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Hearts and Renewed Spirits with Divine Compassion
Follow God when others put detour signs in your path. You have been reserved to come to the Earth for a special purpose. We each must find and finish our own story, but how much sweeter the telling when encouragement is called out, when arriving at our destination is valued and celebrated, however long ago the journey is commenced. It is very clear that the search for human fulfillment cannot be achieved by one’s natural powers alone. As the image of God, such a project can only be realized with God in full view; the origin and destiny of human life. This means, to have God within the soul, that is, to enjoy God. In fact, it is because the soul has the stamp of God that it is a mirror to see God; self-knowledge is a route towards God. Here is to be found ultimate human happiness and the crowing of a life’s journey. There is a joy which is not granted to the ungodly, but to those alone who worship God for their own sake, and whose joy he is. This is the blessed life, to rejoice in God. The search for truth is inextricably linked to the journey towards God. This brings one to a personal encounter with God, which is the full satisfaction of souls, this happy life: to recognize piously and completely the One through whom you are led into the truth, the nature of truth you enjoy, and the bond that connects you with the supreme measure. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The World is going through a tremendous and rapid change in every aspect of life. One cannot be left to reason alone, but requires God’s illumining and faith. Believe in yourselves. Believe that you are never alone. Believe that you will always be guided. God has promised us that as we search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all thing will work together for our good. That does not mean that everything will be perfect or that we will not have any trials, but it does mean that everything will be okay if we just hang in there. Ours is the opportunity to be an example of the believers, and God has promised that all things are possible to one that believes. Do not give in when the going is rough, for you are laying the foundation of a great work, and that great work is your life. Believe in your capacity to do good, to make some contribution to the society of which we are a part, to grow and develop, and to do things that we may now think impossible. This principle can make a difference in this World. It may be ever so small, but it will count for the greater good. You are one of the greatest generations to ever live on this Earth. There are things for each of you to do that no one else can do as well. You have a destiny to fulfill. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
There is a need for a deeply thought out evaluation of the meaning of culture and the knowledge of the human person. We must establish the existence of supreme values which should form the ideal aim of human life and education, and lead the way in determining how issues in the World can be healed. Each of these approaches to truth have their limits, but they highlight the aspects of human wisdom that leave a lasting mark on the best that can be found in human civilization. You are righteous examples as one of the believers will make a difference in the World, so be not weary in well-doing, for you are laying the foundation of a great work. As you strive to be an example of the believers, you may feel that you are standing alone. You may feel that you are the only one who is trying so hard to be righteous and pure. You may feel you are the only one striving to be modest in your actions, speech, and appearance. However, you are not alone. There are thousands of people like you all over the World who are striving to be an example of believers. God is the most adequate conceivable object of worship; there is no possibility of another reality beyond him to which he is inferior or subordinate and which would thus be an even more worthy recipient of human’s devotion. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
God seeks our trust only by showing himself to be trustworthy. Stopping to know what you are doing and why is not a one-time activity. It must be a daily activity. Spend time every morning or evening to think about the coming day. Set aside a day twelve times a year to plan your month. And spend one whole week each year reflecting and evaluating, to measure the years that have passed, to plan the year that is coming, and to stay on track. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before us and prepares the way for our destiny. You may be spending too much time analyzing your situation. You may have so many facts and figures that you have talked yourself out of what God can do. In the Scripture, God asks Abraham, “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” If you spent more time considering your God and thinking about his greatness and the times he has made a way in the past—dwelling on his promises, declaring victory and favor—what a difference might it make in your life? Have peace of heart and mind because you have given God your best. This is the true measure of success. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The truth that the deepest yearning of the human person consists in religious truth, which brings reason to the summit of its endeavor. Each one of you has the power to change the World. Heavenly Father, we petition you for that noble attribute of courage, for we know courage counts. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It is this sweet assurance that can guide you and me—in our time, in our day, in our lives. Of course, we will face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded as a willingness and determination to live decently. A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he or she thinks is right because others will disapprove or laugh. Do your duty even when critical eyes are watching. Remember that all people have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well. The ultimate truth about our own lives and about the goal of history is to bring humanity to the threshold of these depths and give room to other instruments to take their part in the drive to attain the ambition of bring true meaning to human life. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
God not only presides over nature as a whole by way of organized laws; in his loving-kindness he extends his Providence over individual human beings as well. God is incorporeal, and that internal complexity is a property of bodies alone, God appears to be one not only relative to other beings, but in an absolute internal sense as well. God is much more supreme that anything we know, he created the cosmos. Also, regarding the belief in immortality and the resurrection of the dead, these are phenomena that belong to the category of miracles which God might perform in his World. In their view, miracles are not absurd, given the principle that God is omnipotent and everything is possible for him. No one likes conflict. Especially in a religious setting. However, conflict is an unavoidable part of life, and when it comes, it can provide an unavoidable part of life, and it can also provide an opportunity to experience God’s sanctifying work in our hearts. It is my prayer that we overcome evil with good and keep our eyes above the fray of the gnashing teeth and stones being hurled at us. God, our master, model of perfection, we resolve to imitate your example, to be like you, mild, humble, chaste, zealous, charitable, and resigned. We wish to remember that with God all things are possible. Thank you, God, for your wisdom, strength, and divine compassion. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Matsuri Takahashi’s Employer Decides it was Time for her to Die
Hard work and sacrifice have long been synonymous with Japan, and strong social expectations make people work hard to be successful. However, Matsuri Takahashi (age 24), a beautiful young lady, promising graduate of Japan’s top university, leapt to her death 25 December of 2015, leaving being a trail of letters relentlessly begging for help. She worked over 265 hours in October of 2015. That is a total of 13.25 hours a day, five days a week, for a month. Matsuri Takahashi’s death was labeled “Karoshi” or death by overwork. The government warned her employer, Dentsu, and others that some of their employees were in danger of dying from being worked to death. In one year, 191 people have died from being overworked. Dentsu was reported to have worked Matsuri Takahashi so hard at their advertisement firm because they wanted more revenue. Because Dentsu ignored government regulations, their offices were raided, and Dentsu’s President Tadashi Ishii took full responsibility and resigned as president at a board meeting in January of 2016. Tadashi Ishii reported that Dentsu and a company employee had been referred to prosecutors by the Japanese labor ministry’s, Tokyo labor bureau on suspicion of violating labor standards. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
Many people wondered why did Matsuri Takahashi just not quit her job? Well, employees often feel a debt of gratitude for being hired and are reluctant to quit even if conditions are bad. Others, especially new hires, feel they have to work longer hours than their colleagues to get promoted. A Tokyo court ruled that the advertising giant made staff work beyond legal limits, and could not forget the death of Matsuri Takahashi, especially because the company ignored warnings that the employees were in danger of dying, and had been asking for help, but were ignored. Dentsu was fined just 500,000 yen ($6,050). At the very least, it must be granted that the knowledge of death depends not only upon experience, but also upon a level of mental culture that makes it possible to interpret experience accurately. It is just tragic that this young lady thought that the only way she could escape was through sacrificing her life on Christmas day. She kept asking for help and clearly felt her life was in danger and was stressed out and decided to end it on her own terms. She probably sat up at night thinking about how much she wanted to live and what would happen if she killed herself and finally gave up her life. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
Death reminds us that there is a spirit in humans. As we viewed the remains of our young friend, Matsuri Takahashi, it was obvious that more than blood had left her body. The light of her spirit no longer animated in her facial expression, nor the twinkle in her eyes. The smile that would light up the room was gone. She had her life taken from her at a tender, young age. However, it is important to remember that Matsuri Takahashi was good young lady and very successful. Just as we are born to parents to greet us, we also have eternal families. There are caring family members to greet her spirit, and other spirits in Heaven, and they will assist her in the adjustment to a new life. While standing before the casket, we thought that the separation was not only a shock for her mother, friends, family, colleagues, but also for the community and the World as well. We are sure she wishes should could tell her mother once more how much she loves her. This is just a reminder that the purpose of life is to teach and show others the love of God. If you know someone is truly suffering and has no way out, one should try to help them solve the problems they are having, even if you have to talk to their boss or report the person who is terrorizing them to the proper authorities. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
Death, even if accidental, must be part of the plan. Perhaps Matsuri Takahashi gave her life to be a voice for those who are being abused and cannot get help. Developing faith in and coming to know one’s Creator is at the core of the plan. Having hope with regard to one’s eternal destiny and experiencing joy must also be part of life’s purpose. Death teaches that we do not experience a fullness of joy in mortality and that everlasting happiness can be achieved only with the assistance of God. God will help grieving parents and loved ones have faith in his plan, death’s void is softened just a little as we understand that our loved one’s have passed into Heaven and are no longer suffering in pain. This realization will help broken hearts and give peace. A divine prescription for this healing has been given by our Heavenly Father, which has eternally significant implications. Remember to plead to the Lord for mercy, strength, and forgiveness until one receives it through the Holy Ghost. You will be blessed with peace of conscience. The moment God put a dream in your heart, the moment the promise took foundation, know that God will bring your dreams to come true. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
Just know that you will go beyond your barriers and become everything God created you to be, and you will have everything God intended for you to have. Ultimate forgiveness comes from the Lord to the repentant individual. He or she knows by the power of the Holy Ghost when forgiveness has come. God, our Father, your power brings us to birth, your providence guides our lives, and by your command we return to Heaven. Lord, those who die still live in your presence, their lives change, but do not end. I pray in hope for our families, relatives, friends, and for all the dead known to us. Those who have died may they rejoice in the Kingdom of God, where all our tears are wiped away. Unite us together again in one family, to sing your praise forever and ever. Wait on God, and he will work, but do not wait in spiritual sulks because you cannot see an inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our spiritual hysterics to wait on God? To wait is not to sit with folded hands, but to learn to do what we are told. God never made a promise that was too good to be true. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
Build a Bridge to Our Lonely Hearts
Perhaps our life in a loving premortal World set up our yearning for true, lasting love here on Earth. When we enter, we can see the eye of our soul, above (or beyond) our minds, the light unchangeable. It is it is not the common light of day that is seen by the eye of every living thing of flesh and blood. What one will see is something quite, quite, different from any light we know on Earth. It shines above our minds. It is above us (or higher), because it is itself the Light that made us, and we were below (or lower) because we were made by it. All who know the truth of this Light, and all who know this Light know eternity. We want to be encircled in the arms of our Heavenly Father’s love and guidance, and so we put his will first and with a broken heart plead that God will pour streams of cleaning light into our souls. At first in may trickle in, but as we seek, ask, and obey, it will become abundant. This living light will begin to fill us, and shine with God’s love, and we will be able to share the contents of our soul with others who thirst for healing, hope, and belonging. As our souls become clean, our Earthly relationships begin to heal. Drawing near God will mean learning his truth through scriptures, and striving to do his will more completely. God, by the power of the Holy Ghost, can give us needed insight into relationships. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
When we quest for reality, we shall see the Light as God: The Light already shines in the darkness, in the night, and in the day, in our hearts and minds. God is Light. Those who have not seen this light, have not seen God: for God is light. If we hope to enter his kingdom, we cannot regard the commandments as if they were optional. If we are unkind, unclean dishonest, or cruel; if we are hypocritical and appear pious when in fact our hearts are wicked, we throw our hope of salvation to the four winds, unless we truly repent. Light is expressed as human love: the soul is seen as being ravished by perfect harmony. When the Lord comes as a consuming fire, his presence is understood in the power y which the soul is changed. The light illuminating the intellect comes through narrow apertures, and the soul is perceiving the infinite metaphysical reality of light. And what is charity in its true sense? It is the pure love of God which helps us to love others. God expects us to become as perfect as he is. The very object of our existence as children of God is to become like him. However, no unclean thing may enter his presence. Therefore, we must perfect ourselves, beginning here in mortality, keeping in mind that we cannot achieve perfection through imperfect means. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
When we give our hearts to God, we change our World—even the circumstances around us change. There has always been light in our spirits, and not with external eyes can one always see it. That is why God is so strict. That is why he cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. We must serve God with all of our hearts and do unto others as we would be done by as we travel to this journey of eternal life. The light which we possess is not located, but yet is more brilliant than the Sun, it is called the cloud of the living light. And when I look upon it, every sadness and pain vanishes from my memory, so that I am again as a simple person. We need to continually deepen our knowledge of and obedience to Heavenly Father. Ravishing away from the darkness, gives the light, as our relationship with God is eternal. How are we going to wholeheartedly accept his invitation to draw near to him and this enjoy the blessings he longs to give us in this life and in the next World to come? God has loved us with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness God has drawn us. It is important, with desire, to see others in their true light. For without light, we shall not be able to walk in the way of truth. The soul ought to go on with all zeal to the perfect light. We are on this Earth to grow, and the most important learning and growing will come from our covenant connection to Heavenly Father. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Gazing into an Angel’s eyes, there was a radiantly bright, so searing to the eyes it strikes upon. My hard feelings softened, my heart started to change, and my eyes needed must close before such piercing light. The light was encompassed us; in veil so luminous we were enwrapped that naught swathed in such a glory, could we see. Light we beheld which as a river flowed. There was a circle of yellow light at the center of the Celestial, the light of God’s glory, the lumen gloriae. The eternal light. There is a point that is sent forth so acute a light, that anyone who faced the force with which it blazed would have to shut their eyes, and any star that, seen from Earth, would seem to be the smallest, set beside that point. Around that point, a ring of fire wheeled. The Highest Light (or Light Supreme), we set our eyes on the Eternal Light so long that we spent all our sight on it! Whoever sees the Light is soon made such that it would be impossible for him or her to set that Light aside for other sight; because the good, the object of the will, is gathered in the Light; outside that Light, what there is perfect is defective. From our faithful relationship with God comes Godly knowledge, love, power, and capacity to serve. We are duty-bound to learn all that God has revealed about himself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
We are divinely designed to give love and be loved, and deepest love comes when we are on with God. The Living Light at which we gazed—for it is always what it was before…Eternal Light, you only dwell within yourself, and you know you; self-knowing, self-known, you love and smile upon yourself. Can you feel the depth of the love running through God’s preparations for our joy and growth? We need to know that Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation is that we obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel and gain eternal life and thus become as God is. This is the true and lasting happiness Heavenly Father offers us. There is no other true and lasting happiness. Our challenges can pull us off this course of happiness. We can lose our trusting connection to God if trials drive us to distraction instead of sending us to reflect upon the miracles of God. We must love, even when loving is most difficult. The light of our minds for learning al things is the same God himself by whole all things were made, and he sees humankind as one in the City of God: all humankind are citizens of God. He seeks to understand the experience. The Infinite reality is light, in the order of the Universe, which can be known behind the normal mind. In its oneness immortality and eternity can be found. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Simple love, honestly expressed gives hope and value to others. Beloved Father and Shepherd of our souls, we come to you today with gratitude in our hearts for the gift of family. We know you designed families to present a perfect picture for you and your work. However, so often, God, we are sorrowful people in shattered relationships. We pray that you heal our family bond. Please breathe your unity throughout each family. Where hatred reigns, let love prevail. Where anger rises, let peace endure. Where selfishness chokes, let sacrifice come forth. And where bitterness poisons, let the sweet balm of your Spirit whisper truth, light, and life. Lord, you know the deep needs of each family touched by this prayer. Some have relatives who do not know you. Some have family members who do not communicate with them anymore. Some have loved ones who have passed into Heaven, have afflictions, or have taken other paths into deceitfulness of sin. We ask for your grace to allow each one to stand strong amid these trials and ask for your compassion to flow in and through every unique situation. Protect us from harm, and knit the hearts of our families together even as you knit our own hearts more closely to you. Build a bridge to our lonely hearts, increase our discernment, confidence, and faith. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
God Loves Us Because of Who We Are
God waits for you to communicate with him. Our entire lives can be seen as a pilgrimage to the Kingdom of God. In the process towards illumination, the fear and obedience of God melts into a passionate interior love of God that is carried with it the hope that union with him might be grained through leading a righteous life. This interior knowledge is the Light of God, which lights the Heavens and the Earth; his light is like a niche wherein there is a lamp, a lamp encased in glass, the glass as it were a glistening star. We receiver the radiant light with the gaze of love, and become worthy for the doors of our heart to be opened by the workings of God’s divine attraction, descending from the unseen. Upon us is peace, the manifestation of the attributes of grace and of love, and the path we trod is that of concern for the well-being of others, as we fully contemplate that the World and the gracious assistance it receives will increase. The spirit, when returning to its proper World, has the need of the soul, for it cannot go on foot. When it came into this World, it inhaled the spirit. Were it not for passion, none would travel a path to God. When the soul becomes assured, it gains mastery over the two attributes of passion and anger. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
God loves humankind and all life on Earth so much. When passion desires to ascend, it become all love and affection; and when anger strives upward, it becomes all zeal and high aspiration. The soul turns to the Divine Presence with love and affection, and in its zeal and high aspiration refuses to stop at any station to pay attention to the Almighty Presence. When we were still in the World of spirits, the spirit was without these instruments (bodies), and was like the Angels, satisfied with its own station. It was content to perceive a single light and glow from the candle of the Majesty of Unity, we were appointed stations, and dared not to step beyond our own station because we would be burned. However, when the spirit became acquainted with Earth, the soul was born as the offspring of its union with the four elements, and from the soul was born. The divine grace attached itself to the soul as companion. The relationship of the heart to the body is like that of God’s Throne to the World. In the same way that the Throne is the place of manifestation for the repose of the attribute of compassion in the macrocosm, so too the heart is the place of manifestation for the repose of the attribute of spirituality in the microcosm. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
The heart is possessed of awareness and capable of progressing. When God Almighty’s sustaining grace reaches the world of bodies, it is through the attribute of compassion. May God’s compassion encompass the World for all creation benefits from the attribute of compassion, whether friend or stranger, animate or inanimate. Compassion is a divine attribute, but mercy is a human attribute. When some part of the grace of the attribute of compassion is dispatches to the World of bodies, the first body to receive it is the Throne, for it is the closet of all bodies to the World of Dominion. One of its faces is turned toward the World of Dominion, and it is by means of this that it receives God’s grace. It is also by way of the Throne that the grace is distributed, for the Throne is connected with all corporeal beings by a series of channels that conduct the sustaining grace of each class of being. This flow of grace is continuous and makes possible the survival and permanence of all beings; were the sustenance it provides to be interrupted for a single moment, nothing could remain in existence. This is the inner meaning of “Everything shall perish, but God’s face.” Since the Throne was fitted to receive the sustaining grace of the attribute of compassion, it was honored with the compassionate reposed on the Throne, although unaware of this high fortune. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
Similarly, one face of the human heart is turned to the World of spirituality, and the other face to the World of the bodily frame. It is for this reason that love is mysterious because the heart contains within itself two Worlds, corporeal and spiritual, and constantly turns from one to the other. Now, just think about that for a moment. Love is not just physical, but it is also divine, so that means each and every one of us has a soulmate. If we try to force a relationship, are only lustful, or just seeking stability, we could miss out on the love of our life, which could have mystical consequences. All sustaining grace received from the spirit is distributed by the heart; delicate veins connect it with each member and serve as channels for the grace of the spirit. Thus, all grace received by the heart is distributed by it in such a manner that each member receives a fitting share. Were the sustenance of that grace to be severed from the heart, even for an instant, the bodily frame would stop functioning and all life would cease. Likewise, if its sustenance were to be severed from a member on account of some obstacle in the veins that are the channels of grace, the member would be unable to move and would be paralyzed. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
It is thus clear that the relation of the heart to the microcosm is the same as that of the Throne to the macrocosm. The heart, however, has a property and nobility that the Throne does not possess, for the heart is aware of receiving the effusion of the grace of the spirit, whole the Throne has no such awareness. For the grace of the spirit reaches the heart in the form of attributes, and the attributes of the spirit bestow upon the heart life, knowledge, and intelligence, so that the heart is able to perceive grace. In like manner, the light of the Sun, which is also its attribute, may pour into a room. The room will then be illumined with the flowing light of the Sun, and light will appear in it, so that it acquires the attributes of the Sun with respect to luminosity. By contrast, the grace of the attribute of compassion comes to the Throne only as action and power, not as an attribute. The Throne is sustained thereby, and bestows upon all beings a trace of the action and power it has received, sustaining the, in turn. Life does not appear in them, however, nor does knowledge or gnosis, which are the attributes of God. Similarly, when the Sun pours down the attribute of luminosity on a mountain, the mountain acquires the attribute of luminosity. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
However, when the mountain in turn bestows this light upon the ruby and agate within the mine, through its own workings and effects, the ruby and agate do not acquire the Sun’s attribute of luminosity, and react instead to the workings of the Sun by acquiring the attributes of ruby and agate, respectively. Furthermore, when the heart is purified in accordance with the code of the Path, it has the capacity to become the place of repose of the attribute of compassion, in the same way that it is the place of repose of the attribute of spirituality. Indeed, when through nurturing, purification, and direction toward God it reaches perfection, it becomes the locus for the manifestation of all the attributes of divinity. God put something in you to give you an advantage—his favor, his blessing. There is something about you that makes you stand out, something that draws opportunity, something causes you to overcomes obstacles, to accomplish dreams. There are certain of God’s children who attain perfection of the heart after purifying and training their hearts through follow our gracious God Almighty of the First and the Last; and then the ocean of light of the attributes of beauty and splendor will exalt the God Almighty and will be made manifest to our hearts several times in the course of a single night and day. This is the support through God’s grace. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
What, now, is the heart; wherein lies its purification; how is it to be trained, and how to attain perfection? Know that the heart has an outer form, upon whom be peace, as flesh. There is also a spiritual heart, a heart that is derived from the light of love and not possessed by everyone. Thus, God said: “Truly therein is a reminder for him or her who is possessed of a heart.” That is, the one who has a heart enjoys familiarity with God. God did not affirm that everyone possesses a heart. The vein of the spirit was pierced with love’s lancet tip; a drop fell down, and they called it the heart. Love and affection, a heart full of passion. No pain is pleasure. Mystical experience then typically involves the intense and joyous realization of oneness with, or in, the divine, the sense that this divine One is comprehensive, all-embracing, in its being. The soul is longing for its return to God. However, it is also keenly appreciative of the beauties of nature. Farther God, we come into your presence so aware of our human frailty and yet overwhelmed by your love for us. We thank you that there is no human experience that we might walk through where your love cannot reach us. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Teach us today to love more. Help us to rest in that love that asks nothing more than a simple trusting heart of an innocent. God is our Father. He loves us. He values us beyond measure. We are all unique. One of a kind, made of the eternal intelligence which gives us claim upon eternal life. Let there be no question in your mind about your value as an individual. The whole intent of the gospel plan is to provide an opportunity for each of us to reach our fullest potential, which is eternal progression and the possibility of Godliness. God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever. No one can make us feel inferior without our consent. God assures us that when we have virtuous thoughts, he will bless us with confidence, even the confidence to know who we really are. Remember the Worth of souls is great in the sight of God. May our hearts be filled with love. As we remove the distractions that pull us toward the World and exercise our agency to seek him, we open our hearts to a celestial force which draws us toward God. As the Savior lifts us to higher ground, we can see more clearly not only who we are but also that we are closer to him than we ever imagined. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Love is a More Wonderful thing than Art
God’s eternity signifies an everlasting, endless time. God created humans to think, act, and to feel and to be in a relationship with other humans. God is in all things, transcendent, and above all things. God is the unity of all aspects of like, as he is unchangeable, eternal, and independent. The nature of God is manifests in our consciousness. God, or the One, stands in the same relation to the manifold produced by it as does our mind to its thoughts, feelings and decisions. Our consciousness pictures the Absolute One. God’s mercy illuminates human understanding and reveals thing about human nature through human reflection, research, and insight to lead us to greater knowledge of God. From a careful study of the Bible, the exegete can affirm with bold confidence that the human brain is a product of the creative work of God. As we grow older, we are more aware of mortality and better able to solve highly emotional problems. We may be seeing a larger group of people who can get along with a greater number of people. They are care more and are more compassionate about problems, and that will lead to a more stable World. The valiant among us keep moving forward in life because they know the Lord loves them, even when they do not know the meaning of all things. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
God actually possess the perfection we ascribe to him and those coalesce in an unimaginable unity. The courageous cope successfully with severe and relentless trials, we applaud and celebrate their emerging strength and goodness. The very essence of religion is to adjust the mind and soul of human beings healing means, bringing the person into a right relationship with the physical, mental, and spiritual laws of God. It stands to reason that God’s magnificent creation required thinking, planning, artistry, and execution—all qualities that men and women share with their Creator. As God reveals more of himself apart from the creative order (general revelation) and into the redemptive order (special revelation), we find a person with personality, love, mercy, and grace—again, qualities that are share in limited quantities with the human race. Christianity acknowledges the existence of the supernatural, including a consciousness within us that is more than an epiphenomenon of the brain. The Bible’s statements regarding body, breath of life, soul, spirit, heart, and mind suggest a dualist ontology (or study of the being), that is, the view that human nature consists of two fundamental kinds of reality: physical (material or natural) and spiritual (supernatural). #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
God is wholly good and perfect. Christ’s statement about fearing the one who could put both soul and body in Hell suggests we should find a way out through which moral principles are correct. One ought not to disrupt the unity of the family. The Father in Heaven’s plan provided humans the right of choice, that though it exercises the humans might become strong and advance in learning, wisdom, and righteousness by conquering weaknesses and by resisting the temptations to do wrong. Now, the truth is that Satan lives! Indeed, some have seen his satanic majesty in spirit form. It may too late to fix some communities, but not to help those individuals and families willing to fix themselves. It is not too late, either, for some to become pioneer disciples in their families and locations, or for individuals to become local peacemakers in a World from which peace has been taken. Proverbs 2.2-5 reports: Make your ear attentive to wisdom and include your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and gold and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
The most attractive solution to the problems of human existence, to the tragic sense of life, is the hope for eternal life expressed in human’s perennial human for immortality. This hunger has two dimensions—it refers either to the nondestruction of the soul or the merger of the soul with the universe or the totality of being. The hope for immortality is supported by the notion of God. The traditional arguments for the existence of God prove that the heart craves God. Everyone has heard of loyalty, most prize it, but few perceive it to be what it is in its true spirit. Loyalty is to heart of all the virtues, the central duty amongst all responsibilities. Loyalty is the central spirit of the moral and reasonable life of humans. Be loyal to the best that is in you. Be faithful and true to the covenants that are associated with the fellowship of God. We are children of God, honored to hold his divine authority, but we live in a World where there is evil. There is a constant power pulling us down, inviting us to partake of those things which are totally inconsistent with divine law which we hold. It is amazing how the father of lies that was cast out of Heaven always has the means and capacity to entice, invite and convince others to partake in his ways because they are not strong and alert. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
As we are purifying our souls for everlasting life, we understand that every loss is a tragedy. The kingdom of the Lord needs you. Be worthy of it. Be loyal to your best selves. Never stoop nor bend to anything which would take from you the strength to abstain. Run from the tide of sleaze that would overcome you. Flee from the evils of the World. Be faithful and true to the covenants that are associated with God. You cannot wallow about in lasciviousness, cannot lie, cannot cheat, cannot take advantage of others in unrighteousness without denying that touch of divinity with which each of us came into this life. One learns a great deal about ethics as one matures. The relation between the practical and the eternal. The goal of the eternal is to win the heart. Conventional morality has been required in company with religion and also in company with exact science to endure the fire of criticism. If our moral standards themselves are questioned, the iron of doubt so some of us feel seems to enter our very hearts. The foundation of the moral life is a timely undertaking. In many ways, our traditional moral standards ought to be revised. We need a new Heaven and a new Earth. We do well to set out to seek for both, however hard or doubtful may be the quest. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
Many of us believe in the eternal. We are in quest of the eternal. As to moral standards, in particular, we do not like that mere homesickness and spiritual estrangement, and that confusion of mind about moral ideals, which is nowadays too common. We can sometimes see in the World of opinion of sort of resurrection of the dead, a resurrection wherein what was indeed justly sown in dishonor is raised in honor, glorified, and perhaps incorruptible. Therefore, revision does not mean mere destruction. What we want is its glorified body and its immortal soul. Among spiritual gifts, we believe in the gift of healing. The gift extends to the healing of both the body and the spirit. The Spirit speaks peace to the soul. This spiritual solace comes by invoking spiritual gifts, which are claimed and manifested in many ways. The Lord has restored the temple work to the Earth. It is an important part of the work of salvation for both the living and the dead. Our temples provide a sanctuary where we may go and lay aside many of the stresses of the World. Our temples are places of peace and tranquility. In these hallowed sanctuaries God heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
In loyalty, when loyalty is properly defined, is the fulfillment of the whole moral law. One can truthfully centre one’s entire moral World about a rational conception of loyalty. Justice, charity, industry, wisdom, spirituality, are all definable in terms of enlightened loyalty. This very way of viewing the moral World—this deliberate centralization of all the duties and of all the virtues about the one conception of rational loyalty is of great service as a means of clarifying and simplifying the tangled moral problems of our lives and of our age. The spirit of reverence will increase, mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. We will be counseled in greater love and wisdom. People will be more responsive and submissive to that counsel. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of God—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness. The willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion to God, a person, and a cause means that we will express our devotion in some sustained and practical way, by acting steadily in the service of a mutual cause. We choose what we are loyal to, as a patriot to one’s country, when this devotion leads us to actually live and perhaps to die for our country. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
Loyalty is never a mere emotion. Adoration and affection may go with loyalty, but can never alone constitute loyalty. Furthermore, the devotion of a loyal individual involves a sort of restraint or submission of our natural desire to our cause. Loyalty without self-control is impossible. The loyal person serves. We do not merely follow our own impulses, we look to our cause for guidance. This cause tells us what to do, and we do it. Our devotion, furthermore, is entire. The promises for those who keep the Word of Wisdom continue. Those who observe this law shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures. Each one of us is a living, breathing miracle—far too often we forget that. That is something we need to celebrate before God. When we pray for ourselves and others, we bring the mysterious power of God into their lives. Prayer also has psychological benefits, but it is not just a psychological exercise. Intercessory prayer is when we have a period of prayer where we do not stop. Some people will pray every day, for hours, over a period of months and years. It is far better than complaining after you have taken all the actions you can to correct a problem. Intercessory prayer changes things, circumstances, and people for the better. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
We are asking God to work on our hearts and we thank God for our faith, humbleness, and whatever gifts we have that may bless other people. When we pray for others, our concern for them grows, our love for them grows. Prayer strengthens our relationships and connection to Jesus Christ and God. Moses won a battle because he was behind the scenes praying. And intercessory prayer is really hard work precisely because it is by nature behind the scenes work. People channel all their energy to behind delivered from a problem or situation and they spend hours praying night and day, which feeds the mind and keeps an individual balanced. The World is created for every person who loves. There is therefore this constant miracle of a new Heaven and a new Earth. Our prayers can not only change things for ourselves, but they can significantly improve the lives of others. Prayers move the heart and hands of God to take action on behalf. Through our prayers, others can receive most of the same benefits we receive when we pray from comfort, protection, freedom, healing, and more. It allows us to also stir up slumbering faith in others and causes miracles to happen and increases their relationship with God. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
We cannot buy loyalty, we cannot buy devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. We have to earn these things. Whoever is loyal is devoted, is active, surrenders one’s private self-will, controls oneself, is in love with one’s cause, and believes in it. The loyal person is thus in a certain state of mind which has its own value for oneself. To live a loyal life, whatever be one’s cause, is to live in a way which is certainly free from many well-known sources of inner dissatisfaction. Thus, hesitancy is often corrected by loyalty; for the cause plainly tells the loyal individual what to do. Loyalty, again, tends to unify life, to give in centre, fixity, stability. When we spend time in prayer with God, he fills us with the gifts of Spirit, which include love, joy, peace, endurance, temperance, faith, gentleness, meekness, and goodness. As we receive more of God’s Spirit, others will see the Lord and his gifts reflected in our everyday lives. Our duty in life is simply our own will brought to our clear self-consciousness. That which we can rightly view for us as good is simply the object of our own deepest desire set plainly before our insight. For our own will and desires, once fully brought to self-consciousness, furnish the only valid reason for us to know what is good and right. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
God’s will is that in which, and in which alone, our wills can find rest and peace, and God’s will is the rule of life. If enlightened recognizes the divine will as right, God has made us for himself that our own wills are by nature inwardly restless until they rest in harmony with God’s will. Our restlessness, then, so long as we are out of this harmony, gives us the reason why we find it right, if we are enlightened to surrender our self-will. If you want to find out, then, what is right and what is good for you, bring your own will to self-consciousness. Your duty is what you yourself will to do in so far as you clearly discover who you are, and what your place in the World is. This is, indeed, a first principle of al ethical inquiry. This is the principle of the autonomy or self-direction of the rational will of each moral being. Many of us have the desire to escape from pain and to get pleasure. In accordance with the desire, means relief from tension; and that is usually accompanied with pleasure. On the other hand, a thwarted activity gives us pain. Of all that we might do to find solace, prayer is perhaps the most comforting. The very act of praying to God is satisfying to the soul. There is never a time when the spirit is too young or too old to approach God. All are in reach of pardoning mercy. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
In the celestial glory, we are told that God will provide everyone with pleasure and healing and cure death and there will be no more pain. Faith and hope will replace heartache, disappointment, torment, anguish, and despair, and the Lord will give us strength that we will suffer no manner of afflictions. Find your happiness with one another. Give your family, friends, and companion the opportunities to grow in their own interests, to develop their own talents, and also experience their own sense of accomplishment. The only people I owe my loyalty to are those who never made me question theirs. Loyalty is essential to the most basic things that make life livable. Without loyalty, there can be no love. Without loyalty, there can be no family. Without loyalty, there can be no friendship. Without loyalty, there can be no commitment to community nor country. And without those things, there can be no society. To learn the will of God is one of the largest of your human undertakings. No outer authority can ever give you the true reason of your duty. We need God. Left to ourselves, we would never find a plan of life. By nature, many simply go on crying in a sort of chaotic self-will, according as the momentary play of desire determines. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
May the joy of our fidelity to the highest and best within us be ours as we keep our love and our family, our society and our souls, as pure as they are meant to be. Cultivate and be where the Spirit of the Lord is. Make sure that includes your own home or apartment. You do not want to be left crying, “What was I thinking?” Be good people and ask God for guidance. Have a real hope and real intent that God will step in and act for the beneficial advancement of whatever you are praying about. Trust God to act, even if it is not in the manner or timing we seek. God wants us to ask, even urgently. We are casting our thanks and requests before God. Intercessory prayer opens our souls, gives us a healthy play to God’s sympathies, constrains him to feel that he is special and this this wide World and this great Universe were made by a great God, and everything will bend to his will, and all the creatures respect him. Thank you, Father, that you are looking at us with your grace, and that you have provided and protected us. Thank you that no matter what difficulties arise in our lives, our hope and trust is in you. Thank you that we have nothing to fear, when you are with us. Thank you, God, in Jesus name, Amen. May the rest of our lives be the best of our lives. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
The Light had Dawned on His Soul
We are heirs to a very special heritage, with that comes a great responsibility. Love your family and your country. We must remember that science cannot always give us truth. For truth lies in the singular, uncontrollable, incomprehensible and fortuitous. We live, surrounded by an infinite multitude of mysteries. In deliverance for yourself, you must go before God in Heaven and repent at all times. God is ready to change your heart and mind and deliver you from suffering of any kind. Faith assumes contingency and makes freedom possible. Rationalists recognize an eternal structure of being, a system of necessary laws which antedates any possible cosmic lawgiver. The necessity of such laws requires obedience. What is nonnecessary, whether contingent or arbitrary, admits of free decision and creativity. It has been repudiated that all obedience to necessity in the sense of acceptance of necessary evil, injustice, and inhumanity. There are scales upon which human suffering weighs heavier than all the necessities of theoretical reasons; such are “Job’s balances.” When we seek deliverance from God, ultimately, we are seeking eternal life to escape this dreadful law which inseparably links death to birth. God is a rescuer, our loving kindness, fortress, stronghold, and path to eternal life. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
The two great movements of the soul are the desire of honor and the fear of shame. In human’s existence, thought has discovered something improper, a defect, a sickness, or sin, and has demanded that this be overcome at its root by a renunciation of existence. Love may express God’s pleasure that existence exists at all. God’s architecture of creation generates experiences in humankind. Lord, we want to be aligned with you, and be with as you intended. Let us know this constantly. Make a plea of self-deliverance and put your Father in Heaven in remembrance of his Word, so that we make be justified. As saints of God, we must not let the unclean spirits back in our lives. If unclean spirits came before in the battle of life and you become weak, they will enter back in, stronger than before. We must go before God in prayer for the spirit to be cast out. God is the one who can cast out Devils. We as saints must keep our body and spirit peaceful. We must keep the spirit that has come back under the Word of God at all time. When one is going through trials the spirits may surface at any time, the function is to limit and repress creativity, and we must keep it under submission until the unholy spirit is cast out of our realm. And it is important to never give up on God, Jesus, the Holy Ghost or yourself. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
In purity and love have we genius; the Gospel gives us beauty and holiness to the soul. Unless we can find some evidence for the existence of a moral power that will repay self-sacrifice and punish transgression, we will be unable to bring all our practical beliefs and methods into any coherent system. The mere fact that the existence of a power that rewards and punishes behavior is needed to make our practical beliefs coherent, is a necessary condition for some, but we do have free will. Many are called to serve not from human beings, it is a trust from God, and the service is not simply to perform a task. Every call is an opportunity and an obligation to watch over and strengthen the children of our Heavenly Father. Many people, including myself, believe that we will never see death while on this Earth because we have hope that the Savoir will return before we pass from this Earth into Heaven. The Savior’s work, after all, is to bring pass our immortality and eternal life (Moses 1.39). Who knows when this will happen, but it is great to have optimism that this could happen in our lifetimes on Earth. God called us to serve so that we could strengthen our own faith as well as theirs. He knows that by serving him we will come to know him. The Holy Ghost will tell you what to do when your own abilities and efforts are not enough. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
The Holy Ghost will prompt you to bear testimony with conviction. The Savior will let you feel the love he feels for those you serve. The call is an invitation to become like him. The repair of evil has two parts. God must appear to exist, and no longer be hidden. Then humankind must repair the evil conclusions about the nature of existence itself. God, please let all people see your glory, power, love, and abundance. May all know you are for what you are. We pray for others, for healing of attitudes and errors of thought. Let all humankind believe in you. At the core of evil, which humans can harbor within consciousness, is the conclusion: I am alone. The cure is to believe: We are with God. When the Holy Spirit comes, the aloneness ends. A person, before accepting the Holy Spirit, feels alone and so his or her thinking is of aloneness. Humankind has developed very elaborate dramas to act out of aloneness. God, we are with you in truth. Let us be with you in attitude also. The dramas of aloneness are mundane; evil is simple to understand. Evil lacks the light of truth. Evil is banal, commonplace, predictable, and boring. Evil loves itself and prefers its own company. Evil keeps itself for self, sharing nothing. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Evil persons flatter themselves. Evil persons constantly feel under attack because they give self such a value that evil persons suspect others of trying to steal their value. An evil person becomes more evil when attacked. Evil has built-in limitations such that the best way to fight evil is to enjoy the goods of relationship. John 13.35 reports: By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The more love and respect we have for each other, the less likely the enemy is to attack us. Moroni 8.17 reports: I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all people are alike unto me; wherefore, I love all people with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation. Stopping evil is not possible for humans. Avoiding evil is a better choice. Evil is a stage of development between birth and the donation of self to God’s purposes. Followers love others, including those who have not yet offered self and do not yet follow Jesus. Who can predict which persons will later join the Kingdom of Heaven? The best approach to evil may be to love them—or to treat them with benign indifference. Hating evil persons merely confirms their beliefs in aloneness. Matty 5.44 reports: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in Heaven. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Fighting a perceived evil carries a great peril to the combatant. Participants attempting to fight evil by being vigilantes, tend to resume ego-based, separateness-tainted thinking. Warriors against evil can begin self-congratulating about how much God will thank the warrior. Amendment XIV, Section 1 of the United States of America Constitution reports: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States of America and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any laws which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States of America; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. People need to be wary of the temptations, as evil is out like a wolf in cheap clothing, and continues to be subtle. Those who want to battle against evil, without using the appropriate means or authority, usually harbor an unconscious need to get attention. The cure is a spiritual cure and comes through efforts to offer love within all relationships. The absence of the soul is far more terrible in a living person than in a dead one. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
The pressures of daily life—the demands of our situations—sometimes mislead many to falsely confirm aloneness as a truth. God, you have caused us to have powerful urges to love ourselves, and yet you want us to love you and others, please show us the way. Spiritually, love has a lot to do with giving attention. Lord, we want to join with you, and be with you as you intended. Let us know this constantly. Let us embrace you with our hearts. Let this our heartfelt desire, to be with you, Lord. Let oneness with you become our sincere intention forever, Lord. 2 Corinthians 7.2 reports: Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds. God protect and shield us all. Manifestations reveal the enemy in his or her true form. When you pray to God, he will uncover the enemy; that is why Jesus said people are to always pray and to have faith. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
The enemy may learn their art at the hazard of our lives, and make experiments by our deaths. However, Psalm 37.1-6 reports: Do not fret because of evil people nor be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like dawn, the justice of your case like the noonday Sun. You better do a lot of praying is good counsel for all of the Lord’s servants, new or seasoned. It is what God’s wise servants do. They pray. Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, and may your will be done, as in Heaven, so in Earth. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. God placed trust in us. God is gracious and powerful and he works in our lives. Deliverance is a kind of spiritual rescue, rescuing us from judgment, from sin. God has delivered us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his dear beloved Son. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
All of this is a Free Gift to Every Living Soul
The Lord’s eternal purpose is to bring pass the immortality and eternal life of humans. The truth is always incredible, because the blind eyes of humanity can see only half-truths except be great effort. It is a hard thing to live haunted by the ghost of an untrue dream; to see the wide vision of empire fade into real ashes and dirt; to feel the pang of the conquered, and yet know that with the bad that fell on one day, something was vanquished that deserved to live, something killed that in justice had not dared to die; to know that with the right that triumphed, something of wrong, something sordid and mean, something less than the broadest and best. All this is bitter hard, and several people have found in its excuse for sulking, and brooding, and listless waiting. Many theories have been propounded through centuries, but none has been entirely satisfactory. We humans are limited in time and space, our perception and intellect are subject to error, our point of view limits what we can apprehend and understand. Therefore, no statement wears its truth like a badge; its truth can be determined only by what follows from it in the course of experience. The natural World we perceive through our senses (see, hear, touch) reveals only a fallen, shadow, incomplete versions of this ideal truth. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
Truth is relative to the evidence and to the purpose of the investigator; no degree of verification will ever establish the absolute truth of a statement. Truth is personal and particular, dynamic and progression, not eternal or absolute, but the best solution found so far for any problem. That which thwarts or defeats the purpose of an inquiry we call false; that which furthers it we call true. Truth is that manipulation of objects which turns out upon trial to be useful, primarily for any human end, but ultimately for that perfect harmony of our whole life which forms our final aspiration. God created an ordered natural World. God also created human’s ability to use reason. Therefore, God created the human intellect and will, thus, celebrating and developing human freedom, intellect and will would promote God’s will. However, the World is still a fallen version of God’s eternal truths. All truths work for us in some way and there is no useless knowledge. However, lies are deliberately untrue but may be useful, as in propaganda. There is a shocking lack of self-respect by so many individual, as is evidenced by their manners and engulfing waves of permissiveness which seem to be moving over the World like a flush flood. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
We see among us so many who seem to be forsaking standards of decency or an understanding of the meaning of time-honored words which, since the beginning of time, have had real meaning to our forebears; words that have made for strength or character and righteousness and harmony and unity and peace in the World. There are eternal words which, if understood and taught and practiced, would being salvation to every man, woman, boy, and girl who does now live or has ever lives or will yet live in the World. Happiness is the quiet, joyous assent that accompanies our actions when we carry out for its own sake some activity springing from our talents. This kind of activity is to be evaluated as ethically worthwhile behavior. The joy in such activity resembles the joy of a child at play, and should be regarded generally as the criterion for emotional and intellectual youthfulness. This youthfulness is not tied to physical age. Anyone who has found the activity proper to oneself, and has thus experienced this quiet, joyous happiness, has realized the highest attainable ethical goal and will keep one’s youthfulness throughout one’s entire life. Acting out of a sense of duty is ethically valuable only is a quiet satisfaction accompanies the action. Moral value attaches only to vital action; the sign of life is youthfulness, but we are young only when we act from joy. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
When the quiet, inner joyous assent accompanies our action, we fulfill the requirements of the highest principles of ethical value. This inner consciousness that each one of us has of oneself as will is primitive and irreducible. Virtue and chastity, honesty, morality, faith, character are all great qualities which have built great men and women and point the way by which one may find happiness in the living World of today and eternal joy in the World to come. These are the qualities which are the anchors to our lives, in spite of the trials, the tragedies, the pestilences, and the cruelties of war which bring in their wake appalling destruction, hunger, and bloodshed. The will reveals itself immediately to everyone as the in-itself of one’s own phenomenal being and the awareness we have of ourselves as will is quite different from the awareness we have of ourselves as body. To those who fail to heed the warnings of those who are striving to teach these principles and choose to go in the opposite course, they will eventually find themselves in the pitiable state which you are witnessing so often among us. Human nature as manifested an astonishing prescience. We customarily think of ourselves as being essentially free and rational agents, whereas in fact the principal sources and springs of our conduct consist in deep-lying tendencies and drives of whose character we are often wholly unaware. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Consciousness is the mere surface of our mind, of which, as of the Earth, we do not know the inside, but only the crust, and in consequence we often put entirely false constructions upon the behavior in which these basic impulses are expressed. The ignorance we display, the rationalizations which in all innocence we provide, may themselves have a motive, although not one we are aware of. Thus, the will prevents the rise to consciousness of thoughts and desires that, if known, would arouse feelings of humiliation, embarrassment, or shame. Another example of the same process is to be found in instances of memory failure. It is not a mere accident that we do not remember certain things, since there may be powerful inducement for us not to do so; events and experiences can be completely suppressed, becoming for us as if they had never taken place, simply because unconsciously we feel them to be unendurable. And in extreme cases this can lead to a form of insanity, with fantasies and delusions replacing what has thus been extruded from consciousness. It seems it may result from the failure of the individual to have self-respect. Every person stamps one’s value on oneself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us by others. We are made great or little by our own will. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
It may be claimed that it is only in virtue of our knowledge of what is it to act in accordance with consciously formed choices that the explanation of certain actions in terms of secret or concealed determinations of the will becomes intelligible. When one does not have that love for oneself, other consequences can be expected to follow. Some people cease to love life. Or if they marry, they find that they have lost their love for their spouse, and children—no love of home or respect for the country in which one lives, and eventually these individuals have lost their love of God. Rebellion in land, disorder and the lack of love in the family, children disobedient to parents, loss of contact with God, all because that person has lost respect for oneself. The rowdiness, the incorrigibility is more often than not a bid for a kind of attention or popularity that physical and mental endowments do not invite. So the unruly people are often but a reflection of an individual who is seek, by superficial adornment or by abnormal conduct (in a strange way), to supply that indefinable quality they may think is charm—a clumsy attempt to draw attention by conduct which certainly reflect that inward frustration because of the lack of understanding of their true identity as human beings. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
However, having been spirits and now having bodies, we are among those who passed that first test and were given the privilege of coming to Earth as mortal individuals. If we had not passed that test, we would not be were with mortal bodies, but would have been denied this privilege and would have followed Satan or Lucifer, as he came to be known, as did thirty three percent of the spirits created in that premortal existence who were deprived of the privilege of having mortal bodies, These are now among us, but only in their spiritual forms, to make a further attempt to thwart the plan of salvation by which all who would obey would have the great glory of returning to God our Father who gave us life. Every person who is called to do an important work in the kingdom of God, is called to that work and foreordained to that work before the World was. You are all the sons and daughter of God. Your spirits were created and lived as organized intelligences before the World was, and are blessed to have a physical body because of your obedience to certain commandments in that premortal state. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
You are now born into a family to which you have come, into the nations through which you have come, as a reward for the kind of lives you lived before you came here. Regardless of how rich or whatever, it is a blessing to be in human form. There are spirits who wish they could have a chance to have a mortal body. We are here because of the faithfulness of each of those who lived before this World was created. The goal directed course of living processes arise out of the meaningful arrangement of these systems, and their structure and behavior are explained by strictly causal natural laws, making unnecessary the assumption of immaterial vital forces. However, some have a pessimistic view of the future development of culture. It is feared that people will become part of a machines, a socialized humanoid—organized for common work down to the last detail, but, as in the early ages, without a history. “Do you know that the temple of God dwells in you? If anyone defile the temple of God, one shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which your temple is,” reports (1 Cor. 3.16-17). It is important to help people to moral regeneration, if possible, to restore one’s self-respect. God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
God is a Pervasive Principle of Goodness
Good habits formed at youth make all the difference. All acts and all thoughts are irreducibly the products of individual human beings and therefore inescapably associated with the needs, desires, and purposes of humans. Such terms are reality and truth denote nothing complete and absolute; rather, they are intertwined with human intentions and deeds. Effective creativity of the human mind in organizing the Universe of human experience is in making or remaking reality. Humans make their truth along with their other values, beauty and goodness. Our axioms are never God-given but are human-made; they are not a priori verities but postulates, or working hypotheses, whose truth grows or diminishes within our experience. The logic we employ in gathering knowledge is dynamic and functional rather than eternally fixed. Our data are not the given, but the taken. Human being’s activity is focal both to epistemology and to metaphysics, and there is genuine novelty in our growing universe and no theoretical limit to human’s freedom. The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Reality is a seamless logical unity, not a mere disjointed plurality; that in the Absolute all separateness vanishes; that nothing finite, nothing that changes, is ever quite real, not even human personality; and there is something makeshift, transitory, and unsatisfactory about the bits of matter we see, the individual acts we perform, and the private thoughts we think. That is all that exists for us. An independent or absolute reality that does not enter into our experience, or explain our knowledge, is irrelevant to us. Reality for us is piecemeal, incomplete, and plastic. It is idle to ask “What is real?” Rather, the only question we can answer is “What can I know as real?” Everyone’s situation is different, and the details of each life are unique. Nevertheless, we can make life sweeter, more joyful, even more glorious by being grateful. Spiritual gifts are powerful blessings. They increase our capacity as we develop them by drawing on the storehouse of Heaven. Our Heavenly Father did not put us on Earth to fail, but to succeed gloriously. It may seem paradoxical, but that is why recognizing answers to prayer can sometimes be very difficult. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The reality revealed by our actual active procedures of knowing is not rigid but malleable, not completed but evolving. Because it responds, at least to some extent, to our working and probing, it must somehow be not unrelated to our needs and purposes. The process of knowing is never one of bringing the mind into relation with a fundamentally alien reality, but always one of improving and extending an already existing system which we know. What we call real is that which, for our own reasons, we evaluate as important. It is the result of the kind of selection by which we reduce the chaos about us to order. Some face life with only their own experience and capacity to help them. Others seek, through prayer, divine inspiration to know what to do. When required, they qualify for power beyond their own capacity to do it. Communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter. It is a sacred privilege. It is based upon unchanging principles. When we receive help from our Father in Heaven, it is in response to faith, obedience, and the proper use of agency. We are here on Earth to gain experience we can obtain in no other way. We are given the opportunity to grow, to develop, and to gain spiritual maturity. To do that, we must learn to apply truth. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
How we face challenges and resolve difficult problems is crucially important to our happiness. Stress, culture, and community maintains that the primary motivation of human beings is to build, protect, and foster their resource reservoirs in order to protect the self and it social attachments. The more stress you are under, the more important it is to balance this by moving the body. Move the energy and do not let things stagnate. Stagnation can cause illness and pain. Identify the source of stress in your life and work to eliminate them by changing how you perceive things. So much worry comes from our imagination because we are always thinking of what might happen. The imagination and its ideas mediate between perception and will. As opposed to the conceptions of the understanding, which are finite, the ideas of imagination are both finite and infinite. An idea’s relation to its object is finite, but the activity of the imagination in this relation is infinite. The function of the will is to idealize the imagination’s ideas. The contradiction thus engendered gives rise to impulse, defined as the desire to restore destroyed identity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
For us to grow, we need to do what we feel is right. In time, God will answer. God will not fail us. Through impulse, there is constant realization of ideals, but the ideas of the imagination are constantly striven after and never attained. The brain and body are completely pliable. One can shape one’s brain through one’s thoughts and actions. Once we recognize that the only thing we can count on is change and that change is inevitable, one can begin to let go of how we think things should be. One can then let go of the tension that comes from that way of thinking. The distinction between will and intelligence thus is relative, not absolute. From a higher point of view, they are identical. In intelligence, the I that acts and the I that knows are one. The acting I is an object for itself, while the know I merely perceives other objects. In action, there is no transition from the World of mind, for the subject has become an object to itself. Any change in the outer World is received as a perception, but every action causes such a change; therefore, action is perception. Self-determination is the primary condition of all consciousness. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Happiness depends upon ourselves. The soul never thinks without a picture. The people who give us trouble are our best teachers. What are we willing to learn about ourselves? The World and God have as common ground the incomprehensible basis of reality. Existence is a self-affirmation. God is the infinite affirmation of himself. The objective World is the unconscious poetry of the spirit creating itself. There is a striking formulation of the existential anxiety, which is also an anticipation of the psychoanalytic doctrine of resistance: The philosopher who knows his calling is the physician who seeks to heal with gentle, slow hand the deep sounds of human consciousness. The restoration is all the more difficult since most people do not want to be healed at all and, like unhappy patients, rise unruly outcry if one even approaches their wounds. Family is an important part of one’s life, and is also very important to God. From Adam and Eve onward, God made humans to be together with love to guide and support one another. Through prayer, we can make out families stronger. Alma 10. 21 reports: God will judge all of our iniquities; the voices of Angels cry out to his people telling us to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
How much time are you spending sitting watching the TV? Watching other people’s lives and experiences rather than creating you own? When we seek inspiration to help make decisions, the Lord gives gentle promptings. These require us to think, to exercise faith, to work, to struggle at times, and to act. Seldom does the whole answer to a decisively important matter or complex problem come all at once. More often, it comes a piece at a time, without the end in sight. Endless appreciation to our Father in Heaven whose blessings depend upon our obedience, but whose ratio of blessings to obedience makes him a generous God! Heavenly Father, please shine your light upon our families. Give us strength to overcome all of the difficulties that we are dealing with now and protect us against any and all problems we may encounter in the future. Lord, please bring us together where we are meant to be. May the love that binds us only grow stronger as we fulfill the destiny you have laid out for us. Grant us forgiveness for any sins we have committed. May we also forgive one another Lord, as it is sometimes difficult to do. Bless us God, in your name I pray, bless it be. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Our Sure Knowledge of a Resurrection to Immortality
Resurrection is much more than merely reuniting a spirit to a body. The resurrection is a restoration that brings back carnal for carnal and good for that which is good. I am not the one who is so far away, when I feel the snake bite enter my veins, never did I want to be here again, and I do not remember why I came. Who is this irresistible creature, who has an insatiable lust for the dead? Living dead girl. Candles raise my desire why I am so far away, no more meaning to my life, no more reason to stay. Freezing feeling. Hazing clouds rain on my head, as empty thoughts fills my ears, and find my shade by the moon light. Why my thoughts are not so clear? Demons dreaming. Breathe in, breathe in because I am coming back again. Never did I want to, did I want to be here again. You know I cannot believe you, all the things you say, they are not true. However, I fear I cannot just leave you. All I feel is that I need you my love. This is all my spirit can take, anymore and I will surely meet decay. Will you not reach out and touch my heartache, feel it beating, please do not throw it away. I cannot believe your careless speech, your burning eyes, pass through me. I never thought our love would die, but how could I, I could not see. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Our sure knowledge of a resurrection to immortality also gives us the courage to face the unknown. Baby girl you know that I need you, cannot believe that you would leave me this way. If my pain will not appease you, so it please you I have got nothing to say. I now begin to realize, you are not the girl I once knew. However, deep beneath those hollow eyes, reasons that die in part of you, of you. Come on though you shut the Moon out, as though it were bright as Sun in the day. I would crawl through a dementia in your head, you would show me a way. I never thought our love would die, but how could I, I could not see. See for you, I will cry, cry for you, for you. Rage in the cage and piss upon the stage. There is only one sure way to bring the giant down. Defunct the strings of cemetery things with one flat foot on the Devils wings. Crawl on me, skin into me, die for me, living dead girl. Raping the geek and hustling the freak like a hunchback juice on a sentimental noose. Operation filth. They love to love the wealth of an S.S. whore making scary sounds. Cyclone jack hallucinating hack do you think Donna Reed eats dollar bills. Gold foots machine creates another fiend so beautiful they make you, kill. Blood on her skin, dripping with sin. Do it again living dead girl. They were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
And I said unto them, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Despite these Biblical witnesses, many who call themselves Christian reject or confess serious doubts about the reality of the resurrection. The possibility that a mortal who has died will be brought forth and live again in a resurrected body has awakened hope and stirred controversy through much of recorded history. Relying on clear scriptural teachings, it has been affirmed that God has broken the bands of death and that death is swallowed up in the victor. We readily accept the numerous scriptural doctrines that a similar resurrection will come to all mortals who have ever lived upon this Earth. The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; now, this restoration shall come to all, both antiquated and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not be so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but everything shall be restored to its perfect frame. We should all praise God for the assured resurrection that makes our mortal separations temporary and gives us the hope and strength to carry on. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Many living witnesses can testify to the literal fulfillment of these scriptural assurances of the resurrection. Many, including some in my own extended family, have seen a departed loved one in vision or personal appearance and have witnessed their restoration in proper and perfect frame in the prime of life. Whether these were manifestations of persons already resurrected or of righteous spirits awaiting an assured resurrection, the reality and nature of the resurrection of mortals is evident. What a comfort to know that all who have been disadvantaged in life from birth defects, from mortal injuries, from disease, or from the natural deterioration of antiquated age will be resurrected in proper and perfect frame. For thou who sleeps in stone and clay, heed this call, rise up and obey, trek on through the mortal door, assemble flesh and be raised in immortality unto eternal life, reunite the spirit and the body. This is the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death. In our eternal journey, the resurrection is the mighty milepost that signifies the end of mortality and the beginning of immortality. We are living in a glorious season of temple and this is a consequence of our faith in resurrection. May our understanding be enlarged. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
It will here be objected that this is the well-known hysterical imitation, the ability of hysterical subjects to imitate all the symptoms which impress them when they occur in others, as though pity were aroused to the point of reproduction. This, however, only indicates the path which the psychic process follows in hysterical imitation. But the path itself and the psychic act which follows this path are two different matters. The act itself is slightly more complicated than we are prone to believe the imitation of the hysterical to be; it corresponds to an unconscious end-process, as an example will show. The physician who has, in the same ward with other patients, a female patient suffering from a particular kind of twitching, is not surprised if one morning he learns that this peculiar hysterical affection has found imitators. He merely tells himself: The others have seen her, and have imitated her; this is psychic infection. Yes, but a psychic infection occurs somewhat in the following manner: As a rule, patients know more about one another than the physician knows about any one of them, and they are concerned about another when the doctor’s visit is over. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The is how the psychic infection happens. One of them has an attack today: at once it is known to the rest that a letter from home, a recrudescence of lovesickness, or the like, is the cause. Their sympathy is aroused, and although it does not emerge into consciousness they form the following conclusion: If it is possible to suffer such an attack; but it is formed in another psychic region, and consequently ends in the realization of the dreaded symptoms. Thus identification is not mere imitation, but an assimilation based upon the same etiological claim; it expresses a just like, and refers to some common condition which has remained in the unconscious. In hysteria identification is most frequently employed to express a sexual community. The hysterical woman identifies herself by her symptoms most readily—though not exclusively—with persons with whom she has had sexual relations, or who have had sexual intercourse with the same persons as herself. We believe in the literal, universal resurrection of all humankind because of the resurrection of the Holy One called The Living Christ—the immortal Son of God. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the World to come. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
そして私は彼らに言った、なぜあなたは悩んでいますか？あなたの心にはなぜ思考が生まれますか？これらの聖書の証人にもかかわらず、キリスト教徒と呼ぶ者の多くは、復活の現実について深刻な疑念を拒否したり告白したりします。死んだ死人が復活した体で再び生き返って生きるという可能性は、記録された歴史の多くを通して希望を起こし、論争を巻き起こした。明確な聖句の教えに依拠して、神が死の団を壊し、死が勝利者に呑み込まれたと断言されました。私たちは、これまでにこの地球に住んでいたすべての人に同様の復活が起こるという多くの聖句の教義を容易に受け入れます。精神と体は完全な形で再び再会される。四肢と関節の両方は、現時点でさえも、その適切な枠組みに復元されなければならない。今、この修復は老いも若も、絆と自由の両方、男性と女性の両方、邪悪な者と義人の両方に来るはずです。彼らの頭の髪の毛が紛失するほどではない。すべてが完全な枠組みに復帰しなければならない。私たちは、私たちの死の分裂を一時的にし、私たちに遂行する希望と強さを与えてくれる、確かな復活のために神を賞賛すべきです。
The Human Heart is so Fond of Happiness
The human heart is so fond of happiness, that we give easy credit to what we wish. Happy are they who are blessed with the power of making happy. When I was a child, I remember my parents would take me and my sister Toy R Us, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. We would pull up and see the colourful letters on the building all lite up, bright and glittering. Then the interior of the store was bright and smelled good and as we walked through the door, we were greeted by Geoffrey and then were allowed to go pick out a toy or two. Opening the toys and the smell of the plastic was always a joy. It was fun to go through this big amusement park of toys, the shelves were so tall, and there was every toy a child could ever dream of and the people are the cash register were always nice and smiled. My dad used to say, “I see the light shining in your faces. That light comes from the Lord, and as you radiate that light, it will bless you and many others.” Nevertheless, I was so sad to hear that Toy R Us is going bankrupt and the younger generation of children will not get this same opportunity. They are losing business because people are ordering things online instead of going to the store and buying them. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
I do not think patience is something that any of us grow up with in a large dose. It is a World of instant gratification. Nothing is more idle than to inquire after happiness, which nature has kindly placed within our reach. Instead gratification is great, especially when it is for good behavior. A dream is a wish fulfilled. There was this intelligent lady patient, and she had a dream where her wish was not fulfilled. She wanted to give a supper, but had nothing available except some smoked salmon. So, she thought about going shopping, but then remembered it was a Sunday afternoon, when all the shops were closed. The lady then tried to ring up a few caterers, but the telephone was out of order. Accordingly, she had to renounce her desire to give a supper. The human mind, in its eager, though too often unavailing, struggle for happiness, will still make the most of its means. Agreeable circumstances, arising in a disagreeable prospect, convey the greatest happiness that can be imagined. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
These are people of great promise. They have much to do in their lives. They will do great work in their homes, in the Church, and in the community. The patient’s husband, an honest and capable meat salesman, had told her the day before that he was growing too fat, and that he meant to undergo treatment for obesity. He would rise early, take physical exercise, keep to a strict diet, and above all accept no more invitations to supper. She proceeds jestingly to relate how her husband, at a table d’hote, had made the acquaintance of an artist, who insisted upon painting his portrait, because he, the painter, had never seen such an expressive head. However, her husband had answered in his downright fashion, that while he was much obliged, he would rather not be painted; and he was quite convinced that a bit of a pretty young girl’s posterior would please the artist better than his whole face. (To sit for the painter. And if he has no backside, how can the nobleman sit?) She is very much in love with her husband, and teases him a good deal. She has asked him not to give her any caviar. What can that mean? #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
To do all of this, one needs to develop a testimony and have faith in Christ, to focus on Christ rather than the World. They are righteous children of God, and he loves them and want to help them. As a matter of fact, she had wanted for a long time to eat a caviare sandwich every morning, but had grudged the expense. Of course, she could get the caviar from her husband at once is she had asked for it. However, she has, on the contrary, begged him not to give her any caviar, so that she might tease him about it a little longer. However, this explanation seems thin. Unconfessed motives are wont to conceal themselves behind just such unsatisfying explanations. We are reminded of the subjects hypnotized by Bernheim, who carried out a post-hypnotic order, and who, on being questioned as to their motives, instead of answering: “I do not know why I did that,” had to invent a reason that was obviously inadequate. There is probably something similar to this in the case of the patient’s caviar. It is clear that in waking life she is compelled to invent an unfulfilled wish. Her dream also shows her the non-fulfillment of her wish. However, why does she need an unfulfilled wish? #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
One wants to make their own decisions, but one ought to make those decisions with an eternal perspective. With age, experience, and faith, one will have the wisdom to make good decisions and also to make the rights one. People know where to get the right answers. The ideas elicited so far are insufficient for the interpretation of the dream. I press for more. After a short pause, which corresponds to the overcoming of a resistance, she reports that the day before she has paid a visit to a friend of whom she really is jealous because her husband is always praising this lady so highly. Fortunately, this friend is very thin and lanky, and her husband likes full figure. Now of what did this thin friend speak? Of course, of her wish to become rather plumper. She also asked my patient: “When are you going to invite us again? You always have such good food.” Now the meaning of the dream is clear. I am able to tell the patient: It is just as though you had thought at the moment of her asking you that: Of course, I am to invite you so that you can eat at my house and get fat and become still more pleasing to my husband! I would rather give no more suppers! #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
You know the light by which you may judge, which is the light of Christ. The dream tells you that you cannot give a supper, thereby fulfilling your wish not to contribute anything to the rounding out of your friend’s figure. Your husband’s resolution to accept no more invitations to supper in order that he may grow thin teaches you that one grows fat on food eaten at other people’s tables. Nothing is lacking now, but some sort of coincidence which will confirm the solution. The smoked salmon in the dream has not yet been traced. How did you come to think of salmon in your dream? She replied: “Smoke salmon is my friend’s favorite dish.” It happens that I know the lady, and am able to affirm that she grudges herself salmon just as my patient grudges herself caviar. This dream admits of yet another and more exact interpretation—one which is actually necessitated only by a subsidiary circumstance. Sometimes dreams dovetail into one another, and furnish an excellent example of the usual ambiguity of dreams, as of all other psychopathological formations. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
In our society today, many people blame others for their failures. We have observed that those who accept personal responsibility for their actions are more successful than those who blame their shortcomings and lack of accomplishments on someone else. Her friend, too, had expressed a wish, namely, to get fatter, and it would not surprise us if our patient had dreamt that this wish of her friend’s—the wish to increase in weight—was not fulfilled. Instead of this, however, she dreamt that one of her own wishes was not fulfilled. The dream becomes capable of a new interpretation if in the dream she does not mean herself, but her friend, if she has put herself in the place of her friend, or, as we may say, has identified herself with her friend. I think she has actually done this, and as a sign of this identification she has created for herself in real life an unfulfilled wish. However, what is the meaning of this hysterical identification? To elucidate this more exhaustive exposition is necessary. Identification is a highly important motive in the mechanism of hysterical symptoms; by this means patients are enabled to express in their symptoms not merely their own experiences, but the experiences of quite a number of other persons; they can suffer, as it were, for a whole mass of people, and fill all the parts of a drama with their own personalities. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
We can let the light within us show in many differ ways. Maybe someone is jealous because you are more heavy set than they are. Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist in the 17th century. He is considered the most influential artist of Flemish Baroque tradition. Ruben’s highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history, which included full figured women, and some of his paintings are now worth millions. They were known as women clothes with the Sun, and the Moon under her feet. So, you have to learn to love and accept yourself for who you are. As you see, some people are paying millions for art that is considered beautiful. Thin people are also beautiful. It is a good idea to be comfortable with yourself. Sometimes a smile goes far. Your effort to be friendly may give someone’s day a good start and it might be something they look forward to. A person who smiles every day, even when it is raining might change someone’s life. Each one of us can be a friend to someone, even if it is only by smiling. You can let the Sunshine that is in your heart show in your face. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Randolph Harris II International Institute 