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Since Ancient Times, Curses Have Fascinated People!
Since ancient times, curses have fascinated people, and left other deeply disturbed. It is important that the student should train himself to note, study, and state accurately views which he could not join in himself. To do this, he will have to keep his feelings against them out of his examination of statements. He will have to suspend his intellectual judgment of them also. However firmly he may hold his own views upon any subject, it is a useful discipline to subdue the ego and put himself into the mentality of those who hold different views and to try to understand why it is that they hold such views. This will be a valuable exercise in keeping bias out of his thinking and the conceit of always being right out of his opinion. Some people believe that dark skin is a curse. However, the power of a curse lies not in its words, but in the belief we place in it. A thought came to me one day, if Africa is the cradle of civilization, and all people come from Africa, did they start off light or dark? Because if people obtained light or pale skin from living in the cold and in caves, then maybe the people in Africa started off white and got darker from being in the sun? However, people in Africa have dark sin to protect themselves from ultraviolet rays. Their genetics provide a constant high content of melanin in skin cells, which helps them to withstand the scorching sun. Therefore, the darker skin color has allowed the African race to flourish and thrive. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25
However, genomes of 290 living people from southern, eastern and western Africa suggests that modern humans descended from at least two groups of ancient humans that were closely related and mixed genes on occasion. It is believed that there is no single birthplace. Yet, all humans share common ancestry. The oldest modern human fossils are found in Africa, and so are the oldest artifacts. The first modern humans likely came about around 315,00 0 years ago. The oldest artifact known to man is the Lomekwi Stone Tool, which are handmade stone tools that date back 3.3 million years ago and were discovered in West Turkana, Kenya. After that, the next oldest artifacts are Oldowan Stone Tools, which are handmade stone tools, which date back to 2.6 million years ago and were found in Gona, Ethiopia. And, 1.76 million years ago, Acheulean Stone Tools, which are handmade stone tools, were found spread across Africa, Asia, and Europe. That leads some to believe that human evolution is like a tree—with a single stem that splits into disconnected branches. And it would then later merge back together, creating various races. So, it is possible that without genetics with a high content of melanin skill cell, humanity would not exist as we know it today. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25
Men who are specialist in a single profession are usually men whose minds run in a single groove. Each can contribute his own viewpoint quite creditably, but he cannot understand and sympathize so readily with the viewpoint of another man whose experiences lies along totally different lines. Even if we go further and attempt to step beyond such limitations into a synthetic viewpoint and gather up into one coordinate whole the contributions of all our modern mentors, we shall yet fail to arrive at the deepest understanding of the world’s problem. This is because these men deal not with root causes but with effects, the effects of profounder causes which ultimately take their rise in subtler, less obvious sources. The difficulty in getting at the truth about controversial questions, whether they be economic, political, religious, or metaphysical, is that the advocate of a particular side pushes forward the good points of his own views and the bad points of his opponent’s views, whilst at the same time he suppresses both the bad points of his own and the good ones of his opponent’s views. Consequently, the only way to form a fair and just estimate of the question to construct our own picture, frankly and impartially incorporating in it all the essential points from both sides and those which they may have missed, too. Intellect is sharpened by frequent discussions and endless disputation. Recognizing a special brand of neurotic pride, he can be alert to the kind of provocation liable to produce shame or humiliation. And, vice versa, the occurrence of these reactions would stimulate him to discover the underlying pride and to examine its specific nature. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25
What complicates the matters is the fact that these reactions may be blurred by several factors. A person’s pride may be extremely vulnerable, but he does not consciously express any feeling of hurt. Self-righteousness, as we have already mentioned, can prohibit the feelings of shame. Moreover, a pride in invulnerability may forbid him to admit to himself that he feels hurt. A god may show wrath at the imperfection of mortals, but he just is not hurt by a boss or a taxi driver; he should be big enough to overlook it and strong enough to take everything in his stride. “Insults,” therefore hurt him in a twofold way: feeling humiliated by others and feeling ashamed of the very fact of his being hurt. Such a person is in an almost permanent dilemma: he is vulnerable to an absurd degree, but his pride does not allow him to be vulnerable at all. This inner condition greatly contributes to a diffuse irritability. The issue may also be blurred because the direct reactions to hurt pride can be automatically transformed into feelings other than shame or humiliation. If a lover is interested in another woman, does not remember our wishes, or is preoccupied with his work or hobbies, it may essentially hurt our pride. However, all we may consciously feel is grief over unrequited love. A slight may be felt merely as a disappointment. Feelings of shame may appear in our awareness as vague uneasiness, as embarrassment, or more specifically, as feelings of guilt. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25
The slave can only free himself by enslaving in his turn. Post-Hegelian doctrines, unmindful of the mystic aspect or certain of the master’s tendencies, have led his followers to absolute atheism and to scientific materialism. However, this evolution is inconceivable without the absolute disappearance of every principle of transcendent explanation, and without the complete destruction of the Jacobin ideal. Immanence, of course, is not atheism. However, immanence in the process of development, if one can say so, provisional atheism. The indefinite face of God which, with Hegel, is still reflected in the spirit of the world will not be difficult to efface. Hegel’s successors will draw decisive conclusions from him ambiguous formula: “God without man is no more than man without God.” David Strauss in his Life of Jesus isolates the theory of Christ considered as the God-man. Bruno Bauer (The Critique of Evangelist History) institutes a kind of materialist Christianity by insisting on the humanity of Jesus. Finally, Ludwig Feuerbach (whom Marx considered as a great mind and whom he acknowledges himself the critical disciple), in his Essence of Christianity, replaces all theology by a religion of man and the species, which has converted a large part of contemporary thought. His task is to demonstrate that the distinction between human and divine is illusory, that it is nothing but the distinction between the essence of humanity—in other words, human nature—and the individual. “The mystery of God is only the mystery of the love of man for himself.” #RandolphHarris 5 of 25
The accents of a strange new prophecy ring out: “Individuality has replaced faith, reason the” Christian “Bible, politics religion and the Church, the earth heaven, work prayer, poverty hell, and man Christ.” Thus, there is only one hell and it is on this earth: and it is against this that the struggle must be waged. Politics is religion, and transcendent Christianity—that of the hereafter—establishes the masters of the earth by means of the slave’s renunciation and creates one master more beneath the heavens. That is why atheism and the revolutionary spirit are only two aspects of the same movement of liberation. That is the answer to the question which is always being asked: why has the revolutionary movement identified itself with materialism rather than with idealism? Because to conquer God, to make Him a slave, amounts to abolishing the transcendence that kept the former masters in power and to preparing, with ascendancy of the new tyrants, the advent of the man-king. When poverty is abolished, when the contradictions of history are resolved, “the real god, the human god, will be the State.” Then homo homini lupus becomes homo homini deus. This concept is at the root of the contemporary world. With Feuerbach, we assist at the birth of a terrible form of optimism which we can still observe at work today and which seems to be the very antithesis of nihilist despair. However, this is only in appearance. We must know Feuerbach’s conclusion in this Theogony to perceive the profoundly nihilist derivation of his inflamed imagination. In effect, Feuerbach affirms, in the face of Hegel, that man is only what he eats, and thus recapitulates his ideas and predicts the future in the following phrase: “The true philosophy is the negation of philosophy. No religion is my religion. No philosophy is my philosophy.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 25
We ought to put such a discussion, which deals with the sublimest topics that confront the human mind, upon a dignified basis. If we argue merely for the sake of scorning an intellectual victory over the opponent, or getting the upper hand over him, we argue wrongly. If, however, we argue with the sole desire that truth may appear out of the conflict of viewpoints, we argue rightly. Philosophy points out that we must study a subject not only from the outside but also from the inside—that is to say, not only critically but also sympathetically—if we would arrive at a just estimate of it. Those who paint it all black with defects or all white with virtues, and omit all intermediate or half-shades, make a serious mistake. Our approach to every doctrine must be to take its truth and leave its error. However, we must do this in appreciation rather than in disparagement. There is a need to develop flexibility by practicing the shift of attitudes, to see why others hold their beliefs, and to be able to stretch one’s own thought to enter sufficiently into theirs. This produces sympathetic understanding, but the opposite—critical judgment—must not be forsaken. There may however be one result of such comparative study which is as unpleasant as it is undesirable. If it is overdone and independent thinking underdone, it may breed confusion in the understanding and contradiction in the feelings. The more books written from different points of view he reads, the less certain of his knowledge he may become. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25
Concepts or ideas are clues, pointers, signposts to truth, perhaps helps toward the search, but ought not to be referred to a level beyond that of the intellect, which is limited. Fixation and dogmatism should be avoided. Words, definitions, even bibles are not absolute, but relative to our present mental state. We may know that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 18.10, but modern conditions and social pressures have blinded many people from this profound knowledge. As a result, choices are being made around the world that disregard the value of human life. Each life is truly a gift from God. We can honor His gift by cherishing our own lives as well as respecting and valuing the lives of others. We are precious in His sight, and by trusting Him and being diligent in our choices, we can share light and truth with the world around us. Our research shows a parallel or correlation between actualization and time competence. Self-actualizing people, those who trust in self-support, are oriented to the here and now. “I have tried to express this,” said Maslow, “as a contrast between living fully and preparing to live fully, between growing up and being grown. Actualizers are functioning now. Manipulators are paralyzed by regret (the past) and intent (the future). Manipulators talk a lot. “Things were better then.” (the good old days). “He ruined my life twenty years ago when he…” (the bad old days). “Everything will be okay someday, if only…” (supernatural intervention). “I do not know what I will do if…” (dire prediction). #RandolphHarris 8 of 25
However, they function only marginally. Persons who live in the future rely in expected events to motivate them. Frederick Perls suggests that ideals or goals are means by which the manipulator’s need for affection, appreciation, and admiration is gratified. That is, manipulators gratify their vanity by picturing themselves in terms of their goals. They invent a meaning for life to justify their experience. However, by this very striving for the goal of future perfections, manipulators turn their lives into a living hell. They achieve just the opposite of their intentions, arresting their own development and promoting feelings of inferiority in themselves. By the same token, individuals who live in the past rely on blaming others as a substitute for self-support. Our problems exist in the here and now, regardless of when they were born, and their solutions must be found in the here and now. Quite literally, the only time we can live is in the present. We can remember the past; we can anticipate the future, but we live only in the present. Even when we reexperience the past, we have not reversed time. We have, in effect, only moved the past up to the present. So, if psychotherapy is to help us solve our problems, it must work within the framework we have: the here and now. It is important to stress again that memory (from the past) and anticipation (toward the future) are acts in the present. “Now here I am remembering my mistakes,” says the patient. Note the difference between that and merely wandering off into memory. Or one might say: “I am planning to do the job on Wednesday,” and we would have to consider it as more then idle anticipation.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 25
Manipulators who are given to reminiscence of the past or idle talk of the future are not refreshed by these mental wanderings. They are exhausted and emptied, for such behavior is not active but passive. As Perls implies, one’s worthiness cannot be put forth in explanations for the past or by promises for the future. “It was not my fault,” whines the manipulator in referring to the past. “I am as good as anybody else.” Referring to the future, he says: “I am not very well right now, but I will make my mark.” Unlike either of these, actualizers get their feelings of worthiness from their adequacy in an activity that is going on now, or in relaxation after finishing it. They feel that explaining or promising is a lie, either a consoling or a self—punishing one. However, to do something and to be oneself are self-trusting and self-justifying. Here are examples of self-actualizing, present behavior. “I feel so alive working in the yard today.” “I really got a lot done today.” Love may be defined as wanting fulfillment or happiness for the other person as much for oneself—there is no doubt that it implies that the loved person is perceived as being part of the lover’s self-concept. Perhaps the most significant composition of the self-concept of the healthy personality are the ideas, ideals, or other abstractions that are suggested to be particularly characteristic of the high-level-functioning person. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25
For example, martyrs of all religions have given up their lives and have suffered torture to lesser parts of their self-concept, that is, their bodies, to maintain their abstract faith. Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident author who was expelled from his motherland, was in constant danger of his life, and perhaps still is; yet, he continued to write of the injustices of the Soviet prison system. His belief in “freedom,” and abstract concept, was easily as great as his valuation of his own life. Othe abstractions that for many people become a part of their self-concept include a particular political system, such as democracy or socialism; a particular philosophy, such as pragmatism or empiricism; even a particular theory in one’s profession, such as quantum theory or behaviorism; belief in ghosts, demons, heaven or hell, in science or in witches and magic—all of these are abstractions, or ideas, in many instance held by persons who would willingly give up their bodies to maintain or defend those abstractions. This is because our movement must, and always has proclaimed that external national freedom is never a given as gift by heavenly or earthly powers, but it can only be the fruit that results from inner strength of the nation. Everyone must to their part. We offered blood in the old days; now these people do nothing but sharpen their beaks. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25
How is it that the members of humanity, with all their accumulated wisdom, self-awareness, and desire for truth and self, can permit themselves to remain in such a mechanical situation, with its pathos and self-deception? People really should do only their jobs and mind their own business and follow the laws, rules, and regulations. Humanity is going to die out, eventually, but most importantly, we need to get through this financial crisis and stabilize the economy, not keep boosting up taxes and prices. Governor Gavin Newsom of California does not have bad timing; he creates disasters on purpose so he can get his way. People believe that Los Angeles was allowed to burn down, so they African American community could be relocated out of Altadena. Then, Altadena and Palisades would build new million and multi-million-dollar homes located in “Smart Cities,” repopulated by more “desirable” people. Also, Gavin Newsom purposes raised auto insurance limits by three times as high as they were over a period of two years, and raised the tax on gasoline 1 July 2025, right before the Independence Day holiday, while more people are going to be on the road, so he could replenish all the taxpayers’ money he blew on illegal immigrants. He is trying to bankrupt the American people. Also, gas prices in California are expected to rise again in 2026, not only because two refineries in California are closing, but also because Governor Gavin Newsom is also requiring refineries to produce a new blend of gas for California. Newsome is making automobile insurance to high, and gas prices so high to force people into buying electric cars. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25
This price gouging in California is happening partly because we allowing by voting democrats into office who do not have the minds for handling economics. We are more aware of ourselves than apes are, but obviously, not very much. Scripts are only possible because people do not know what they are doing to themselves and to others. In fact, to know what one is doing is the opposite of being scripted. There are certain aspects of bodily, mental, and social functioning which happen to man despite himself, which slip out, as it were, because they are programed to do so. These heavily influence his destiny through the people around him, while he still retains the illusion of autonomy. However, there are also certain remedies which can be applied. It is, above all, the plasticity of the human face which makes life an adventure rather than a controlled experience. This is based on an apparently trivial biological principle which has an enormous social power. The human nervous system is so constructed that the visual impact on the onlooker of small movements of the facial muscles is greater than the kinesthetic impact on the subject. When a man begins to lay down in advance the conclusions to which his thinking is to lead him, he is not really seeking truth. We must so care for the facts that we welcome them even when they are personally and profoundly distasteful. Nothing can be gained by shutting our eyes to them or by concealing them from our mental horizon, or by examining them with partiality and prejudice. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25
If we are to view the problem of truth aright, we must view it in proper proportions. We waste much mental energy in whole-heatedly denying this or contending for that; truth is like a diamond; it has several facets: we could be better employed seeing all the facets than in splitting them up. Analyze all round a subject’s head, but do not split its hairs. He who cannot reject his personal preferences at the higher bedding of truth; he who has no aptitude for reflecting upon abstract philosophical ideas or is unwilling to overcome inertia and labor at its creation; he who impertinently matches his individual opinions against the proved facts of science or philosophy as though they were of equal or superior value—such a man is quite unfit for this knowledge and can never master it. The very fact which may be put forth in support of one point of view may be triumphantly hailed by someone else as proof of a different point of view! Even the full debate and discussion cannot lead to full truth about any issue, spiritual or secular, when all the necessary information is not there. However, even if it is there, it will twist and prevent truth if the minds approaching it are seriously flawed. Too many arguments have mere egoistic self-expression as their purpose, and not the pursuit of truth. Neither arguer is really interested in seeing the fallacies and weaknesses of his own case, but only those of his opponent’s. Neither will be willing to abandon his own standpoint or theory no matter how much evidence or facts disprove it. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25
This battle of conflicting explanations is not necessary, since both refer to different aspects of the subject and as such are both correct. Conventional people, fond only of commonplace idea, may feel shocked at some philosophical statements. They do not see that their thinking is falsified because they have prejudiced their quest of truth from the start, because it is done within the context of convention attitudes. How few can free themselves from the thick incrustations of prejudice; how many are unable to approach an idea with calm, impersonal, detached open-mindedness! Most people naturally pick out from a teaching those views which please them and reject the others. Only the seeker who has disciplined himself morally and intellectually will ne heroic enough to take unpleasing views along with the pleasing ones. Philosophy’s teaching will appeal, and can only appeal, to those who have striven to escape from dogmatism, who have shaken off widespread prejudices and outgrown crudely materialistic ideas, and whose minds are sufficiently developed to realize the value of free views and flexible attitudes. Where that has been insufficiently achieved, a special discipline is prescribed to complete the preparation. Any many can fool himself by the trick of finding out just those facts that fit his fancy. All such pickings are easy, but they are also worthless. Any fuddle-minded person can twist and turn a situation into a painfully sorry caricature of itself. However, in doing that his is simply twisting his own head, to ignore conveniently what he does not wish to see. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25
The appreciation of a doctrine ought to be balanced and reasoned, not exaggerated or hysterical. The wish ought not to be made the father to the evaluation of it, nor to the judgment of its results. We must rid our minds of this cannot. We must clear our eyes of this cataract of prejudice which covers them and dims the sight against out real remedy. When a man’s thinking unconsciously mixes up the central issue of a problem with diverse other issues, and does not keep that entirely to itself, his conclusions are likely to be self-deceptive ones. When a man first starts to think, he must pass through the disease of mental measles, and get not a few obnoxious prejudices out of his head. People who live in the suburbs of thought have the sheeplike mentality which fears originality. When I meet with certain persons or certain books, I am often reminded of a certain sentence in Roman Seneca’s writings: “There are many who might have attained to wisdom, had they not fancied they had attained it already.” A small mentality can only mangle a large truth. It seems then evident, that the paramount duty of an American citizen, is, to put in requisition every possible means for elevating universally the intellectual and moral character of our people. When we speak of intellectual elevation, we would not suggest that all our citizens are to become able linguists, or profound mathematicians. That, at least for the present, is not practicable; it certainly is not necessary. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25
The object at which we aim will be attained, when every man is familiarly acquainted with what are now considered the ordinary branches of an English education. The intellectual stores of one language are then open before him; a language in which he may find all the knowledge that he shall ever need to form his opinions upon any subjects on which it shall be his duty to decide. A man who cannot read, let us always remember, is being not contemplated by the genius of our constitution. Where the right of suffrage is extended to all, he is certainly a dangerous member of community who has not qualified himself to exercise it. However, on this part of the subject, I need not enlarge. The proceedings of our general and State Legislatures already furnish ample proof that our people are tremblingly alive to its importance. We do firmly believe the time to be not far distance, when there will not be found a single citizen of these United States of America, who is not entitled to the appellation of a well-informed man. However, supposing all this to be done, still only a part and by far the least important part of our work will have been accomplished. We have increased the power of the people, but we have left it doubtful in what direction that power will be exerted. We have made it certain that a public opinion will be formed; but whether that opinion will be healthful or destructive is yet to be decided. There are so many men who believe that they know very well where they stand, but who believe wrongly. “When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too. The Governments applications to partially stay the preliminary injunctions are granted, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue,” reports Justice Amy Coney Barrett. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25
California is the third most expensive state in the nation. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now consider low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruze, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsom of Democratic controlled California, brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also facing a $12 billion deficit, looking to cut $747 million for state worker’s pay, pushing to keep medical insurance for illegal immigrants, but wants to cut medical for anyone who has assets over $2,000 and the state has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25
Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. Desalination has been identified as one technology that will help solve California’s water scarcity problem. Desalination is a cost-effective technology that can transform an abundance of salt water into a reliable supply of potable, fresh water, which is a great way to fight climate change and have enough water for our region’s water requirements. Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia is producing 1,036,000 meters (273,682,192) per day of desalinated water. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25
The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. Mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 or $88,724.00 and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Prices in Sacramento County are actually rivaling the Bay Area, and the Bay Aera is so expensive because they have more higher paying jobs and is a tourist destination. And with the State of California being in a budget deficit of $12 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom Granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion annually, while cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless, and is proposing to fast-track his plan to build a $20 billion water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by eliminating environmental reviews and limit avenues for legal challenges. Gavin Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25
In fact, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach, and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of poop, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century. However, it has become a public health crisis as the population of Tijuana has drastically increased, in recent years, and the waste treatment plants have no longer usable. The beach has been closed for more than three years, and evidence suggests that even breathing the air may be harmful, as toxic particles in the water can become airborne. Yet, even though Gavin Newsom has been governor for six years, he has not rushed into action to stop this very preventable environmental disaster. Why? Because he is not getting kickbacks from China and Mexico, not being gifted mansions and cars, and he cannot tax the struggling California taxpayers to clean up this mess. Simply, it is not profitable for him. Gavin Newsom has been a total tyrant with no regard for taxpayers and does not have a mind for business and should be impeached as soon as possible. He has criminalized poverty, increased taxes, increased tax on gas, and insurance rates so high that people are struggling to survive. In addition to Gavin Newsom’s increased gas prices starting 1 July 2025, the war between Iran and Israel is going to further exacerbate the prices of gas and cause more inflation and economic hardship for people in California. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has also given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. Wars have been started over governments who tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. If Gavin Newsom is not stopped, next he will euthanize the poor and sterilize the disabled. Gavin Newsom has wars and fires breaking out on the streets, but goes out of his way to arrest people who have no place to live. This monster is unfit to be governor and must never be allowed to be President of America! Stop Gavin Newsom now! Save California and impeach this unreasonable man. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25
Meanwhile, with President Trump, we are seeing crime rates sharply decrease, and he recently secured $10 trillion in investments. Additionally, in May of 2025 the United States of America collected a record $22.3 billion in tariff revenue. President Trump has also been nominated for a Noble Peace Prize for making Iran and Israel crease fire. If elected president for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25
When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25
As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrived at this fulness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 25 of 25
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
We wish to express our gratitude to our families, ancestors, spirits, and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.) https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/
BMW continues to dominate the luxury car space. With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands.
BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/
Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers
Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html
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Choose from five beautifully crafted floor plans ranging from approximately 1,342 to 2,547 square feet, with options for 3 to 5 bedrooms, flexible living spaces, and open-concept layouts designed for today’s lifestyles. Whether you’re a first-time buyer, growing family, or looking to simplify without sacrificing style, Park Haven offers a home that fits your needs.
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Don’t You Dare Ever Lay a Hand on Me Again!
After man has studied comparative religion, comparative metaphysics, and comparative mysticism, taking the East as well as the West in his stride, he is better fitted to come to right conclusions about truth, God, reality, the soul, and life’s purpose. As we bind ourselves to act as covenant disciples, our relationship with the Father and Son is enriched, our joy enhanced, and our eternal perspective expanded. We have a Heavenly Farther, who loves us as His children. His love for us is perfect. Jesus Christ and His mission illustrate God’s love for us. As John wrote, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In our quest to understand what we do not know, we might sometimes rely on our familiar mortal experienced, or things we do know. For example, we can learn somewhat of God the Father through our own parenthood and mortal family. However, we should be careful in applying these comparisons too far in our attempt to understand our Heavenly Father. The attributers of God the Father transcend any less-than-perfect attributes of a fallen man. God the Father is the perfect Father. He is perfectly loving, kind, patient, and understanding and is perfectly glorious. We can trust Him perfectly. The love of Christ reflects the love of God the Father and is a representation of that love. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
Reciprocity is a moral virtue. We ought to be disposed, as a matter of moral obligation, to return good in proportion to the good we receive, and to make reparation for the harm we have done. Moreover, reciprocity is a fundamental virtue. Its requirements have presumptive priority over many competing considerations, and that priority makes reciprocity a crucial consideration for a wide variety of important moral problems. Specifically, reciprocity fixes the outline of our nonvoluntary social obligations—the obligations we acquire during social life, but acquire without regard to our invitation, consent, or acceptance. Leading examples include some of our obligations to our families, to future generations, and to obey the law. We should talk about these matters, not in any spirit of animosity—of which the world is sadly too full-but in a spirit of mutual enlightenment, as of brothers calmly consulting to assist each other towards the elimination of mistakes. We must discuss these questions in the detached manner of the philosopher, and keep out those angry emotions and acrimonious words which often escape partisans in theological discussions. It is not at all hard for anyone with enough brains to state a case for being good and then to state a case of equal strength for being bad. Logical argument alone cannot provide a final test of the truth of any case. For this, we must go also to impersonal feeling, mystical intuition, and not least, practical life. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
The recognition that the synthetic view is the only right viewpoint will initiate a new epoch in the world of thought. For every argument that is set up and defended, there is always a possibility to set up another argument whereby it is contradicted or destroyed. The only qualification of this seemingly hopeless position is that we approach nearer truth as the contradictions lessen. A dialogue where both seek to learn, is what ought to take place, not a polemic where each listens only to himself! The region of logical intellect offers no durable abiding place for the questing human mind. Every argument can be met by another of equal force, every opinion cancelled by another of equal weight; nor is there any end to the process except escape from this region altogether. However, the escape should be on to a higher region, to that of genuine intuition, and not to a lower one like that of superstition belief. The futility of a solely logical attempt to solve problems concerning the human being, and his nature, relations, and activities, is shown by the many cases where men of equal intellectual capacity and academic status offer conflicting interpretations of the same fact or arrive at opposite conclusions from the same premises. Too often a study is made from a single angle only and neglects all the others. The result is a narrowed, limited understanding which leaves out factors that may be much more important. Each one omitted is, by implication, denied. A philosophical view takes as many aspects as possible into account to get nearer the full truth. #RandolpHarris 3 of 23
The Truth is found intellectually not at one end of a pair of opposite alternatives, not by making a choice between two concepts only, but by grinding and synthesizing the interplay of forces and experiences which must be considered. His conclusions are not hastily and impulsively reached. They follow the gathering of sufficient evidence, which means sufficient to give both sides of the case. He gives careful thought to it before he gives an opinion about it. He may go so far even as to put himself in the receptive mood which would make it possible for him to see a variant teaching in the light with which its followers see it. (One can, perhaps.) He may try to understand and sympathize with a viewpoint that may or may not have much to recommend it. However, if he should permit himself to respond thus, he would have to return from this standpoint anyway, for his critical intellect would, upon resuming renewed activity, ask insistent questions. The time comes when the seeker must sift out all the doctrines he has received and let those go which lack reasonableness, the sound of truth, the lofty tone of impersonality. And even after he has sieved away the ideas born of narrowness, pettiness, bigotry, prejudice, and false sentimentality, he has still to choose those which he can usefully work with. He will collect his ideas not from books alone, but also from various other sources, orthodox and unorthodox, conventional and off-beat. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
Looking around in society or in one’s clinical practice, it is not difficult to find examples of every character in the Cinderella story, from Cinderella herself, and her immediate family, through the ineffectual Prince and the King, and even down to the jolly, whiskered coachman who never said a word and who started out life as a rat. There are also shoe-fitters who Come To Find Out that what looks like a sow’s ear is really a silk purse. While the therapist can listen to the patient and search around in his head for a fairy tale which many match what he hears, or leaf through Stith Thompson’s motif-index when he gets home, a simpler way is to ask the patient himself to tell his life story as a fairy tale. An example of this was Drusilla, who was not a patient, but obliged during a seminar on fairy tales. An ancestor of Drusilla’s, many generations back, invented a widely used device, so that his name is still a household word. The story starts with Drusilla’s mother Vanessa, who was a descendant of this patriarch. Vanessa’s father died when she was quite young and she went to live in the home of her great-uncle, Charles. Charles lived on a large ranch near Los Angeles, complete with swimming pool, tennis courts, private lake, and even a golf course. Vanessa grew up in these surroundings and met people from many countries. She was not too happy, however, and when she was seventeen, she eloped with a man from the Philippines, named John Ryan. Their two daughters, Drusilla, and her sister Eldora, were raised on a plantation there. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
Drusilla was her father’s favorite. Eldora was something of a tomboy and became very athletic, an expert horsewoman, archer, and golfer. Her father used to beat her, but he never laid a hand on Drusilla. One day when Eldora was about eighteen, her father wanted to punish her. By this time, Eldora was as tall as he was and much stronger. As he advanced on her, she cowered, as she had always done, but suddenly Drusilla observed a strange transformation. Eldora drew herself up, flexed her muscles, and said to her father, “Don’t you dare ever lay a hand on me again.” She looked him fiercely in the eye and her father in his turn now cowered and backed away. Shortly after this, Vanessa divorced him and went with her two children to live on Uncle Charles’ estate. Drusilla in her turn now lived on her great-uncle’s ranch and met a man from a faraway country, whom she married. By him, she had two children. However, she always liked to make things so she became a weaver, and finally a teacher of weaving. It was because of her interest in weaving that she came to the seminar on fairy tales. Drusilla was asked to tell her story in the form of a fairy tale, using the script analyst’s language of frogs, princes, princesses, winners and losers, witches and ogres. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
Here is the way she told it: “Once upon a time, there was a king who conquered many lands, which his oldest son inherited. The kingdom was passed on from generation to generation. Since the oldest son inherited the kingdom, the younger sons got very little. One of the poor younger sons had a daughter Vanessa, but he died while on a hunt. Vanessa’s uncle, the king, then took her to live with him at the palace and there she met a prince from a strange and faraway land. The prince took her away from the kingdom to his own kingdom by the sea, where many unique flowers and forests grew. After a while, however, she found that her prince, John Ryan, was really a frog. John Ryan was equally surprised when he discovered that the beautiful bride whom he had married because he thought she was a princess turned out to be a witch. John Ryan and Vanessa had two daughters. The oldest, Eldora, was a frog like her father and he did not like her at all and used to scold her and beat her when she was little. The younger daughter, Drusilla, was a princess, and Manuel treated her like one. One day, a fairy came to Eldora and said to her, ‘I will protect you. If your father ever tries to beat you again, you must tell him to stop.’ So the next time John Ryan tried to beat Eldora, she suddenly felt very strong and told him that he must never beat her again. John Ryan was very indignant and thought it was his wife Vanessa who has caused Eldora to turn on him, so Vanessa moved away. She and her two daughters left faraway kingdom and went back to the kingdom of Uncle Charles where the two girls lived happily unto one day a prince came and fell in love with Drusilla. They were married with great pomp and had two beautiful daughters and Drusilla lived happily ever after, raising her children and weaving beautiful tapestries.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
Everybody at the seminar thought that was a fine story. Material objects are an integral part of one’s self-concept, regardless of the orientation of one’s society to socialism or materialism. Thus, your records, your car, some favorite items of clothing, such as an old pair of work pants or a woolly sweater (or Linus’s security blanket), are part of your self. So much are they a part of the self that we hesitate to lean them out, in the same way that we might hesitate to lean our identity to another person. Should your record get damaged, or your car dented, you would be just as upset as if you yourself were wounded. We maintain these objects of self as though they were the self. The list of objects perceived by people as part of the self can be limitless: a camera, pots and pans, home or room, a favorite pen, a violin or saxophone, a guitar, a special book, a special collection of art, or ceramic rhinoceroses, tools, a ring, a watch, a diary, a boat, or a TV. The body is not always an integral part of the self-concept, even though for most people there is probably no more certain object in the self-concept. Plato, for example, describes Socrates’ pleasure at the impending loss of his body. (He was sentenced to death for corrupting the youth.) Socrates sees himself as freed from the heavy burden of the physical self. He sees his “real” self as his soul, which will be freer to function unencumbered by the body. Yet, of course, for most human beings, the body is the central aspect of the self-concept. “How do I look?” we ask our spouse or our roommate or date. We ask asking about our physical appearance. We are worrying over the physical body even more during the present unisex period of our society’s development. Whereas indications from early research indicated more attention paid to the concept of the body by women, this seems to be evening out as, for example, men seek their hair styles rather than barbers. In the twenty-first century, it would require a great commitment to another, more abstract style of life for a person not to see the body as an important part of the self-concept. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
One of the significant differences between the manipulator and the actualizer lies in the way each approached the dimension of time. Past, present, and future exist for both, of course. However, each uses these three aspects of the flow of time in vastly different ways. For the manipulator, past events—real or imagined—conveniently provide excuses for failures. The future (since in one sense it never really arrives) is where manipulators can base their promises. As for the present-oriented manipulators, they talk a lot about what they are doing and may seem to be busy, but in fact they seldom accomplish much of anything. From our studies of the time-orientation of manipulators, we have come to the following conclusions: The past-oriented manipulator is characterized by guilt, regret, remorse, blaming and resentments. He or she never lets go of past hurts, never wipes the slate clean of unhappy memories. Listen to the manipulator, and you will hear such things as: “I feel so bad about what happened to my dad. Life has no meaning for me now.” “If only my parents had encouraged me to stay in college, I’d have my degree now. It’s too late to go back, and it’s all their fault.” “If my wife had only stopped nagging, or if only my husband had paid more attention to me, our marriage would have lasted.” “My boss is completely unreasonable! How does he expect me to do a good job for him?” #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
The future-oriented manipulators continually live in a world that does not yet exist. Their days are filled with idealized goals, high expectations, elaborate plans, grandiose predictions—and nagging fears. They are obsessive worriers who project their hopes and anxieties into the future. “Someday I’ll get going and return to school. I’ve got too many responsibilities now.” “You wait and see, I’ll be working here long after those guys are gone.” “I’m so worried about what is going to happen, I just can’t do anything right.” “I promise to do better next time.” Manipulators who are present-oriented are individuals whose past does not contribute to the present in any meaningful way and who have no future goals tied to present activity. They keep feverishly busy, but all their activity is a way to avoid facing themselves. They would say: “I’ve got so many responsibilities right now, I just don’t have time to think.” “I have three children and a spouse to care for, and I don’t have time for myself.” “I’ve made a list of all the things I’m doing today.” Actualizing person, on the other hand, are primarily time-competent. They are concerned with living fully in the present, but use the past and future to make the present more meaningful. They understand that memory and anticipation are acts in the present. The focus, therefore, of the actualizing individual is on the present with and future as background. Past, present, and future are, to the actualizing individual, a gestalt—a whole. It is impossible to see both figures at the same time. One must choose. The actualizer accepts the unchangeable particulars of the past and the indefiniteness of the future, and focuses on the part over which he or she has most power: the reality of the present. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Many unmarried women are deeply ashamed of having a lover, although in their conscious thinking, they are quite unconventional. In the case of such a woman, it is of importance to ascertain first whether her pride is hurt by the lover. If so, has the shame to do with his not being sufficiently glamorous or devoted? With her allowing him to treat her badly? With her being dependent on him? Or does the shame pertain to the fact of having a lover at all, regardless of his status and personality? If so, is it for her a matter of prestige to be married? Is the situation of having a lover, but remaining single, a proof of being unworthy and unattractive? Or should she be above desires for pleasures of the flesh, like a vestal virgin? Often the very same incident may elicit either reaction—that of shame or that of humiliation—the one or the other prevailing. A man is rejected by a girl; he can either feel humiliated by her and react with a, “Who does she think she is?” or her can feel ashamed that his charm or his virility seems not to be compelling. A comment made in a discussion falls flat; he can either feel humiliated by “these darned fools who do not understand me,” or he can feel ashamed of his own awkwardness. Somebody takes advantage of him’ he can either feel humiliated by the exploiter or ashamed of himself for not having asserted his own interests. His children are not brilliant or popular; he can feel humiliated by this fact, and take it out on them, or her can feel with shame that in some way or other, he has failed them. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
These observations point to the necessity of reorientating our thinking. We are inclined to put too great an emphasis on the actual situation, and to think that it determines or reactions. If he is caught in a lie, we are inclined, for instance, to regard it as “natural” for a person to react with shame. However, then, the next fellow does not feel that way at all; instead, he feels humiliated by the one who found him out and turns against him. Our reactions are thus determined not merely by the situation but even more by our own neurotic needs. More specifically, the same principle operates in the reaction of shame or humiliation as in the transformation of values. In aggressive expansive types, reactions of shame can be strikingly absent. Even the minute scrutiny of the analytical searchlight may not detect any traces at the beginning. These people who either live so much in the imagination that in their own mind they are without blemish, or they have so covered themselves with a protective layer of militant rightness that everything they do, eo ipso, is right. Injuries to their price can come only from the outside. Any questioning of their motivations, any uncovering of a handicap is felt as an insult. They can but suspect malicious intent in any person who does this to them. In self-effacing types, reactions of humiliation are by far overshadowed by feelings of shame. On the surface, they are subdued and preoccupied with an anxious concern to measure up to their shoulds. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
However, for reasons to be discussed later, they focus rather on their failure to be the ultimate of perfection and hence feel easily ashamed. The analyst can therefore, from the prevalence of one or the other reaction, draw tentative conclusions as to relevant trends in the underlying structure. One of Hegel’s commentators, Alexandre Kojeve, of left-wing tendencies it is true, but orthodox in his opinion on this point, notes Hegel’s hostility to the moralists and remarks that his only axiom is to live according to the manners and customers of one’s nation. A maxim of social conformity of which Hegel, in fact, gave the most cynical proofs. Kojeve adds, however, that this conformity is legitimate only to the extent that the customs of the nation correspond to the spirit of the times—in other words, to the extent that they are solidly established and can resist revolutionary criticism and attacks. However, who will determine their solidity and who will judge their validity? For a hundred years, the capitalist regimes of the West have withstood violent assaults. Should they for that reason be considered legitimate? Inversely, should those who were faithful to the Weimar Republic have abandoned it and pledged themselves to Mr. Hitler in 1933 because the former collapsed when attacked by the latter? Should the Spanish Republic have been betrayed at the exact moment when General Franco’s forces triumphed? These are conclusions that traditional reactionary thought would have justified within its own perspectives. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
The novelty, of which the consequences are incalculable, lies in the fact that revolutionary thought has assimilated them. The suppression of every moral value and of all principles and their replacement by the fact, as provisional but actual king, could only lead, as we have plainly seen, to political cynicism, whether it be fact as envisioned by the individual or, more serious still, fact envisioned by the State. The political movements, or ideologies, inspired by Hegel are all untied in the ostensible abandonment of virtue. Hegel could not, in fact, prevent those who had read him, with feelings of anguish which were far from methodical in a Europe that was already torn asunder by injustice, from finding themselves precipitated into a world without innocence and without principles—into the very world of which Hegel says that it is a sin, since it is separated from the spirit. Hegel, of course, permits the forgiveness of sins at the end of history. Until then, however, every human activity is sinful. “Therefore, only the absence of activity is innocent, the existence of a stone and not even the existence of a child.” Thus, even innocence of stones is unknown to us. Without innocence there are no human relations and no reason. Without reason, there is nothing but naked force, the master and slave waiting for reason one day to prevail. Between master and slave, even suffering is solitary, joy is without foundation, and both are underserved. Then how can one live, how endure life when friendship is reserved for the end of time? The only escape is to create order with the use of weapons. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
“Kill or enslave!”—those who have really considered only the first part of the dilemma. From it they have derived a philosophy of scorn and despair and have deemed themselves slaves and nothing but slaves, bound by death to the absolute Master and by the whip to their terrestrial masters. This philosophy of the guilty conscience has merely taught them that every slave is enslaved only by his own consent, and can be liberated only by an act of protest which coincides with death. Answering the challenge, the most courageous among them have completely identified themselves with this act of protest and have dedicated themselves to death. After all, to say that negation is a positive act justified in advance every kind of negation and predicted the cry of Bakunin and Nechaive: “Our mission is to destroy, not to construct.” A nihilist for Hegel was only a skeptic who had no escape but contradiction or philosophic suicide. However, he himself gave birth to another type of nihilist, who, making boredom into a principle of action, identified suicide with philosophic murder. It was at this point that the terrorists were born who deiced that it was necessary to kill and die in order to exist, because mankind and history could achieve their creation only by sacrifice and murder. The magnificent idea that all idealism is chimerical if it is not paid for by risking one’s life was to be developed to the fullest possible extent by young men who were not engaged in expounding the concept from the safe distance of a university chair before dying in their beds, but among the tumult of falling bombs and even on the gallows. By doing this and even by their errors they corrected their master and demonstrated, contrary to his teaching, that one kind of aristocracy, at least, is superior to the hideous aristocracy of success exalted by Hegel: The aristocracy of sacrifice. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
California is the third most expensive state in the nation. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now consider low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruze, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsom of Democratic controlled California, brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also facing a $12 billion deficit, looking to cut $747 million for state worker’s pay, pushing to keep medical insurance for illegal immigrants, but wants to cut medical for anyone who has assets over $2,000 and the state has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. Mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 or $88,724.00 and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Prices in Sacramento County are actually rivaling the Bay Area, and the Bay Aera is so expensive because they have more higher paying jobs and is a tourist destination. And with the State of California being in a budget deficit of $12 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom Granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion annually, while cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless, and is proposing to fast-track his plan to build a $20 billion water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by eliminating environmental reviews and limit avenues for legal challenges. Gavin Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
In fact, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach, and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of poop, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century. However, it has become a public health crisis as the population of Tijuana has drastically increased, in recent years, and the waste treatment plants have no longer usable. The beach has been closed for more than three years, and evidence suggests that even breathing the air may be harmful, as toxic particles in the water can become airborne. Yet, even though Gavin Newsom has been governor for six years, he has not rushed into action to stop this very preventable environmental disaster. Why? Because he is not getting kickbacks from China and Mexico, not being gifted mansions and cars, and he cannot tax the struggling California taxpayers to clean up this mess. Simply, it is not profitable for him. Gavin Newsom has been a total tyrant with no regard for taxpayers and does not have a mind for business and should be impeached as soon as possible. He has criminalized poverty, increased taxes, increased tax on gas, and insurance rates so high that people are struggling to survive. In addition to Gavin Newsom’s increased gas prices starting 1 July 2025, the war between Iran and Israel is going to further exacerbate the prices of gas and cause more inflation and economic hardship for people in California. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has also given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. Wars have been started over governments who tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. If Gavin Newsom is not stopped, next he will euthanize the poor and sterilize the disabled. Gavin Newsom has wars and fires breaking out on the streets, but goes out of his way to arrest people who have no place to live. This monster is unfit to be governor and must never be allowed to be President of America! Stop Gavin Newsom now! Save California and impeach this unreasonable man. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
Meanwhile, with President Trump, we are seeing crime rates sharply decrease, and he recently secured $10 trillion in investments. Additionally, in May of 2025 the United States of America collected a record $22.3 billion in tariff revenue. President Trump has also been nominated for a Noble Peace Prize for making Iran and Israel crease fire. If elected president for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrived at this fulness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
We wish to express our gratitude to our families, ancestors, spirits, and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.) https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/
BMW continues to dominate the luxury car space. With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands.
BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/
Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers
Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html
Ascent at Montelena
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I Am Lazy; I Always Give Up When the Task Becomes Difficult!
Younger mentalities need to think in terms of definite sense impressions, of physical feels, sights, and sounds. More developed mentalities can think in terms of abstract ideas, of general metaphysical principles. The first groups is the most numerous. According to Dr. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the psyche comprises three aspects: the id, ego, and superego. The id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains the sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. Dr. Freud proposed that these three aspects of the psyche may influence the way we think of ourselves. We must first give intellectual assent to philosophical teachings before we can hope to gain practical demonstration of their worth. Persons’ self-concepts comprise all their beliefs about their own nature. They include their assumptions about their strengths and weaknesses, their possibilities for growth, and their explicit descriptions of their customary patterns of behaviour and experiencing. Thus, a person may say, “I am lazy; I always give up when the task becomes difficult. I usually feel happy. I am warm and friendly; however, I need a great deal of help to make it through life.” These self-descriptions resemble statistical formulations, in the sense that the individual believes there have been many occasions when he or she acted in those ways. #RandolphHarris 1 of 29
In most encounters, we can determine the kind of experience we are going to have by how we respond. It is usually important to be respectful of others. However, sometimes people are very disrespectful to an individual for no reason, and when that individual defends themselves, others like to make a spectacle of the victim and say that individual caused the situation because he or she is a certain race, a particular gender, or the situation was due to their appearance when none of those factors are accurate. It is hard, perhaps impossible, to give absolute proof of any statement or any fact; but a reasonable proof may be given. Life is too short to wait for the one so we have often to accept the other. The continual and untiring quest of truth is what distinguishes the philosophic attitude toward life. The intellectual discipline which this involves is irksome to the ordinary mind. For it demands the scrutiny of fact, the unveiling of assumptions, the examination of reasoning processes leading to conclusions, and the probing of standpoints to their ultimate ground. Patience is needed, for the time factor is still there; the ripeness of mind of the prober is still essential, and it must not limit itself by preconceived ideas. It is at the threshold of an astounding realm, where so much that was correct on other levels collapses here and is no longer correct. In His instructions to the Nephites, the Saviour taught, “Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,” Reports 3 Nephi 14.12. #RandolphHarris 2 of 29
The Golden Rule is an ethical principle that states: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” It emphasizes treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. This principle is found in the Gospel of Matthew 7.12, and it was spoken by Jesus Christ and is considered a Christian moral guideline. If everyone practiced the Golden Rule, imagine the effect it would have on the world. However, to do so, seems to be contrary to human nature in today’s face-pace world. In fact, there is a greater tendency for people to act aggressively toward each other. Some are quick to take offense and respond angrily to real or imagined affronts, and we have all experience or heard reports of road rage or other examples of rude, insensitive behaviour. Unfortunately, some of this spills over into our homes, creating friction and tension among family members. It may seem natural to react to a situation by giving back what is given to us. However, it does not have to be that way. The decisions we make and the way we behave are what ultimately shape our character. We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny. It is in the home that our behaviour is most significant. It is the place where our actions have the greatest impact, for good or ill. Sometimes we are so much “at home” that we no longer guard our words. We forget simple civility. If we are not on guard, we can fall into the habit of criticizing one another, losing our tempers, or behaving selfishly. Because they love us, our spouses and children may be quick to forgive, but they often carry away in silence unseen injuries and unspoken heartache. #RandolphHarris 3 of 29
There are too many homes where children fear their parents or where wives fear their husbands. Our leaders have reminded us that “fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness,” and warned “that individual who abuse spouse or offspring will one day stand accountable before God.” If he can foster an atmosphere of contention, conflict, and fear in the home, that adversary knows that the Spirit is grieved and the cords that ought to bind the family are weakened. The resurrected Lord, Himself declared, “For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another,” reports 3 Nephi 11.29. Our home should ideally be a refuge where each member feels safe, secure, loved, and insulated from harsh criticism and contention that we so often encounter in the world. Jesus Christ set a perfect example of maintaining emotional control in every setting. Appearing before Caiaphas and Pilate, He was buffeted, slapped, spat upon, and mocked by His tormentors (see Matthew 26; Luke 23). The great irony was that they demeaned their Creator, whose suffering was undertaken out of love for them. In the face of his unjust abuse, Jesus Christ maintained His composure, refusing to act unkindly. Even on the cross, amid that unspeakable agony, His plea was, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” reports Luke 23.34. God and Jesus Christ expect the same of us, too. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” reports John 13.35. #RandolphHarris 4 of 29
One sees their anxiety to understand a doctrine which is on too abstract a level for them and pities the bewilderment with which they end. Yet, for such there is an easier way, brining a more successful result. It is to take up the study of the gospel of Christ first, and only after that, proceed to the study of mentalism and psychology. The work of research proves endless. The task of collecting all the data has no finish to it, and if we are to arrive at any conclusion at all, there is some point at which we must cut short our investigation and reflection. Thus, by the very act with which we serve the cause of practical truth, we render a disservice to the cause of theoretical truth. The very means whereby we decide, join a party, take a side, or evaluate a right and a wrong produce only a makeshift result. We must think our thoughts out to their inevitable conclusion and not stop halfway when the process becomes decidedly unpleasant. Memorized knowledge is inferior to thought-out understanding. It is one thing to begin to suspect the fallacy of these views; it is another to be completely certain of it. A long road lies between the two states and it passes through uneasiness, anxiety, wretchedness, and anguish. The hand of experience sows a good many doubts in the field of his early beliefs. We learn truth partly by experience, partly by intuition, and partly by instruction. Therefore, one of the first steps upon this path is to accept, tentatively at least the reasonable propositions laid down here and to allow the mind to work upon them in a sympathetic manner. #RandolphHarris 5 of 29
Memory depends on interest, attention, and concentration. However, the path does not depend on memorizing; we leave that to the academic philosophers of the universities. It depends on getting understanding, brain-changing not brain-packing. It is inevitable that, as his search for truth becomes keener and deeper, his thought will become more precise. So far as education consists of knowledge and information, it depends on memory, which is a function of an ego built up by the past and present experiences. It is not only a matter of temperament as to which view he will accept, although that factor is obviously present, but must more of development. How far has he journeyed in the understanding of life and the mastery of self? The first impulse to gather facts—that is, to know—was the first step taken by primitive men out of their backwardness toward science. The first impulse to explain those facts—that is, to know, understand, and complete—was the first step taken towards metaphysics. Take what you can find is congenial to your mind, appealing to your heart, and conformable with reason and evidence. To isolate the genuine truths from all the possible fantasies is hardly a work for beginners. When you mind can move from point to point, from idea to idea with alert nimbleness, it is ready for philosophy. As if they were describing a fixed essence, or a class of objects of which they are a specimen, that is how people describe themselves. When a person says he or she is lazy, or sincere, it is as if the person is saying, “It is my nature to be lazy, or sincere, just as it is the nature of a wolf to be fierce.” However, human beings do not have fixed natures; neither do wolves. #RandolphHarris 6 of 29
Under most circumstances of life, humans have the freedom to choose how they will be and how they will act. Thus, when persons form self-concepts, thereby defining themselves, they are not so much describing that nature as they are making a pledge that they will continue to be the kinds of people they believe they now are and have been. One’s self-concept is not so much descriptive of experience and action as it is prescriptive. The self-concept is a commitment. Because our self-concepts are such powerful influences upon our experience and action, it follows that anything or any person who influences what we believe to be true or possible for ourselves will have a powerful influence. If I can convince you that you are strong, when hitherto you believed you were weak, you may then begin to act in ways that befit a strong person. What you believe to be true of yourself is your “nature”; what should never be forgotten is that one’s beliefs about self are just that—beliefs—and they can be changed. One’s self-concept is open to change, just as one’s beliefs about God, one’s parents, or the world are open to change. The self-concept exercises almost a tyrannical roe in determining behavior. All human behaviour is determined by the need for the individual to maintain and enhance the phenomenal self—another synonym for the self-concept. May we evidence our discipleship by strengthening our homes in kind and loving ways. May we remember that a soft answer turneth away wrath” and strive through our relationships and encounters to shape a character that will meet with the Savior’s approval. #RandolphHarris 7 of 29
There is an assimilation of the master-slave relationship to the relationship between man and God. One of Hegel’s commentators’ remarks that if the master really existed, he would be God. Elsewhere Hegel identifies the supreme master with absolute death. And so, the struggle begins again, on a higher level, between man in chains and the cruel God of Abraham. The solution to this new conflict between the universal God and the human entity will be furnished by Christ, who reconciles in Himself the universal and the unique. However, in one sense, Jesus Christ is a part of the palpable world. He is visible, He lived and He died. He is therefore only a stage on the road to the universal; He too must be denied dialectically. It is only necessary to recognize Him as the man-God to obtain a higher synthesis Skipping the intermediary stages, it suffices to say that this synthesis, after being incarnated to the Church and in Reason, culminates in the absolute State, founded by the soldier workers, where the spirit of the world will be finally reflected in the mutual recognition of each by all and in the universal reconciliation of everything that has ever existed under the sun. At this moment, “when the eyes of the spirit coincide with the eyes of the body,” each individual consciousness will be nothing more than a mirror reflecting another mirror, itself reflected to infinity in infinitely recurring images. The City of God will coincide with the city of humanity; and universal history, sitting in judgment on the world, will pass its sentence by which good and evil will be justified. The state will play the part of Destiny and will proclaim its approval of every aspect of reality on “the sacred day of the Presence.” #RandolphHarris 8 of 29
In spite, or because, of the extreme ambiguity of their interpretation, essential ideas have literally driven the revolutionary mind in apparently contradictory directions and which we are now learning to rediscover in the ideology of our times. Amorality, scientific materialism, and atheism have definitely replaced the antitheism of the rebels of former times and have made common cause, under Hegel’s paradoxical influence, with a revolutionary movement which, until his time, was never really separated from its moral, evangelical, and idealistic origins. If they are sometimes very far from really originating with Hegel, these tendencies found their source in the ambiguity of his thought and in his critique of transcendence. Hegel’s undeniable originality lies in his definitive destruction of all vertical transcendence—particularly the transcendence of principles. There is no doubt that he restores the immanence of the spirit to the evolution of the world. However, this immanence is not precisely defined and has nothing in common with the pantheism of the ancients. The spirit is and is not part of the world; it creates itself and will finally prevail. Values are thus only to be found at the end of history. Until then, there is no suitable criterion on which to base a judgment of value. One must act and live in terms of the future. All morality becomes provisional. The nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty first centuries, in their most profound manifestations, are centuries that have tried to live without transcendence. #RandolphHarris 9 of 29
Meaningful contact with others requires an ability to be quite comfortable with yourself alone. Manipulators who are withdrawing and avoiding might appear to like to be alone. This is not true. Such manipulators are equally as uncomfortable with themselves as they are with others. Actualizers, on the other hand, enjoying close contact with others, also cherish their moments of privacy. One of the subjects of Dr. Maslow’s study of self-actualizing people sat alone for one hour a day, between five and six in the evening, in front of her fireplace. That time was sacred to her, and other concerns were not allowed to interfere. If you examine your daily routines, you will find that you are “withdrawn” for approximately eight hours during sleep. You are involved with other people at work for another eight hours, which leaves about eight hours for relationships with family and friends. About half of our existence, then, involves people. It would be unnatural to want a great deal more. No matter how self-actualizing you may be, you must at times be by yourself. Although manipulation usually involves withdrawal from close relationships, one can be manipulative by maintaining a relationship beyond its nourishing value. Such a manipulator is described by Perls as a clinger or hanging-on biter. The clingers will not give up, but keep right on talking to you although they realize that the conversation is finishes. This is not a matter of social awkwardness, of not knowing how to terminate the exchange, but a neurotic fear on the part of these individuals that they have not said all they want to say. They are so insecure that they cannot let go. #RandolphHarris 10 of 29
When they go for interviews, this fear costs people jobs and, having said something once, they keep trying to say it again and invariably mess it all up. The hanging-on biters are those recognizable individuals who hang on to a conversation like a bulldog with a stick. Rather tan bite it off, they brace themselves like a bulldog and stand there, vigorously shaking the conversational stick. It is necessary for therapy that the analyst gradually gain a clear picture of the kinds of pride operating in each individual patient. If he is unconsciously or consciously proud of it, naturally a patient cannot regard a drive, an attitude, or a reaction as a problem to be tackled. A patient may, for instance, have become aware of his need to outwit others. The analyst may feel it self-evident that this is a problematic trend to be tackled, and to be overcome eventually, because he considers the interest of the patient’s real self. He realizes the trend’s compulsive character, the disturbance it creates in human relations, the waste of energies which could be employed for constructive purposes. The patient on the other hand, without being aware of it, may feel that just this very capacity to outwit others makes him a superior person; and he is secretly proud of it. He is interested therefore not in analyzing the tendency to outwit but in the factors in himself which interfere with his doing it to perfection. If this difference in evaluation is under cover, analyst and patient will move on different planes and analyze at cross-purposes. #RandolphHarris 11 of 29
Neurotic pride resting on such shaky foundations is an insubstantial as a card house and, like the latter, collapses at the slightest draft. In terms of subjective experience, it makes a person vulnerable, and does so exactly to the extent that he is obsessed by pride. It can be hurt as easily from within as from without. The two typical reactions to hurt pride are shame and humiliation. If we do, think, or feel something that violates our pride, we will feel ashamed. And, if other do something that hurts our pride, or fail to do what our pride requires of them, we will feel humiliated. In any reaction of shame or humiliation that seems out of place or out of proportion we must answers these two questions: What in the situation has aroused this response? And what special underlying pride has been hurt by it? They are closely interrelated, and neither can be given a quick answer. The analyst may know, for instance, that masturbation provokes excessive shame in a person who in general has a rational, sensible attitude to the problem and would not disapprove of it in others. There, at least, the shame-provoking factor seems to be clear. However, is it? Masturbation may mean different things to different people, and the analyst cannot know offhand which of the many factors that may be involved in masturbation is relevant to arousing the shame. Does it mean for the patient a sexual activity that is degraded because it is separate from love? Is the satisfaction attained greater than the pleasures of the flesh, and thereby disturbing to the image of being geared only to love? Is it a question of the concomitant fantasies? Does it mean the admission of having any needs? Is it too much self-indulgence for a stoical person? Does it mean loss of self-control? Only to the extent that the analyst grasps the relevance of these factors for the patient can he then raise the second question as to the kind of pride that has been hurt by masturbation. #RandolphHarris 12 of 29
The opposition to commitment expressed by some people is essentially political in nature. It is an attack on the Establishment—which, freely translated—means simply that they feel compelled to reject any standard their parents might possibly approve. Feminists who approve of extramarital pleasures of the flesh because it takes them longer to step away from the sexual double standard, are also using the sexual code of behaviour as a political weapon. Their chief purpose is to assert that they have equal rights to any freedom that men claim—without attempting to determine whether that freedom necessarily contributes to the well-being of any individual, male or female. A different, and nonpolitical, rationale is offered by feminists who see affairs outside of marriage as a means of enabling certain wives to throw off their culturally induced inhibitions and to awaken their long-dormant capacity to respond to stimulation for pleasures of the flesh. There can be no argument with any of these positions when they are not rationalized as the foundation for a general structure of values for pleasures of the flesh. However, it is important to understand that this is the pleading of special cases. If some people must reject their parents’ social-pleasures of the flesh values before they can be free to have the experiences, they need as the basis for validating other values—or reaffirming those that were originally rejected—they are acting no differently than rebellious people have for centuries. If some women must first establish their right to indulge in extramarital pleases of the flesh, as a way of regaining their self-esteem and their sense of being independent and equal human beings, so that as equals with men they can get on with the important tasks of learning to live well together, their tactics are not understandable. If other women must go outside their marriages in search of affirmation of themselves as sexual human beings, their actions deserve compassion and support in guiding them back to the ways of the Lord. #RandolphHarris 13 of 29
Sexual commitment in marriage is not dispensable, and in no case does it warrant being compromised. Stating the extramarital affairs are acceptable is misleading and amounts to being a deception. Extramarital affairs are not a step to be accepted as a last resort, and carry with it the potential for a cure that is as unsatisfactory as the problem to be cured; what beings as an isolated act or two may become a premeditated and repeated pattern of action—which is generally as destructive to the emotional fabric of a marriage as anything can possible be. Thus, compromising the sexual commitment as a means of patching up a marriage may succeed only in tearing it further apart. After reading that an extramarital relationship may help revitalize her sexual energies, a sexually distressed wife had an affair. Immediately there are questions that cannot be ignored. Has she openly communicated with her husband about her dissatisfaction? If so, why have they been unsuccessful in finding a remedy? Or getting help? And if she has not communicated with him, why not? If it is because they are emotionally incompatible, or if they cannot communicate about anything that really matters to her, what kind of a marriage does she have? If the marriage is that emotionally impoverished, why make the issue seem to be the righteousness of extramarital sex—when the issue is really the inadequacy of the marriage? Nor do the questions stop there. Even if the affair turns out well and the wife becomes excited for pleasures of the flesh, what does she do with her drive? How can she cope with the powerful feelings that dominate her but cannot be shared with her husband? #RandolphHarris 14 of 29
Or, trying to share them, how can she help comparing one man to another—and if her sexually unsophisticated or incompetent husband suffers by the comparison, what does she do then with her feelings? Bury them and bury too her newly kindled responsivity for pleasures of the flesh? Or respecting her natural right to those feelings, does she embark on a succession of affairs? Or does she divorce her husband? The questions are, in truth, endless. The few that have been raised are intended only to illuminate the virtual meaninglessness of all special pleading in favour of extramarital pleasure of the flesh. Generalized principles are useless guides to human behaviour involving pleasures of the flesh; what may apply to one person will not apply to another—and, in fact, what is true for one person at a particular moment in life may not be true for that same person at a later moment. Thus, without Christian moral guidelines and without knowing the nature of marriage in the eyes of the Lord, there is no possible way for anyone to offer a secure word of advice about the consequences that may follow if either partner, or both, decide to put an end to their commitment of pleasures of the flesh. Like all of God’s commandments, the law of chastity is a blessing from God to help us have peace and joy. Living this law can also help us stay emotionally and physically safe and well. And it helps us prepare to receive God’s greatest blessing in life. Chastity means not having any relationship involving pleasures of the flesh outside of a legal marriage between a man and a woman. Those who are chaste also strive to have sexually appropriate thoughts, words, and actions. Living this law includes being completely loyal to your spouse within marriage, both physically and emotionally. #RandolphHarris 15 of 29
Chasity is a commandment from God, and obedience to that law helps us prepare to enter the house of the Lord. In the temple, we are invited to more fully commit by covenant to live the law of chastity. When people care for one another enough to keep the law of chastity, their love, trust, and commitment can increase, resulting in greater happiness and unity. Our Heavenly Father has given us the law of chastity for our spiritual and physical protection. Obedience to this law is essential to personal peace and happiness. Those who keep themselves sexually pure will also be more sensitive to the Holy Ghost’s guidance, strength, comfort, and protection. If we choose to keep our covenants with Him, no matter how strong our temptations are, the Lord will help us resist them. The Apostle Paul taught, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. The Lord trusts us to make decisions that will honour the gift of our body and others’ bodies, and we are truly blessed as we make choices based on that trust. The Spirit will guide and strengthen us to help us keep this law. The Lord and His prophets warn against sexual immorality. The prophet Alma taught about the seriousness of sexual sin. All sexual relationships outside of marriage between a man and a woman break the law of chastity, and are physically and spiritually dangerous for those who engage in them. One violation of the law of chastity is adultery, which is sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than their spouse. Adultery is one of the sins warned against in the Ten Commandments. #RandolphHarris 16 of 29
The Apostle Paul also taught that is “is the will of God” that we “abstain from fornication,” which, in a gospel context, is engaging in sexual behaviour outside of marriage between a man and a woman. Though sexual sins are very serious, the gift of repentance is real. Because the Lord loves us, He will fully forgive us when we choose to repent and turn to Him. Repentance requires patience, perseverance, and a change of heart, but it is worth the effort. Sometimes people who have an affair with someone’s spouse feel the need to come clean and confess. However, that might not always be a good idea. It could ruin your friendships and it could ruin their relationship. It might be a good idea to repent and not do it again. Repentance is one of the first principles of the gospel and is essential to our temporal and eternal happiness. It is much more than just acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, about ourselves, and about the world. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments. The Lord has declared that “no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven.” Our sins make us unclean—unworthy to return and dwell in the presence of our Heavenly Father. They also bring anguish to our soul in this life. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Father in Heaven has provided the only way for us to be forgiven of our sins. Jesus Christ suffered the penalty for our sins so we can forgive if we sincerely repent. As we repent and rely on his saving grace, we will be cleansed from sin. #RandolphHarris 17 of 29
The goal of adopting a safety culture in a fire and emergency services is a daunting yet essential task. To define a safety culture, we first must examine the causes of injuries and death. Emergency responder injuries can be caused by mechanical failure (a rope breaking), human failure (overloading the rope), or an organizational failure (not inspecting or replacing the rope). Organizational failures are always a result of not having a safety culture. Did you ever wonder why discussion regarding firefighting safety are often compared to the airline industry? Besides the fact that both are high-risk professions, they also have the potential for large losses of life based on human decisions, and many times both professions must work with incomplete or inaccurate information. However, the biggest reason why firefighting should be compared with the airline industry could be that they identified a lack of a safety culture and evolved into one. Professionals are who and what they are because they acquire expertise—special kind of knowledge and a context for that knowledge. Expertise can be of at least three types: technical—based on training and study; theoretical/intellectual—based on education and study; and liberal—based on broad reading, interactions with colleagues, and a focus on lifelong learning. Professionals know how to operate the hardware of their professions. They are technically expert. For the doctor, it is an in-depth knowledge of medicines and drugs, laboratory testing, imaging equipment, and surgical procedures. For the architect, it is a well-defined knowledge of loads, stresses, materials tolerances, and coefficients. For the award-winning Sacramento Fire Department professional, it is an intimate knowledge of architecture, building code, fire science, automobiles, medical information, and human biology. #RandolphHarris 18 of 29
Theoretical (or intellectual) expertise is the “how” and “why” of the technical component. In our example of medicine, technicians can perform the tests, but may not know the ho0w and why behind the intricate functions of the human body. A construction worker knows how to pour cement for a reinforced foundation, but may not understand how or why the foundation will hold up the building. The same is true of the firefighter, paramedic, or EMT who knows the basic functions of the Sacramento Fire Department’s equipment. It is not necessary for him to understand the theoretical concepts being the tactical or strategic use of the equipment. This component of the professional officer’s job is what enables him to comprehend and apply new techniques. Life or death decisions come from a firefighter, paramedic or EMT’s ability to understand the role of his profession and its unique expertise within society. It includes knowledge of human behaviour, human relationships, standards of conduct, and the structures of human organizations. A professional needs to know when and how to offer his services to achieve the most desirable and effective results. You could call this the philosophy of the Sacramento Fire Department of the doctrinal ground of fire and/or medical science. What expertise does the Sacramento Fire Department expect you, as an officer in training, to master? The Sacramento Fire Department expects you to learn how to organize, equip, and train the force—your team members. The Sacramento Fire Department also expects you to plan the activities of the force with clarity of mission. You must also know how to be expert in directing operations—engaging in the many kinds of fire department activities during work hours, home life, and when in an emergency. Directing operations is a core responsibility of a professional fire fighter, paramedic, or EMT. #RandolphHarris 19 of 29
“I know what I want to say, but it’s hard to get across. I think that with my kids and everything else, I have responsibilities. Being a fireman, and being a fireman with the Sacramento Fire Department, I have to put my best foot forward. I want to leave everybody impressed, that’s the way I feel. If anybody else feels malice toward me because I work for the Sacramento Fire Department, then that’s their problem. If I ever went down South and got stopped by a state trooper, and he knew I was a fireman because I’ve got my emblem or something, I want to leave him impressed with me. When he leaves me, I want him to say, ‘Well, that’s one sharp guy. He seems to be an intelligent guy.’ That’s what I would like to leave with everybody, actually. But especially with the troopers. It’s the only thing I want to do. If I can’t do anything else, I want to change people’s minds. I know that some people have certain beliefs about the way other people are, or the way they think they should be. It may not be my responsibility, but I would like to changes people’s minds, if I can, and leave them with a positive attitude toward the Sacramento Fire Department.” Take a minute and consider the influence that mobile phones, eye glasses with hidden cameras, drones, and video cameras, combined with social media, can have on your personal performance review. You may be so involved in pulling the hoseline, bagging the patient, or yelling at the crowd to “get back” that you do not even notice that you are being recorded from several different angles. Since the potential exist for you to be a movie star, the only way to perform well is practice, practice, practice. #RandolphHarris 20 of 29
If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire fighters are getting back into their vehicle and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals, sometimes emergency vehicles are in motions, albeit, slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 21 of 29
California is the third most expensive state in the nation. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now consider low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruze, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsom of Democratic controlled California, brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also facing a $12 billion deficit, looking to cut $747 million for state worker’s pay, pushing to keep medical insurance for illegal immigrants, but wants to cut medical for anyone who has assets over $2,000 and the state has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 22 of 29
Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 23 of 29
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 24 of 29
The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. Mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 or $88,724.00 and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Prices in Sacramento County are actually rivaling the Bay Area, and the Bay Aera is so expensive because they have more higher paying jobs and is a tourist destination. And with the State of California being in a budget deficit of $12 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom Granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion annually, while cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless, and is proposing to fast-track his plan to build a $20 billion water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by eliminating environmental reviews and limit avenues for legal challenges. Gavin Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. #RandolphHarris 25 of 29
In fact, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach, and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of poop, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century. However, it has become a public health crisis as the population of Tijuana has drastically increased, in recent years, and the waste treatment plants have no longer usable. The beach has been closed for more than three years, and evidence suggests that even breathing the air may be harmful, as toxic particles in the water can become airborne. Yet, even though Gavin Newsom has been governor for six years, he has not rushed into action to stop this very preventable environmental disaster. Why? Because he is not getting kickbacks from China and Mexico, not being gifted mansions and cars, and he cannot tax the struggling California taxpayers to clean up this mess. Simply, it is not profitable for him. Gavin Newsom has been a total tyrant with no regard for taxpayers and does not have a mind for business and should be impeached as soon as possible. He has criminalized poverty, increased taxes, increased tax on gas, and insurance rates so high that people are struggling to survive. In addition to Gavin Newsom’s increased gas prices starting 1 July 2025, the war between Iran and Israel is going to further exacerbate the prices of gas and cause more inflation and economic hardship for people in California. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has also given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. Wars have been started over governments who tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. If Gavin Newsom is not stopped, next he will euthanize the poor and sterilize the disabled. Gavin Newsom has wars and fires breaking out on the streets, but goes out of his way to arrest people who have no place to live. This monster is unfit to be governor and must never be allowed to be President of America! Stop Gavin Newsom now! Save California and impeach this unreasonable man. #RandolphHarris 26 of 29
Meanwhile, with President Trump, we are seeing crime rates sharply decrease, and he recently secured $10 trillion in investments. Additionally, in May of 2025m the United States of America collected a record $22.3 billion in tariff revenue. If elected president for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. #RandolphHarris 27 of 29
When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. #RandolphHarris 28 of 29
As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrived at this fulness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 29 of 29
A New Era of Fear Awaits at Winchester Mystery House.
This fall, Winchester Mystery House unlocks its secrets for @festivalfrightnights, a brand-new Halloween event created in partnership with Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group — the minds behind iconic experiences like Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary and the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride.
It’s Halloween night, 1924. Two years after Sarah Winchester’s death, the mansion reopens under mysterious new ownership. Guests are invited to a glamorous masquerade ball – but the host claims to have opened a portal to the past. Has he uncovered the truth behind the house’s haunted history, or unleashed something far worse?
Festival Fright Nights features three haunted attractions, immersive theatrical moments, themed food and drink, and access to areas never before opened to the public. Running select nights from September 26 through November 1, it’s poised to become the Bay Area’s premier Halloween destination.
Tickets to this event are limited and expected to sell out quickly. For event details and early access to tickets visit the link in bio. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/
BMW continues to dominate the luxury car space. With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands.
BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/
Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers
Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html
Ascent at Montelena
11977 Cobble Brook Drive, Rancho Cordova, California 95742
4 Home Design(s) Available
Now selling in Rancho Cordova, at Ascent at Montelena. This family-friendly community is near major employers like Sutter Health and the State of California. Located in the Sacramento Valley, residents enjoy Northern California at its best. These two-story single-family homes feature Life Tested® floor plans, smart home features, energy-efficient construction, and modern architecture. https://www.pulte.com/homes/california/sacramento/rancho-cordova/ascent-at-montelena-210916
People Die in Bed and So Does Ambition
People die in bed and so does ambition. Therefore, it is essential to never give up. “Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread, nor wear the garment of the laborer,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 42.42. We are here for a great purpose and it is not meant for us to just have fun and accumulate materials things. While it is important to enjoy life and have a clean and safe place to live, we are here to do the Lord’s work. We must work righteousness in the Earth, subdue wickedness, and conquer sin in our souls. Everyone experiences their identities differently, but everyone experiences who they are. We act in the world and interact with other people as the person we believe ourselves to be. Our very names designate our personal, as well as family, identities, and we act in the ways expected of the person so named. Some psychologists describe a person’s sense of his or her identity with the term self. This term implies that the individual is somebody in particular (a self), and it also signifies that this individual can experience his or her being in several perspectives, or modes, such as the modes of perception, of conceptualizing, and of imagination. The structure of the self has a great deal to do with one’s success, one’s ability to accomplish goals set by self or by others. #RandolphHarris 1 of 28
The self-concept is the picture we have of ourselves. In recent years, the importance of this concept has become established as a factor in school achievement, social behavior—almost all facets of one’s life. It often includes an appraisal or evaluation of self as “good” or “bad,” judgments we make about our own intelligence, attractiveness, and abilities. The self is the unique, special identity, the person, the personality. Under its synonym, the personality, the self has a great collection of research behind it, and it is a never-ending cause of concern, wonder, pride, or even sometimes shame for the human being who attempts to discover self. The ideal self is the person or self we think we ought to be. It is important, in that too big a difference between one’s self-concept and one’s ideal self indicates a good deal of dissatisfaction with one’s self and is often associated with behavior or emotional problems. The public self is the image or picture of ourselves that we give to the general society. It includes the way we want to be seen by others and often involves hiding some aspect of self or showing only certain aspects of self. However, the authentic person discloses his or her whole self comfortably and allows very little distinction between the public self and the real self. Sometimes the public self is also called the social self. #RandolphHarris 2 of 28
The real self is a bit of mystery. It is not as readily defined as other terms about the self. It involves our perception of our own being, being aware of the flow of our own consciousness. We come to know our real self by reflecting upon our experience candidly and through objective observations and evaluation of self. However, in the same manner that philosophers may debate for centuries the nature of reality, so some self-psychologists question the existence of a real self. Our best self is that aspect of the personality that we know as the best of ourselves that we can create, whether in secluded privacy or in blazing public light. It is roughly equivalent to the healthy personality at its best. It is significant as one of many descriptions of the high-level-functioning person. Healthy personality calls for action that achieves satisfaction of persons’ basic needs and that fulfills the projects they undertake to give meaning and direction to their lives. Persons sense of their identity has a decisive influence upon what action they feel free to engage in and what is taboo for them. Thus, persons can so define themselves that the very action that is essential for their wellbeing and growth is not compatible with their self-concept, their self-ideal, or their public self. Accordingly, they refrain from the activity and live out their identities, even though it may be sickening them. #RandolphHarris 3 of 28
We have already seen that Little Red Riding Hood’s childhood adventure with the wolf (her grandfather) had a profound effect on her life when she grew up. Knowing what real people do, it is not hard to surmise also what happened to Cinderella after she married. She found that being a Princess was lonely. She wanted to play, “Try and Catch Me” with the Prince some more, but he was not much fun. She teased her sisters when they came to visit her, but that did not amuse her for long either, particularly since they were not very good sports about it now that she had the upper hand. The King sometimes looked at her oddly, and he was not as old as he pretended to be, but he was not as young as he pretended to be either; in any case, she did not want to think about things like that. The Queen was nice to her, but very proper as a Queen had to be. As for the rest of the people at court, Cinderella had to be very proper to them. In due time, she did have the son that she and everybody else were waiting for, and there was much joy and celebration. However, she did not have any other children, and since the little Duke was taken care of by nursemaids and governesses as he grew up, Cinderella was soon as bored as before, particularly during the day when her husband was out hunting, and in the evening when he sat with his gentlemen friends losing money at cards. #RandolphHarris 4 of 28
After a while, she made an odd discovery. The people who interested her most, although she tried to keep it a secret, were the scullery maids and the cinder maids who cleaned the fireplaces. She would find all sorts of excuses to be around while they were working. Pretty soon, she was making suggestions to them from her own long experience with these matters. Then she found, riding around the little kingdom in her carriage, sometimes with her son and his governess and sometimes without them, and strolling through the less affluent parts of the towns and villages, something she had known all along: all over the kingdom there were thousands of women doing scullery work and cleaning out hearths. She would stop and gossip with them and talk about their work. Soon she got into the habit of making regular rounds to some of the least affluent homes where the women had to work the hardest. She would put on old clothes and sit in the cinders with them talking, or help them in the kitchen. Word soon got around in the kingdom about what she was doing, and the Prince even quarreled with her about it, but she insisted that that was what she wanted to do more than anything else, and kept on doing it. One day, one of the ladies of the court, who was also bored, asked permission to go with her. #RandolphHarris 5 of 28
As time went on, others got interested. Pretty soon, dozens of noble ladies were putting on their oldest clothes every morning and going into town to help the less affluent housewives with the meanest work, meanwhile gossiping with them, and hearing all sorts of interesting tales. Then the Princess had the idea of all the helping ladies getting together to talk about the problems they encountered, so she organized them into the Ladies’ Cinder and Scullery Society, with herself as President. Now, whenever foreign chimney sweeps, vegetable-peddlers, woodcutters, scullery maids, or trash-collectors passed through town, they were invited to the palace to talk to the Society about what was new in their trades and how things were doing in their countries. In this way, Cinderella found her real self and her place in life, and she and her new friends contributed much to the welfare of the kingdom. For many people, a monogamous marriage means putting an end to the alternation between new and the old, the challenging and the reassuring, at least as far as pleasures of the flesh is concerned. They lack the imagination or the motivation to revitalize interest in pleasures of the flesh in their own marriage, and the only variety to suggest itself to them is having a variety of partners. Since they find this morally unacceptable, or simply too risky, they settle for security and, no matter how reluctantly, accept as a fact that monogamy inevitably becomes monotony. #RandolphHarris 6 of 28
However, the wish that it could be otherwise remains strong. And so, it is only to be expected that a great many men and women today, who until now have believed that fidelity with pleasures of the flesh was an ideal to uphold, even if they themselves could not hold to it, are fascinated by arguments that make a case for the acceptance of extramarital pleasures of the flesh. They half want to be persuaded that having one married partner need not mean having just one partner for pleasures of the flesh, that any modern could should be able to enjoy the challenge of extramarital affairs. Looked at one way, it amounts to offering husbands and wives the opportunity to have their cake and eat it, too. Looked at another way, it amounts to a magic cure for marital doldrums. Either way, the lure is powerful. However, even more powerful is the Law of Chastity. God wanted His spirit children to be born into families so they could be properly cared for and taught. The Law of Chastity states that we are to have sexual relations only with our spouse to whom we are legally married. No one, male of female, is to have sexual relations before marriage. After marriage, pleasures of the flesh are permitted only with our spouse. “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” reports Exodus 20.14. #RandolphHarris 7 of 29
Emotions are the primary means by which we make contact. Emotions need to be expressed to be complete. Take the feeling of excitement. It seeks to express itself in contact with other human beings. Excitement, the basic life energy of the individual, is almost inconceivable without a recipient of that force. A child who gets an “A” on her spelling test bursts with excitement until she can get home to tell her mother. Or the young man who has just seen a wonderful movie cannot wait to tell his best friend about it. If we do not express them, share them with another, the five basic emotions of anger, fear, hurt, joy, and love are incomplete. Likewise, if we cannot express our emotional life, core relationships cannot grow, or even exist for that matter. It is no wonder the manipulator fails to form such relationships and suffers the maladies of blocked emotions. The manipulator, blocking anger, might be said to be seething with resentment. This anger is incomplete and eventually, turned inward, results in feelings of resignation and depression. Fear keeps the manipulator imprisoned when she or we does not express it. The manipulator becomes a worrier, nibbling at the edges of the prison cell, unable to break free of phobias. #RandolphHarris 8 of 28
Hurt, when not expressed, cannot be finished with. It, too, simmers inside to become a pervasive, long-lasting sadness that threatens normal self-esteem. Repressed joy can destroy ambition, intellectual development, inquisitiveness, and awareness. Joy is the pay-off for almost everything we do, and without it, life and its challenges become nothing more than drudgery. Unrequited love may be sad, but unexpressed love is a tragedy. It provides the manipulator with a lifetime of regret over what might have been. Withholding caring, or incomplete love, is like giving a stone to another instead of bread. It affects adversity both the one who would not give and the one who does not, therefore, receive. When we proceed from these general viewpoints to the particulars of individual neuroses, the picture at first sight is confusing. There is simply nothing that may not be invested with pride. What is a shining asset to one person is a disgraceful liability to the next. One person is proud of being rude to people; another is ashamed of anything that could be construed as rudeness and is proud of his sensitiveness to others. One is proud of his ability to bluff his way through life; still another is ashamed of any trace of bluffing. Here is one who is proud of trusting people and there is one equally proud of distrusting them—and so forth and so on. #RandolphHarris 9 of 28
However, this diversity is bewildering only as long as we regard the special kinds of pride out of the context of the whole personality. As soon as we see each of them from the perspective of the individual’s total character structure, an ordering principle emerges: his need to be proud of himself is so imperative that he cannot tolerate the idea of being in the clutches of blindness; so he uses his imagination to turn these needs into virtues, to transform them into assets of which he can be proud. However, only those compulsive needs which serve his drive to actualize his idealized self undergo this transformation. Conversely, he tends to suppress, deny, despise those which obstruct this drive. His capacity for this unconscious reversal of values is perfectly amazing. The best medium through which to present it would be cartoons. There it could be shown most vividly how people afflicted with some undesirable trait take a brush, paint over the trait with beautiful colors, and present with blustering pride the picture of their assets. Thus, inconsistency turns into unlimited freedom, blind rebellion against an existing code of morals into being above common prejudice, a taboo on doing anything for oneself into saintly unselfishness, a need to appease into sheer goodness, dependency into love, exploiting others into astuteness. A capacity to assert egocentric claims appears as strength, vindictiveness as justice, frustrating techniques as a most intelligent weapon, aversion t work as “successfully resisting the deadly habit of work,” and so on. #RandolphHarris 10 of 29
These unconscious processes often remind me of the Trolls in Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, for whom “black looks white, and ugly fair, big looks little, and filthy clean.” Most interestingly, Ibsen accounts for this reversal of values in a way like our own. If you live in a self-sufficient dream world like Peer Gynt, Ibsen says, you cannot be true to yourself. Between the two, there is no bridge. They are too different in principle to allow for any compromise solution. And if you are not true to yourself, but live an egocentric life of imagined grandeur, then you will play ducks and drakes with your values too. Your scale of values will be just as topsy-turvy as is that of the Trolls. As soon as we go off on the search for glory, we stop being concerned about the truth of ourselves. Neurotic pride, in all its forms, is false pride. Once having grasped the principle that only those trends are invested with pride that serve to actualize the idealized self, the analyst will be alert to detect hidden price in any position which is tenaciously adhered to. The connection between the subjective value of a trait and neurotic pride in it seems to be a regular one. Recognizing either one of these factors, the analyst can safely conclude that in all probability, the other one will be there too. Sometimes the one, sometimes the other will come into focus first. Thus, a patient at the beginning of analytical work may express pride in his cynicism or in his power to frustrate others. And although at this juncture the analyst does not understand the meaning that the given factor has for the patient, he can be reasonably certain of it playing a significant part of the neurosis. #RandolphHarris 11 of 28
Undoubtedly, the master enjoys total freedom first as regards the slave, since the latter recognizes him totally, and then as regards the natural world, since by his work the slave transforms it into objects of enjoyment which the master consumes in a perpetual affirmation of his own identity. However, this autonomy is not absolute. The master, to his misfortune, is recognized in his autonomy by a consciousness that he himself does not recognize as autonomous. Therefore, he cannot be satisfied and his autonomy is only negative. Mastery is a blind alley. Since, moreover, he cannot renounce mastery and become a slave again, the eternal destiny of masters is to live unsatisfied or to be killed. The master serves no other purpose in history than to arouse servile consciousness, the only form of consciousness that really creates history. The slave, in fact, is not bound to his condition, but wants to change it. Thus, unlike his master, he can improve himself, and what is called history is nothing but the effects of his long efforts to obtain real freedom. Already, by work, by his transformation of the natural world into a technical world, he manages to escape from the nature which was the basis of his slavery in that he did not know how to raise himself above it by accepting death. #RandolphHarris 12 of 28
The very agony of death experienced in the humiliation of the entire being lifts the slave to the level of human totality. He knows, henceforth, that this totality exists; now it only remains for him to conquer it through a long series of struggles against nature and against the masters. History identifies itself, therefore, with the history of endeavor and rebellion. It is hardly astonishing that Marxism-Leninism derived from this dialectic the contemporary ideal of the soldier worker. Only he who is capable of sustained intellectual effort can understand this philosophy. Some people can understand philosophy and some most monumental concepts in an unclouded flash, but most people can understand, even its simplest ones only by slow degrees. Here first acquaintance is not enough. There must be many subsequent meetings before intimacy can be established. Thinking must not only approach these studies as worshippers approach a temple shrine, with the reverence they deserve, but must also become alive and dynamic. The intense intellectual joy of discovering a new truth—new, that is, to oneself, but as old perhaps as thoughtful humanity itself—equates with the intense aesthetic joy of creating or appreciating an art work. In the human body, the cerebral nervous system, with which man’s mental faculties are associated, does not develop until long after all the other chief organs have developed. This is symbolic of its evolutionary importance. In the human life, the thinking power does not attain full maturity until long after all the chief decisions, such as the choice of occupation, marriage-partnership, and religious affiliation have already been made. How much human error and consequent misery must therefore arise from the lateness of this development. #RandolphHarris 13 of 28
The award-winning Sacramento Fire Department is aware of their surroundings when performing their assigned tasks at an emergency scene. At an incident, they make a safe exist from the fire apparatus and look at the building or situation for safety hazards such as traffic, downed utility wires, and adverse environmental conditions. The introduction of new technologies requires fire fighters, paramedics, and EMTs to be familiar with their run areas and observant of new hazards. This includes the increasingly common photovoltaic power systems (solar power systems) and battery energy storage systems within electrical power grids. An incident on a street or highway must first be secured with proper traffic- and scene-control devices. A variety of traffic-incident management technqiues may be appropriate. Flares, traffic cones, and barrier tape are all measures that can help keep the public at a safe distance from the scene and to divert traffic around the area. Emergency vehicles can be placed to block traffic and protect the incident scene. The Sacramento Fire Department always operates within established boundaries and protected work areas. Changing fire conditions also will affect safety. Through situational awareness, fire fighters monitor the changing conditions and maintain safety. This continues even during the overhaul phase and while picking up equipment—watching out for falling debris, smoldering areas of fire, and sharp object. #RandolphHarris 14 of 28
If a safety officer is not on scene, another qualified person is assigned to monitor the atmosphere to ensure it is safe to remove Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) or enter the area without SCBA. Because of the chance for injury increases when you are tired, the Sacramento Fire Department does not let down their guard, even when the main part of the firefighting operation is over. When you think about professions, what comes to mind? Credentials, years of study and training, a code of ethics, status in the eyes of the community? Think of the medical caregiver, the legal specialist, the accountant, the architect, the teacher, the law enforcement officers, or the clergy member. What do they have in common with the profession you are training for and are about to enter—the Sacramento Fire Department? To truly understand your role as a fire fighter, paramedic, or EMT, you must first understand what people mean when they talk about a profession. A profession is a calling—a vocation. It is a livelihood, yes, but it does far beyond a simple occupation or “what you do” for a living. A profession is a way of being, a way of thinking, a way of behaving, and a way of growing. In short, it is a way of life, not just a job or a lifestyle. Most professionals would probably tell you that they do what they do because they love their work, that they could not do anything else, that they would do it even if they did not make money at all. The Sacramento Fire Department is just such a profession. That is why it is important to realize the difference between an occupation—a job—and a profession. #RandolphHarris 15 of 28
The job with the Sacramento Fire Department is the highest embodiment of the profession of service. When you become a commissioned officer in the Sacramento Fire Department, you join an elite body of leaders with a long, proud tradition of service to the country and a commitment to high ideals. “I’m doing what I want to do, and there’s no better feeling. Even after being hurt, I can’t wait to get up and go to work, because I enjoy my job. I love going to the firehouse. A nurse is someone I relate to a fireman, because you’re always helping somebody. A fireman should never expect to get a pat on the back, you just give yourself a pat of the back when you do a good job. That makes you feel good. Don’t wait for somebody else to pat you on the back. Just do your thing. When you come home in the morning, you look tired. Your wife and kids don’t know what you’ve been through. But if I’ve had a busy night on the job, I come home with a smile on my face, because I know I did something good, helped somebody or saved somebody’s property. I grew up working with a diverse group of firefighters; there were black and white firemen; they were all real men, and they taught me so much. Outside of that firehouse, in that neighborhood, it’s a cruel world. When people don’t have anything, they have nothing to lose. And it’s cruel. Life to some of those people means nothing. They kill people, they hurt people, they do a lot of nasty things to people, and it means nothing to them. You see a lot of violence. It makes you a little bit cold and a little bit distrusting to the people who are committing the crimes. But it makes you appreciate life a lot more when you go home to your family. #RandolphHarris 16 of 28
“I grew up in that area, in that firehouse, it’s part of my life. It’s something I’ll always cherish. I learned so much about life down there. I look at college-educated persons, and I can see that some of them don’t have any street sense. They don’t know what it is to be down at the bottom. Growing up there made me think a lot about the basic things in life. I don’t ever want a fancy house, I want a nice house. I want my kids to be well-educated, but I want them to know what does on out there on the streets. I want them to know the real world, so they won’t put themselves up on a pedestal. They still have to relate. Everybody is a human being. That’s one of the things I learned being there. There’s a whole world out there that people don’t see, especially people don’t live in a big city. I studied for over a year, and I’m on the captain’s list right now. I take an interest in administration, because I’m interested in the overall good of the fire department. I want to see our job work well. As a supervisor and a company officer, I have a lot of things I have to control. All I want a person to be if he works for me is to be honest and to be a fireman. I run a squad company and it’s taken me seven years, but I’ve built the heck out of a company, and I know everyone of my guys personally. But overall, my basic thing is that I still life being a company officer, and I still like fighting fires. #RandolphHarris 17 of 28
“Right now I can’t see myself in an administrative position. First of all, I’m too young. Not that I’m naïve. I try to cover everything that goes on in the job, but I haven’t got that tiger out of me yet. It’s still in my taken. As I say, I look forward to going to the firehouse, and if we have a busy day, I come home with a smile on my face. The pressures on the leadership are tremendous with the changes we’ve had. But everybody is pretty much back to normal. I never judge a person by what another person says about him. It’s how he deals with me. I’m on a squad company, and a lot of men think we’re macho. I don’t have that feeling. I’m just here because I enjoy the work and the different types of things you see. For example, yesterday we had a man down an elevator shaft. We had a crane on top of a car. We had a hazardous material spill last night. We do the scuba diving. We’re always doing something. Every day I go to work, I learn something different. And you can’t go wrong doing that. I was told when I was burned that I could have gone off on three quarters disability pay. To this day, does my back bother me? Yeah. Do my ears hurt me at a fire? A little bit. But that’s my love, that’s my life, second to my family. There’s no greater pleasures you can get than if you love your job and you go to work and enjoy yourself. Would I like an administrative job? No. It wouldn’t have been my style to leave the job. In the back of my mind, am I trying to fulfill something? Dedication to service, expertise, responsibility, and corporate culture.” #RandolphHarris 18 of 28
If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire fighters are getting back into their vehicle and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals, sometimes emergency vehicles are in motions, albeit, slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 19 of 28
California is the third most expensive state in the nation. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now consider low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruze, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsom of Democratic controlled California, brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also facing a $12 billion deficit, looking to cut $747 million for state worker’s pay, pushing to keep medical insurance for illegal immigrants, but wants to cut medical for anyone who has assets over $2,000 and the state has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 20 of 28
Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 21 of 28
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 22 of 28
Additionally, with inflation rates at an all-time high, American being in an unofficial recession for about a decade, all insurance in California is becoming unaffordable. State Farm has received an approval for an emergency rate increase, which was approved by the California Insurance Commissioner, to stabilize the market and protect policyholders. Starting 1 June 2025, homeowners will see an average of 17 percent increase, rental dwellings will see an increase of 38 percent, and Condo owners will see a rate increase of 15 percents. These rate increases are due to the distressed caused by the recent wildfires, which accumulated over $7 billion in claims. Furthermore, in 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1107, also known as the Protection California Drivers Act, into law which increases the minimum auto lability limits for bodily injury to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. Senate Bill 1107 also increased the minimum liability limits for property damage to $15,000 per accident and the DMV deposit for uninsured drivers to $75,000. The bill went into effect on January 1, 2025. This means that drivers with existing policies with lower limits will renew at the new minimum limits on or after January 1, 2025, and insurance premiums could increase by as much as 54 percent. America is in a state of crisis right now because of mismanagement by democrats. With the median household income in Sacramento County being $88,724 and a 4-bedroom 2.5-bathroom Cresleigh home costing $798,059, how are people able to afford homes? Because an $800,000 home with a one percent down payment of $8,000, 30-year fixed loan at 4.176 percent interest comes with a monthly mortgage payment of $4,241. #RandolphHarris 23 of 28
The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. Mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 or $88,724.00 and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Prices in Sacramento County are actually rivaling the Bay Area, and the Bay Aera is so expensive because they have more higher paying jobs and is a tourist destination. And with the State of California being in a budget deficit of $12 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom Granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion annually, while cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless, and is proposing to fast-track his plan to build a $20 billion water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by eliminating environmental reviews and limit avenues for legal challenges. Gavin Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. #RandolphHarris 24 of 28
In fact, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallon a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach, and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of poop, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century. However, it has become a public health crisis as the population of Tijuana has drastically increased, in recent years, and the waste treatment plants have no longer usable. The beach has been closed for more than three years, and evidence suggests that even breathing the air may be harmful, as toxic particles in the water can become airborne. Yet, even though Gavin Newsom has been governor for six years, he has not rushed into action to stop this very preventable environmental disaster. Why? Because he is not getting kickbacks from China and Mexico, not being gifted mansions and cars, and he cannot tax the struggling California taxpayers to clean up this mess. Simply, it is not profitable for him. Gavin Newsom has been a total tyrant with no regard for taxpayers and does not have a mind for business and should be impeached as soon as possible. He has criminalized poverty, increased taxes, increased tax on gas, and insurance rates so high that people are struggling to survive. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. Wars have been started over governments who tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. If Gavin Newsom is not stopped, next he will euthanize the poor and sterilize the disabled. Gavin Newsom has wars and fires breaking out on the streets, but goes out of his way to arrest people who have no place to live. This monster is unfit to be governor and must never be allowed to be President of America! Stop Gavin Newsom now! Save California and impeach this unreasonable man. #RandolphHarris 25 of 28
Meanwhile, with President Trump, we are seeing crime rates sharply decrease, and he recently secured $10 trillion in investments. Additionally, in May of 2025m the United States of America collected a record $22.3 billion in tariff revenue. If elected president for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. #RandolphHarris 26 of 28
When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. #RandolphHarris 27 of 28
As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrived at this fulness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 28 of 28
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
We wish to express our gratitude to our families, ancestors, spirits, and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.) https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/
BMW continues to dominate the luxury car space. With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands.
BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/
Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers
Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html
Cresleigh Bluffs at Plumas Ranch
Plumas Lake, CA | from the mid $400’s
Now Selling!
Welcome to Cresleigh Bluffs, the newest home community in Plumas Ranch!
Nestled in the heart of Plumas Lake, CA, Cresleigh Bluffs offers three distinct single story floor plans designed with efficiency and practicality in mind.
Home design is made easy with expertly crafted design packages exclusive to Cresleigh Bluffs. Choose from a variety of packages made to fit your taste and budget. Contact our dedicated sales associates to learn more. PlumasRanch@cresleigh.com
Sign up for our interest list today to stay up to date on community information. https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-bluffs-at-plumas-ranch/move-in-ready-homesite-2/
I’ve Got a Secret!
According to Dr. Freud, “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” Many of us know the story of Cinderella, and those who do understand she struggled with being a victim of abuse and manipulation, and all most losing the man she loved to her abusers. There are many interesting features in the story of Cinderella. First, the cast is much larger than it appears at first sight. In order of appearance, the persons are as follows: Father, Stepmother, Daughter A, Daughter B, Cinderella, (Mother), Godmother, (Coachman, Footmen), (People at the ball), Prince, King, (Queen), (Guards), A Gentleman, Two Lords. This comprises nine principal characters, a few silent parts, and one-liners, and lots of extras. The most interesting thing about the cast is that almost all of them are crooked. Another feature is the clarity of the switches, which is common to most stories intended for children. Cinderella starts out as an O.K. person, the becomes first a Victim, later a teasing Persecutor, and finally a Rescuer. The stepmother and her daughters are changed from Persecutors into Victims, much more so in the German “Ashenputtel” version, where the two stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to make the slipper fit. The story also introduces the other two classical roles, as found in the “Alcoholic” game. The connection in this case is played by the godmother, who supplies Cinderella with what she needs, while the Patsies are the lord who were chosen to marry the wicked sisters. #RandolphHarris 1 of 28
Let us now consider the scripts of the people involved. It takes a little time to realize how many of the characters have their scripts revealed in this apparently simple tale. 1. Cinderella. She has a happy childhood, but then must suffer until a certain event happens. The crucial scenes, however, are times structured: she can enjoy herself as much as she pleases until the stroke of midnight, and then she must return to her former state. Cinderella apparently avoided the temptation to play, “Ain’t it Awful,” even with her father, and is simply a melancholy, forlorn figure until the action begins with the ball. Then she plays, “Try and Catch Me” with the Prunce, and later, with a scripty smile, “I’ve Got a Secret” with her sisters. The climax comes with a smashing game of, “Now She Tells Us,” as Cinderella, with a teasing laugh, gets the payoff for the winning script. 2. Father. Father’s script calls for him to lose his first wife and then cast off his daughter and marry a bossy (and presumably frigid) woman who will make him and her suffer. However, he has a trick up his sleeve, as we shall soon see. 3. Stepmother. She has a loser’s script. She, too, plays, “Now She Tells Me,” seducing the fathers into marrying her and then revealing her true, wicked self immediately after the wedding. She lives through her daughters, and hopes to get a princely payoff for them from her mean behavior, but ends up the loser. #RandolphHarris 2 of 28
The Stepsisters. Their counterscripts are based on their mother’s precept, “Take care of yourself first and do not give a sucker an even break,” but the outcome is based on the injunction “Do not succeed.” Since that is also the script injunction for their mother, it was evidently transmitted from their grandparents. They play a hard game of “Schlemiel,” first getting Cinderella (or Cinderarse, as they called her) thoroughly messed up, and then apologizing and obtaining her forgiveness. Godmother. She is the most interesting of all the characters. What were her motives in outfitting Cinderella for the ball? Why did she not just have a nice talk with her and comfort her, instead of sending her out into all the glitter? The situation was that stepmother and stepsisters were gone for the evening, and only Cinderella and her father were left in the house. Why was godmother so anxious to get rid of Cinderella? What was going on “back at the ranch,” where godmother and father were alone for the evening, while everyone else was away at the ball? Her telling Cinderella not to stay after midnight was a good way to insure that she would be then first to get home. This avoided the risk of the other females finding godmother there, since Cinderella’s approach gave her waring to take off in good time. From a cynical point of view, the whole story sounds like a setup to allow father and godmother to spend the evening together. #RandolphHarris 3 of 28
The Prince. The Prince was a jerk, and no doubt got what he deserved after he was married. He lets the girl get away twice in a row without getting any clue as to her identity. Then, he is unable to catch her in a foot race, even though she is limping along with only one shoe. Instead of finding her himself, he sends a friend to do the job for him. Finally, he marries this girl of dubious upbringing and questionable family less than a week after he meets her. Despite the superficial impression that he wins her, all this points to a loser’s script. 7. The King. The King has an eye for the girls, and is a bit of a blabbermouth. Nor does he protect his son from his own impulsiveness. 8. The Gentleman. He is the straightest of all the characters in the story. Instead of being sloppy or supercilious, and laughing at Cinderella, as her sisters were going to do, he gets his job done with a fine sense of justice. Nor does he run off with Cinderella himself, as a lesser man might have done, but brings her safely to his employer. He is honest, efficient, and conscientious. 9. The two lords, of course, are patsies to allow themselves to be married off to two very uncool girls, whom they know nothing about, having only met them on their wedding day. The important thing is that all these characters can be picked out in real life. Here, for example, is the story of Cinderella. #RandolphHarris 4 of 28
Ella’s parents got divorced when she was little, and she stayed with her mother. Shortly afterward, her father remarried. He had two daughters by his second wife, who was jealous of Ella when she came to visit, and begrudged the money her father sent for her support. A few years later, her mother also remarried, and then Ella had to go live with her father because her mother and new stepfather were more interested in drinking than in taking care of her. Ella was not at all happy in her new home because her stepmother made it clear that she did not like her, and her father did little to protect her. She always had the last choice in everything, and her sisters teased her. She grew up very shy and had few dates when she was a teenager, while her sister led an active social life in which she was not invited to share. Ella had one advantage, however. She knew something the other did not know. Her father had a mistress, a divorcee named Linda, with a majestic and ultra exclusive BMW Speed Top automobile, who wore very expensive hippie-type necklaces. Ella and Linda secretly became good friends, and used to have long talks about their problems with dad. In fact, Linda gave Ella advice about many different things, and was like a godmother to her. She was particularly concerned because Ella did not have much of a social life. #RandolphHarris 5 of 28
One afternoon Linda said: “Your mother is away, and your sisters are going out on dates, so why do you not go out, too? It is no fun sitting at home all by yourself. I will lend you my car and some clothes, and you can go to the Rock-and-Roll Ballroom where there are lots of boys you can meet. Come over to my place about six and we will eat and I will fix you up.” Ella figured Linda and her father were going to spend the evening together, and she agreed. Linda thought Ella looked very nice all dressed up. “Do not hurry back,” she said, as she handed Ella the keys to her beautiful car. At the dance, Ella met a nice boy named Roland, and started to go out with him. However, a poor guitar-player friend of his was much more interested in Ella than he was, and soon she was going out secretly with Prince, the guitar-player. She did not want Prince to call at her house because she knew her mother would not approve of his unkempt appearance, so Roland would come pick her up with his date and then they would meet Prince and the four of them would go somewhere together. Meanwhile, her father and stepmother and sisters thought she was dating Roland, and Ella and he had lots of fun over that. Prince was not poor. He came from a well-to-do family and had a good education, but he wanted to make it on his own as an entertainer. He began to get more and more famous. #RandolphHarris 6 of 28
After he was well known, he and Ella decided to tell her family the real story before they found out from someone else. It came as a complete surprise to her siters, who adored Prince’s records, and they were very jealous when Ella announced that she had won such a rich prize for a husband. However, she did not bear them any grudge for their ill-treatment, and often got them free tickets to Prince’s concerts. She even introduced them to some of his square friends. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should live peacefully with others who do not share our values or accept the teachings upon which they are based. In the concluding days of His mortal ministry, Jesus gave His disciples what He called, “a new commandment,” reports John 13.34. Repeated three times, that commandment was simple but difficult: “Love one another, as I have loved you,” reports John 15.12. The teaching to love one another had been a central teaching of the Savior’s ministry. One which Cinderella did master. The second great commandment was “love thy neighbour as thyself,” reports Matthew 22.39. Jesus even taught, “Love your enemies,” reports Matthew 5.44. However, the commandment to love others as He had loved His flock was to His disciples—and is to us—a challenge that was unique. Love is the very essence of the gospel and Jesus Christ is our Exemplar. His life was a legacy of love. Cinderella certain understood the gospel and practiced it in her life. #RandolphHarris 7 of 28
Why is it so difficult to have Christlike love for one another? It is difficult because we must live among those who do not share our beliefs and values and covenant obligations. In His great Intercessory Prayer, offered just before His Crucifixion, Jesus Christ prayed for His followers: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” reports John 17.14. Then, to the Father He pleaded, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil,” reports John 17.15. We are to live in the World but not be of the world. We must live in the world because, as Jesus Christ taught in a parable, His kingdom is ” like leaven,” whose function is to raise the whole mass by its influence (see Luke 13.21; Matthew 13.33; see also 1 Corinthians 5.6-8). If they associate only with those who share their values, His followers cannot do that. However, the important message is not to be influenced by people whose way are not godly. Therefore, if you are not strong enough to withstand peer pressure, stay away from those who might lead you astray from the ways of the Lord. If we love Him, the Savior taught the we will Keep his commandments (see John14.15). Even as we seek to be meek and to avoid contention, we must not compromise or dilute out commitment to the truths we understand. We must not surrender our positions or our values. Jesus Christ and the covenants we have made inevitably cast us as combatants in the eternal contest between truth and error. There is no middle ground in that contest. #RandolphHarris 8 of 28
Hegel affirms that in so far as death is the common ground of man and animal, it is by accepting death and even by inviting it that the former differentiates himself from the latter. At the heart of this primordial struggle for recognition, man is thus identified with violent death. The mystic slogan “Die and become what you are” is taken up once more by Hegel, But, “Become what you are” gives place to “Become what you so far are not.” This primitive and passionate desire for recognition, which is confused with the will to exist, can be satisfied only by a recognition of all by all, which will mark the termination of history. The existence that Hegelian consciousness seeks to obtain is born in the hard-won glory of collective approval. It is not beside the point to note that, in the thought which will inspire our revolutions, the supreme good does not coincide with existence, but with an arbitrary facsimile. The entire history of mankind is, in any case, nothing but a prolonged fight to the death for the conquest of universal prestige and absolute power. It is, in its essence, imperialist. We are far from the gentle savage of the eighteenth century and from the Social Contact. In the sound and fury of the passing centuries, each separate consciousness, to ensure its own existence, must henceforth desire the death of others. Moreover, this relentless tragedy is absurd, since, in the event of one consciousness being bestowed, the victorious consciousness is not recognized as such, in that it cannot be victorious in the eyes of something that no longer exists. In fact, it is there the philosophy of appearances reaches its limits. #RandolphHarris 9 of 28
No human reality would therefore have been engendered, if, thanks to a propensity that can be considered fortunate for Hegel’s system, there had not existed, from the beginning of time, two kinds of consciousness, one of which has not the courage to renounce life and is therefore willing to recognize the other kind of consciousness without being recognized itself in return. It consents, in short, to being considered as an object. This type of consciousness, which, to preserve its animal existence, renounces independent life, is the consciousness of the slave. The type of consciousness which by being recognized achieves independence is that of the master. They are distinguished one from the other at the moment when they clash and when one submits to the other. The dilemma at this stage is not to be free or to die, but to kill or to enslave. This dilemma will resound throughout the course of history, though at this moment its absurdity has not yet been resolved. In contrast, a core relationship is contact between two individuals who express and reveal themselves to each other openly and honestly, appreciating and accepting each other as they truly are and trusting in the abilities and goodwill of each other. A core relationship can be longstanding—a husband and wife, a parent and child, close friends, business partners—or it can be briefer and more casual—a clerk at the supermarket and a customer, co-workers, parents of children who play together. Any possible encounter between two people can have the characteristic of a core relationship. #RandolphHarris 10 of 28
Have you ever met someone, had a conversation, then moved on, probably never to see that person again, but you felt good about yourself and about that person? Felt that you had received something wonderful and had given something wonderful? If so, you have had a core-to-core relationship, however brief, with another individual. One or both of you revealed yourselves honestly and openly, appreciated and accepted each other as you truly are, and trusted each other’s abilities and goodwill. By comparison, superficial relationships can be found as readily in longstanding contacts—such as with husbands and wives, parents, and children—as in more casual interactions. The characteristics of superficial relationships are unawareness, control, deception, distrust, criticism, and petty competitiveness. Manipulators take a lot of time and expend a great deal of energy on superficial relationships. They cultivate them, make them happen. And when they go home at night, they are too tired even to be civil to those they should be closest to, their families. We believe that core-to-core relationships do not always take time and energy, but that they do take the willingness to be aware, honest, trusting, accepting, and appreciative. The enhancement of self and others in such relationships is beyond measure. When all is said and done, the home is the ideal forum for teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. The scripture speak of the role of parents—that it is their duty to teach their children, “the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 68.25. #RandolphHarris 11 of 28
The success of the gospel cannot—and should not—be attributed solely to its undeniable capacity to titillate the imagination. It also signals the existence of a widespread need for information, an understandable and almost insatiable public curiosity about the varies of expression, a subject, which recently is being locked away in a shroud by public censorship. With the public abandonment of prescribed rules based on a theological concept of virtue and sin, everyone is now forced to seek out the gospel or to fashion a private set of moral and ethical values which, it is hoped, will sustain him over the years. If unable to achieve an effectively life by basing his conduct on the commandments of the Word, he must sift through words by millions in newspapers, magazines, and books, seeking some insight into his own nature. He must learn to distinguish fact from fiction, blueprint from daydream, reason from rationalization. This is difficult to do when society no longer honors God and His choice land of America. This brings into play a fundamental paradox. The pleasure of being alive depends to a considerable degree on an individual’s ability to include both the unknown and to have the security of the known to give him the confidence he needs to try something different than he has attempted in the past. We want precise understanding and exact description of every science and do not abandon our demand even when the more delicate matter of a method of spiritual illumination is in question. “The humility which can say, “I do not know” is a first step to the confidence which can day, “This is a fact.” If they begin to question, deeply question, then even the simplest statement brings them into difficulties whose existence, previously, they had never suspected. #RandolphHarris 12 of 28
Men learn best because they concentrate best in a quiet, unruffled atmosphere. This requires a secluded site, tall buildings, and high enclosing walls, peaceful laws, and tree-bordered walks. Most Western people dislike abstract generalities: They prefer concrete facts. They believe in first appearances rather than in second views. Against such a tendency truth must struggle bravely for survival. If Westerns were more balanced, they would realize they could keep their facts and their first views—nobody asks them to disregard the practical and the apparent—but they could also have the abstract and the long view, thus achieving balance, and with it, truth. The dept and width of his research must equal the depth and width of his reflection. Where are the answers to men’s questions? He must elicit them for himself one by one. There is little harm in putting into the mind ideas above its level. At worst, they may bore it, but at best they might expand it. Quite often, when a truth or a judgment is carried to extremes, it loses some, or much, or all its validity. If we have sought for truth in directions which have yielded negative results, it is time to take a new direction. A man whose cultural rise has depended upon self-education alone deserves praise and admiration for his effort. Nevertheless, he would have done better to seek also a formal education. This would complete and elevate what he has learnt by himself by providing him with higher standards, competent instruction, and well-tested knowledge or by affording personal help with questions, uncertainty, and problems. #RandolphHarris 13 of 28
He must be frank with himself and know what he does not understand and what he does and not accept mere opinion for solid fact. It may be hard, a rough stony obstructed path, for the common man to find his way into philosophy, but the tension is well worthwhile. He must expand his mind, but there are moments of relief, of joyful discovery, or encouraging perception. Before you can get clear expression of meaning, you must get a clear mind. You must nurture a tendency toward sharply defined thoughts and exactitude of understanding. You must give definite shape to the inchoate ideas which float through your mind like clouds, and thus arrive at complete possession of your subject. Wherever they are shown to be out of harmony with the facts of life, ee will not consciously refuse to readjust his views. If such questions have never entered their minds, it is hardly likely that the answers completely will. Correct thinking may annihilate superstitions and uncover deceptions, but unbalanced thinking may create new ones. The mind needs a long training in truthful thinking into which the ego does not obtrude itself before the hidden reality begins to respond. This uprooting of old familiar but fallacious beliefs discourages some person but encourages others. #RandolphHarris 14 of 28
Public safety and emergency preparedness is essential. The award-winning Sacramento Fire Department must have sufficient trained personnel available to respond to a fire at any hour of the day, every day of the year. Staffing issues affect all fire departments—career departments, combination departments, and other essential departments. It is especially important to ensure that enough responders are always available, particularly during the day. In the past, when many worked in or near the communities where they lived the fire department’s response time was not an issue. Today, however, many people have super commutes and work longer hours, so the number of people available to respond during the day may be limited. Many fire departments, however, have full-time fire fighters during daytime hours to ensure sufficient personnel are available to respond to an incident. In 1992, Congress created the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to lead a nationwide effort to remember the U.S. fallen fire fighters. In the years since then, this foundation has expanded its programs to sponsor the annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend, offer support programs for family members and other survivors, award scholarships to fire service members’ survivors, and work to prevent line-of-duty injuries and deaths. Safety is the highest priority. Ensuring a safe working environment for the members of the fire service is undertaken by several professional organizations and various regulation, standards, and procedures. #RandolphHarris 15 of 28
Effective organization requires both leaders and followers. In the Sacramento Fire Department, fast and effective decision making requires leadership and teamwork. When fighting a fire, there can be no hesitation about who is leading and who is following. Rank takes away guesswork about who oversees what, so leaders and other team members can do their jobs. In fact, it is there the philosophy of appearances reaches its limits. The disciplined exercise of the Sacramento Fire Department’s exercise of customers and courtesies is a clear indicator of the morale and leadership of that organization. It also indicates their ability to function under stress as a team of professionals bound by a warrior ethos and mutual respect. “Being with the Sacramento Fire Department has changed my life. I’m a little more committed to helping people. It’s good being in the fire department, it makes you more responsible. I really never thought I would be a family person, but I am now. A lot has to do with the fire department. You’re always training, so your mind is steadily working. It’s not like a dead end. You’ve always got to move forward and take one day at a time. If an accident happens, we have to respond to it, make sure everybody is all right, and do everything we can. If people are upset, you try to calm them down. The job makes you take charge of things. #RandolphHarris 16 of 28
“This one guy I know was disturbed because his lieutenant had gotten killed, and he felt guilty about it. He asked me what did I do to get over it. My heart went out to him. I told him I really did not do anything, but my family was behind me, and the guys that I work with were behind me 100 percent. But I got the impression that his guys kind of dogged him and blamed him, like he didn’t wait and he didn’t do enough to save the lieutenant. He was totally upset. I told him that in my case I felt I did everything I could, but there wasn’t much I could have done. So I told him he shouldn’t take that weight on himself. When the guys you work with don’t believe in you, that could be a problem. Being a survivor, I don’t know if God was telling me to ‘change your life, young man.’ I have changed, I’ve mellowed. He’s been excellent to me, God has. That’s why I’m here now.” The ordinary man makes a hasty judgement of the matter, or follows his personal wishes, but truth requires a deep well-considered examination. If the capacity to comprehend philosophy is not inborn, then it can be slowly acquired by anyone who thinks it worth the effort. If so many seekers do not find truth pure and unadulterated, but only its impure adulterated variety, it is because their way has been blocked by self-serving partisans interested only in triumph for their own group, position, or argument, their own prejudice, attraction, or bias. Discovery of truth requires not only a willingness to take in the facts which serve one side of a case, but also to refrain from ignoring or belittling those which serve the other side. It is not in an atmosphere of favouritism or hostility that truth appears, but in a deep calm bereft of egoistic urges. This is why some sort of preparation for it is necessary, some kind of training. #RandolphHarris 17 of 28
If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire fighters are getting back into their vehicle and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals, sometimes emergency vehicles are in motions, albeit, slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 18 of 28
California is the third most expensive state in the nation. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now consider low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruze, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsom of Democratic controlled California, brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also facing a $12 billion deficit, looking to cut $747 million for state worker’s pay, pushing to keep medical insurance for illegal immigrants, but wants to cut medical for anyone who has assets over $2,000 and the state has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 19 of 28
Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 20 of 28
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 21 of 28
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 22 of 28
Additionally, with inflation rates at an all-time high, American being in an unofficial recession for about a decade, all insurance in California is becoming unaffordable. State Farm has received an approval for an emergency rate increase, which was approved by the California Insurance Commissioner, to stabilize the market and protect policyholders. Starting 1 June 2025, homeowners will see an average of 17 percent increase, rental dwellings will see an increase of 38 percent, and Condo owners will see a rate increase of 15 percents. These rate increases are due to the distressed caused by the recent wildfires, which accumulated over $7 billion in claims. Furthermore, in 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1107, also known as the Protection California Drivers Act, into law which increases the minimum auto lability limits for bodily injury to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. Senate Bill 1107 also increased the minimum liability limits for property damage to $15,000 per accident and the DMV deposit for uninsured drivers to $75,000. The bill went into effect on January 1, 2025. This means that drivers with existing policies with lower limits will renew at the new minimum limits on or after January 1, 2025, and insurance premiums could increase by as much as 54 percent. America is in a state of crisis right now because of mismanagement by democrats. With the median household income in Sacramento County being $88,724 and a 4-bedroom 2.5-bathroom Cresleigh home costing $798,059, how are people able to afford homes? Because an $800,000 home with a one percent downpayment of $8,000, 30-year fixed loan at 4.176 percent interest comes with a monthly mortgage payment of $4,241. #RandolphHarris 23 of 28
The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. Mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 or $88,724.00 and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Prices in Sacramento County are actually rivaling the Bay Area, and the Bay Aera is so expensive because they have more higher paying jobs and is a tourist destination. And with the State of California being in a budget deficit of $12 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom Granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion annually, while cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless, and is proposing to fast-track his plan to build a $20 billion water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by eliminating environmental reviews and limit avenues for legal challenges. Gavin Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. #RandolphHarris 24 of 28
In fact, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallon a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach, and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of poop, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century. However, it has become a public health crisis as the population of Tijuana has drastically increased, in recent years, and the waste treatment plants have no longer usable. The beach has been closed for more than three years, and evidence suggests that even breathing the air may be harmful, as toxic particles in the water can become airborne. Yet, even though Gavin Newsom has been governor for six years, he has not rushed into action to stop this very preventable environmental disaster. Why? Because he is not getting kickbacks from China and Mexico, not being gifted mansions and cars, and he cannot tax the struggling California taxpayers to clean up this mess. Simply, it is not profitable for him. Gavin Newsom has been a total tyrant with no regard for taxpayers and does not have a mind for business and should be impeached as soon as possible. He has criminalized poverty, increased taxes and insurance rates so high that people are struggling to survive and has given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. Wars have been started over governments who tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. If Gavin Newsom is not stopped, next he will euthanize the poor and sterilize the disabled. This monster is unfit to be governor and must never be allowed to be President of America! Stop Gavin Newsom now! Save California and impeach this unreasonable man. #RandolphHarris 25 of 28
Meanwhile, with President Trump, we are seeing crime rates sharply decrease, and he recently secured $10 trillion in investments. Additionally, in May of 2025m the United States of America collected a record $22.3 billion in tariff revenue. If elected president for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. #RandolphHarris 26 of 28
When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. #RandolphHarris 27 of 28
As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrived at this fulness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 28 of 28
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
We wish to express our gratitude to our families, ancestors, spirits, and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.) https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/
BMW continues to dominate the luxury car space. With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands.
BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/
Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers
Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html
Cresleigh Bluffs at Plumas Ranch
Plumas Lake, CA | from the mid $400’s
Now Selling!
Welcome to Cresleigh Bluffs, the newest home community in Plumas Ranch!
Nestled in the heart of Plumas Lake, CA, Cresleigh Bluffs offers three distinct single story floor plans designed with efficiency and practicality in mind.
Home design is made easy with expertly crafted design packages exclusive to Cresleigh Bluffs. Choose from a variety of packages made to fit your taste and budget. Contact our dedicated sales associates to learn more. PlumasRanch@cresleigh.com
Sign up for our interest list today to stay up to date on community information. https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-bluffs-at-plumas-ranch/move-in-ready-homesite-2/
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Unhealthy patterns can develop in any relationship. Recognizing them can uncover abuse or stop it before it starts. Congruence, on the other hand, is accurately matching experience with awareness. It means to feel our feelings physically, to communicate them accurately, and to experience then consciously. If we can do all three, there is congruence. The manipulator is not congruent. When our heads are out of sync with our heart, we are said to be deceitful. For example, when we tell the hostess we had a good time at her party when actually we were bored, we are not expressing what we feel internally. Being perfectly honest, but still polite, we might say, “Thank you for inviting us.” When the manipulator’s conscious awareness is out of phase with his or her physiological awareness, the person is said to be defensive. For example, a man may express anger behaviorally, while denying it verbally. “Are you angry?” his friend asks. Clenching his fist and slamming it onto the table, he shouts, “No! I am not angry!” His body is angry, as anyone can plainly see, but he, unaware of his anger, cannot admit it. Rarely are the manipulator’s words congruent with his body. Learning to pay attention to bodily sensations helps the manipulator to bring about a congruence between bodily and conscious awareness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 33
Two elements are involved in the communication of feelings: sending and receiving. Much like radio transmitters, we constantly send out messages. The question is whether we are reaching anyone. We all have some degree of difficulty in communicating accurately, in being understood. Manipulators have special problems in this area of communicating their feelings. The first involves errors in sending, and one of these errors is the unexpressed expectation. It is Father’s Day, let us say, and Dad has secretly hoped that his children will remember him with a small gift, a card, or a phone call. He hopes one of these things will happen, but he does not say anything about his expectation. When nothing happens—no gift, no card, no call—he is understandably disappointed. However, the fault is largely his own. He made a sending error and allowed his expectations to go unvoiced. Most personal relationships are based on such expectations. Yet, many of us seldom take the time or trouble—or we are afraid, really—to ask for the things we want. The actualizer knows this, for he or she knows quite a bit about communication. The actualizer does not want to go through life being misunderstood. Knowing that many misunderstandings can be avoided by simple statements of need and want, the actualizer is able to ask for whatever he or she may want, no matter what it may be. #RandolphHarris 2 of 33
A second type of sending error is what we call the contrived expectation. This can be described as manipulating another’s response by the way we state our expectation. We exaggerate our expectation. One above average weight little boy, intent on eating a juicy red apple, begs his mother for some cookies. She offers the apple as an alternative, which is what he wanted all along. Or the wife who complains to her husband, “You did not get home until two A.M.,” knowing it was probably much earlier, in order to get him to admit that he got home at one in the morning. The other communication problem is in receiving, where we make just as many errors. For instance, we may appear to ignore a message that we are not ignoring at all. Someone says something that hurts us quite badly, but we will not say, “That hurts.” We ignore it; we simply do not respond at all as we continue to nurse our hurt. Another receiving error occurs when we neutralize the communication sent to us. This may very well be a measure of our ability to receive love. Someone says: “You look lovely tonight.” We do not reply, “Thank you, I appreciate the compliment.” Rather, we respond: “Oh, you look lovely, too.” It is almost as if we are afraid to feel good when someone gives us warm and caring messages. We keep throwing it back so we do not have to feel the impact of the good feeling. It is our marginalized personality, insisting we are not worthy, that cancels out the gifts of love. #RandolphHarris 3 of 33
A third receiving error is always responding in terms of the expectations of others. No matter what they say, we give back what we think they want to hear, denying our own feelings. “Do you like my new suit?” coaxes a friend. You reply dutifully, “Oh, I think it looks great.” The truth of your feelings may be that you wonder how your friend could have bought such a turkey. You might reply more honestly, “Well, I like the cut of the jacket,” or even, “No, I cannot say I do.” There is nothing wrong with disagreeing, especially in matters of taste. Finally, we may respond as if the other person’s message is contrived! “What is it she really wants to know?” you might wonder. “I have to figure out what she really wants so I will not give it to her.” A husband who had entertained clients (which included a former love interest) for lunch, is asked by his wife, “How was your lunch meeting today?” He assumes her question is contrived, for obvious reasons, and he is just not going to give her the reply she wants. So, he answers, “The same old thing.” Everyone wants a happy family, but even when people try to live the gospel, relationships can become hurtful. Some challenges are a result of the misunderstandings and frictions common to families. However, in healthy homes, people apologize for poor behavior and mend rifts, while in unhealthy situations, there are ongoing patterns of harshness or maltreatment that become abusive. #RandolphHarris 4 of 33
Abuse consists of actions intended to hurt or control. It consists of a range of behaviors that may include neglect, manipulation, verbal criticism, and physical or sexual violence. Unfortunately, abusive behaviors are common, with some scholars estimating that a quarter of children worldwide are mistreated physically, sexually or emotionally. Adults also have high rates of victimization, with approximately 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experiencing physical violence from a spouse. Abuse can happen in any relationship, and both men and women can be perpetrators. However, men are more likely to be controlling and to commit severe physical and sexual violence, and women are more likely to be terrorized, dominated, or badly hurt by a spouse. Abuse harms the soul of both the offender and the Savior. Modern prophets have states that those “who abuse spouse or offspring…will one day stand accountable before God.” Abusers often ignore or exploit principles of the gospel. When someone dismisses your pain and claim that they are right with God to downplay their betrayals and exaggerate your concerns, they are rejecting the principles of respect, love and compassion and mistreating you. Your efforts to live gospel principles sometimes cannot fix a problem they are creating. #RandolphHarris 5 of 33
Each of us can give in to unhealthy behaviors. There are certain characteristics common to all types of abuse, and the more severe and frequent these are, the less healthy the relationship will be. Although abuse is heartbreaking, change is always possible. Victims can reach out to spiritual and professional resources and seek the power of the Savior’s Atonement to heal their wounds. Those who have been abusive must repent and seek help. This requires going “down into the depths of humility,” (3 Nephi 12.2) and accepting full responsibility for their behavior. Change takes more than short-term promises and surface efforts. The pain of deep repentance is soul-wrenching, and some will not be willing to do it, which leaves victims with difficult decisions about how to protect themselves. However, just remember, violence only begets more violence. Our Heavenly Father is concerned about us just like a loving father is about his children. “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook,” reports Moses 7.41. There is weeping in heaven and on earth when bodies and souls are wounded. Yet, with humility, God’s power, and professional help, when necessary, it is possible to stop damaging behavior and create a home of dignity, safety, and love. #RandolphHarris 6 of 33
The question is being asked by a number of young people. Having observed too many disillusioning examples of disharmony with pleasures of the flesh in marriage, they are unwilling to commit themselves in any traditional sense, but perfect to live together only for as long as they please. They choose to practice freedom with pleasures of the flesh exclusivity within their relationships on the basis of personal preference. If and when they decide to have children, they may marry—although for some individuals, even then wedlock may not be considered mandatory. Unwed motherhood, a status previously accepted out of unhappy necessity, is the deliberate choice of a small but not inconsequential number of women, and the legal right of a single person to adopt a child has been established in some states. On the basis of this and other such evidence, some observers suggest that the institution of marriage, which has necessarily been changing over the centuries to accommodate the needs of a changing society, now faces a future in which it may gradually become obsolete. In their judgment, marriage will ultimately manifest itself not as a religious sacrament nor a legal certification but simply as a sociological fact. Thus, when a man and woman—or two individuals of the same gender—decide to live together both socially and sexually, they will be considered “married,” and when they decide to stop living together, they will be “unmarried.” Society, no longer claiming the right to approve or disapprove, will merely register all such unions as a matter of civil record. #RandolphHarris 7 of 33
Social critics who content that monogamy is losing its institutional viability have no difficulty shorting up their argument with numbers. At present, of all couples who marry for the first time, 43 percent will seek sooner or later a divorce; 60 percent of all second marriages end in divorce and 74 percent of third marriages end in divorce. The nation’s divorce rate has on the rise since 1960. This is not, however, a steady upward trend. Historically, the divorce rate has fluctuated over periods of time, and on one occasion, from 1945 to 1947, it was almost as high as it is at present. In addition, a national divorce rate statistic is, by itself, virtually meaningless. It is the by-product of social and historical developments, and any intelligent understand of its significance depends on analyzing the underlying influences. To take a single example, for illustrative purposes—divorce occurs far more frequently among people who marry young, who have little education and little money. Once the point has been stated that way, it can be seen as simply common sense. There is a limited chance of success for a marriage—or any other joint enterprise—if the two individuals become partners before they are experienced enough to choose each other on any sound basis, if they lack the education that prepares them to communicate with each other effectively and to meet the social challenges and complexities they must face, and if they have so little capital, and so little hope of gaining more, that any pleasure they might find in their association is sapped by the struggle to stay financially solvent. #RandolphHarris 8 of 33
Obviously, the odds against such a pair are disproportionately high. When such unions are dissolved, the explanation has less to do with the inadequacies of marriage per se than with inadequacies inherent in immaturity when combined with little education and income. Placed in this perspective, the national divorce rate says less about the questionable state of marriage than about the questionable amount of guidance and emotional supports society gives to its marriageable population. It is as foolish to try to gauge the value and meaning of marriage by examining divorce statistics as it would be to gauge the value and meaning of life by studying mortality rates. If a moment of fantasy be permitted, it could be argued that the only sure way of evaluating the desirability of life would be to find out how many among those who have left life would take the opportunity to return. This is, in fact, the most important way to look at divorce statistics—by checking the statistics on remarriage. The evidence is striking. The U.S. Bureau of the Census, acknowledged authorities on the subject, the accelerate divorce rate has been accompanied by an accelerated remarriage rate. An estimated eighty out of every one hundred divorced persons remarry—and at least sixty of those eighty marriages prove permanent. Thus, the very individuals who theoretically have had the experience needed to evaluate monogamy, choose to find another partner rather than live alone, and most of them do their best to make that marriage last a lifetime. #RandolphHarrris 9 of 33
If marriage is, as some critics insist, a body trap, then this makes no sense at all. Were that true, a divorced person, having savored the freedom of being single again, would hardly be lured back into matrimonial harness or, at the very least, would surely be less tolerant of constraint and more likely to slip the traces by getting a second divorce. However, this patten is the exception rather than the rule. Contrary to popular belief, therefore, it seems clear that divorced men and women do not ride on a marital merry-go-round. Evidently experience has taught them that some important and rewarding satisfactions, which cannot be obtained otherwise, are possibilities inherent in a stable relationship involving pleasures of the flesh. Consequently, even after one failure, they consider marriage a major goal in life. This is not the case for everyone, of course, and there is much to be said in favor of a society that permits individuals sufficient choice so that those who are ill-suited to marriage can remain single all their lives with no loss of social approval. However, they are a small minority of the population, and indications are that for some time to come they will so remain. For everyone else, however, what was true in the past is no less true at present and gives promise of being true in the future: the search for happiness and personal fulfillment, for the pleasure of a life that has meaning, sooner or later leads to marriage. #RandolphHarris 10 of 33
The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrive at this fullness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. The animal acts as its instinctive drives bid it act whereas in man this instinctive nature is made up with and consequently modified by, the awakening intellect’s need to consider, compare, and judge. He who wants to go back to the simple medieval life is welcome to it. He who wants his rooms cleaned with old-fashioned brooms that rise a cloud of dust and leave it hanging in the air until it can find safe lodgment in throats and lungs, is welcome to the dust. There are others, however, who react differently to such a situation; who are resolved to take advantage of the skill of human brains and the fact of human advance. They have thrown away the unhealthy broom and adopted the vacuum cleaner which removes and swallows the dust instead of filing the air with it. #RandolphHarris 11 of 33
We are not writing a thesis on domestic hygiene. We are writing in this strain because it is highly symbolic. It shows quite vividly the difference between the backward-looking mentality and the forward looking one. The student of philosophy belongs to the second category. He sees the futility of propagating a switch-back to medieval methods when we are in the midst of the greatest technical transformation mankind has ever known. He knows that modern conditions must be faced with modern attitudes. However, he takes “modern” to mean whatever has attained the most finished state as a consequence of progressive development. He knows it does not mean whatever is merely fashionable at the moment, as materialism was fashionable in intellectual circles and sensualism in youthful circles until very lately. His vision is larger than that of his contemporaries, because it encompasses more. They are modern only in a chronological sense, but backward in a spiritual one. It 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. #RandolphHarris 12 of 33
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. How few are even aware of their intellectual dishonesty! Through his exclusive possession of the capacities for independent choice and self-control, as well as his privilege of individual responsibility, man is set apart from the animal. What this age needs to seek is a new intellectualism, a new science, one informed by deeper spiritual feeling and protected by higher spiritual ideals. A high quality of thinking is being done by men who are probing now for the better life of tomorrow. They are coming to the only possible conclusion about the validity of determinism on the basis of known facts, when regarded by the whole mind of intellectually mature man—the mind which uses both its abstract and materialistic thinking capacities and, consequently, verges on the truly intuitive. I am reminded of Bacon’s well-known remark about the slight use of reason leading to atheism and the adequate use of it leading back to religion. Although men are born with latent mental power and potential intelligence, few use these qualities to their utmost possibilities. Man arises out of the mysterious womb of the Infinite, yet he is to be found everywhere as a pitiful creeping creature, full of mortal frailties, finite indeed. Yet they unseen mental being of man is the silent workman who really constructs the edifice of his happiness. #RandolphHarris 13 of 33
Considering the extreme sensitivity of a neurotic pride to hurt, we are inclined to consider it as a rank growth of healthy pride. The essential difference, however, as we have so often before found true, is not one of quantity but of quality. Neurotic pride is by comparison unsubstantial, and it is based on entirely different factors, all of which belong to or support the glorified version of oneself. They may be extraneous assets—prestige values—or they may consist of attributes and faculties which one arrogates to oneself. Of the varieties of neurotic pride that in prestige value seems the most normal. In our civilization, it is an average reaction to be proud of having an attractive young lady, of coming from a respectable family, of being native born, a Southerner, or New Englander, belonging to a political or professional group enjoying prestige, meeting important people, being popular, having a good car or address. This kind of pride is the least typical for neurosis. To many people with considerable neurotic difficulties, these things mean no more than they do to the comparatively healthy person; to many others they mean distinctly less; if indeed anything. However, there are some who have such a heavy investment of neurotic pride in these prestige values, and for whom they are so crucial, that their lives revolve around them and they often fritter away their best energies in their service. For these people, it is an absolute must to be associated with groups that carry prestige, to be affiliated with prominent institutions. #RandolphHarris 14 of 33
Of course, all their hectic activities are rationalized in terms of genuine interest of the legitimate wish to get ahead. Anything that accrues to this prestige then may evoke real elation; any failure of the group to enhance such a person’s prestige, or any diminution of the prestige of the group itself, provokes all the hurt-pride reactions. For example, a member of someone’s family not “making good,” or being mentally ill, may be a heavy blow to his pride, mostly hidden behind superficial concerns for the relative. Again, there are many women who prefer to abstain from going to a restaurant or a theater than to go without a male escort. All of this looks similar to what anthropologist tell us about certain so-called primitive people among whom the individual primarily is and feels as a part of the group. Pride then is invested not in personal matters but in institutions and group activities. However, while these processes seem to be similar, they are essentially different. The main difference is that the neurotic is at bottom unrelated to the group. He does not feel part of it, does not have a feeling of belonging, but rather uses it for his personal prestige. Their way of living is often very beautiful—the inner me coming through, letting into the world the humanness that we exclude not because we do not like it, do not think it would be a good way to live, but because it is not “practical.” Sometimes their love for all others is seen as a threat to monogamy, although this love has nothing to do with age or gender. #RandolphHarris 15 of 33
The human beings’ peculiar genius among living forms, the trait that enabled them to prevail while dinosaurs and other creatures became extinct, is their peculiar lack of specialization. When environments change, inflexible organisms die off. Conventional upbringing and life style encourage a person to become overly adapted to some fixed range of environmental challenges. A person living a sedentary, scholarly life, for example, may become above average weight, with his or her head jutting forward; someone who works at a machine calling for a strong right arm may develop monstrous biceps in that arm, whereas the left remains the usual size. Sickness, both physical and psychological, can stem from over adaptation to an environment or culture. Besides so-called occupational diseases, produced by the stresses peculiar to given occupations, there are the symptoms brought about by change in environment. When a person’s resources have been committed to coping with one set of demands and challenges, that person may not readily uncommit them to respond to challenges coming from another sector of life. Thus, many persons become sick when they change jobs, neighborhoods, and even family status. The neurotics whom Dr. Freud treated were persons overly specialized to survive within the structure of their family origin. When they were asked to leave home, to start another family, they were unable to despecialize themselves from the role of son and daughter in order to take on new roles of husband or wife. #RandolphHarris 16 of 33
There is a real sense, then, in which various psychotherapies and the techniques for re-embodiment are despecializing procedures, making it possible for persons to let go their somatic “recall” of the past—to forget their past somatically—in order to learn how to act effectively in the present. Memory resides in the muscles, joints, and viscera as much as in the brain cells. Thus, the methods of yoga, Rolfing, fasting, and meditation all are approaches to the erasure of the past, as it is recorded in the musculature and habitual patterns of physiological functioning. These techniques also function as means to alter one’s usual way of being aware of self and the world. We are usually involved in various life projects, such as the pursuit of our profession; and in various interpersonal roles, for example, the role of son to parents, student to teacher, and man to woman. These are commitments of our “embodied” consciousness that influence the way the world appears to us and the way we experience ourselves. Our projects and our roles represent the specialized way in which we appear to ourselves and others in the world. When the somatic aspect of this specialization is “wiped out” so that one truly becomes no one, it is possible to re-enter one’s old ways with more vigor and with new perspectives, and it is also possible to begin disengaging from chronic roles and projects so that growth of self can occur. #RandolphHarris 17 of 33
Athletes and dancers would never think of beginning their contest or performance without a series of “warm-up” exercises. Although they are specialists, dancers and athletes have had to train hard to liberate their musculature so that their bodies become versatile instruments, capable of flexibility unavailable to the average person. However, when these people engage in routine daily pursuits, their musculature follows suit. For a performance, they must disengage their thinking and their bodies from these mundane involvements. Hence, warming up is a way of disengaging from one way of being in order to re-engage in another. In current slang, “psyching oneself up” to undertake some tasks or feat is a variety of disengagement and warming up. Fire fighters also warm up, and good communication is vital for effective firefighting. When a fire is discovered, the award-winning Sacramento Fire Department must be summoned and citizens alerted to the danger. During the firefight, officers must be able to communicate with fire fighters or summon additional resources. Not surprisingly, improvements in communication systems are tied to improvements in the fire service. During the colonial period, fire wardens or night watchmen patrolled neighborhoods and sounded the alarm if a fire was discovered. Some towns, including Charleston, South Carolina, built a series of fire towers from which wardens could watch for fires. In many towns, ringing the community fire bell or church bells alerted citizens to a fire. #RandolphHarris 18 of 33
Every academic business, or fire department you will ever produce will fit into one of two categories. Action-and-information messages ask the receiver to do something: Schedule a makeup exam; prepare a marketing report; put out a fire on a hilltop. Information-only message tells the receiver something: The primary cause of the American Civil War was states’ rights; Estelle LaMonica is the new Vice President of Human Resources; Alpha Company has one vehicle down for fire damage. You must focus—clarify—your message so your receiver is certain—clear—on what he or she is supposed to do or know. Too many action-and-information-only messages fail because the receiver mistake for information-only messages: “I need a make-up exam,” you send. “You sure do,” thinks the receiver. “If we knew that market better, we could increase our share.” “That is a good idea.” “The bad guys have a fire planned on Hill 442.” “That is right. I saw the intelligence reports as well.” Decide before you communicate if your message is action-and-information or information-only. If you are communicating an action-and-information message, specify what your receiver must do and know. Break through the noise. As the send, as the on trying to communicate, you have the responsibility to communicate clearly—to break through the noise. Think in terms of your receiver. Use your receiver’s terms of reference. If a fire department’s objective is to your front but to your receiver’s flank, refer to the objective as to the flank. (This very mistake—front rather than flank—resulted in the deaths of 550 British cavalry troops at the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War.) #RandolphHarris 19 of 33
Use descriptive language. Use visualization and analogies. Instead of saying, “The fire is big,” say, “The fire is the size of a football field.” Instead of saying, “I want you to put out that fire,” say, “I want you to put out that fire as if you were trying to save the President’s house.” Ask for feedback. It is not enough to ask, “Do you understand me?” The obvious answer is “Yes. Absolutely. Sure, I do,” no matter what the understanding may be. General Lee’s intent may have been “Take Cemetery Hill only if I can do it without casualties.” If General Lee had asked, “Do you understand me?” Ewell’s response—no matter the difference between intent and understanding—would have been “Yes. Absolutely. Sure I do.” Craft your request for feedback so your receiver will have to demonstrate his or her understanding of the message. “What—specifically—do I want you to do?” “What—specifically—will you do now?” “How will you do it?” Revise as you need to. You may have to repeat your message several times before you communicate successfully. Use the feedback you get to adjust your message to the needs of your receiver. Put your bottom line up front (BLUF). Get to your point in the first 10 seconds of your message. Your point—your bottom line—in an action-and-information message is what you want your receiver to do: “Attack, seize, and put out that fire.” Your point—your bottom line—in an information-only message is what you want your receiver to know: “Alpha Company has one vehicle down for fire damage.” Audiences—receivers are impatient. “Get to the point,” they say. “How does this affect me? If you do not get to your point, if you do not explain how your message affects your receivers, they will tune out. They may be physically present during the rest of the message, but their minds are far away—thinking of food; thinking of home; thinking of other tasks and responsibilities they have to perform. #RandolphHarris 20 of 33
Use simple words. Great communicators use simple words. Consider these examples: “Carthage must be destroyed!” (Cato the Elder, an ancient Roman senator.) “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt.) “I have a dream.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) “Make America Great Again!” (Donald Trump.) Look closely at the examples. Notice the overwhelming use of single-syllable words. Notice the absence of any long “impressive: words. Given the choice between a simple word and a long word—and given there is no difference in the meaning of the two words—use the simple word. Your communication will be clearer. Use concrete words. Concrete words draw pictures in your receiver’s brain. Consider the difference between the two phrases: “An old car.” “A 1966 blue Mustang convertible.” Which phrase draws a picture in your brain? You can visualize the Mustang far more easily, far more quickly, than you can visualize an old car. You can visualize “15 Sacramento Fire Fighters with hoses and axes,” far more quickly, far more easily, than you can visualize “a good guys.” Early humanity possess a mind that thought in terms of images and pictures rather than in terms of logical sequence. However, it developed marvelous memory as a consequence and entire volumes of sacred books were handed down for centuries by oral tradition before they were committed to writing. #RandolphHarris 21 of 33
The man of the twenty-first century must seek truth in his own fashion. The question of how many angles can stand on the point of a pin does not interest the modern mentality. This longing to know more may, at the start, be motivated by the desire to earn more but, in the end it will be motivated by the search for Truth. “I found out working with the Sacramento Fire Department is the greatest job in the world. Probably because of the men you work with, the camaraderie. It’s like a family, and you’re with them as much as you’re with your own family. Sometimes more. Where I’m at, the guys keep things light. It’s a job where you can find a lot of satisfaction, because you can see the results of your work immediately. You know right away that you’ve helped people. It’s not like you’re working with papers. People don’t always like others, but they’re always glad to see the firemen. I like helping people. What makes the job worth the injuries I’ve had? I can’t speak for everyone else. I’ve always kind of walked a thin line. I’ve always been—not reckless—but I’ve always been around danger. But danger is just part of the job, everyone accepts that. And the benefits outweigh the dangers. I get satisfaction out of this job. I could have died in this fire at the young age of twenty-eight, but that’s a risk. I knew the risks when I came on the job, and you just try to be as well prepared as you can. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to leave his family. My wife knows that. She also knows that I’m prepared, and it’s just part of the job. #RandolphHarris 22 of 33
“I don’t want a medical disability. I’d like to put my time in. I’ve got what they call RADS—reactive airway deficiency syndrome. It’s a form of asthma. I asked the doctor, ‘How long will I have this?’ He said, ‘Some people get rid of it right away, and some people never get rid of it.’ So I’m still taking inhalants and different things. And we’ll see what happens the next time I get a smoky job, how I react to it. That’s what the doctor said. ‘The only way you’re going to know is if you get another smoke situation. You’ll see what happens.’ I’d like to work my way up the chain of command. There’s nothing wrong with being a fireman for twenty or thirty years. Sometimes you’re in a place where you know more than your officer, and you have to swallow it because he’s got the rank. That’s motivation enough to study. If you feel you can help others and you’re a little more on the ball than most people, I think it’s your duty to try to attain an officer’s rank.” Spiritual teaching must be expounded today in a form suited to the modern need. The doctrines so revealed should be methodically progressive and the explanations should be systematically developed. At last the living growing entity has reached a kingdom of Nature where it can develop the power to think not only about material topics but also about spiritual ones. Where we do not know the different sides of a case, where we have not ascertained the various facts behind the answer to a question, it is wiser to suspend judgment, fairer, if possible, to refrain from taking action. #RandolphHarris 23 of 33
If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency situation and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way. Sometimes fire fighters are getting back into their vehicle and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals, sometimes emergency vehicles are in motions, albeit, slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 24 of 33
California is the third most expensive state in the nation. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now consider low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruze, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsom of Democratic controlled California, brags about being the world’s “fifth largest economy,” but it also facing a $12 billion deficit, looking to cut $747 million for state worker’s pay, pushing to keep medical insurance for illegal immigrants, and has the largest homeless population in the nation. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes things like food, automobile insurance, homeowner’s insurance, electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. This is caused by nearly half a century’s old laws that discourage homes sales and encourage higher rents. Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all of our jobs and money has more than 50 ghost cities. Ghost cities are regions will housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are amongst the names on that list. #RandolphHarris 25 of 33
Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal 2,500 and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 26 of 33
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 27 of 33
The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 28 of 33
Additionally, with inflation rates at an all-time high, American being in an unofficial recession for about a decade, all insurance in California is becoming unaffordable. State Farm has received an approval for an emergency rate increase, which was approved by the California Insurance Commissioner, to stabilize the market and protect policyholders. Starting 1 June 2025, homeowners will see an average of 17 percent increase, rental dwellings will see an increase of 38 percent, and Condo owners will see a rate increase of 15 percents. These rate increases are due to the distressed caused by the recent wildfires, which accumulated over $7 billion in claims. Furthermore, in 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1107, also known as the Protection California Drivers Act, into law which increases the minimum auto lability limits for bodily injury to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. Senate Bill 1107 also increased the minimum liability limits for property damage to $15,000 per accident and the DMV deposit for uninsured drivers to $75,000. The bill went into effect on January 1, 2025. This means that drivers with existing policies with lower limits will renew at the new minimum limits on or after January 1, 2025, and insurance premiums could increase by as much as 54 percent. America is in a state of crisis right now because of mismanagement by democrats. With the median household income in Sacramento County being $88,724 and a 4-bedroom 2.5-bathroom Cresleigh home costing $798,059, how are people able to afford homes? Because an $800,000 home with a one percent downpayment of $8,000, 30-year fixed loan at 4.176 percent interest comes with a monthly mortgage payment of $4,241. #RandolphHarris 29 of 33
The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. Mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 or $88,724.00 and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Prices in Sacramento County are actually rivaling the Bay Area, and the Bay Aera is so expensive because they have more higher paying jobs and is a tourist destination. And with the State of California being in a budget deficit of $12 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom Granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion annually, while cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless, and is proposing to fast-track his plan to build a $20 billion water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by eliminating environmental reviews and limit avenues for legal challenges. Gavin Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. Gavin Newsom has been a total tyrant with no regard for taxpayers and does not have a mind for business and should be impeached as soon as possible. #RandolphHarris 30 of 33
Meanwhile, with President Trump, we are seeing crime rates sharply decrease, and he recently secured $10 trillion in investments. If elected president for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever. And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. #RandolphHarris 31 of 33
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. #RandolphHarris 32 of 33
As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again,” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrived at this fulness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 33 of 33
The Winchester Mystery House
It has been one lone, perilous journey through twisted woods and sleepy poppy fields and neglected roads. He trembled as he drew near The Winchester Mansion. He stopped, listened to the creaking wooden beating from the heart of the mansion. It was louder than a human heart, and colder as well, and he watched as silvery streams of ghost flowed through its hollow. The streetlights fade behind him until it is totally dark. There is no light. There is no sound. There is no movement. He clutched his coat collar tight to his throat. Muscles tense. Sweat streaks his forehead and trickles down temples to flushed cheeks. Tears gushed from his wounded eyes. He starred at the mansion, pleading for forgiveness. “Join me,” it beckoned. “Hurry.” His pale face pressed against the front window. Haunted expression, fast frozen in deja vu. A spirit passes through him. Lingering memories revive the night when, in an eternal moment, this had become his home. He stumbled inside. The door slammed. Mrs. Winchester’s trembling hand throws a switch. He crawls forward. It was always quiet here, yet he could not rest. However, he knew he would repeat this cycle nightly, always at this hour. Forever.
Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.
Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
We wish to express our gratitude to our families, ancestors, spirits, and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.) https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Old Soldiers Never Die
Our problems can never be solved by dealing with them as we do, in passion and prejudice, unless indeed we find a new passion for Rightness and a new prejudice for Truth. The integrity of a man’s intellectual conscience will one day demand from every man a search for spiritual knowledge to confirm, sustain, or even replace his present spiritual faith. The studies should stimulate him to start, continue, or intensify the exercises, regimes, and practices, but they cannot act as a substitute for them. When it is hard to balance the claims of opposing doctrines, it is easier to substitute feeling for thinking. A manipulator’s life involves four fundamental characteristics: deception, unawareness, control, and cynicism. The actualizer’s life is marked by four opposing characteristics: honesty, awareness, freedom, and trust. Manipulators use deception, tricks, techniques, and maneuvers. They put on an act, and play roles to create an impression. Their expressed feelings are deliberately chosen to fit a “secret agenda.” Unawareness is another technique used my manipulators. They miss meaning and significance in experience, through the use of a collection of common heuristics and logical fallacies that lead individuals to focus on cues that are consistent with their opinion and filter out cues that are inconsistent with their viewpoint. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
Manipulators control people by deliberately concealing their motives from their opponents. Manipulators tend to be cynics. They distrust themselves and others. Down deep, they do not trust human nature. They see relationships as having only two alternatives: to control or to be controlled. In a sharp contrast, actualizers tend to be honest and authentic. Actualizers are able to be and to express their feelings, whatever they may be. There is a congruence between an actualizer’s feelings and expressions, actions and situations. Actualizers also tend to be very aware. They have an accurate perceptions, appropriate responses. Actualizers fully see and listen to themselves and others. They find meaning and significance in life experience. Actualizers express their freedom through spontaneity. They have the freedom to be and to express their potentials, and this allows them to master life rather than be puppets. They are subject, instead of being objects. Actualizers also have deep trust in themselves and others. They can relate to and cope with life in the here and now. Without deserting the use of sharp reasoning, yet without abandoning the piety of worshipful feeling, an actualizer follows obediently the light which has been show him. Using the symbols of the Light of Christ, it is a harmonious cooperation of head and heart. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
Humans have many actualizing potentials. Some we come to appreciate or value more than others. The more we can appreciate all aspects of ourselves, the more fully actualizing we become. We can be angry at times, loving at others, strong sometimes and weak sometimes. We must fearlessly subpoena our faith to appear before the court of common sense; if it is afraid to do that, it is not worthy of being held. As actualizers, we want vigorous facts, not the vague sentimentalities. However, as manipulators, each aspect ourselves that we disvalue becomes an act of disowning a part of ourselves. And what we disown, we must treat as “things.” When we do something we dislike, we say, “That is not like me!” “It came over me,” instead of “I regret that I did that”or “I am sorry I said that.” Soon this tendency to disown or to deny ourselves spreads into all areas of our lives. When the home team is losing, it is no longer “our team” but “that team.” Similarly, one’s spouse becomes a “nag,” a “ball and chain,” a “meal ticket.” When you feel like an “it,” others about you seem like “its” too. As actualizers, we appreciate ourselves and others and do not need to manipulate others to control them. We operate from a position of self-worth rather than from a position of deficiency. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
The manipulator, always assuming a deficiency in self and others, is compelled to fight. Life is a battle with strategy, tactics, tricks, or games necessary for survival. When a manipulator loses a battle or contest, he or she feels that everything is lost. The actualizer, assuming sufficiency in self and others and not hampered by the manipulator’s battle gear, sees life as an endless array of exciting opportunities to learn and to grow and to share. While the manipulator is a many-faceted person of antagonistic opposites, the actualizer is a many-faceted person of complementary opposites. From Dictator to Leader. The leader guides and serves rather than controls and dictates. The leader is forceful and decisive, yet not domineering and arbitrary. The complementary opposite to the leader is the empathizer. The empathizer not only talks, but also listens and is aware of his or her weaknesses. Although the empathizer has high expectations of self and others, he or she can understand and accept human fallibility. The actualizer integrates his or her leadership and empathy. The qualities of leadership and empathy are dependent upon each other. Without empathy, a leader is more likely to be a dictator; without leadership, the quality of empathy may be hollow. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
From Calculator to Respecter. The respecter, rather than using or exploiting others, creatively participates in cooperative endeavors with others. The respecter, trusting and respecting the qualities of self an others, is able to bring out the best in both. The complementary opposite of the respecter is the appreciator. The appreciator is able to celebrate and admire the talents of others without envy. He or she can tolerate differences in others and does not need to have others to think, believe, and behave the same as he or she thinks, believes, and behaves. The actualizer integrates his or her respect and appreciation. A respecter without appreciation is a calculator. Appreciation without the creativity and cooperation of a respecter is like a birthday card bought but never given. From Bully to Assertor. The assertor, confident of his or her rights and strength, is direct and straightforward. Assertors do not view others as enemies to be vanquished, but are also not afraid to stand up and be counted. The complementary opposite of the assertor is the cater. The carer is not the obsequious Nice Guy, but is affectionate and friendly. The actualizer integrates his or her assertion and caring. An assertor without caring is a bully. And a carer who will not assert his or her needs is just playing the “martyr” role. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
From Judge to Expresser. The expresser is not judgmental of others, but is able to express his or her convictions strongly and well. The complementary opposite of the expressor is the guide. The guide does not presume to protect and teach others, but willingly encouraged others onto the path of understanding. A guide, knowing that each person must find his or her own way, offers the greatest gift one can give to another: belief in him or her. The actualizers integrates his or her expression and guidance. The actualizer does not think for others but with others, having his or her own opinions and beliefs at the same time he or she allows others to have theirs. The mystical attack upon intellect has sufficient basis to justify it up to a certain point. However, when it goes beyond that point and unreservedly praises the holy imbecile and listens with bated breath to his utterances, it renders a disservice to mysticism. If all this enormous human evolution is to end in men feeling like children and acting like fools, is there not a danger that they may go father and turn into idiots? Life, today, is too challenging to be met successfully by the brainless or foolish. It is also nonsense for any mystic of the religious devotional school to say that intellect is useless and unnecessary on the spiritual path. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
It may be so on his particular path—although even there his assertion is arguable—but it is certainly not so on the other paths. How can it harm a seeker to acquire all possible knowledge about the quest, to know all that he can gather from the history of mysticism, the biography of mystics, the psychology of mystical states, and the philosophy of mystical thinkers? Thus equipped, he is surely better equipped to find his way in what is, after all, a dim and obscure territory. And how can he learn these things without studying books, listening to lectures, discussing ideas, and exchanging experiences with others? If men of high intelligence are trained in theology, at some point the intelligence is forsaken or led to subserve faith. The cleavage of the mental functions in the form of an irrational attitude towards religion combined with a rational attitude towards everything else, is quite common. It is not distant from the mental disease called schizophrenia. Each mistake in action is the result of a preceding mistake in thought. What is lost by bringing a higher intelligence to they study of spiritual topics? If the person is sufficiently balanced to use it properly—nothing. Too many mystics of the emotional-devotional type have, while rightly scorning intellect’s limitations, wrongly decried reason’s services. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
Dynamite serves the mining engineer and the road builder very well. Fire serves the kitchen cook very well. However, if he or she brings dynamite into contact with fire in the kitchen, both may destroy the individual. Knowledge is not only one’s power but also one’s protector. When the aspirant has great devotion to the Overself but little understanding of it, Nature will halt him at a certain stage of his spiritual career and compel him to redress the balance. Whatever the prevailing attitude, a great deal of the process is always externalized; it is experienced as going on between self and others. Variations in this regard concern the particular aspect that is externalized, and the way in which it is done. Roughly, a person may primarily impose his standards upon others and make relentless demands as to their perfection. The more he feels himself to be the measure of all things, the more he insists—not upon general perfection but upon his particular norms being measured up to. The failure of others to do so arouses his own irritation with himself for not being, at any moment and under all conditions, what he should be may be turned outward. Thus, for instace, when he is not the perfect lover, or is caught in a lie, he may turn angrily against those he failed and build up a case against them. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
Again, he may primarily experience his expectations of himself as coming from others. And, whether these others actually do expect something or whether he merely thinks they do, their expectations then turn into demands to be fulfilled. In analysis, he feels that the analyst expects the impossible from him. He attributes to the analyst his own feelings that he should always be productive, should always have a dream to report, should always talk about what he thinks the analyst wants him to discuss, should always be appreciative of help and show it by getting better. If he believes in this way that others are expecting or demanding things of him, he may, again, respond in two different ways. He may try to anticipate or guess at their expectations and e eager to live up to them. In that case, if he fails, he usually also anticipates that they would condemn him or drop him at a moment’s notice. Or, if he is hypersensitive to coercion, he feels that they are imposing upon him, meddling in his affairs, pushing him or coercing him. He then minds it bitterly, or even openly rebels against them. He may object to giving Christmas present, because they are expected. He will be at his office or at any appointment just a little later than expected. He will forget anniversaries, letters, or any favor for which he has been asked. He may forget a visit to relatives just because his mother had asked him to make it, although he liked them and meant to see them. He will overact to any request made. He will then be less afraid of the criticism of others than resentful of it. His vivid and unfair self-criticism also becomes tenaciously externalized. He then feels that others are unfair in their judgement of him or that they always suspect ulterior motives. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
Or, if his rebellion is more aggressive, he will flaunt his defiance and believe the he does not in the least care what they think of him. The overreaction to requests made is a good lead to recognizing the inner demands. Reactions which strike us ourselves as being out of proportion may be particularly helpful in self-analysis. Also, we may draw certain faulty conclusions from self-observations. For example, a busy executive whom I saw occasionally, was asked by phone whether he could go to the pier and meet a refugee writer coming from Europe. He had always admired this writer and had met him socially on a visit to European. Since his time was jammed with conferences and other work, it would actually have been unfeasible to comply with this request, particularly since it might have involved waiting on the pier for hours. As he realized later on, he could have reacted in two ways, both of them sensible. He could either have said that he would think it over and see whether he could make it, or he could have declined with regret and asked whether there was anything else he could do for the writer. Instead, he reacted with immediate irritation and said abruptly that he was too busy and never would call for anybody at the pier. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Soon after this, he regretted his response, and later went to some length to find out where the writer was located so that he could help him if necessary. He not only regretted the incident; he also felt puzzled. Did he not think as highly of the writer as he had thought he did? He felt sure that he did. Was he not as friendly and helpful as he believed himself to be? If so, was he irritated because he was put on the spot in being asked to prove his friendliness and helpfulness? Here he was on a good track. The mere fact of his being able to question the genuineness of his generosity was for him quite a step to take—for, in his idealized image, he was the benefactor of mankind. It was, however, more than he could digest at this juncture. He rejected this possibility by remembering that afterward he was eager to offer and give help. However, while closing one avenue in his thought he suddenly hit upon another clue. When he offered help the initiative was his, but the first time he had been asked to do something. He then realized that he had felt the request as an unfair imposition. Provided he had known about the writer’s arrival, he would certainly have considered on his own the possibility of meeting hum at the boat. He now thought of many similar incidents in which he had reacted irritably to a favor asked and realized that apparently, he felt as imposition or coercion many things which in actual fact were mere requests or suggestions. He also thought of his irritability over disagreements or criticism. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
The conclusion he arrived at was that he was a bully and wanted to dominate. Reactions of this kind are easily mistake for tendencies to dominate. What he had seen on his own was his hypersensitivity to coercion and to criticism. He could not stand coercion because he felt in a strait jacket anyhow. And he could not stand criticism because he was his own worst critic. In this context, we also could pick up the track he had abandoned when questioning his friendliness. To a large extent, he was helpful because he should be helpful and not because of his rather abstract love for humanity. His attitude toward concrete individuals was much more divided than he realized. Thus, any request plunged him into an inner conflict: he should accede to it and be very generous also he should not allow anybody to coerce him. The irritability was an expression of feeling caught in a dilemma which at that time was insoluble. The effects the should have on a person’s personality and life vary to some extent with his way of responding to them or experiencing them. However, certain effects show inevitably and regularly, though to a greater or lesser degree. The should always produce a feeling of strain, which is all the greater the more a person tries to actualize his shoulds in his behavior. He may feel that he stands on tiptoe all the time, and may suffer from a chronic exhaustion. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
Or he may feel vaguely cramped, tense, or hemmed in. Or, if his should coincide with attitudes culturally expected of him, he may feel merely an almost imperceptible strain. It may be strong enough, however, to contribute to a desire in an otherwise active person to retire from activities or obligations. Furthermore, because of externalizations, the shoulds always contribute to disturbances in human relations in one way or another. The most general disturbance on this score is hypersensitivity to criticism. Being merciless toward himself, he cannot help experiencing any criticism on the part of others—whether actual or merely anticipated, whether friendly or unfriendly—as being just as condemnatory as his own. We shall understand the intensity of this sensitivity better when we realize how much he hates himself for any lagging behind his self-imposed standards. Otherwise, the kinds of disturbance in human relations depend upon the kinds of prevailing externalization. They may render him too critical and harsh of others or too apprehensive, too defiant, or too complaint. Most important of all, the shoulds further impair the spontaneity of feelings, wishes, thoughts, and beliefs—id est, the ability to his own feelings, etcetera, and to express them. The person, then, can at best be “spontaneously compulsive” (to quote a patient) and express “freely” what he should feel, whish, think, or believe. We are accustomed to think that we cannot control feelings but only behavior. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
In dealing with others, we can enforce labor but we cannot force anybody to love his work. Just so, we are accustomed to think that we can force ourselves to act as if we were not suspicious but we cannot enforce a feeling of confidence. This remains especially true. And, if we needed a new proof, analysis could supply it. However, if the should issue an order as to feelings, imagination waves its magic wand and the border line between what we should feel and what we do feel evaporates. We consciously believe or feel then as we should believe or feel. For instance, Mac was a brave soldier and took good care of his men. However, one day, through ignorance or disobedience a lot of them got killed, and Mac blamed himself. That, along with malaria, malnutrition, and a few other things, caused him to break down. When he recovered, he worked and worked and worked so he would not think, but no matter how hard he worked he never seemed to get ahead, and there was always more work to be done if he wanted to get out of debt. Mac was a caterer and went to all sorts of weddings and other celebrations, but he never had anything to celebrate himself. He was always an onlooker, helping other people feel good with food, drunk, comfort, and advice, and that made him feel needed, as much as he could feel that way. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
The worst time was at night when he was alone and his thoughts went round and round. The best times were on Saturday night, when he got drunk and could forget and was almost one of the crowd. This started long before he went into the army. His mother ran away with a soldier when he was six, and when he knew she was gone for sure, he fell into a raging fever and tried to die, because that meant she did not need him. He began to work hard very early in high school, but whenever he got a little ahead, his father would somehow trick him out of the money. If he bought something for himself, his father would sell it. He was jealous of the other boys at school because they had mothers, and got into lots of fights. He did not mind bloody noses in the schoolyard, but he could not stand the sight of dead bodies in the war. He was a good marksman, but he always felt sorry for the enemies he killed, not did he hold it against them that his own men got killed. Because he blamed himself for that, he felt that his dead buddies were watching from somewhere, so he was very careful not to add insult to injury by having a good time. Except when he was drunk, and that did not count—or did it? He could never be sure. Once or twice, he tried to crash his car, and did het badly banged up, but survived. His chief way of trying to kill himself was by smoking heavily even when he had bronchitis. After a long period of treatment, he made friends with his mother, and that made him feel better again. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
Clinical Analysis. Thesis: The old soldier was not good enough for his mother and failed his friends. As a result, he is condemned to work hard forever without getting ahead. He is a spectator in life and cannot join in the fun. He is always willing to help others, and that means more work, but it makes him feel needed. Death will be his only release, but he cannot hurt the ones who love him by actual death by suicide. All he can do is slowly fade away. Clinical Diagnosis: Compensated schizophrenia. Song: Old Soldiers Never Die. Roles: Failed Rescuer, Persecutor, Victim. Switches: Victim (of mother and father) to Rescuer (of men) to Victim (of circumstances). Parental Precept: “Work hard and help people.” Parental Pattern: “Here is how to endure it—drink.” Parental Injunction: “Do not get ahead.” Position: “I am not-O.K.” Decision: “I will work myself to death.” Sweatshirt: Front—“I am a nice guy.” Back—“Even if it kills me.” Pastime: Reminiscing about the war. Game: “I am Only Trying to Help You.” Antithesis: Stop killing yourself. Permission: Tune in and get ahead. Classification—Old Solider is a nonwinner’s script because it is a point of honor with old soldiers not to get ahead. It is a Goal-Structured Cannot script with the slogan: “You cannot get ahead until they need you again.” It is based on an “After” plan, “After the war is over, you can only fade away.” The waiting time is filled by helping people and soldier talk. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
The educated mind is repelled by superstition, the reasonable mind by fanaticism. Yet both need the fortifying support of a spiritual teaching. Every error rejected and every truth accepted strengthens a man in character and mind. Parts of the organizational structure of the Sacramento Fire Department are built from military traditions. Not everyone can become a fire fighter, EMT, or paramedic. Those who do succeed in achieving this status understand the vital mission of the Sacramento Fire Department. They understand that they must be healthy and in good physical condition and assertive enough to enter a dangerous situation yet mature enough to work as a member of a team. The job requires a person who has the desire to learn, the will to practice, and the ability to apply the skills of the trade. A fire fighter, EMT, and paramedic are constantly learning as the body of knowledge about fires expands and the technology used in fighting fires and saving lives evolves. The job can also be stressful, however. The most frequent reasons for “stressing out” fall into three main categories: The unsettling effects of change, the feeling that an outside force is challenging or threatening you, the feeling that you have lost personal control. Life events such as marriage, changing jobs, divorce, or the death of a relative or friend are the most common cases of stress. Although life-threatening events are less common, they can be the most physiological and psychologically acute. They are usually associated with public service career fields in which people experience intense stress levels because of imminent danger and a high degree of uncertainty—police officer, fire and rescue worker, emergency relief worker, and the military. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
You may not plan to enter a high-stress career, but as a college student, you may find that the demands of college life can create stressful situation. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) notes some of the more common stressors for college students: Increased academic demands, being on your own in a new environment, changes in family relations, financial responsibilities, changes in your social life, exposure to new people, ideas, and temptations, awareness of your sexual identity and orientation, preparing for life after graduation. Symptoms of distress fall into three general, but interrelated, categories—physical, mental, and emotional. Review this list carefully. If you find yourself frequently experiencing these symptoms, you are likely feeling distressed: Headaches, fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, hypertension (high blood pressure), heart problems, such as palpitations, inability to focus/lack of concentration, sleep disturbances, whether it is sleeping too much or an inability to sleep, sweating palms/shaking hands, anxiety, and problems with pleasures of the flesh. Even when you do not realize it, stress can cause or contribute to serious physical disorders. It increases hormones such as adrenaline and corticosterone, which affect your metabolism, immune reactions, and other stress responses. That can lead to increases in your heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and physical demands on your internal organs. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
Behavioral changes are also expressions of stress. They can include: Irritability, disruptive eating patterns (overeating or under eating), harsh treatment of others, increases smoking or alcohol consumption, isolation, compulsive shopping. A sustained high level of stress is no laughing matter. It can affect every area of your life—productivity in the workplace and classroom, increased health risks, and relationships, to name just a few. However, you can learn to manage your stress. The first step is understanding yourself better—how you react in different situations, what causes you stress, and how you behave when you feel stressed. Once you have done that, take the following steps: Set priorities. Use the time-management tips. Make a To-Do list. Decide what is really important to get done today, and what can wait. This helps you to know that you are working on your most immediate priorities, and you do not have the stress of trying to remember what you should be doing. Practice facing stressful moments. Think about the event or situation you expect to face and rehearse your reactions. Find ways to practice dealing with the challenge. If you know that speaking in front of a group of friends frightens you, practice doing it, perhaps with a trusted friend or fellow team member. If the pressure of taking test causes you to freeze up, buy some practice tests and work with them when there are no time pressures. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
Examine your expectations. Try to set realistic goals. It is good to push yourself to achieve, but make sure your expectations are realistic. Watch out for perfectionism. Be satisfied with doing the best you can. Nobody’s perfect—not you, not your fellow Cadet, nobody. Allow people the liberty to make mistakes, remember that mistakes can be a good teacher. However, if you keep making the same mistakes over and over, people are going to think that there is something wrong with you. Live a healthy lifestyle. Get plenty of exercise. Eat healthy foods. Allow time for rest and relaxation. Find a relaxation technique that works for you—prayer, sports, reading a book, taking a bath, playing video games, or breathing exercises. Look for the humor in life, and enjoy yourself. Learn to accept change as part of life. Nothing stays the same. Develop a support system of friends and relatives you can talk to when needed. Believe in yourself and your potential. Remember that many people from disadvantaged backgrounds have gone on to enjoy great success in life. At the same time, avoid those activities that promise release from stress while actually adding to it. Drinking alcohol (despite what all those TV commercials imply), drinking caffeine, smoking, and overeating all add to the body’s stress in addition to their other harmful effects. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
Here are some other strategies for dealing with stress: Schedule time for vacation, breaks in your routine, hobbies and fun activities. Try to arrange for uninterrupted time to accomplish tasks that need your concentration. Arrange some leisure time during which you can do things that you really enjoy. Avoid scheduling too many appointments, meetings, and classes back-to-back. Allow breaks to catch your breath. Take a few slow, deep breathe whenever you feel stressed. Breathe from the abdomen and, as you exhale, silently say to yourself, “I feel calm.” Become an expert at managing your time. Read books, view videos, and attend seminars on time management. Once you cut down on time wasters, you will find more time to recharge yourself. Learn to say, “no.” Setting limits can minimize stress. Spend time on your main responsibilities and priorities rather than allowing other people’s priorities or needs to dictate how you spend time. Exercise regularly to reduce muscle tension and promote a sense of well-being. Tap into your support network. Family, friends, and social groups can help when dealing with stressful events. All of us can improve our ability to recognize when we are under too much stress or anxiety. We can also improve our ability to turn to the Lord for help. “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved,” reports Psalm 55.22. By seeking guidance from the Lord to make a plan of what to do and when and how, the Savior will help us to manage our stress and anxiety. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
“I don’t want to be on an ego trip, but I tell you there is nothing else in the World like firefighting. I have dedicated myself to it, and I’ve trued to implement a lot of things in the Sacramento Fire Department. As you get higher in rank, obviously, it gives you a better chance to do those things. I have a large family, and there are always money concerns. You say, ‘I wish I could afford to pay my kids’ way through college completely.’ I have a number of children who have completed college. I have a couple of degrees in fire science. I did teaching at a community college. I’ve done a lot of things in the Sacramento Fire Department to improve protective clothing and to improve our fire ground tactics to make things safer for firefighters. Obviously I could have made more money doing something else, but it wouldn’t be the same career. After twenty-seven years, if you’re doing a job, and you still like going to work and look forward to going to work, then you know it’s worthwhile. Money isn’t everything, I guess, compared to the special feeling you have being a firefighter. I have a son now who is going to take the fire exam. He had gone to college for a couple of years, then stopped. It’s really hard to postpone gratification. If he wants to be a firefighter, that’s great. I know he’ll make a living. Hopefully, he’ll have equal opportunity and a fair opportunity for promotion. That’s one of the sad parts of the fire service. We don’t want to eliminate anybody from equal treatment, but I think you end up with reverse discrimination, when other firefighters are entitled to something and don’t get it. A career in the fire service—there’s nothing like it. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. To help our firefighters, pleasure donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to ensure they have all the resources they require. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
The Winchester Mystery House
Happy halfway to Halloween from the sheet ghost 🎃 it isn’t just a season, it’s a lifestyle 🏖️👻
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Sit Down on the Camel and Take a Picture
The value of religious knowledge lies in the fact that it is a safeguard against error for it shows how to discriminate between reality and the appearance of it. Neither the deceptions of individuals nor the errors of religious experience can succeed. The expansive type, for whom mastery of life is crucial, tends to identify himself with his inner dictates and, whether consciously or unconsciously, to be proud of his standards. He does not question their validity and tries to actualize them in one way or other. He may try to measure up to them in his actual behavior. He should be all things to all people; he should know everything better than everybody else; he should never err; he should never fail in anything he attempts to do—in short, fulfill whatever his particular should are. And, in his mind, he does measure up to his supreme standards. His arrogance may be so great that he does not even consider the possibility of failure, and if it occurs, discards it. His arbitrary rightness is so rigid that in his own mind he simply never errs. Moses’ concern for his people proved to be justified in the years following their entry into the land of Canaan. It was when they became settled in this goodly land that they began to take their abundance for granted and to forget the real source of these blessings. Moses had counseled them: “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barely, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
“A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and His judgements, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: Least when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brough thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage…And thou say in thine heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth,” reports Deuteronomy 8.7-14, 17. Even if a man succeeded in getting others to accept his views, even if everyone accepted them, it is unlikely that they will accept them always. Every opinion has been written down in the books, including the opinion that truth requires us to hold no opinion. “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the Kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ, ye shall obtain riches, if you seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted,” reports Jacob 2.17-19. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
Suggestions from outside enters largely into the opinions and beliefs, the views and outlook, of masses of people. It is just as true, possibly truer, of the mystically minded, be they seekers or gurus, be they Eastern or Westerners. What is really known—rather than echoed back—dwindles down to a residue. The coveting of wealth so often has resulted in avarice, dishonesty, and greed. The acquisition of wealth has frequently produced pride, self-satisfaction, and arrogance. An episode during the time of Alma in the Book of Mormon illustrates the cycle that has so often occurred when people are blessed materially by the Lord and then turn away from Him. In the instance referred to, the Nephite people were struggling to overcome the effects of a devasting civil strife and a Lamanite invasion, not unlike the struggles more than half of Americans face today. Not only had there been great loss of life; the destruction to lands and to property had been sufficient to seriously jeopardize the prospects of recovery. Alma describes conditions in these words: “But the people were afflicted, yea, greatly afflicted for the loss of their brethren, and also for the loss of their flocks and herds, and also for the loss of their fields of grain, which were trodden under foot and destroyed. And so great were their afflictions that every soul had cause to mourn; and they believed that it was the judgements of God sent upon them because of their wickedness and their abominations; therefore they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
“And they begun to establish the church more fully; yea, and many were baptized in the waters of Sidon and were joined to the Church of God,” reports Alma 4.2-4. He may be poised in the tranquility of these grand concepts or poisoned by the negative fogs of false ones. Convert a man to your opinion and you have him for long; compel him to adopt it and you have never really got him. The spiritual reawakening among the people had a dramatic effect. Peace returned to the land. The Church prospered in its rapid growth. Not surprisingly, the people soon began again to enjoy an abundant life. The spiritual blessings granted by the Lord were accompanied by the acquisition of material wealth. Unfortunately, the Nephites failed to meet this test. Within three years from the time of their earlier tragedy, Alma describes his people in this way: “The people of the church began to wax proud, because of their exceeding riches, and their fine silks, and their fine-twined linen, and because of their many flocks and herds, and their gold and their silver, and all manner of precious things, which they had obtained by their industry; and in all these things were they lifted up in the pride of their eyes,” reports Alma 4.6. History repeatedly confirms that the abundance of earthly possessions can be both a blessing and a curse, depending upon the way these things are viewed and used. When we consume them on our own lust, we invoke tragedy. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
We must work hard to elicit the truth from the medley of beliefs and opinions which rule us, and to extract the reality from the medley of illusions and glamours which hold us. Any fool can say, “I know,” that is, can have an opinion. Mass stupidity is not, and never can be, a satisfactory substitute for individual intelligence. Wealth is a relative thing. Conditions vary dramatically from place to place in the World today. America is indeed a chosen land that President Trump is helping to restore. That which some consider to be the necessities of life, to others would be abundance, and even extravagance. In any set of circumstances, the challenges related to an improvement in material prosperity remain the same. The message that echoes to us from the pages of history and from the counsels of the Lord and His prophets is clear: Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven. Seek not for riches to consume them on your own lusts. Thou shalt not covet. Clothe the naked. Feed the hungry. Relieve the sick and the afflicted. Pay tithes and offerings. In all things, acknowledge the Lord. Be grateful. Be humble. The words of Moses to the tribes of Isreal have appropriate application for us: “Fear the Lord thy God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Here therefore, O Isreal, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey,” reports Deuteronomy 6.2-3. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
And, “when thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good…which He hath given thee,” reports Deuteronomy 8.10. Far too often private opinions are passed off as God’s oracles, man-made institutions as God’s instruments, and group propaganda as factual history. The masses, lacking both discrimination and information, are led like sheep by the mass media. How credulous fool attain supernormal wisdom? How can the man who is unable to discriminate intelligently in small matters suddenly become able to discriminate in transcendent ones? The jump is not possible. The more a man is engulfed in his imagination, the less necessary it is for him to make actual efforts. It is sufficient, then, that in his mind his mind he is supremely fearless or honest, no matter how beset his is by fears or how dishonest he actually is. The border lines between these two ways of “ I should” and “I am” is vague for him—for that matter, probably not too sharp for any of us. The German poet Christian Morgenstern has expressed this concisely in one of his opens. A man was lying in a hospital with a broken leg after having been run over by a truck. He read that in the particular street in which the accident happened trucks were not allowed to drive. And so, he arrived at the conclusion that the whole experience was only a dream. For, “sharp as a knife,” he concluded that nothing can happen that should not happen. The more a person’s imagination prevails over his reasoning, the more the border line disappears and he is the model husband, father, citizen, or whatever he should be. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
Most people do not know the difference between an opinion and a truth, and do not make the effort to distinguish between them. It is not better to force illusions into accord with the realities than to go on being pleasantly deceived by them? The self-effacing type, for whom love seems to solve all problems, likewise feels that his should constitute a law not to be questioned. However, when trying—anxiously—to measure up to them, he feels most of the time that he falls pitiably short of fulfilling them. The foremost element in his conscious experience is therefore self-criticism, a feeling of guilt for not being the supreme being. When carried to the extreme, both these attitudes toward the inner dictates render it difficult for a person to analyze himself. Tending toward the extreme of self-righteousness may prevent him from seeing any flaws in himself. And tending toward the other extreme—that of too readily feeling guilty—entails the danger of insights into shortcomings having a crushing rather than a liberating effect. The resigned type, finally, to whom the idea of “freedom” appeals more than anything else, is, of the three, most prone to rebel against his inner tyranny. Because of the very importance which freedom—or his version of it—has for him, he is hypersensitive to any coercion. He may rebel in a somewhat passive way. Then everything that he feels he should do, whether it concerns a piece of work or reading a book or having relations with pleasures of the flesh with his wife, turns—in his mind—into a coercion, arouses conscious or unconscious resentment, and in consequence makes him listless. If what is to be done is done at all, it is done under the strain produced by the inner resistance. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
We must not be doctrinaires, we must not sit at the sanctified feet of the god opinion. The intellectual purificatory work begins by clearing his mind of errors, illusions, and superstitions. These things lead him astray, both during prayer and out of it, from his search for truth. He may rebel against his should in a more active way. He may try to throw them all overboard, and sometimes go to the opposite extreme by insisting upon doing only what he pleases when he pleases. The rebellion may take violent forms, and then often is a rebellion of despair. If he cannot be the ultimate of piety, chastity, sincerity, then he will be thoroughly “bad,” be promiscuous, tell lies, afford others. Sometimes a person usually complies with the shoulds may go through a phase of rebellion. It is usually then directed against external restrictions. J.P. Marquand has described such temporary rebellions in a masterly way. He has shown us how easily they can be put down, for the very reason that the restricted external standards have a mighty ally in the internal dictates. And then afterward the individual is left dull and listless. Finally, others may go through alternating phases of self-castigating “goodness” and a wild protest against any standards. To the observant friend such people may present an insoluble puzzle. At times, they are offensively irresponsible in pleasures of the flesh or financial matters, and at others they show highly developed moral sensibilities. #RandolpHarris 8 of 24
So, the friend who has just been despairing of their having any sense of decency is reassured about their being fine persons after all, only to be thrown into severe doubts again shortly thereafter. In others, there may be a constant shuttling between an “I should” and “no, I will not.” “I should pay a debt.” No, why should I?” “I should keep to a diet. No, I will not.” Often these people give the impression of spontaneity and mistake their contradictory attitudes toward their should for “freedom.” Sincerity is not enough. Every aspirant needs this, of course, but he also needs other things. An aspirant may be totally sincere, yet may take a wrong direction. His mind may be filled with erroneous beliefs despite his sincerity. So to his sincerity, he should add right knowledge, for this will guide him, this will uphold him, and this will safeguard him. The result of a solely intellectual outlook devoid of religious faith or mystical intuition, is failure to offer mental peace or cherish moral goodness. Self-actualized people have a different sense of humor from the ordinary type. It is not hostile. It is not at someone else’s expense. It focuses more on the foolishness of the human situation. Their humor is usually thought-provoking, and many times they are able to laugh at themselves. President Lincoln’s humor, for example, was very much in this vein. He told one story that many believed could have applied to himself. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
It seems that a woman on horseback on a narrow trail came upon a man on a horse. She stopped her horse, looked the man over, and blurted out, “Well, for the land’s sake, you are the homeliest man I ever saw!” The man replied, “Yes ma’am, but I can’t help that.” “No, I suppose not,” she replied, “but you might stay at home. Here is another story President Lincoln told, perhaps, to point out that common sense has a wisdom that transcends logic: “If three pigeons sit on a fence and you shoot and kill one of them, how many will be left?” President Lincoln asked. The answer was, “Two, of course.” To which he responded, “No, there won’t, for the other two will fly away.” We are not casting stones at intellectual knowledge; it has a place. However, let it be kept in its place. Let it not become a usurper. The higher mysticism first satisfies the intellect’s demands, then transcends them. It does not, like the lower mysticism, reject or ignore them. Although the intellect admittedly cannot grasp reality, it is nevertheless necessary in order to set a standard, to show what reality is, as such, so that it shall be recognized. A pair of scales cannot weigh themselves but they are necessary in order to weigh other things. Similarly, the intellect cannot yield reality but can measure it so to speak or indicate what is and what is not reality. Hence, it is most valuable as a corrective mysticism and religious experience. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
The moral code which a man obeys is itself the result of his view of life, whether the latter be imposed on him from without or developed from within. To the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord said: “I have made the earth rich, and behold it is my footstool, wherefore, again I will stand upon it.” When the mystical bent of mind is not steadied by rational reflection, there is grave danger of mistaking satisfaction for truth, utility for knowledge. “And I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 38.17-18. Dr. Maslow’s “healthy champions” all had some unselfish involvement with others. They behaved as though each member of the human race were a personal family member of the human race were a personal family member, worthy of affection in spite of the way each person may act. However, the self-actualizers also could express “righteous indignation” toward cruelty, hypocrisy, or phoniness in others. They tend to have deeper and more meaningful interpersonal relations than the average adult—close relationships with a few, rather than superficial relationships with many. These people are more able to be nondemanding and noninterfering with those they love, delighting in the loved ones for themselves, not for what the loved ones can provide in return—love without guile, design, or calculation of any selfish kind. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
Dr. Maslow called this kind of love being love. Such a love, he said, “makes for less abstracting, less viewing of less-then-the whole, less atomizing or dissecting…structuring, organizing, shaping, modeling…” of the loved one, and the object of such love “remains more whole, more unified, which amounts to saying more itself.” A “being” lover sees more easily the nature of the loved one in his or her own right and in his or her own style of being. The opposite of being love Dr. Maslow called deficiency love, which is a manipulative kind of love. Manipulative lovers like to dissect the loved ones to discover and declare their faults as a means of gaining control over the loved ones. They like to mold and recreate the loved ones. Manipulators love because they feel a sense of lacking something in themselves, and they expect the loved one to fill their personal void. If the loved one fails to provide all the demands, their love is absolutely conditional and can be withdrawn. The futility and unwisdom of utter reliance upon feeling, unchecked by reason, was tragically evidenced by the sad case of Nijinsky, the famous Russian dancer, who after delighting audiences in the World’s chief capitals became insane and for more than twenty years had to withdraw from his artistic careers and pass most of his days in a sanatorium. Nijinsky kept a diary in the early days of his illness, in which we find sentences like the following: “I am God. I am God. I am God.” Throughout those pages, Nijinsky insist on feeling rather than thinking as a source of wisdom, and feeling he defines as “intuitions, proceeding from the unconscious.” The man who claimed to be God was, however, unable to fulfill himself as a human being. Why? Because he was really unbalanced for he rejected utterly the claims of Reason, and he denounced “mental” people as being “dead.” #RandolpHarris 12 of 24
Yes, mystical experience must collaborate with rational thought. However, there is a higher kind of mysticism, which prunes away the accidental and penetrates to the essential. Intellectual knowledge is certainly relative. However, what lies beyond it is for us ultimate truth. That there may be a truth beyond this in turn need not concern us at present, for nobody could either dispute it or demonstrate it. The urge for higher knowledge is not at act of the ego but prompting from the Overself. That it gets mixed, in tis earlier phases, with egotistic desires is true but these slowly fall away. Actualized people, Dr. Maslow’s research found, have a more efficient perception of reality than do others. They can see or perceive others intuitively and correctly. They cannot be conned. They do not come into situations with preconceptions, but seem able to leap to right conclusions. They also have a freshness of appreciation, and their senses are not dulled by seemingly common, everyday experiences. They experience joy in the miracles of everyday life that the rest of us hardly see, hear, or feel—a baby’s smile, a loving glance, a cooling delta breeze, a heartful compliment, a warm bed, a sunset, a lovely person’s profile. Each of Dr. Maslow’s subjects had some life task to fulfill that enlisted much of his or her time and energy. It was as if each of them had found and recognized some specific purpose to their being in the World that they pursued with great persistence. They did not ask what America could do for them, they asked what they could do to Make America Great Again. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
America, to a self-actualized person, could be as large as just that—the world—or as small as a neighborhood or family. The intellect is a faculty that man is endowed with, not by Satan to trap him, but in accordance with the divine World-Idea. Man is learning how to use it. If he is using it wrongly today, the consequences will tutor him in time and he will use it rightly tomorrow. When the mystical bent of the mind is not steadied by rational reflection, there is grave danger of mistaking satisfaction for ruth, utility for knowledge. Socrates taught that character was somehow dependent on intelligence: the better quality of the one was a consequence of the better quality of the other. Therefore, cultivate clear intelligence, he said. Long after, Spinoza repeated this advice. The subjects of Dr. Maslow’s study depended on their own potentialities and latent resources, rather than on others, for their continued growth. Their sense of self and their stability can be described, Dr. Maslow said, as “self-contained.” This independence of the physical and social environment accounted for their serenity in the face of deprivations, frustrations, and set-backs that might drive others to the brink of death by suicide. They did not depend on others’ love and respect for their own development. Their ability to get to such a point of independence, however, was largely made possible because they had received in the past love and respect from others. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
The need of coping with life forces us to develop intelligence or else to go on suffering the consequences of being stupid! Even the world-picture of a higher condition available to those who will work and sacrifice for it is not without value. It shows a model to use and emulate, a standard to seek and form oneself by. Self-actualized people are accepting of the real nature of themselves and others. Dr. Maslow said that just as, “one does not complain about water because it is wet, or about rocks because they are hard,” a self-actualized person does not complain about human nature in himself or in others.” Healthy people do not feel guilty, shame, sadness, anxiety, or defensiveness about things that are part of their nature as humans. They do not say to themselves, “I am so ashamed that I am so short,” or “I would not want to be seen with her; she is not very attractive.” Healthy people do not feel guilty about improvable shortcomings, such as laziness, jealousy, prejudice, and hurting others. What makes healthy people feel bad are the discrepancies between what is and what might be, not in the inherent nature of things or persons, but in the conditions or situations that might be changed or improved. In truth, we cannot change ourselves. We can find ourselves and develop what we find. That is what actualization is—becoming our real selves. That is easy today, but how does it happen? How do we know who we really are? What is a self, anyway? #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
It is not enough to mean well, it is not enough to believe one is doing right, it is not enough to be earnest, sincere, innocent of evil motives. It is just as essential to possess a balanced mentality, sound reasoning capacity, and unbiased attitude. The Spanish Inquisitors were sometimes saints, Mr. Hitler was an ascetic. Many who have brought misery upon mankind were men of excellent private character: the defects of these people were mental rather than moral, and led them to bad thinking and worse judgment. The moral of this is plain: If not more so than others, intelligence must be cultivated as fully. The role of reason in the human psyche is to keep its balance. You may have not thought of it, but the concept of self can vary from person to person. Some of us think of self primarily in terms of the physical: size and shape, color of skin, hair, and eyes, our attractiveness or unattractiveness; in terms of sensations: hungry or full, in pain or in pleasure, well or sick, tried or energetic; in terms of feelings: bored or interested, happy or sad, angry or loving. Others think of self primarily in terms of work or primary occupation: a professor, a firefighter, a truck driver, a parent, a counselor. And still others think of self conceptually: good or bad, kind or cruel, smart or stupid, friendly or surly, accepted or misunderstood. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
We can see ourselves as if in a vacuum—alone with no connection to our environment and others; as an outlines totally defined by a background of our environment and others; or as a being who is partially defined by our environment and others and partially defining our environment and others. However, consciousness of one’s self is always a unique act—I can never know exactly how you see yourself and you can never know exactly how I relate to myself. This is the inner sanctum where each man must stand alone, and where we must find the strength to stand as individuals and, through our own affirmation and choice, learn to love each other. Developing a strong sense of self is a prerequisite to actualization, and it requires a leap of faith. You do not have to prove your self-worth; you may assume it. As an acorn does not have to prove it has the potential to become a tree before it can grow, a human does not have to prove his or her own unique self-hood to realize it. A way to begin to discover your unique self is to keep a daily journal, or a diary entitled, “This is Me.” Each day, write a description of yourself, a one-line entry, or several pages. Be sure to describe yourself in terms of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, actions, and experiences alone and with others. You may be surprised at how much you discover about yourself and how the horizons of yourself begin to widen. (However, in the day of people trying to get famous and trying to set others up, you may want to put your journal or diary in a locked safe or locked box.) #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
There has always been in all of humanity a sprinkling of those who are described in the scriptures as the blind, the halt, the lame, the deaf, the withered, the dumb, the important folk. We refer to them as having learning or communication disorders, as the hearing or visually impaired, as those with motor or orthopedic limitations. We speak of intellectual or emotional impairment, of intellectual disabilities, and mental illness. Some suffer from a combination of these, and all of them cannot function without some help. Unlike the acorn, which can become only a tree, the range of what you are is far less limited. As a person, a unique individual, you have freedom, choice, and responsibility. As a manipulator, you abdicate all three. The education of man is worth no more than what he is worth inside himself. If he is evil within, he will be aided by a developed intellect to do more harm to others than he would have been able to do without it. If the good is within, he will have more capacity through education to do good to others. A thorough master and understanding of the Hidden Teaching—even if it be intellectual only—will help to refine, educate, and to some extent, even to dissolve the ego, if the knowledge thus obtained is applied. Truth is a dynamic, not a narcotic. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
The primary mission of the Sacramento Fire Department and EMTs is to save lobes and protect property and the environment through prevention, education, suppression, and rescue activities. Some of the actual activities may vary from one fire department to another depending on the locations of the department and what other community organizations are present, but the primary mission of the fire department remains the same. “The Sacramento Fire Department is committed to proving the highest level of public safety service to our community. We protect lives and property through fire suppression, emergency medical and transportation services, disaster service, fire prevention, and public education. Our members will Prevent Harm, Survive and Be Professional!” The culture of the Sacramento Fire Department can be defined as the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize the institution. Stress is a fact of life, whenever you are and whatever you are doing. You cannot avoid stress, but you can learn to manage it so it does not manage you. Changes in our lives—such as going to college, getting married, changing jobs, or illness—are frequent sources of stress. Keep in mind that changes that cause stress can also benefit you. Moving away from home to attend college, for example, creates personal-development opportunities—new challenges, friends, and living arrangements. That is why it is important to know yourself and carefully consider the causes of stress. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
Learning to take time, and although you cannot avoid stress, the good news is that you can minimize the harmful effects of stress, such as depression or hypertension. They key is to develop an awareness of how you interpret, and react to, circumstances. This awareness will help you develop coping techniques for managing stress. For example, as a captain of the Sacramento Fire Department, managing stress will requires techniques that include an awareness of yourself and your firefighters and EMTs. As you will see, the stress you encounter as a student differs in intensity from what you may experience in the fire department, particularly while on duty, fighting a fire, or provided superior medical care. The principles and techniques you use to manage stress are similar, however, as reported by this lieutenant: “I have learned a lot about how I deal with fatigue and stress from the job. I have found that finding a little time for myself each day or even each week allows me to regenerate and focus. Having a sense of humor and not taking things so personally have also helped reduce my stress levels. Keeping a notebook with me at all times and writing tasks, missions, or even just things to do has helped me keep my mind at ease, rather than thinking that I have forgotten to do something. Maintaining communication with my family and friends, and family in the Sacramento Fire Department, whether through e-mail or phone conversation, also keeps me grounded. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
“A school fire was probably the most traumatic experience I ever had as a firefighter. It was my day off from the newspaper. I was with Squad X, and we were a third-alarm squad on that fire. They jumped it from two to five alarms. As we went in, we could see the column of smoke, and we could see the ambulances and the police vehicles coming away from the fire with the injured. When we got in, we were ordered to the roof of this U-shaped building. We had to go up an aerial ladder, and in order to get the ladder we had to run through a crowd of parents, who were running back and forth across the street looking for their children. So we went up to the roof, started opening it up, then we got a three-inch line up there and we were throwing water across a courtyard. We didn’t know at that point what had happened. All this jumping had taken place on the other side of the building. By that time a whole wing of the second floor was fully involved in fire. Fire was coming through the roof. Then they ordered all squad companies to the front of the building. When we came down, a priest came up to us and said that there were seventy-fire children inside the building. At that point, I decided I had to go to work as a reporter. They had plenty of firemen on the scene, but I was the only reporter. So I took off my helmet and went to work as a reporter. At it turned out, ninety-three children and two nuns were killed in that fire. I was very busy while all of it was going on, but a few days later it got to me. I had seen many horrible things in the past, but never anything quite as horrible as this, because anything that affects children hits you harder. It was a few days later that I really got shook up about what had happened and what I had seen. But when you’re young, you’re resilient, and you get over it. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
“Years later, I woke up one night with a real sweaty nightmare about that fire. I dreamed about a woman I had seen for maybe three second. I had run past her to get the ladder to go up to the roof. If I saw her today, I would still know her. She had long curly black hair, high heels on, a pink blouse, white slacks, and she had a look on her face—a look of absolute anguish, looking for her child. I hadn’t thought about it at all, and here, ten years later, I wake up in cold sweat dreaming about this woman. And I couldn’t understand why. So I got up and went into my kids’ bedroom to see how they were, and then I realized what it was. My eldest son had just turned eight years old. That was the age—eight, nine, ten—of the children who were killed in that fire. I guess it was, subconsciously, always in my mind. When my own child reached that age, I was so appreciative of having my child that I must have empathized with that woman years later. As a parent I had much more feeling about that fire than I had when I was single. What is interesting about it is the way things stick in your mind, the psychological impact of what you are seeing without knowing it. Today they have counseling for emergency service people, which we didn’t have in those days. Everybody was supposed to be an alpha male. The truth is that us alpha males were bothered by what we saw and what we had to do at times. Today we have counseling, and we understand that what firefighters and EMTs do and see has a tremendous impact on them. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
“Recently, the City of Sacramento Fire Department, where I am on the board, responded to a terrible accident, in which three young people were killed. We immediately gave that shift the advantage of having some counseling if they needed it. As it turned out, most of them wanted it. So we realize the toll that all of this takes on our people. I think it’s very healthy to do that type of thing. I don’t think the people at the newspaper, where I work, give much of a thought to my firefighting activity. Most people look on it as a rather strange thing for a person to be doing, but I got used to that years ago. Since it’s not something they would want to do, they wonder why anybody would want to do it. They don’t know the great experiences that we as firefighters have, the things we share with each other, and the satisfaction that comes from doing it. To me, being a firefighter is an enrichment of my life. I’ve never had much enjoyment from watching a fire. It would be a pretty frustrating thing. If I’m in another city and they have a fire, I’ll go an observe and try to learn their way of doing things. But there really isn’t a lot of satisfaction simply watching a fire.” It has always seemed to me that the one great theme around which Shakespeare hung all his writing was, in his torn words: “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.” Certainly, right thinking is even more important than right action. For if two men both perform the same deed rightly but one does so on false reasons and the other on true ones, the first is always liable to slip later into wrong action but not the second. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. To help our firefighters, pleasure donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to ensure they have all the resources they require. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
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Recuse Fever–They Do Not Need to be Loved by Everyone
All knowledge is beneficial to man in varying degrees. The knowledge of his own soul, being the highest degree of human knowledge, offers the greatest degree of benefit to man. Unless a man exercises his reason—and that at its subtlest pitch—how is he going to wake up from this dream of spinning planets which he sleeps by the mesmeric power of some unseen and unknow Sage? The Light of Christ influences people for good and prepares them to receive the Holy Ghost. One manifestation of the Light of Christ is what we call a conscience. The Light of Christ proceeds forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space. It is the light which is in all things, which gives life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed. This power is an influence for good in the lives of all people. In the scriptures, the Light of Christ is sometimes called the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirt of Christ, or the Light of life. The Light of Christ should not be confused with the Holy Ghost. It is not a personage, as the Holy Ghost is. Its influence leads people to find the true gospel, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. By forming clearer ideas of the Overself’s activity, man can better cooperate with it, and more effectually remove the obstacles which obstruct that activity. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25
Conscience if a manifestation of the Light of Christ, enabling us to judge good from evil. The light of Christ is the divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Jesus Christ and gives life and light to all things. Man did not first know through his eyes or hands that electricity exists but only through his powers of reason. We know in our best moments that we are merely recipients of power, goodness, and understanding. What the higher self is trying to do in us may be obstructed through ignorance or assisted by knowledge. Intellect is most useful as a servant but most tyrannical as a master. It may hinder progress or accelerate it. Hence, although the philosopher thinks as keenly as any other man, he does not allow his whole self to be submerged in the thinking process. When man refuses to use his intelligence in settling his affairs it is only because he has not sufficiently developed his intelligence to be able to use in this way. However, philosophically speaking, he is blinded by the ego and so seeks satisfaction rather than truth. Such a one does not know that truth brings satisfaction in its train. The magnificent spectacle of the Universe does have a meaning but it is only discoverable when we put such prejudices aside and accept the deliverances of analytic reason concentrated in its impeccable and searching quest. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25
As we study from the best books, we protect ourselves against the menacing jaws of those that seek to gnaw at our spiritual roots. As man’s conception of the truth becomes clearer, his aspiration to realize it in his life becomes stronger. This is so and must be so. It is wise to be intellectually familiar with the various ways of approach to the Overself, for this expands one’s outlook and enlarges one’s tolerance; but one should also know what is the correct way for oneself. The intelligence which man possesses will not merely enable him to distinguish between truth and falsity in the consideration of external things, but will finally fulfil itself in enabling him to distinguish between the truth and falsity about his own internal being. That is to say, it will lead him to the knowledge of his own true self, his Overself. Many of the opinions which have found lodgment in his head are not there through impartial investigation or intelligent enquiry but through theaccidents of prejudice, bias, or heredity. We live in a day in which misfortune about our beliefs abounds. In times such as these, a failure to protect and deepen our spiritual roots is an invitation to have then gnawed on by an invitation by those who seek to destroy our faith in Christ and our belief in His restored Church. In Book of Mormon times, it was Zeezrom who sought to destroy the faith of the believers. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25
His actions and words were a snare of the adversary, which he laid to catch the people, that he might bring them into subjection unto him, that he might encircle them about with chains. Those same snares exist today, and unless we are spiritually vigilant and build a secure foundation on our Redeemer, we may find ourselves bound with Satan’s chains and being led carefully down the forbidden paths spoken of in the Book of Mormon. “And after they had tasted of the fruit, they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost,” reports 1 Nephi 8.28. The intelligence which man possess will not merely enable him to distinguish between truth and falsity in the consideration of external things, but will finally fulfil itself in enabling him to distinguish between the truth and falsity about his own internal being. That is to say, it will lead him to the knowledge of his own true self, his Overself. The increase in Sabbath day observance is but one example of members spiritually fortifying themselves by heeding prophetic invitations. Further strengthening is evidences in the increase in temple and family history work as families gather their ancestors through temple ordinances. Our spiritual roots go deeper as sincere personal and family prayer become bastions of our faith and we repent daily, seek the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and learn of our Savior and His attributes and strive to become like Him. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25
In all intellectual and scholastic studies, there is a secondary result which, whether recognized or not, is their most valuable one when judged from an evolutionary standpoint. It is the power of concentrated attention. Even if the student fails to master his subject or to solve his problem, nevertheless to the extent that he sincerely and diligently tries, this power is necessarily drawn upon, used, and developed. Both the mental effort needed to attend to the subject or problem and the desire to wrest the meaning of it, benefit the student even when his studies fail in their specific object. From the one he progresses a step forward toward greater ability to concentrate. From the other he gets a stimulus to his aspiration for truth. One day, both will be applied to the spiritual quest. He lifts himself above the herd, and becomes a student of philosophy, who sees who most people come to rest or even go to sleep in mere opinion. They have not enquired further whether it be truth—perhaps because they lack either the intellectual competence to do so or the preliminary knowledge of comparative opinion which shows up its contradictoriness, perhaps because they begin to find truth displeasing to their biased temperament and disagreeable to their prejudiced mind, perhaps because they are overawed by the massive impressiveness of tradition, authority, and established institutional teaching, or finally perhaps because the truth might prove disturbing to their personal position. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25
When clever, able, experienced, and idealistic men tell you, for example, that a particular doctrine negates all that Christ stood for, and when other men, equally clever able experienced and idealistic, tell you that it fulfills Christ’s ideals, then you have a clear illustration of the truth that some people are able to hold on to their present views only by shutting their eyes and stopping their ears to other ones. The intellectual study of these truths is not without great values. It prepares him for their eventual realization, nourishes his soul, strengthens his higher will, and encourages his finer hopes. Moreover, holy reverence is born of itself as he meditates on the picture of universal intelligence which thus unfolds before his gave. When it is said that all is opinion, it must further be said that all views of God exist in the minds of men as their opinions, too. The value of such opinions is only what these men give to it. For a view which is beyond the mental capacity of an unevolved person is of little value to him, whereas it may be life-saving to an evolved truth-seeker. If the critical sense were lacking, how could a man perceive the insufficiency of earthly aims, the transitoriness of earthly life, and the unsatisfactoriness of earthly happiness? And without such perfection why should he turn away to seek spiritual satisfactions? #RandolphHarris 6 of 25
Every man who has enough capacity to reflect upon his life-experience, has also to acknowledge that some power superior to himself—let him call it chance or God, fate or spirit—exists. “And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgement which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of men ought yet to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am,” reports 3 Nephi 27.27. Our Savior Jesus Christ, is the Light of the World, and He beckons us to follow Him. We must look to Him at all times and especially so if there are dark and stormy nights when the tempest of doubt and uncertainty, like rolling fog, creeps in. Should the pointed fingers “from the other side of the river of water, [where] a great and spacious building [stands]” (1 Nephi 8.26) appear to be directed at you in the attitude of mocking, demeaning, and beckoning, I ask that you immediately turn away so that you are not persuaded by cunning and devious means to separate yourself from truth and its blessings. However, this alone will not be enough in this day when perverse things are being spoken, written, and portrayed. Elder Robert D. Hales taught us, “Unless you are fully engaged in living the gospel—living it with all of your heart, heart, might, mind and strength—you cannot generate enough spiritual light to push back the darkness.” Surely, our desire to follow Christ, who is the Light of the World, means we must act on His teaching. We are spiritually strengthened, fortified, and protected as we act on the word of God. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25
It is the philosopher’s business to reject falsehood and therefore he refuses to swallow misleading statements merely because they have been well-baited on the surface with the sugar of true ones. So much that we esteem as solid fact is quite often nothing more than merely imagination. Enquiry is necessary. The same intellect whose activity deters most men from discovering God’s presence within themselves can be used to discover this presence. Something like this was noticed by Francis Bacon in England, and he put his idea into one of his essays. Time and thought, experience and experiment, study and practice initiation and instruction are all needed to teach a man how to distinguish between the final truth and its countless counterfeits. With growing enlightenment and increasing confidence, he becomes more expert. The intensity with which a view is held tells us something about its holder, nothing about the truth of that view. When they must form an opinion, come to a decision, make a judgment, or choose between alternatives, men consult past experience, listen to authority, obey tradition, or yield to the strongest elements in their own personal character. The imagination creates its own idols which it worships as the true God. Therefore, reason must be called in to cast them down. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25
Disillusionment about pseudo- or half-truths often precedes discovery of the real or full truth. Too many simple persons, whether Easten or Occidentals, do not seem able to distinguish between mere mythology and authentic history. The development of a discriminating faculty is as necessary in religion as in the marketplace. If the mind has been trained to reject a falsehood, be it born from within self or received from others, it will be better able to let the Truth shine unhindered in itself. The first value of correct teaching is that it purges the seeker of many errors in understanding. This purgation in its turn saves him from committing many errors in conduct. Here is its practical value. The second value is that its light instantly exposes imposture, charlatanry, exploitation, or evil in other teachings and in their exponents. There are true as well as false opinions, adequate as well as groundless beliefs. We may freely hold opinions and beliefs, provided they are supported by sufficient evidence. The greater the light in our lives, the fewer the shadows. However, even in an abundance of light, we are exposed to people and comments that misrepresent our beliefs and try our faith. “The trying of [our] faith worketh patience,” reports James 1.3. With this insight, Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “A patient disciple…will not be surprised nor undone when the Church is misrepresented.” Besore enlightenment can be received into consciousness, a measure of sharpness to discern the real from its appearance, as well as of detachment, must be acquired. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25
In a way, the term actualization (to make or become real) is another chapter in the history of the human endeavor to define what constitutes a good life, what it is to have a life well-lived. A great body of writings, from antiquity to the present, documents the human impulse to know what makes life good, meaningful, and, therefore, worthwhile. In the Christian Bible, we find Christ telling us, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly,” reports John 10.10. Indeed, the Christian Bible is rich with commentary about what makes a worthwhile life. Classical drama and the Greek philosophers addressed the nature of humankind in terms of meaning and potential. The great literature of the Renaissance included many work of this nature, such as The Courtier by Castiglione, The Governor by Sir Thomas Elyot, and Utopia by Sir Thomas More. The common threads in all of these writings are what enriches an individual life (intrapersonal), how an individual contributes to the common good (interpersonal) and what is the human place in eternity (spiritual and conceptual). Dr. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in a sense, is a part of this tradition, but his studies and writings emphasize the darker side of the human being. His concern is with what makes a human life “bad.” He studied the human as being diseased, and his revolutionary concept has influenced nearly every aspect of our culture and has confined much of psychology to a medical model. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25
Reacting against the Freudian emphasis on disease and returning to the larger tradition as described above, Dr. Abraham Maslow studied healthy humans and discovered the concept of “self-actualization.” Whereas many psychologists, following Dr. Freud’s medical model, believed that we could understand psychological health by first understanding psychological illness, Dr. Maslow suggested the alternative viewpoint. He taught that we can understand psychological health by studying the lives of people who have achieved a high degree of interpersonal satisfaction and self-fulfillment, the healthy champions. It is largely from his research that we draw our understanding of these people. The persons he studied included acquaintances, friends, and such public and historical figures as President Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Einstein, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Addams, Schweitzer, G.W. Carver, and Henry David Thoreau. Although these individuals cannot be described as perfect by any standard (no human is), their lives and the qualities that informed them, as discovered and defined by Dr. Maslow, provided valuable guidelines to us. In general, he said: By definition, self-actualizing people are gratified in all their basic needs…They have a feeling of belongingness and rootedness, they are satisfied in their loved needs, have friends and feel loved and loveworthy, they have status and place in life and respect from other people, and they have a reasonable feeling of worth and self-respect. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25
His study discloses the fact that self-actualizing persons whose basic needs are satisfied have additional motivations of an even higher nature. Some are conceptual: they delight in bringing about justice, they try to set things right, to clean up bad situations; they manage somehow simultaneously to love the world as it is and to try to improve it; in all cases [studied] it was as if they could see both good and evil realistically. Some higher motivations are interpersonal: they do not need loved by everyone; they like to reward and praise promise, talent, virtue; [they have] great pleasure in their children and in helping them grow into good adults. Some are intrapersonal: they love doing things well, “doing a good job”; they enjoy taking on responsibilities (that they can handle well); and certainly, do not fear or evade their responsibilities. Even though a mere 1 percent of the population, by Dr. Maslow’s reckoning, is fully self-actualized, knowing of real people with these qualities furnishes the rest of us with models for emulation. Such models are necessary precursors to change because they help us to form the “idea” of a new, manipulation-freer life. Unless we can concretely envision ourselves, “being real,” we are stuck with our old masks and deceptions. We learn to discriminate in practical affairs and among material things as to what they seem to be and what they really are. However, the faculty can be applied on a much higher level of existence and a more abstract one, depending on the cultural or personal quality of a man. Its highest application is to separate the Truth about God, the Universe, and oneself from its appearances and their Realities. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25
Being real has a great deal to do with appreciating our own uniqueness, as Martin Buber expresses it in his book The Way of Man: Every person born into this World represents something new, something that never existed before something original and unique. “It is the duty of every person…to know and consider that he is unique in the World in his particular character and that there has never been anyone life him in the World.” Every man’s foremost task is the actualization of his unique, unprecedented and never recurring potentialities, and not the repetition of something that another, and be it even the greatest, has already achieved. Dr. Maslow’s “healthy champions,” seem to understand their singularity in the World, as described by Mr. Buber, but they also have many common characteristics. In the film Maslow and Self-Actualization and in his books, he describes some of their common traits. With contradictions eliminated or reconciled, with errors corrected and new fertile concepts introduced, and with his ideas ranged in an orderly pattern, he can attain some intellectual clarity. Not only was there some fact as well as some exaggeration in Anatole France’s assertion—sceptic and cynic though he usually was—that “all is Opinion!” but it could be restated as “All is secondhand opinion!” They wittingly or unwittingly impose their own opinions, theories, beliefs, and concepts upon the object perceived or the happenings experienced. The result may come near to, or be far from, the truth, depending on their advancement, but it is unlikely to be the whole truth. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25
We have a puritanical attitude toward physical contact in the United States of America and northern Europe. Touching, embracing, and holding hands all appear to be restricted to relationships between parents and young children or between married men and women. In Latin countries, such as France or Italy, and in Asiatic and African countries, it is more common to see men holding hands as they walk down the street or embracing upon greeting one another. Physical contact is given more meanings there than as a prelude to arousal of pleasures of the flesh or an expression of parental concern, as has been the case in our culture. We appear to observe strong taboos relating to touching, yet touching and massage are direct ways to awaken a dormant sense of embodiment. Dr. Jourard conducted a study of touching among college students, their parents, and their friends. Several hundred students were asked to show, on a questionnaire, the areas of their bodies on which touches had been exchanged with their mothers, fathers, closet same-gender friend, and close friend of the opposite gender. The data indicated that not a great deal of touching went on between these students and their parents and their same-gendered friends. With the opposite-gender friend, considerably more touching was exchanged, presumably an expression of affection and erotic caressing. However, the data showed that many of the students tested did not have a lover and were virtually “out of touch” with the people in their lives. These findings suggest that many Americans may be starved for sensual physical contact without being aware of what they are missing. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25
The experience of total body massage (not just back rub) slowly and sensuously conducted can produce extreme relaxation, and a softening of the these “muscular armor” from which many people suffer. Esalen Institute. The growth center at Big Sur, California, pioneered in introducing such massage to larger public. Bernard Gunther’s books Sense Relaxation and What to Do Till the Messiah Comes are readable accounts of ways to relax another person through massage, and to heighten one’s capacity to sense the world through touch as well as taste and smell. Physical contact is coming gradually to be incorporated into the helping repertoires of psychotherapists, in both the psychiatric and psychological professions, in recognition of the fact that problems of a psychological nature occur to an embodied person, and hence have somatic concomitants that can be treated directly. Locate the neurogenetic centers where the future action is happening. There you will find Evolutionary Agents—the Out-Castes. Counter-Evolutionary Agents consistently make the mistake of focusing on today’s bureaucrat-power-holders, who are already outdated by the predom species. In slow moving pre-technological eras, this was a passable strategy. Evolutionary Agents always focus on the predom species—the stages to come. Mr. Aristotle hung out with teenage Alexander of Macedon, not the reigning Philip. Locate the Western Frontier centers and exchange signals with the youthful elite who are always visible in frontal-lobe regions. #RandolphHarris 15 of25
In every terrestrial society there are pupal training centers to which the most successful gene pools send their most intelligent larvals. The future of each gene pool is blueprinted in the minds of its superior adolescents. Teenage brains are the hatcheries of future-realities. In Eastern countries, you will find university students docile and insectoid obedient. Guess what this hive devotion predicts for the future of China. In the midbrain Sematic countries, you will find university students violently nationalistic and fanatically patriotic. In French elite academies, you will find serious technocrats. Mon Dieu imagine what that means for the future of France. Tant Pis. At the frontal lobe, Sun Belt Universities, you will find the young of the predom species obsessed with disciplined self-actualized hedonic freedom. Sign up for the college lecture circuit on the Western Front. There you will learn what is going to happen. And perhaps, maybe, you can influence this hatching future a tiny, tiny bit. We speak of colors as loud, harsh, soft, or mellow without even noticing that we do this, and of people as being cold, or warm, or bright, or dull, or sweet, or sour or crusty. It is not at all confusing to the senses to be “mixed up” in this way unless I get mixed up about it. Our categories, in any case, are not as clearly defined as we link to think them. In the garden the other day, a young woman sniffed and asked, “What smells like beer?” It was the roses. Perhaps, not all roses smell like beer, but these roses did—I had written “do” but changed it, as I do not know even if the roses on this bush always smell the same. I have not noticed. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25
That taste and smell are related is something that we are taught, but we can notice for ourselves that other senses are related too. “I smell purple” is not a ridiculous statement but opens me to possibilities which I have been ignoring. It is no “sillier” than “I feel blue.” When I was suffering an infirmary, I noticed that pains “have” color, shape, movement, temperature and voice. It seems to me that the ability to notice may be more a matter of our noticing than of individual differences. If I “forget my pain” (as I am told to do), I cannot notice it. And so with dreams. And with the experiencing of something much greater than myself in me. Whatever I dismiss, I cannot explore. Like the doctor in New Jersey who was furious when penicillin was discovered because his bacteria cultures were killed by molds too, and he kept throwing them out instead of studying them as Alexander Fleming did. What else are we not noticing that would be helpful to us? Therefore, Americans, remember, it is important to not only be loyal in what you do and say, but you must prove it by doing conscientious, good, and honest work in the service of the MAGA movement. It goes without saying that the well-qualified members of the Party are not regular Republicans, they are elite, patriotic, God-loving Americas and are preferred to non-members of the party who are equally well-qualified, but nobody is hired on the basis of their membership in the Party alone. The determined manner in which the new business manager stands for these principles and gradually carries them out in spite of all resistance proves to be a great advantage to the movement. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25
Training to become a fire fighter with the Sacramento Fire Department is challenging. The art and science of extinguishing fires is much more complex than most people imagine. The Sacramento Fire Department and their EMTs are challenged—both physically and mentally—during this course. They must keep their body in excellent condition so that they can complete their assignments; they must also remain mentally alter to cope with the various conditions they will encounter. Fire fighter and EMT training expands their understanding of recuse and fire suppression—that is, the various activities involved in recovery and in controlling and extinguishing fires. When you join the Sacramento Fire Department, you join a profession with a long and noble history of protecting and serving the community. By the time you complete the course with the Sacramento Fire Department, you will be well equipped to continue a more than centuries-old tradition of preserving lives and property threatened by fires. The Sacramento Fire Department and their EMTs have an understanding of the many duties and responsibilities of the fire service and emergency medical system, and they have a feeling of personal satisfaction about their accomplishments. However, for the Sacramento Fire Department and their EMTs complete physical fitness is not just about exercise, but also includes good nutrition and a sensible diet. They maintain a healthy body weight and body fat percentage through sound diet and exercise to ensure the best health, fitness, and physical performance. All of these things are relevant to maintaining military readiness and achieving peak performance. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25
Knowing the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Guidelines and understanding the Food Pyramid to determine your daily requirements of carbohydrates, proteins, and fat will help you make healthy food choices and improve your physical fitness. In addition, USDA has an interactive website to help you track your diet. Visit: www.myplate.gov, where you can personalize your diet by age, gender, and general fitness level. A health diet has the right kinds of foods in the right amounts. The Food Pyramid, now replaced by the Food Plate, was preferred because it represented many things. The pyramid shape is an ancient shape and is universally regocnized as a symbol of stability and strength. Its broad base supports a narrow peak, representing a solid foundation with the ability to rise towards the heavens. This ancient architectural form has inspired awe and reverence in various cultures throughout history. In the Sacramento Fire Department, they envision a person walking up the pyramid as a need for physical daily activity and different individuals’ different nutrition needs. The different width of the food ground bands indicates the need for proportion—how much should choose from each group. The six color bands symbolize the food you need daily from each group for good health. The six color brans symbolize the food the Sacramento Fire Department and EMTs need daily from each group for good health. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25
Orange (grains): USDA recommends you eat at least three ounces of whole-grain bread, cereal, crackers, rice, or pasta every day. Half your grains should be whole. To make sure you are eating whole grains, look for the word “whole” before the grain on the list of ingredients. Green (vegetables): You should vary vegetable servings, eating more dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, and dried beans and peas. Red (fruits): Eat a variety of fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruit, but go easy on fruit juices, which may contain empty calories in the form of added sugars and sweeteners. (R.W. Knudsen Family makes some healthy juices, one of my favorite is Just Cranberry, you can pick it up at Walmart, along with some other healthy options.) Yellow (oils and fats): Most of your fats should come from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. Limit your consumption of solid fats like butter, stick margarine, shortening, and lard. Although Crisco fried chicken is a classic Southern Delight, not just because of the nostalgia, but because of the warmth, rich flavor, texture, and tradition of this crispy and golden delicacy, when possible, consume foods with omega fish oils, which help maintain your cardiovascular health. Blue (milk, an important source of calcium): Now, I know some of you love to drink Half and Half because it is rich and creamy, choose low-fat or fat-free milk. If you do not or cannot drink milk, choose lactose-free products or other sources of calcium, such as hard cheese (cheddar mozzarella, Swiss, or parmesan), cottage cheese, and low-fat or fat-free yogurt (including frozen yogurt). Purple (meat, beans, and eggs): You may notice that this band, like the yellow band for oils, is thinner than the others. This visually reminds you to “Go lean on protein.” Choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry that are baked, broiled, or grilled rather than friend. Vary your choices, including more sustainably sourced fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds (however, if you have digestive issues, avoid all seeds). If meat typically covers most of your plate, take another look at the classic Food Pyramid. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25
Substance to avoid for proper health and fitness—to reflect a mature decision and to set a good example for their unit, the Sacramento Fire Department and EMTs have a diet that mirrors a wise lifestyle choice that helps them live a longer, more productive life. The Sacramento Fire Department and EMTs avoid substances that detract from their physical performance or harm their health (drugs, tobacco, alcohol, etcetera). Many people in our society have traditionally believed that alcohol—wine, beer, or hard liquor—relaxes you, increases your self-confidence, and alters your perception of stress or fatigue. It is true that for most people, light consumption of alcoholic beverages can be a pleasant social diversion. However, habitual, heavy drinking or binge drinking can cause severe dehydration, decreased performance, dependence, and harm to your metabolism. If they even choose to drink at all, the Sacramento Fire Department expects their firefighters and EMTs to exercise their judgment and drink responsibly, which includes obeying all laws regarding drinking and the legal drinking age. And never drink to “quench your thirst” before, during, or after a workout. (I know some fitness models encourage people to have a shot of Vodka before workouts, but that could be life threatening.) Cigarettes, cigars, marijuana, crack cocaine, cocaine, vaping, MDMA all could be laced with heroin and/fentanyl and could be deadly. Not only that, but they contain a whole gamut of cancer-causing chemicals that provide no beneficial health effects, and vaping can lead to irreversible lung damage. Some maintain that the “buzz” from tobacco leads to improved performance and reaction times, but no medical evidence supports this position. If you do not smoke at all, in the interest of good physical fitness, it is best. If you do smoke, however, limits your intake and avoid smoking before, during, and after workouts. Smoking increases your heart rate and blood pressure. (And do not normalize smoking marijuana, it is dangerous and children may adopt the habit, and remember, it is still federally illegal and known to cause excessive weight gain. Just because everyone is having premarital does not mean it is not against the Law of Chastity and not a sin in the eyes of God.) #RandolphHarris 21 of 25
Furthermore, controlled substances are those strictly regulated by the government and may require medical prescriptions. You should use such substances only under medical supervision. Other drugs such as amphetamines, narcotics, steroids, and other so-called “performance enhancing drugs” are illegal and banned by the Sacramento Fire Department. These drugs change performance by increasing central nervous system arousal. They increase your heart rate and blood pressure and they may cause dizziness, nauseas, irritability, insomnia—even death. No one in the Sacramento Fire Department or who is interested in good physical fitness consumes these substances; they can only detract from your performance in both the short and long term. They Sacramento Fire Department forbids their use. Keep in mind, health and fitness are integral parts of the Sacramento Fire Department’s life. They are critical for readiness and important to the well-being of the individual Fire Fighter and EMT. Although not a cure-all, a properly planned fitness program yields many physical and mental benefits. Effective physical training can improve your body composition (decrease body fat and increase lean body weight), ability to work, mental alertness, self-confidence, and general well-being. Exercise also decreased metabolic and mental health risks, such as high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke, anxiety, depression, and much more. With assistance from your Sacramento Fire Department instructors, you are able to apply the Sacramento Fire Department’s general fitness principles to create a self-directed physical training program that meets your needs and fulfills your personal and personal goals. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25
“In one month, we have fifty people apply for jobs with the Sacramento Fire Department, but where was a hard core of only ten or fifteen men who were in it for the firefighter. I’ve noticed this is typical, the same ten or fifteen guys you can count on. These are the ones who will take the courses, show up for the drills, and whenever they are available, they will never miss a fire. They can have a 100-degree Fahrenheit fever, and if that alarm goes off, they are going to drag out of bed and get to the fire. Your bond as a firefighter or EMT is always with that hard-core group who are the active firefighters and medical team. Fire Fighters and EMTs with the Sacramento Fire Department have great pride in his company, whether he is full-time, part-time, or training. Outsiders can’t understand that. On Squad X in Sacramento we always felt we were the best, we could meet any challenge. We called ourselves gladiators. We thought we were invincible. The same thing was true on other companies that I have been on. We thought that we could meet whatever we had to face, and we always did—a great feeling of accomplishment. People say it’s an unusual job. It’s not a job at all. A great part of my life would be empty if it were not for the Sacramento Fire Department. Firefighting is a way of life. You will be in a rotten fire situation—filthy dirty, cold, coated with ice—it’s been a long hard night, and yet you feel sorry for the people who have not had that experience. Among firefighters and EMTs, you feel good about each other and about yourself. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25
“Outsiders can’t understand the feeling you get when a bell rings and you know you’re gonna go. The tension you feel when a box comes in, when you’re not due on the box, but you’re due on the second. Waiting to see if they’re going to pull the second alarm or not. Everybody gets up and goes to the bathroom, because you don’t know if you’re going to get another chance. Then all of the sudden there is a feeling of exhilaration when the bell starts ringing, they’ve pulled the second alarm and you’re going. You’re going to be challenged. The feeling you get when you’re on your ways and you look up and see that column of smoke or that glow, and you know you’re going to have a working fire. It isn’t that you want something bad to happen to someone else, that’s not it at all. It’s the feeling of all, the strangest feeling, is the one that you have when you’re on your way there, and they tell you on the radio that people are trapped. I call it “rescue fever,” and it comes over the whole company. It’s a shot of adrenaline. You do things you didn’t believe were physically possible. The idea that somebody is trapped in there, and you’re going to have to get them. I’ve always admired what firefighters have been able to do. Sometimes it’s also a bit frightening, because it has led people do try to do more than they should have and get themselves into extremely dangerous situations. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25
“The feeling you get when you are in, and the entire building is involved, and you know that it’s going to a second or third alarm. There is just your one engine there, you’re laying out that one line, and you know that help has been called for but hasn’t gotten there yet. There is that state of suspended animation—you’re throwing water from that one two-and-a-half-inch line, and it doesn’t mean a thing in that volume of fire. Then you start hearing the sirens coming from the other apparatus. You have this confidence that the system is going to work. It may take ten, twenty, thirty companies to do it, but in the end you’re going to get the job done. One of the greatest satisfactions of all is when you’re in the trenches, where you have a big fire, and there you are, one company, the five or six of you are right at the point where that fire has to be stopped. There are maybe a hundred guys out there and twenty or thirty pieces of apparatus, you just know when it’s your company that has gotten into the right position and you’re the ones who made the stop on the fire. When I was in high school, I played football Oakland Coliseum, and I get the same thrill fighting fires. It’s totally overwhelming. Adrenaline flowing superstrength. Everything. It’s the excitement I’m in it for. I like to work on the older guys when they say we’re not being paid enough. Although it is true, we love our careers. You get many fires in Sacramento. We’re becoming the arson capital of the World.” #RandolphHarris 25 of 25
Join OKO Designs on May 25th for a fun and hands-on 3-hour stained glass workshop at The Winchester Mystery House. You will learn how to select, cut, grind, and copper foil glass, then solder your pieces together into a beautiful Daisy ornament. Perfect for beginners! ✨
All materials are included—and best of all, you will take your finished creation home the same day! 🌼
Very limited seating – get tickets now
Please note: All participants are required to sign a waiver and watch a safety video prior to the workshop—both are included in your booking confirmation email. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/
BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/
Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers
Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html
The City of Oakland is an equal-opportunity employer that values workforce diversity, inclusion, and equity. Oakland has a long history of activism around issues of justice and equity. Both oppression and this resistance to oppression have shaped the city’s historical roots and the lives of its residents to this day. As public servants in one of the most diverse cities in the nation, we strive to develop employees who understand the harm and impacts of systemic inequity to create lasting, meaningful outcomes for everyone. Oakland strives to establish an environment that embraces the richness of culture, community, and individualism of employees.
The Period of Monsters Has Come to an End
Humans are continuously behaving within ever changing internal and external environments that contain critical antecedent, co-occurring, and consequating events. Completely understanding the complex interactions that occur among multiple behaviours within these continuously changing contexts can be considered the ultimate goal of behaviour assessment. An assessor cannot, however, conduct continuous observations of all relevant modes and dimensions of behaviour across all relevant contexts. Manipulative behaviour is part of a borderline syndrome. The verb “manipulate” is defined as “to influence or manage shrewdly or deviously,” as in “to manage or control artfully or by shrewd use of influence, often in an unfair or fraudulent way.” Both definitions suggest that the manipulating individual intends to influence another person by indirect, insidious, or devious means. Indeed, when they are trying to influence someone, borderline individuals are typically direct, forceful, and, if anything, unartful. It is surely the case that borderline individuals do influence others. Often, the most influential behaviour is parasuicide or the threat of impending suicide; at other times, the behaviours that have the most influence are communications of intense pain and agony, or current crises that the individuals cannot solve themselves. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
Such behaviours and communications, of course, are not by themselves evidence of manipulation. Otherwise, if we respond to their communications of distress, we would say have to say that people in pain or crises are “manipulating” us. The central question is whether or not borderline individuals purposely use these behaviours or communications to influence others artfully, shrewdly, and fraudulently. Such an interpretation is rarely in accord with borderline individuals’ own self-perceptions of their intent. Since behavioural intent can only be measured by self-report, to maintain that the intent is present in spite of the individuals’ denial would require us either to view borderline individuals as chronic liars or to construct a notion of unconscious behavioural intent. My own experience in working with suicidal behaviour as “manipulative” is a major source of their feelings of invalidation and of being misunderstood. From their own point of view, suicidal behaviour is a reflection of serious and at times frantic suicide ideation and ambivalence over whether to continue life or not. Although the patients’ communication of extreme ideas or enactments of extreme behaviours may be accompanied by the desire to be helped or rescued by the persons they are communicating with, this does not necessarily mean that they are acting in this manner in order to get help. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
These individuals’ numerous suicidal behaviours and suicide threats, extreme reactions to criticism and rejection, and frequent inability to articulate which of a number of factors are directly influencing their own behaviour do at times makes other people feel manipulated. However, inferring behavioural intent from one or more of the effects of the behaviour—in this case, making others feel manipulated—is simply an error in logic. The fact that a haviour is influenced by its effects on the environment (“operant behaviour,” in behavioural terms) says little if anything about an individual’s intent with respect to that behaviour. Function does not prove intention. For example, a person may quite predictably threaten suicide whenever criticized. However, the fact of the correlation in no way implies that the person is trying or intending to change the criticizer’s behaviour with threats, or is even are of the correlation. Thus, the behaviour is not manipulative in any standard use of the term. To say then that the “manipulation is unconscious is a tautology based on clinical inference. Both the pejorative nature of such inferences and the low reliability of clinical inferences in general make such a practice unwarranted in most cases. However, it is also important to remember that manipulative behaviour may be “appropriate” and normal for persons who are dealing with a hostile system. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
Many humans have eternal conflict between self-support and environmental support. There is a good deal of this conflict in employer-employee relationships. Often an employee, even when given the authority to make decisions and to take action, cannot do so. Unable to trust his or her own ability to know general company policy and to adapt it to changing situations, the employee defers decisions to higher-ups or to so-called authorities. Such an employee refuses to depend on self-support, but must look to authorities—environmental support. On the other hand, many employers refuse to trust the individual abilities of their employees. A salesman, for example, may be treated like a machine, whose sole function is to perform within the limited framework of the employer’s sales manual. This “sales machine,” robbed of personality, treats the customer in the same depersonalized manner. Not trusting oneself for support, a manipulator tends to believe that salvation lies in the hands of others. Yet, not trusting others completely, he or she manipulates the other in an effort to have the support. The manipulator rides the coattail of the other person and then attempts to steer him or her. Refusing to drive himself or herself, the manipulator drives the driver. #RnadolphHarris 4 of 22
The operative word here is distrust. We do not trust the natural organismic balance each of us has, which would allow us to live our lives simply and feelingly. Married couples often form a complex manipulative partnership to cope with their distrust of self-sufficiency and of others. For example, a husband with a penchant for withdrawing and avoiding uses his wife, who has an inclination for blaming and attacking, as his “mouthpiece.” It is the perfect solution for the husband, who feels he is insufficient to confront others about his needs. He lets his wife convey his demands to others. Such an arrangement is a safe haven for a withdrawing and avoiding husband. His wife is on the front line, and if his demand elicits a negative or hostile response from the other, she gets the heat. And, of course, he can resort to blaming and attacking her when his manipulation has failed. It was her fault. Erich Fromm has suggested a second cause for manipulation. He reasons that the ultimate relationship between two humans is that of love and that love is knowing a human being as he or she is and loving his or her ultimate essence. We believe that this desire to love and be loved is a wonderfully healthy, innately human experience, but our manipulative inclinations to be lovable and to make lovable are sabotaging elements. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
If loving is knowing a human being as he or she is, we fear that we are not very lovable as we truly are, and the other person is not very lovable as he or she truly is. So, we begin masking and costuming ourselves in an effort to make ourselves lovable, and we begin our attempts to change and mold others to meet our expectations of what is lovable in them. Those of you who have had extramarital relationships, have any of you ever had to cope with feelings of regret, remorse or guilt because of your extramarital affairs? When you tell lies to your husband or wife about your involvements, do you feel you are protecting him or her? Or the marriage? At first, many people feel that they would never do anything to jeopardize their marriage, the believe that they would never tell a lie, and do not even think that they. However, you have to be somewhat optimistic that life is basically going to work out. In other words, you do not start an affair with the idea of being discovered. Sure, there is this fear that it might result in injury. If their spouse did find out, some people do not believe that the individual would leave, but that it would be worse—he or she would stay and try to find some other ways to get back at them. Still, the desire to have more relationships with other people is stronger than their fear of being found out. The thought of spending forty—three years married to one lovely person and never knowing anybody else is just something that some people do not honestly envision when they take their wedding vows. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
In our society, it is common that when you get to know somebody at great depth that the most natural thing in the World is to go to bed with him or her. The truth of the matter is many people have affairs with the people that they work with because that is where they relate to others. Whether it becomes an act involving pleasures of the flesh or not is almost immaterial. So, the idea that someday it may come out, which most people would sincerely regret, is outweighed by other considerations, probably selfish ones. Yet, being around people that you want to know well—people that are very talented, very cosmopolitan does not necessarily involve being intimate with them, too. Relationships are a way of expressing yourself at the time and in the place and under the circumstances. Certainly, pleasures of the flesh are, after all, a means or form of communication, handled in different ways depending on one’s maturity and one’s security. It may be a form of sport or a form of expression or a form of barter. Two forms for infidelity come through quite clearly. One is a desire to settle a score with their partner, to square accounts—a way of getting back at their partners for what they see as injustice or inadequacy. At the same time, it could also be a way to express culturally stereotyped attitudes. Pleasures of the flesh, of course, are only one area in which a sense of “arrested development of self” is experienced by a man or a woman after they have been married for a while. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
People become aware that they have not had a chance to try their wings and they belatedly feel the urge to discover how far and how well they can fly. This awareness becomes focused on pleasures of the flesh, chiefly because society has made it such a charged aspect of life. It is certainly reasonable for someone to wish to catch up with himself, to experience the feelings that he—or she—feels are legitimately his and which he feels capable of achieving. However, this search for identity is a much wider problem than can be encompassed by pleasures of the flesh alone. It is just that when pleasures of the flesh are not good, when pleasures of the flesh deprivation or distress with pleasures of the flesh of any kind is occurring, it tends to dominate the individual’s feelings. Under those circumstances, many people see pleasures of the flesh as the only really important thing in their lives—they feel deprived, even cheated, of one of life’s great satisfactions. Consequently, they often become overly dramatic, indulging themselves in emotional baths, losing perspective on the totality of their lives. It is this preoccupation with pleasures of the flesh-for-the-sake-of-pleasures of the flesh that makes so much extramarital pleasures of the flesh ultimately self-defeating become in time it is the totality of an individual’s life that determines whether pleasures of the flesh will continue to be a fulfilling experience or will become a demoralizing one. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
It would be just as reasonable, and more logical, for a man or a woman who lack a sense of self-esteem and who feels cheated of satisfaction with pleasures of the flesh to begin the search for greater happiness by undertaking achievements in other aspects of their lives—whether in a career or by cooperating in some community project or by turning to education for the achievement of new skills and greater knowledge. Out of such efforts, a sense of self materializes that may very well lead either to the improvement of existing emotional relationships or to the begging of new ones that promise more enduring satisfaction—including pleasure with pleasures of the flesh. Infidelity is a very chancy and unreliable means to use in searching for one’s identity a very chancy and unreliable means to use in searching for one’s identity, in exploring one’s deepest feelings and beliefs and responses may be, but also communicating them to someone else. This is true for many reasons, including the fact that a man and a woman who are involved in an affair generally have different investments in their relationship, and these affairs are most often conducted under less than encouraging conditions. In addition, social attitudes—including those internalized by the man and woman—make it certain that in a good number of cases, the individuals will have to cope with feelings of guilt, one way or another. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
Either the guilt will intrude on their ability to accomplish their goals—to discover dimensions of their own personality—or it will require them to deny that the feelings exist, and in doing so, to sweep other feelings under the rug along with the discomfort of guilt. Undeniably, even so little a thing as a few kind words, and certainly a sense of companionship or—even more importantly—the first achievement of “excitement,” carries wit it a significant strengthening of motivation for change and may nurture self-esteem to a point where a man or woman have that much more confidence in their ability to develop more rewarding patterns of behaviour. However, it is very difficult to depend on a single happening, or a series of happenings, to sustain the energy, interest, courage, and zest required by a “lost” individual who is trying to develop in the important ways that he or she feels are necessary if life is to have more meaning. If they are to become real and lasting achievements, real and lasting achievement of goals which require a significant change of emotions, attitudes and habitual conduct must be carried out across a broad spectrum of one’s life. It is true that when one partner finds satisfaction in extramarital relationships, this may turn a potentially destructive relationship into a cautious friendship, at best, or supportive “acquaintanceship,” and in that sense it is better than open material warfare with all its attendant bitterness and destructiveness. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
However, this is not marriage in the sense of two human beings with full regard for each other, sharing the wish to negotiate differences between them and developing mutual pleasures to the fullest extent possible. Making do in marriage is not fulfillment through marriage. Even, if infidelity represents the first step in a positive direction—toward making do instead of making war—its is still a long distance away from the goal of becoming committed: true to oneself and loyal and vulnerable to one’s partner. A minority of the population is afflicted with the vast majority of illnesses that come to the attention of physicians. Defective heredity or a weak constitution only partly explains this high incidence of recurrent illness. We must look as well into the ways of life of these people with a talent for sickening. Studies of the frequently ill show they share many traits. Among other things, it is found that they may simply not take care of themselves; that is, they do not eat, sleep, or exercise sensibly. Another, less obvious, factor in frequent illness is stress. Many people encounter more stress in everyday life than is objectively necessary. They find everyday interpersonal relationships lacking in satisfaction, and, indeed, positively stressing. Demanding roles are a source of such stress. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
If persons must present themselves to others as something that they are not—if they are obliged to seem friendly when they are unfriendly, or if they are obliged to hide their real feelings and wants from others—then every moment spent in the presence of others is stressing. It is as if they are traveling incognito, with their true identity hidden. They feel that if they are “found out” by others, terrible harm will be fall them. Consequently, they trust no one and keep their guard up. Other people by their very existence then function as stressors, adding to the stress of daily life. Another factor in frequent illness is an overdeveloped sense of duty. Persons who feel obliged by their consciences to keep working at unsatisfactory jobs or to stay involved in unrewarding relationships are actively creating the conditions for their own illness. Periods of being sick may thus function as periods of respite from a dispiriting way of life. If they could change their work or their ways of relating even slightly, they would become ill less often. A brief vacation from work of family is usually less expensive than a stay of equal length at a hospital—and the vacation may forestall the illness. The will-power machinery is switched on in certain types as soon as they become aware of foibles. They resolve, and try, to keep a budget, to mix with people, to be more assertive or more lenient. If they showed an equal interests in understanding the implications and sources of their troubles, this would be fine. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
Unfortunately, this interest is sadly lacking. The very first step, which is to see the whole extent of the particular disturbance, would go against their grain. It would indeed be the exact opposite to their frantic drive to make the disturbance disappear. Also, since they feel they should be strong enough to conquer it by conscious control, the process of careful disentangling would be an admission of weakness and defeat. These artificial efforts are bound, of course, to abate sooner or later; then, at best, the difficulty is a little more under control. All that is sure is that it has been driven underground and that it continues to operate in a more disguised form. The analyst, naturally, should not encourage such efforts but should analyze them. Most neurotic disturbances resist even the most strenuous efforts at control. Conscious efforts simply do not avail against a depression, against consuming daydreams. One would think that this would be clear to any person who had gained some psychological understanding during analysis. However, again, the clarity of thinking does not penetrate to the “I should be able to master it.” The result is that he suffers more intensely under depressions, etcetera, because, in addition to its being painful anyhow, it becomes a visible sign of his lack of omnipotence. Sometimes the analyst can catch this process at the beginning and nip it in the bud. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
Thus, a patient who had revealed the extent of her daydreaming, while exposing in detail how subtly it pervaded most of her activities, came to realize its harmfulness—at least to the extent of understanding how it sapped her energies. The next time she was somewhat guilty and apologetic because the daydreams persisted. Knowing her demands on herself, I injected my belief that it would be neither possible nor even wise to stop them artificially, because we could be sure that they fulfilled as yet important functions in her life—which we would have to come to understand gradually. She felt very much relieved and now told me that she had decided to stop the daydreams. However, since she had not been able to, she felt I would be disgusted with her. Her own expectation of herself had been projected to me. Many reactions of despondence, irritability, or fear occurring during analysis are less a response to the patient’s having discovered a disturbing problem in himself (as the analyst tends to assume) than to his feeling impotence to remove it tight away. Thus, the inner dictates, while somewhat more radical than the other ways to maintain the idealized image, like the others do not aim at real change but at immediate and absolute perfection. They aim at making the imperfection disappear, or making it appear as if the particular perfection were attained. If, as in the past example, this becomes especially clear the inner demands are externalized. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
Then what a person actually is, and even what he suffers, becomes irrelevant. Only what is visible to others creates intense worries: a shaking of the hand, a blush, an awkwardness in social situations. The shoulds, therefore, lack the moral seriousness of genuine ideals. People in their grip are not striving, for instance, toward approximating a greater degree of honesty but are driven to attain the absolute in honesty—which is always just around the corner, or is attained in imagination. They can achieve at best a behaviouristic perfection, such as Pearl Buck has described in the character of Madame Wu in the Pavilion of Women. Here is the portrait of a woman who always seems to do, feel, think the right thing. The superficial appearance of such people is, needless to say, most deceptive. They themselves are bewildered when, seemingly out of a blue sky, they develop a street phobia or functional heart trouble. How is that possible, they ask. They have always managed life perfectly, have been the leaders in their class, the organizers, the model marriage partners or parents. Eventually, a situation which they cannot manage in their usual way is bound to occur. And, having no other way to deal with it, their equilibrium is disturbed. The analyst, when getting acquainted with them and the enormous tensions under which they operate, rather marvels that they have kept going as long as they have without gross disturbances. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
The contribution of intellect is indispensable. However, it is night enough. It leaves a most important part of the psyche—the intuition—still untouched. The danger of slipping into this overstress on intellectual activity and not retaining the healthy balance between it and intuitional activity, is large and real. The intellect has so dominated the modern man that his approach to these questions is first made through it. Yet, the intellect cannot provide the answers to them. They come, and can only come, through the intuition. When a difficult and important decision has to be made, the mind can impartially take in both the pros and cons, can circle all around the facts, yet in the end return baffled to where it started. Reason exerts itself in vain and only exhausts itself in such a process. The next step is to try outside advice, authority, or, if one can, intuition. The intellect may be convinced and confess to the truth but the faculty which actually recognizes it is the intuition. It is the latter’s light failing upon, and passing through, the intellect which really certifies an idea to be true. Semantic analysis and reasoned reflection help to uncover the lesser errors, the little illusions. The intellect cannot go beyond its own limitations, however; a higher faculty, insight, is needed to uncover the larger errors, the major illusions. The intellectual knowledge of the Truth is merely its shadow and not the Truth itself. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
The Truth is a higher state of awareness which leads you out of a little personal and physically materialistic everyday life into a new World of being—the World of your higher self which transcends these things. It is a real experience and not a mere speculation. It beings with it the peace which passeth understanding of which Saint Paul spoke, frees you from anxieties, fears, and all other negative ideas. It reveals to you that God, in the sense of a Universal Intelligence and Universal Power, is actually the basis of all existence. A religion that executes its obsolete sovereign must now establish the power of its new sovereign; it closes the churches, and this leads to an endeavour to build a temple. The blood of the gods, which for a second bespatters the confessors of Louis XVI, announces a new baptism. Joseph de Maistre qualified the Revolution as satanic. We can see why and in what sense. Michelet, however, was closer to the truth when he called it a purgatory. An era blindly embarks down this tunnel on an attempt to discover a new illumination, a new happiness, and the face of the real God. However, what will this new god be? Let us ask Saint-Just once more. The year 1789 does not yet affirm the divinity of man, but the divinity of the people, to the degree in which the will of the people coincides with the will of nature and of reason. If the general will is freely expressed, it can only be the universal expression of reason. If the people are free, they are infallible. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
Once the King is dead, and the chains of the old despotism thrown off, the people are going to express what, at all times and in all places, is, has been, and will be the truth. They are the oracle that must be consulted to know what the eternal order of the World demands. Voc populi, vox naturae. Eternal principles govern our conduct: Truth, Justice, finally Reason. There we have the new God. The Supreme Being, whom cohorts of young girls come to adore at the Feast of Reason, is only the ancient god disembodied, peremptorily deprived of any connection with the Earth, and launched like a balloon into a Heaven empty of all transcendent principles. Deprived of all his representatives, of any intercessor, the god of the lawyers and philosophers only has the value of a demonstration. He is not very strong, in fact, and we can see why Rousseau, who preached tolerance, thought that atheists should be condemned to death. To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well. However, that will only come later. In 1793, the new faith is still intact, and it will suffice, to take Saint-Just’s word, to govern according to the dictates of reason. The art of ruling, according to him, has produced only monsters because, before his time, no one wished to govern according to nature. The period of monsters has come to an end with the termination of the period of violence. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
“The human heart advances from nature to violence, from violence to morality. Morality is, therefore, only nature finally restored after centuries of alienation. Man only has to be given law, “in accord with nature and with his heart,” and he will cease to be unhappy and corrupt. Universal suffrage, the foundation of the new laws, must inevitably lead to a universal morality. “Our aim is to create an order of things which establishes a universal tendency toward good.” Spiritual self-realization is the main thing. Study of the teachings concerning cosmical evolution and the psychical evolution of man are but intellectual accessories—things we may or may not take on our journey, as we like. That part of man which reasons and speculates—mortal mind—is not the part which can discover and verify the existence of God. We are not necessarily helped or hindered on the divine path by taking up the lore of science or by becoming versed in the ways of sophistry. Once we live out our spiritual life in the heart, the rest sinks to second place. What the Overself really is defines adequate statement. For reason falters and fails before its mysterious Void. It dares not claim a capacity beyond what it actually possesses. Thus, the mystery of the World is the mystery of a soluble riddle hidden within an insoluble enigma. Nevertheless, we need not despair. For even if metaphysics is unable to explore this mysterious territory, it is at least able to point out its location. That is a definite gain. However, what is not all. What reason cannot do can yet be done by the faculty which towers transcendently above it—insight. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
Safety officers, in one form or another, have been present in the American work force for a long time. Some of the first safety officers came out of the fire service. As safety officers, the Sacramento Fire Department and EMTs make it a priority to stay in shape. Practicing the basic exercise principles is crucial for you to develop an effective fitness-training program. The principles of exercise apply to everyone at all levels of physical training, from the Olympic champion to the weekend golfer. They apply especially to fitness training for military personnel because having standard fitness principles across the organization saves time, energy, resources—and prevents injury. If you recall the P-R-O-V-R-B-S acronym, you can easily remember the basic principles of exercise: Progression—The intensity and duration of exercise must gradually increase to improve your fitness level. A good guideline for improvement is a 10 percent gain at specified intervals. Regularity—To achieve affective training, you should schedule workouts in each of the first four fitness components at least three times a week. Regularity is also key in resting, sleeping, and following a good diet. Overload—The workload of each exercise session must exceed the normal demands placed on your body to bring about a training effect. You have often heard this expressed as “No pain, no gain.” A fitness training, such as your instructor in the Sacramento Fire Department, can help you learn to tell the difference between pain that results from an optimum level of overload and pain that indicates potential injury. Variety—Changing activities reduces the boredom and increases your motivation to progress. Recovery—You should follow a hard day of training for a given component of fitness by an easier training or rest day for that component. This helps your body recover. Another way to promote recovery is to alternate the muscle groups you exercise every other day, especially when training for strength and muscle endurance. Balance—To be effective, a fitness program should address all the fitness components, since overemphasizing any one of them may detract from the others. Specificity—You gear training toward specific goals. For example, if their training emphasizes running drills and techniques, members of the Sacramento Fire Department become better runners. Although swimming is great exercise, it will not improve a two-mile-run time as much as a coordinated running program does. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
The Sacramento Fire Department has been using safety officers for over a century. The most common injuries for all fire service activities are strains, sprains, and muscle pain, followed by cuts, lacerations, and bruises. Considering only fireground injuries (and those that are consider moderate to severe) strains and sprains are still the most common injury type, followed by thermal burns. Generally speaking, the community image of a member of the Sacramento Fire Department and EMTs are ones of a protector or hero. Likewise, the firefighting profession is often included on my “most dangerous” top 10 lists. Historically, firefighters and EMTs have worn these images with a certain pride or swagger. More recently, the image fails to realistically depict the effect that a firefighter injury or death has on the humans involved. “Here at the Sacramento Fire Department seldom, we seldom curse when talking about the job, because the profession brings out the best in people. We have those noble ideals, and noble ideals are hard to envision when you are in the gutter. We have a purpose in life, and when we start talking about that, I think we watch our language. When we start talking about other things, then maybe we revert to more normal levels of tough talk. We love risk taking as firefighters. That attracts a lot of us. We are a nation of risk takers, who do not believe in absolute safety. Perhaps it’s in our genes from those Europeans who chose to leave an old, established life and embark on a new one at great risk. It shows up in the entrepreneurial spirit we see in our country today. I think firefighters mature on the job and realize that the reality is different from the image. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
To help save lives and keep the community safe, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. To help our firefighters, pleasure donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to ensure they have all the resources they require. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
Never has there been a building so talked about. You will find The Winchester Mystery House in what was once the countryside known as “Winchester Valley,” where it has left past guests feeling a little spooked passing through certain rooms. It is well known for its reputation of being the world’s most haunted location. Do you fear the dark? Does the idea of the supernatural scare you? Do you sometimes anticipate the worst that can happen to you? Do you shiver when you read about victims of violent crime and think “that could have been me?” Does life seem insane? When you walk through the twisting hallways of The Winchester Mansion, are you apprehensive about what might be around the next corner? While standing at the door-to-nowhere, have you ever worried that life may have no meaning? Are you anxious that the next day might be your last? Do your days sometimes seem irremediably gloomy? Are you afraid of dying? We have examined your case thoroughly and think you will find the antidote for your condition at The Winchester Mystery House. A daily dose of horror is just the tonic you need. If fortifies the spirit with bracing jolts of terror. It inoculates the soul against fears that hound us all. It quickens the reflexes against life’s inhospitable surprises and tempers the imagination with thoughts unthinkable. Here you will find madmen in a variety of shapes and sizes who will help make things seem more rational. Feeling a bit self-absorbed? There is nothing like a tale of Mrs. Winchester’s hauntings to give you the right perspective.
The Winchester Estate dates back to the late 19th century, and it has a history that is packed full of legends and stories of spirits. The guided post-sunset walk takes visitors through the history of the mansion, while also offering a chance to spot some of the more well-known Winchester ghosts. There are stories of a little girl playing in the hallways and tugging at bedcovers at night and a woman in white who crosses the courtyard and passes through the walls. Lightening in colours no one can name sear across the infinite and multihued sky in jagged shards the size of which no one can conceive. Alien winds scream their impossible being in warring cacophony of notes no one can ever believe at volumes none can bear. And when the winds pick up on the fourth floor of the mansion, they make an eerie whining noise. It sounds as if everything around you is screaming. Right before a quick scratching sound, then something flares. A small spot of light glides like a firefly toward you. Another flare, then a dull yellow flow. A thin man has been said to step into the light. “Found some others out there,” is all he says before disappearing before your very eyes, and then everything is absolute darkness. Outside, the winds are said to kick up; it screams across the night. Well, maybe it is the wind. We all know the story of The Winchester Mansion.
The carpenters, who worked day and night for 36 years to build the mansion, that was once nine stories high, containing as many as 600 rooms. They knew the area was dense in spiritual energy. The hallways often possessed a great river of shadows. As these men felt a moan rising from a core of solid fear, they were so afraid that they would stand frozen for the space of one deep, shuddering breath. It was believed even the objects they could see were enemies, because they were keeping secrets. They knew, but were not telling. The cold quiet of The Winchester Mansion was a familiar song. Often, Mrs. Winchester’s guests would crough down, huddling against the floor, until help arrived. The mansion is situated over the crossing of two Ley Lines. In these areas, the veneer between the physical and spirit realms is thinner and much more permeable. This permeability and natural energy allow entities to manifest much more readily than in a normal location. Any thought or action in these areas, whether positive or negative has a much stronger and more focused effect. In the case of The Winchester Mansion decades of compounded suffering, negativity and strong emotional experiences have left a marked effect on the atmosphere in and around the mansion.
Some tour guides have heard chanting coming from outside the mansion and have heard their names being called. Others have reported seeing a woman hovering in the mansion. Many who have seen Mrs. Winchester claimed that she was “supernaturally beautiful, her skin glistens, and there’s a kind of light in her eyes that you can’t look away from.” Although her journals are sometimes vague, Mrs. Winchester experienced bizarre poltergeist activity during construction. She mentions to a friend the incredible amount of poltergeist activity that occurred during the time spent building the front of the mansion. One night, when darkness fell, the mansion was filled with eerie music like nothing Mrs. Winchester had ever heard before. Creatures from her maddest nightmares filled into the Grand Ball Room in some kind of funeral procession. She watched from the hallway, terrified of being seen yet unable to turn away. The very last thing she saw was her maid at the end of the procession, following the creatures off into the darkness. Later that night, Mrs. Winchester watched the shadows of leaves on the wall and drifted into a peaceful, safe, sleep, happy that the nuisance of her waking hours was gone. The very next day, on September 5, 1922, construction efforts were suddenly stopped when the ladders several carpenters were working from were pushed away from the wall, forcing them to jump several stories. Moments later, it was discovered that Mrs. Winchester had passed away in her sleep.
Mr. Hasen, one of Mrs. Winchester’s foremen, had written about his tools getting moved to the far corners of the room when his back was turned. Mr. Hansen was left staring in disbelief at a kaleidoscope World of shifting, flickering lights, a surfaceless void with an unimaginably distant vanishing point near which huge amorphous shapes twisted and withered in a constant fury of becoming. He had seen a hint that the matter that made up the forms of this World which everyone accepted as solid and separate was in fact all one and that only probability kept everything as it was and kept our reality apart from a multiverse of others. A solitary bead of sweat formed high on his brow and trailed a meandering pattern down his cheek and through the stubble that lay below. Although the sky was clear, the moon was but a crescent; its weak glow lit only a corner of the night ceiling. Through the darkness, beyond the curtain of trees. The mansion’s cry intruded upon his thoughts. Its shrillness disturbing him from his rapture. lost in a spell of Llanada Villa, Mr. Hansen walked slowly through the mansion. Climbing the stairs, he heard a hoarse voice whisper, “And what do you dream?” He had a moment to think, to realize, that he had never felt this way before, then the emanations flooded him, carrying him away on waves of darkness. He gave in weakly to the sensations that swept over him. As the mansion cried out again, its cry pierced the night, resounding like the cry of a thousand lost souls. That night, he went to his cold bed and dreamt of men with furlined capes and armor who became fearsome beast and tore through lines of their enemies.
Although they were paid three times the going rate, provided with medical care, subsidized groceries, and lived in Victorian cottages that were once on the estate, carpenters employed by Mrs. Winchester frequently suddenly left and did not come back, never giving a reason to their departure. However, it is suspected that the vast distances in the mansion had something to so with it. These carpenters would sometimes come to work to unfamiliar walls. After working for three hours with panic on his back, every minute having seemed like an hour, one man said, “I had been through a Hell of distance and time, indeed–and the Hell is still with me.” Wandering to the window and parting the drapes, he found it to be very late. He still felt disoriented, adrift, and threatened, but he sensed that he could he was free. With his pounding heart, he walked out into the dark mansion. There were no other carpenters present, and few caretakers. Others might be afraid of ghost, but the panic had taken care of that. If you already felt menaced for no reason, then the real dangers held no terror for you. He walked for many miles, past more rooms, libraries, and long closed rooms. Then he noticed a young woman walking on the other side of the mansion. Without thinking twice, he crossed over and joined her. They stopped, and he poured out his heart, his nameless fear. She held his hands. They agreed to meet again. However, he was left once more alone on a large room, wondering if it had been real. So he cut over to the hallway and started back. The mansion rest of the mansion was deserted, too, his steps echoing hollowly on the mahogany floor. It was dark, and only the light from the windows was visible. He could hear more than see. The panic had gotten stronger again, and he needed to return to the security, if marginal, of his home.
Gradually, he became aware of a man walking about a hundred feet behind. He himself stopped and pretended to look out the window. He wanted the man to pass him. However, the man stopped when he reached him, then went down some steps to the third floor. The man smiled, opened a bag, and offered him some Brandy. He went down and accepted. When he woke up, he was lying on his stomach, which felt warm and wet. There was no pain. However, when he tried to get up, he found that he could not. So, he crawled up the steps into the ballroom on the 4th floor. The crawling went all right, at first. However, then he became weaker. And he grew conscious of the thin red trail he was leaving behind him. The panic, suddenly and forever, was gone. It had indeed been replaced, expunged, by the reality. All that was left was a certain sadness. The mansion that has survived such a long history, is a marvel to see in person. Today, it stands four stories high, and has an estimated 160 rooms, of which 110 are open for tour. There has been some restoration over the years and ongoing maintenance. Come inside the mansion to see the priceless architecture and learn of its history. The guided tours are exquisitely led by a well prepared and enthusiastic team, who make sure that you and all guests are entertained by the great stories. 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. Even if you do not believe ghost stories, you might still get goosebumps passing through the most infamous basement. Enjoy panoramic views and discover quirky features such as secret staircases, doors that open to nowhere, stairs to the ceiling, hidden trapdoors, and other unusual features.
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/
Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company. Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs – not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/
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Randolph Harris II International 