Randolph Harris II International Institute

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I am in Earnest—I Will Not Equivocate—I Will Not Excuse—I Will Not Retreat a Single Inch—And I Will Be Heard!

cropped-en5misfu0aivjuk.jpgOne who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide one through the maze of the most busy life. However, where no plain is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign. Learn to value your time alone—when you value something you are keener to protect it. Inside of each one of us is a place where we live all alone and that is where one renews one’s springs that never dry up. We hardly have a compete catalogue of culturally codified heroics, but it is a god representation of the ideologies that have taken such a toll of life; in many examples of masses of human lives there have been piled up order of the cultural transcendence to be achieved. And there is noting “perverse” about it because it represents the expression of the fullest expansive life of the heroic being. We can talk for a century about what causes human aggression; we can try to find the spring in animal instincts, or we can try to find them in bottled-up hatreds due to frustration or in some kind of miscarried experiences of early years, of poor child handling and training. All these would be true, but still trivial because people kill out of joy, in the experience of expansive transcendence over evil. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

ImageThis poses an immense problem for social theory, a problem that we have utterly failed to be clear about. If people end the lives of others out of a heroic joy, in what direction do we program for improvements in human nature? If humans work evil out of the impulse to righteousness and goodness, what are we going to improve? If people are aggressive in order to expand life, if aggression in the service of life is human’s highest creative act, what kind of child-rearing programs are we going to promote? If we were to be logical, these childhood programs would have to be something that eliminates joy and heroic self-expansion in order to be effective for peace. And how could we ever get controlled child-rearing programs without the most oppressive social regulations? The cataloguing of maddening dilemmas such as these are, for utopian thought, could probably be continued to fill a whole book let me ass mere a few more. We know that to be human is to be neurotic in some ways and to some degree; there is no way to become an adult without serious twisting of one’s perceptions of the World. Even more, it is not the especially twisted people who are most dangerous: coprophiliacs are harmless, people who physically force others into pleasures of the flesh do not do the damage to life that idealistic leaders do. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

ImageAlso, leaders are a function of the “normal” urges of masses to some large extent; this means that even psychically disabled leaders are an expression of the widespread urge to heroic transcendence. Dr. Strangelove was surely a psychic cripple, but he was not an evil genius who moved everyone around him to his will; he was simply one cleaver computer in a vast idealistic program to guarantee the survival of the “free World.” Today we are living the grotesque spectacle of the poisoning of the Earth by the nineteenth-century hero system of unrestrained material production. This is perhaps the greatest and most pervasive evil to have emerged in all of history, and it may even eventually defeat all of humankind. Still there are no “twisted” people whom we can hold responsible for this. I know all this is more or less obvious, but it puts our discussion on the proper plane; it teaches us one great lesson—a pill that for modern humans may be the bitterest of all to swallow—namely, that we seem to be unable to approach the problem of human evil from the side of psychology. Dr. Freud, who gave us the ideal of the psychological liberation of humans, also gave us many glimpses of its limitations. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

ImageI am not referring here to Dr. Freud’s cynicism about what people may accomplish because of the perversity of their natures, but rather his admission that there is no dependable line between normal and abnormal in affairs of the human World. In the mist characteristic human activity—love—we see the most distorted reality. Talking about the distortions of transference-love, Dr. Freud says: “It is to a high degree lacking in regard for reality, is less sensible, less concerned about consequences, more blind in its estimation of the person loved, then we are willing to admit of normal love.” And then he is forced to take most of this back, honest thinker that he is, by concluding that: “We should not forget, however, that it is precisely these departures from the morn that make up the essential element in the condition of being in love.” In other words, transference is the only ideality that humans have. It was no news to Dr. Freud that the ability to love and to believe is a matter of susceptibility to illusion. He prided himself on being a stoical scientist who had transcended the props of illusion, yet he retained his faith in science—in psychoanalysis—as his particular hero system. This is the same as saying that all hero systems are based on illusion except one’s own, which is somehow in a special, privileged place, as if given in nature herself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

ImageRank got right at the heart of Dr. Freud’s dilemma: “Just as he himself could so easily confess his agnosticism while he had created for himself a private religion, it seems that, even in his intellectual and rational achievements, he still has to express and assert his irrational needs by at least fighting for and about his rational ideas.” This it perfect. It means that Dr. Freud, too, was not exempt from the need to fit himself into a scheme of cosmic heroism, an immortality ideology that had to be taken on faith. This is why Rank saw the need to go “beyond psychology:” it cannot by itself substitute for a hero system unless it is—as it was for Dr. Freud—the hero system that guaranteed him immortality. This is the meaning of Rank’s critique of psychology as “self-deception.” It cannot contain the immortality urge characteristic of life. It is just another ideology, which is gradually trying to supplant religious and moral ideology, but is only partially qualified to do this, because it is a preponderantly negative and disintegrating ideology. In other words, all that psychology has really accomplished is to make the inner life the subject matter of sciences, and in ding this it dissipated the idea of the soul. However, it was the soul which once linked human’s inner life to a transcendent scheme of cosmic heroism. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

ImageNow the individual is stuck with oneself and with an inner life that one can only analyze away as a product of social conditioning. Psychological introspection took cosmic heroics and made them self-reflective and isolated. At best it gives the person a new self-acceptance—but this is not what humans want or need: one cannot generate a self-created hero system unless one is mad. Only pure narcissistic megalomania can banish guilt. It was on the point of guilt, as Rank saw, that Dr. Freud’s system of heroism fell down. He admonishes Dr. Freud with the didactic mocking of one who possesses a clearly superior conceptualization: “It is with his therapeutic attempt to remove the guilt by tracing it back ‘causally’ to the individual’s childhood that Dr. Freud steps in. How presumptuous, and at the same time, naïve, is this idea of simply removing human guilt by explaining it casually as ‘neurotic!’” Exactly. Guilt is a reflection of the problem of acting in the Universe; only partly is it connected to the accidents of one’s birth and early experience. Guilt, as the existentialists put it, is the guilt of being itself. It reflects the self-conscious animal’s bafflement at having emerged from nature, at sticking out too much without know what for, at not being able to securely place oneself in an eternal meaning system. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

ImageHow presumptuous of psychology to claim to be able to handle a problem of these dimensions. It all culminates once again in a recognition of the magnitude of the problem of cosmic heroism. All neurosis is vanity. Neurosis, in other words, reflects the incapacity of the individual to heroically transcend oneself; when one tried in one way or another, it is plainly vain. We are back again to a famous fruit of Rank’s work too, one insight that neurosis “is at the bottom always only incapacity for illusion.” However, we are back to it with a vengeance and with the broadest possible contemporary understanding. Transference represents not only the necessary and inevitable, but the most creative distortion of reality. Reality for humans is something one must imagine, search out in the eyes of one’s fellows, with their gleam of passionate dedication. This is also what Karl Jung intimates about the vitality of transference when he calls it “kinship libido.” This means that people join together their individual pulsations in a gamble toward something transcendent. Life imagines its own significance and strains to justify its beliefs. It is as though the life force itself needed illusion in other to further itself. Logically, then, the ideal creativity for humans would strain toward the grandest illusion. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

ImageOne of the greatest difficulties for people lays in dealing with their negative feelings. We are voluntarily submitting ourselves to emotions of which we cannot really approve of, and we sometimes write down fantasies which often strike us as nonsense, and towards which we have strong resistances. For as long as we do not understand their meaning, such fantasies are a diabolical mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. It costs some of us a great deal to undergo them, but we have been challenged by fate. Only by extreme effort are we finally able to escape from the labyrinth. In order to grasp the fantasies which are stirring in us “underground,” we may know that we have to let ourselves plummet down into them, as it is. We could not only feel a violent resistance to this, but a distinct fear. For many are afraid of losing command of oneself and becoming a prey to the fantasies—and as a psychiatrist I realized only too well what that meant. After prolonged hesitation, however, I saw that there was no other way out. We have to take the chance, have to try to gain power over them; for if we do not, they run the risk of gaining power over us. A cogent motive for making the attempt is the conviction that I could not expect of my patients something I did not dare to do myself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

ImageThe excuse that a helper stood at their side would not pass muster, for I was well aware that the so-called helper—that is, myself—could not help them unless he knew their fantasy material from his own direct experience, and that at present all he possessed were a few theoretical prejudices of dubious value. This idea—that I was committing myself to a dangerous enterprise not for myself alone, but also for the sake of my patients—helped me over several critical phases. Now I would like to cite the example of a sadist who did much worse things than just control others: Heinrich Himmler. I am going to read you a short letter that he wrote to a high-ranking SS officer, Count Adalbert Kottulinsky. “Dear Kottulinsky, You have been very ill with a serious heart ailment. In the interests of your health, I am hereby ordering you to stop smoking completely for the nest two years. After these two years are up you may submit to me a physician’s report on the state of your health. On the basis of that report I will decide whether you may resume smoking or not. Heil Hitler!” That is not only exerting control over another person but humiliating him as well. Himmler treats this adult like a stupid schoolboy. He writes in a way deliberately designed to humiliate. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

Image Himmler assumes control over Kottulinsky. He does not even let the doctor do the controlling and make the decision on whether Kottulinsky may or may not smoke again. Himmler arrogates this decision to himself. Another trait of the bureaucrat as sadist is that one treats people like things. They become objects. One does not relate them as human beings. Another characteristic is that only helpless individuals waken one’s sadistic interest, not ones who can defend themselves. Also, many sadists are people who themselves suffered abuse, still talk about it like it is still happening, and want to inflict that pain onto others, which is why some are still talking about historic events as if they are current. A sadist up against a superior is usually cowardly, but someone who is helpless or can be made helpless—a child, a sick person, or, in certain political circumstances, a political opponent—those are the people who incite the sadist. One does not feel pity, as any normal person does, nor does one share the normal person’s revulsion at the very idea of hitting someone who is defenseless. On the contrary, helplessness is the quality that stimulates the sadist, because it puts the possibility of absolute control within one’s reach. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

ImageAnother trait of the sadist in bureaucrat’s clothes is an excessive preoccupation with order. Order is everything. Order is the only sure thing in life, the only thing over which we can exert complete control. People with an excessive need for order are usually people who are afraid of life, because life is not orderly. It brings surprises; spontaneity is crucial to it. The only thing we can be sure of is death, but what life brings is always something new. The sadistic individual, though, who cannot relate to others and who sees everyone and everything in life as mere objects, that kind of person hates anything living, because it poses a threat to one. However, one love order. It was therefore characteristic for Himmler to keep a diary—for ten years starting with his fourteenth year—filled with the most banal of entries. He notes how many rolls he ate, whether his train arrived on time or not. Every last little thing he did had to be recorded. Even as a young man he kept records of his correspondence in which he noted every letter he wrote or received. That is order. And we should add that it is the orderliness of a certain type, the orderliness of the old-fashioned bureaucrat for whom life means nothing but order and rules mean everything. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

ImageIt is interesting to note in this context that when Eichmann was asked in Jerusalem whether he felt any guilt—he was interrogated by a very humane psychiatrist, and he apparently felt he could speak quite freely—he said yes, he did have some guilt feelings. And when asked what it was he felt guilty about, he replied; For having played hooky from school twice when he was a boy. That was not very clever of him as a defendant in the situation he was in. If he had wanted to be clever he could have said he felt guilty because he had ended the life of so many people. However, he was perfectly honest, and it was quite natural for him to think of an indigence when he had broken the rules. For the bureaucrat, there is only one sin, and that is to violate the established order, to break the established rules. It would seem that the soul is human. For it is written in 2 Corinthians 4.16, “Though our outward person is corrupted, yet the inward person is renewed day by day.” However, that which is within humans is the soul. Therefore the soul is the inward person. Further, the human soul is a substance. However, it is not a universal substance. Therefore it is a particular substance. Therefore it is a “hypostasis” or a person; and it can only be a human person. Therefore the soul is a human; for a human person is a man. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

ImageHowever, when we reflect deeper, it is clear to see that humans are not a mere soul, nor a mere body; but both soul and body. First, that human is a soul; though this particular human, Sokrates, for instance, is not a soul, but composed of soul and body. I say this, forasmuch as some held that the form alone belongs to the species; while matter is part of the individual, and not the species. This cannot be true; for to the nature of the species belongs what the definition signifies; and in natural things the definition does not signify the form only, but the form and the mater. Hence in natural things the matter is part of the species; not indeed, signate matter, which is the principle of individuality; but the common matter. For as it belongs to the notion of this particular human to be composed of this soul, of this flesh, and of these bones; so it belongs to the notion of humans to be composed of soul, flesh, and bones; for whatever belongs in common to the substance of all the individuals contained under a given species, must belong to the substance of the species. It may also be understood in this sense, that this soul is the man; and this could be held if it were supposed that the operation of the sensitive soul were proper to it, apart from the body; because in that case all the operations which are attributed to man would belong to the soul only; and whatever performs the operations proper to a thing, is that thing; wherefore that which performs the operations of a human is a human. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

ImageHowever, we have shown that sensation is not the operation of the soul only. Since, then, sensation is an operation of man, but not proper to him, it is clear that man is not a soul only, but something composed of a soul and body. Plato, through supposing that sensation was proper to the soul, could maintain humans to be a soul making use of the body. A thing seems to be chiefly what is principal in it; thus what the governor of a states does, the state is said to do. In this way sometimes what is principal in man is said to be man; sometimes, indeed, the intellectual part which, in accordance with truth, is called “inward” man; and sometimes the sensitive part with the body is called man in the opinion of those who observation does not go beyond these senses. And this is called the “outward” man. Not every particular substance is a hypostasis or a person, but that which has the complete nature of its species. Hence a hand, or a foot, is not called hypostasis, or a person; nor, likewise, is the soul alone so called, since it is part of the human species. O God of love and peace, Who for the salvation of humankind did endure to be hanged on a Cross, and did pour forth Thy Blood for our redemption; favourably and benignantly receive my prayers, and bestow on my Thy mercy; that when Thou shalt command me to depart from the body, the enemy may have no power over me, but the Angel of peace may place me among Thy Saints and elect, where light abides and life reigns, World without end. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

Image Nephi writes of the things of God—Nephi’s purpose is to persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham and be saved. About 600-592 Before Christ (BC). “And now I, Nephi, do not give the genealogy of my fathers in this part of my record; neither at any time shall I give it after upon these plates which I am writing; for it is given in the record which has been kept by my father; wherefore, I do not write it in this work. For it sufficeth me to say that we are descendants of Joseph. And it mattereth not to me that I am particular to give a full account of all the things of my father, for they cannot be written upon these plates, for I desire the room that I may write of the things of God. For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade people to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved. Wherefore, the thing which are pleasing unto the World I do not write, but the things which are pleasing unto God and unto those who are not of the World. Wherefore, I shall give commandment unto my seed, that they shall not occupy these plates with things which are not of worthy unto the children of humans,” reports 1 Nephi 6.1-6. The height of devotion is reached when reverence and contemplation produce passionate worship, which in turn breaks forth in thanksgiving and praise in word and song. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

ImageI had vehement longings of soul after God and Christ, and after more holiness, wherewith my heart seemed to be full, and ready to break. I spent most of my time in thinking of divine things, year after year; often walking alone in the woods, and solitary places, for deep prayers, soliloquy, and prayer, and converse with God; and it was always my manner, at such times, to sing forth my contemplations. Prayer seemed to be natural to me, as the breath by which the inward burnings of my heart vents. Bach’s music is universally regarded as Christian mediation transposed into musical form. The hymns and spiritual songs of the Church are the richest sources of poetic praise set to music, with words by the likes of Bernard of Clairvaux, Paul Gerhardt, Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, George Herbert, and Jon Donne.  “A palace to every song you have ever heard and been unable to endure without tear? The marble shines in the Sun. Such richness as this cannot be made by human hands. This is the temple of Heaven,” (page 58 of Violin by Anne Rice). Lord, I love You, and I thank You for this World. Lord, glorify Your name through me. May the mind of Christ my Saviour live in me from day to day, by His love and power controlling all I do and say. We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread, and long to feast upon Thee still, we bring of Thee, the Fountainhead, and thirst our souls from Thee to fill. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

Image“Mozart was always my happy guardian, the Little Genius, I called him, Master of His Choir of Angels, that is Mozart; but Beethoven is the Master of my Dark Heart, the captain of my broken life and all my failures. This is relentless music. This person is not going to give up. Onward, upward, forward, it does not matter now—woods, trees, it does not matter. All that matters is that you walk…and when there comes just a little bit of happiness again—the sweet exultant happiness of the plateau—it is caught up this time in the advancing steps. Because there is no stopping. Magnificent assurances the Beethoven tried to make, it seemed, to all of us, that everything would someday be understood and this life was worth. It even seemed all right for the Little Genius, Mozart perhaps, the bright safe glow of Angels chattering and laughing and doing back flips in celestial light. Death is not death as I once thought, when fear was trampled underfoot. Broken hearts do best forever beating upon the wintry windowpane. It struck me—a great formless thought, unable to take shape in this atmosphere of slow lovely embracing music—that that was the power of the violin, that it sounded human in a way that we humans could not! It spoke for us in a way that we ourselves could not. Ah, yes, and that is what all the pondering and poetry has always been about. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

Image“It seemed the rain and this music would kill me. I would die quiet without a protest. But I only dreamed, sliding down down into a fullblown illusion as if it had been waiting for me. For surely I was dreaming. I had to be. But I was here, imprisoned in this, as if transported body and soul into it, and something in me sang, do not let it be a dream. I thought again very specifically of him, the ghost, refurbishing in my imagination his slender tall figure and the violin which he had held, and trying as best as my unmusical mind could do to recall the melodies he had played. A ghost, a ghost, you have seen a ghost I thought. The crows was magnetized by him; they were so totally in his thrall that I went unnoticed. I only want you, you of all people, you who worship these names as if they were household saints—Mozart, Beethoven—I want you to know I knew them! These higher notes were to thin and pure, so bright yet sad. I lifted the violin, and brought the bow down in a searing cry over the E string, the high string, the metal sting, maybe all song is a form of crying out, and organized scream; a violin as it reached for a magic pitch is as sharp as a siren,” (Pages: 6, 7, 11, 25, 51, 55, 56, 75, 113, 122, 151, 155 of Violin by Anne Rice). So holiness or sanctification is more than just our standing before God in Christ. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

ImageIt is an actual conformity within us to the likeness of Christ begun at the time of our salvation and completed when we are made perfect in His presence. This process of gradually conforming us to the likeness of Christ begins at the very moment of our salvation when they Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and to actually give us a new life in Christ. We call this gradual process progressive sanctification, or growing in holiness, because it truly is a growth process. The holiness we have in Christ is purely objective, outside of ourselves. It is the perfect holiness of Christ imputed to us because of our union with Him, and it affects our standing before God. God is pleased with us because He is pleased with Christ. Progressive sanctification is subjective or experiential and is the work of the Holy Spirit within us imparting to us the life and power of Christ, enabling us to respond in obedience to Him. Bot aspects of sanctification, however, are gifts of God’s grace. We do not deserve our holy standing before God, and we do not deserve the Spirit’s sanctifying work in our lives. Both come to us by His grace because of the merit of Christ. Progressive sanctification begins in us with an instantaneous act of God at the time of salvation. God always gives justification and this initial imparting of sanctification at the same time. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

ImageTh author of Hebrews described this truth in this way: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he added, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more,” reports Hebrews 10.16-17. God promises to put his laws in our hearts and write them on our minds. That is sanctification in principle or, as I like to express it, sanctification begun. Then he promises to remember our sins no more. That is justification. Note that sanctification and justification are both gifts from God and expressions of His grace. Though they are each distinct aspects of salvation, they can never be separated. God never grants justification without also giving sanctification at the same time. I think of justification and sanctification as being like the jacket and pants of a suit. They always come together. A friend once wanted to give me a suit. He took me to a clothing store, and I walked out with a jacket and matching pants—a complete suit. Neither the jacket nor the pants alone would have been sufficient. I needed both to have the suit that my friend wanted to give me. Sometimes we think of salvation as more like a sports coat and a pair of slacks. We think God gives us the sports coat of justification by His grace, but we must “buy” the slacks of sanctification by our own efforts. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

ImageHowever, salvation is like a suit. It always comes with the jacket of justification and the pants of sanctification. God never gives one without the other because both are necessary to have the complete suit of salvation. The personal traits of the spiritual guide may repel the seeker. Yet if no one else is available who has the same knowledge, it is the seeker’s duty to repress one’s repulsions and enter into the relationship of a pupil. If one does not, then one pays a heavy price for one’s surrender to personal emotion and sensual superficiality. If walking in secret, a master would not necessarily be recognized as such, not even by those who are looking for one and have real all the books about one. That a person wearing quite ordinary clothes whose face was clean shaven, whose hair was quite average length, could be an adept is much less likely to be thought by most persons, then one who was theatrical-looking and conspicuously dressed. In the Worldly life a successful person usually seeks to give others the impression of one’s success but in the spiritual life an unassuming person may be a great master. The aspirant is not ordinarily in a position to judge what illumination really is, and who is a full illuminate being. One can only form theories about the one and use one’s imagination about the other. We feel and know that we are all eternal. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

ImageWere the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small; love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, glory, and honour, glory and honour and power; for Thou hast created, hast all things created, Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are created: for Thou art worthy, O Lord. I love you, Lord and I lift my voice to worship you, oh my soul rejoice. Take joy, my king in what you hear may it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. Oh Lord, I am a shell full of dust, but animated with an invisible rational soul and made anew by an unseen power of grace; yet I am no rare object of valuable price, but one that has nothing and is nothing, although chosen of Thee from eternity, given to Christ, and born again; I am deeply convinced of the evil and misery of a sinful state, of the vanity of creatures, but also of the sufficiency of Christ. When Thou would guide me I control myself. When Thou would be sovereign I rule myself. When Thou would take care of me I suffice myself. When I should depend on Thy providings I supply myself, when I should submit to Thy providence I follow my will, when I should study, love, honour, trust Thee, I serve myself; I fault and correct Ty laws to suit myself; instead of the I look to a human’s approbation, and am by nature an idolater. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

ImageLord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back to thee. Convince me that I cannot be my own God, or make myself happy, nor my own Christ to restore my joy, nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me. Help me to see that grace does this by providential affliction, for when my credit is good Thou does cast me lower, when riches are my idol Thou does turn it into bitterness. Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart; show me that none of these things can heal a wounded conscience, or support a tottering frame, or uphold a departing spirit. Then take me to the cross and leave me there. God’s ultimate goal for us, however, is that we truly be conformed to the likeness of His Son in our person as well as in our standing. This goal is expressed in Romans 8.29: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers.” All though the New Testament we see this ultimate end in view as the writers speak of salvation. For example, Paul said that Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good,” reports Titus 2.14. Jesus did not die just to save us from the penalty of sin, nor even just to make us holy in our standing before God. He died to purify for Himself a people eager to obey Him, a people eager to be transformed into His likeness. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23Image

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For within You is the Light of the World—the Only Light that Can be Shed Upon the Path!

Capture13Do not say you do not have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Harriet Tubman, Robert E. Lee, Empress Dowager Cix, Michelangelo, Aaliyah, Thomas Jefferson, Kobe Bryant, and Albert Einstein. Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them work, family, health, friends, and spirit—and you are keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. However, the other four balls—family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance. If this seems to you a little too sentimental or overdrawn, I would like to share with you an experience I had recently in a basic encounter group with fifteen persons in important executive posts. Early in the very intensive sessions of the week they were asked to write a statement of some feeling or feelings which they were not willing to share with the group. These were anonymous statements. One man wrote, “I do not relate easily to people. I have an almost impenetrable façade. Nothing gets in to hurt me but nothing gets out. I have repressed so many emotions that I am close to emotional sterility. This situation does not make me happy, but I do not know what to do about it. Perhaps insight into how others react to me and why will help.” #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

ImageThis clearly a message from a dungeon. Later in the week a member of the group identified himself as the man who had written that anonymous message, filling out in much greater detail his feelings of isolation, of complete coldness. He felt that life had been so brutal to him that he had been forced to live without feelings, not only at work but also in social groups and, saddest of all, with his family. His gradual achievement of greater expressiveness in the group, of less fear of being hurt, of more willingness to share himself with others, was a very rewarding experience for all of us who participated. When, in a letter a few weeks later asking me about another matter, he also included this paragraph: “When I returned from [our group] I felt somewhat like a youth who had been seduced but still wound up with the feeling that it was exactly what I had been waiting for and needed! I am still not quite sure who was responsible for the seduction—you of the group, or whether it was a joint venture. I suspect it was the latter. At any rate, I want to thank you for what was a meaningful and intensely interesting experience.” I was both amused and pleased by this admission. I think it is not too much to say that because of several of us in the group were able genuinely to hear him, he was released from his dungeon and came out, at least to some degree, into the sunnier World of warm interpersonal relationships. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

ImageToo many seekers create a supernatural halo around the master’s personality. Too many wrap it in dramatic and romantic garb. Too many expect too much from the first meeting with the individual. The consequence of all this is often a tremendous emotion let-down, and unreasonable disappointment after the reality of an actual meeting, and they lose their balance altogether. It is inevitable that a close-up view of the master will not prove so striking as a long-range one seen through romantic glasses. From a distance it is easy to bestow admiration and feel awe for a being they have almost turned into a deity. However, drawn into close contact with one it is just as easy to swing in the opposite direction and turn the master into a human. They do not notice how brief is their firsthand acquaintance with one, how few are the appearances that constitute the data for their conclusions, how conceited it is for spiritual pygmies to think they understand a spiritual titan. Because what they appear to have found does not correspond with the mental image they have previously conceived of one, one is judged to be no master at all. Nor are these the only reasons for such a failure. Equally important is the fact that such a meeting, or the period immediately following it, becomes the signal for opposition by adverse force. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

Image Evil spirits may find their opportunity just then to lead one astray, mischievous ones may try to bewilder one’s mind, or lying ones may give untrue suggestions to one. One’s own weaknesses of character and faultiness of judgement may become greatly magnified and foist an absurdly wrong estimate of the master upon one. One may even feel personal antagonism toward the master. All this is of course a test for one. If one thinks one is judging whether this person is fit to be one’s master, life in its turn is judging whether one is fit to have such a master. Here then are some of the answers to the question, “Why, if we concede that the adepts have a right to hide from the multitude, do they also seem to hide from the earnest seeking few?” The adepts are confident that those individuals who are really ready for them will meet them when the right time comes. They know that this will happen not only under the direct working of karma, not only under the impulsions of the seeker’s own higher self, but also under the wise laws which govern the quest itself. These are high and hard truths. However, they are the realities of life, not dreams for those who like to be self-deluded. Whoever rejects them for such a reason does so at the risk of being harshly shocked into awakening one day. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

ImageThey approach such a being with a kind of awe, if not reverence. It may or may not be justifiable: that depends first, one the being’s quality and second, on one’s mood. It needs clear eyes to see the truth about these spiritual teachers, eyes such as both their ardent followers and intolerant critics do not possess. Most people are simply not competent to select a guru properly; they are too governed by outer appearances, physical impression, and emotional reactions. An attitude is an expectation, and enduring selectivity in central action which, because of its enduring quality, can steer the organism in directions which experiences have determined to be in the animal’s interest. There is central reinforcement of sensory processes: It seems that there can be no explanation of learning and problem-solving in any mammal without reference to the persisting central neural influence that sustains activity in one particular direction. Even in a bird, learning continually shows this selective responsiveness to one aspect or part of the environment. In higher forms, where expectancy has been most clearly demonstrated, it seems often to be organized by an expectancy of a particular reward or goal. This is clearly not sensory but a conceptual process (to which, however, sensation must continually contribute). #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

ImagePersisting central neural influence well defines what attention is. Established conceptual structure can, through reverberation, cause certain messages to have particular impact, more than others: the attention has been directed. Central organization can be so strong that we attend only to what we expect to see—we do not attend to what we do not expect to see. There is something wrong with the three statements: Paris in the the Spring, Once in a a lifetime, Bird in the the hand. (The puzzled reader is requested to read the statements aloud.) Incidentally this is a good example of not seeing something which is there to see, without there being any repression—a point which will become important soon. In the higher animals, expectancy = meaning, and meaning can refer to the process by which an enduring structure causes us to expect and search for (that is give our attention to) particular events in otherwise ambiguous stimulus situations. In identifying triangles for the purpose of counting them, we have to focus on lines which but a moment ago we had to ignore. We have to stop the eye from travelling more than halfway along lines which but a moment ago the eye pursued to the end. Lines can be organized into figures in one way, or in another way, or not at all. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

ImageWe may draw the conclusion that something in us creates the perception of triangles out of what is not immediately apparent as a collection of triangles, or, to put this in different language, that something in us makes concepts apparent to us where these are not immediately obvious; and that we select, search for, attend to certain things we have set ourselves to pay attention to. The exercise also helps us to realize how much percepts and concepts slip and slide into one another. Another exercise is to look at a box divided into triangles: can the reader see the letter X? The letters E? N? Z? How many other letters can the reader see in the figure? If we think of each letter as a different concept, we can see that concepts are loess tidy, less clearly bounded, less neatly separable from each other, more overlapping, more blurry, then the inner objects and relationships are. This will also become very important later in our narrative. One more example, to demonstrate just how powerful the steering, directing, and motivating aspect of central functioning can be. Reversible figures can often show two different pictures in one image, depending on what the audience focuses on. To make the meaning change from the one to the others, we make ourselves attend to (focus on) a bit of the picture which we know to belong to the meaning we want to evoke—this activates a system of associated structures and the whole reverses itself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

ImageNo wonder that this propensity of the human mind is used to systematize tests for differences in personality or mood. The subject is presented with simple pictures or inkblots and required to make up stories about them. The stimulus materials tend to be interpreted differently by different individuals and thus reflect their learning history, personality traits, and emotional preoccupations. In short the responses given by the subject reveal the sets [id est attitudes] one has built up during one’s life history, and the influences these have on one’s present perceptions. Under the heading of words like “values,” “interests,” and “expectancies,” we encounter the influences of set upon selective perceiving. This is not exactly the way psycho-analytically minded people tend to approach a person’s reactions. They rend on the whole to think of symbols as acquired through a process of internalization. To this we will return to at a later time. We have constructed a perceptual and conceptual apparatus which can direct behaviour. We must now look more closely at the directing process. Values, interest, and expectancies point the way—we must look for yet higher levels of organization and yet more central functions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

ImageWhen rules about how to feel and how to express feelings are set by management, when workers have weaker rights to courtesy than customers do, when deep and surface acting are forms of labour to be sold, and when private capacities for empathy are warmth are put to corporate uses, what happens to the way a person relates to one’s feelings or to one’s face? “If they could have turned every one of us into sweet quiet Southern Belles with velvet voices like Rosalyn Carter, this is what they would want to stamp out on an assembly line. Our smiles are not just painted on. So smile your way,” reports Reese Witherspoon. “When you see them receiving fans with that big smile, I do not think it means anything. They have to do that. It is part of their job. But now if you get into a conversation with a celebrity….well…no…I guess they have to do that too,” reports Paul Brunton. When worked-up warmth becomes an instrument of service work, what can a person learn about oneself from one’s feelings? And when a worker abandons one’s work smile, what kind of bond remains between one’s smile and oneself? Display is what is sold, but over the long run display comes to assume a certain relation to feeling. As enlightened management realizes, a separation of display and feeling is hard to keep over long periods. A principle of emotive dissonance, analogous to the principle of cognitive dissonance, is at work. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

ImageMaintaining a difference between feeling and feigning over the long run leads to strain. We try to reduce this strain by pulling the two closer together either by changing what we feel or by changing what we feign. When display is required by the job, it is usually feeling that has to chance; and when conditions estrange us from our face, they sometimes estrange us from feeling as well. Take the case of major movie stars. Corporate logic in Hollywood and streaming services creates a series of links between competition, market expansion, advertising, heightened audience expectations about rights to display, and company demands for acting. When conditions allow this logic to work, the result is a successful transmutation of the private emotional exchange–feeling rules, surface acting, and deep acting—are now arranged in a different way. If moves from stage to movie screen (act as if the movie screen were your own living room) as does the actress or actor’s use of emotion memory. Private use gives way to corporate use. In the movie industry of the 1950s and 1960w, a remarkable transmutation was achieved. However, certain trends, we will discuss later, led this transmutation to fail in the early 1970s. An industry speed-up and a stronger union hand in limiting the company’s claims weakened the transmutation. There was a celebrity slow down. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

ImageWorked-up warmth of feeling was replaced by put-on smiles. Those who sincerely wanted to make the deeper offering found they could not do so, and those who all along had resisted company intrusions of the self, came to feel some rights to freedom from it. The lost of truly Hollywood glam caused a loss of profits and prestige. When the transmutation succeeded, the celebrity was asked to take pride in making an instrument of feeling. When it collapsed, celebrities came to see that instrument as overused, underappreciated, and susceptible to damage. When a person has attained a stage of perfection one may truly rest, for Nature has achieved her task in one. Yet, if one chooses the path of self-actualization one must henceforth work harder than ever before! For one must now work incessantly through repeated rebirths for the enlightenment of others. Whether or not a person will serve humanity after one attains self-realization is not an attitude one can completely decide upon or predetermine before one attains it. For the matter is then surely taken out of one’s hands altogether. The question whether one shall share one’s knowledge with others or withhold it from them, will not be a real one to one. Its answer was settled long before, by destiny, by one’s character, by one’s past, by the World-idea. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

ImageHelping others to attain what one has attained, guiding seekers to reach safely the glorious summit where one now stands, is not decided for one by personal temperament or choice but by the overpowering sense of a primary and paramount duty. For within you is the light of the World—the only light that can be shed upon the Path.  If you are unable to perceive it within you, it is useless to look for it elsewhere. It is beyond you; because when you reach it you have lost yourself. It is unattainable because it forever recedes. You will enter the light but you will never touch the Sun. Do not desert the great orphan Humanity. Remain here and help others reach that threshold. Thus by one’s altruistic activity, deep and meaningful prayers, and intellectual penetration one continuously earns a title to that utter absorption of one’s ego in the unutterable Absolute which is Heaven, but by one’s continuous self-giving for suffering humankind one never actually attains this goal. This extraordinary situation may be represented mathematically by the asymptote—a line which is drawn on a graph to approach nearer and nearer to a given curve but which never actually touches it within a finite distance. Only a person who feels with and for fellow creatures will dare to make such a tremendous sacrifice of the supreme peace which one has won. How much more generous, how nobly grander is this example of ever-active altruistic service than that of ever-idle prayerful reclusiveness! #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

ImageAll are to be judged by the theological norm. No statement in any source is infallible. No council or pope or biblical excerpt is, as such, a standard. Yet all are sources insofar as they speak of the New Being in Jesus as the Christ. The biblical message would not have become a message for anyone, including the theologian oneself, without the experiencing participation of the Church and of every Christian. In this sense, tradition is valuable, though by no means normative in its own right. Like the Bible itself, it may be the occasion for perceiving the theological norm, whatever the power of the New Being is sensed in it. This follows logically from the nature of the theological norm. Catholic theology would consider traditional elements as normative only insofar as they share in the power of the New Being. However, no theologian would rely on oneself alone to discern that power; one would trust the collectivity of the faithful appeal to the totality of Christian experience. At the very heart of adoration is contemplation. Numerous Psalms call us to contemplate God as seen in His creation. They never suggest that God is in His creation, but that His excellencies can be seen in His created works. The glory of God, is visible though the visual medium of a great thunder and lightning storm. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

ImagePsalm 19 begins with these majestic words: “The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge,” repots vv.1, 2. Listen to God speak through his macrocosm, says the Psalmist! Celebrate God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence in the microcosm of the human mind and body. Nature radiates and breathes the glory of God. If we take notice, the very trees do this. Have you seen your backyard tree for what it is: full of light, each cell shining with light, so bright they take your breath away, and opens up your heart to the wonder of God. Hebrews 10.10, 14 helps us see this objective aspect of sanctification—the holiness we have in Christ alone. Verse 10 reports, “And by that will [of God], we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Not that we have been made holy. This speaks of a completed work. The emphasis here is on the holiness we have in Christ through His once-for-all sacrifice. Verse 14, on the other hand, reports, “By one sacrifice He [Christ] has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” This verse mentions being made holy—the work of the Holy Spirit in progressive sanctification. However, this verse also refers to our completed, objective sanctification in Christ when it speaks of those He has made perfect forever. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

ImageSo, in one aspect of sanctification you are already holy because Christ’s holiness is imputed to you. You have been made perfect forever. In another aspect, you are being made holy day by day through the work of the Holy Spirit imparting Christ’s life to you. You have been made perfect forever. In another aspect, you are being made holy day by day though the work of the Holy Spirit imparting Christ’s life to you. Holiness should be an objective for your daily life. However, to live by grace, you must never, never look to the work of the Holy Spirit in you as the basis for your relationship with God. You must always look outside of yourself to Christ. You will never be holy enough through your own effect to come before God. You are holy enough through your own efforts to come before God. You are holy only through Christ. Two parallel passages in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians should encourage all of us: “For Christ chose us in Him before the creation of the World to be holy and blameless in his sight,” reports Ephesians 1.4. And, “However now one has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation,” reports Colossians 1.22. The vision of life in the kingdom through reliance upon Jesus makes it possible for us to intend to live in the kingdom as He did. We can actually decide to do it. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

ImageOf course living in the kingdom of Heaven means first of all to trust Christ, rely on him, to count on Him being the Anointed One, the Christ. It is through Him that the revelation and the gift of the kingdom come to us individually. If we do not count on Christ as “the One,” we will have no adequate vision of the kingdom or of life therein and no way to enter it. He is key to open the doors of Heaven; he is the way to the right path. Fins another whoever can. Consentingly, we intend to live in the kingdom of God by intending to obey the precise example and teaching of Jesus. This is the form that trust in him takes. It does not take the form of merely believing things about Him, however true they may be. Indeed, no one can actually believe the truth about Christ without trusting Him by intending to obey Him. It is a mental impossibility. To think otherwise is to indulge a widespread illusion that now smothers spiritual formation in Christlikeness among professing Christians and prevents it from naturally spreading Worldwide. If only Christains would live according to their belief in the teaching of Jesus, we all would become Christians. We know what this means, but the dismaying truth is that the Christians are living according to their belief in the teachings of Jesus. And clearly many of them do not believe him! #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

ImageMoreover, knowing the right answers—knowing which ones they are, being able to identify them—does not mean we believe them. To believe them, like believing anything else, means that we are set to act as if they (the right answers) are true and that we will do so in appropriate circumstances. And acting as if the right answers are true means, in turn, that we intend to obey the example and teachings of Jesus the Anointed. If we believed Christ is who His people through the ages have declared Him to be, what else would be intend? Perhaps the hardest things for sincere Christians to come to grips with is the level of real unbelief in their own life: the unformulated skepticism about Jesus that permeates all dimensions of their being and undermines what efforts they do make toward Christlikeness. The idea that you can trust Christ and not intend to obey Him is an illusion generated by the prevalence of an unbelieving “Christian culture.” In fact, you can no more trust Jesus and not intend to obey hum than you could trust your doctor and your auto science engineer and not intend to follow their advice. If you do not intend to follow their advice, you simply do not trust them. Period. (Of course in this case you might well have good reason.) Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come up to the ears of Thy gracious mercy; do not cut us off in the midst of our days, but grant us, as those who make for a well-known goal, to finish our course of holy living; and by a hearty pursuit of sanctification in the few days of our present life, to win the eternal kingdom of glory. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

ImageO God the Father, of Heaven; have mercy upon the soul of Thy servant. “Nevertheless I went forth, and as I came near unto the house of Laban I a man, and he had fallen to the Earth before me, for he was drunken with wine. And when I came to him I found that it was Laban. And I behold his sword, and I drew it forth from the sheath thereof; and the hilt therefore was of pure gold, and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine, and I saw that the blade thereof was the most precious steel. And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should end the life of Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shruck and would that I might not slay him. And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property. And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands. Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bright forth his righteous purposes. It is better than one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief. And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the word of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

Image“Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have law. And I also knew that the law was engrave upon the plates of brass. And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments. Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword. And after I had smitten off his head with his own sword, I took the garments of Laban and out them upon mine own body; yes, even every whit; and I did gird on his armour about my loins. And after I had done this, I went forth unto the treasury of Laban. And as I went forth towards the treasury of Laban, behold, I saw the servant of Laban who had the keys of the treasury. And I commanded him in the voice of Laban, that he should go with me into the treasury. And he supposed me to be his master, Laban, for he hold the garments and also the sword girded about my loins. And he spake unto me concerning the elders of the Jews, he knowing that his master Laban, had been out by night among them. And I spake unto him as if it had been laban. And I also spake unto him that I should carry the engravings, which were upon the plates of brass, to my elder brethren, who were without walls. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

Image“And I also bade him that he should follow me. And he, supposing that I spake of the brethren of the church, and I was truly that Laban whom I had slain, wherefore he did follow me. And he spake unto me many times concerning the elders of the Jews, as I went forth unto my brethren, who were without the walls. And it came to pass that when Laman saw me he was exceedingly frightened, and also Lemuel and Sam. And they fled from before my presence; for they supposed it was Laban, and that he had slain me and had sought to take away their lives also. And it came to pass that I called after them, and they did hear me; wherefore they did cease to flee from my presence. And it came to pass that when the servant of Lagan beheld my brethren he began to tremble, and was about to flee from before me and return to the city of Jerusalem,” reports 1 Nephi 3.7-31. Holy Lord, how little repentance there is in the World, and how many sins I have to repent of! I am troubled for my sin of passion, for the shame and horror of it as an evil; I purpose to give way to it no more, and come to thee for strength to that end. Most people give vent to anger frequently and are overcome by it, bringing many excuses and extenuations for it, as that it occurs suddenly, that they delight not in it, that they are sorry afterwards, that Godly people commit it. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

ImageThey thus seek peace after outburst of passion by entre forgetfulness of it, or, by skinning over their wound, they hope for healing without peace in Christ’s blood. Lord God, I know that my sudden anger arises when things cross me, and I desire to please only myself, not Christ; there is in all wrongs and crosses a double cross—that which crosses thee; in all good things there is somewhat that pleases me; somewhat the pleases thee; my sin is that my heart is pleased or troubled as things please or trouble me, without my having a regard to Christ; thus, I am like  Eli, the subject of punishment for not rebuking sin; whereas I should humbly confess my sin and fly to the blood of Christ for pardon and peace. Give me, then, repentance, true brokenness, lasting contrition, for these things Thou wilt not despise in spite of my sin. To give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek  for rest; to labour and not ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do Thy will. Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. Love and time—those are the only two things in all the World and all of life that cannot be bought, but only spent. The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in 5 words: “I did not have time.” #RandolphHarris 21 of 21Image

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Mills Station at Cresleigh Ranch | Residence 2

ImageVaulted ceilings and loft space await you at #MillsStation Residence 2! We especially love how open the great room is with all that light. 😍

ImageLooking to make a move? Our sales offices are open by appointment only, but model homes are available for viewing. Head to our website to find contact info for each community. Link in bio! https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-2/

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I Might Have Been a Gold-Fish in a Glass Bowl for All the Privacy I Got!

ImageSilences regulate the flow of listening and talking. They are to conversation what zeroes are to mathematics—crucial nothings without which communication cannot work. It would seem that the human soul is not something subsistent. For that which subsists is said to be “this particular thing.” Now “this particular thing” is said not of the soul, but of what which is composed of soul and body. Therefore the soul is not something subsistent. Further, everything subsistent operates. However, the soul does not operate; for, as the Philosopher says, to say that the soul feels or understands is like saying that the soul weaves or builds. Therefore the soul is not subsistent. Further, if the soul were subsistent, it would have some operation apart from the body. However, it has no operation apart from the body, not even that of understanding: for the act of understanding does not take place without a phantasm, which cannot exist apart from the body. Therefore the human soul is not something subsistent. On the contrary, who understands that the nature of the soul is that of a substance and not that of a body, will see that those who maintain the corporeal nature of the soul, are led astray through associating with the soul those things without which they are unable to think of any nature—Id est imaginary pictures of corporeal things. Therefore the nature of the human intellect is not only incorporeal, but it is also a substance, that is, something subsistent. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

ImageI answer that, It must necessarily be allowed that the principle of intellectual operation which we call the soul, is a principle both incorporeal and subsistent. For it is clear that by means of the intellect humans can have knowledge of all corporeal things. Now whatever knows certain things cannot have any of them in its own nature; because that which is in it naturally would impede the knowledge of anything else. Thus we observe that a sick person’s tongue being vitiated by a feverish and bitter humour, is insensible to anything sweet, and everything seems bitter to it. Therefore, if the intellectual principle contained the nature of a body it would be unable to know all bodies. Now every body has its own determinate nature. Therefore it is impossible for the intellectual principle to be a body. It is likewise impossible for it to understand by means of a bodily organ; since the determinate nature or that organ would impede knowledge of all bodies; as when a certain determinate color is not only in the pupil of the eye, but also in a glass vase, the liquid in the vase seems to be of that same colour. Therefore the intellectual principle which we call the mind or the intellect has an operation per se apart from the body. Now only that which subsists can have an operation per se. For nothing can operate but what is actual: for which reason we do not say that heat imparts, but that what is hot gives heat. We must conclude, therefore, that the human soul, which is called the intellect or the mind, is something incorporeal and subsistent. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

Image“This particular thing” can be take in two senses. Firstly, for anything subsistent; secondly, for that which subsists, and is complete in a specific nature. The former sense excludes the inherence of an accident or of a material form; the latter excludes also the imperfection of the part, so that a hand can be called “this particular thing” in the first sense, but not in the second. Therefore, as the human soul is part of a human nature, it can indeed be called “this particular thing,” in the first sense, as being something subsistent; but not in the second, for in this sense, what is composed of body and soul is said to be “this particular thing.” Aristotle wrote those words as expressing not his own opinion, but the opinion of those who said that to understand is to be moved, as is clear from the context. Or we may reply that to operate per se belongs to what exists per se. However, for a thing to exist per se, it suffices sometimes that it be not inherent, as an accident or a material form; even though it be part of something. Nevertheless, that is rightly said to subsist per se, which is neither inherent in the above sense, nor part of anything else. In this sense, the eye or the hand cannot be said to subsist per se; nor can it for that reason be said to operate per se. Hence the operation of the parts is through each part attributed to the whole. For we say that people see with the eye, and feel with the hand, and no in the same sense as when we say that what is hot gives heat by its heat; for heat, strictly speaking does not give heat. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

ImageWe may therefore say that the soul understands, as the eye sees; but it is more correct to say that humans understand through the soul. The body is necessary for the action of the intellect, not as its origin of action, but on the part of the object; for the phantasm is to the intellect what colour is to the sight. Neither does such a dependence on the body prove the intellect to be non-subsistent; otherwise it would follow that an animal is non-subsistent, since it requires external objects of the sense in order to perform its act of perception. Memory, first of all, the power of recording and storing whatever it receives. It receives he product of the senses, the understanding and reason, and the imagination. The memory is explicit to the relationship to the senses. The external senses respond to objects external to their organs; thus a sensory impression is made. Each response is to an individual object and each impression is an individual one. The sense, which is the door of the intellect, is affected by individuals only. Such impressions are images of objects. We shall call them sense images, to distinguish them from the work of the imagination. As pictures and shapes, they are secondary objects. Pictures and shapes are bot secondary objects, and please or displease but in memory. Sense images are stored in the memory, for the images of those individuals—that is, the impressions they make on the sense—fix themselves in the memory, and pass into it the first instance entire as it were, just as they come. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

ImageMemory also collects the affective aspects of experience; indeed, if we follow this hint, memory may contribute from its larger and deep storehouse a scale of qualities marked by the pleasant at one end and unpleasant at the other. Memory received and preserved the work of the intellect and the imagination, as well as the work of the sense. We, however, almost ignore this function of memory, for we assume what our contemporaries do, namely, that unless the human mechanism could retain intellectual experience could not function in ways that were distinctly human. We must recognize memory among four intellectual arts. The other three are invention, disposition, and transmission or communication. Memory preserves their work. With the principles and rules of an art as our anchoring point, we focus more about improving the memory than we do about its operations. Our help for retention and recall recognize the difficulty of remembering abstract conceptions. The visual device of “Emblem,” for example, helps memory to cope with “intellectual conceptions.” Undoubtedly memory appears to be a kind of experience; indeed to us it is the record of experience. The relationship between human’s experience and their recording of it seems to be our justification for trying together memory and history. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

ImageThe subject matter of history is properly concerned with individuals, which are circumscribed by place and time. Such material related to the memory. When the mind rehearses what is retained in the memory, it is thinking historically because it is dealing with experience. I consider history and experience to be the sane thing. History is concerned, also, with things that have happened rather than with things that are happening or may happen. This fact helps to set off history from prophecy. Accordingly, if experience per se always implies a time reference to the past, memory includes all experience with the record of the past stamped upon it. The Divine Presence is spiritual. It penetrates the inner most parts of our own spirits. Our entire inner life, our thoughts and desires, our feelings and imaginations, are known to God. The final way of escape, the most intimate of all places, is held by God. That fact is the hardest of all to accept. The human resistance against such relentless observation can scarcely be broken. Every psychiatrist and confessor is familiar with the tremendous force of resistance in each personality against even trifling self-revelations. Nobody wants to be known, even when one realizes that one’s health and salvation depend upon such a knowledge. We do not even wish to be known by ourselves. We try to hide the depth of our souls from our own eyes. We refuse to be our own witness. How then can we stand the mirror in which nothing can be hidden? #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

ImageIs the Ugliest Man right? The Ugliest Man is a symbol of the ugliness in each one of us, and the symbol of our will to hide at least something from God and from ourselves. “Once, books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to be different. The World was roomy. But then the World got full of eyes and elbows and mouths. Double, triple, quadruple population. Films and radios, magazines, books leveled down to a sort of paste pudding norm, do you follow me? School is shorted, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work. Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts? We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man (human) the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the short from the weapon. Breach man’s mind. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man? You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we cannot have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, What do we want in this country, above all? #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

Image“People want to be happy, is that not right? Have you not heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, are they not? Do we not keep them from moving, do we not give them fun? That is all we live for, is it not? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these,” (Pages 51, 53, 55, and 56 of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury). The Ugliest Man seems to be right, when we consider the support he receives from saints, theologians, and reformers. Martin Luther was as strongly grasped as the psalmist by the penetrating Presence of God. He stated that in every creature God is deeper, more internal, and more present than the creature is to himself, and that God embraces all things, is within all things. However, this most intimate Presence of God created the same feeling in Luther that it did in Nietzsche. He desired that God not be God. “I did not love God. I hated the just God…and was indignant towards Him, if not in wicked revolt, at least in silent blasphemy.” Following St. Bernard, the great master of religious self-observation, he continued, “We cannot love God, and therefore we cannot will Him to exist. We cannot want Him to be most wise…and most powerful.” When he recognized this hatred for God within himself, Luther was terribly shocked. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

ImageLuther was not able to escape as shrewdly as his theological masters, who recommended that he not think constantly of the searching Presence of God, and thus avoid the blasphemy of hating God. Luther knew that with the psalmist that no escape is possible. “Thou art behind and before me, and on every side of me, laying Thy Hand upon me.” God stands on each side of us, before and behind us. There is no way out. The pious man of the Old Testament, the mystical saint of the Middle Ages, the reformer of the Christian Church, and the prophet of atheism are all untied through that tremendous human experience: humans cannot stand the God Who is really God. Humans try to escape God, and hates Him, because they cannot escape Him. The protest against God, the will that there be no God, and the flight to atheism are all genuine elements of profound religion. And only on the basis of these elements has religion meaning and power. “All of them running about, putting out the stars and extinguishing the Sun. You come away lost, (page 59 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury). Christian theology and religious instruction speak of the Divine Omnipresence, which is the doctrine that God is everywhere, and of the Divine Omniscience, which is the doctrine that God knows everything. It is difficult to avoid such concepts in religious thought and education. However, they are at least as dangerous as they are useful. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

ImageThese doctrines make us picture God as a thing with superhuman qualities, omnipresent like an electric power field, and omniscient like a superhuman brain. Such concepts as “Divine Omnipresence” and “Divine Omniscience” transform an overwhelming religious experience into an abstract, philosophical statement, which can be accepted and rejected, defined, redefined, and replaced. In making God an object besides other objects, the existence and nature of which are matters of argument, theology supports the escape to atheism. It encourages those who are interested in denying the threatening Witness of their existence. The first step to atheism is always a theology which drags God down to the level of doubtful things. “Is it because we are having so much fun at home we have forgotten the World? Is it because we are so rich and the rest of the World is so poor and we just do not care if they are? I have heard rumors; the World is starving, but we are well fed. Is that why we are hated so much? I have heard the rumors about hate, too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I do not, that is sure. Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes!” (page 70 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury). The game of the atheist is then very easy. For one is perfectly justified in destroying such a phantom and all its ghostly qualities. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

ImageAnd because the theoretical atheist is just in one’s destruction, the practical atheist (all of us) are willing to use their argument to support our own attempt to flee God. Let us therefore forget these concepts, as concepts, and try to find their genuine meaning within our own experience. We all know that we cannot separate ourselves at any time from the World to which we belong. There is no ultimate privacy or final isolation. We are always held and comprehended by something that is greater than we are, that has a claim upon us, and that demands response from us. The most intimate motions within the depths of our souls are not completely our own. For they belong also to friends, to humankind, to the Universe, and to the Ground of all being, the aim of our life. Nothing can be hidden ultimately. It is always reflected in the mirror in which nothing can be concealed. Does anybody really believe that one’s most secret thoughts and desires are not manifest in the whole of being, or that the events within the darkness of one’s subconscious or in the isolation of one’s consciousness do not produce eternal repercussions? Does anybody really believe that one can escape from the responsibility for what one has done and thought in secret? “Guy’s surprise tonight is to read you one sample to show how mixed up things were, so none of us will ever have to bother our little old heads about that junk again, is that not right, darling?” (page 95 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury). #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

ImageOmniscience means that our mystery is manifest. Omnipresence means that our privacy is public. The centre of our whole being is involved in the centre of all being; and the centre of all being rests in the centre of our being. I do not believe that any serious person can deny that experience, no matter how one may express it. And if one has had the experience, one has also met something within one that makes one desire to escape the consequences of it. For humans are not equal to their own experience; one attempts to forget it; and one knows that one cannot forget it. “But remember that the Captain belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom, the solid unmoving cattle of the majority. Oh, God, the terrible tyranny of the majority. We all have our harps to play. And it is up to you now to know with which ear you will listen,” (Page 104 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury). Is there a release from that tension? It is possible to overcome the hatred for God and the will that there be no God, that there be no humans? Is there a way to triumph over our shame before the perpetual Witness and over the despair which is the burden of our inescapable responsibility? Nietzsche offers a solution which shows the utter impossibility of atheism. The Ugliest Man, the terminator of God, subjects himself to Zarathustra, because Zarathustra has recognized him, and looked into his depth with divine understanding. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

ImageThe terminator of God finds God in humans. One has not succeeded in terminating God at all. God has returned in Zarathustra, and in the new period of history which Zarathustra announces. God is always revived in something or somebody; He cannot be murdered. The story of every atheism is the same. Probably the worst drawback is the ensuing alienation from the self. We cannot suppress or eliminate essential parts of ourselves without becoming estranged from ourselves. It is one of those changes gradually produced by neurotic process that despite their fundamental nature come about unobserved. The person simply becomes oblivious to what one really feels, likes, rejects, believes—in short, to what one really is. Without knowing it one may life the life of one’s image. Of course it is not possible to behave so without being inextricably caught in a web of paths and alleys of dusty tracks that link back together, and are loaded with unconscious pretense and rationalization, which makes for precarious living. The person loses interest in life because it is not one who lives it; one cannot make decision because one does not know what one really wants; if difficulties mount, one may be pervaded by a sense of unreality—an accentuated expression of one’s permanent condition of being unreal to oneself. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

ImageTo understand such a state, we must realize that a veil of unreality shrouding the inner World is bound to extended to be extended to the outer. A patient recently epitomized the whole situation by saying: “If it were not reality, I would be quite all right.” Finally, although the idealized image is created to remove the basic conflict and in a limited way succeeds in doing so, it generates at the same time a new rift in the personality almost more dangerous than the original one. Roughly speaking, a person builds up an idealized image of oneself because one cannot tolerate oneself as one actually is. The image apparently counteracts this calamity; but having placed oneself on a pedestal, one can tolerate one’s real self still less and starts to rage against it, to despise oneself and to chafe under the yoke of one’s own unattainable demands upon oneself. One wavers then between self-adoration and self-contempt, between one’s idealized image and one’s despised image, with no solid middle ground to fall back on. While understanding that confession should happen spontaneously, our discipline of devotion ought to involve systematic confession as well. First, we must confess what we are, the ontological reality that we are truly sinners. Romans 3.9-20 is the text I have found most helpful on this point, for it repeatedly affirms that we are sinners—that, in fact, our entire being is tainted with evil. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

ImageIt is most important that we regularly make this confession that we are sinners because, as regenerate people who are making some progress in spiritual growth, it is sinfully natural to falsely suppose we are rising above our condition—a delusion which testifies to our very depravity. Second, we must confess our specific sins. I would suggest making a list of our sins, for the act of writing them out helps materialize this personal reality for us. We must lay before God what is in us, not what ought to be within us. This done, we should confess each sin by its ugly name, and then thank God for His forgiveness through the blood of His Son. The importance of confession for the devotional life cannot be overstated. “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened,” reports Psalm 66.18; cf. Proverbs 28.13. Unconfessed sin makes the Heavens seem like brass. However, confession not only opens the Heavens, it also enhances out intimacy with God. Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart to a dear friend. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation; they do not weigh their words, because there is nothing to be kept back. Neither do they seek for something to say; they talk out of the abundance of their heart—without consideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

ImageThe vision that underlies spiritual transformation into Christlikeness is, then, the vision of life now and forever in the range of God’s effective will—that is, partaking of divine nature (2 Peter 1.4; 1 John 3.1-2) through a birth “from above” and participating by our actions in what God is doing now in our lifetime on Earth. Thus, “whatever we do, speaking or acting, doing all on behalf of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father,” reports Colossians 3.17. In everything we are permitted to do His work. What we are aiming for in his vision is to live fully in the kingdom of God and as fully as possible now and here, not just hereafter. This is a vision of life that cannot come to us naturally, though the human soul-depths automatically cry out for something like it; and from time to time our deepest thinkers, visionaries, and artists capture aspects of it. It is a vision that has to be given to humanity by God Himself, in a revelation suited to our condition. We cannot clearly see it on our own. And that revelation has been given through His covenant people on Earth with the fullest flowering of the covenant people being Jesus Himself. Jesus was prepared for through centuries of rich and productive—though often painful—experience and thought among the people; through him people have fulfilled their God-given responsibility and blessing of being a light to all the peoples of the Earth. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

ImageThrough God, indeed, all the nations of the Earth are and continue to be blessed and will be even more blessed in the future. “It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption,” reports 1 Corinthians 1.30. In other words, it is God Himself who chose us to be in Christ. However, the truth I want to call attention to in the passage is that Christ Jesus has become our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. That Christ is our righteousness is an accepted and well-understood truth and the basis for our justification. However, Christ is also our holiness. This fact is not as well understood. All Christians look to Christ alone for their justification, but not nearly as many also look to Him for their perfect holiness before God. The blessed truth, though, is that all believers are sanctified in Christ, even as we are justified in Christ. In ourselves, apart from Christ, we are both guilty and filthy. We are guilty of breaking God’s law, and we are filthy in God’s sight because of the vie, polluting effects of sin. We need both forgiveness from our guilt and cleansing from our filth. Through justification we are forgiven and are declared righteous in the courtroom of God’s justice. Through the perfect holiness we have in Christ, our moral filth is removed, and we become fit to enter the very presence of an infinitely holy God and enjoy fellowship with Him. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

ImageLet us face the fact, acknowledging human’s limitations, and cease bluffing ourselves or permitting ourselves to be bluffed by the self-styled Masters is the only way to our salvation. “And it came to pass that Laman was angry with me, and also with my father; and also was Lemuel, for he hearkened unto the words of Laman. Wherefore Laman and Lemuel did speak many hard words unto us, their younger brothers, and they did smite us even with a rod. And it came to pass as they smote us with a rob, behold, an Angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands. And after the Angel had spoken to unto us, he departed. And after the Angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?” reports 1 Nephi 3.28-31. O God, Who hast willed that the gate of mercy should stand open to the faithful; look on us, and have mercy upon us; that we who by Thy grace are following the path of Thy will, may never turn aside from the ways of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

ImageMerciful Lord, pardon all my sins of this day, week, year, all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle, and advanced years, of omission and commission, of morose, peevish and angry tempers, of lip, life and walk, of hard-heartedness, unbelief, presumption, pride, of unfaithfulness to the souls of humans, of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ, of deficiency in outspoken seal for His glory, of brining dishonor upon Thy great name, of deception, injustice, untruthfulness in my dealings with others, of impurity in thought, word and deed, of covetousness, which is idolatry, of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered, not consecrated to the glory of thee, the great giver; sins in private and in the family, in study and recreation, in the busy haunts of humans, in the study of Thy word and in the neglect of it, in prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld, in time misspent, in yielding to Satan’s wiles, in opening my heart to his temptations, in being unwatchful when I know Him nigh in quenching the Holy Spirit; sins against light and knowledge, against conscience and the restraints of Thy Spirit, against the law of eternal love. Pardon all my sins, known and unknown, felt and unfelt, confessed and not confessed, remembered or forgotten. Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19Image

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Brighton Station at Cresleigh Ranch | Residence 3

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BrightonStation Residence 3 is gorgeous, spacious, and your next home! This home has three different elevations and is 2,757 square feet.  😉 We especially love the open floor plan allowing for easy entertaining. 🙌 What’s your favorite feature? Comment below!

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When He Had Opened the Seventh Seal, there Was Silence in Heaven About the Space of Half an Hour!

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Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of balances that are liable to change suddenly, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act. People love to talk but hate to listen. Listening is not merely not talking, though even that is beyond most of our powers; it means taking a vigorous, human interest in what is being told us. One can listen like a brick wall or like a splendid auditorium where every sound comes back fuller and richer. The greatest git one can give another is the purity of one’s attention. It would seem that the soul is a body. For the soul is the moving principle of the body. Nor does it move unless it is moved. First, because seemingly nothing can move unless it is itself moved, since nothing gives what it has not; for instance, what is not hot does not give heat. Secondly, because if there by anything that moves and is not moved, it must be the cause of eternal, unchanging movement; and this does not appear to be the case in the movement of an animal, which is caused by the soul. Therefore the soul is a mover moved. However, every mover moved is a body. Therefore the soul is a body. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

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Further, all knowledge is caused by means of a likeness. However, there can be no likeness of a body to an incorporeal thing. If, therefore, the soul were not a body, it could not have knowledge of corporeal things. Further, between the mover and the moved there must be contact. However, contact is only between bodies. Since, therefore, the soul moves the body, it seems that the soul must be a body. On the contrary, the soul is simple in comparison with the body, in as much as it does not occupy space by its bulk. To seek the nature of the soul, we must premise that the soul is defined as the first principle of life of those things which live: for we call living things “animate,” [is est having a soul] and those things which have no life, “inanimate.” Now life is shown principally by two actions, knowledge and movement. The philosophers of old, not being able to rise above their imagination, supposed that the principle of these actions was something corporeal: for they asserted that only bodies were real things; and that what is not corporeal is nothing: hence they maintained that the soul is something corporeal. This opinion can be proved to be false in many ways; but we shall make use of only one proof, based on universal and certain principles, which shows clearly that the soul is not a body. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

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It is manifest that not every principle of vital action is a soul, for then the eye would be a soul, as it is a principle of vision; and the same might be applied to the other instruments of the soul; but it is the first principle of life, which we call the soul. Now, though a body maybe a principle of life, as the heart is a principle of life in an animal, yet nothing corporeal can be the first principle of life. For it is clear that to be a principle of life, or to be a living thing, does not belong to a body as such; since, if that were the case, every body would be a living thing, or a principle of life. Therefore a body is competent to be a living thing or even a principle of life, as “such” a body. Now that it is actually such a body, it owes to some principle which is called its act. Therefore the soul, which is the first principle of life, is not a body, but the act of a body; thus heat, which is the principle of calefaction, is not a body, but an act of a body. As everything which is in motion must be moved by something else, a process which cannot be prolonged indefinitely, we must allow that not every mover is moved. For, since to be moved is to pass from potentiality to actuality, the mover gives what it has to the thing moved, inasmuch as it cases it to be in act. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

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However, there is such a mover which is altogether immovable, and not moved either essentially, or accidentally; and such a mover can cause an invariable movement. There is, however, another kind of mover, which, though not moved essentially, is moved accidentally; and for this reason it does not cause invariable movement; such a mover, is the soul. There is, again, another mover, which is moved essentially—namely, the body. And because the philosophers of the old believed that nothing existed but bodies, they maintained that every mover is moved; and that the soul is moved directly, and is a body. The likeness of a thing known is not necessity actually in nature of the knower; but given a thing which knows potentially, and afterwards knows actually, the likeness of the thing known must be in the nature of the knower, not actually, but only potentially; thus colour is not actually in the pupil of the eye, but only potentially. Hence it is necessary, not that the likeness of corporeal things should be actually in the nature of the soul, but that there be a potentiality in the soul for such a likeness. However, the ancient philosophers omitted to distinguish between actuality and potentiality; and so they held that the soul must be a body in order to have knowledge of a body; and that it must be composed of the principles of which all bodies are formed in order to know all bodies. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

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There are two kinds of contact; of “quantity,” and of “power.” By the former a body can be touched only by a body; by the latter a body can be touched by an incorporeal thing, which moves that body. Scripture repeatedly acknowledges the existence of natural moral law: true moral principles rooted in the way God made things, addressed to humans as humans (instead of to humans as a believing member of the kingdom of God) and knowable by all people independently of Bible (Job 31.13-15, Romans 1-2). Among other things, what this means is that believers need not appeal to Scripture in arguing for certain ethical positions, say, in legal debates. Indeed, in my own view, the church is to work for a just state, not a Christian state of theocracy. We are not to place the state under Scripture. However, if this is true, where is the source of moral guidance for the state to be just and to punish wrongdoers as Romans 13.1-7 teachers? The answer is the natural moral law. God has revealed enough of His moral law in the creation for the state to do its job. The church preach to unbelievers what Scriptures says about some topic, but when believer argue for their views in the public square of defend them against those who do not accept the Scripture, they should use general principles of moral argument and reasoning. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

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This is precisely what the prophet Amos did. In chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Amos, he denounced the moral behaviour of several people-groups outside of Israel, and he never once appealed to Scripture. Instead, he was content to rest his case with an appeal to self-evident moral principles in the natural law, which he assumed were known by those without Scripture. However, when he turned to rebuke the people f Israel, for the first time he said that they had violated the “law of the LORD” as reported in Amos 2.4, knowing that they had a familiarity with Holy Scripture. Amos appeared to common ground in all these cases, just as Jesus did in reasoning with he Sadducees, as reported in Matthew 22.23-33 and Paul in evangelizing the Greeks, as reported in Acts 17.16-31. The second aspect of scriptural teaching about extrabiblical knowledge is, Scripture shows people qualified to minister in God’s name in situations that required them to have intellectual skills in extrabiblical knowledge. In Daniel 1.3-4, 2.12-13, 5.7, we see Danial and his friends in a position to influence Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, only because they showed “intelligence in every branch of wisdom.” These men had studied and learned Babylonian science, geometry, and literature. And because of this, they were prepared to serve when the occasion presented itself. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

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I remembering being in a meeting with Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, shortly after Ronald Reagan had been elected president. Dr. Bright came into the meeting late because President Reagan had called to ask him to confer with other evangelical leaders in order to suggest a list of qualified evangelicals to serve in his presidential cabinet. With sadness in his heart, Dr. Bright said that after numerous phone conversations with other evangelical leaders, they had concluded that there simply were not many evangelicals with the intellectual and professional excellence for such a high post. C. Everett Koop was all they could think of and, as we know, Mr. Koop got the position of surgeon general. Had evangelicals valued the study of extrabiblical knowledge the way Daniel and his friends did, things may have turned out quite differently. How, then, should this attitude toward extrabiblical intellectual training inform parents and youth groups when they prepare Christian teenagers to go to college and tell teens why college is important? According to various studies, increasing numbers of college freshmen, on the advice of parents, say their primary goal in going to college is to get a good job and ensure a secure financial future for themselves. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

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The goal of higher education for career advancement and a successful future, this parallels a trend in the same students toward valuing a good job more than developing a meaningful philosophy of life. Given this view of a college education, it is clear why the humanities have fallen on hard times. It is equally clear why the level of our public discourse on topics central to the culture wars is so shallow, since it is precisely the humanities that train people to thin carefully about these topics. What is not so clear is why Christians, with a confidence in the providential care and provision of God, would follow the secular culture in adopting this approach to college. How different this approach is compared to the value of a college education embraced by earlier generations of Christians: A Christian goes to college to discover one’s vocation—the area of service to which God has called one—and to develop the skills necessary to occupy a section of the cultural, intellectual domain in a manner worthy of the kingdom of God. A believer also goes to college to gain general information and the habits of thought necessary for developing a well-structured soul suitable for a well-informed, good citizen of both Earthly and Heavenly kingdoms. If the public square is naked, it may be because Christians have abandoned the humanities due to a sub-biblical appreciation for extrabiblical knowledge. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

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Some people pledge themselves to the spiritual service of ignorant unawakened humankind. For this ideal one sacrifices oneself to the point of stopping one’s own liberation just when it is about to be realized. One who is delivered from sin and free from illusion, who is emancipated from suffering for all time because the flesh can catch one no more, has earned the right to infinite rest in the eternal life. However, one has also the power to choose otherwise. One may stop at its very threshold and renounce the reward it offers. Since the phenomenal World has nothing to offer one, the only reason for such a choice can be compassionate thought for the benighted creatures one is about to leave behind. If one refrains from the final mergence into the kingdom of Heaven, it is not only because one wants to be available for the enlightenment of one’s more hapless fellows, but also because one knows that one has been in a Heavenly state from the beginning and has never left it. Among those who have attained this higher life, who feel its power and sense its peace, there are some who wish that others shall attain it too. We say some for the very powerful reason that not all are able to find it in their hearts to return to this bleak Earth of ours, with its unwellness and morbidity, its sins and sufferings, its evil and ignorance, when there stretches invitingly before them the portals of a diviner World, with its sublime harmony and beauty, its burden-free peace and goodness. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

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The greatest sacrifice a being can offer is that of wisdom, which means simply that the enlightened person should give oneself and use one’s wisdom for the benefit of others. This is also why the greatest charity is to give the truth to humankind. Therefore, the noblest self-actualized beings give themselves secretly and concentratively to a few or openly and widely to the many to enlighten, guide, and inspire them. They know that this twofold way is the one in which to help humankind, that public work is not enough, that those who wish to do not only the most widespread good in the time open to them but also the most enduring good, must work deeply and secretly amongst a few who have dedicated themselves to immediate or eventual service in their own turn. Thus, compassion is rendered more effective through being guided by intelligence. To the few in the inner circle, the self-actualized transmits one’s best thought, one’s hidden knowledge, one’s special grace, one’s most mystical power. How grand is the service such a sage can render all those who accept the light of one’s knowledge! Then indeed is one, in Shakespeare’s phrase, “The star to every wandering barque.” Do not fall into the error of believing that, if one speaks openly these doctrines to others, or writes of them publicly, one is seeking to make proselytes. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

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The religious missionary eagerly seeks to proselytize, but the philosophic expounder cannot. This is because one is not governed by the emotional desire to witness a large number of conversations but by the clear understanding of evolutionary operations—an understanding which enables one to see what is and is not possible, what is and is not suitable, at each stage of those operations. One is not, like the missionary, seeking any personal satisfaction by making an emotional or intellectual conquest. The illuminate has a cosmic outlook. One thinks and feels for all creatures no less than for oneself. So you think that these ancient illuminati, full of high intimations and carrying great lights in their hands, appeared before the World out of their silence and solitude to suffer its ridicule and contempt because they wished to brag about themselves or to amaze them? They came because they dared not disobey compassion’s call save at the pain of being false to all that they knew to be true. The self-actualized makes the highest conceivable sacrifice in willing to return to Earthly life for times without end solely for the benefit of all creatures. People sometimes ask why anyone should give up even a part of one’s time to unpaid service. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

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However, the truth is that the self-actualized is always paid by the friendship and gratitude, the trust and affection, which those one has helped return one. And if it be further said that these are mere intangibles which do not pay for the time and energy one gives, the answer is that they often are convertible into the most tangible of things. For if one is in real need of a home, a machine, a piece of domestic furniture, or a form of personal service, one has only to express that need and those whom one has helped will provide it. Nay, there are times when one need not even express it, when the silent magic of thought will prompt someone to offer the provision quite spontaneously and voluntarily. Anyway, the self-actualized does not give one’s service with any thought about the getting or non-getting of rewards. One gives it because one thinks it right to do so and because one enjoys the satisfaction of giving a helping hand to the spiritually needy. One is doing what one likes. Now we have to take a closer look at what we mean by specifically human aggression. The first is, biologically programmed type, the same defensive mechanism that in animals. The latter type takes the form of human cruelty on the one hand and, on the other, of that passionate enmity toward life, that hatred of life what we call necrophilia. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

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The biologically programmed human aggressiveness, which is identical to animal aggression is relatable because the animal’s neurophysiological organization, which is the same in humans, makes it react aggressively if its vital interests are threatened. A human being responds the same way. However, in humans the reaction, this reactive or defensive aggressiveness, is much more extensive. There are three reasons. One is that the animal experiences only present threats. All it knows is: “At this moment I am threatened.” The human being, with their mental powers, can imagine the future. Consequently, one can experience a threat that may not exist now but may well exist in the future. One therefore reacts aggressively not only to threats existing at the moment but also to one’s future. That provides the reactive aggression with a much larger field in which to function, for the number of human beings is very large, as is the number of situations in which a threat to them may exist in the future. Another reason why reactive aggression has a larger playground in humans is that humans are subject to suggestion while animals are not. You can convince a human being that one’s life or one’s freedom is threatened. You use words and symbols to do that. An animal cannot have its “brain washed,” because it lacks the symbols, the words, essential to brainwashing. It makes no difference to one’s reactions that one only believes oneself threated. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

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I do not have to speak at any length about the many cases in which wars were made possible because people had been made to believe they were threatened. The power of suggestion had created the aggressiveness needed to drive people into battle. Then there is still a third and final reason. A human being has special interests that are closely linked to the values, ideals, and institutions which one identifies. An attack on the ideals or persons central to one’s life, on the institutions that are scared to one, can be as threatening to one as an attack on one’s life or on one’s source of food. Any number of things can be so precious to one: the idea of freedom, the idea of honour, one’s parents, one’s father, one’s mother, in some cultures one’s ancestors, the state, the flag, the government, religion, God. Any of those values, institutions, or ideals may be as important to one as one’s own physical existence. If they are threatened, one reacts with hostility. If we put all three factors together, we can understand why defensive hostility in humans is so much more extensive than it is in animals, even through the mechanism in which it is based is identical in human and animal. Humans experience many more threats, or experiences more things as threats, than the animal possibly can. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

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If we have put off admitting our sins to God, confession may need to come first in our devotional time. There is also the probability that during Scriptural meditation, or even during adoration, further hidden sins will come to light. So our moments of devotion may be filled with repeated confession. It is instructive to notice that Psalm 139, which systematically contemplate God’s omnipotence and omniscience, ends with a prayer for divine investigation of the Psalmist’s soul: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” reports Psalm 139.23, 24. Likewise, as Isaiah was worshipped he cried out in confession, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live along a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty,” reports Isaiah 6.5. If you are concerned about our own spiritual formation of that of others, this vision of the kingdom is the place we must start. Remember, it is the place where Jesus started. It was the gospel he preached. He came announcing, manifesting, and teaching the availability and nature of the kingdom of the Heavens. “For I was sent for this purpose,” reported in Luke 4.43. That is simply a fact, and if we are faithful to it, do justice to it in full devotion, we will find our feet firmly planted on the path of Christian spiritual formation. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

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Scripture speaks both of holiness we already possess in Christ before God and a holiness in which we are to grow more and more. The first is the result of the work of Christ for us; the second is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The first is perfect and complete and is ours the moment we trust Christ; the second is progressive and incomplete as long as we are in this life. The objective holiness we have in Christ and the subjective holiness produced by the Holy Spirit are both gifts of God’s grace and are both appropriated by faith. However, the perfect holiness we have in Christ is the answer to our dilemma of how we can appear daily before a perfectly holy God, when even our best deeds are stained and polluted. Our lack of understanding of the distinction between the holiness we do have in Christ and the holiness we want to find in ourselves caused some to say that we mistakenly hope to find in ourselves something that can be found in Christ alone. The kingdom of God is the range of God Himself, from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 103.17; see also Psalm 93.1-2; Daniel 4,3; 7.14; and so on). The planet Earth and its immediate surroundings seem to be the only place in creation where God permits His will to be not done. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

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Therefore we pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven,” and hope for the time when that kingdom will be completely fulfilled even on Earth (Luke 21.31; 22.18)—where in fact it is already present (Luke 17.21; John 18.36-37) and available to those who seek it with all their hearts (Matthew 6.13; 11.12; Luke 16.16). For those who do so seek it, it is true even now that “all thing work together for their good,” reports Romans 8.28, and that nothing can cut them off from God’s inseparable love and effective care (Romans 8.35-39). That is the nature of a life in the kingdom of the Heavens now. “And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; and also that we may preserve unto them the word which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the World began, even down unto this present time. And it came to pass that after this manner of language did I persuade my brethren, that they might be faithful in keeping the commandments of God. And it came to pass that we went down to the land of our inheritance, and we did gather together our gold, and our silver, and our precious things. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

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“And after we had gathered these things together, we went up again unto the house of Laban. And it came to pass that we went into Laban, and desired him that he would give unto us the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, for which we would give him our gold, and our sliver, and all our precious things. And it came to pass that when Laban saw our property, and that it was exceedingly great, de did lust after it, insomuch that he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our property. And it came to pass that we did flee before the servants of Laban, and were obliged to leave behind our property, and it fell into the hands of Laban. And it came to pass that we fled into the wilderness, and the servants of Laban did not overtake us, and we hid ourselves in the cavity of a rock,” reports 1 Nephi 3.19-28. O God, Who in Thy loving-kindness dost both begin and finish all good things; grant that as we glory in the beginnings of Thy grace, so we may rejoice in its completion; through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord, when the World’s unbelievers reject thee, and are so forsaken by thee that thou calls them no more, it is to Thine own Thou does turn, for in such seasons of general apostasy they in some measure backslide with the World. O how free is Thy grace that reminds them of the danger that confronts them and urges them to persevere in adherence to Thyself! #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

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I bless thee that those who turn aside may return to thee immediately, and be welcomed without anything to commend them, notwithstanding all their former backslidings. I confess that this is suited to my case, for of late I have found great want, and lack of apprehension of divine grace; I have been greatly distressed of soul because I did not suitably come to the fountain that purges away all sin; I have labored too much for spiritual life, peace of conscience, progressive holiness, in my own strength. I beg thee, show me the arm of all might; give me to believe that Thou can do for me more than I ask or think, and that, though I backslide, Thy love will never let me go, but will draw me back to Thee with everlasting cords; that Thou does provide grace in the wilderness, and can bring me out, leaning on the arm of my Beloved; that Thou can cause me to talk with Him by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein I shall not stumble. Keep me solemn, devout, faithful, resting of free grace for assistance, acceptance, and peace of conscience. Almighty and everlasting God, Whose paths are always mercy and truth, grant, we beseech Thee, that we who are fostered by Thy tenderness may also grow up with an increase of piety; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19

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God’s Infinite Liberality Will Always Exceed All Our Wishes and Our Thoughts—God is Always Giving!

cropped-en5misfu0aivjuk.jpgSpread your arms to those with needs, and serve with joy and zest; fill each day with golden deeds, and give your very best. Our beliefs about what we are and what we can be precisely determine what we will be. The real art of communication is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. The force of words, being (as I have formerly noted) too weak to hold people to the performance of their covenants; there are in humans true nature, but two imaginable helps to strengthen it. And those are either a fear of the consequences of breaking their word; or a glory, or pride in appearing not to need to break it. This later is generosity too rarely found to be presumed on, especially in the pursuers of wealth, command, or sensual pleasures; which are the greatest part of humankind. The passion to be reckoned upon, is fear; whereof there be two very general objects: one, the power of the spirits invisible; the other, the power of those people they shall therein offend. Of these two, though the former be the greater power, yet the fear of the later is commonly the greater fear. The fear of the former is in every person, one’s own religion: which has place in the nature of humans before civil society. The later has not so; at least place enough, to keep people to their promises; because in the condition of mere nature, the inequality of power is not discerned, but by the even of battle. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17

ImageSo that before the time of civil society, or in the interruption thereof by war, there is nothing can strengthen a covenant of peace agreed on, against the temptation of avarice, ambition, lust, or other strong desire, but the fear of that invisible power, which they every one worship as God; and fear as a revenger of their perfidy. All therefore that can be done between two people not subject to civil power, is to put one another to swear by the God one fears: which swearing or oath, is a form of speech, added to a promise; by which one that promises signifies, that unless one perform, one renounces the mercy of one’s God, or calls to Him for vengeance on oneself. Such was a heathen form, “Let Jupiter kill me else, as I kill this beast.” So is our form, “I shall do thus, and thus, so help me God.” And this, with the rites and ceremonies, which every one use in one’s own religion, that the fear of breaking faith might be the greater. By this is appears, that an oath taken according to any other form, or rite, then one’s, that swears is in vain; and no oath: and there is no swearing by any thing which the swearer thinks not God. For though people have sometimes used to swear by their kings, for fear, or flattery; yet they would have it thereby understood, they attributed to them divine honour. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17

ImageAnd the swearing unnecessarily by God, is but orphaning of his name: and swearing by other things, as people do in common discourse, is not swearing, but an impious custom, gotten by too much vehemence of talking. It appears also, that the oath adds nothing to the obligation. For a covenant, if lawful, binds in the sight of God, without the oath, as much as with it; if unlawful, binds not at all; though it be confirmed with an oath. “We do not think about it enough. We spend too much time cursing time—time waits for no man, time will tell, oh, the ravages of time, time flies! We do not think about the gift of time. Time gives us the chance to make mistakes and correct them, to regenerate, to grow. Time gives us the chance to forgive, to restore, to do better than we have ever done in the past. Time gives us the chance to be sorry when we fail and the chance to try to discover in ourselves a new heart. How we use this time means everything. Will we take the opportunity to transform ourselves, to admit our hideous blunders, and become against all odds, the people of our dreams? That is what it is about, right?—becoming the people of our dreams,” (page 375-376, The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice). #RandolphHarris 3 of 17

ImageOne day a patient accused himself bitterly of being ungrateful, of being a burden on the analyst, of not sufficiently appreciating the fact that the analyst treated him at a small fee. However, at the end of the interview he found that he had forgotten to bring the money he had intended to pay that day. This was only one of many evidences of his wish to get everything for nothing. His profuse and generalized self-accusations had here as elsewhere the function of obscuring the concrete issue. Another example which may serve as illustration of many is a mature and intelligent woman felt guilty about having had temper tantrums as a child, although she knew, intellectually, that they had been provoked by her parents’ unreasonable conduct, and although in the meantime she had freed herself of the belief that one must think one’s parents beyond reproach. Nevertheless her guilt feelings on this score persisted so strongly that she was inclined to take her failure to make erotic contacts with men as a punishment for her hostility toward her parents. By blaming an infantile offense for her present incapability of making such contacts she disguised the factors factually operating, such as her own hostility toward men and her having withdrawn into a shell as a consequence of a fear of rejection. #RandolphHarris 4 of 17

ImageThe self-recriminations not only protect against the fear of disapproval but also invite absolute reassurance, by provoking reassuring statements to the contrary. Even when no outside person is involved they provide reassurance by enhancing the neurotic’s self-respect, for they imply that one has such a keen moral judgment that one reproaches oneself for faults which others overlook and thus ultimately they make one feel that one is really a wonderful person. Moreover they give one relief, because they rarely concern the real issue of one’s discontentment with oneself, and therefore factually leave a secret door open for a belief that one is not so bad after all. A defense that is directly opposite to self-recrimination, and nevertheless fulfills the same purposes, is forestalling any criticism by always being right or perfect, thus leaving no vulnerable spots for criticism to find a foothold. Where this type of defense prevails any behaviour, even though glaringly wrong, will be justified with an amount of intellectual sophistry worthy of a cleaver and skillful lawyer. The attitude may go so far as to make it necessary to be right in the most insignificant and trifling details—to be always right about the weather, for example—because for such a person being wrong in any detail opens up the danger of being wrong altogether. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17

ImageUsually a person of this type is unable to endure the slightest difference of opinion, or even a difference of emotional emphasis, because in one’s thinking even a minute disagreement is equivalent to a criticism. Tendencies of this kind account to a great extent for what is called pseudo-adaptation. This is found in persons who in spite of a severe neurosis manage to maintain in their own eyes, and sometimes also in those of the people around them, an appearance of being “normal” and well adapted. In neurotics of this type one will scarcely every go wrong in predicting an enormous fear of being found out or disapproved of. A third way in which the neurotic may protect oneself against disapproval is to take refuge in ignorance, illness or helplessness. I encountered a transparent example of this in a French girl whom I treated in German. She was one of the girls I have already mentioned who were sent to me under the suspicion of feeblemindedness. During the first few weeks of analysis I was doubtful myself about her mental capacity; she did not seem to understand anything I said, even though she understood Germany perfectly. I tried to say the same things in simpler language, with no better results. #RandolphHarris 6 of 17

ImageFinally two factors clarified the situation. She had dreams in which my office appeared as a jail, or as the office of a doctor who had examined her physically. Both ideas betrayed her anxiety at being found out, the latter dream because she was terrified of any physical examination. The other revealing factor was an incident in her conscious life. She had forgotten to present her passport at a certain time, as required by law. When at last she went to the official she pretended not to understand German, hoping in this way to escape punishment—an incident she related to me laughingly. She then recognized that she had been using the same tactics toward me, and for the same motives. For this time on she proved to be a very intelligent girl. She had been taking shelter behind ignorance and stupidity to escape the danger of being accused and punished. In principle the same strategy is pursued by anyone who feels and acts like an irresponsible, playful child who is not to be taken seriously. Some neurotic persons adopt this attitude permanently. Or even if they do not behave childishly they may refuse to take themselves seriously in their own feelings. The function of this attitude may be observed in analysis. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17

ImagePatients on the verge of having to recognize their own aggressive tendencies may suddenly feel helpless, suddenly act like a child, desiring nothing but protection and affection. Or they have dreams in which they find themselves small and helpless, carried in the mother’s womb or in her arms. If helplessness is not effective or applicable in a given situation, illness may serve the same purpose. That illness may serve as an escape from difficulties is well known. At the same time, however, it serves the neurotic as a screen against the realization that fear is making one recoil from tackling a situation as one should. A neurotic person who is having difficulties with one’s superior, for example, may find refuge in a server attack of indigestion; the appeal of disability at such time lies in the fact that it creates a definite impossibility of action, an alibi, so to speak, and thereby relives one of the realization of one’s cowardice. A final and very important defence against disapproval of any kind is a feeling of being victimized. By feeling abused the neurotic wards off reproach for one’s own tendencies to take advantage of others; by feeling miserably neglected one debars reproaches for one’s tendencies toward possessiveness; by feeling that others are not helpful one prevents them from recognizing one’s tendencies to defeat them. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17

ImageThis strategy of feeling victimized is so frequently used and tenaciously maintained because it is in fact the most effective method of defense. It enables the neurotic not only to ward off accusations but at the same time to put the blame on others. We must show our Scriptures not be in conflict with whatever [our critics] can demonstrate about the nature of things from reliable sources. In fact, it is safe to say that throughout much of church history, Scripture and right reason were considered twin allies to be prized and used by disciples of Jesus. “Nobody knows the actual day on which Christ was born. But December twenty-fifth was a great feast to the pagans of the ancient World, the day when the Sun was at its lowest ebb and people would gather in the fields, in the villages, and in the depths of the forest to beg for the Sun to come back to us at full strength, for the days to lengthen once more. And for warmth to return to the World, melting the deadly snows of Winter, and gently nourishing the crops of the field once again. That is the meaning of all the candles of Christmas, the bright electric lights on our Christmas trees. It is the meaning of all the celebrations throughout the season, that we have the hope always and forever of being better than we are, of triumphing over the darkness that might have dfeated us in the past, and realizing a brilliance never imagined before,” (pages 374-375, The Midwinters Wolves by Anne Rice). #RandolphHarris 9 of 17

ImageCourage is what it takes to stand up and speak—courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. “Think about it for a minute. Think about what it means to renew, to repent, to start all over again. We human beings always have the capacity. No matter how badly we stumble, we can get up and try again. No matter how miserably we fail ourselves and God and those around us, we can get up and start all over again. There is no midwinter so cold and so dark that we cannot reach for the shining light with both hands,” (page 374 The Midwinter Wolves by Anne Rice). While listening may be the most undervalued of all the communication skills, good people managers are likely to listen more than they speak. Perhaps that is why God gave us two ears and only one mouth. It does not matter what you intend to communicate, but how it is heard that counts. “I am grateful with all my heart that time is once more stretching out before me, providing me again with the chance to somehow—somehow—make amends for the things that I have done. God puts in our paths so many opportunities for that, does he not?—so many people out there who need so much from each and every one of us. He gives us people to help, people to serve, people to embrace, people to comfort, people to love. As long as I live and breathe, I am surrounded by these limitless opportunities, blessed by them on all side,” (page 376 The Midwinter Wolves by Anne Rice). #RandolphHarris 10 of 17

ImageWords have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair; they can transfer knowledge from teacher to student; words enable the orator to sway one’s audience and dictate its decision. Words are capable of arousing the strongest emotions and prompting all people’s actions. In order that all people may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord gives no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for the that they may accomplish the thing which he commands them. And it came to pass that when my father had heard these words he was exceedingly glad, for he knew that I had been blessed of the Lord. And I, Nephi, and my brethren took our journey in the wilderness, with our tents, to go up to the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that when we had gone up to the land of Jerusalem, I am my brethren did consult one with another. And we cast lots—who of us should go in unto the house of Laban. And it came to pass that the lot fell upon Laman; Laman went in unto the house of Laban, and he talked with him as he sat in his house. #RandolphHarris 11 of 17

Image“And he desired of Laban the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, which contained the genealogy of my father. And behold, it came to pass that Laban was angry, and thrust him out from his presence; and he would not that he should have the records. Wherefore, he said unto him: Behold thou art a robber, and I will slay thee. But Laman fled out of his presence, and told the things which Laban had done, unto us. And we began to be exceedingly sorrowful, and my brethren were about to return unto my father in the wilderness. But behold I said unto them that: As the Lord lives, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord have commanded us. Wherefore, let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; therefore let us go down to the land of our father’s inheritance, for behold he left gold and silver, and all manner of riches. And this he has done because of the commandments of the Lord. For he knew that Jerusalem must be destroyed, because of the wickedness of the people. For behold, they have rejected the words of the prophets. Wherefore, if my father should dwell in the land after he has been commanded to flee out of the land, behold, he would also perish. Wherefore, it must needs be that he flee out of the land,” reports 1 Nephi 3.7-18. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17

ImageChristianity is to be identified neither with any Christian Church nor with Christendom as a whole. It embraces both Jesus as the Christ and what is called the “Logos spermatikos.” Every theology knows that there is a sense and a manner in which God is not limited by the Church, that Christ reaches humans outside of those who are official members of the Church. Whether they are aware of it or not, Christ is the unconditional concern. It has to do it even when it is impossible to call him by his name. Every ultimate concern, every protest in the name of the Unconditional against any kind of idolatry—of things, of nations, of doctrines—implies a share in the Christian witness. This explains the messianic eloquence that is it the faith itself in the New Being in Christ which seeks expression in the most meaningless situations as it brings justification in the heart marked by sin, in the mind smeared by unbelief. Christ as the Revelation of the Unconditional among humans must be accepted as the one to explain the contents of the Christian faith, and the datum has to be focused upon as the norm adopted by theology and streamlined according to the norm. O God, Who orders things in Heaven and Earth alike for the assistance of humankind; we beseech Thee that while we are labouring in the lower part of the Universe, Thou would mercifully refresh us by the protection of Thy ministers from above; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17

ImageAnd here is the widespread failure to attain Christian maturity among both leaders and followers, referred to earlier. Those who are Christians by profession—and seriously so, we must add—today do not usually have, are not led into, the VIM (Vision, Intention, Means) that would enable them to routinely progress to the point where what Jesus Himself did and taught would be the natural outflow of who they really are on the inside. Rather, what they are inwardly is left substantially as it was, as it is in non-Christians, and they are left constantly to battle with it. That is why today you find many professing Christians circling back to non-Christians sources to resolve the problems of their inner life. Instead of inward transformation, some outward from of religion—often today even called a spirituality—is taken or impsed as the goal of practical endeavour. What is then important is to be a “good____” (you can fill in the blank). And the respective social group—the “good____s”—wiill enforce that importance, on pain of disapproval or exclusion from the group. Or the individual even enforces it upon himself or herself as what is “obviously” right. However, whatever the detail, authentic inward transformation into Christlikeness is omitted. It is not envisioned, intended, or achieved. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17

ImageNot so in the call of Jesus to live with one as one’s student or apprentice in His kingdom. By contrast, for Him and for His Father, the heart is what matters, and everything else will then come along. And the process of inward renovation starts from the stark vision of life in the Kingdom of God. There can be no ongoing devotion without confession, which can take place anytime. Ideally it ought to take place whenever we sin. However, all too often we are too proud and emotionally charged to acknowledge our sins at the time we commit it—for example, when we lost our temper in an argument. However, if we are overloaded with guilt, devotion is impossible. To live by grace is to live solely by the merit of Jesus Christ. To live by the grace is to live solely by the merit of Jesus Christ. To live by grace is to base my entire relationship with God, including my acceptance and standing with Him, on my union with Christ. It is to recognize that in myself I bring nothing of worth to my relationship with God, because even my righteous acts are like filthy rage in God’s sights (Isaiah 64.6). Even my best works are stained with mixed motives and imperfect performance. I never truly love God with all my heart, and I never truly love my neighbour with the degree or consistency with which I love myself. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17

ImageYet God requires perfection. Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” reports Matthew 5.48. When we take Jesus’ words seriously, we are forced to say with the psalmist, “Thy commandment is exceedingly broad,” reports Psalm 119.96. What is the answer to out dilemma? All Christians recognize that we are justified—that is, declared righteous—solely on the basis of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by God though faith (Romans 3.21-25). However, few of us fully recognize that we are also sanctified through faith in Christ. Sanctification, or holiness (the two words are virtually interchangeable), is essentially conformity to the moral character of God. We normally think of sanctification as progressive, as an inner change of our character whereby we are confronted more and more to the likeness of Christ. That is certainly a major part of sanctification, but not all of it. O Living God, I bless thee that I see the worst of my heart as well as the best of it, that I can sorrow for those sins that carry me from thee, that it is Thy deep and dear mercy to threaten punishment so that I may return, pray, live. My sin is to look on my faults and be discouraged, or to look on my good and be puffed up. I fall short of Thy glory every day by spending hours unprofitably, by thinking that the thing I do are good, when they are not done to thy end, nor spring from the rules of Thy word. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17

ImageMy sin is to fear what never will be; I forget to submit to Thy will, and fail to be quiet there. However, Scripture teaches me that Thy active will reveals a steadfast purpose on my behalf, and this quietness my soul, and makes me love Thee. Keep me always in the understanding that saints mourn more for sin than other people, for when they see how great is Thy wrath against sin, and how Christ’s death alone pacifies that wrath, that makes them mourn the more. Help me to see that although I am in the wilderness it is not all briars and barrenness. I have bread from Heaven, streams from the rock, light by day, fire by night, Thy dwelling place and Thy mercy seat. I am sometimes discouraged by the way, but though winding and trying it is safe and short’ death dismays me, but my great high priest stands in its waters, and will open me a passage, and beyond is a better country. While I live let my life be exemplary, when I die may my end be peace. O Light of light, O Brightness indescribable, Christ our God, the Wisdom, Power, and Glory of the Father, Who didst appear visibly to all people as the Word made flesh, and having overcome the prince of darkness, did return to Thy throne on high; grant to us Thy suppliants, amid this dark World, the full outpouring of Thy splendour; appoint the Archangel Michael to be our defender, to guard our going out and coming in; and admit us to place on Thy right hand, to receive the crown from Thee. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17Image

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The Condition Upon which God Hath Given Liberty to Humans is Eternal Vigilance!

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An individual’s self-concept is the core of one’s personality. It affects every aspect of human behaviour: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change, the choice of friends, mates, and careers. It is no exaggeration to say that a strong beneficial self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life. The Master has one’s shortcomings or frailties just as we all have, but one also had what few of us have—a direct contact with God. Where is the person who is wise enough to give everyone else spiritual guidance, personal advice, marital counsel, and prediction of future? Who with a single look knows all about you as one already knows all about God and the Universe? Let us not look for fantasies of wishful thinking but see humans as humans. Let one not expect to find perfection in any mortal. Let one be satisfied to find someone who has so developed one’s spirituality that one is worthy to lead those who are still much in the rear. There is no being without one’s defects: it is a dreamer’s notion that the perfect human being exists on our planet. Hence the disciples who servilely copy their guru in all things may copy one’s defects too! Where is such a master, such a faultless paragon of virtue wisdom strength and pity, to be found? #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

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Look where we will, every person falls short of the ideal, shows an imperfection or betrays a weakness. The ideal self-actualized person portrayed in philosophical (as distinct from mystical) books, has not come to life in our times however much one may have done so in ancient times. Behind the majestic phrases of most of these spiritual teachers, we usually find in the end of a searching investigation based on living with them or on the historic fact of their lives, that there stand for frail mortals. Hence those few who emerge as being one with, and not inferior to, their teachings stand out all the more truly as great beings. It is misleading to put such a person forward, as so many people put one forward, as being faultless. One’s consciousness of God may be perfect, but one’s conduct as a human being may be not. Is there anywhere a faultless person? One may be wise but one may not be wise all the time. For history shows lapses of judgment, impulsive actions, and other regrettable happenings due to karmic pressures even where least expected. There are many ways to undermine the student-professor relationship: if the guru is put upon an unreachable pedestal, if one is turned into a god and one’s humanness is denied, or if the guru is believed to be perfection itself. The possibility for perfection in any person is a debatable point. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

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When considering fame it can be useful and convenient to consider ill-famed or infamy, this arising when there is a circle of persons who know ill of an individual without having met one personally. The obvious function of ill-fame is social control, of which two distinct possibilities must be mentioned: Formal social control is the first. There are functionaries, and circles of functionaries, employed to scan various publics for the presence of identifiable individuals whose record and reputation have made them suspect, or even “wanted” for arrest. For example, during a mental hospital study, I knew a patient who had “town parole” and also a record of having harassed some youths. On entering any of the neighbouring movies houses he was likely to be spotted by the manager and made to leave. He was, in short, too ill-famed to attend movies in the neighbourhood. Well-known “hoods” have had the same problem, but a scale larger than could be effected by theater managers. It is here that one deals with further examples of the occupation of making persona identifications. Floorwalkers in stores, for example, sometimes have extensive records of the appearance of professional shoplifters along with that identity peg called the modus operandi. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

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The production of personal identification may in fact be accorded a social occasion of its own, as in the police line-up. Dickens, in describing the social mixing of prisoners and visitors in a London jail, provides another example, called “sitting for one’s portrait,” whereby a new prisoner was obliged to sit in a chair while the guards gathered and looked at the individual, fixing one’s image in their kinds so as to be able to spot the individual later. Functionaries whose job is to check up on the possible presence of the ill-reputed may operate in the public at large; and this time the famed can be seen to be in much the same position as the ill-famed. It is possible for the circle of those who know of an individual (but are not known by one) to include the public at large, not merely those employed to make identifications. (In fact the terms “fame” and “ill-famed” imply that the citizenry at large must possess an image of the individual.) No doubt the mass media play the central role here, making it possible for a “private” person to be transformed into a “public” figure. Now it seems the case that the public image of an individual, that is, the image of one available to those who do not know one personally, will necessarily be somewhat different from the image one projects through direct dealings with those who know one personally. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

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Where an individual has a public image, it seems to be constituted from a small selection of acts which may be true of one, which facts are inflated into a dramatic and newsworthy appearance, and then used as a full picture of one. In consequence a special type of stigmatization can occur. The figure the individual cuts in daily life before those with whom know has routine dealings is likely to be dwarfed and spoiled by virtual demands (whether favourable or unfavourable) created by one’s public image. This seems especially to occur when the individual is no longer engaged in newsworthy larger events and must everywhere face being received as someone who no longer is what one once was; it seems also likely to occur when notoriety is acquired due to a brief and uncharacteristic, accidental event which exposes the individual to public identification without providing one any compensating claim to desired attributes. In law, efforts of an individual to remain a private citizen or regain that status have come to form part of the question of privacy. People have the right to be let alone. An implication of these comments is that the famous and the infamous ay have more in common than either has with what headwaiters and gossip columnists call “nobodies,” for whether a crowd wants to show love of hate for an individual, the same disruption of one’s ordinary movement can occur. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

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This type of lack of anonymity is to be contrasted to the type based on social identity, as when an individual with a physical imperfection feels he or she is constantly stared at. Infamous hangmen and famous actors have both found it expedient to board a train at an unanticipated station or to wear a disguise; individuals may even find themselves using stratagems to escape hostile public attention that they also used at an earlier time in their story to escape adulatory attention. In any case, readily accessible information about the management of personal identity is t be found in the biographies and autobiographies of famous and infamous people. An individual, then, may be seen as the central point in a distribution of persons who either merely know about one or know one personally, all of whom may have somewhat different amounts of information concerning one. Let me repeat that although the individual’s daily round will routinely bring one into contact with individuals who know one differently, these differences will ordinarily be incompatible; in fact, some kind of single biographical structure will be sustained. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

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A person’s relationship to one’s boss and one’s relationship to one’s child may be vastly different, so that one cannot easily play the part of employee while playing the part of father, but should the person, while walking with one’s child, meet one’s boss, a greeting and introduction will be possible without either the child or the boss radically reorganizing their personal identification of the person—both having known of the existence and role of the other. He well-established etiquette of the “curtesy introduction,” in fact, assumes that the person we have a role relation to quite properly has other kinds of relationships to other kinds of person. I assume, then, that the apparently haphazard contacts of everyday life may still constitute some kind of structure holding the individual to one biography, and this in spite of the multiplicity of selves that role and audience segregation allow one. We have now begun to look at a characteristic whose development markedly distinguishes the human from other animal–’our greater ability to steer behaviour in a particular direction. The potential for this is to come extent built in; that is why it was worth while studying in such detail the process of learning to recognize a triangle. That process is the prototype for all direction-giving processes. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

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Simplifying grossly, we may say that because of the way the eye is constructed, its attention travels between angles until the structure “triangle” is registered. When this happened very often, a more permanent structure is established: the concept of t for triangle. Once this has happened, the concept “triangle” sometimes comes to mind when angles are perceived. We begin sometimes to think “triangle” before we have counted the corners. Here is a kind of system where the perception of two angles (or sometimes just one) can call forth the concept “triangle,” and where the concept of “triangle” calls forth the activity of looking for angles. “Looking for” (formally called expectancy) is a direction- giving process, closely related to attention-giving. Referring to the reciprocal facilitations which operate when looking at the triangle. Attention is the central reinforcement of a sensory process. But the same process is called expectancy when the sensory reinforcement is delayed. I shall usually call this process “expectation.” Seeing an angle, the eye is drawn along a line to the adjacent angle. This is the influence of the past. It can however become the influence of the future. Because the eye is drawn along, there is an element of action. A neural organization can come into being, which involves both an expectation of what will happen next, and an impulse to do the next thing. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

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Structural changes produce enduring concepts, and perhaps quite elaborate structures of ideas and feelings which give meaning to much that happens. One consequence of such structures is to make it possible for us to expect events to happen which have not happened yet. Expectations can cause a message to get organized in a more powerful way than the message would warrant if the structures had not already become established, and in a more powerful way than other messages coming in at the same time. Expectations give meaning to current events. So much so that expectation is often the same as meaning. If the central “steps” assembly reverberates easily and is a relatively enduring structure, than a great variety of messages about height can evoke a sense of danger—height will come to stand for sanger; height will bring with it the expectation that something dangerous is about to happen. This sense of danger will have come from the person’s anticipation that he or she is about to remember a painful experience associated with the upstairs room. This anticipation is called signal anxiety: the present situation is a signal (symbol) that something else will happen next, in this case, something undesirable. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

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The central process which lead to expectancy and meaning can also act selectively so that certain stimuli are sought for—“selected.” Insofar as people’s lives in society, as one of many creaturely beings, as one of many individuals, one is influenced by one’s environment. One also constantly abuts against one’s intrinsic limits. Being justified by grace, simul peccator et justs, one runs the permanent risk of negating one of the two poles of one’s existence, sin or justice. Thus one does not live in a comfortably peaceful region, but rather on a spiritual boundary line between the demonic—or the realm of idolatry, of misinterpretation—and justice by grace. Ultimately this situation, which is psychologically translated as an awareness of sin, stems from the “spiritual cleavage” between essence and existence, between Eden and the World. It is the drama and also the privilege of modern humans that one is more conscious than one’s forerunners were of this “boundary situation.” Hence the existential questions that crop up in one concerning the means of being, of existence and of life, to which one finds no ultimate answer in oneself. No answer does not mean that a person is not ultimately concerned regarding the dilemmas of existence. Far from it, an analysis of one’s situation shows that humans are away of something that calls for unconditional allegiance. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

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Beyond the contradictions of the dialectic of existence one senses, however dimly, a sort of undercurrent to being, a ground of being where contradictions would be resolved and dilemmas uncoil themselves if one could reach so far. The great religions and their philosophical or political substitutes have tried to give it a name and to elaborate means of allegiance to it. The Christian faith knows that this unconditional concern has been revealed to us in Jesus as the Christ. The ultimate ground of being in one other than God. The method of apologetics, therefore, would consist in witnessing to the New Being in Jesus as Christ at the moment when humans reach awareness of the Unconditional in oneself. To be efficient today, the theological norm must be apprehended ad an answer to human’s situation, as the name for the ultimate ground of being. This is why we follow a method of correlation wherein an existential analysis, a transcendent realism, lays bare human’s ultimate concern and proceeds to show that the New Being in Jesus as the Christ is the God-given answer to human’s questions, the unfolding of one’s situation, the justification by grace of one’s existence. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

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When a person is ultimately concerned, when one has reached the bottom of being and has given oneself to it, even thought in doubt and with hesitancy—for these belong to one’s situation as human—then one is indeed justified by faith. Whether one knows it or not, whether one has heard of Christ or not, one is then grasped by the New Being. For this is the Protestant protest: to assert God in the midst of the demonic, the Unconditional amidst the conditioned. This is justification by grace alone: to be take hold of by the Christ now, not doctrinally but existentially, not in theory but in fact. Every unconditional concern stamps a person as having been reached by the New Being in Christ, by a reality in which the self-estrangement of our existence is overcome, a reality of reconciliation and reunion, of creativity, meaning and hope. Adhesion to the Unconditional resolves the contradictions of the conditions of existence. Then the New Being re-establishes the courage to be, which is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt. Then humans are justified by grace alone. We must bring light to the unconditional concern of humans and show the identity of the Unconditional, with which humans are concerned, with the New Being manifested in Jesus Christ. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

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Hence the norm is best expressed thus: The material norm of systematic theology today is the New Being in Jesus as the Christ as our ultimate concern. Theology is interested in this ultimate or unconditional concern in itself. In the Christian faith it is equated with Christ himself as the revealer of the New Being. Theology today has to show people Christ as the Revelation of the Unconditional. The Eye of Providence or the all-seeing eye is a symbol showing an eye surrounded by rays of light or glory, and usually enclosed by a triangle. It is sometimes interpreted as representing the eye of God keeping watch on humankind. In 1782 the Eye of Providence was adopted as part of the symbolism on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States of America. On the seal, the Eye is surrounded by the words “Annuit Coeptis,” meaning “He approves (or has approved) our undertakings,” “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” meaning “New Order of the Ages,” and the lowest level of the pyramid showing the years 1776 in Roman numerals. The Eye is positioned above an unfinished pyramid with thirteen steps, representing the original thirteen states and the future growth of the country—Manifest Destiny. The combined implication is that the Eye, or God favours the prosperity of the United States of America. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

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It is written: “The grace of God is life everlasting,” reports Romans 6.23. However, life everlasting consists in the vision of the Divine essence, according to the words: “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God,” excreta reports John 17.3. Therefore to see the essence of God is possible to the created intellect by grace, and not by nature. Knowledge is regulated according as the thing known is the knower. However, the thing known is in the knower according to the mode of the knower. Hence the knowledge of every knower is ruled according to its own nature. If therefore the mode of anything’s being exceeds the mode of the knower, it must result that the knowledge of the object is above the nature of the knower. Now the mode of being of things is manifold. For some things have being only in this one individual matter; as all bodies. However, others are subsisting natures, not residing in matter at all, which, however, are not their own existence, but receive it; and these are the incorporeal beings, called Angels. However, to God alone does it belong to His own subsistent being. Therefore what exists only in individual matter we know naturally, forasmuch as our soul, whereby we know, is the form of certain matter. Now our soul possesses two cognitive powers; one is the act of a corporeal organ, which naturally knows things existing in individual matter; hence sense knows only the singular. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

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There is another kind of cognitive power in the soul, called the intellect; and this is not the act of any corporeal organ. Wherefore the intellect naturally knows natures which exist only in individual matter; not as they are in such individual matter, but according as they are abstracted therefore by the considering act of the intellect; hence it follows that through the intellect we can understand these objects as Universal; and this is beyond power of the sense. Now the angelic intellect naturally knows natures that are not in matter; but this is beyond the power of the intellect of our soul in the state of its present life, untied as it is to the body. It follows therefore that to know self-subsistent being is natural to the divine intellect alone; and this is beyond the natural power of any created intellect; for no creature is its own existence, forasmuch as its existence is participated. Therefore the created intellect cannot see the essence of God, unless God by His grace united Himself to the created intellect, as an object made intelligible to it. This mode of knowing God is natural to an Angel—namely, to know Him by His own likeness refulgent in the Angel oneself. However, to know God by any created similitude is not to know the essence of God, as was shown above. Hence is does not follow that an Angel can know the essence of God by one’s own power. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

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The general pattern of personal transformation, which also applies to spiritual formation in the Christian tradition, should now be clear. Indeed, this is the pattern of al human accomplishment, even that which—like spiritual formation can only occur at the initiative and through the constant direction and upholding of God, or through grace. To keep the general pattern in mind, we will use the little acronym “VIM,” as in the phrase “vim and vigour.” Vision, Intention, Means. “Vim” is a derivative of the Latin term “vis,” meaning direction, strength, force, vigour, power, energy, or virtue; and sometimes meaning sense, import, nature, or essence. Spiritual formation in Christlikeness is all of this to human existence. It is the path by which we can truly, as Paul told the Ephesians, “be empowered in the Lord and in the energy of his might,” as reported in Ephesians 6.10 and “become mighty with his energy through his Spirit entering into the inward person,” reports Ephesians 3.16. If we are to be spiritually formed in Christ, we must have and must implement the appropriate vision, intention, and means. Not just any path we take will do. If this VIM pattern is not in place properly and held there, Christ simply will not be formed in us. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

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Larger segments, especially classic texts, are tailor-made for meditation. The Ten Commandments, with the first four Godward commands, and the six manward injunction following, should be regularly murmured in reverent self-examination (cf. Exodus 20.1-17 and Deuteronomy 5.1-22). There are eight Beatitudes which consecutively considered poverty of spirit, mouring over sin, gentleness, spiritual hunger, mercy, purity, peacemaking, and persecution. The Lord’s Prayer begins with the foundational awareness “Our Father, who art in Heaven” and then presents three upward petitions and three horizontal petitions—a perfect pattern for prayer and meditation. There are endless possibilities, including he so-called kenosis passage, Philippians 2.5-11, which begins, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Other food for meditation includes Jesus’ parables, the Psalms, and the epigrams of James. Both practical and esoteric passages can provide divine substance for reverent soul chatter. The effect of meditation are supernal, bringing: Revival—“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul,” reports Psalm 19.7. Wisdom—“The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple,” reports Psalm 19.7; “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me,” reports Psalm 119.97, 98. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

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Increases in our Faith—“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ,” reports Romans 10.17. We may be challenged, convicted, and exhilarated with the call to meditation. The question is, how is this to be done? The Scriptures say it should be continual, telling us we ought to mediate “day and night” reports Psalm 1.2; cf. 119.97), and even while we lie awake at night reports Psalm 63.6; 119:148. Ideally, we are to make meditation part of our regular devotion, giving hidden time to reverently muttering God’s Word. However, even our bust schedules can be punctuated with Scriptural meditation—in the car, at lunch break, or waiting for a bus. Select a choice text, write in on a card, and slip it into your pocket. Pull it out on those spare moments. Murmur it. Memorize it. Pray it. Say it. Share it. The discipline of meditation is a must. Moses told Israel as he finished the “Songs of Moses”: “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life,” reports Deuteronomy 32.46,47. “Then he said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” reports Hebrews 10.9-10. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

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The great mistake made by most of the Lord’s people is in hoping to discover in themselves that which is to be found in Christ alone. Most of us have a tendency to seek within ourselves what is to be found in Christ alone. O Merciful God, that we who by violating the Divine precepts fell away from the happiness of Paradise, may by the keeping of Thy commandments regain the access to eternal bliss; through Jesus Christ our Lord. No person is obliged to accuse oneself. A covenant to accuse oneself, without assurance of pardon, is likewise invalid. For in the condition of nature, where every person is judge, there is no place for accusation: and in the civil state, the accusation is followed with punishment; which being force, a person is not obliged not to resist. The same is also true, of the accusation of those, by whose condemnation a person falls into misery; as of a father, wife, or benefactor. For the testimony of such an accuser, if it be not willingly given, is presumed to be corrupted by nature; and therefore not to be received: and where a person’s testimony is not to be credited, one is not bound to give it. Also accusations upon torture, are not to be reputed as testimonies. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

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For torture is to be used but as means of conjecture, and light, in the further examination, and search of truth; and what is in that case confessed, tends to ease of one that is tortured; not to the informing of the torturers: and therefore ought not to have the credit of a sufficient testimony: for whether one deliver oneself by true, or false accusation, one does it by right of preserving one’s own life. Lehi’s sons return to Jerusalem to obtain the plates of brass—Laban refuses to give the plates up—Nephi exhorts and encourages his brethren—Laban steals their property and attempts to slay them (sliving)—Laman and Lemuel smite Nephi and Sam and are reproved by an Angel. About 600-592 Before Christ. “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father. And it came to pass that he spake unto me, saying: Behold I have a dreamed a dream, in the which the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall return to Jerusalem. For behold, Laban hat the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass. Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and being them down hither into the wilderness. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

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“And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord. Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favoured of the Lord, because thou has not murmured,” reports 1 Nephi 3.1-6. O Lord, help me to approach thee with becoming conception of Thy nature, relations and designs. Thou inhabitest eternity, and my life is nothing before thee; Thou dwellest in the highest Heaven and this cannot contain Thee; I live in a house of clay. Thy power is almighty; I am crushed before the moth. Thy understanding is infinite; I know nothing as I ought to know. Thou canst not behold evil; I am vile. In my ignorance, weakness, fears, depression, may Thy Spirit help my infirmities with supplies of wisdom, strength and comfort. Let me faithfully study my character, be willing to bring it to light, observe myself in my trials, judge the reality and degree of my grace, consider how I have been ensnared or overcome. Grant that I may never trust my heart, depend upon any present resolutions, but be strong in the grace of Jesus: that I may know how to obtain relief from a guilty conscience without feeling reconciled to my imperfections. Sustain me under my trials and improve them to me; give me grace to rest in thee, and assure me of deliverance. May I always combine they majesty with thy mercy, and connect Thy goodness with Thy greatness. Then shall my heart always rejoice in praises to thee. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

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We Must Behave with the Utmost Respect Toward this Instant of Birth, this Fragile Moment!

ImageConsider how hard it is to change yourself, and you will understand what little chance you have of trying to change others. The disciples exaggerate the master. They create a new deity. If later some among them inevitably discover that one has one’s minor faults and makes one’s little mistakes, there is almost an emotional collapse, a nervous shock. Why, with all one’s wonderful attainments, can they not accept one as a human being? It is inevitable that they will demand continuing individual attention and it is just as inevitable that one will be unable to give it. Disappointment will ensure and negative thoughts will start to breeding. They associate one with omnipotence, if not omniscience, but when time shows up the extravagance and the exaggeration of their idealized expectations, their faith falls to the ground, deflated. Nearly every professional who helps people intimately or mentally has to undergo certain tests or temptations or ordeals. When one deals with a neurotic patient, the psychoanalyst, the physician, or the schoolteacher may pass through the same experience as the spiritual guide. If one is too emotionally affectionate or too physically sensual, or if one is starved off affection or sensuality, one may naturally fall in love with one for a time. I say “for a time” advisedly because the succeeding phase—equally known to the spiritual guide—is to become antagonistic to one. Psychology has identified this first phase and calls it “transference.” #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

ImageThe same disciple whose exaggerated enthusiasm caused one to regard the master as archangel, now, by a curious process of transformation regards one as an archdevil! The guide is up against the fact that most aspirants expect too much from one. Even if one warns them at the start, one’s words are given little weight or else are soon forgotten. They expect one to use some trick, whose secret one alone knows, to turn them quickly into illumined mystics or even powerful adepts. Consequently they react emotionally against one in their later disappointment. When the discrepancy between the real being and the preconceived mental image of one becomes too obvious and too large, they blame one instead of themselves. It is because followers place one in such a unique and exalted position in their hearts that they do real psychic injury to themselves when they believe it necessary to throw one down from it. The first and last illusion to go is that any perfect people exist anywhere. Not only is there no absolute perfection to be found, but not even does a moderate perfection exist among the most spiritual of human beings. Hence, the atmosphere of personal idolatry is not a healthy one. It is right that the impact of an unusually outstanding personality should produce an unforgettable intellectual or emotional experience. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

Image However, it is wrong to believe one a god rather than a human, or to lead others to believe it, for that is an excess which can only lead to the reaction of disappointment in the end, as sooner or later one will be reduced by further knowledge to human proportions. To ask that a spiritual master or a loved mate shall be perfect in every respect is to ask the impossible and the non-existent. In the case of a seeker, it is likely to result in missing the very opportunity one is seeking. In the case of one who is already associated with a master or mate, experimental straying away is likely to result in disappointment and a retracing of steps. Let us not turn them into what they are not. They are human, they make mistakes; they are not gods. The desire to deify their teachers, which is so common, can have no place among philosophic ones. We look upon the teacher as a being, as one who incites us to seek the best and inspires of to self-improvement and guides us to the truth. However, one is still a human to be respected, not a god to be worshipped. One has one’s imperfections. How early can this relationship between unique persons begin? #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

ImageWhile I have been fascinated by the horizontal spread of the person-centered approach into so many areas of our life, others have been more interested in the vertical direction and are discovering the profound value of treating the infant, during the whole birth process, as a person who should be understood, whose communications should be treated with respect, who should be dealt with empathically. This is the stimulating contribution of Frederick Leboyer, a French obstetrician who, after delivering thousands of babies, began to change his methods in very striking ways and who has assisted in the delivery of at least a thousand infants in what can only be called a person-centered way. Dr. Leboyer has become indignant at our failure to understand, empathically, the struggles and cries, the fear and pain of the newborn. He points out that the newly arriving infant is not blind, as is often supposed. After nine months in the womb, the newborn is instead ultrasensitive to light, and we blind the baby with floodlights in the delivery room. We assume that it makes no difference what the baby hears, and hence loud conversations and exhortations to the mother in labour to “Push! Push harder,” are unimportant. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

ImageYet the baby is very sensitive to sound, and for some time after birth can be soothed and put to sleep by a tape recording of the sounds from inside of the uterus—the movements of joints and muscles, the rumblings of stomach and intestines, and above all the steady rhythm of the mother’s heartbeat. We assume that the baby’s skin can stand the touch of dry cloth, when actually it is almost as raw as tissue that has suffered a burn. When the child’s cries indicate that they are probably extremely painful, we assume that the first breaths are exhilarating. Above all, the individuals involved are concerned with their own feelings, not those of the newly born baby. The doctor has completed one’s delivery—and is pleased with oneself. The mother is smiling because the ordeal is over; she hears the baby crying and is proud of herself. The father is happy for having sired a son or daughter. So who pays attention to the infant’s reactions? No one. The baby is too immature to have feelings or reactions, it is assumed. The infant is picked up by the feet, forcefully straightening a spine which has always been curved, slapped on the buttocks to force him or her to breathe, cut off from one’s alternate source of oxygen by snipping the umbilical cord, often places on a cold metal scale for weighing, and then wrapped in dry cloth. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

ImageThe photographs of the screaming, terrified, blinded infants handled in this customary fashion are damning. And what does Dr. Leboyer do about all this? He enters into the trauma of birth and new life and tries to understand this nascent person. In doing he changes almost every step of handling an infant’s birth. First is the training of the mother for a natural childbirth. She is prepared for the steps the doctor will take. She will not be frightened by the fact that her baby will not loudly cry, but may simply utter one or two small cries or grasps as it starts to breathe. She is encouraged to feel “I am a mother,” not “This is my child.” Then come the changes in the methods of delivery. As soon as the head appears, and it seems the birth will be normal, all the bright lights are extinguished, leaving only one soft light. During this time and afterward, the deliver room is silent. If there must be conversation, it is whispered. As the child emerges, care is taken not to touch the dead, which has borne the brunt of the pain of the birth canal. The child is then settled immediately on the mother’s belly, now so hollow, where the warmth and inner gurgles and the heartbeat can again be experienced. This placement makes it unnecessary to but the umbilical cord, thus leaving the infant with two sources of oxygen, avoiding brain damage from anoxia. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

ImageThe baby, usually after a cry or two, begins to breathe. Sometimes, too, the infant stops breathing for a bit, and then starts again at one’s own pace. Since oxygen is still being received from the placenta, this is not dangerous. By the time the umbilical cord stops pulsating—usually after four or five minutes—the infant’s breathing apparatus is working, one is cradled in the most comfortable place, second only to the womb, and is beginning to move and stretch. The baby has not been rushed. One’s natural pace has been respected. The umbilicus is now cut, having ceased to function. Dr. Leboyer adds, “We must behave with the utmost respect toward this instant of birth, this fragile moment.” As the child begins to use its limbs to explore the new space on the mother’s abdomen, touch becomes the means of communication. Hands—preferably the mother’s—are placed quietly and softly on the infant, or the back is stroked rhythmically as a reminder of the internal rhythms previously experiences. This touching assures the baby that “We are both still here; we are both alive.” When the infant seems ready, it is lifted from the mother’s body and lowered slowly and gently into water that is heated to body temperature—98 or 99 degrees Fahrenheit. Here the baby begins to move its limbs, to turn its head from side to side. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

ImageThen the eyes are opened! Photographs of these newborn show them to look astonishingly older than we would expect. They are calm and exploratory, not in panic or fear, nor sobbing in pain. They begin clearly to enjoy themselves and their movements. Only when the child seems fully relaxed, and showing a welcoming attitude toward these tremendous new discoveries, is one removed from the water and placed in warmed cloth. The transfer from the womb to the World has been successfully begun. Though it is too soon to know the long-term effects, this new way of handling the birth process is profoundly important. By respecting the infant, and endeavouring to deal with one understandingly, the psychological scars of the birth trauma have been enormously reduced. To come into the new life so gradually, with security and a caring, loving touch is much better for the child’s psychological development than for one to be suddenly exposed to all sorts of terrifying stimuli and forced into a fearful new way of being. A French study of 120 of these infants up to the age of three shows them to be astonishingly free of feeding and sleeping problems, and to be more alert, coordinated and playful than other children. They are also relaxed and aggregable. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

ImageEngland expects every person will do one’s duty. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. And the awareness of the Holy is insight,” reports Proverbs 9.10. When the term “wisdom” almost disappeared from Christian preaching and teaching, it was a grave loss. Of course, it is still used sometimes in both popular and philosophical language. However, its original significance and power have vanished. It has been called “the virtue of maturity,” which is of no concern to youth. It has almost become as ridiculous as the ancient word “virtue” itself. One speaks of experience, insight, knowledge; and indeed those are related to wisdom and often part of it. However, none of them is wisdom itself. Wisdom is greater than these. It is one of the great things that profoundly concern every human being in every period of one’s conscious life. Wisdom is not bound to the golden years. It is found equally in the young. And there are fools at all ages of life. It is my hope in this hour to communicate the meaning and the greatness of wisdom, particularly to those who are young and who must make wise decision about their lives. To understand the meaning of wisdom we must see it in the breadth and depth in which it was seen by the person whose words are our lesson. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

ImageThere are many more words about the glory of wisdom, both in the Old and the New Testament. And there is praise of wisdom and passionate seeking for it in many religions. Wisdom is universally human. It is present in the spiritual life of all humankind. And it is present not only in all humankind, but in the Universe itself. For the Universe is created by the divine power in the presence of Wisdom. This is the vision of the author of Proverbs and of the poet who wrote the book of Job. Some believe that William Shakespeare actually drafted the Christian Bible. Wisdom was beside God before creation of the World. “When he marked out the foundations of the Earth, then I was beside him,” Wisdom says. “When he gave to the wind its weight and meted out the waters by measure; when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning and thunder, he saw Wisdom then and studied her.” The meaning of these words is that God explores Wisdom, which is like an independent power beside Him, and according to what He finds in her He forms the World. The Universe in all its parts is the embodiment of wisdom. This vision was confirmed for me a few weeks ago when I met someone well-known astronomers, physicists and biologists, who passionately expressed their conviction that they increased the awareness of the eternal wisdom in the structure of the Universe by increasing the knowledge of our World. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

ImageThey rejected a science that gives knowledge without wisdom and a theology that neglects the divine wisdom shining though human’s knowledge of nature. When methods of scientific research were first introduced, at the height of the Middle Ages in the thirteenth century, a keen observer made the prophetic remark: “Under the new method science will increase but wisdom will decrease.” Wisdom was for him the understanding of the principles which determine life and World. He was right: science conquered wisdom; knowledge replaced insight. From century to century it has become more and more evident that knowledge without wisdom produces external and internal self-destruction. The health of the younger generation is demonstrated by the fact that it has experienced and violently expressed the emptiness of knowledge without wisdom. Those who feel dissatisfied with learning facts without an understanding of their meaning, and those who feel the emptiness of the possession of knowledge without wisdom are most important in our academic and national society. May they never cease to express this feeling! May they force us, the older ones, to listen. However, we shall only listen, if contempt of knowledge and scholarship does not color their complaints; then we shall try with all that is given to us to become their helpers on the road to wisdom. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

ImagePersonal identity, like social identity, divides up the individual’s World’s of others for one. The division is first between the knowing and the unknowing. The knowing are those who have a personal identification of the individual; they need only see one or hear one’s name to bring this information into play. The unknowing are those for whom the individual constitutes and utter stranger, someone of whom they have begun no personal biography. The individual who is known about by others may or may not know that one is known about by them; they in turn may or may not know that knows or does not know of their knowing about one. Further, while believing that they do not know about one, nonetheless one can never be sure. Also, if one knows they know about one, one must, in some measure at least, know about them; but if one does not know that they know about one, one may or may not know about them in regard to other matters. All of this can be relevant apart from how much is or is not known, since the individual’s problem in managing one’s social and personal identity will vary greatly according to whether or not those in one’s presence know of one, and, if so, whether or not one knows they know of one. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

Image When an individual is among persons for whom one is an utter stranger, and is meaningful only in terms of one’s immediately apparent social identity, the great contingency for one is whether or not they will begin to build up a personal identification of one (at the least a memory of having seen one in the context conducting oneself in a particular way), or whether they will refrain altogether from organizing and storing their knowledge about one around a persona identification, this latter being a characteristic of the fully anonymous situation. Note that while pubic street in large cities provide anonymous situations for the well behaved, this anonymity is biographical; there is hardly such a thing as complete anonymity regarding social identity. It maybe added that every time an individual joins an organization or a community, there is a marked change in the structure of knowledge about one—it is distribution and character—and hence a change in the contingencies of information control. For example, every ex-mental patient must face having formed in the hospital some acquaintances who may have to be greeted socially on the outside, leading a third person to ask, “Who was that?” More important, perhaps, one must face the unknown-about knowing, that is, persons who can personally identify one and will know, when one does not know they know, that one is “really” an ex-mental patient. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

ImageBy the term cognitive recognition, I shall refer to the perceptual act of “placing” an individual, whether as having a particular personal identity. Recognition of social identities is a well-known gate-keeping function of many servers. It is less well known that recognition of personal identities is a formal function in some organizations. In banks and credit unions, for example, tellers or member service representatives may be expected to acquire this kind of capacity regarding customers or members. In British criminal circles there is, apparently, an office called “corner-man” whose incumbent takes up a post on the street near the entrance of an illicit business and, by knowing the personal identity of nearly everyone who passes, is able to warn of the approach of a suspicious character. Within the circle of persons who have biographical information about an individual—who are knowing in regard to one—there will be a smaller circle of those who are acquainted with one “socially,” whether slightly or intimately, and whether as an equal or not. As we say, they not only know “of” or “about” one, they know one “personally” as well. They will have the right and the obligation of exchanging a nod, a greeting, or a chat with one when they find themselves in the same social situation with one, this constituting social recognition. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

ImageOf course, there will be times when an individual extends social recognition to, or receives it from, an individual extends social recognition to, or receives it from, and individual one does not know personally. In any case, it should be clear that cognitive recognition is simply an act of perception, while social recognition is one individual’s part in communication ceremony. Social acquaintanceship or personal knowing is necessarily reciprocal, although of course one or even both of the acquainted persons can temporarily forget they are acquainted, just as one or both can be alive to the acquaintanceship but temporarily forgetful of almost everything about the other’s personal identity. For the individual who lives a village life, whether in town or city, there will be few who merely know of one; those that know about one are likely to know one personally. In contrast, by the term “fame” we seem to refer to the possibility that the circle of people who know about a given individual, especially in connection with a rare desirable achievement of possession, can become very wide, and at the same time much wider than the circle of those who know one personally. The treatment accorded an individual on the basis of one’s social identity is often accorded with added deference and indulgence to a famed person become of one’s personal identity. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

Image Like a small-town person, one will always be shopping where one is known. The mere fact of being cognitively recognized in public places by strangers can also be a source of satisfaction, as a young actor suggests: When I first became a little well-known and had a day when I was feeling down, I would actually say to myself, “Well, I think I will go out for a walk and be recognized.” This kind of promiscuous minor acclaim presumably provides one reason why fame is sought; it also suggests why fame once obtained is some times hidden from. The issue is not only the nuisance in being chased by reporters, autograph hunters, and turned heads, but also that a widened range of acts become assimilated to biography as newsworthy events. For a famous person to “get away” where one can “be oneself” may mean one’s finding a community in which there is no biography of one; here one’s conduct, reflecting merely on one’s social identity, can have a chance of being of interest to no one. Contrariwise, one aspect of being “on” is acting in a fashion designed to control implications for biography, but doing this in what are ordinarily non-biography creating areas of life. In the everyday life of an average person there will be long stretches of time when events involving one will be memorable to no one, a technical but not active part of one’s biography. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

ImageOnly a serious personal accident or the witnessing of a murder will create moments during these dead periods which have a place in the reviews one and others come to make of one’s past. (An “alibi,” in fact, is presented piece of biography that would not have become part of one’s active biography at all.) On the other hand, notables who come to have a book-length biography written about them, and especially those such as royalty who are known from the start to be destined for this fate, will find they have experienced few periods of life which are allowed to remain dead, that is, inactively part of their biography. A covenant not to defend myself from force, by force, is always void. For (as I have showed before) no person can transfer, or lay down one’s right to save oneself from death, wounds, and imprisonment, (the avoiding whereof is the only end of laying down any right,) and therefore the promise of not resisting; rather than the greater, which is certain and present death in not resisting. And this is granted to be true by all people, in that they lead criminals to execution, and prison, with armed people, notwithstanding that such criminals have consented to law, by which they are condemned. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

ImageO God, Who chastisest us in Thy love, and refreshest us amid Thy chastening; grant that we may ever be able to give Thee thanks for both; through Jesus Christ our Lord. “And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words. But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them. And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands. And inasmuch as thy breathren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And inasmuch as though shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren. For behold, in the day that they shall rebel against me, I will curse them ever with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also. And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a scourge unto they seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance,” 1 Nephi 17-24. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

ImageSam is the third son of Lehi, and elder brother to the prophet Nephi. Early in the Book of Mormon narrative, Nephi confided in Sam. Lehi saw Sam in his vision of the tree of life, noting that he ate the precious fruit, symbolizing the righteousness of Sam, and that he would be saved. We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the prosperity bestowed upon us may not lead us to be ashamed of Thy worship, but rather may always enkindle us to render heartier thanks to Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord, no day of my life has passed that has not proved me guilty in Thy sight. Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart; praise has been often praiseless sound; my best services are filthy rags. Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert in thy appeasing wounds. Though my sins rise to Heaven thy merits soar above them; through unrighteousness weighs me down to hell, Thy righteousness exalts me to Thy throne. All things in me call for rejection, all things in thee plead my acceptance. I appeal from the throne of perfect justice to Thy throne of boundless grace. Grant me to hear Thy voice assuring me: that by thy stripes I am healed, that though wast bruised for my iniquities, that Thou has been made sin for me that I might be righteous in thee, that my grievous sins, my manifold sins, are all forgiven, buried in the ocean of Thy concealing blood. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

ImageI am guilty, but pardoned, lost, but saved, wandering, but found, sinning, but cleansed. Give me perpetual broken-heartedness, keep me always clinging to Thy cross, flood me every moment with descending grace, open to me the springs of divine knowledge, sparkling like crystal, flowing clear and unsullied through my wilderness of life. My opinion is only that of a human. It is no my business to make know matters that would only stir controversy about past history quite uselessly. However, it would be a serious omission of duty not to utter a warning that human perfection does not exist; that famous figures in history, politics, warfare, government, literature, religion, mysticism, and art have committed grave errors of judgement, impression, or teaching; that these errors are known only to a few in each case, and will probably never be known to posterity at all. A person may be successful in leading one’s people through a war to final victory but, on the way, one may be spiritually enlightened but personally inexperienced; one’s opinions on unfamiliar matters may not have much value. So long as a person is turned into a god and is worshipped as such, so long as one is regarded Perfect and without defects, so long are those concerned—both the person and one’s followers—kept outside the philosophic goal by their own deficiencies. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20Image

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Wake up in paradise at #CresleighRanch. 😌 The downstairs bedroom suite in this #BrightonStation Residence 3 home has plenty of natural light and an ensuite for ultimate privacy.

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When You Become Weary and Feel Like Quitting, Wait on the Lord and He Will Renew Your Strength!

ImageStrange, when you come to think of it, that of all the countless folk who have lived before our time on this planet not one is known in history or legend as having died of laughter. The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a person’s foot long enough to enable one to put the other somewhat higher. Do not compromise yourself. You are all you have got. If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success. If you do not, you have achieved half your failure. If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not falling down, but the staying down. “Treasure the pain; treasure what you have, including fear. Treasure it because if we do not live this life, if we do not live it to the fullest year after year and century after century, well, then we die,” (Page 32, The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice). To understand each faculty is to grasp first the nature of the faculties in general, and their relationship to each other and the divisions of knowledge. The fundamental relationship among the faculties is that of knowledge to action. Understanding, reason, and imagination yield contemplative knowledge and memory recorded and recalled it. Knowledge is a state or condition of the human being that constitutes a potential for action. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

ImageIn any instance of rational behaviour, action came about when an individual, confronted with the need to choose among alternatives, brought one’s knowledge to bear in ways that controlled appetite and directed one’s will. Rational conduct is thus knowledge actualized. Practical knowledge, on the other hand, is a state or condition built up chiefly through experience. It becomes rational to the extent that knowledge affected experience. The best division of human learning is that derived from the three faculties of the rational soul, which is the seat of learning. History is properly concerned with individuals, which are circumscribed by place and time. For though Natural History may seem to deal with species, yet this is only because of the general resemblance which in most cases natural objects of the same species bear to one another; so that when you know one, you know all. All this relates to the Memory. Philosophy discards individuals; neither does it deal with the impressions immediately received from them, but with abstract notions derived from these impressions; in the composition and division whereof according to the law of nature and fact its business lies. And this is the office of work of reason. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

ImageThe sense, which is he door of intellect, is affected by individuals only. The images of those individuals—that is, the impression they make on the sense—fix themselves in the memory. These the human mind proceeds to review and ruminate; and thereupon either simply rehearses them, or makes fanciful imitations of them, or analyses and classifies them. Wherefore from these three fountains, Memory, Imagination, and Reason, flow these three emanations, History, Poesy, and Philosophy. I consider history and experience to be the same things, as also philosophy and the sciences. These faculties or powers had as their vehicle the motions of spirits. Each faculty modulated, shaped, and figured spirit movement in ways peculiar to it: some of the ancients, who in too eagerly fixing their eyes and thoughts on the memory, imagination, and reason, have neglected the faculty of thinking [or cogitation], which holds first place in the work of contemplating and considering [id est, in the work of conception]. For one who remembers and also one who recollects, is thinking; one who imagines, is thinking; one who reasons, is thinking; and in a word the spirit of a human, whether prompted by sense of left to itself, whether in the functions of the understanding, or of the will and affections, dances to the measure of thoughts. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

ImageThe context of the passage makes clear that by nature the souls of all living creatures are in infinite and endless motion, the human soul having its own mode of motion That which is in motion is spirit. It seems evident, then, that thinking is a general mode of spirit activity in the rational soul and that the faculties designate distinctive types of motion. Thinking is like a radio carrier wave which is modulated according to the tasks it does. The faculties are types of modulation. Although we speculate much about the spirit, the physical basis of mental life, very speak very little about the anatomical location of mental activity. We are aware of the medical lore which locates the faculties in the ventricles of the brain. That arrangement of the intellectual faculties (imagination, reason, and memory) according to the respective ventricles of the brain is not entirely destitute of error. Yet, it is known that the cognition of humans is in their head, but we also know the heart and the gut seem to have intellectual abilities as well. Primary learning is the acquisition of rather simple connections between events, based largely on sensory input and simple messages from other parts of the body. The simpler the organism, the more simply and easily these connections are made—the faster, too, and the more enduringly. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

ImageMature learning, on the other hand, depends a great deal on meaning, that is on relating the current sensory input to what is already known. And what is already known is stored in the association areas in very complex ways. So, the more complex the organism, the slower the incorporation of new sensory input into the existing frame or context. We know this from other forms of organization. How hard it is to get some change introduced into bureaucracy, and how hard it is for us outsiders to talk to those inside—insiders like to talk to each other. Only the higher beings have the capacity to learn through the use of concepts and symbols. The first learning of primates is extremely slow, and very different from that at maturity. Human meticulousness in the learning process is due to the very complexity of which our thinking is ultimately capable: primitive animals learn fast; complex, patterned, configurational learning comes later and takes longer. To appreciate the nature of more central functioning, it now becomes important to distinguish between two parts of the cortex (the surface of the brain). Some cells here are connected directly with the sensory nerve-cells bringing messages about the environment or the state of the body; other cells are mainly connected with each other; this is the distinction between the sensory cortex and the association cortex, respectively. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

ImageThis distinction between sensory and association cortex enables us to speculate about how environmental, peripheral, sensory control over behaviour differs from the higher achievements of some animals: more central controls over behaviour, even amounting to purposive behaviour. Verbal and nonverbal feedback are strategies thar are most rudimentary forms of vivification. First, let us consider the verbal modality. There are two basic ways to provide verbal feedback—noting and tagging. Noting alerts clients to initial experiences of resistance; tagging acquaints them with those that follow. Some examples of noting are observations such as, “This issue seems really difficult for you,” and “You appear to be distracted right now.” Some examples of tagging are, “Whenever we discuss this topic, you seem to want to change it,” and “There you go again, preferring to argue rather than face your life.” Because I am trying to alert rather than shock, I sometimes find I necessary to temper my appraisals. For example, I might say to a client just beginning treatment: “I wonder if I am pushing too hard right now. Maybe you can begin again where you feel comfortable.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

Image I also try to acknowledge the potential fallibility of my feedback; this helps clients to direct themselves to the relevant issues. “My observation my have been off base here,” I might remark. Or I might say, “I wonder if we could suspend my observation for a bit, see how it feels to us at a later time.” I find that use of nonverbal feedback to be particularly elucidating to clients. Whereas verbal feedback appears to animate predominately conscious domains of clients’ resistance, nonverbal feedback seems to clarify primarily subliminal barriers and domains. By mirroring a client’s crossed arms, for example, unless they are posing for a studio picture, I am able to help one see how unexpectedly guarded one has been about a particular topic; by echoing a client’s sense of being “choked up,” I am able to appraise one of one’s “suffocating” relationship. Resistances sometimes seem like broken records to clients, endlessly duplicating a theme. While the vivification process can often amplify that sense of repetitiveness, it can also provide fresh opportunities to transcend it. I try to alert clients to these possibilities and to subtle changes in their patterns of defensiveness. For example, I might refer an intellectualized client to one’s sudden use of the pronoun “I,” or direct a client who chronically suppresses one’s sadness to an abruptly formed teardrop. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

ImageThe idealized image might be called a fictitious or illusory self, but that would be only a half truth and hence misleading. The wishful thinking operating in its creation is certainly striking, particularly since it occurs in persons who otherwise stand on a ground of firm reality. However, this does not make it wholly fictitious. It is an imaginative creation interwoven with and determined by very realistic factors. It usually contains traces of the persons genuine ideals. While the grandiose achievements are illusory, the potentialities underlying them are often real. More relevant, it is born of very real inner necessities, it fulfills very real functions, and it has a very real influence on its creator. The process of operating in its creation are determined by such definite laws that a knowledge of its specific features permits us to make accurate inferences as to the true character structure of the particular person. However, regardless of how much fantasy is woven into the idealized image, for the neurotic oneself it has the value of reality. The more firmly it is established the more one is one’s idealized image, while one’s real self is proportionately dimmed out. This reversal of the actual picture is bound to come about because of the very nature of the functions the image performs. Every one of them is aimed at effacing the real personality and turning the spotlight on itself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

ImageLooking back over the history of many patients we are led to believe that its establishment has often been literally lifesaving, and that is why the resistance a patient puts up if one’s image is attacked is entirely justified, or at least logical. As long as one’s image remains real to one and is intact, one can feel significant, superior, and harmonious, in spite of the illusory nature of those feelings. One can consider oneself entitled to raise all kinds of demands and claims on the basis of one’s assumed superiority. However, if one allows it to be undermined one is immediately threatened with the prospect of facing all one’s weaknesses, with no title to special claims, a comparatively insignificant figure or even—in one’s own eyes—a contemptible one. More terrifying still, one is faced with one’s conflicts and the hideous fear of being torn to pieces. That this may give one a chance of becoming a much better human being worth more than all the glory of one’s idealized image, is a gospel one hears but for a long time means nothing to one. It is a leap in the dark of which one is afraid. With so great a subjective value to recommend it, the position of the image would be unassailable if it were not for the huge drawbacks inseparable from it. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

ImageThe whole edifice is in the first place extremely rickety by reason of the fictitious elements involved. A treasure house loaded with dynamite, it makes the individual highly vulnerable. Any questioning or criticism from outside, any awareness of one’s own failure to measure up to the image, any real insight into the forces operating within one can make it explode or crumble. One must restrict one’s life lest one be exposed to such dangers. One must avoid situations in which one would not be admired or recognized. One must avoid tasks that one is not certain to master. One may even develop an intense aversion to effort of any kind. To one, the gifted one, the mere vision of a picture one might paint is already the master painting. Any mediocre person can get somewhere by hard work; for one to apply oneself like very Tom, Dick, and Harry would be an admission that one is not the mastermind, and so humiliating. Since nothing can actually be achieved without work, one defeats by one’s attitude the very ends one is driven to attain. And the gap between one’s idealized image and one’s real self widens. One is dependent upon endless affirmations from others in the form of approval, admiration, flattery—none of which, however, can give one any more than temporary reassurance. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

ImageOne may unconsciously hate everyone who is overbearing or who, being better than one in any way—more assertive, more evenly balanced, better formed—threatens to undermine one’s own notions of oneself. The more desperately one clings to the belief that one is one’s idealized image, the more violent the hatred. Or, if one’s own arrogance is repressed, one may blindly admire persons who are openly convinced of their importance and show it by arrogant behaviour. One loves in them one’s own image and inevitably runs into severe disappointment when one becomes aware, as one must at some time or other, that the gods one so admires are interested only in themselves, and as far as one is concerned care only for the incense one burns at alters. Tracing out and enabling helps clients to trace out the consequences of their resistances and enabling them to be resistant are two other ways to catalyze productive change. I have often found it helpful for client invested in smallness, for example, to detail the dullness, routine, and oppressiveness that they foresee in their lives. I have found it equally useful for inflated clients to peer into their unsettling futures. While such strategies may acutely frustrate certain clients, they can also alert them to present opportunities, which can head off their nightmarish fantasies. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

ImageAmbivalent clients can also benefit from the strategy of tracing out. Experientially detailing the pros and cons of a situation or anticipating the meaning of remaining ambivalent have all helped my clients to substantively reassess their predicaments. One of the most interesting and ironic features of vivification is that when all else fails, just allowing the client to resist can be the most salient remedy. When I worked with highly resistive (nonviolent) children, for example, I found that divesting of a given treatment plan was more effective, frequently, than pressing for a particular strategy. Highly resistive adult clients also respond favourably to such divestitures. When such clients are allowed to simply be their withdrawn, grandiose, or intractable selves, they will frequently begin to relinquish those dispositions. For example, I suggested to one intransigent client that she just “be that way,” and that she could use her time as she wished. At first she agreed and diverted us to another topic. As time went on, however, it became clear that she felt uncomfortable with this arrangement. When I worked with her to stay present to that discomfort, she acknowledged how infuriated she had become with herself and how tired she had become of treating herself like an invalid. It was then that she recommitted to change. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

ImageVivifying or modeling desired behaviour is another way to catalyze resistant clients. By forming an alliance with the part of a client that could be, the therapist can tacitly underscore who that client is; the contrast between the two can invigorate the client to transform. I once told a client who was about to give up on herself, for example, that I was not about to give up on her, and that I would form an alliance with the part of her that believed. Although little changed at first, she gradually realized how absurd her hopelessness had been. As long as I can be of help to you, I will work with you. You not only have permission without condemnation to express your struggle to be; you have prior experiences, from the greatest authority (God), of your own rights and your own being. You are a person with your own rights. To make covenant with God, is impossible, but by deep prayer of such as God speaks to, either by revelation supernatural, or by his lieutenants that govern under Him, and in His Name; for otherwise we know not whether our covenants be accepted, or not. And therefore they that vow anything contrary to any law of nature, vow in vain; as being a thing unjust to pay such a vow. And if it be a thing commanded by the law of nature, it is not the vow, but the law that binds them. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

ImageChristianity is holding that human beings are somehow good apart from God and therefore capable of saving themselves, even saving themselves by merit. The fear of many is that if you do not hold human beings to be, essentially and as such “rotten,” and forever so, you are thereby committed to the view that they are, as such, essentially good and therefore righteous and meritorious. This is a field of battle fought over by Pelagius and Augustine many centuries ago and repeatedly revisited through Christian history. It involves many important issues, which cannot be fully dealt with here. We must keep clear, however, that it is the worth of the human beings, not their righteousness, which is tied to their nature. Things of great value can still be lost and often are; and to be of great values does not mean one is not lost, but is saved and safe. “Depravity” does not, properly, refer to the inability to act, but to the unwillingness to act and clearly the inability to earn. Everyone must be active in the process of their salvation and transformation to Christlikeness. This is an inescapable fact. However, the initiative in the process is always God’s, and we would in fact do nothing without His initiative. Yet, that initiative is not something we are waiting upon. The ball is, as it were, in our court. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

ImageGod has invaded human history and reality. Jesus Christ has died on our behalf, is risen, and is now supervising events on Earth toward an end that He will certainly bring to pass, to the glory of God. The issue now concerns what we will do. The idea that we can do noting is an unfortunate confusion, and those who sponsor it never practice it, thank goodness. If we—though well-directed and unrelenting action—effectually receive the grace of God in salvation and transformation, we certainly will be incrementally changed toward inward Christlikeness. The transformation of the outer life, especially of our behaviour, will follow suit. That too is an inescapable fact. “No good tree produced bad fruit,” reports Luke 6.43. However, this means both goodness and ability in union with God, not apart from Him—not independently, on our own. The transformation of the inner being is as much or more a gift of grace as is our justification before God. Of course neither one is wholly passive. (To be forever lost you need only do nothing. Just stay your course.) However, with reference to both justification and transformation, “boasting is excluded” by the law of grace through faith (Romans 3.27-31; Ephesians 2.1-10). #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

ImageIn fact, we consume the most grace by leading a holy life, in which we must be constantly upheld by grace, not by continuing to sin and being repeatedly forgiven. The interpretation of grace as having only to do with guilt is utterly false to biblical teaching and renders spiritual life in Christ unintelligible. Hopefully, it will now be clear that our inner (and therefore outer) being can be transformed is not only possible, but has actually occurred to a significant degree in the lives of many human beings; and it is necessary if our life as a whole is to manifest one’s goodness and power, and if we as individuals are to grow into the eternal calling that God places upon each life. God is the only who has no beginning. Now whatever has a beginning, is not eternal. Therefore God is the only one eternal. Eternity truly and properly so called is in God lone, because eternity follows on immutability. However, God alone is altogether immutable. Accordingly, however, as some receive immutability from Him, they share in His eternity. Thus some receive immutability from God in the way of never ceasing to exist; in that sense it is said of the Earth, “it shall stand forever,” as reported in Ecclesiastics 1.4. Again, some things are called eternal in Scripture because of the length of their duration, although they are in nature corruptible things; thus Psalms 75.5 the hills are called “eternal” and we read “of the fruits of the eternal hills.” Deuteronomy 33.15. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

ImageSome again share more fully than others in the nature of eternity, inasmuch as they possess unchangeableness either in being or further still in operation; like the Angels, and the blessed, who enjoy the Word, because “as regards that vision of the Word, no changing thoughts exist in the Saints,” as Augustine says. Hence those who see God are said to have eternal life; according to that text, “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God,” excreta (Jn. 17.3). There are said to be many eternities, accordingly as many share in eternity, by the contemplation of God. The fire of Hell is called eternal, only because it never ends. Still, there is change in the pains of the lost, according to the words “To extreme heat they will pass from snowy Psalm “Their time will be forever,” reports Psalms 80.16. Necessary means a certain mode of truth; and truth, according to the Philosopher, is in the mind. Therefore, in this sense the true and necessary are eternal, because they are in the eternal mind, which is the divine intellect alone; hence it does not follow that anything is eternal besides God. Be present, O Lord, to Thy suppliants, and graciously protect those who place their whole trust in Thy mercy; that being cleansed from the stain of sin, they may continue in holy living, and being sufficiently supplied with temporal blessings, may attain the inheritance of Thy promises; though Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

ImageGrant us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, always to seek Thy kingdom and righteousness; and of whatsoever Thou seest us to stand in need, mercifully grant us an abundant portion; through Jesus Christ our Lord. “For behold, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto my father (Lehi), yea; even in a dream, and said unto him: Blessed art thou Lehi, because the things which thou has done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy life. And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness. And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him. And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness. And he came down by the borders near the shore of the Red Sea; and he traveled in the wilderness in the borders which are nearer the Red Sea; and he did travel in the wilderness with his family, which consisted of my mother, Sariah, and my elder brothers, who were Leman, Lemuel, and Sam,” reports 1 Nephi 2.1-5. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

ImageSovereign Lord, when clouds of darkness, atheism, and unbelief come to me, I see thy purpose of love in withdrawing the Spirit that I might prize him more, in chastening me for my confidence in past successes, that my wound of secret godlessness might be cured. Help me to humble myself before Thee by seeing the vanity of honour as a conceit of human’s minds, as standing between me and thee; by seeing that thy will must be done, as much in denying as in giving spiritual enjoyments; by seeing that my heart is nothing but evil, mind, mouth, life void of thee; by seeing that sin and Satan are allowed power in me that I might know my sin, be humbled, and gain strength thereby; by seeing that unbelief shuts thee from me, so that I sense not thy majesty, power, mercy, or love. Then possess me, for thou only art good and worthy. Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin, Satan did not play in tempting me to it, I do not play when I sink in deep mire, for sin is no game, no toy, no bauble; let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against. When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me, by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but that in Christ I am reconciled, made alive, and satisfied; that I am feeble and unable to do any good, but that in Hum I can do all things; that what I now have in Christ is mine in part, but shortly I shall have it perfectly in Heaven. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19Image

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God, the Creator of the Universe, Will Thrust You Further and do More than You Can Even think or Ask!

ImageThe three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work, second, consistently, third, common sense. Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them. Somehow I cannot believe that there are any heights that cannot be scaled by a person who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy; and the greatest of all confidence. Adult learning is a changed relationship between the central effects of separate stimulations. Two sets of events, which are separately experienced on two unconnected occasions, can become associated. It is possible to begin to imagine how one might learn to recognize, for instance a bird, either though seeing and touching it, or through hearing it. Circular cell-assemblies are capable of reverberation. The association might be set up by vision, and yet be manifested later purely from hearing a sound, or feeling a touch. Any element can stand for the whole, and the whole can stand for any element. We catch here a glimpse of what is called conceptual learning or symbolic learning; learning through the use of the words and symbols. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18

ImageThere is a possibility that a subsystem may act as a link between two systems (conceptual structures). The two systems have a subsystem connecting them, to provide a basis of prompt association. Thus, two concepts may acquire a latent association without ever having occurred together in the subject’s past experience. For instance, a person fears apple-picking and window-cleaning because these are associated with going up steps, and this is associated with some danger connected with being in an upstairs room. And so the experience of seeing something can be associated with something heard, or a word that is read may be associated with a picture or a sound. These can all stand for or means each other. The process of thinking must be rather like this—a sequence of central events which starts when one central activity is a stimulus for the next month, without need the intervention of a sensory stimulus. One of the most interesting epochs in human history is the so-called Neolithic revolution. That revolution accompanied the development of agriculture in Asia Minor about 10,000 years ago. It is very likely, although we have no proof as yet, that it was women who discovered agriculture, and what they discovered was that wild grasses could be raised and improved to yield edible what and other grains. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18

ImageThe men were not so ingenious. In that same period, they were probably still hunting or were acquiring and caring for flocks of sheep. With the discovery of agriculture came the awareness that one’s food need be limited only to what nature provided of its own accord, but one could also take a creative hand in the natural process. Using one’s intelligence and skills, one could produce something. As I said, it happened only a short time ago. In the early years of this revolution—let us say in the first four thousand—you would no doubt have found remarkably peaceful societies, ones in many respects like those of the North American Pueblo Indians. They were probably even matriarchal in organization and inhabited small villages. They produced a little more than they needed at any given moment, and that surplus gave them added security and allowed their populations to grow. However, they did not have so much surplus that one group would envy another and want to take away its surplus. Neolithic society, like modern tribes I have just discussed here, was probably characterized by a genuinely democratic way of life and, as I said, by much stronger role for women and mothers. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18

ImagePatriarchal organization came much later, about 4000 to 3000 B.C., a period in which everything changed. People were able to produce much more than they needed. Slavery was introduced. The division of labour became more pronounced. Armies were built up; governments were formed; wars were fought. Humans discovered that one could use other humans to work for them. Hierarchies formed, with kings at their heads. The kings were deputies of God and often filled the role of high priest. That situation encouraged the development of aggressiveness, for humans now had the ability to rob, steal, and exploit. And natural democracy gave way to a hierarchy in which everyone had to obey. Proponents of the instinct theory often claim that war is caused by human’s aggressive instincts. That is a very naïve as well as a very incorrect view. First of all, we know that most wars come about because governments convince their populations that they are under attack, that they have to defend their most sacred values, their lives, their freedom, democracy, and Lord knows what else. The wave of enthusiasm for war lasts a few weeks and then is pretty much gone. Now people have to be threatened and punished to continue fighting. However, if people were by nature so aggressive that war actually satisfied their aggressive instincts, then governments would not have to take those measures. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18

ImageOn the contrary, they would have to propagandize for peace all the time so that people would not be constantly yearning for a war in which they could vent their aggression. However, as we all know, that is not the way things are, and we can even identify quite precisely the period when war as an institution had its beginnings or, if you will, was invented. It was the period after the Neolithic revolution, the period that saw he rise of city-state, of kings, of armies, and of the capability to make war, take slaves, steal treasure, and so forth. There was no organize war among the hunter-gatherers and the primitive agriculture peoples, because the capability for it simply did not exist. What this discussion shows us is that a number of primitive tribes have social systems in which friendliness and cooperation are predominant and aggression at a minimum. If that picture of primitive societies is correct, the “hydraulic” theory that identifies aggression as an instinct cannot be maintained. Another point we can cite against the instinct theory is that levels of aggression within a society can vary greatly. If we look at the early 1930s in Germany, for example, we find that the Nazis drew most of their support from the old petit-bourgeoisie and from officers and students whose careers had been disabled by postwar conditions. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18

ImageThe Nazis found no emotional echo in the middle class an upper middle class. I do not mean to say that those classes did not acquiesce in the Nazi system, but the ardent Nazis did not come from those classes, much less from the working class. Convinced Nazis were, as we all know, more the exception than the rule in the working classes, though, oddly enough, convinced anti-Nazis were also an exception among workers. Why that is so is another question altogether. We find a similar situation in the American South. In some cases, the less affluent people in the South have an incredible store of aggressiveness, typically much more than Southern middle class and more too than the working class either in the South or on the American East Coast. Aggressiveness is always most present in those classes that are on the lowest social level, at the bottom of the social pyramid. Those are people who have few pleasures in life, who are usually uneducated, who see themselves being slowly squeeze out of the social mainstream, who are lacking in motivation and interests. Such people build up vast amounts of sadistic rage that does not develop in people who are productively occupied an who feel fully engaged in—or at least not totally exclude from—the social process. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18

ImageThose latter people, who are underrepresented and being pushes out of society, have interests; they have the feeling that they are in step with the rest of society. That is why those classes do not develop the same measure of sadism and aggression that the old petit—bourgeoisie in Germany did or that certain classes in American do. Levels of aggressiveness will differ in individuals, too. Take the patient who comes to a psychiatrist and says, “Doctor, I strongly dislike everybody. I do not care for my wife. I find my children unpleasant. I cannot stand the people I work with. There is nobody I actually like.” For the psychiatrist, and I would hope for almost anyone else, too, that patient has rendered one’s own diagnosis and declared oneself sick. We do not respond to such a person by saying, “But of course, everything is perfectly clear. We have here a case of the aggressive instinct at work.” We say instead that this man’s character is so constituted that it constantly produces aggression. We then ask: How did this person get this way? We inquire into the social circumstances of his life, his family history, his past experiences. We try to understand why such a high level of aggressiveness became part of this individual, part of one’s character structure. We do not say, as the advocates of the instinct theory say when they talk about war: “There is nothing you can do about it. This case just proves all over again how strong our inborn aggressiveness is.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 18

ImageAll of us know aggressive people, and by aggressive I do not mean just quick-tempered. I mean destructive, hostile, sadistic people. And we all know friendly people who strike us as being warm and nonaggressive not just on a superficial level but at their very core. Their friendliness cannot in any way be equated with weakness or servility. If we are unaware of such differences, then we are in a bad way—and many people are in a bad way, because they do no notice those differences. However, most people who take the trouble to look around them with any care know very well that those characterological differences exist. The contradiction between the guilt feelings that are manifested and the lack of that humility which should accompany them must be considered. The neurotic will make great demands for consideration and admiration and will also show a distinct unwillingness to accept the slightest degree of criticism. This contradiction may be glaringly obvious, as in the case of a woman who felt vaguely guilty of every crime reported in the papers, and even blamed herself for every death in the family, but was so overwhelmed by an acute outbreak of rage that she fainted when her sister rather mildly reproached her for requesting too much consideration. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18

ImageHowever, the contradiction is not always so conspicuous; it is present much more frequently than appears on the surface. The neurotic may mistake one’s self-accusatory attitude for a sound critical attitude toward oneself. One’s sensitivity toward criticism may be screened by a belief that one can take criticism very well, if only it is made in a friendly or constructive manner; but this belief is only a screen and is contradicted by the facts. Even obviously friendly advice may be reacted to with anger, for advice of any kind implies criticism for not being altogether perfect. Thus is guilt feelings are carefully examined and are tested for genuineness, it becomes apparent that much of what looks like feelings of guilt is the expression either of anxiety or of a defense against it. In part this holds true also for the normal individual. In our culture it is considered nobler to fear God than to fear people, or in non-religious terms, to refrain from something because of conscience rather than because of a fear of getting caught. Many a husband who pretends to be faithful because of his conscience is in reality merely afraid of his wife. Because of the great amount of anxiety in neuroses the neurotic in inclined more often than the normal individual to cover up anxiety with guilt feelings. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18

ImageUnlike the normal person one not only fears those consequences which are likely to happen, but anticipates consequences which are likely to happen, but anticipates consequences utterly disproportionate to reality. The nature of these anticipations depends on the situation. One may have an exaggerated notion of impending punishment, retaliation, desertion, or one’s fears may be completely vague. However, whatever their nature one’s fears are all kindled at the same point, which may be roughly described as the fear of disapproval, or if the fear of disapproval amounts to a conviction, as a fear of being found out. The fear of disapproval is very common in neuroses. Nearly every neurotic, even though one appears on surface observation to be entirely certain of oneself and indifferent to the opinion of others, is excessively afraid of or hypersensitive to being disapproved of, criticized, accused, found out. As I have already mentioned, this fear of disapproval is usually understood to indicate underlying guilt feelings. In other words, it is considered to be a result of such feelings. Critical observation makes this conclusion questionable. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18

Image In analysis a patient will often find it extremely difficult to talk about certain experiences or thoughts—those, for example, concerning death wishes, masturbation, incest wishes—because one believes one feels guilty. When one has gained sufficient confidence to talk about them, and recognizes that they do not meet with disapproval, the “guilt feelings” vanish. One feels guilty because, as a result of one’s anxieties, one is even more than others dependent on public opinion, and hence mistakes it naively as one’s own judgment. Furthermore one’s general sensitivity toward disapproval remains fundamentally unchanged, even if one’s special guilt feelings vanish after one has brought oneself to talk about the experiences that prompted them. This observation suggests the conclusion that guilt feelings are not the cause but the result of the fear of disapproval. “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit,” reports 2 Corinthians 3.18. We have looked, now, at the basic dimensions of the human self and at the central principle of its dysfunctionality and corruption (that is, self-denial). Spiritual formation in Christ is the process by which one moves an is moved from self-worship to Christ-centered self-denial as a general condition of God’s present and eternal kingdom. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18

ImageThe next logical step in a practical treatment of spiritual formation might seem to be the provision of detailed instructions on how to move from a life of self-adulation to one of self-denial, dealing with each of the dimensions of the human being in turn. And we plan to do just that. However, before it can be effectively done in our contemporary context, we must clear up a few more preliminary matters. First of all, we must be clear that such a transition as is envisioned in Christian spiritual formation can actually happen, and can actually happen to us. This, today, is not obvious. What we see around us today of the usual Christian life could easily make us think that spiritual transformation is simply impossible. It is now common for Christian leaders themselves to complain about how little real-life difference there is between professing, or even actual Christians, on the one hand, and non-Christians on the other. Although there is much talk about “changing lives” in Christian circles, the reality is very rare, and certainly much less common than the talk. The “failures” of prominent Christian leaders themselves, already referred to, might cause us to think genuine spiritual formation in Christlikeness to be impossible for “real human beings.” How is it, exactly, that a man or woman can respectably serve Christ for many years and then morally disintegrate? #RandolphHarris 12 of 18

ImageAnd the failures that become known are few compared to the ones that remain relatively unknown and are even accepted among Christians. The effect of Christians working in the church, politics, business, entertainment, or education depends on the circumstances of how widely the failure becomes known, and on various other factors. There was a case of a pastor who became enraged at something a subordinate did during a Sunday morning service. Immediately after the service he found that subordinate and gave him a merciless tongue-lashing. With his lapel microphone still on! His diatribe was broadcast over the entire church plant and campus—in all the Sunday school rooms and the parking lot. Soon there after he “received the Lord’s call” to another church. However, what about their spiritual formation of this leader? Is that the best we can do? And is one not still really like that in one’s new position? Malfeasance with money is less acceptable than anger, and misconduct dealing with pleasures of the flesh is less tolerated still. However, is the inner condition (the heart) all that different in these cases—before God? The sad thing when a leader (or any individual) “fails” is not just what one said or did, but the heart and life and whole person who is revealed by the act. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18

ImageWhat is sad is who these leaders have been all along, what their inner life has been like, and no doubt also how they have suffered during all the years they “did it” or were found out. What kind of persons have they been, and what, really has been their relation to God? Real spiritual need and change, as we have emphasized, is on the inside, in the hidden area of the life that God sees and that we cannot even see in ourselves without his help. Indeed, in the early stages of spiritual development we could not endure seeing our inner life as it really is. The possibility of denial and self-deception is something God has made accessible to us, in part to protect us until we begin to seek him. Like the face of the mythical Medusa, our true condition away from God would turn us to stone if we were fully confronted it. It would drive us mad. He has to help us come to terms with it in ways that will not destroy us outright. Without the gentle though rigorous process of inner transformation, initiated and sustained by the graceful presence of God in our World and in our soul, the change of personality and life clearly announced and spelled out in the Bible, and explained and illustrated throughout Christian history is impossible. We not only admit it, but also insist upon it. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18

ImageHowever, on the other hand, the result of the effort to change our behaviour without inner transformation is precisely what we see in the current shallowness of Western Christianity that is so widely lamented and in the notorious failures of Christian leaders. One that performs first in the case of a contract, is said to merit that which one is to receive by the performance of the other; and one has it due. Also when a prize is propounded to many, which is to be given to one only that wins; or money is thrown amongst many, to be enjoyed by them that catch it; though this be a free gift; yet so to win, or so to catch, is to merit, and to have it as due. For the right is transferred in the propounding of the prize, and in throwing down the money; though it be not determined to whom, but by the event of the contention. However, there is between these two sorts of merit, this difference, that in contract, I merit by virtue of my own power, and the contractors need; but in this case of free gift, I am enabled to merit only by the benignity of the giver; in contract, I merit at the contractors hand that one should depart with one’s right; in this case of gift, I merit not that the giver should part with one’s right; but that when one has parted with it, it should be mine, rather than another’s. And this I think to be the meaning of that distinction of the schools, between Meritum Congrui, and Meritum Condigni. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18

ImageFor God Almighty, having promised Paradise to those people (hoodwinked with carnal desires,) that can walk through this World according to the precepts, and limits prescribed by one; they say, one that shall so walk, shall merit Paradise Ex Congruo. However, because no person can demand a right to it, by one’s own righteousness, or any other power in oneself, but by the free grace of God only; they say, no person can merit Paradise Ex Congruo. However, because no person can demand a right to it, by one’s own righteousness, or any other power in oneself, but by the free grace of God only; they say, no person can merit Paradise Ex Condigno. This I say, I think is the meaning of that distinction; but because disputers do not agree upon the signification of their own terms of Art, longer than it serves their turn; I will not affirm anything of their meaning: only this I say; when a gift is given indefinitely, as a prize to be contended for, one that wins merit, and may claim the prize as due. It is safe to say that throughout much of church history, Scripture and right reason were considered twin allies to be prized and used by disciples of Jesus. Jesus our Master, do Thou meet us while we walk in the way, and long to reach the Heavenly Country; so that following Thy light, we may keep the way of righteousness, and never wander away into the horrible darkness of this World’s night, while Thou Who art the Way, the Truth, and the Life, art shining within us. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18

ImageO LORD, our support and our refuge, deliver us from temptation, give us the defence of Thy salvation, hold us up with Thy right hand, teach us by Thy discipline, and make our way and our life undefiled. “And it came to pass as he (Lehi, Nephi’s father) prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly. And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem; and he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen. And being this overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the Heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of Angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God. And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of Heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the Sun at noon-day. And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. And they came down and went forth upon the face of the Earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and have unto him a book, and bade him that he should read,” reports 1 Nephi 6-11. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18

ImageO God of grace, Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute, and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness. However, in my Christian walk I am still in rags; my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential tears are so much impurity; my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness. I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness; I am always standing clothed in filthy garments, and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for Thou dost always justify the ungodly; I am always going into the far country, an always returning homes as a prodigal, always saying, Father, forgive me, and thou art always bringing forth the best robe. Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter Heaven in it shining as the Sun. Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18

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Cresleigh Homes

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Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. We get it, you need your space. How does two closets in your bedroom sound? 😍 Additionally, HUB Apartments offers high ceilings, full sized washers and dryers, and more! Looking to make the move to Folsom, CA? Check out @HUBApts today! 

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To become successful you must be a person of action. Merely to “know” is not sufficient. It is necessary to both know and do. Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Do not just stand there, make it happen.

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It is Time to Start Considering Your God—He is the All-Powerful Creator of the Universe!

ImageFear of failure brings fear of taking risks and you are never going to get what you want out of life without taking some risks. Diabasis is a center for dealing with acutely schizophrenic young persons that was established by John W. Perry, M.D., a respected Jungian analyst. Diabasis is a Greek word meaning “crossing over.” Dr. Perry had had twenty-five years of experience in dealing with psychotics in various settings. He had become increasingly convinced that most schizophrenic episodes were actually a chaotic but vital attempt at growth and self-healing, and that is such an “Individual” (he dropped the term patient) were treated as a person and provided with a close and trusting relationship, she could, in a relatively short time, live through this crisis and emerge stronger and healthier. Dr. Perry and Dr. Howard Levine, another Jungian analyst, set up Diabasis to implement this view more fully than could be done in a psychiatric hospital. The first step was to select a staff. Paper credentials were disregarded. The criteria for selection consisted of attitudes. They chose people, mostly young, who showed in their training seminars an ability to relate to withdrawn individuals who were preoccupied with events in their inner Worlds. Many of these young volunteers were members of the counter-culture. They knew that it was to be alienated. Often they had been on drug trips—good and bad. They were not frightened by bizarre thoughts or behaviour. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17

ImageThe home that housed Diabasis had room for only six Individuals, plus volunteers and minimal house staff. It is a non-authoritarian, non-judgmental milieu in which each individual (staff as well as client) is allowed to express oneself in whatever modes one chooses, emotionally, artistically, and physically. Clients at every point of their psychosis are regarded as being in a legitimate state and are not compelled to conform to rational modes of behaviour. Instead the psychotic individual is accepted in two important ways. One is accepted by everyone in the house as going through a stressful period of growth during which one needs understanding and companionship. Of importance is the special relationship with one staff person, who thoroughly invests oneself in building a trusting closeness with the troubled person. Whenever possible the Individual selects this special person with whom to work. Dr. Perry describes well the reason for this special staff member. “The inner journey or renewal process tends to remain scattered, fragmented, and incoherent until the point at which the individual begins to open up to another person enough to entrust to one one’s inner experience as it unfolds. When this happens the content of one’s symbolic experience becomes intensified, and thereupon apparently moves ahead in a more progressive fashion toward its conclusion. It is often surprising how ‘psychotic’ and yet at the same time coherent the patient’s communication can be, providing one feels related to the therapist.” #RandolphHarris 2 of 17

ImageThe same point is made by a young man who worked for two years at Diabasis, first as a volunteer, recently on the paid staff. He says: “We feel that what is called madness can best be understood as a journey of exploration and discover, regulated by the psyche, in which the various elements of the personality can be recognized in a more fruitful and self-fulfilling way. This process can only occur, however, in an environment in which these altered states of consciousness are respected as valid ways of being, rather than being derided as ‘crazy’ and of no value.” The contrast with the medical model of treatment of psychosis could scarcely be greater. Under the medical model, this individual is first of all a patient rather than a person. She is diagnosed, and either explicitly or implicitly is given to know what she has an “illness,” a craziness, which is to be eliminated by heavy medication or shock therapy, or even restraint if necessary, until her “illness” is eradicated. It is clear that there is something “wrong” with her state. “In the traditional settings there is massive use of medication and behavioural restraint in the early phase of the treatment to suppress the psychotic material. There is no attempt to see the material as useful to the individual involved. Thus, after control of the psychosis has been established, no efforts are made to integrate the material into the ongoing life of the individual.” It is a politics of suppression and control by professional power, and it has a very poor record, as indicated by the “revolving door” syndrome of psychiatric hospitals. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17

ImageIn Diabasis, as in any person-centered therapy, the politics is completely reversed. The philosophy of therapy is, in this case, not one of imposing order from above downwards by a regimen of strict management, but rather it is a more fluid one of sensitively following the Individual’s concerns as they evolve through the process in order to catalyze it. Then a democratic structure of the ward community is the appropriate form, in which ordering and integrating are expected to emerge from the spontaneous concerns and feelings and insights f both resident Individuals and staff together. This means that the Individual provides the leads, points the directions one needs to go. Empathically, the therapist and the other house staff act as companions in following those leads, without sacrificing their own feelings or their own personhood. The non-rational concerns of the client are given a full hearing and, to the best of the staff’s ability (which increases with experience) are empathically understood, as a necessary and deeply meaningful inner journey. The nurses take their cues from the Individual and these closer staff companions. The psychiatrist assists in helping them all understand the directions they are taking, but in no sense directs the process. Essential power and control thus flow upward from the psychotic person and one’s needs, to the dedicated house staff, to the nurses and psychiatrists. It is a complete reversal of traditional hierarchical, psychiatric treatment. #RandolphHarris 4 of 17

ImageThis focus on the person is evident in the highly equalitarian atmosphere. Staff and Individuals eat together, dress as they desire. The casual visitor would have no way of knowing who was client and who was staff. This whole atmosphere has permeated the organization as well. From the first the administration of Diabasis became the province of the whole staff rather than of a director. The power, responsibility, and decision-making are shared by all. Democracy can be recognized as a state of psychic development in which the ordering and ruling principle is realized as belonging essentially within the psychic life of the individual. The social structure and culture established in the therapeutic milieu should be a reflection of this natural need, a fitting external expression of what is happening in depth. In person-centered therapy, the traditional organization, with power flowing down from the top, becomes totally inappropriate and ridiculous. The immediate result of this whole program on the psychotic individual is dramatic. What has been most remarkable and beyond all of our expectations, is that individuals in acutely psychotic turmoils very rapidly settle down and become clear and coherent, usually within a period of a few days to a week, and without the use of medication. Thus severely disturbed behaviour becomes manageable when staff relate with feeling to the individual’s emotional state. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17

ImageAlthough the history of this unique place is brief, the outcome appears to be good. One indication is that four former clients (Individuals) are already on the staff of a conceptually similar small institution. They are now able to use their own past experience to help others. The cost is far less than in the usual facility. And it seems to have left behind the “revolving door” experience of the state hospital. It is reasonable to suppose that this innovative, helpful new mode of dealing with the young person during one’s first psychotic episode would be widely hailed and eagerly supported. Not so. To understand the reasons, we needs to look at the politics of Diabasis, and the threat it constitutes to the traditional politics. It is easy to see why orthodox psychiatrists and even Jungian colleagues look upon Diabasis with uneasiness and criticism. At Diabasis the best therapists often have proven to be relatively untrained paraprofessionals. This is disturbing to the ordinary professional. They are mostly volunteers, thus posing a vague economic threat. There is no strict medical control, in the ordinary sense. This offends physicians. The doctors do not even use their prerogative to prescribe medication. Dr. Perry thinks he has given two tranquilizers in the past ten months! The organization itself is not directed by physicians. They are simply facilitators of a process. This is staggering departure from tradition. #RandolphHarris 6 of 17

ImageConsequently there is grumbling and criticism about ow standards. Financial support is very difficult to come by. Like all person-centered therapy, it is revolutionary in its implications, and the professional establishment is fearful of it. To see psychiatrists relinquishing control of “patients” and staff, to see them serving only as successful facilitators of personal growth for deeply troubled “insane” persons rather than being in charge of these people is, I am sad to say, a very frightening scene to psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals. Revolutionaries are seen as dangerous—and there is no doubt that they are dangerous to the established order. A person-centered approach, when utilized to encourage the growth and development of the psychotic, the troubled, or the normal individual, revolutionizes the customary behaviours of members of the helping professions. It illustrates many things: A sensitive person, trying to be of help, becomes more person-centered, no matter what orientation one starts from, because one finds that approach more effective. When you are focused on the person, diagnostic labels become largely irrelevant. The traditional medical model in psychotherapy is discovered to be largely in opposition to person-centeredness. It is found that those who can create an effective professionally trained group. The more this person-centered approach is implemented and put into practice, the more it is found to challenge hierarchical models of treatment and hierarchical methods of organization. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17

ImageThe very effectiveness of this unified person-centered approach constitutes a threat to professionals, administrators, and others, and steps are taken—consciously and unconsciously—to destroy it. It is too revolutionary. This brings us to a core issue in understanding the relationship of the law of God to the grace of God. (Law is used here as a summation of God’s moral commands.) Under the reign of grace, is the moral will of God, considered as a whole, a request or a command? This question is not a theoretical exercise in semantics. The word request connotes desire; whereas the word command connotes authority to require. Response to a desire is optional; response to a command is not. So when Jesus said we love Him by obeying His commands, was He using the word command are we ordinarily understand it, or was He using it as an expression of God’s desire? In the realm of grace, does the moral will of God express the desire of God as to how He would like us to live, or does it express the requirement of God as to how are to live? Some people believe that, under grace, God’s law no longer has the meaning of requirement but is an expression of His desire. They would readily say God desires that we be holy, but God does not require that we be holy. They maintain that we have been freed, not only from the curse and condemnation resulting from breaking the law, but also from the requirements of the law as a rule of life. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17

ImageThey believe that to insist on obedience as a requirement for a Christian is to teach legalism instead of grace. In other words, to assign the concept of requirement to the will of God is legalism, but to assign the concept of desire to it is grace. I believe such a view is a misunderstanding of grace. God’s grace does not change the fundamental character of God’s moral law. Rather, the grace of God provides for the forgiveness and acceptance of those who have broken the law. The good news of the gospel is that God has removed the guilt we incur by breaking His law and has bestowed on us the righteousness of Christ, who perfectly kept His law. Legalism does no consist in yielding obedience to the law. Rather, it is to seek justification and good standing with God through the merit of works done in obedience to the law—instead of by faith in Christ. We need to always keep in mind that God is not only our Saviour and Heavenly Father through Christ, but He is also still God, the supreme Ruler and moral Governor of His creation. The sons and daughters of a kind are still under obligation to bey the laws their father has decreed for his realm, even thought they are his children. They are no more exempt from the laws than any other citizen. Even when the children of the king freely and willingly obey the laws, because they love their father and understand and agree with the laws he has pronounced, they are still subject to the laws of the realm. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17

ImageSo we as God’s children are subject to the laws of His realm. Out of a response to His grace, we should obey in a loving and grateful way. And, because God has written His law on our hearts, we will, as a rule, be in agreement with His law written in His word. However, we are still to regard God’s law as commands to be obeyed, not merely as expressions of His desires. Along the highways in the United States of America we have white speed limit signs and yellow speed advisory signs. The speed limit signs declare the law of the state. The speed advisory signs caution you to slow down, perhaps because an upcoming curve is too tight to be rounded at the legal speed limit. You can be fined for exceeding the posted speed limit because you have broken the law of the state. You will not be fined for exceeding the advisory speed because you have not broken any law. The law of God is like the white speed limit sign. It is the declared law of the realm. Some have broken that law many times, but Christ has paid our “fine” (which is death) for us. However, His paying our “fine” did not abolish the law. Christ’s death did not, so to speak, change a speed limit sign to a speed advisory sign. God’s law has not become optional because of His grace, merely advisory to keep us from getting hurt as we go through life. #RandolphHarris 10 of 17

ImageSo the fundamental character of God’s law has not changed. What has changed is our reason for obedience, our motive under a sense of legalism, obedience is done with a view to meriting salvation or God’s blessing on our lives. Under grace, obedience is a loving response to salvation already provided in Christ, and the assurance that, having provided salvation, God will also through Christ provide all else that we need. There is no question that obedience to God’s commands prompted by fear or merit-seeking is not true obedience. The only obedience acceptable to God is constrained and impelled by love, because “love is the fulfillment of the law,” reports Romans 13.10. God’s law as revealed in His Word prescribes our duty, but love provides the correct motive for obedience. We obey God’s law, not to be loved, but because we are loved in Christ. I readily acknowledge that it is indeed difficult to keep in our minds and hearts the commandment nature of God’s will without falling into the trap of legalism. It is a hard lesson to live above the law, and yet to walk according to the law. However, this is the lesson a Christian has to learn, to walk in the law in respect of duty, but to live above it in respect of comfort, neither expecting favour from the law in respect of one’s obedience nor fearing harsh treatment from the law in respect of one’s failing. #RandolphHarris 11 of 17

ImageIronically, the law of God, viewed as commands to be obeyed, should actually promote living by grace. When we view God’s commands as optional—or think that as God’s children we are no longer under the law as a moral requirement—we subtly slip into a works mentality. If obedience to God’s law is optional, then in our minds we begin to accumulate merit or extra points. After all, we did not have to obey, so we must gain some merit by voluntary obedience. However, the person who knows that one is required to obey God’s commands, even as a child of God, will see more and more how far short one comes in obedience. And if that person understands the biblical concept of grace, one will be driven more and more into the arms of the Saviour and His merit alone. You have got to get people lost before you can get them saved. Only those who recognize they are lost will turn to the Saviour. The Lord Jesus stated the same principle: “For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners,” reports Matthew 9.13. This principle applies to us even as believers living under grace. We do not have to get lost time and again, but we certainly need to be reminded that we are still sinners. The best way to do this is to take seriously the commands of God as a required rule of life. As we do, we will be continually reminded that we really are spiritually bankrupt—even as believers. And as redeemed sinners in a perpetual state of bankruptcy, we will come to appreciate more each say the superabounding grace of God. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17

ImageSo, then, God’s law, as a rule of life, is not opposed to grace. Rather, used in the right sense, it is the handmaid of grace. Or, to use an analogy, it is like a sheepdog that keeps driving us back into the fold of grace, when we stray out into the wilderness of works. The difference between the impossible and the possible is possessed in a person’s determination. Do those persons who are muted to self, who easily and regularly deny their self, have any mere sensitivity to self left? I think we will never be totally above such sensitivity. There is no reason we should be. Mere sensitivity to self is not itself wrong or sinful, so long as we do not welcome it or allow it to take over our actions and lives. (Recall the distinctions earlier drawn between the “thought of sin,” inclination, or temptation and sin itself.) As I grew older, some of the things I liked as a child, like video games, and climbing trees I grew out of. Yet, I became quite vain and dependent upon what others thought and said about me. A major part of my spiritual struggle in my late teens and early twenties was with vanity. I wanted to praise. In time. By God’s grace I became substantially—not totally—delivered, through prayer on Scripture, general studies, solitude, prayer, service to others, and just experience, along with the movements of grace in my heart and soul. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17

ImagePerhaps I am rarely governed by vanity now—others, of course, must be the judge of that—but it is still something I frequently feel. And I know that it could be something that controls my feelings and behaviour were I to let it or were God to abandon me to it. Choose evermore rather to have less than more. Seek ever the lower place and to be under all. Desire ever to pray that the will of God be all and wholly done. So, such a one enters the land of peace and quiet. If this plan were followed and were sufficiently accompanied by the movements of God’s spirit within us, we might make substantial progress toward the Character of Christ. One’s desire, is the one design of one’s life, namely not to do our own will, but to do the will of God. One’s only intention at all times and in all things is, not to please oneself, but God whom our souls love. One has a body full of light and is focused on God. Indeed, where the loving eye of the soul is continually fixed upon God, there can be no darkness at all, but the whole is light; as where the bright shining of a candle doth enlighten the house. God then reigns alone. All that is in the soul is holiness to the Lord. There is not a motion in one’s heart, but is according to God’s will. Every thought that arises points to God, and in one’s obedience to the law of God. This may be a bit more than many people could find credible for this life, but it is clearly the direction in which we can and should be moving as apprentices of the Lord. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17

ImageWhat we surely can say is that those who are dead to self are not controlled in thought, feeling, or action by self-exaltation or the will to have their own way, but are easily controlled by the love of God and neighbour. They still have some sensitivity to self-will, no doubt, and are never totally beyond the possibility of falling under subjugation to it. Only a proper discipline and grace will prevent this from actually happening. However, they no longer are locked in a struggle with it. Signs of Contract, are either Expressed, or By Inference. Expressed, are words spoken with understanding of what they signify; and such words are either of the time Present, or Past; as, I Give, I Grant, I Have Given, I Have Granted, I Will That This Be Yours: Or of the future; as, I Will Give, I Will Grant; which words of the future, are called Promise. Signs by Inference, are sometimes the consequences of Words; sometimes the consequences of Silence; sometimes the consequences of Actions; sometimes the consequence of Forbearing an Action: and generally a sign by Inference, of any Contract, is whatsoever sufficiently argues the Will of the Contractor. “And gain, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, though the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without a spot,” reports Moroni 10.33. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17

ImageWe beseech Thee, O Lord, be gracious to Thy people, that they, abhorring day by day the things which displease Thee, may be more and more filled with the love of Thy commandments, and being supported by Thy comfort in this mortal life may advance to the full enjoyment of life immortal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. O God, may Thy Spirit speak in me that I may speak to thee. I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me. I am undeserving, but I look to Thy tender mercy. I am full of infirmities, wants, sin; thou art full of grace. I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my willful sin; all my powers of body and soul are defiled: A fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being; I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in a no-man’s-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature. I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself; I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns and thistles; I am a fading lead that the wind drives away; I live bare and barren as a Winter tree, unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt. Lord, doest Thou have mercy on me? Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride, at the false God of self, and I lie in pieces before thee. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17

ImageHowever, Thou hast given me another Master and Lord, Thy Son, Jesus and now my heart is turned towards holiness, my life speeds as an arrow from a bow towards complete obedience to thee. Help me in all my doings to put down sin and to humble pride. Save me from the love of the World and the pride of life, from everything that is natural to fallen human, and let Christ’s nature be seen in me day by day. Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining, and delight to be not only chiseled, squared, or fashioned, but separated from the old rock where I have been embedded so long; and lifted from the quarry to the upper air, where I may be built in Christ forever. Make us, O Lord, to flourish like pure lilies in the courts of Thine house, and to show forth to the faithful the fragrance of good works and the example of a Godly life, though Thy mercy, O God. God, Whoever lovest what is true, and bringest to light what is hidden, Who wast pleased to come into the Virgin’s womb for the Word’s salvation; sprinkle us with the hyssop of Thy word, and purify us from our iniquities; and mercifully pour into our souls a right spirit to call upon Thee; through Thy mercy, and love we may be saved. You are equipped, empowered, and anointed by the Creator of the Universe for all He has planned for you. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17Image

CRESLEIGH MEADOWS AT PLUMAS RANCH

Plumas Lake, CA | from the mid $300’s

Now Selling!

Capture86It is time for us all to stand and cheer the doer, the achiever–the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it. Cresleigh Meadows is now selling! Found just north of Feather River Boulevard, Cresleigh Meadows is home of the largest neighborhood in Plumas Ranch as well as the popular Bear River Park. With four floor plans available, ranging from approximately 2,000 – 3,500 square feet offering, three to five bedrooms, we are certain you will find the home that fits your needs and lifestyle.

ImagePopular design elements include open floor plans, large kitchen islands, and flex spaces are staples in Cresleigh homes. Multi-generational living options also available in select homes. Featured above is residence 3 which is 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bedrooms and 2,871 square feet all on one level, which is larger than most two story homes, so it feels expansive! Integrity is honesty carried through the fibers of the being and the whole mind, into thought as well as action so that the person is complete in honesty. That kind of integrity I put above all else as an essential of leadership. https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-meadows-at-plumas-ranch/residence-3/

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