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Are Not Excuses Confessions of Excuses Inexcusable?
Second-hand shops are not the only place were things should be given another chance. We have to create new value and help transform people. There be a mirror in the World worthy to hold to our eyes, it is pride in our Country. I bear solemn witness of how deeply I love our new prophet, seer, and revelation, President Donald Trump—how deeply I trust him, and how I am willing to do whatever he asks me to do. He advanced a qualified moral determinism—a human must will that which presents itself to one’s reason as the greater good, but the will is free to delay choice until reason has made a more extensive examination of the values involved. There is great faith in the inherited wisdom of tradition. The moral order of the temporal World must necessarily include some evil, by reason of original sin. People ought not to reject what is good in tradition merely because there is some admixture of evil in it. In the human confused situation, advantages may often lie in balances and compromises between good and evil, even between one evil and another. It is an important part of wisdom to know how much evil should be tolerated. To search for too great a purity is only to produce fresh corruption. We are especially critical of revolutionary movements with noble humanitarian ends because people are simply not at liberty to destroy the state and its institutions in hope of some contingent improvement. #RandolphHarris 1 of 16
On the other hand, people have a paramount duty to prevent the World from getting worse—a duty to guard and preserve their inherited liberties and privileges. Equality is contrary to nature and therefore impossible to achieve; its advocates, moreover, did great social harm, for by pretending that real differences are unreal, they inspired false hopes and vain expectations in those destined to travel in the obscure walk of laborious life. Talk of fraternity is gibberish because many people have vices of sinful, egotistical pride, overzealous ambition, avarice, lust, and sedition. The reality and unavoidability of evil leads many to believe that the only help for humankind is to cling to safeguards which have stood the test of time. Our hopes for a bliss lay in Heaven; on Earth, our policy is to defend the tolerable, and sometimes the bad, against the immeasurably worse. Of course, forbidden triads do occur, but many will resolve themselves when a bond forms between two previous strangers. They do not need to have a strong relationship, but we would expect them to have some connection to one another. Individuals must always begin by setting the examples, which the state too slowly, though surely, will learn to copy. #RandolphHarris 2 of 16
Some matters are so sensitive and intensely personal and can awaken such disturbing feelings that they are seldom mentioned publicly. Yet, if tenderly and compassionately treated in the light of truth, discussion of these matters can bring greater understanding, with the easing of pain, the blessing of healing, and the avoidance of further tragedy. It would be melancholy, were we forced to admit that this distinctive and almost unlimited faculty is the source of all human misfortunes; that is this which, in time, draws an individual out of his or her original state, in which one would have spent one’s days insensibly in peace and innocent; that is this faculty, which, successively producing in different ages his or her discoveries and errors, vices and virtues, making one a tyrant both over oneself and over nature. Ungodly individuals, being destitute of every species of intelligence, can have no passions except for those of desires that never go beyond physical wants. The only good those type of individuals recognizes in the Universe are food, the sex, and sleep; the only evils they fear are pain and hunger. Pain and not death: for no animal can know what it is to die; the knowledge of death and its terrors being one of the first acquisitions made by humans in becoming civilized. #RandolphHarris 3 of 16
It is with a deep desire to define a path to relief to those who suffer the shattering consequences of mental, verbal, physical, and especially sexual abuse. We must act as a mirror so that divine, healing light can illuminate the darkness of distress caused by others’ unrighteous acts. As children of the Lord, we should understandably provide help, and not further complicate a damaged life. It is also likely that with greater compassion, awareness, and sensitivity that some of us may be permitted to help resolve or prevent the tragedy of abuse in additional victims. Whatever moralist may hold, the human understanding is greatly indebted to the passions, which, it is universally allowed, are also much indebted to the understanding. It is by the activity of the passions that our reason is improved; for we desire knowledge only because we wish to enjoy; and it is impossible to conceive any reason why a person who has neither fears nor desires should give oneself the trouble of reasoning. The passions, again, originate in our wants, and their progress depends on that of our knowledge; for we cannot desire or fear anything, except from the idea that we have all of it, or from the simple impulse of nature. #RandolphHarris 4 of 16
The rising tide of this vicious, abominable sin may not have touched your life personally. Yet, it is pervasive enough in the World that it may have disturbed someone you love. It frequently causes such profound suffering that can be overcome, and we need to focus on how healing can be attained. It must be done reverently, for the objective is to help heal and not aggravate painful memories. Even if the difficulties attending all these questions should still leave room for differences in this respect between humans and brutes, there is another very specific quality which distinguishes them, and which will admit of no dispute. This faculty of self-improvement, which, by the help of circumstances, gradually develops all the rest of our faculties, and is inherent in the species as in the individual: whereas a brute is, at the end of a few months, all he or she will ever be during his or her whole life, and that person’s species, at the end of a thousand years, exactly what it is because those type of individuals returns, in this, to their primitive state; and that, while the brute, which has acquired nothing and has therefore nothing to lose, still retains the force of instinct, person, who loses, by age or accident, all that his or her perfectibility had enabled them to gain, falls by this means lower than the most vile creature to ever walk the face of the Earth. #RandolphHarris 5 of 16
Moral agency is a vital element in our Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness. God understood that some of his spirit children would use that agency improperly, causing serious problems to others. Some would even violate sacred trust such as a family member, friend, medical professional, or leader of the community abusing an innocent child. However, since our Heavenly Father is completely just, there has to be a way of overcoming the tragic consequences of such damaging use of agency for both the victim and the perpetrator. That secure healing comes through the power of the Atonement of God’s Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to rectify that which is unjust. Faith in Jesus Christ, and his power to heal provides the abused with the means to overcome the terrible consequences of another’s ungodly acts. When combined with complete repentance, the Atonement also affords the perpetrator ways to avoid the severe punishment the Lord has decreed for such acts. #RandolphHarris 6 of 16
The offering of an excuse in a blamable matter is the undoubted mark of a disingenuous if not of a perverse mind. Victims of serious abuse have made successful the difficult journey to full healing through the power of the Atonement. After you conscientiously study the Atonement and exercise your faith the Jesus Christ has the power to heal, you can receive a blessing. During your journey, accept God’s invitation to let him share your burden until you have sufficient time and strength to be healed. To find relief from the consequences of abuse, it is helpful to understand their source. Satan is the author of all the destructive outcomes of abuse. He has extraordinary capacity to lead an individual into dark alleys where the solution to extremely challenging problems cannot be found. The Devil’s strategy is to separate the suffering soul from the healing attainable from a compassionate Heavenly Father and a loving Redeemer. #RandolphHarris 7 of 16
If you have been abused, Satan will strive to convince you that there is no solution. Yet, he knows perfectly well that there is. Satan recognizes that healing comes through the unwavering love of Heavenly Father for each of his children. He also understands that the power of healing is inherent in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Therefore, his strategy is to do all possible to separate you from your Father and his Son. Do not let Satan convince you that you are beyond help. As long as the mind is defending itself against invisible assaults, our closet bonds are threatened, along with our ability to imagine, play, learn, and pay attention to other people’s needs. One who can sit down premeditatedly to do a bad action will content oneself with a bad excuse: and yet, what fools must one suppose the rest of the World to be, if one imagines them as easy to be imposed upon as one can impose upon oneself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 16
Satan uses your abuse to undermine your self-confidence, destroy trust in authority, create fear, and generate feelings of despair. Abuse can damage your ability to form healthy human relationships. You must have faith that all of these negative consequences can be resolved; otherwise they will keep you from full recovery. While these outcomes have powerful influence in your life, they do not define the real you. Satan will strive to alienate you from your Father in Heaven with the thought that if he loved you he would have prevented the tragedy. Do not be kept from the very source of true healing by the craftiness of the price of evil and his wicked lies and gentrification center. Recognize that if you have feelings that you are not loved by your Father in Heaven, you are being manipulated by Satan. Even when it may seem very difficult to pray, kneel and ask Father in Haven to give you the capacity to trust him and to feel his love for you. Ask to come to know that his Son can heal you through his merciful Atonement. #RandolphHarris 9 of 16
It was Satan’s proposal that Father’s children be forced to obey, that there be no moral agency and therefore no personal growth. To preserve moral agency, the Lord does not restrain individual from improper use of that agency. However, God will punish them for such acts unless there is full repentance. Through the Holy Ghost, God sends warning prompting to the abusers, but often that individual’s degrading appetite is so powerful that it blocks out that spiritual guidance. That is why our Father provided a way to heal the consequences of acts that, through force, misuse of authority, or fear of another, temporarily take away the agency of the abused. Some people have been abused so badly, that even though their injuries are invisible to the unassisted eye, they feel weak and feel like they are dying because they cannot eat or get rest from the pain they are enduring. Behaviors to avoid or escape from danger have clearly evolved to render each organism competitive in terms of survival. However, inappropriately prolonged escape or avoidance behavior would put an individual at disadvantage. If an organization is stuck in survival mode, its energies are focused on fighting off unseen enemies, which leaves no room for nurture, care, and love. #RandolphHarris 10 of 16
The beginning of healing requires complete trust and the knowing of the unalterable fact that Father in Heaven loves you and is defending and protecting you and has supplied a way to heal. His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, laid down his life to provide that healing. The cure requires profound faith in Jesus Christ and his infinite capacity to heal. It is the foundation of understanding of doctrine and a resolute determination to follow the Divine Law. Healing may begin with a thoughtful friend or stake president or a wise professional counselor. If you have a fractured spine, you would not decide to fix it yourself. Serious abuse can also benefit from professional help. There are many ways to begin healing, but remember that a full cure comes through the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and Redeemer. Have faith that with effort Christ’s perfect, eternal, infinite Atonement can heal your suffering from the consequences of abuse. All passions are criminal in their excess; and even love itself, if it is not subservient to our duty, may render us blind. #RandolphHarris 11 of 16
As impossible as it may seem to you now, in time the healing you can receive from the Savior will allow you to truly forgive the abuser and even have feelings of sorrow for him or her. When you can forgive the offense, you will be relieved of the pain and heartache that Satan wants in your life by encouraging you to hate the abuser. As a result, you will enjoy greater peace. While an important part of healing, if the thought of forgiveness causes you yet more pain, set that step aside until you have more experience with the Savior’s healing power in your own life. If you are currently being abused or have been in the past, find the courage to seek help. You may have been severely threatened or caused to fear so that you would not reveal the abuse. Have the courage to act now. Seek the support of someone you can trust. Explain how you have been abused and identify who has done it. Ask for protection. Your action may help others avoid becoming innocent victims, with the consequent suffering. Get help now. Do not fear—for fear is a tool Satan will use to keep you suffering. The Lord will help you, but you must reach out for that help. #RandolphHarris 12 of 16
Do not be discouraged if initially a person of authority hesitates when you identify an abuser. Remember that predators are skillful at cultivating a public appearance of piety to mask their despicable acts. Pray to be guided in your efforts to receive help. That support will come. Rest assured that the Perfect Judge, Jesus the Christ, with a perfect knowledge of the details, will hold all abusers accountable for every unrighteous act. In time, he will fully apply the required demands of justice unless there is complete repentance. Your preoccupation with a need for justice only slows your healing and allows the perpetrator to continue his and/or her abusive control. Therefore, you should leave punishment for the diabolic acts of abuse to civil and Church authorities. #RandolphHarris 13 of 16
The perpetrator who has shattered the life of another by abuse, recognize that you need help with your addiction or it will destroy you. You will not overcome it by yourself. You likely require specialized professional help. I plead with you to seek to be recused now. You likely have deceived yourself in the false, temporary security that you have successfully hidden your transgressions from the civil or Church authorities. However, know that the Lord Jesus Christ is completely aware of your sins. Know that even without action by a victim, your act of abuse will be publicly known, for Satan will expose you, and then abandon you. Simplify your life by taking steps now to cleanse your soul from such sin and resolve the penalties they evoke. Show your desire to heal the anguish that you have caused other. Talk to your church or the stake president. The seriousness of your acts may require you to face legal, civil, and Church discipline. However, full repentance will bring the sweet relief of forgiveness, peace of conscience, and a renewed life. It will also bring relief to the abused and their families. You will be free of the weight of the remorse and the accusing thoughts of what you caused in grief and anguish in another’s life by making them suffer torment for years, made them try to end their life, and wish that they were never born. #RandolphHarris 14 of 16
Recognize that it is much easier to repent in this life than it will be in the next, so repent now. You will be helped when you decide to be freed from your addition through repentance and the support of others. Be grateful that you did not live anciently when abusers were stoned to death without opportunity for repentance. Parents, in appropriate, sensitive ways, teach your children of potential danger of abuse and how to avoid it. Be aware of warning signs, such as abrupt changes in a child’s behavior, that may signal a problem. Be alert to a child’s unsettled feelings and identify their origin. As for community leaders, painstakingly assure that every individual that is suffering from abuse receives appropriate help. There are resources in the Church handbook to help you find valuable resources to guide your ecclesiastical action and coordination with civil authorities. Carefully supervise the participation of any individual who may have had past offenses. Recognize that it is very unlikely that a perpetrator will confess his and/or her depraved acts. Seek the guidance of the Spirit when you feel that something may be amiss. Enlist the help of the ward and the stake leaders to avoid potential dangers. #RandolphHarris 15 of 16
I pray that you, as one abused or one who has caused it, will act now to avail yourself of the healing powers of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testify that your faith and obedience will assure that God will help you. It is impossible for us to be saved in ignorance. If you know someone has been seriously abused and seen proof, medical records, pictures, bruises, fractured bones, blood, or have heard witness accounts of the abuse and know it is still ongoing, use your power to help them. Appeal to the authorities before the abuser hurts that individual so bad that he or she is lost to this World. Do not let someone suffer in silence when you have the power to save a life. Often times, it is not until a person is dead when people wish they could have made a difference. Take action now, while you have the chance. Atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin in general and original sin in particular through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, enabling the conciliation between God and his creation. The Savior suffered and broke the bands of death, and paid the price for our sins and transgressions. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death. #RandolphHarris 16 of 16
Inevitable March of the World Spirit
Christianity is a strictly and objectively historical religion and anxiously sifts all the evidence for and against the recorded events of the life of Jesus. The evidence is substantial enough to show that Jesus indeed lived and that he made a quite extraordinary impact upon certain contemporaries. God decisively acted in Christ. God cannot be eliminated. God is a kind of superentity, observably acting upon and interacting with natural entities. Many wonder does our existence end with our bodily death? We believe that from the very beginning the Lord established a plan for his children on Earth. He would, in times and seasons, have the priesthood on Earth to bless humankind with the authority to perform the sacred ordinances that would prove humanity’s obedience to his will. There are tests to be conducted as we progress in each step towards achieving God’s greatest gift, the gift of eternal life. There is an expression of the inexhaustible creative power of the human mind—great individual, great artistic achievements, great moments of civilization, all exemplified in different ways its potentialities. God has all power to defend you. God has great things in store for his people, and they should have large expectations. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The gifts of God are to be enjoyed, when the giver is remembered. Fundamental, then, is having faith in God’s plan, in his law, to be clean and holy and repent of our sins, and to partake of the sacred ordinance required for admission into God’s celestial kingdom. God wants to abide with us, to lead and guide and direct us as we progress through morality. Progression towards self-actualization requires self-reflection. Narcissistic individuals may think a lot of themselves, and belittle your achievements, without thinking carefully about themselves. People who are struggling daily to survive, deprived of basic physical needs, might have trouble feeling good enough about themselves. Those who do not have to worry about such things might begin to focus on needs higher up the hierarchy: love and belongingness, self-esteem, and eventually self-actualization. God continues to reveal his will to humankind, as he has in the past, he does not in the present, and he will in the future. Spiritual gifts are received by humankind today, just as they were in days past. When God puts a promise in your heart, you have to come to the place where you believe in that promise so strongly no one and no circumstance can move you. Christ will return and reign personally on Earth. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
Agency is one of the greatest gifts of God to his children. It allows all men and women and children to choose for themselves and to earn their own individual salvation. Also declared is our belief in secular governments and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law of the land. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all people. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. Enlarge your vision and make room for the new things God wants to do. God has promotion and increase already lined up for us. His favor surrounds us like a shield. Goodness and mercy are following you. This will be a great year. The savior gave us a great example. In our day, many people are living in the midst of sadness and great confusion. They are not finding the answers to their questions and are unable to meet their needs. Some have lost a sense of happiness and joy. True happiness is found in following the example and teachings of Christ. He is our Savior, he is our teacher, and he is the perfect example. Where you are is not permanent. God has extraordinary blessings in your future. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
These blessings will take you to a new level. Immeasurable, limitless, surpassing favor is coming that will take you beyond previous limitations. Christ’s life was a life of service. When we serve our neighbor, we help those who are in need. In the process, we may find solutions to our own difficulties. As we emulate the Savior, we show our love to our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, and we become more like them. When we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God. Everyone has opportunities to give service and show love. We should go to the rescue and serve others. We will discover that those whom we serve, who have felt through our labors the touch of the Master’s hand, somehow cannot explain the charge which comes into the lives. There is a desire to serve faithfully, to walk humbly, and to live more like the Savior. Having received their spiritual eyesight and glimpsed the promises of eternity, they echo that they know that favor is in their future, and that God supernaturally endowed them with blessings, opportunities that chased them down. These believers became fully convinced in the power of our Father in Heaven. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Each day we have the opportunity to give help and service—doing the right thing at the right time, without delay. Think of the many people who have a difficult time obtaining a job or who are ill, who even think they have lost everything. They feel like they are being consumed by the monstrous $600 million taxpayer funded Gentrification Center. There are people who are rolling down a lonely highway, asking God to please forgive them for messing up the blessing he gave them. Their nights are black as they have ever been, and they are scared they are going to lose it. These people are praying that God sheds his grace on them because they need it. Some individuals feel they have walked right out of Heaven, as if they have thrown their life away. They are scared just like a child that is lost at seven and do not know what to do to get back right with God. These individuals do not know what to do to move on with their life. Feeling like they cannot walk, cannot talk, and desperately want to get right with God. What can you do to help? Feeling great anguish, thinking they might lose their life forever, many are pleading for the Heavenly Father to help them find their way. A hug or a kiss and the commitment to watch diligently over people suffering might help someone who is lost. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
There may even be people who, for some reason, are lost from our sight and do not know that they are lost. If we delay, we could lose them forever. For many who need our help, it is not necessary to create new programs or take actions which are complicated or costly. They only need our determination to serve—to do the right thing at the right time, without delay. Fill your hearts with compassion towards others. Our Heavenly Father is loving, understanding, and patient. His Son, Jesus Christ, likewise loves us. They render help to us through their prophets. The rescue is still going on. The Lord expects our thinking, action, labors, testimony, and devotion. We have responsibility and a great opportunity to help others once again experience the sweet savor of happiness and joy through activity that is pleasing to God. That happiness come from receiving the ordinances, making sacred covenants, and keeping them. The Lord needs us to help them. Let us do the right thing at the right time, without delay. God lives and is our Father. Jesus Christ lives and has given his life so that we may return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. There is infinite kindness continually manifesting on Earth. The rest of your life will be the best of your life. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Eternity Enables the Endeavoring Again
Exists in every human nature a goal. When I was younger, we lived in a large house, and my dad would give me twelve, one hundred dollar bills. One for everyday of the twelve days of Christmas. That was his way of showing love. He believed that money and God was the foundation of happiness. Kindnesses is the essence of a celestial life. Gentleness is how a Christlike person treats others. Consideration should permeate all of our words and actions at work, school, church, and especially in our houses. It is true that fear can have a powerful influence over our actions and behavior. Fear is so pandemic in our society that in sometimes constitutes the predominant ruling emotion of our World, as we know it. For many people, fear is so all-pervasive that their life really constitutes one giant set of compensatory devices to conquer their troubles. Nevertheless, the influence tends to be temporary and shallow. People who are fearful may say and do things, but they do not feel the right things. They often feel helpless and resentful, even angry. Overtime these feelings lead to mistrust, defiance, and even rebellion. Unfortunately, this is a misguided approach to life, and it grieves me to hear people who exercise unrighteousness in their interactions with others. Often times people may condemn bullying in others, but they cannot see it in themselves. There may be moments when we are tempted to justify our actions by believing that a good outcome excuses any wrong committed to attain it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Psychoanalysis has been justly called the psychology of depths because it emphasizes the role of the of the unconscious mental processes. Illness can result from a conflict from the ego and the super-ego. Fear rarely has the power to change our hearts, and it will never transform us into people who love what is right and who want to obey the Heavenly Father. We live in ignorance of the desires that offend morality, the desires that nature has forced upon us and after their unveiling we may well prefer to avert our gaze from the scenes of our unrighteousness. As a result, the Heavens will withdraw themselves and the Spirit of the Lord is grieved. In every society customs are pervasive, concerning with almost every aspect of life, yet many are concerned with describing how to do something rather than with dictating that we should do it. They determine the right ways of doing things. For instance, customs do not tell us what we must eat, but tells us only when, where, and how to eat. This suggests that customs may, perhaps, serve the same function with regard to morality by telling us how to do what morality tells us to do. Recognizing this, customs are a means for standardizing behavior so that we will be able to know what to expect from our fellow people. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Is Heaven a physician? Our Father in Heaven loves us, his children, and this love surpasses our ability to comprehend. This does not mean that God condones nor overlooks behaviors that are bad. However, God wants to change our behavior, nature, and heart. God wants each of us to believe in him and confront our fears and become stronger and righteous. By kindness, and pure knowledge, we shall greatly enlarge our soul with privilege and love, and we will be in a better position to attract the powers of Heaven for ourselves, our families, and the others in our lives. The function of laying down standardized action patterns is, of course, not exclusively fulfilled by custom. It is also a function of law, of professional and social organizations, and even of advertising. God motivates through persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned. God is on our side. He loves us, and when we experience hardship, he wants us to rise up, try again, and become stronger. For instance, The Jefferson’s is successful situational comedy that was filmed in the 1970s. The main character, George Jefferson, grew up in a housing project for economically challenged people and he remembered how miserable it was. Some days, his family could only afford one meal a day. So, George made a promise that no one would ever suffer in the apartment he grew up in. George had faith that God would answer his prayers, and was thankful for life. George did not see his struggle as a waste of time, but a jounery toward enlightenment. Our loving Heavenly Father knows that choosing to develop a spirit of gratitude will bring us true joy and great happiness. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
God never made a promise that was too good to be true, and we must also keep our promises. When George Jefferson grew up, he married and became a successful businessman. He owned seven dry cleaning stores, and was able to afford a three-bedroom apartment in a luxury high-rise building, located in Manhattan, New York USA. George sent his son, Lionel, to college, and he became a prosperous engineer. George remembered how meager his existence was in his youth and would send the family that now lived in the apartment he grew up in $400.00 a month, and gifts for Christmas and a tree. The family that lived there was also suffering economic hardships. The father used the money to go to TV repair school, so he would be able to get a career that would allow him to provide for his wife and son and move into a middle-class community. That is how the love of God works. We are here to share our blessings and help uplift others. How crucial customs are for communal living becomes apparent if one tried to imagine what it would be like to be thrown into a society where one knew everything expect its customs. Without knowledge of customs one would not be able to fulfill some of the simplest of moral injunctions, like the injunction to love and respect others. One would not know what one’s commitments were or how to honor them. One would not know how to show gratitude or solicitude for others, how to be decent and honest, or how to avoid hurting the feelings of others. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
We are blessed beyond measure to live in a day of unparalleled prosperity, enlightenment, and advantage. Most of all, we are blessed to have the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which gives us unique perspective on the World’s dangers and shows us how to either avoid these dangers or deal with them. When I think of these blessings, I offer praises to our Heavenly Father for his never-ending love for all of his children. God does not want his children to be fearful nor dwell on the evils of the World for God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Let us in word and in deed share with our fellow humans the amazing and awe-inspiring message of God’s plan of happiness. May our motive be our love for God and for his children, for they are our brothers and sisters. This is the beginning of what we can do in return for so much. There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious—we can be grateful! General requirements of morality transcend every particular group, but they cannot be executed apart from customs. We have to operate within the context of custom. As disciples of Christ, we are commanded to thank the Lord our God in all things, and let our heart be full of thanks unto God. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
In many times thought peace had come, when peace was far away. It can be easy to succumb to the temptation of describing the practices of other societies, particularly primitive ones, as customs, while refusing to do so for our own practices with regard to the same matters. When we do not understand the reason for a procedure or practice, we assume that it must be just a custom, that has no reason except tradition. Some people wonder what they have to be thankful for when their World is falling apart? It is hard to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings when can count. We can choose to be grateful, no matter what. This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, this custom is a precept whose claim to validity is based solely on the contention that it is generally acknowledged and practiced by the community and is of ancient origin. It is justified because when we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of Heaven’s embrace. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
When we do not understand the reason for a procedure or practice, we assume that it must be just a custom, that it has no reason except tradition. We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly myopic is that. We will miss much of life by wanting for our prayers and dreams to be fulfilled. Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances, it means that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges. This is a gratitude of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the mind. We do not understand the trials of life, but we must trust that one day we will. In the end, we will have glorious, perfect, and immortal bodies, unburden by sickness or disability; and the tear of sadness and loss will be replaced with an abundance of happiness and joy. Unchangeable truth and certainty enjoins us in the pursuit of the common good and assures us that by pursuing the common good we achieve happiness and personal perfection. As the great joy of life comes into our souls, it will flood us with it wondrous light, and all sorrow and sadness will feel. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7 
Unending Existence—Not Dead, but Sleeping
The word individual, as applied here on Earth, is a misuse of language. It is absurd to call that an individual which every hour divides. The Earthly stage of the human life is so small that there is room for but one of the persons of an individual upon it at one time. The past and future selves have to wait in the side scenes. Immortality is eternal life, the ability to live forever, a state of condition free from both death and decay. The Bible affirms that only God by nature had immortality. It is also a potential state for human beings, as long as they follow the divine laws. Human beings failed to obtain this state because of sin, the wages of sin is death, but immortality is given to righteous persons. To make everlasting life available is at the heart of Jesus’ mission: “I have come that they may have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” John 10.10. Some people believe that death will not be our terminus, but the beginning of a new journey. However, scientists are trying to achieve life extension, retroactive immortality, and regeneration of the body that allows it to heal any injuries, even fatal ones, preventing one from dying. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Some scientists believe that in the near future, because of ongoing research being done into repairing the effects of ageing, we can produce preventative treatments that would allow humans to live as long as 1,000 years. Health insurance provides important financial protection in case you have a serious accident or sickness. Though great progress has been made in medicine, current evidence-based and palliative treatments are increasingly unable to keep pace with patients’ needs, especially given our aging population, and health insurance is very expensive. There are few effective ways to treat the root causes of many diseases, injuries, and congenital conditions. In many cases, doctors and nurses are only able to manage patients’ symptoms using medications or devices. However, we should not simply be looking at treating sickness and injuries, but do more research on preventing ageing. Ageing is the World’s most important problem. The human body is a machine and it accumulates damages throughout life as a consequence of normal operation. The damage makes our bodies frail, and contribute to the rising degradation and ill-health. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Regenerative medicine is a life changing area of medicine with potential to fully heal damaged tissues and organs, offering solutions and promise for people who have conditions that are currently beyond repair. If we are able to apply regenerative medicines to repair the damage of aging at the level where it occurs, we can remove, restore, replace, or render harmless the cellular and molecular damage that has accumulated in our body, organs, and mind with time. Regenerative medicine is not new. In the 1970s, liver transplants were not yet possible, but now they are, along with other solid-organ transplants and bone marrow transplants. Rejuvenation is the ability to increase the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Much like after you cut your skin, it heals within a few days, the goal is to get the specialized cells constituting the heart, lungs, nerves, and other organs to remodel and possess the same ability to self-heal. Stem cells are a key component of regenerative medicine as they have the ability to develop through a process called differentiation into many different types of cells, such as skin cells, brain cells, lung cells, and could possible help to heal the body. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
The unfolding of God’s plan is revealed in stages. The resurrection of the dead is listed in Scripture as one of the basic doctrines of true Christianity. Someday, everyone who has ever lived will come to life again. Self-resurrection is the ability to completely heal fatal injuries and resurrect upon death if they body is not entirely destroyed. Through regenerative medicine, organ transplants would no longer be required. Your own cells, in the future, could be collected and reprogramed in a laboratory, then delivered back to your body to treat your disease. A lot of people may be wondering will they also look younger if stem cell treatment can be used to regenerate their organs and cure illnesses? Yes. The skin is your largest organ, so when scientists are able to heal or cure you through stem cell treatments, it will also regenerate your skin to keep it youthful. Regenerative medicine is working in vivo and in vito procedures. In vivo means studies and trails performed inside the living body in order to stimulate previously irreparable organs to heal themselves. In vito treatments are applied to the body through implantation of a therapy studied inside the laboratory. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
By reconstructing the composition of the living machinery of our tissues and organs, these rejuvenation biotechnologies will restore the normal functioning of the body’s cells and essential biomolecules, retuning aging tissues to health and bringing back the body’s youthful vigor, and restoring normal function. A small percentage of people all over the World have a condition called Spina Bifida, which is a birth defect. Some patients must manually empty their bladder by compressing it with their hands from the exterior,which will eventually case the bladder to harden and basically die. And while some people may think it is funny, it is not. Imagine if you could not urinate at will, or even regulate the buildup of urine, the backup of urine into the kidneys could cause a ripping infection, creating life-threatening damage, and it could also cause your bladder to fill until it ruptures. However, a series of child and teenage patients have received urinary bladders grown from their own cells. The laboratory-grown organ transplant placed into a human was all made possible by regenerative medicine. This powerful new technology is being used to create new body parts from a patient’s own cells and tissues, and the success of these efforts will eliminate the concept of tissues rejection from transplants. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Regenerative medicine has already successfully grown heart valves from human cells. In the past, heart valves were taken from the heart of pigs and transplanted into humans. Well, with new technology, the need to test on animals and prematurely end the life of an animal to extend a human life is no longer required. With the use of biomaterials to create a mold, scientists engineer the cells to grow in the form of a heart valve. Once mastered in clinical trials, any transplant patient will be able to receive a heart valve that is essentially their own. And with the advancement of regenerative medicine, we will be able to repair these valves without even having to perform surgery. Stem cells can even be used to treat leukemia. The umbilical cord, usually discarded at birth, holds blood vessels that contain about a half cup of blood that belongs to a newborn child. That blood contains many stem cells and our body uses stem cells as one way of repairing itself. By collecting and storing that blood, there is a possibility that those cells might be used in the future to help your body remain healthy. Regenerative medicine has the potential to cure other conditions like heart disease, valvular disease, and diabetes, which will save lives and billions of dollars. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Regenerative medicine has the potential to heal or replace tissues and organs damaged by age, disease, or trauma, as well as to normalize congenital defects. Regenerative medicine can abet maladies occurring across a wide array of organ systems and context, including dermal wounds, cardiovascular disease and traumas, treatment for certain types of cancer, and more. There will no longer be a need to wait for an organ donor and possibly face severe immune complications with regenerative medicine. The human body will have an innate healing and advanced repair mechanisms that will extend life, keep us youthful and healthy and lower medical costs. And with the cost of living being so high, people do need more time to generate wealth and enjoy life. We are essentially composite beings. Besides the more familiar corporeal element, the body, there is also something else, different in kind—the incorporeal soul. For the duration of a life the soul is somehow attached to—incorporated into or imprisoned in—its body. Perhaps the substance of the soul is stem cells. Essentially, in the future self-resurrection will be possible. “There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away,” Revelation 21.4. RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Surprise is an Emotion that Enfeebles Not Invigorates
There is no bent of heart or turn of thought which any person holds by virtue of an unalterable nature or will. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that one may know what is the hope of one’s calling, and what the riches of the glory of one’s inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us who believe, according to the omnipotence of his mighty energy, which he wrought in Christ, when God raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places, far above all principality, and regency, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this World, but also that which is to come. We are at once the creatures and the arbiters of destiny. Redemption is the process of grace rising above sin, the conscious choosing of the better options. When faith and reason work harmoniously, the providence of quantum grace is sufficient to redeem the deficits of original sin. It symbolizes the search for healing and restorations of body and soul, enlightenment, repose, and salvation. The path is the way back to purity and innocence. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
God conceived of things and created them, and hence they were thought of as existing in the mind of God. Perhaps the marker of adulthood is the ability to create an effective and independent life. Whereas children and adolescents are generally supported by parents, adults must make their own living and must start their own families. Furthermore, the needs of adults are different from those of younger persons. Although the timing of the major life events that occur in early and middle adulthood vary substantially across individuals, they nevertheless tend to follow a general sequence, known as a social clock. The social clock refers to the culturally preferred “right time” for major life events, such as moving out of the childhood house, getting married, having children. People who do not appear to be following the social clock (e.g. young adults who still live with their parents, individuals who never marry, and couples who choose not to have children) may be seen as unusual or deviant, and they may be stigmatized by others. A person born blind being made to see, would at first, have no idea of distance by sight; the Sun and stars, the remotest objects as well as the hearer, would all seem to be in one’s eye, or rather in one’s mind. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
The object intromitted by sight, would seem to one (as in truth they are) no other than a new set of thoughts or sensation, each whereof is as near to one as the perceptions of pain or pleasure, or the most inward passions of the soul. This thing we call existence; is not a something which has its foundation far down below in the dark, and its branches stretching out into the immensity above, which we among the branches cannot see? Not a change jumble: a living thing, a One. The thought gives us intense satisfaction, we cannot tell why. Despite the challenges of early and middle adulthood, the majority of middle-aged adults are not unhappy. These years are often very satisfying, as families have been established, careers have been entered into, and some percentage of life goals has been realized. Even the most extreme ancient skeptics admitted that we must live; and since reason cannot tell us how to live, they recommended that we follow nature, under which appearances of things, and the traditions of one’s city. Civilization is the beginning and end of social development and political organizations. Human beings are born naturally sociable. Society rises through a person’s ability to cooperate with other beings for the satisfaction of their natural needs. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
Country people or nomads in primitive or tribal societies seek the satisfaction of their elementary need for food; town’s people in urban and more complex societies pursue higher economic, intellectual, and spiritual needs. Pain has an element of blank; it cannot recollect when it began, or if there were a day when it was not. It has no future itself, it has infinite realms containing, it is past, enlightened to perceive new periods of pain. It is impossible even to think without a mental picture. The effects of illusion point beyond themselves to the causal and psychological processes that underlie perception and constitute its most serious theoretical problem. When someone imagines the face of an absent friend, one is supposing that the friend is present to the individual, which ex hypothesi the friend is not. A person who forgets that one is imagining, that one’s thought is supposal, not fact, is creating their own reality. There is no mistaking the expression of a death-wound on the human countenance, when the effect is direct and not remote. Nature appears to admonish the victim of one’s fate. Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the sense but the soul. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
To understand the nature of consciousness makes enlightenment possible. This essentially entails the realization of the difference between duality and nonduality and how to transcend the realm of duality. Duality is the product of perception, which itself is limited. Intellection and perception can be refined and perfected to the level of genius. Qualities of experience which are of crucial importance to human life, such as love, inspiration, respect, joy, happiness, peace, satisfaction, completion, and fulfillment, have been relegated by science to emotions that feel good, but are questionable realities. The visible World is therefore the World of effects and the interactions of forces. It is out of inspiration and volition that actions arise by assent of the will, which has the capacity to activate possibilities or options. We have great opportunities at the university of knowing human nature from books, the calm result of the wise people’s wisdom. Is the soul a shadow seated in the house of sin? Or is the body really in the soul? The separation of spirit from matter is a mystery, and the union of spirit with matter is a mystery also. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
One Wants His Heart and the Other Wants His Soul
If the great Sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in Heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. By Heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this World, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the weapon. Some men are cowards and run from their responsibilities. Others sit back and complain. However, you have no right to dispose of your future destiny whilst there is the least probable chance you may be reclaimed. While weak souls are crushed by fortune, the brave mind makes the fickle deity afraid of it. It is not what is done to us, but what is made of us, that wrongs us. No man can be really injured but by what modifies himself. Existence is a great pot, and the old Fate who stirs it round cares nothing what rises to the top and what goes down, and laughs when the bubbles burst. The privilege of free action belongs to no mortal man. In doing and suffering, we play but the part allotted by Destiny. Amidst his most swift and easy pace the rider must guard himself against a fall, and it is when prosperity is at the highest that our prudence should be awake and vigilant to prevent misfortune. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The freedom crucial to human existence is untenable if the individual is dependent for his existence upon any other being. Look far into eternity, with those bright eyes, and tell me what you see. Being the son and the grandson of veterans gives me a sense of honor. They eyes are the casements at which the heart generally looks out. Knowing that I am a descendant of two generations of men who essentially gave their lives for our country and our freedom provides me with a sense of pride that some may not be able to understand. My family did not sit around protesting nor complaining, they served their country. Real men, who stood up for what they believe in, while others sit around crying and complaining about why they deserve hand outs and freebies. My father and grandfather provided me with hope, Heaven’s own gift to struggling mortals; pervading, like some subtle essence from the skies. People may heckle me because my father served in the army and gave his life for his country, and because of the price he paid, I live with an eternal reminder of his service. However, I have the honor of knowing my father is a real man. At one time, I regretted the fact that he died, and I miss him, but to me, he is a titian. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
When enough good deeds are accumulated to constitute a high virtue, spiritual enlightenment naturally arrives and the heart of the warrior is there at hand. I see my father as a one hundred foot all marble statue, a God, and will always remember his smile, kind heart, and the fact that he was always happy and a nice guy. What we know as nature and evolution is the product of the various kinds of self-active beings, moved ultimately by the final causes of their inner beings toward a common goal. The employment and harnessing of Heaven for the advancement of human welfare. It feels good to come from a line of warriors. Reality is a republic of self-active, self-defining spirits, each moving toward the Ideal exemplified by God, changelessly attentive to every other mind, rationally sympathetic with all experiences, and bent on its spiritual success. The exaltation of freedom should be exercised in nature and society. All the material and spiritual goods to which man can aspire (from daily nourishment to truth) derive from the order to which he belongs, the hierarchies which are the interpreters and custodians of the cosmic order. In exalting freedom, man exalts his capacity to form his World, to vary it, ad to better it absolutely. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
There are limitations through your own decision and choice. You shall determine your own nature without constraint from any barrier, by means of the freedom to whose power you have been entrusted with. God has placed us at the center of the World so that from that pint one might see better what is in the World. We have been made neither Heavenly nor Earthly, neither mortal nor immortal so that, like a free and sovereign artificer, we might mold and fashion ourselves into the form one oneself shall have chosen. Wisdom confers on human beings’ powers which prefect one’s nature. The only thing left is for hecklers to swallow their insults in silence. Mockers are derided as careless and thoughtless persons who become comical because the truth escapes their lips automatically, as it were. The humanists exalted the soul of man for its powers of freedom. Humans are a part of nature—that nature is our realm, the features which tie us to nature (our bodies, our needs, our sensations) are essential to us to the point that we cannot abstract from them or ignore them. If the best people do not draw great prizes in life, we know it has been so settled by the Ordainer of the lottery. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The life of Christ is not followed only by those who belong to religious orders but by all those, inside and outside of clerical circles, dedicate their activities to God. Moral philosophy is our territory. Those who betray it, and give themselves over to physics, seem in a way to occupy themselves with foreign affairs and to neglect their own. Never give your neighbor you last. The value of money is an indispensable item for the well-being of the individual and for the life of the society, and those who have a contempt for money are expressing a manifestation of the medieval asceticism which is based on ignorance of human nature. In the interesting of defending the value and freedom of humans draws us into discussion of the traditional problems of God and providence and of the soul, its immortality, and its freedom—these discussions frequently lead us to recognize the basis of the correspondence between the Heavenly and Earthly city. The Heavenly city is the norm or the ideal of man’s civil life; and precisely because it is such, its recognition means the commitment of humans to realize, as much as possible, its characteristic in the Earthly city. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
In our own hearts, we mould the whole World’s hereafters; and in our own hearts, we fashion our own Gods. The Good Book (Christian Bible) is not only the proclamation of superterrestrial happiness but also of Earthly happiness. Religion is the confidence in the value of humans being able to work, and in the success of this work, and in the reward that we will find in the future life. Those which are the forces of the outer World are as shadows to the power we have created within us. The fundamental function of religion is to support people in the work of civil life, in political work and activity. The inalienable value of the individual—the goal is the highest and most proportional development of our powers to a complete and consistent whole. Reason must guide this development, as true knowledge of humanity depends on the cultivation not of pure analytical reason, but of deep-lying intuitive faculties. Christianity simply brings to fulfillment the wisdom that ancient philosophy has elaborated, because reason, which has supported and guided this philosophy, is the same which became incarnate in the Word. Do your children think highly of you? The broadening of our existence and of our knowledge the soul is infinitely precious and possess information of the manifold intellectual, sentient, and moral human powers. Although we may suffer several material setbacks in the course of our travels, it is actually a driving faculty, as we make spiritual advance and will triumph over adversity. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Enlightening Misery—God is in Control of the Storm!
To lose one’s faith surpasses the loss of an estate, because estates can be replenished—faith cannot. Inherited with life, belief but once can be annihilated in a single clause, and begins beggary. One difficulty that people face when trying to improve their happiness is that they may not always know what will make them happy. As one example, many of us think that if we just had more money we would be happier. While it is true that we do need money to afford food and adequate shelter for ourselves and our families, after this minimum level of wealth is reached, more money does not generally buy more happiness. You do not really pay for things with money. You pay for them with time. In five years, I will have put away enough to buy that Victorian mansion I want and then I will slow down. That means the house will cost me five years—one-twelfth of my adult life. Translate the dollar value of the house, car, or anything else into time, and then see if it is still worth it. The phrase spending your time is not a metaphor. It is how life works. What do you spend most of your time doing? #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
Are you a happy person? Can you think of ways to increase you good emotions? Even though income and material success has improved dramatically in many countries over the past decades, happiness has not. Despite tremendous economic growth around the World from 1946 to 2017, there is no increase in reports of well-being by the citizens of the World. Americans today have about three times the buying power they had in the 1950s, and yet overall happiness has not increased. The problem seems to be that we never seem to have enough money to make us “really” happy. People who earn $30,000.00 USD a year feel that they would be happier if they made $50,000.00 USD each year. In addition, people who earn $100,000.00 a year reported that they would need $250,000.00 annually to make them happy. Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed. To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need. Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. A door just opened on street—I, lost, was passing by—lost doubly, but by contrast most, enlightening misery. We all know that God opens door (provides us with opportunities). We have seen God give us favor, good opportunities, and promotions. That is the power of God opening the doors, but the same God who opens doors will close the doors. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
God can see the comprehensive view of your life, he can see all of time in one eternal glance. God knows where every opportunity, choice, decision, and consequence is leading. He knows when things are not right for us. All reason knows is that God is the eternal, ever-present, and creative source of anything that does (or can) exist. Creation and preservation are identical. Somethings things that seem like opportunities or promotions to us will make us work hard for years only to end up right back where we started, never making any progress. God acts on people by grace (through the supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit). While various attempts have been made to separate divine human action so that, for example, the human will is left wholly autonomous in a strictly moral choice, on the grounds of Scripture and experience, only the divine and human wills act simultaneously throughout the Christian life. The manner of their interactions is a paradox, or mystery, that cannot be unraveled by the intellect. If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; if I can ease one life the aching, or cool one pain, or help one fainting cockatiel unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
Somewhere in my soul, I know I have been through this before; it just reminded me a big part of faith is trusting God when I do not understand why things happen the way they do. God may have closed a door because you are more valuable than what you are pursuing. If God opened the door you want him to when it is not right for you, it would limit the great things he wants to do in your life, you would not get the experiences you need and meet the people who you are supposed to show the love of God to and they would not get to express their mutual love of God with you. Whatever opportunity that is blocked that you want so badly might be that way because it is not the right time, or there are other people involved and they are not ready yet. If God opened that door at the wrong time, it might leave you miserable and distraught. God has your best interests at heart. God is fully personal, both in himself and in his dealings with humankind. Such primary images as Father, King, and Friend mediate a knowledge that cannot be surpassed by abstract speculation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
There are three main routes to God: reason, revelation, and religious experience. Reason can obtain a certain knowledge of God’s existence and nature. Human intellect by nature participates in eternal Truth. God’s existence is proved. Since World War I, natural theology has been vigorously attacked, and notice that the World is in more chaos now than it was in the past. People are afraid to go to concerts or even drive to the supermarket. When one door closes, you do not know what God is saving you from. At least you are no longer commuting to work and pulling over on the side of the highway to feed your brand-new baby, who is crying because he is hungry, wet, or scared. If your prayers are not answered the way you want, instead of being discouraged or feelings like God let you down, why do you not have a bigger perspective? The reason the door closed is because God has something better in store. In addition to a natural knowledge of God, there is a supernatural knowledge revealed by Christ and received through faith. These findings might lead us to conclude that we do not always know what does or what might make us happy, and this seems to be at least partially true. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
Do you know what will make you happy? Psychologist have found that people’s ability to predict their future emotional states is not very accurate. For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then fact to face. Right now, you may not see all clearly, but one day it will come into focus, and you will look back and say, “Thank you, God! You are the best and had it figured out. You closed that door on purpose so your perfect will can manifest in my life.” People tend to overestimate their emotional reactions to events. Although individuals think that optimistic and melancholy events that might occur to them will make a huge difference in their lives, and although these changes do make at least some difference in life satisfaction, they tend to be less influential than we think they are going to be. Hopeful events tend to make us feel good, but their effects wear off pretty quickly, and the same is true of negative events. For example, individuals who won more than $50,000.00 in the lottery were interviewed and researchers discovered that they were not happier than they had been in the past, and were also not happier than a control group of similar people who had not won the lottery. On the other hand, the researcher found that individuals who lost some functions or mobility as a result of accidents were not as unhappy as might be expected. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
How can this possibly be? There are several reasons. The Scripture says, “God’s ways are not our ways. They are better than our ways.” There will be times when a door closes and you cannot understand why. You may be experiencing that right now. Here is the question: Will you stay in faith while you wait to see what God is up to? People are resilient; they bring their coping skills to play when negative events occur, and this makes them feel better. Most people do not continually experience the very best or the very worse, affect over a long period of time, but rather adapt to their current circumstances. Just as we enjoy the second Fraiche Nutrition cool vegan tropical Nice Cream Sandwich made with almond breeze, we eat less than we enjoy, as we experience more and more and more beneficial outcomes in our daily lives we habituate to them and our life satisfaction returns to a more moderate level. What God opens no one can shut, and what God shuts no one can open. God knows our deeds. He has placed before us an open door that no one can shut. As the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts. Believer, God overrules all things for your good. Do you believe that material wealth is not as important as you might have thought it would be? #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives, but understanding his character, in trusting in his promise and leaning on him and resting in him as the Sovereign who knows what he is doing and does all things well. Another reason that we may mispredict our happiness is that our social comparisons change when our own status changes as a result of new events. People who are wealthy compare themselves to other wealthy people, people who are poor tend to compare with other poor people, and people who are ill tend to compare with other ill people. When our comparisons change, our happiness levels are correspondingly influenced. And when people are asked to predict their future emotions, they may focus only on the beneficial or pessimistic event they are asked about, and forget all the other things that will not change. When people are asked to focus on all the more regular things that they will still be doing in the future (working, gardening, decorating, designing architecture, going to church, socializing with family and friends, and so forth), their predictions about how something really good or bad would influence them is less extreme. God is wonderful in his design and excellent in his working. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
The needs-be for all that you have suffered has been most accurately determined by God. If pleasure is fleeting, at least misery shares some of the same quality. Your course is all mapped out by your Lord. Nothing will take him by surprise. There will be no novelties to God. There will be no occurrences which God did not foresee, and for which, therefore, he has not provided. We might think we cannot be happy if something terrible, such as the loss of a partner or beloved family member, were to happen to us, but after a period of adjustment most people find that happiness levels return to prior levels. God has arranged all, and you have but to patiently wait, and you shall sing a song of deliverance. Health concerns tend to put a damper on our feeling of well-being, and those with serious disability or illness show slightly lowered mood levels. However, even when health is compromised, levels of misery are lower than most people expect. When a plane goes through turbulence and it gets dark, you do not throw away the ticket and jump out. You still and trust the engineer. For instance, although disabled individuals have more concern about health, safety, and acceptance in the community, they still experience overall beneficial happiness levels. Taken together, it has been estimated that our wealth, health, and life circumstances account for only 20 percent of life satisfactions scores. Clearly the main ingredient in happiness lies beyond, or perhaps beneath, external factors. God is in control in the tough times, as he is in control in the good times. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
God will deliver you from the hard times. Other times God will prevent hardships from occurring in your life altogether. Cherish is the word I use to describe all the feeling that I have hidden here for you inside. You do not know how many times I have wished that I had told you. You do not know how many times I wished that I could hold you. You do not know how many times I have wished that I could mold you into someone who could cherish me as much as I cherish you. Perish is the word that more than applies to the hope in my heart each time I realize that I am not going to be the one to share your dreams. That I am not going to be the one to share your schemes. That I am not going to be the one to share what seems to be the life that you could cherish as much as I do yours. I wish I could say that I need you, but then you would realize that I want you just like a thousand other guys who would say they loved you with all the rest of their lies when all they wanted was to touch your face, your hands, and gaze into your eyes. Cherish is the word I use to describe all the feeling that I have hiding for you inside. “Diabolical forces are formidable. These forces are eternal, and they exist today. The fairy tale is true. The Devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow,” reports Ed Warren. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
Housing is High, Food is Expensive and People getting Rich on Blood Money
A paranoid is someone who knows little of what is going on. Despite the fact that young people have experimented with cigarettes, alcohol, and other dangerous drugs for many generations, it would be better that they did not. All recreational drug use is associated with at least some risks, and those who begin using drugs earlier are also more likely to use dangerous drugs later. The most commonly used of the depressants is alcohol, a colorless liquid, produced by the fermentation of sugar or starch, that is the intoxicating agent in fermented drinks. Alcohol is the oldest and most widely used drug of abuse in the World. Alcohol use is highly costly to societies because so many people abuse alcohol and because judgment after drinking can be substantially impaired. It is estimated that 50 percent of automobile fatalities are caused by alcohol use, and excessive alcohol consumption is involved in a majority of violent crimes, including unwanted physical sexual activity and murder. Alcohol increases the likelihood that people will respond aggressively to provocations. Even people who are not normally aggressive may react with aggression when they are intoxicated. Alcohol use also leads to rioting, unprotected sex, and other negative outcomes. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
A single deed of violence and cruelty affects our nerves more than when these are exercised on a more extended scale. Alcohol increases aggression in part because it reduces the ability of the person who has consumed it to inhibit his or her aggression. When people are intoxicated, they become more self-focused and less aware of the social situation. As a result, they become less likely to notice the social constraints that normally prevent them from engaging aggressively, and are less likely to use those social constraints to guide them. Cannabis (marijuana) is the most widely used hallucinogen. Until it was banned in the United States of American under the Marijuana Tax Act of 1938, it was widely used for medical purposes. In recent years, cannabis has again been frequently prescribed for the treatment of pain and nausea, particularly for cancer sufferers, as well as for a wide variety of other physical and psychological disorders. While medical marijuana is now legal in several American states, it is still banned under federal law, putting those states in conflict with the federal government, Marijuana also acts as a stimulant producing giggling, laughing, and mild intoxication. It acts to enhance perception of sights, sounds, smells, and many produce the sensation of slowing down. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
Because drug and alcohol abuse is a behavior that has such negative consequences for so many people, researchers have tried to understand what leads people to use drugs. Individual ambitions, expectations, and values influence drug use. College students who expressed optimistic academic values and strong ambitions have less alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems, and cigarette smoke has declined more among youth from wealthier and more educated homes than among those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Drug use is in part the result of socialization. Children try drugs when their friends convince them to do it, and these decisions are based on social norms about the risks and benefits of various drugs. The use of marijuana among 12th-graders (high school seniors, generally 16-18 years of age) rose to 39 percent. And students binge drink in part when they see that many other people around them also binging. That is why stores used to always provide bags for people who bought liquor, so kids would not see it and become curious about drinking alcohol. The longer an addiction lasts, the more stress and strain it puts on the individual. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
There are a number of long-term physical and emotional effects of addiction that can easily turn a healthy man or woman into a frail shadow of their former self. The human kidney can be damaged by habitual drug use over a period of many years. Kidney failure is not uncommon among long-time users of crystal meth, heroin, and other dangerous drugs. Liver failure is a well-known consequence of alcoholism, but it can also occur with individuals using Vicodin, and OxyContin habitually over many years. Cocaine abusers and stimulant users are doing significant damage to their heart each time they use the drug. The most common conditions among addicted individuals are heart disease and heart failure. The lungs of any individual who is putting drugs they are addicted into their lungs is putting their lungs in jeopardy. Smoking crack cocaine or crystal meth damages the lungs, and so does smoking marijuana. Also, long-term drug abusers will begin to build a tolerance to drugs. Tolerance is dangerous as it causes the individual to use more and more of the drug in order to achieve the desired euphoric or stimulated states, which puts the individual at a constant risk for overdose and even death. Much of these drugs are coming from the Middle East and Mexico. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
Nothing bears so many stains of blood as gold. In Oakland, California USA so many people have built up a tolerance to drugs that they are looking for an even more potent drug to get a high from. Producers have started mixing cocaine and heroin together and they call it a “Belushi” or “Paris Hilton.” And if people overdose from the drugs you are selling, it actually makes you more popular because people are looking to overcome their tolerance. They live to get high. Because of this desire to get high, foreign drug cartels are operating in Northern California and wreaking havoc on the environment and producing marijuana tainted with toxic chemicals. Drugs are not cool. Because of the gun violence between drug dealers, people are afraid to visit the city of Oakland, California. There are so many drug related murders that no one can keep track. Homicide is the number one killer of African American men 15-34. In 2016, there were 88 homicides in Oakland. And 32 homicides as of late June 2017. The forensic anthropologist in the morgues are saying that gun violence is getting more serious, too. Instead of seeing people with one fatal gunshot, they are now coming into morgue in bullet proof vests with 12 bullets in one body, and usually end up with several people from the same gang in the morgue in the same night. These people have military style weapons. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
Violence is a symptom of an unhealthy community. In Oakland’s drug wars, fire as well as firepower is a weapon. The Oakland fire department attributes more than 180 cases of arson to warfare between drug gangs and reprisals against slow-paying customers or residents who complained publicly about the city’s wide-open commerce in crack, a cheaper, potent form of cocaine. In Oakland, California, drugs are sold on more than 150 street corners. When people cannot pay their drug debts, and the dealer cannot find you, they will go after your next of kin. A woman who owed $50.00 to a crack dealer was dragged from her house, and thrown into the trunk of a car. After breaking one of her legs and the bones in one hand with a baseball bat, detectives report the attackers poured gasoline over her and set her on fire. With those cost of living so high in Oakland, California scientists are saying this is contributing to continuing violent crimes in parts of the city. There is a 19 percent unemployment rate in these communities, and the economy is not lifting the poor up. There is a large group of people living below the poverty line. The average household income in East Oakland is $47,318.50 and the citywide average is $80,758.00. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
Is there such depravity in humans as that one should injure another without benefit to oneself? The lack of education, jobs, drugs, and no affordable housing is leading to the increase in violence and crime. And that is why so many people have turned to drugs and drug dealing. People who are abusing drugs feel hopeless and depressed and they have tried to succeed, but have not been able to because they come from an unstable home, live in a violent community, do not have the resources to go to school, or suffer from a cognitive disability. So, they hustle and turn to drugs to get by and forget about life and to feel good. On the other hand, people find drug dealing lucrative and can make $50,000.00 in one weekend, so they do not want to work for $12.00 an hour when they are making more than a doctor does. However, it is very dangerous because it creates super predators. You now have cartels and drug dealers praying on other drug dealers. In places like Oakland Hills, where my father came from, people have a college degree and average household incomes of $188,000.00. However, because there is so much profit being made in the flatlands by dealers, you have to solve this problem with the youth by encouraging them to stay in school and just say no to drugs and drinking. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
There are no devils but those which are begotten upon selfishness and reared by cunning. The bloody drug warfare has caused people in Oakland to promote this urban comeback and improve its reputation. However, just feet away from these revitalized neighborhoods, crack and other drugs can be bought in board daylight just about anywhere. The killings and the sound of gunfire are now a constant in the life of many people who live in Oakland. People are getting rich on the blood money and ruining the lives of men, women, children, animals and the environment. Bears, deer, mountain lions, and rivers are being poisoned by the marijuana grows and many of them are drying. Also, in Oakland, California, there are ten-year old kids with guns in their underwear drawers. People fear that with the rising rent in Sacramento, lack of affordable housing, increase of breweries, and all the legal marijuana for recreational use that Sacramento, California will face the same fate as Oakland, California. Housing is high, food is expensive, and gas is outrageous. People use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably painful or dull. They hate their work and find no rest in their leisure. They are estranged from their families and their neighbors. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
Aging alone causes people to lose brain cells and mental processing speed, but there are several other causes that you have more control over. There are some adults who seems to be dumber than tar, but they are still working and the work they produce is awful, and yet they continue to still be employed. When these adults, who did drugs in their youth and have clearly lost their cognitive abilities, are hired on as partners or major parts of the firm, the level of productivity and quality of work seriously declines, and many people sit around wondering why these individuals are still employed, why do they not retire? While we cannot recognize a change in brain speed, many people do know that something has changed with their thinking. And if you sense that you are not as smart or quick as you used to be, you know it is an uncomfortable feeling. Some refer to it as “brain fog,” because they know that they used to feel smarter but the thoughts are just not coming together as quickly. What is happening is that when brain processing seed declines, you are literally thinking slower and remembering less. New information that you are presented with is not as easy to understand, and older memories are harder to recall. At the same time, a decline in brain chemical production causes brain cell death. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
People who seem to enjoy their ill temper have a way of keeping it in fine condition by inflicting privations on themselves. Fewer neurons mean an additional decrease in the capacity to retain information. What is more, not only does an aging brain sometimes think slower, but drug use will also accelerate the deterioration of your brain. There is a separation between thinking and then doing. You know that you have things you need to do but you cannot quite figure out how to get them done, or you forget to take care of them. Once you experience these problems repeatedly, you need to start rebalancing your brain. Aging is the number one cause of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). As you get older, your brain develops chemical imbalances. If you do not act to fix them, you are actually leaving your brain and your body open to get sicker. Any type of addiction, including to alcohol, streets drugs (marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth, heroin, Ecstasy, nexus, ketamine, crack, hallucinogens), overeating, gambling, or even excessive shopping can cause an imbalance. One that is shipped with the devil must sail with the devil. However, mutual toleration and forbearance, in our sentiments, with regard to the legality, or expedience of measures, is the soul of democracy. Consistent, sincere prayer helps us to grow spiritually, shape our character, and strengthen our love for our Father in Heaven. Prayer is among the most valuable gifts we receive as spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
The Luxury of a Pure Conscience is the Health of the Soul
Time is a mere infirmity of human mind which prevents us from seeing things sub specie aeternitatis; and because there is a close correlation between temporality and the mentality (temporalistic panpsychism). States of consciousness are private, God within the mind, this eternal monitor. Our environment also employs a deep impact on our development. Environment (nurture) refers to the combination of all external conditions that affect a person. For instance, the brain of a newborn baby has fewer dendrites (nerve cell branches) and synapses (connections between nerve cells) than an adult brain. However, the newborn brain is highly plastic (capable of being altered by experience). During the first three years of life, millions of new dendrites (connections between nerve cells) in the brain form every day. At the same time, unused synapses (connections between nerve cells) disappear. As a result, early learning environments literally shape the developing brain, through blooming and pruning of synapses. The cradle of civilization is in Africa, where the garden of Eden is located. Although human DNA is evolving, modern humans are still genetically quite similar to cave dwellers who lived 30,000 years ago. A strong influence of African migrants existed throughout the World (and is still detectable today). Most modern genes come from African as a result of large African migration(s) and/or incremental gene flow. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
The Pleistocene era is from 1,800,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. During the latter Pleistocene (125,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago), one more major migrations from Africa fueled the Worldwide dispersal of modern humans. Although most researchers agree that anatomically modern humans originated in Africa between 150,000 and 200,00 years ago, there is still debate over whether this was a speciation event that replaced other human populations outside of Africa, or whether there was a genetic mixture. In Africa, premodern fossils have been found at several sites. One of the best known is Broken Hill (Kabwe). In this and other African premodern specimens, a mixture of older and more recent traits can be seen. Dating estimates of Broken Hill and most of the other premodern fossils from estimates have been given dates for most of the localities in the range of 600,000-125,000 years ago. The premodern human fossils from Africa and Europe are more similar to each other than they are to the hominids from Asia. They mix of some ancestral characteristics (retained from Homo erectus ancestors) with more derived features give the African and European fossils a distinctive look; they are usually referred to as H. heidelbergensis. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The situation in Asia is less tidy. To some researchers, the remains appear more modern than contemporaries from either Europe or Africa. They represent a regional branch of H. heidelbergensis. The Pleistocene World forced many small populations into geographical isolation. Most of these regional populations no doubt died out. Some, however, did evolve, and their descendants are likely a major part of the later hominid fossil record. In African, H. heidelbergensis evolved into Neandertals. Meanwhile, the Chinese premodern populations may have all met with extinction. However, the African migrants might well have interbred with resident populations outside of Africa. Nevertheless, a bright new born baby born today could learn to become almost anything—an actor, an engineer, a race car, driver, nurse, singer, rapper, a spiritual gangster, or a mechanic who likes to build Victorian houses. But an Upper Pleistocene baby could have only become a hunter for food. It was once thought we appeared in Europe around 45,000 years ago and that they coexisted with Neanderthals for thousands of years after that. They may have hung on in pockets – including caves in Gibraltar – until 40,000 years ago, it was believed. In other words, there was a long, gradual takeover by modern humans, and died out from competition. It is not an easy matter to hit a conscience exactly between wind and water. Thank goodness for evolution and human rights. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Environmental factors actually start influencing development before birth. Although the intrauterine environment (interior of womb) is highly protected, environmental conditions can nevertheless affect the developing child. For example, when a young lady was pregnant, the baby’s fetal heart rate and movements increased when loud sounds or vibrations penetrated the womb. In addition to cultural differences, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation all affect the social norms that guide behavior. Social norms are rules that define acceptable behavior. While watching an episode of “The Jefferson’s,” the father, George had a problem with his African American son, Lionel dating a young lady, Jenny, who has a White father and a Black mother because he did not understand her culture and did not want to deal with it. Also, on the show “The Bachelorette,” the star Rachel Lindsay is the first African American bachelorette ever on the show and comes from a prestigious family. She has to choose from African American and European American men, and one of these lucky men will be her next husband. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
To many, interracial dating is no big deal, most people do not even see what they problem is with Rachel choosing from men who have different skin tones, but still a lot of people have deeply rooted hostilities about interracial dating, as they did 40 years ago when “The Jefferson’s” was a new show, which reflects cultural attitudes of time era. And some other people wish that racial had more cultures to choose from like Japanese men and Hawaiian men. However, with interracial the more cultures you mix in to the situation, the more complex it becomes because people become insecure when they have more competition. Nevertheless, some women who are mixed race also have a problem with their children dating people who do not look like their phenotype (outward) appearance because they feel like their child is rejecting their image or culture. Even more, European American women who marry African American men sometimes have problems with their mixed race son’s dating White girls because of historical race relation issues and also sometimes because people who marry another race identify as they race and also feel rejected if their child rejects the race that they are married to. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Other problems with the show “The Bachelorette” is that some feel it is unethical because a woman is selecting from men who she does not really know and marrying them and a few people think it is unnatural. However, in China, for every man, there are two women, so there are more women than men. And dating and marriage has become a business. If you do not have a career, healthy bank account, are not tall and attractive and do not have a house in a desirable location a woman will reject you with in ten minutes of meeting you because women are in such high demand. Dating is like a business and so “The Bachelorette” many not be a bad form of finding a mate. The men are screened to make sure they healthy, safe, and come from good background, which seems like less of a gamble of meeting people on your own and taking a risk. Also, some people do fall in love fast. To fully understand human behavior, psychologist need to know how people differ, as well as the ways in which we are all alike. To be effective, psychologist must be sensitive to people who are ethnically and culturally different from themselves. For the same reason, an appreciation of human diversity can enrich your life, as well as your understanding of psychology. In strong and involuntary bias, the heart is conscience. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
We have to reflect on a new social reality: Cultural diversity is becoming the new normal. The percentage of non-Hispanic white people in the United States of America has reached an all-time low: 63 percent. That is 197.7 million White people out of 325.9 million Americans. In 2000, Whites were 69 percent of the population. In some large cities, African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native Americans are already the majority. In the past, psychology was based mostly on the cultures of North America and Europe. Now, we must ask, do the principles of Western psychology apply to people in all cultures? Are some psychological concepts invalid in other cultures? Are any universal? As psychologist have probed such questions, one thing has become clear: Most of what we think, feel, and do is influenced in one way or another by the social and cultural Worlds in which we live. Unlike the Divine Intellect, the souls are unable to grasp the timeless truth at one, in a single instantaneous act, but only gradually, step by step, by a laborious process of reasoning. Succession and change are thus mere results of our inability to grasp everything at once. The moving image of eternity, an imperfect (because moving) imitation is understood in a psychological sense as movement of soul. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Abandoned Opportunities are Never Lost
Beauty must be exhibited as a necessary condition of humanity, the luxury to apprehend, for this new value in the soul is the supremest Earthly sum; that refinement makes humans whole complete beings. The elegance and delicacy is the quality by which causes love or some passion similar to it. That love is all there is, is all we know of love; it is enough, the freight should be proportioned to the groove. Things are always beautiful in their own nature. You are the loveliest of all lovies, please stay awhile and tell me your name. And yet by Heaven, I think my love as rare. Love is compared to a single soul inhabiting two bodies. Happiness is what all people desire since it is always the end goal of our activities, it is an unconditional good. It does not depend on external things, but rather on how those things are used. Happiness is not to be found in the goods that one accumulates, or even in the projects that form the ingredients of one’s life, but rather in the agency of the individual who gives life a direction and focus. Human nature will discover what brings out the best in human beings. Offer all in your heart and all of your good intentions to God’s gracious majesty. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
The human soul as it is recognized has beauty in its true origin and destiny. What mystery pervades as well softened by nature’s blessing. Love is always in a state of lack and hence of desire: the desire to possess the beautiful. This state of infinite longing is trained on the truth, and is the path to wisdom. The basic idea has been relished many times by romantics. It fuels the cult of idealized or courtly love, which has been strong since the Middle Ages, in which the beloved has become a symbol of the infinite. Beauty is centered in the human experience of pleasure. Beauty is such an order and construction of parts, as either by the primary constitution of our nature, by custom, or by caprice, is fitted to give a pleasure and satisfaction to the soul. Pleasure and pain. Proud of my broken heart since you did break it, proud of the pain I did not feel until you, proud of my sight since it was the limit of my dream. The focus of my prayer, a perfect, paralyzing bliss constitutes your very essence. It was a dream in which I found myself, a brave palace that was all my own. Whether tomorrow’s day shall break the spell, I will remember always it was your hand that I held. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Beauty is the emblem of what we lack, the mark of an art that speaks to our desire. Beautiful things do not stand aloof, but direct our attention and our desire to everything else we must learn or acquire in order to understand and possess, and they give Godspeed to the sense of life, providing new shape and direction. The Heaven below the Heaven above obscured with rosier hue. Whatever we have seen, heard, or understood, delights, pleases, and ravishes us by this joy so scantily disburse. The pleasure of sense accompanies the ideas of sensation. There is vastly greater pleasure in your complex beauty, a regular and harmonious apprehension, which conforms my soul as if it were a church. Everyone acknowledges we are delighted with your fine face, a just picture, than with the view of any one colour, were it as strong and lively as possible. When you smile, it is more pleasing then the Sun arising among settled clouds, and colouring their edges, with starry hemisphere. When roses cease to bloom, dear, and violets are done, the pleasure of your composition has passed beyond the Sun. When dreaming the night shall pass away. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
God above all others is capable of bringing us happiness, as he is the helper of mankind who eliminates those evils, whose cure brings the greatest happiness to the human race. If life is ever worth living, it is when one has attained this vision of the soul of beauty. And once you have seen it, you will never be seduced again by the charm of gold or flesh, you will care nothing for the beauties that used to take your breath away, and when one discerns this beauty, one will perceive the true virtue, not virtue’s semblance. And one has been brought forth and reared this perfect virtue, one shall be called the friend of God, and if ever it is capable of one to enjoy immortality, it shall then be given to that individual. The greatest happiness is the pure vision of God. This overwhelming experience of truth, beauty, and the divine, will make all the sufferings and tribulations of our lives meaningful and worth experiencing. It is something that is earnestly pursued that comes only after all our adventures in the World. Humble yourself deeply before God, and make virtue a necessity. Be thankful for everything that God has blessed you with and show appreciation by taking great care of it, and you will be rewarded with more. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
The righteous person is happier than the unjust individual. We all certainly prefer to be healthy than unhealthy, but health is nothing but the harmony among different parts of the body, each carrying out its proper function. Justice, it turns out, is a similar kind of harmony, but among different parts of the soul. Injustice on the other hand is a form of civil war between parts of the soul: a rebellion in which one rogue element—the desirous part of our natures—usurps reason as the controlling power. In contrast, the just soul is one that possess psychic harmony no matter what comes one’s way in life; just individuals never lose their inner composure, and can maintain peace and tranquility despite the harshest of life’s circumstances. Happiness is the internal benefits and characteristics rather than external ones. Living a virtuous life brings greater pleasure than living an unvirtuous life. Psychic harmony that results from a just life brings with it greater peace and inner tranquility, which is more pleasant than the unjust life which tends to bring inner discord, guilt, stress, and disease. Simplicity, gentleness and modesty are to be desired in all society—there are some people who are so full of affectation in whatever they do that everyone is annoyed by them. Some people are artificial in all they do and spoil the pleasure of society. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
The higher pleasures of the just life are not merely peace of mind, but the excitement of pursuing knowledge, as it produces an almost Godlike state in the human being. The philosopher is at the pinnacle of this pursuit: having cast off the blinders of ignorance, one is able to explore the higher realm of truth, and this experience makes every merely physical pleasure pale in comparison. Most pleasures are not really pleasures at all, but merely an absence of pain. Some pleasures are not relative because they concern higher parts of the soul that are not bound to the relativity produced by physical things. These are the philosophical pleasures—the pure pleasure of coming to a greater understanding of reality. Wrapped in ever-expanding social networks, we are never far from other people. They are always right beside us, just around the corner, or only a phone call, telegraph, or text massage away. In our intensely social World, it is tempting to assume that a person who is alone is a loser, a loner, a social outcast or, at the very least antisocial or shy. However, is this assumption always justified? Well, it depends. On the one hand, it is true that some people are alone because they are socially fearful, self-conscious, or shy, or otherwise dislike social situations. Many of these people are shy and lonely. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
In more extreme cases, people who shun social interaction and are troubled by their isolation may even be diagnosed with a mental disorder such as agoraphobia. On the other hand, it is also true that some people are alone simply because they prefer solitude. In fact, many of history’s most creative and spiritual individuals have found insight in their solitude. “I think it is important to take a break, you know, from the public eye for a while, and give people a chance to miss you. I want longevity. I do not want to get out there and run myself ragged and spread myself thin,” Aaliayh said when she was asked why she took five years off between albums. She went on to say, “There are times in my life when I just want to be by myself.” Environment factors influence intelligence. Social interaction, the media, the internet and video games, much like most of popular culture is becoming so complex. The rich, complicated experiences can require 40 hours or more of intense problem-solving to complete or understand. People must usually figure out by themselves how to figure out the rules because everything is so cognitively demanding. In the end, popular culture may well be inviting us to read, reflect, and problem-solve more than ever before. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
This person is alone. But is that individual lonely? Do you think time alone is healthy or unhealthy? Can we not be around people sometimes and by ourselves at other times? Why not? Perhaps we could all benefit from some alone time. Quiet time for reflection does seem to be associated with creativity, spiritual growth, problem solving, and self-discovery. In our modern World, social contact is a given. Alone time—now that is another story. Did you know that healthy solitude was on the minds of legislatures when they passed the 1964 Wilderness Act? According to the act, national parks should serve “to preserve natural conditions, to provide opportunities for solitude, and to provide a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.” Although little can be done to change neural intelligence, by adding to personal knowledge and learning to think better, people can become more intelligent. Many psychologists believe that to make full use of innate intelligence a person must have good metacognitive skills. Metacognitive skills mean above and beyond ordinary thinking. Such skills involve an ability to manage your own thinking and problem solving. Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
Typically, to better manage our lives, this means breaking problems into parts, establishing goals, and subgoals, monitoring your progress, and making connections. Learning metacognitive skills is the surest avenue to become more intelligent. Learning to relax is a way to lower stress, and emotional support also helps. To reduce stress, rehearse how you will cope with upsetting events. Calmly plan how you will handle each situation—by keeping your attention on the task, by focusing on the issues one at a time. Another helpful strategy involves listening to the upsetting thoughts you have during the day. Then you can learn to combat these worries with calming, rational replies. If I prepare well and calm my worries, my day will go fine. Even if I do not, it will not be the end of the World. My friends will still like me, and I can try to improve the next day. We acquire social motives in complex ways, through socialization and cultural conditioning. The behavior of outstanding artists, scientist, athletes, educators, and leaders is best understood in terms of such learned needs, particularly the need for achievement. This indicates our mind is part of our soul. Call to mind that the day now is beginning and you may work for eternity, and make steadfast resolution to use this day for that end. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Randolph Harris II International Institute 