark soil, creeping around rocks deep into unseen places, wandering endlessly to the sea as if possessed. If the inner spirit wanders thus, why imitate it in any stiff, pale, reflected image? #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
One’s feelings come to a pause like water slowly collecting and spreading in a low place in the ground. It grows stiflingly and hot and feverish, but what is one’s concern? Hot blind concern not yet able to name itself—fearing it may end in useless emptiness like water that cannot bring anything to fruition. In the dark fingers of self lies nameless concern, its own creation of pressure. The feeling changes as though right has been done by naming it, permitting fidelity to itself. There open out fragments of images. Respect these too and see where they lead. One may see an incense burner in a church (tears at naming it), old hand-wrought metal, a fragrant woody odor that fills with its presence. There are fragments of Hebrew on parchment. The sense of lovingly carved wood and stolid images looking back at one. The sense of stillness, endlessness; the sense of the sacred and holy. Now the pen stops, for in this peace there are no queries and nothing to be done. It is its own doing. Standing back and evaluating as ego, would has to say that he has entered his feelings, first finding them random wans wandering, then gradually centering in concern, and finally coming to a peaceful states which is familiar and welcome. Are not the layers of self always in the same sequence? First stand forth straight-timbered ego consciousness which obeys the will of Worldly custom smiling to please the customers. Behind this the wayward wandering spirit which is at home in nameless feelings and intimations. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
Having entered this dark and uncertain passageway, in a moment there come forth images, memories, groups, of possibilities. If the ego consciousness smiling at customers, and obeying custom is him, then somewhere beyond feelings rises l’autre moi—the other man in a strange land of exotic markets and places where foreign tongues are intuited and nothing is strange. Like an intermediary, feeling lies between him and the other him. It is an intimation of the deeper self. He can hardly say his feelings are not him, yet they are so little of his direct fashioning and follow so little his customs that he cannot claim to be their master but rather their servant. They are the go-between, the mediator between him and the other him. The idea of l’autre moi, the other me, accords the full rights and even personhood to the inner. The other me (him) is what consciousness which named the other region (un-conscious) an un-like itself. Out of this prejudice has come the professional cult of undoing the unconscious that might rise to respectable egohood. Might it not be that consciousness can become less the storekeeper and more comfortable in its own home? Might it not be that the inner is the real master and the better master? A man whose physical motion during pleasures of the flesh are not to his wife satisfaction because he moves too rapidly and forcefully, in a rhythm and with movements that are not in harmony with her own, she finds her responsiveness impaired. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
Finally she tells him what is wrong, and he immediately wants her help in changing the way he uses his body. Although the first few times he blunders and reverts to old rhythms, she corrects him with her hands, and soon he improves. The intimate mood is never shattered. Navigating these tricky emotional currects requires that each partner be constantly aware of the other’s efforts. This can be seen more clearly by contrast with other kinds of responses that might have been made. The wife might have been condescendingly patient (“Well, dear, I will be glad to show you once more”) or annoyed (“Clumsy!”) or discouraged (“Oh, not again!). The husband might have been angry (Do not tell me what to do!”) or critical (“You do not know what you are talking about”) or deflated (I am sorry, but can we try again later?”). Or each might have remained silent, the wife with her hands motionless, and each could have assumed the worst—the husband, that nothing he could do would ever satisfy his wife; the wife, that her husband cared only about his own pleasure. Variations on the script are almost limitless, but the underlying point is that a successful approach is a creative act, and the credit belongs to both partners. Conversely, any failure would be a joint failure. Each would have failed to meet the other’s needs in the most painful of all circumstances: when each feels himself or herself to be alone, uncertain and exposed—and desperately in need of help and reassurance. (This may cast some light on the reason why an effective relationship involving pleasures of the flesh contributes so much strength to a marriage. It is not simply because of the physical pleasure the husband-and-wife experience, important though that is. It is because of the powerful sense of emotional well-being that comes when each partner knows that at times of greatest vulnerability, the other can be relied on to provide warmth, comfort and protection.) #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
What this means, in terms of the husband who was trying to harmonize his rhythms with those of his wife, is that on an occasion when his efforts would prove unsuccessful, she would understand that the failure was in part her own. She might not say so in words, but if she communicated an awareness of sharing the responsibility—of having failed to let him know when his movements started going wrong or of failing to make the effort to encourage him to move differently or of failing to cope with feelings of frustration and annoyance—she would at least have given him the confidence to try again. One cautionary note: Anu individual’s level of tension with pleasures of the flesh—the power of the drive for pleasures of the flesh—is not easily changed by conscious decision, and it is important for both partners to take this into account. To a large extent, the strength of the drive for pleasures of the flesh is influenced both by cultural values and by the individual’s unique experience growing up in that culture. However, apart from these influences, there seems to be an innate level of drive for pleasures of the flesh that varies from person to person. Why one person is born with a stronger drive than another, since has not yet determined. However, we do know that the inner World differs in critical ways from our ordinary consciousness. People apparently vary in their power to even note hypnogogic experiences. Under careful examination it soon becomes apparent that a delicate balance must be struck between ego consciousness and the autonomous appearance of l’autre moi. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
One can wander for months in a region where worries or concerns fill the mind and ego consciousness frets over its problems. Or one can still the mind by fixating on one thought or one sensation until it is relatively quiet. Then around the fringe of the conscious center spontaneous images appear. Whether words or images come first reflect personality difference (intuitive versus sensation types in Dr. Jung’s terms?). These fragile fringe phenomena are an unexpected, delicate penumbra surrounding the conscious center. Note that ego consciousness needs to be stilled, and out of the way, for the hypongogic to appear. Though it may not appear so at first, there is a choice involved in expressing your emotions as they come up. That choice is: (1) taking the risk of doing something that may have repercussions (like expressing irritation to the boss (2) or playing it safe. Playing it safe can take the form of venting your anger on someone who cannot fight back, like young children. It can take the form of stopping at the pub on the way home, having a few stiff ones and telling the bartender about it. Or it can take the form of just stuffing down anger and hoping it will go away—which it does not. One important reason that people play it safe and do not express their anger is that they do not trust the marvelous, miraculous mechanism they were born with. A mechanism which has its own natural restraining function. If allowed to feel what is feel and express what it needs to express, a mechanism which will take perfect care of you all your life. If you lose your temper, you need not fear what you may do—unless you have been holding your temper unnaturally. If you have been expressing your anger, then let go and do not worry about it. You will not kill anyone. You will not slug your boss in the mouth. You will not regret anything you say. Your natural restraining function takes care of you—by automatically balancing the centrifugal and centripetal force of anger and love. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
As a practical matter, however, we are all running around with many kinds of repressed anger, that is, anger which has been subconsciously pushed down, but not out. So as a practical matter, you cannot assume that every expression of anger will be harmless. Instead, when you get angry in a way that is out of proportion to the event at hand, another form of restraint comes into play. It is the set of external restraints imposed upon you since childhood: scolding, isolation, restriction of movement, all the things your parents once did. The things that bosses, policemen and various-other people do today. This system of outside restraints keeps you from acting in inappropriate ways. What’s inappropriate? Only you can answer that—on the basis of your background, experience, where you live, and whom you live with. Basically, you know what kind of behaviour people around you will put up with. You know what you can get arrested for in your town. The thing to develop is the habit if expressing yourself so that you do not have to rely on these outside restraints. The prospect of prison may keep you from shooting someone, but you want to avoid shooting someone even if there were no prisons. You want to reply on your natural, internal restraining function rather than the imposed, external system of restraints. The natural restraining function never fails. The other system is undependable. Expressing your feelings increases your confidence in the natural restraining function and decreases your reliance on outside restraints. It also helps you to live less like a manipulator and more like a master. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
Suppressed emotional excitement interferes with rational activity. Dr. Reich coined the term emotional plague to describe the far-reaching impairments of logical reasoning and accurate perception produced by prolonged suppression of sexual and emotional tension. A paranoid dread of communists or a chronic belief that one is going to be sexually assaulted illustrate forms of emotional plague. In addition to the effects on rational thinking, emotion suppression appears to interfere with the efficiency of skilled behaviour. One cannot play the piano, repair machinery, or knit with efficient speed and dispatch when one is full of unexpressed fear, hostility grief, or laughter. Finally, it may happen that the cumulative effects of suppression may eventuate in such powerful tension that control becomes impossible; the person then explodes with more violent expression than would have been the case had that person reacted much earlier. Many persons have committed acts of destruction when they could no longer suppress conscious hostility. Violently emotional exaggerated statements, reckless hysterical extremist screams should warn us that they come out of some sort of imbalance, that it is time for caution, prudence, reserve. He can be quietly enthusiastic about his cherished beliefs without indulging in propagandist shrieks. The discipline of passion, the checking of emotion, and the ruling of the flesh do not demand that we are to turn into inert wooden creatures. We may still keep the zest for life, the enthusiasm for worthwhile things, and the appreciation of art and beauty, but we shall keep these things in the proper place. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
On the shoulders of the Sacramento Fire Department rest this mission: Save lives, save property, prevent fire, and extinguish fires. The desire to accomplish that mission despite all the challenges makes the job of a firefighter different from all other professions. A firefighter must strive to become the very best leader: the people deserve nothing less. When they took their oath, when they agreed to be leaders, they entered into a pact with their crew and the nation. As a member of the Sacramento Fire Department, crews are capable of great patience and persistence and tremendous loyalty, as they show every day. They show up and do the work, no matter how frightening, no matter how boring, no matter how risky or bloody or exhausting. It is about living up to their ultimate responsibility. They have the capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and draw sound conclusions. When you are a firefighter what you do is every bit as important as the knowledge you possess. “I didn’t get married until just before I made lieutenant. I had been going with a girl for quite a while, from the time I came on the job. We had a talk before we decided to get married, and I told her that if she was against the fire department we might as well break up, because I couldn’t give it up and there was no sense going through life hating me over it. She certainly accepted the department, and we’ve never had a bit of a problem on that score. When I worked nights, she would do things that she wanted to do, like wash her hair or visit friend. It’s worked out fine. She accepted my idiosyncrasies and adjusted to them. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
“We don’t have any children. My brother has a boy and two girls. The son is not a fire buff. My brother wanted him to do his own thing. He was in the Air Force, and he married a girl. He has some interest in the firefighting job, but I wouldn’t call him a buff by any means. So there are no more relatives on the job. I’m the only Supple left on the SFD. My wife and I like to travel very much. We’ve tried to take some kind of trip every year, and every two or three years we make an exotic one. Last May, we went to Germany, which was her ambition. She’s a Germanic buff. I didn’t get to a firehouse in Germany because we were on tour. But I was on a street corner near a hotel when a rig came along. By the time I noticed that it was a fire engine, it was going past me. I said, ‘Aw, nuts.’ My wife said, ‘They’re going to get caught by the traffic light at the corner. ‘So I ran up to the corner, I had my camera out, and I was taking a picture. As I was doing that, I wondered if I was allowed to take pictures? I saw the officer looking at me with a sort of quizzical look, so, in sign language, I pointed to myself, I pointed to the rig, and he got a big smile on his face and gave me a big thumbs-up signal. As they went around the corner, he must has said something, because four heads turned and four hands came out with the thumbs-up signal. I thought that was great. Firemen are firemen, wherever you go.” #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. Also, to ensure that we have farmland for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a populations that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
The Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.)
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
Foreign Policy is Totally Foreign to the American Myth
Open debate is our strongest tool in standing up to extremism. The far more dangerous avenue is to force extremist ideas underground, where they can fester without competition. All extremists, whether in politics or theology, are found of propounding either false or artificial dilemmas. Either you are an X-ist or a Y-ist, they assert. That you need limit yourself to neither of these things alone does not enter the brains, any more than that you may often treat the competitives and alternatives of those false dilemmas as complementaries. It is not only wrong to take up such an extremist attitude, it is also dangerous to the quest of truth. Manifestly, both attitudes cannot be right at the same time. If we want the truth, we must accept neither and search with less fanaticism for it. And we shall then discover that it is not so alien as the extremists and partisans would have us believe. The choice before us is never really limited to two extremes. Philosophy refuses to confine itself so rigidly to them and points out that there is always a third alternative. However, philosophic minds are too partisan to perceive this. They operate mechanically on the dialectic pattern. It is as natural for the ordinary enquirer to be a partisan, to suppress what is good and proclaim what is bad in an opponent’s case, as it is natural for the philosophic student to bring both forward because he is genuinely a truth-seeker. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
Consequently, most public discussion of any case presents a picture of it which varies entirely with the mentality and outlook of the discusser. Even if the philosopher finds it necessary to take one side in any controversy, this never prevents his perceiving, admitting, and accepting what is true in the opposite side. With this understanding of the relativity of all human knowledge and experience, he will understand that a multiplicity of possible standpoints is inevitable. Consequently, he will become more tolerant and less inclined to accept the hard, strict and rigid “either this ultimate or that one” attitude. Nevertheless, if philosophy affirms that different views of the same subject may be right from their respective standpoints, it does not affirm that they are equally right. It recognizes ascending levels of standpoint and consequently the progressive character of the resultant views. The illumined man will not condemn the unillumined one for not being better than he is, for not having developed a higher standard of thought, of feeling, and of conduct. He does not make the mistake of confusing the two levels of reference, of setting up his own criterion as being suitable for others. This must not be understood to mean, however, that because he gives them his intellectual sympathy, he also excuses them morally, for he does not. Even though its relativity may be recognized, a misdeed is still a misdeed. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
We are not in full agreement with those who attack all success as unspiritual or better living as materialistic. If he has done so honourably and if the purpose itself it worth or conducive to society’s well-being, whoever has realized his early purpose is a success. If he receives rewards for his accomplishments, there is nothing unspiritual in accepting them. And whoever appreciates attractive clothes, good quality food, modern conveniences to efficient comfortable living is—if he develops his self-control alongside this appreciation—taking better care of his physical instrument and making more of his physical environment. He is not necessarily materialistic. The meaning of the word “spiritual” should not be unjustly circumscribed. We believe that the battlefield of the quest is more within the mind than the flesh. Ascetics who gaze with disdain upon a useful life in the World have hitched their wagon to a cloud, not to a star. The unsuccessful, the sick, the disappointed, the unfortunate, the pleasure-satiated, the defeated, the neurotic, the bored, and the sad have not found happiness. In their discouragement, they turn either to Worldly escapes like drink or begin with what seems the next best thing—inner peace. They perceive that peace can be got but only at the price of partially or wholly renouncing bodily passions, Earthly desires, human prides, personal possessions, and social power. This sense of frustration drives many of them to religion, some of them to yoga, and a few of them to philosophy. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
All entrants into these portals are not similarly motivated, for others come through higher urges. It is a good start all the same because it marks an awakening to the need of higher satisfaction. However, it is only a start. For the ultimate goal of life cannot be merely the negative denial of life. It must be something more than that, grander than that. The ascetic ideal of liberation from desire is good but not enough. The philosophic ideal of illumination by truth both includes and complete it, bringing the beneficial qualities of joy, happiness, and contentment in its train. Even the sincere aspirant can become too anxious about the quest because he is too self-centered. He must learn to let go also. Let him remember the self-actualized Christian. He is satisfied to be anonymous. If disagreements involving pleasures of the flesh are habitually settled in favour of one partner’s wishes, at the expense of the other partner’s feelings of personal comfort, a man and a woman who interact as equals, a man and a woman who interact as equals must understand the ultimate penalty will be paid by both of them. Suppressed resentment or unhappiness tends to short-circuit feelings of intimate passions, and desire goes dead. This was described by a man who had come for therapy with his wife, after fifteen years of marriage. For more than thirteen of those years, the wife had never been “excited” but had tolerated perfunctory acts of pleasures of the flesh. Then she read a book that convinced her that she had a right to expect full satisfaction. She became increasingly unhappy, however, as her efforts to reach a climax proved unsuccessful. Her husband, too, became unhappy. He also began losing his ability to have “attention” or, if he achieved one, to maintain it for longer than a minute or two. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
“She should want to be ‘excited,’” he said, “and if she could have it, so much the better. But after a while, this one desire, what I call an obsession, dominated the act of pleasures of the flesh. My desires and everything else became subordinate to this one particular thing, so what was there in pleasures of the flesh for me to look forward to? In other words, pleasures of the flesh because pleasureless.” It would be simple to say that his wife had made him important. However, that would be just another instance of making one partner (in this case, the wife) responsible for the other partner’s inability to function during intimate passions (the husband’s impotence). Her real failure lay in not being responsive to her husband’s emotional state. His failure lay in not signaling his growing dismay. Their distress with pleasures of the flesh was the consequence of their failure to communicate, their failure to approach their undeniable problem in a neutral, non-fault-finding way, and their failure to be motivated by mutual concern. If they had managed otherwise, it would have been an impressive accomplishment. For this unhappy couple—and for so many like them—neutrality and mutuality were almost impossible. They had accumulated frustrations and hurt feelings over the years, piling them up like bricks to build a wall of anger until eventually they lost sight of each other. The wife blamed the husband for her failure to enjoy pleasures of the flesh, a blame he meekly accepted. And in their chamber, they silently argued their case, a plaintiff and a defendant without a judge or jury, wondering why they could not come to a satisfactory conclusion. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
To speculate about what they might have done is pointless. In reality, given their particular life histories, and especially in view of the wife’s severe emotional deprivation during childhood and adolescence, there was little they themselves could have done unassisted, and they were wise to choose therapy. However, supposed, in a comparable situation, neither partner had had a crippling childhood, and supposed, too, that they had been married only a few years. What might they have done to forestall a crisis of pleasures of the flesh? They would have talked. Communication does not just mean talking, it is true, and talking does not necessarily mean communicating. Nevertheless, as has already been pointed out, a husband and wife who find themselves troubled by frustrations that involve pleasures of the flesh are going to have to say so. Each must disclose his true feelings in first-person-singular—clear, candid statements that relieve one partner of having to guess, usually wrongly, what the other is experiencing. And on the opposite side of the coin, both husband and wife must resist the temptation to interpret each other: you thin, you feel, you want, you need, you are afraid—opinions which, no matter how accurate they may be, put the other person on the defensive and set the stage for conflict. Such honest communication is not a simple achievement. It is more than just a play on words to note that talking about pleasures of the flesh is, for many couples, easier said than done. Some reasons are obvious. Cultural inhibitions, internalized over the years, do not disappear overnight; they create an atmosphere in which self-consciousness blocks self-disclosure. In the same way that men and women conceal their bare bodies because they have been taught to do so—and, more important, because they are afraid that they may be physically unattractive—they also conceal their feelings about pleasures of the flesh because they are afraid those feelings may be emotionally unappealing to their partners. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
In addition, they may be reticent because they lack a comfortable vocabulary. Clinical words can prove chilling and vulgar words can prove disruptive in the kind of talks that take place, not during encounters of pleasures of the flesh but in times of reflection and emotional communion, when a man and woman are struggling to be reflective and truthful. Some people, of course, are completely at ease with crude language, but for a considerable number of men and women, and particularly those who are accustomed to expressing themselves with discrimination, blunt terms are inadequate to convey the shades of meaning that matter a great deal in exchanging confidences. If a man becomes cold, pitiless, impenetrable, if he sets himself altogether apart from the life and feelings of other men, if he is dead to the claims of music and the beauties of art, be sure he is an intellectualist or a fanatical ascetic—not a philosopher. We need not become less human because we seek to make ourselves better men. The Good, the True, and the Beautiful will refine, and not destroy, our human qualities. We ought never to wish that any harm should come to anyone. If a man is behaving in a dastardly way, even then it would not be right to do so. In that case, we should wish that he should awaken to his wrong-doing. The simple uncluttered life is a sensible idea. However, if pushed by fanaticism, exaggeration, and extravagances to its ultimate goal, logical, and inevitable consequence, it would not only lead to the complete abandonment of all gadgets, appliances, and tools but—by steps—to life in a cave and clothes made of skin. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
The desire to achieve unity in various sections of human life, belief, and activity—and in humanity itself—is only a dream. The differences are there, and will, in some altered form, still be there even under the surface of any cheerful pseudo-Utopia of unified World, or section of the World. There is no profit in denying them, only self-deception. The only real unity can come out of inner expansion, out of a great heart which excludes nothing and no one; but this will still not be uniformity. What we have to allow is that those who live only to satisfy the ego and its Earthly desires are not lost or sidetracked. They need and must gather in such experiences. It is a part of their necessary involvement. He should guard against those foolish tendencies of so many mystically minded people to hero-worship some man into a god, to over-idealize this man’s personal statement as infallible oracles, or to exaggerate some helpful idea he propounds into a universal panacea. With fanaticism, there comes unbeing rigidity and, in fact, unwillingness even to look at the evidence—which it finds of no interest. It is not enough to be eager for the truth; he must also be open to the truth. No bias, prejudice, fear, or dislike should stand in the way. If excessive pride in his attainments, virtue, knowledge, or devotion is an obstacle which hinders a man’s growth, excessive humility is also another. This may surprise those who have read again in spiritual manuals of the need to be humble. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
Upon entrance into the inner World, it is appropriate that the language one uses broadens into imagery and a more freely literate style. To the scientific outer ego, it might be appropriate to say, “I perceive a flattened affect.” However, to day, “Everything seems flat and meaningless to me as though the World is an abandoned cemetery” is closer to an accurate representation of the inner. As will be seen, the inner things in terms of images. In the innermost, feelings, images, thoughts are all one living varying process. Here is an example which illustrates the central theme of the inner. I see (in the sense of conceive, which is a weak perception!) and image such as an area of light surrounding an eye-shaped area of darkness. This is inner rather than fabricated because it arises of itself. Its meaning or use is not now apparent. If I forget the image, its use can be permanently lost. Insofar as I invest in the image, I can gradually feel out its meaning. It comes slowly. Something about darkness seeing, but I do not understand it. Ego can react and reject the idea as illogical. Darkness cannot see—it is a foolish bit of imagination. However, in the inner World conceptual images grow slowly, like a seed, from almost nothing to more and more differentiated forms. The eye is black nothing outlined by light. It is seen as something in contrast with the light. It is seen. The associations run to a variety of scenes such as a person appearing dumb in the light of others’ wisdom. However, it is more than that. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
Ignorance has a primal sense of itself out of contrast with what is not. Suddenly, the black eye has light in it. This reflects ignorance being aware of itself. I have a funny feeling of ignorance’s wisdom, and the eye winks at me. Then out of my ignorance, I see that I am ignorance aware of itself surrounded by light, paradoxically being light insofar as aware of my darkness. The image is not foolish imagination now. I can see it is an accurate representation of my state at that moment. I can see that I do not understand. Whenever I tell people my theories about expressing, rather than suppressing, their feelings, someone inevitably says, “That’s not entirely true. We can’t, for example, just let our anger out unchecked. We could hurt someone, or at the very least, in our rage, say something we’ll regret later. We have to control that emotion.” I have to disagree. Here is why. When you put an uncovered pot of water on the stove and turn on the heat, the water boils until it disappears. It is the nature of water so heated to boil and create steam which evaporates into thin air. However, when you cover the pot and seal it, you create a pressure cooker. If you try to control the steam, suppress it, not let it escape, it eventually blows up the pot and causes a mess all out of proportion to what the small amount of heart under the pot would warrant. The same thing happens with anger. When it comes, especially at first, it comes in little simmers. You can either express it or repress it. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
When you express anger, it goes away. I call this natural form of expression a “hostilectomy.” Hostility comes up, say in the form of a sharp rebuke from your boss—an unwarranted rebuke at that. Chances are you were once taught to bite your tongue and not talk back to people in authority. So, you stuff down—or repress—the hurt and anger you are feeling. The trouble is, when you repress a feeling, it does not just go away. It begins building pressure. In your next experience of anger, you either express another simmer, or you put that one on top of the one you repressed before. Now, had you expressed your anger at the moment you felt it—on a “cash and carry” basis, so to speak—you would have dissipated it. You would have performed a mini-hostilectomy on yourself and the anger would have disappeared. Without those mini-hostilectomies, little irritations and little annoyances build into resentment and hatred—both of which are hard to control and can explode in harmful ways. At work, when you felt anger and hurt at your boss, had you taken a little risk and expressed yourself, you would not be going home and shouting at your children, for example. Or you would stack at something your boss says months later. Emotional control is made possible through gradually acquired ability of a person to choose responses to a situation (emotion-provoking or otherwise) that are compatible with the largest number of important values. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
This choosing in turn is predicated on the ability to postpone immediate responsiveness, to delay responding in order to allow time to reason, plan, or think. Young children cannot do this because they have yet learned how, and because their nervous systems have not yet matured to the point where it is physically possible for them to tolerate tensions and inhibit motor expression. When the nervous system has matured to the point where delay and purposeful planning are possible, then suppression of emotional behaviour becomes possible. There are no precise norms available for the age at which such control becomes possible or for the quantity of tension a person can be expected to tolerate without exploding into expressive behaviour; however, it can be expected that the ability increases from infancy to maturity and then probably declines with approaching senescence. When a person is provoked to emotional tension, widespread changes occur throughout the body in consequence of heightened autonomic nervous system activity. If expression is possible in the form of muscular activity, weeping, laughing, behaviour involving pleasures of the flesh, then the physiological processes will shortly be restored to normal. If no release is possible, if the person suppresses emotion for a long period of time, then the physical events that constitute part of the emotional response will be prolonged. If the prolongation is marked, it is possible that the functions and even the structure of inner organs may be permanently impaired. The field of psychosomatic medicine is devoted to study of the effects of emotionality on health. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
One woman was preoccupied with money troubles because her husband got into complex financial scrapes with various employers. However, when the other group members question some of his actions, Wanda would angrily defend him. She was also much preoccupied with the quality of her family’s diet. Actually, she had no reason to worry, since her parents were well off and she could always borrow money from them. For about two years, the therapist was unable to construct a coherent picture in his own mind of what was going on, until one night she had a “script dream.” She was “living in slave quarters which was run by some rich people who lived up on the hill.” The only way to get enough food was either to pleasure these rich people or trick them. This dream made her way of life easier to understand. Her husband was playing “Let us Pull a Fast One On Joey” with his employers, so that Wanda could play “Making Ends Meet.” If he ever made any money, he was always careful to lose it at the first opportunity so that the games could continue. When things got really bad, Wanda pitched in and helped him pull a fast one on her parents. In the long run, much to their chagrin, his employers and her parents always managed to end up in control of the situation. If she ever admitted it, the games would be broken up (which they eventually were), so she had to deny all this angrily in the group because it was so obviously unprofitable. Thus, she was actually living much the way she did in her dream, her parents and her husband’s employers being the rich people who lived up on the hill and ran her life, and whom they had to please or trick to survive. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
Here the slave quarters were her World picture or script set. If she lived in the slave quarters of her dream, she lived in reality. In order to get well, she had to escape from slavery and into the real World, which for her was a comfortable one, or would be after the family affairs were in order. It is interesting to note how she and her husband selected each other on the basis of having complementary scripts. His script called for some rich people up on the hill to play tricks on, and a scared wife. Hers called for a trickers who would make her life easier in her enslavement. The time has come to learn how to read the Occidental Altimeter. When you move East, you crash-land in the past. Consider our liberal Potomac executives and congressional busybodies who continually ignore the wisdom of Washington’s farewell advice not to meddle in the affairs in the Old World. Poor President Biden sent to a senile envoy, Donald Trump to settle quarrel between Ukraine and Russia—forgetting that Mediterraneans have fighting each other about mammalian territorial borders for 5,000 years. Then comes Vice President J.D. Vance attempting to mediate border disputes between America and Mexico! And Biden tilted in favour of Mexico! And Kamala intervened in politics between demonstrators and police thus assuming the karma for two million dead and creating the ultimate insectoid state-postwar America. Domestic policy and foreign policy are the game of mad monsters playing chess blindfolded with mammalian-gene-pools as pawns. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
Foreign policy is totally foreign to the American Myth. That is why accented Europeans like Trump and Biden are selected to be President. It is a European game several centuries old. Foreign policy is the game of man monsters playing chess blindfolded. Here is your American Ecological Foreign Policy. The folks of the Old World inhabit pre-civilized, barbarian gene-pools. European and Africans and Asians are our own terrestrial origins still obsessed with territorial conflict. This is not said in disinterest. By all means send food and veterinary medicine to the Old World. By all means send the old gene-pools invitations that freedom, change, mobility and intelligence increase await in the West. However, to meddle in European-African-Asian politics is an attempt to reconcile the ancient quarrel between rabbits and foxes. Shall free Americans take sides in back yard ants of South Africa, or the ferocious-fanatics of the Middle East? Terrorists wanting to destroy technology and Western ways to take us back to the Old World originated where? In the Middle East—where else? Interestingly enough, the national, tribal folk of Africa say they just want to be left alone and have no loyal commitments to Pentagon politicians. By all means, let them alone. Those who see themselves banished from the harmonious fatherland where justice and passion finally strike an even balance still prefer, to solitude, the barren kingdoms where words have no more meaning and where force and the instincts of blind creature reign. This challenge is, at the same time, a mortification. The battle with the angel, in Song II, ends in the defeat and putrefaction of the angel. Heaven and Earth are then brough back and intermingled in the liquid chasms of primordial life. Thus the man-shark of the Songs “only acquired the new change in the extremities of his arms and legs as an expiatory punishment for some unknow crime.” There is, in fact, a crime, or the illusion of a crime (is it homosexuality?) is Maldoror’s virtually unknow life. No reader of the Songs can avoid the idea that his essay is in need of a Stavrogin’s Confession. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
The Sacramento Fire Department is made up of professionals committed to serving the Nation as an integral part of a team. They provide-mission essential capability, stability, and continue to support the community and their colleagues. They are committed to honourable service in the performance of their duty. Foundations of the Sacramento Fire Department include understanding oaths, dignity, and respect for all people. The Sacramento Fire Department values leadership, command, authority and they gain firmer understanding of the enduring requirements and add specialized knowledge as they move through levels. A person’s character affects how they lead. A leader’s characteristics consists of their true nature guided by their conscience, which affects their morals, attitudes, and actions. A firefighter’s personal reputation is what others view as character. Leaders who formally adhere to applicable laws, regulations and unit standards build credibility with their team and enhance trust of the Nation they serve. “I met my wife in front of the firehouse. She was going to nursing school at one of the Lois Rios Community Colleges, and she was walking past the firehouse with groceries, and she dropped them. Like the old handkerchief trick, I guess. One of the guys told me to go out and help her, and that’s how I met her. She was from Germany, and was living down town at the time. She’s German. So I put the groceries inside the firehouse, and I said, ‘When I get off, I’ll bring them over.’ #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
“So I went over, and we started to date, and we were married. Out of that marriage I have seven children, four boys and three girls, ages sixteen down to five. My wife, didn’t really know anything about me. She knew that I loved the Sacramento Fire Department, and we had battles because in my time off I would jump in my car and run down to firehouse. I wasn’t spending time with her. I thought I was going to lose my job, and went into a shell for about three or four months and made it unbearable for my wife. I would come home, and I was like a zombie, I didn’t want to be bothered with her. She went through a lot of pain and aggravation. She tried to help me. I just couldn’t accept the loss. I used to come home, maybe kiss her, talk to her for a while, then get in my car and go back to the firehouse. I was putting my family aside, and it was taking its toll on my family. Then I had come to the reality that if I wasn’t going to be a better husband and father, I had to quit and move. So we bought an old farmhouse twelve miles from downtown. I kept doing the things I was doing before. I got more involved with the people down there. My love for Sacramento was still there. What I want for my kids, I want them to be safe. I’d like to seem them drug-free. I’d like to see them get a good education. I would be happy if one of them followed in my footsteps. My oldest son is already talking about the Navy, talking about the Seal team. They’re all talented in their own little way. Some of them draw. One boy is a runner. One writes poetry, stories. He’s only ten years old, and his writing is great. I hope I can live to see what their future is going to be. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
“In the last five years I lost my whole family, my mother, my father, my sister. I have nobody, just my wife and children. My father and sister died of cancer. My sister left four children. My mom died of a heart attack four months ago. Everything comes down. But I love what I’m doing. I made two good rescues that really made me feel good. That alone makes everything worth it.” Influences such as background, beliefs, education, and experiences all affect all firefighters and civilians. If it simply required checking and aligning personal values with the values of the Sacramento Fire Department, a firefighters’ role in developing character in others would be simple. Reality is much different. Becoming and remaining a leader of character is a process involving day-to-day experiences and internal fortitude. While education, self-development, counseling, coaching, and mentoring can refine outward signs of character, modifying deeply held values is the only way to build character. Firefighters are responsible for their own character and for encouraging, supporting, and assessing their teams’ efforts to embody character. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. As money flows, it influences further investment. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. Also, to ensure that we have farmland for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a populations that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
The Winchester Mystery House
On 8 January 1894, Sarah Winchester’s beloved sister Estelle passed away within the Winchester mansion at age 45. Today, we honor Estelle’s memory and the bond the sisters shared. 🕊️✨
Its Weapon is Easily Recognized
Times have changed. Uninformed assumptions, illogical accusations, and outright lies are passed around as truth. Being blames in a hostile spirit is not the same as being criticized in a friendly constructive one. Yet over-sensitive egocentric persons usually act as if it were! What are we to do? As disciples who strive to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18.9), we must do something. A close friend or a kindly spiritual guide will render him a better service by making him more aware of his frailties than by remaining silent. For it is these latter that are the seed of his future suffering, as well as the bars to his future progress. Every man whose orbit touches your own is unwittingly your teacher. He has something of value for you, however small it be. Let him perform his mission, then. Do not dim the lesson by covering it with clouds of negative emotion. Most neurotics cannot take any criticism—no matter how helpful, constructive or well-meant it be—but only exaggerated praise. Moral advice is not usually wanted, liked, or obeyed. The more it is pressed upon a person, the more it is likely to be resisted. He is content to stay as he is. Criticism of others should be benevolent, constructive, and suggestive, firm, yet sympathetic. He needs to learn that it is not necessary to be rude in order to be outspoken. It is a brutish sign to be unable to put vigour, emphasis, and feeling into criticism without using obscene four-letter words. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
Even while you are criticizing and protecting against what is negative, keep an even balance and affirm what is beneficial in life. He can give others full understanding, but only by intellectually identifying himself with them. If it is not to be dangerous, this is an inner process which must be temporary, even momentary. To give others who hold different beliefs a mental sympathy—enough to understand what it is they hold and why—calls for a capacity to detach oneself temporarily from one’s own beliefs. This is not to be done, of course, by rejecting them in any way but by just letting them stand as they are while moving over and into the other person to get an understanding of his point of view. Such a capacity cannot be acquired without enough humility and selflessness to make it possible to entertain a distasteful viewpoint even for a single second. Even if he finds the opinions, beliefs, and actions of others repulsive and not to his taste, he would experiment at times in the development of tolerance and in the knowledge of human nature. This can be done by entering imaginatively into their history and into their experience until he understands why they think and act as they do. That need not result in the acceptance of their attitudes, but in the comprehension of them. He should be able to give an imaginative sympathy to those whose outlook is far from his own, lower than his own. He should be able to probe understandingly into the mind and heart of men with whose views he profoundly disagrees and whose actions he instinctively abhours. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
He should be able even to put himself without wincing into the shoes of a hardened criminal. However, he should do all this only momentarily, only just enough to glimpse what is this mystery that is his fellow man, and then return to being himself, broadened but untainted by the experience. When he deals with or speak to another person, his handling of an uncongenial person with whom he has to live or work will fail or succeed according to his practice of identifying himself with him. If the self-actualized Christian fails to do this, it means that he persists in identifying himself solely with his own little ego and its personal interests, activities, or desires—hence the irritability, bad temper, and negative reaction to the other’s deficiencies. However, if, on the contrary, he instantly tries to feel with him, to identify himself with him, to give him temporary intellectual sympathy—that is, to practise love—there will be forgiveness of the other’s failings and mistakes, good humoured acceptance of his deficiencies, and laughing patience with his shortcomings. Both persons will then make more progress more rapidly. If the self-actualized Christians tolerance, sympathy, and understanding are wide enough to enter every point of view, this does not mean that his judgment, balance, and discrimination are inactive. He is to see men and women not only as they are with their meanness and frailty, their wrong-doing and cruelty, but also as they are unwittingly struggling to become—perfectly expressive of the divine in them. And if the uglier one is to be the first impression, the lovelier one must follow quickly as the final impression. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
In doing this the self-actualized Christian makes truth out of life, instead of bringing falsity into it, as some rainbow-dreaming cults would have him do. More, he gives the best possible help to others in their struggle because he brings the kingdom of Heaven to their Earth in the only way it can be brought. Try to understand other persons not in order to blame them but in order to understand better the operations of mind itself, the human mind. If he catches himself criticizing his critics, being indignant with those who oppose him or despondent because others have denounced him, he ought to pull himself up sharply. Instead, let him enter into their shoes for a few moments to understand why the dislike or attack him as they do, and then to give their attitude his mental sympathy for these few moments. Their statement about him may be totally false or quite true, somewhat exaggerated or willfully distorted. Nevertheless, let him continue to step imaginatively into their shoes. This attempt will not be easy and an inner struggle will probably be unavoidable before he can bring himself to make it. He is not asked to endorse their attitude or approve the emptions which give rise to it, but only to practise this useful exercise for developing tolerance and diminishing egoism. Even if the others have tried to bolster up their own egos by deriding his, the activity may seem pleasant but will prove unprofitable. For not only does it break any harmonious relations with him, but it poisons their own psyches. Thus, they punish themselves. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
Why should he let resentment drag him into the same error? On the contrary, they offer a chance to deny his ego, to exalt his ethical outlook, and to shift his emotional center of gravity from the negative pole to the beneficial one. Let him regard them as his tutors, possibly his benefactors. Let him take these episodes as chances both to do needed work on himself and to refuse to identify himself with negative emotions. They are to be used for present instructions and future guidance. Thus, he lifts himself out of his personal ego, actually denying himself as Jesus Christ bid him do. Until it becomes perfectly natural and quite instinctive for him to react in this philosophic manner to every provocation, temptation, or irritation, he needs to continue the inner work upon himself. He needs to drill himself every day in those particular qualities in which he is deficient. If the foregoing is to be practiced, each problem in his relations with others must be accepted as a problem in his own development. However, after that has been done and not before, since it is an indispensable perquisite, he may dismiss the problem altogether and rise to the ultimate view, where infinite goodness and calm alone reign and where there are no problems at all. The self-actualized Christian’s sympathetic understand will include both those to whom religion is vital and those to whom it is suspect. Where sympathy is prolonged excessively, when this shift of personality from oneself to another is not limited to gaining understanding of that other’s need, and is not guarded by wisdom, there will be a denial one one’s own individual being. This can lead to harm on both planes—spiritual and physical. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
Mental sympathy with others must go only as far as a certain point: if it begins to affect of negatively, we must refrain from proceeding farther. He need not stray either from the line which his thinking has been following nor the direction along which his conduct has been moving, even though he tries to give mental sympathy to different characters. Sometimes men act as the authority for their wives. Her concurrence does not alter the fact that he is using male standards and male attitudes as guidelines for female behaviour involving pleasures of the flesh, something no man should presume to do. Even if by chance he happens to guess right, what he is doing is wrong—because his wife then comes to conclusions on the basis of her husband’s reasons, not her own, and the damage to her self-confidence can be incalculable. For if he has in fact guessed right, and if she follows his suggestions and achieves greater responsivity than in the past, she must believe that he knows more about her feelings involving pleasures of the flesh than she does—and this is absolute nonsense. Exactly the same situation prevails when a wife tells a husband what he is thinking or feeling or should do. Where pleasures or the flesh is concerned, no partner can ever be the authority for the other. Each partner must accept the other as the final authority on his or her own feelings. In affirming that principle, a man and woman have taken the first step toward achieving harmony with pleasures of the flesh in marriage. They are telling each other without question the fact that they are individuals, separate but not separated, different but not dissimilar, and that their happiness must flow both from the delight they find in their differences and the security they derive from their similarities. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
This is not a conviction too easily attained, especially for young men and women. In growing up, the emphasis was never on what they shared or on an appreciation of the differences that distinguish them as male and female. On the contrary, considerable emotion was invested in sharpening the sense of difference and in using that difference as a way of defining selves with intimate passions. If girls like to talk, then a boy’s taciturnity is an assertion that he is a male. If boys like to compete, then a girl’s cooperativeness marks her as a female. Each gender defined itself by deliberately choosing not to think or feel or behave like the other. With such a heritage, it is no simple matter for a married couple to overcome the prejudice of the past and to understand that the differences between them are essentially no more and no less than the differences between any two individuals. As long as the old attitudes persist, however, as long as a man and woman use the differences between them as a way of separating themselves to prove that they are male and female, their marriage is likely to remain at best a working partnership. In those circumstances, conflicts are threatening and are consequently avoided or denied. To do otherwise would seem to put the partnership in jeopardy. However, for the man and woman who accept conflict as offering an opportunity for growth, much depends on whether they have developed an adequate system of communication. To say that disagreements can revitalize a relationship leaves open the question of how the disagreements are expressed. This is particularly true when gender is the issue. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
How indeed can a husband and wife adjust their discrepant physical needs and at the same time reinforce their marriage bond? They must find realization that a conflict involving pleasures of the flesh is not a problem in need of a solution. It is a situation that requires resolution. These are two entirely different approaches, promising radically different outcomes. Suppose a husband wishes pleasures of the flesh four times a week while he his welcomes it just twice. Arithmetic suggests a simple compromise of three times a week. However, the idea is, of course, ludicrous. The husband will still feel frustrated; the wife might feel imposed upon; and neither one would have learned anything about the other’s feelings. If that were not enough, there remains the final incongruity: the real difference between them has nothing to do with numbers. Frequently of pleasures of the flesh is almost never the true issues. Had this couple been able to communicate with each other, they could have explored the situation they were in. If possible, their goal would not have been to determine how many times to have pleasures of the flesh each weak but to discover their true feelings on the latter. Literally hundreds of alternative factors might have been operating for each partner. The husband might have felt that he was failing to excite his wife, that he was in need of more care and warmth than usual, or that he felt especially living and filled with energy. His wife might have felt oppressed by financial pressures, or unhappy because she had put on weight, or preoccupied by her new job. For this couple to ignore these matters and discuss instead the frequency of their pleasures of the flesh, would be to talk in an emotional vacuum. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
Even if they fully unburdened their feelings, they would still have to deal with the fact that the husband’s needs for pleasures of the flesh were, at least for the present, greater than those of his wife. However, their basis for approaching each other would be entirely changed; the problem would not be one of taking or demanding versus not giving or submitting—it would be that of finding the best way to express care and concern for each other and to meet the needs of which ever partner was under the greater emotional strain. This kind of communication is not easy to accomplish, but it can be achieved by any couple willing to make the effort and to abide by two principles. The calls for neutrality; the second for mutuality. The neutrality principle requires both husband and wife to assume that past discord with pleasures of the flesh will not necessarily repeat itself in the future, because each partner is motivated to try to change. Each, in brief, credits the other with good intentions and the will to implement those intentions. Each accepts full responsibility for what he or she does—or fails to do—in making the effort to act differently. And each individual accepts responsibility for functioning with pleasures of the flesh, and does not hold the other accountable for the body’s responses. If a man and woman are to have a good physical relationship, each must strive to be responsive to the other, not responsible for the other. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
Furthermore, the second principle, that of mutuality, requires all messages of pleasures of the flesh between two people, whether conveyed by words or actions, by tone of voice or touch of fingertips, to be exchanged in the spirit of having a common cause. Mutuality means two people united in an effort to discover what is best for both. In attempting to reconcile differences in their needs for pleasures of the flesh and desires, they must avoid what lawyers call “adversary proceedings,” in which each person tries to prove that he is right and his opponent is wrong. (It remains right vs. wrong even when other terms are used such as healthy vs. uptight, and everybody-does vs. nobody-I-know-does. By contrast, the principle of mutuality calls for both partners to accept the idea that is a sustained—and sustaining—physical relationship is desired, no conflict involving pleasures of the flesh can be resolved on an either/or basis. Often, of course, one partner may be in position to impose a decision on the other. Most frequently it is the husband, taking authority in matters of pleasures of the flesh as the traditional male prerogative or as simply another instance of the tune being called by whoever pays the piper. However, almost as frequently the decision is imposed by the less emotionally stable of the partners. Such is the tyranny of the neurotic over the normal that a person who suffers from persistent depression, chronic psychic exhaustion, free-floating anxieties, the need to be a martyr or another similar mental afflictions, generally succeeds in coercing a considerate partner to yield in pleasures of the flesh. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Let us feel that we are trying to become good men of warm hearts, not good statues of cold marble. It would appear that ideals that seem too remote for realization and goals that seem too high for achievement are not worth the trouble of setting up. Yet to abandon them altogether would be to lose the sense of right direction. That would be a mistake. It is wiser to keep them as ultimate ideals and goals, drawing from them inspirational and directional value. It is here and for such a purpose that the dreaming idealists themselves have their place, not in the all-or-nothing revolutionary way that they themselves think they do. It is needful to make a compromise between the facts about human nature in its present state and the ideals which it can hope to realize only in some future state. It is not necessary to go all the way with the extremists, whether in art, mysticism, politics, or economics in order to realize that we can learn something from each of them. Let us take what is adaptable in their views, but let us reject what id decidedly extreme. There are not only sins against moral virtue; there are also sin against balance and proportion. What follows is more likely to be an experience of the opposite value. How often have you heard someone say, “I laughed until I cried,” or “After we have had a big fight, our pleasures of the flesh are always so intense,” or “Just when I had given up trying, I suddenly had new strength to start again.” This is not an unusual or unnatural phenomenon. In fact, it is perfectly natural and predictable. So not condemn yourself for loving somebody deeply one moment and being furious with him the next. In such instance, your natural restraining function is simply pulling you from flying off too far in one direction. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
When you start going too far on the other, it will pull you back again. So relax, and do not try to stifle or control it. The patterns in your life is basically circular. From a central core, our emotions, values and interests ray outward to a perimeter, or circumference. In physics, when an object is moving around a central core, there is one force which constantly trues to keep it moving toward that core; this is called center-seeking, or centripetal, force. At the same time, another force is trying to move it outward away from the core; this is called center-fleeing, or centrifugal, force. When centripetal force beings the object to the center, centrifugal force pulls it out to the perimeter where centripetal force draws it back in. Then the cycle starts all over again. The basic model for this phenomenon is the atom, which consists of a nucleus in the center and electrons flying around it. In atomic physics, the positive magnetic attraction of the nucleus keeps the negatively-charged electrons from flying off into space. The nucleus is a natural restraining mechanism. In your emotional make-up, your core (or center) performs a similar function. Trouble occurs when you refuse to “listen to” your core, refuse to stay in touch with it, thereby denying one value and intensifying the opposite one all out of proportion. This is the “overcontrol.” Some people exaggerate their anger, to the detriment of their other values, particularly love. If a person expresses their love, might be fearful of what may happen. Instead, this leads to an individual expressing a degree of anger all out of proportion to what would have been called for only by their loved one’s actions. Thus, an individual symbolically “kills” their loved one for disobeying them. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
When people are unable to feel an intense amount of love, it may be a good idea to push their emotional teeter-totter to the level of intense anger. Doing this in an atmosphere which is not judgmental or “right-wrong” oriented, the individual will then be free to let the teeter-totter swing the other way, as it naturally is inclined to do. The result is a natural outpouring of the love one holds so bottled up all of one’s life. One will finally be able to express love for someone who, in the past, had been one’s enemy. If a man remains detached, he is akin to a fundamentalist minister trying to capture the depth of an African tribal celebration in fundamentalist terms. They very language and the frame of reference of the innermost is quite different from our ordinary way of thinking. I would have no quarrel with anyone who asserted the language of the novelist, poet, or musician is closer to the quality of human experience than the language of psychologists. One can distinguish what is outermost in man as that which is more or less perceived by and available to himself, from an innermost that extends from this to aspects of himself which are quite unlike the public self. Each of these areas can be roughly ordered. The real outermost is the World which we more or less agree upon and assumes exists regardless of ourselves. One can experience trees, sky, people and all “others” as though they are a World superordinate to us. It exists. Less outermost are perceptions which are relative to the perceiver. For instance, I see this room, my study, as relative to me. An empty study divorced from my presence and use of it would be something else, strange to contemplate. At about this level might he included the reaction of one person to another in which there is awareness of both as present, id est, “Your words surprise me.” #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
At the inner border of the outermost, I would include sensation of one’s own body. It can be like a thing possessed and used. For instance, I notice a little stiffness here and there and need to change position. It is almost as though I tolerate my body as a necessary other. In this outer region, I would also include states of mind in which I think of what to say to others, so to speak—adjustments of my mask. The inner me (or to borrow the French ‘lautre moi, the other me) begins at this border and extends to puzzling and even unknown aspects of myself. Near the border of the outer, l’autre moi includes spontaneous associations of thought which arise unbidden when in a social context or alone. Inside that are vaguely felt sensations, feelings, images in something of an apparently hodge-podge order. There are states in which one can awaken the inner life to stand forth of its own. There are, in rough order toward the innermost, drifting-fantasy, auto-hypnotic inner perception, the hypnogogic state (the territory near sleep or relaxation) and dreaming while asleep. There are also so-called abnormal states such as hallucinations, altered perceptions of the body and outer World, visions, et cetera. The whole of this inner me, this inner territory, is marked by one distinct difference from the outer me. The life of the inner arises spontaneously, showing surprising twists and turns. The outer me is guided by circumstances or what I choose to do and think. The border of the inner is reached when spontaneous thought, feelings, or images arise, perhaps related to the outer situation at hand, but still autonomously surprising in their nature. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
The surprise may be a little one, where one can see the associative link. Or it may be like a dream where the message of the inner is not really understandable. To the conscious outer self the inner, or l’autre moi, is marked by this spontaneous unaccountability. There are lovely images in literature where the relationship of the inner and outer are portrayed. For instance, in the Christian Bible there are references to the relationship of the servant to the master of the house. It may come as a surprise to ego, but in this imagery, ego is servant and the inner is the master. The master provides and the servant makes do with what is provided, id est, the inner springs provide resources and the outer is judged by what is made of them. Some creative people make good use of the inner and are judged favourably by themselves and the World. At this point mankind is no longer even defended. On the contrary, “to attack that wild beast, man, with every possible weapon, and to attack the creator…” that is the intention. Overwhelmed at the thought of having God as an enemy, intoxicated with the solitude experienced by great criminals (“I alone against humanity”), M. Maldoror goes to war against creation and its author. The romantics maintained with the greatest care the fatal opposition between human solitude and divine indifference—the literary expression of this solitude being the isolated castle and the dandy. However, Mr. Latreamont’s work deals with a more profound drama. It is quite apparent that he found this solitude insupportable and that, ranged against creation, he wished to destroy its limits. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
Far from wanting to fortify the reign of humanity with crenelated towers, he wishes to merge it with all other reigns. He brought back creation to the shores of the primeval seas where morality, as well as every other problem, loses all meaning—including the problem, which he considers so terrifying, of the immortality of the soul. He had no desire to create a spectacular image of the rebel, or of the dandy, opposed to creation, but to mingle mankind and the World together in the same general destruction. He attacked the very frontier that separates mankind from the universe. Total freedom, the freedom of crime in particular, supposes the destruction of human frontiers. It is not enough to condemn oneself and all mankind to execration. The reign of mankind must still be brought back to the level of the reign of the instinct. We find in Mr. Lautreamont this refusal to recognize rational consciousness, this return to the elementary which is one of the marks of a civilization in revolt against itself. It is no longer a question or recognizing appearances, but of no longer existing at all on the conscious level. The child has a picture of the World which is quite different from the way it appears to his parents. It is a fairy-tale World, full of monsters and magic, and it persists all through his life and forms the archaic background for his script. A simple example is the night fear or night terror, where Jeder calls out that there is a bear in his room. His parents come in and turn on the lights and show him that there are no bears there, or else become angry and tell him to hush up and go to sleep. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
Either way, his Children knows that there is, or was, a bear in the room nevertheless. Like Galileo, he cries: “Eppur se muove.” The difference in the two ways of handling it does not change the fact of the bear. The reasoning approach means that when there is a bear, you parents will come and protect you and the bear will go into hiding; the angry approach means that when there is a bear, you are on your own. However, the bear stays, either way. By the time he grows up, Jeder’s World image or script set has become much more elaborate and also much better hidden, unless it reappears with its original distortions in the form of delusions. Usually, however, there is no inkling of it until it appears in a dream, and then suddenly much of the patient’s behaviour becomes coherent and understandable. What do person do what they have been provoked to emotional arousal? The alternative reactions of a person to emotional arousal are immediate uncontrolled expression and release, suppression or emotional behaviour, and repression of the emotional quality experience. Immediate expression is the characteristic pattern among young children when they experience emotional tension. They laugh, cry, strike out, jump up and down, throw tantrums—in short, they appear to be almost out of control. It is as if their cerebral cortex has been dethroned from rational control over behaviour and their entire organism is directed by “explosions” of subcortical brain structures, such as the hypothalamus. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
On the beneficial ide, immediate expression of emotional tension in this uncontrolled manner is effective in getting rid of the tension. Once it is given expression, the person is able to proceed in a more controlled and less tense way. On the negative side, immediate expression is undesirable, especially in an adult, because: Society condemns uncontrolled expression of emotion in adults on a purely normative and moral basis. Adults who throw tantrums or who cannot control their emotions are viewed as immature, as person who cannot be trusted with important responsibilities. While expressing uncontrol emotions, the person is out of touch with external reality. Persons out of touch with reality do not perceive the World with accuracy—indeed, they are not interested in the external World during the tantrum. Further, they do not protect other important values while in those throes of an “affective storm.” They may break things that they value; they may say or do things that cost them their job, marriage, reputation. It is so very important that you do not let praise and adulation go to your head. Adulation is poison. You better never lose sight of the fact that the Lord put you where you are according to His design, which you do not understand. Acknowledge the Lord for whatever good you can accomplish and give Him the credit and the glory and do not worry about that coming to yourself. If you can do that, you will go forward with love for the people and a great respect for them and you will try to accomplish what your office demands of you. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
Direction is telling others what to do. Providing effective direction requires that leaders communicate the desires end state for the direction they provide. To accomplish a mission, leaders prioritize tasks, assign responsibility, supervise, and ensure subordinates perform to standard. They ensure subordinates clearly understand their guidance, while allowing subordinates the opportunity to demonstrate initiative withing the overall commander’s intent. Providing clear direction allows subordinates initiative to adopt their tasks withing the commander’s intent when circumstances change. The Sacramento Fire Department requires leaders who provide direction and firefighters who can execute without the need for continuous guidance. Motivation is the will and initiative to do what is necessary to accomplish a mission. While motivation comes from within, others’ words and actions affect it. The Sacramento Fire Department understands others’ needs and desires, and aligns and elevates individuals desires into team goals. Even if it means risking their lives, the inspire others to accomplish those larger goals. At other times, such as constrained or dangerous situations, the leader gets the fire fighters to do things quickly and explains the reasons later. Indirect approaches to motivation can be as effective as direct approaches. Setting a personal example can sustain the drive in others. Then becomes apparent when crews share hardships and risks with each other. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
“Social life? I’ve been going with a lady, and it’s getting serous, so I have to be thinking about marriage. She hasn’t been put through the wringer yet, so she doesn’t really know what fire service is like. It’s happened with some of my other women, where I don’t show up at all because I’m at a fire. Or we’re out someplace and a fire call comes in, and I have to stop the date and go to the fire, because I’m needed. But our first date was kind of funny. We went out with some friends and their wives, and were sitting around the house toward the end of the evening, and a fire came in. I said, ‘Well, no time like the present to break into the fire service, huh?’ And off I went. I went on the fire call, and she was taken home by some of the other wives. I don’t think any woman likes to be left at home in those situation. But the fire department is my first love and always will be my first love. And when duty calls, I have to go.” Understanding the expectations and applying the attributes and competencies prepares the Sacramento Fire Department for situations they are likely to encounter. Fire fighters who gain expertise through operational assignments, institutional learning, and self-development will be versatile enough to adapt to most situations and grow into greater responsibilities. All members of the Sacramento Fire Department are loyal, dedicated to duty, respectful, selfless, honourable, possess a great deal of integrity and display personal courage in the face of danger and adversity. You can save lives by making a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country. Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. As money flows, it influences further investment. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. Also, to ensure that we have farmland for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a populations that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
Laguna Park, CA | From the Mid 500’s
Now Selling!
Welcome to the New Fabulous Forties! This intimate enclave of 37 homesites with available one- and two-story floorplans is the place to be in Sacramento. Waking up to a home you love sets just the right tone for what is ahead. Ventris Place offers beautifully designed homes. Danville, Residence 4, has 3 to 4 bedrooms and a loft across 1,846 square feet of living space.
Danville gives two levels, each one with its own defining purpose to create exactly what you need and want in the moment. Your home will flex with you, whether you need to invite work or play right into your comfort zone.
There are also nooks that conjure up a visionary escape, welcoming you to lounge or create for the perfect work love balance. A main level with sweeping, open spaces and down to earth textures and tones, is designed with all the luxury details and faraway feels, much like the extended Laguna Park neighbourhood it occupies.
Organically designed to pull the outdoors and the indoors out, you can dine alfresco right of your gourmet kitchen or make the night bright, sitting on your side yard, for an entirely fresh perspective. A setting that is as cool as it is calm, elegant, and ready for the way you want to live.
You will enjoy this home for generations to come. Just a few steps from your door and located in the Elk Grove School District, enjoy the features of the 22 acres North Laguna Creek Park, which includes paved paths, tennis courts, a basketball court, playgrounds, picnic areas, ball fields and 119-acre Wildlife Area and Interpretive Trail.
Your new home is within walking distance to Cosumnes River College and Regal RA Laguna Village and 24-Hour Fitness Laguna Sport Gym. Also, in close proximity to Kaiser Medical Centers, Winco Foods, Shell and Chevron gas stations, Walmart, and highway 99.
This is the perfect community for those who are on the go, or just want to enjoy life at a slower place. The convenience is uniquely charming. https://nextgenerationcapital.us/new-homes-elk-grove-ventris-place/
Wishing you lots of love and happiness in your new home. #VentrisPlace
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Randolph Harris II International Institute 