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Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown for He Hath Eaten Me Out of House and Home!
The rules seem to be these: if you have written a successful novel, everyone invites you to write short stories. If you have written some good short stories, everyone wants you to write a novel. However, nobody wants anything until you have already proved yourself by being published somewhere else. Western civilization is for the first time in its history in danger of dying. The reason is spiritual. It is losing its life, its soul; that soul is the Christian faith. If the means used to achieve it ultimately contribute to the marginalization of the church and her message, the Devil will allow short-term success in evangelism and church growth. By eschewing the role of reason in evangelism, and substituting in its place an overemphasis on a simple gospel appeal directed at felt needs, short-term gains are to be expected in a culture of empty selves. However, who can deny that while our numbers have grown, our impact has not been proportionate to our numbers? There is too much at stake for this situation to continue. What is needed is a rethinking of the very nature of evangelism, more specifically, of the role of reasoning and argument in the way we do evangelism. First Peter 3.15 commands us to be ready to give a reasoned defense to someone who asks us for a credible reason why we believe what we do. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
Jude 1.3 admonished us to “contend earnestly” for the faith. “Contend earnestly” carries with it the idea of engaging in a contest, a struggle, a conflict, or a debate by the pious in the heroic struggle for religious truth, justice, and virtue. The term clearly includes the idea of an intellectual struggle, an idea also expressed by Paul when he said spiritual warfare involves “destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” reports 2 Corinthians 10.5. Spiritual warfare is a struggle with persons, demonic and human, and the primary way persons influence other persons is through the ideas they get other to accept. Thus, intellectual tools and reasoning are an important part, though not the whole of spiritual warfare. The other primary components are spiritual preparedness, discernment, courage, and wisdom. We see examples of apologetics everywhere in the Scriptures. In Acts, Paul argued, reasoned, presented evidence, and tried rationally to persuade others to become Christians. “People, why are you doing this? We too are only human, human like you. We are brining you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made Heaven and Earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
“Yet, he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from Heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy,” reports Acts 14.15-17. “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,’ he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women,” reports Acts 17.2-4. “They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household,” reports Acts 16.31. “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade the Jews and Greeks,” reports Acts 18.4. “Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. However, some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and has discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,” reports Acts 19.8-11. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
Paul brought to center stage the truth and reasonableness of the gospel, not the fact that it addresses felt needs. Though both are important, there is a clear Pauline emphasis placed on the former. Jesus Christ Himself regularly engaged in logical debate and rational augment with false, destructive ideologies in His culture, and on several occasions He told people to believe in Him, not simply on the basis of His words, but because of the evidence of His miracles. In this way, Jesus and Paul were continuing a style of persuasion peppered throughout the Old Testament prophets. Regularly, the prophets appealed to evidence to justify belief in the Biblical God or in the divine authority of their inspired message: fulfilled prophecy, the historical fact of miracle, the inadequacy of finite pagan deities to be a cause of such a large, well-ordered Universe compared to God of the Bible, and so forth. They did not say, “God said it, that settles it, you should believe it!” They provided a rational defense for their claims. It is sometimes said that Genesis does not try to “prove” the existence of God, it merely assumes it. However, this is inaccurate. True, Genesis does not argue against atheism because atheism was not a major ideology among the pagan nations surrounding Moses and Israel. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
However, those nations did believe in fickle, finite, immoral deities. In fact, a widespread pagan belief was the idea that each spring the gods copulated, their seed fell to the ground, and that was why crops sprouted and grew each year. Based on that belief, yearly pagan rituals included frenzied orgies to induce the gods to copulate and insure a new season of crops. Genesis takes this view to task and presents a testable claim: The God of Israel delegated to living things the intrinsic power to reproduce after their own kinds, an odd and foreign idea to the nations of the ancient Mideast. However, this claim carried with it a test. If the pagans ceased their orgies, then no crops would grow if their view were correct and the gods needed inducement to copulate. However, if the biblical view were correct, crops would continue to arise. The secret to the peace of God, as great apprentices of Jesus have long known, being abandoned to God, the person who is heartily abandoned to God knows that all shall be well because God is in charge of one’s life. My peace is the greatness of God. Because He, who not only loves me but is Love, is so great, I live beyond harm in His hands; and there is nothing that can happen to me that will not turn out to my good. Nothing. That is what Romans 8.28 really means. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
Because of this, “Thu wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee,” the ancient texts read in Isaiah 26.3. It makes supreme sense, therefore, that I should accept Paul’s instruction to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” reports Philippians 4.6-7. The greatness and love of Gd forms my peace, and at the same time, my love and joy. Job had many worrisome questions in the midst of his troubled life. However, when he beheld God, they simply did not matter and no longer seemed to need answering. He did not raise a single one of the questions he earlier had wanted to press upon God. “I know that you can do all things; no plans of your can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes,” reports Job 42.2-6. Job was not bullied into silence by God coming to him, but really saw the all-sufficiency of God to his life and his soul. And this brought love, joy, and peace to him at one stoke. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
The original position is a central feature of John Rawl’s social contract account of justice. The original position is designed to be a fair and impartial point of view that is to be adopted in our reasoning about fundamental principles of justice. In taking up this point of view, we are to imagine ourselves in the position of free and equal persons who jointly agree upon and commit themselves to principles of social and political justice. The main distinguishing feature of the original position is “the veil of ignorance”: to insure impartiality of judgment, the parties are deprived of all knowledge of their personal characteristics and social and historical circumstances. They do know of certain fundamental interests they all have, plus general fact about psychology, economics, biology, and others social and natural sciences. The parties in the original position are presented with a list of the main conceptions of justice drawn from the tradition of social and political philosophy, and are assigned the task of choosing from among these alternatives the best conception of justice that best advances their interests in establishing conditions that enable them to effectively pursue their final ends and fundamental interests. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
The only particular facts which the parities know is that their society is subject to the circumstances of justice and whatever this implies. It is taken for granted, however, that they know the general facts about human society. They understand political affairs and the principles of economic theory; they know the basis of social organization and the laws of human psychology. Indeed, the parties are presumed to know whatever general facts affect the choice of the principles of justice. There are no limitations on general information, that is, on general laws and theories, since conception of justice must be adjusted to the characteristics of the system of social cooperation which they are to regulate, and there is no reason to rule out these facts. Given the principles of moral learning, humans develop a desire to act in accordance with its principles. In this case a conception of justice is stable. The veil of ignorance insures not only that the information available is relevant, but that it is at all times the same. We can, to make the circumstances more vivid, imagine that the parties are required to communicate with each other through a referee as intermediary, and that one is to announce which alternatives have been suggested and the reasons offered in their support. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
One forbids the attempt to form coalitions, and one informs the parties when they have come to an understanding. However, such a referee is actually superfluous, assuming that the deliberations of the parties must be similar. Justice between generations is resolved by altering the motivation assumptions. However, with this adjustment no one is able to formulate principles especially designed to advance one’s own cause. Whatever one’s temporal position, each is forced to choose for everyone. The right course of action is characterized as that which best advanced social aims as these would be formulated by reflective agreement given that the parties have full knowledge of the circumstances and are moved by a benevolent concern for one another’s interest. No effort s made, however, to specify in any precise way the possible outcomes of this sort of agreement. I do not wish here to criticize others; rather, I want to explain the necessity for what may seem at times like so many irrelevant details. If the original position is to yield agreements that are just, the parties must be fairly situated and treated equally as moral persons. The arbitrariness of the World must be corrected by adjusting the circumstances of the initial contractual situation. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
A conception of justice based on unanimity in these circumstances would indeed be weak and trivial. However, once knowledge is excluded, the requirement of unanimity is not out of place and the fact that it can be satisfied is of great importance. It enables us to say of the preferred conception of justice that it represents a genuine reconciliation of interests. We created the problem of independent learning by the way we taught and trained people to the social roles awaiting them in social structure that resists change. Pedagogues, parents, people in general, invalidated the experience of learners and shut down their capacity to experience wonder and fascination. We created the problem, and it haunts us because, not because “behavioral scientists have expanded our conceptions of human potential by recasting the image of human beings; no, the problem haunts us because we find ourselves at the end of our tether. We are running in circles at its limit. The tether is firmly fixed to a peculiar debasement of once magnificent image—the American Way of Life. Originally revolutionary and dynamic in conception, the American Way of Life is now a design for living that more and more Americans cannot live, without the assistance of tranquilizers and the threats of the ubiquitous commissars. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Yet, all the time, we advertise this way of life abroad, and try to sell it as we sell bathroom hygiene paper and Buicks, with hidden persuaders. What is independent learning? No authoritative definitions are available. However, what an observer might call independent learning—learning for oneself—the learning experiences as fascinations with some aspect of the Word, envisioned in the mode of possibility, that is in imagination. Independent learning is the embodiment and implementation of imaginative fascination. Some aspect of the World discloses itself to a person. One flips from the experiential mode of perception to an imaginative consciousness; and one experiences oneself as beckoned, challenged, invited, fascinated, by the possibility. The transmutation of this possibility into an actuality then becomes the dominant project of one’s life. One lives it, and one lives for it. The person in who fascination has been turned on, or awakened, suffers a divine discontent, a magnificent obsession. If others live the individual alone, one will wallow in one’s obsession. One will forget to eat, sleep, play, socialize, or do anything else until one has brough one’s image of possibility into actuality, or lies nurturing the wounds from one’s fumbling, awaiting recovery to renew the onslaught. Then, one may again show an interest in other kinds doing. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
However, in the midst of one’s learning rampage, one is far from being well-rounded, socially adjusted; in fact one departs hugely from current images of how people should be. Indeed, the turned-on learner needs to be protected from other people, from self-consciousness, from the need to conform to images, from distractions, and from serious self-destructions as one contemplates and absorbs oneself in the encounter with one’s fetish—they mystery or the missing skill. When one is thus turned on, no badly-written text, no stuttering teacher can be an obstacle or a deterrent, so long as they embody some of the knowledge that has become the life quest just then. “This book or that teacher has something I want just now. I will get it out of them somehow!” Independent learning arises when our present existence has reached an impasse, when our experience has gone stale. The project of “staying the same” has lost its meaning, and so the person seeks “a new interest in life.” If one finds one, and one lets oneself be addressed by it, one become possessed of the divine madness. The burden and dilemma that were one’s existence have now been thrown off. One’s existence is now the quest. One is turned on. One will not be diverted. One may appear ruthless as one pursues one’s quest. One cannot be bored by it though one may bore others by one’s talk of it. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
This state of being, of being involved, of experiencing new possibilities of meaning of one’s life, of being engaged in their fulfillment—this is what I am construing as independent learning. It entails transcending the past—past involvements and interests, social pressure; in short, it is a matter of detachment and liberation from the momentum and inertia of previous ways of being, behaving, and experiencing. The fascinated questing of which I speak can be evoked in a number of ways. It may occur of itself in someone who is desperate enough, whose life has been enlightened. It seems to occur spontaneously in young children before they have been socialized. More commonly, when it does occur, it happens through a relationship between and entrapped person and some other who functions as one’s guru and exemplar—someone who offers a pseudo psychedelic encounter. Indeed, the guru may assist the process of liberation from previous attachments by helping the person experience more keenly the degree to which one feels trapped. The capacity to become fascinated may be impossible until some level of disengagement from usual concerns, ways, and commitments has been reached. Or, the one who is to be the guru may function as a tempter—one’s way of life may excite envy and admiration. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
One’s serenity or one’s enthusiasm may evoke curiosity. One may appear to be having more fun, living more fully, experiencing more. Or one may disclose images of possibility that attract the attention of the bored, unfulfilled seeker, who them becomes fascinated and subsequently experiences one’s previous involvements as obstacles to one’s pursuit of new meaning and experience. Whatever the occasion for being thus turned on, it is this fascinated engagement with an image of possibility that I define as independent learning. We might call it awakening or inspiration, but it is always intentional—that is, it is always related to something in the World; it is always awakening to something, being inspirited by and for something, fascinated with something. And it is embodied; that is, the person lives and acts one’s experience of awakening. In principle, the turned-on state, which is experienced by the person as different from one’s usual, repetitive experience, should appear different to the other person. We thus have the possibility of a psychology, a physiology, even an epidemiology and sociology, of being turned on. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
It is to part of this possibility, an exploration or relationships between personality factors and being turned on. Too many disciples commit the fault of being too demanding and too possessive in their attitude towards the teacher. In the end they become a burden, a liability, or even a nuisance to one. They ought to give one devotion, yes; they ought to think often of one for inspiration and guidance; but they ought not to turn themselves into emotional parasites who are unable to live on their own vitality at all. The eagerness to surrender every responsibility, every decision, every care to a spiritual guide—which is so prominent in the Old World—is only praiseworthy in some cases. In others, it is neurotic and infantile, an attempt to secure indulgent pity, protection, and gregarious support despite the fact that childhood has been physically outgrown. To take it as a sign of advancement, and to use it as an excuse to evade pressing work of self-reform and self-discipline, is deplorable. A calm trust in the human’s leadership is one thing, but a hysterical clinging devotion to one’s personality is another. So it is good for people to be independent learners. For one who turns oneself into a burden to one’s teacher by shrinking one’s own responsibilities and throwing them on one’s teacher, is being selfish as well as weak. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
Whoever does not understand that the guide must lead one to where one will seek one’s own way, will go on endlessly looking for teachers, one after the other, or else become a spiritual hypochondriac, a semi-invalid needing the guru-doctor to dance constantly in attendance on one’s ego-centered symptoms. It may be that the effort to imitate one’s master will enable the disciple to excel oneself. If one is willing to accept the gift of Grace, which a true teacher is forever bearing, through your prior willingness to give one your faith and devotion, and to give it not because one want it or anything else for oneself but because one is a purified channel for God’s power, then you may expect to see the past wiped out as sins are forgiven and the future made brighter as new energies are born in you. “And now it came to pass that the people of the Nephites did all return to their own lands in the twenty and sixth year, every human, with one’s family, one’s flocks, and one’s herds, one’s horses, and one’s cattle, and all things whatsoever did belong unto them. And it came to pass that they had not eaten up all their provisions; therefore they did take with them all that they had not devoured, of all their grain of every kind, and their gold, and their sliver, and all their precious things, and they did return to their own lands and their possessions, both on the north and on the south, both on the land northward and on the land southward. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
“And they granted unto those robbers who had entered into a covenant to keep the peace of the land, who were desirous to remain Lamanites, lands, according to their numbers, that they might have, with their labours, wherewith to subsist upon; and thus they did establish peace in all the land. And they began again to prosper and to wax great; and the twenty and sixth and seventh years passed away, and there was great order in the land; and they had formed their laws according to equity and justice. And now there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering continually, except they should fall into transgression. And now it was Gidigiddoni, and the judge, Lachoneus, and those who had been appointed leaders, who has established this great peace in the land. And it came to pass that there were many cities built anew, and there were many old cities repaired. And there were many highways cast up, and many roads made which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place. And thus passes away the twenty and eight year, and the people had continual peace. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
“However, it came to pass in the twenty and nineth year there began to be some disputings among the people’ and some were lifted up unto pride and boastings because of their exceedingly great riches, yea, even unto great persecutions; for there were many merchants in the land, and also many lawyers, and many officers. And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches. Some were lifted up in pride, and others were exceedingly humble; some did return railings for railing, while others would receive railing and persecution and all manner of afflictions, and would not turn and revile again, but were humble and penitent before God. And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
“Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the World. And thus Satan did lead away the hearts of the people to do all manner of iniquity; therefore they had enjoyed peace but a few years. And thus, in the commencement of the thirtieth year—the people having been delivered up for the space of a long time to be carried about by the temptations of the devil whithersoever he desired to carry them and to do whatsoever iniquity he desired they should—and thus in the commencement of this, the thirtieth year, they were in a state of awful wickedness. Now they did not sin ignorantly, for they knew the will of God concerning them, for it had been taught unto them; therefore they did willfully rebel against God. And now it was in the days of Lachoneus, the son of Lachoneus, for Lachoneus did fill the seat of his father and did govern the people that year. And there began to be humans inspired from Heaven and sent forth standing among the people in all the land, preaching and testifying boldly of the sins and iniquities of the people. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
“And they were testifying unto them concerning the redemption which the Lord would make for his people, or in other words, the resurrection of Christ; and they did testify boldly of his death and sufferings. Now there were many of the people who were exceedingly angry because of those who testified of these things; and those wo were angry were chiefly the chief judges, and they who had been high priests and lawyers; yea, all those who were lawyers were angry with those who testified of these things. Now there was no lawyer nor judge nor high priest that could have power to condemn any one to death save their condemnation was signed by the governor of the land. Now there were many of those who testified of the things pertaining to Christ who testified boldly, who were taken and put to death secretly by the judges, that the knowledge of their death came not unto the governor of the land until after death. Now behold, this was contrast to the laws of the land, that any human should be put to death except they had a power from the governor of the land. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
“Therefore a complaint came up unto the land of Zarahemla, to the governor of the land, against these judges who had condemned the prophets of the Lord unto death, not according to the law. Now it came to pass that those judges had many friends and kindreds; and the remainder, yea, even almost all the lawyers and the high priests, did gather themselves together, and unite with the kindreds of those judges who were to be tried according to the law. And they did enter into a covenant one with another, yea, even into that covenant which was given by them of old, which covenant was given and administered by the devil, to combine against all righteousness. Therefore they did combine against the people of the Lord, and enter int a covenant to destroy them, and to deliver those who were guilty of murder from the grasp of justice, which was about to be administered according to the law. And they did set at defiance the law and the rights of their country; and they did covenant one with another to destroy the governor, and to establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto the kings,” reports 3 Nephi 6.1-30. Dear Lord in Heaven, you have retuned the Sun, as I knew you would, for this is your part in the ways of things. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
God, you have your role, and you play it well. I ask that you please inspire me to do the same: to know the right thing to do and to do it with passion and joy and honour. Bless, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy whole Clergy, that they may handle Thy holy things with holiness, and be pleasing to Thee Whoa art our Priest for ever. O Lord, without Whom our labour is but lost, and with Whom Thy little ones go forth as the mighty; please be present to all works in Thy Church which are undertaken according to Thy will, (especially in Sacramento, California USA), and please grant to Thy labourers a pure intention, patient faith, sufficient success upon Earth, and the bliss of serving Thee in Heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, our sympathizing Saviour, Who for humans didst bear that Agony and the Cross; please draw Thou near to Thy suffering servant, in their pain of body or trouble of mind (especially in Sacramento, California USA) please hallow all their crosses in this life, and crown them hereafter where all tears are wiped away; where with the Father we can sing praises. Merciful and faithful Most Priest, Who didst deign for us to be tempted of Satan; please make speed to assist Thy servants who are assaulted by manifold temptations; and as Thou knowest their several infirmities, let each one to find Thee mighty to save, Who livest, as a young God, a young warrior. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
God, please rise into the sky as into a battle, dispelling the darkness that has covered the World, putting to flight the fears of the night. Have mercy, O compassionate Father, on all who are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; vouchsafe them grace to come to themselves, the will and power to return to Thee, and the loving welcome of Thy forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and everliving God, Who hast given us the Christian Faith of Christ for a light to our feet amid the darkness of this World; please have pity upon all who, by doubting or denying it, are gone astray from the path of safety; please bring home the Truth to their hearts, and grant them to receive it as little children; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. God has given birth to you again; again you climb the sky, again you reach for your glory, again I stand here to praise you. The sacred path is fulfilled, things are as they should be. Jesus Christ, herald of the right way, I praise you! Amazing! Wonderful! Every morning, again and again You make life amazing! Wonderful! #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
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The Learner Has the Need and the Capacity to Assume Responsibility for One’s Own Continuing Learning!
The system has not failed—but some of us have failed the system. Do not become the problems instead of the solution to the problem. Recent insights from the behavioral sciences have expanded our conceptions of human potential through a re-casting of the image of the human—from passive, reactive recipient to an active, seeking, autonomous, and reflective being. What are the implications of this impelling new image for our concern with human the learner? Educators are giving increased attention to implementing in practice the recognition that the learner has both the capacity and the need to assume responsibility for one’s continuing learning. However, the real question is here is what do humans learn and for whom? Learning is not a task; it is a way to be in the World. Humans learn as they purse their goals and projects that have meaning for them. Humans are always learning something. Perhaps the key to the problem of independent learning lies in the phrase, “The learner has the need and the capacity to assume responsibility for one’s own continuing learning.” That is one phrase that will help wide unclasp the table of their thoughts. These same thoughts—people, the little World. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
It may well be that those who train young people in the ways of their group (a most necessary task) have overshot the mark; they have trained youngster to believe that they cannot, dare not, learn anything without a trainer close at hand. The only safe and good learning is learning-for-the trainer. And the youngsters, being human, independently learned something meaningful to them; namely, that it is dangerous or futile to become interested in something, to learn for oneself. It is only safe to learn for the teacher’s or for society’s approval. One set of image-molders, the teachers, have been commissioned by social leaders to shape youngsters to the acquiescent mode. They implement this commission by invalidating a child’s experience of spontaneous curiosity and fascination with aspects of the World. They insist one learn only when and what one is taught. One must learn for others. The teachers and parents have robbed children of their autonomy—their capacity to experience amazement, wonder, and fascination—by invalidating it whenever it appears. Then, they look at their product and find it wanting; they produced a Golem, a humanoid, a “dependent learning.” Now we are asked to breathe life into it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
We are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Children must be shown the ways of their group; they must be taught and trained. However, if they are to experience their lives as meaningful, and if the society in which they live is to grow and change, they must also be able to transcend this training and learn for themselves. The question is, how is it possible to reconcile the contradiction between teaching children for society and letting them learn for themselves, such that children can serve their society without a loss of freedom and capacity to go beyond what they have been taught? This is the same problem, write large, that every serious teacher—of piano, of art, of math, or English, of Science, of History, of woodshop, of psychotherapy, or even of teaching—faces: how can one teach a pupil in the fundamental techniques of this art without producing a mere technician? In any of these arts, we wish the learner to commit oneself, to be willing to struggle for objectives beyond mastery of exercises and technique (learning experienced as “for-the-teacher”) and even beyond current goals. We hope one will week to make actual one’s own image (not one’s teacher’s image) of beautiful music, pictures, woodworks, healthy personalities, or independent learners. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
If the teacher has been effective, one will have shown one’s pupil that techniques are no more than a beginner’s set of tools, to be used up to the point that an impasse is reached. Then, the trust scholar, the involved therapist, the committed teacher (committed to one’s own image of ultimate goals, not means), gropes and leaps into the unknown, exercising that courage that is not devoid of fear and trembling, to invent or discover new means to further one’s project of actualizing the image. If the old versions of the ultimate goals have lost meaning, the pupil will envision new embodiments of them. Your must play the teacher to yourself. One cannot tread the path for you: you must walk and work by your own effort. The mother cannot grow up on behalf of the child, no matter how greatly she loves it. The adept cannot do your growing-up for you. Nature’s laws must prevail. One has shown you the way; use your will to follow it. However, devote a little time each day to keeping open the channel of communication with your teacher and thus receive one’s impetus, one’s inspiration to help you. So although you must strive by your own use of free will, do not imagine that you need to strive unassisted. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
Working along the line that the teacher found suitable for oneself, slavishly and artificially trying to produce a copy of one, will in the end not even produce that but a caricature instead. For only the teacher’s bodily acts will be imitated; one’s Spirit is invisible and therefore cannot be imitated. Why should anyone copy another’s artwork? Why should Whistler paint pictures in the same way that Gainsborough did? Whistler remained loyal to one’s own conceptions. Why then, going further, copy another’s lifestyle? We may honour a master’s inspirations but yet express our own in our individual way. It is true that followers have no right to burden the teacher with their personal problems, that they should learn bravely to shoulder their difficulties and not pass them on to one. Yet human nature is weak, the teacher kindly. What they may do without taxing one’s strength is to place the problem before one in prayer, thought, or meditation silently, and nor in letter or interview. If they will keep their distresses, troubles, or indecisions to themselves in this way, such reticence will not be to their loss. When an aspirant plagues a teacher too frequently or on too trivial matters, it is indeed a sign of neuroticism. Such conduct is quite suited to children but not to adults. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
Every person must come to terms with who they are now. It reveals too egocentric a person, one who is unwilling to bring the stage of novice to an end because the dependence on another person is more comforting and much easier than endeavouring to settle one’s own little problems. One must learn to speak, move, and even experience the World in the given ways, those deemed right and sane where one lives. It is not easy. It takes a long time. The temptation to stary is strong. Commissars stand close, to insure each person conforms to one’s prescribed position and role. Once a human masters the rules of the social “games,” what then? One plays the games so long as they yield meaningful rewards and the rewards of meaning. Ultimately, the games become confining, boring, even strangling. The person may then wish to opt out, but one cannot—there re no other games to play. So one may become sick. Then, one is patched up by doctors who pronounce one healed, and they send one back into the game. If one seeks to transcend the given, for new realms of experience, one threatens the sleep of the unawakened. They condemn and invalidate one. So one gives up and becomes “normal,” or else seeks a richer experience in private, the while impersonating a typical person. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
It should be made clear that dramatic and directive dominance are dramaturgical terms and that performers wo have positions of visible leadership are often merely figureheads, selected as a compromise, or as a way of neutralizing a potentially threatening position, or as a way of strategically concealing the power behind the front and hence the power behind the power behind the front. So also, whenever inexperienced or temporary incumbents are given formal authority over experienced subordinates, we often find that the formally empowered person is bribed with a part that has dramatic dominance while the subordinates tend to direct the show. Since we all participate on teams we must all carry within ourselves something of the sweet guilt of conspirators. And since each team is engaged in maintaining the stability of some definitions of the situation, concealing or playing down certain facts in order to do this, we can expect the performer to live out one’s conspiratorial career in some furtiveness. A basic problem for many performances, then, is that of information control; the audience must not acquire destructive information about the situation that is being defined for them. In other words, a term must be able to keep its secrets and have its secrets kept. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
There are what are sometimes called “dark” secrets. These consist of facts about a team which it knows and conceals and which are incompatible with the image of self that the team attempts to maintain before its audience. Dark secrets are, of course, double secrets: one is the crucial fact that is hidden and another is the fact that crucial facts have not been openly admitted. There are also what might be called “strategic” secrets. These pertain to intentions and capacities of a team which it conceals from its audience in order to prevent them from adapting effectively to the state of affairs the team is planning to being about. Strategic secrets are the ones that businesses and armies employ in designing future actions against the opposition. So long as a team makes no pretense of being the sort of team that does not have strategic secrets, its strategic secrets need not be dark ones. Yet it is to be noted that even when the strategic secrets of a team are not dark ones, still the disclosure or discovery of such secrets disrupts the team’s performance, for suddenly and unexpectedly the team finds it useless and foolish to maintain the care, reticence, and studied ambiguity of action that was required prior to loss of its secrets. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
It may be added that secrets that are merely strategic tend to be ones which the team eventually discloses, performance, when action based upon secret preparations is consummated, whereas an effort may be made to keep dark secrets secret forever. It may also be added that information is often held back not because of its known strategic importance but because it is felt that it may someday acquire such importance. Thirdly, there are what might be called “inside” secrets. These are ones whose possession marks an individual as being a member of a group and help the group feel separate and different from those individuals who are not in the know. Inside secrets give objective intellectual content to subjectively felt social distance. Almost all information in a social establishment has something of the exclusion function and may be seen as none of somebody’s business. Inside secrets may have little strategic importance and may not be very dark. When this is the case, such secrets may be discovered or accidentally disclosed without radically disrupting the team performance; the performance need only shift their secret delight to another matter. Of course, secret that are strategic and/or dark serve extremely well as inside secrets and we find, in fact, that the strategic and dark character of secrets is often exaggerated for this reason. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
Interestingly enough, the leaders of a social group are sometimes faced with a dilemma regarding important strategic secrets. Those in the group who are not brought in on the secret will feel excluded and affronted when the secret finally comes to light; on the other hand, the greater the number of persons who are brought in on the secret, the greater the likelihood of intentional or unintentional disclosure. The knowledge that one team can have of another’s secrets provides us with two other types of secrets. First, there re what might be called “entrusted” secrets This is the kind which the possessor is obliged to keep because of one’s relation to the team to which the secret refers. If an individual who is entrusted with a secret is to be the person one claims one is, one must keep the secret, even thought it is not a secret about oneself. Thus, for example, when a lawyer discloses the improprieties of one’s clients, two quite different performances are threatened: the client’s show of innocence to the court, and the lawyer’s show of trustworthiness to one’s client. It may also be noted that a team’s strategic secrets, whether dark or not, are likely to be the entrusted secrets of the individual members of the team, for each member of the team is likely to present oneself to one’s teammates as someone who is loyal to them. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
Since time immemorial, each society had secretly harbored “gurus.” These wise humans have been sought by sufferers, who may have been rich in goods but poor in spirit. The gurus have taught the seekers to let go their attachments in this World, the better to concentrate on spiritual purification. The intimated rewards have not been wealth, fame, or power; but rather enlightenment and liberation, an enriched, more meaningful experience of oneself and one’s World. The gurus have helped seekers attain liberation from entrapment in the culture. They have invited the experience and disclosure of individuality that had hitherto been concealed under the trappings of conformity to roles. The society that would not fall must locate and treasure its gurus, protect them, and not deny seekers access to them. The gurus and their ways are not for everyone. Gurus cannot be hired or bought; they can only be deserved! A society without gurus is stagnant, and will perish as did the dinosaurs, unable to change ways to cope with changing conditions. In the New World, I think we are experiencing an absence in our midst, an absence of gurus. We have myriad commissars, but no one to lead beyond their ways. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
The commissars insure that everyone conforms to existing ways, to the image of humans that is current, that is synonymous with goodness and sanity. Commissars use bribery, guile, and threats of force to get people to follow their prescribed ways, the ways that keep the society and its existing power-structure intact. Who are the commissar? Most of our teacher are commissars. So are our parents. And law enforcement, judges, lawyers, congress, our psychiatrist and psychologist, and even our neighbours. Radio, TV, and the press function as commissars. All commissars collude with oner another to keep us wanting what we are supposed to want and doing what we are supposed to do. Conform, and be reward. However, we are discovering, we who have graduated from such institutes, that something is missing. The something was ourselves. Somewhere along the line, we have lost ourselves, our capacity to experience in new modes and qualities. If we are at all sensitive, we notice the absence and become concerned. We state to seek ourselves and our lost capacity for experiencing. I hope we find it. Our nation will sit stunned, the people having forgotten how to live for themselves, otherwise. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
If we do not get in touch with reality, people will know only how to live for the system of things. An era will have ended. Then, it will be the turn of the Asiatics and Africans to follow the American Way, until they too reach the end of their tether. Finally, people of Marts will land on Earth and have their turn. When you lose yourself your own experiences and their meanings are being denied, and you are developing a self that is different from your real experience self, which may be becoming increasingly unknow to you. Because so many people accept other’s meanings as their own experience, they will come to distrust their own organismic experience. As one beings to distrust more and more of one’s own experience, one’s sense of self-worth will steadily decline until one has very little use for one’s own experience or one’s self. Of course things will be well for those you are trying to please. This pseudoself is just what they want. It is only within oneself, at some deep and unknown level, that there is a vague uneasiness. When a person denies awareness to all of one’s own experiencing—one will get to a pint where one no longer really has a self and is trying to be a self wanted by someone else. Next, rebellion happens. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
One can only attribute this rebellion to the actualizing tendency that has been suppressed for so long but that finally asserts itself. However, often times, because one has distrusted one’s own experience for such a long period and because the self by which one is living is so sharply different from the experiences of one’s organism, one cannot reconstruct one’s true self without help. When there is such a great discrepancy, the need for help often exists. In contrast, however, when people have spent years and even decades trying to socially engineer you, and you do not adhere to their values, even though they do not know you, they will think you are acting weird because their sick and twisted and sadistic methods are not working on you. When people reclaim the value of their experience, they are the ones who decides what matters to them and how they want to live. The center of the valuing process, and the evidence is provided by one’s own sense. What is right for someone who is trying to indoctrinate and corrupt you, may not be what is right for you. One may have started off at a young age knowing the love of God and who one wants to be. Society may call a given experience bad, but when one trusts one’s own valuing of it, one will find that following the path to truth and the love of God is significant and worthwhile. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
When denied experience comes close to awareness, anxiety always results because these previously unadmitted experiences will have meanings that will change the structure of the self by which one as been living. Any drastic change in the self-concept is always a threatening and frightening experience. One may be dimly aware of this threat even though one does not yet know what would emerge. When the denied experienced break through the dam, they turn out to be hurts and angers that one has been completely unaware of. It is impossible for people to realize how completely an experience can be shut out of awareness until it does break through into awareness. Every individual is able to shut out and deny those experiences that will endanger one’s self concept. When the self-concept is so sharply changed that parts of it are completely shattered, it is a very frightening experience, and it is accurate to feel like an alien has take over you. That is why the law allows for mental competence to be called into question when some people are accused of crimes, for they may have been manipulated since they were too young to think for themselves and unaware of what they are doing is wrong. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
So, the system wants to give people who are victims of crimes, who have gone on to commit crimes, an opportunity for repentance and the chance to live a life as themselves, instead of being condemned for having been brainwashed. Some will realize that they are the alien because the submissive, malleable self by which they have been living, the self that has been guided by the statements, attitudes, and expectations of others, is no longer theirs. The new self that had seemed so alien is more than likely one that had experienced hurt and anger and feelings that society regards as bad, as well as wild hallucinatory thoughts—and love. As one goes further into self-discovery, it is likely that one will find out that some of one’s anger is directed against one’s parents. The hurts will have come from various sources; some of the feelings and experiences that society regards as bad but that one finds good and satisfying are experiences and feelings that probably have to do with pleasures of the flesh. Sometimes one has to let their experiences tell them what they mean instead of trying to impose a meaning on them. The more the individual’s self-concept is rooted in the spontaneously felt meanings of one’s experiencing, the more one is an integrated person. People who are learning to self-actualize will enjoy meet and making friend with their thoughts and feelings. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
Here is the dawning of the self-respect and self-acceptance of which one has been deprived for so long. One will even feel an affection for oneself. One of the curious but common side effects of this change is that now one will be able to give oneself more freely to others, to enjoy others more, to be more genuinely interested in them. As one becomes more expressive of one’s love one can also be more expressive of one’s anger and hurt, one’s likes and dislikes, and one’s “wild” thoughts and feelings (which will turn out to be creative impulses). One is in the process of changing from psychological maladjustment to a much healthier relationship to others and to reality. There is a peaceful harmony in being a whole person, but one will be mistaken if one thinks this reaction is permanent. Instead, if one is really open to one’s experience, one will find other hidden aspects of oneself that one has denied to awareness, and each such discovery will give one uneasy and anxious moments or days until it is assimilated into a revised and changing picture of oneself. One will discover that growing toward a congruence between one’s experiencing organism and one’s concept of oneself is an exciting, sometime disturbing, but neverending adventure. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
“And now behold, there was not a living soul among all the people of the Nephites who did doubt in the least the words of all the holy prophets who had spoken; for they knew that it must needs be that they must be fulfilled. And they knew that it must be expedient that Christ had come, because of the many signs which had been given, according to the words of the prophets; and because of the things which had come to pass already they knew that it must needs be that all things should come to pass according to that which had been spoken. Therefore they did forsake all their sins, and their abominations, and their whoredoms, and did sever God with all diligence day and night. And now it came to pass that when they had taken all the robbers prisoners, insomuch that none did escape wo were not slain, they did cast their prisoners into prison, and did cause the word of God to be preached unto them; ad as many as would repent of their sins and enter into a covenant that they would murder no more were set at liberty. However, as many as there were who did not enter into a covenant, and who did still continue to have those secret murders in their hearts, yea, as many as were found breathing out threatenings against their brethren were condemned and punished according to the law. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
“And thus they did put an end to all those wicked, and secret, and abominable combinations, in the which there was so much wickedness, and so many murders committed. And thus had the twenty and second year passed away, and the twenty and third year also, and they twenty and forth, and the twenty and fifth; and thus had twenty and five years passed away. And these had many things transpired which, in the eyes of some, would be great and marvelous; nevertheless, they cannot all be written in this book; yea, this book cannot contain even a hundredth part of what was done among so many people in the space of twenty and five years; but behold there are records which do contain all the proceedings of this people; and a shorter but true account was given by Nephi. Therefore I have made my record of these things according to the record of Nephi, which was engraven on the plates which were called the plates of Nephi. And behold, I do make the record on plates which I have made with mine own hands. And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people, yea, the first church which was established among them after their transgression. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
“Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his work among his people, that they might have everlasting life. And it hath become expedient that I, according to the will of God, that the prayers of those who have gone hence, who were the holy ones, should be filled according to their faith, should make a record of these things which have been done—yea, a small record of that which hath taken place from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem, even down until the present time. Therefore I do make my record from the accounts which have been given by those who were before me, until the commencement of my day; and then I do make record of the things which I have seen with mine own eyes. And I know the record which I make to be a just and a true record; nevertheless here are many things which, according to our language, we are not able to write. And now I make an end of my saying, which is of myself, an proceed to give my account of the things which have been before me. I am Mormon, and a pure descendant of Lehi. I have reason to bless my God and my Saviour Jesus Christ, that he brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, (and no one knew it save it were himself and those whom he brought out of that land) and that he hath given me and my people so much knowledge unto the salvation of our souls. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
“Surely he hath blessed the house of Jacob, and hat been merciful unto the seed of Joseph. And insomuch as the children of Lehi have kept his commandments he hath blessed them and prospered them according to his word. Yea, and surely shall be again bring a remnant of the seed of Joseph to the knowledge of the Lord their God. And as surely as the Lord liveth, will he gather in from the four quarters of the Earth all the remnants of the seed of Jacob, who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the Earth. And as he hath covenanted with all the house of Jacob, even so shall the covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob be fulfilled in one’s own due time, unto the restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant that he hath covenanted with them. And then shall they know their Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and then shall they be gathered in from the four quarters of the Earth unto their own lands, from whence they have been dispersed; yea, as the Lord liveth so shall it be. Amen,” reports 3 Nephi 5.1-26. We adore Thee, Blessed Jesus very God and very Man, the Same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, our strong Salvation and our only Hope. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
Please take us, we pray Thee, into Thy keeping, both now and at the hour of our death; please make us faithful to Thee upon Earth, and blessed with Thee in Heaven, where the Father, Who raises in glory the World, piercer of darkness, illuminates our path as we go through our days. God, pleased continue to illuminate or paths as we go through life. O God, Who hast brought us near to an innumerable company Angels, and to the spirits of just human made perfect; please grant us during our pilgrimage to abide in their fellowship, and in our Country to become partakers of their joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. I pray Thee, good Lord Jesus, by the love which Thou hadst for him that lay on Thy heart, to make me thankful for all that Thou hast given men in this World and to bless this planet exceedingly abundantly, above all that I can ask or think. Please help us to love each other in Thee and for Thee, to be one in heart through all separations, and to talk as friends in the path of Thy service; and finally unite us for ever at Thy feet, where peace and love are perfect and immortal, and Thou with the Father Who is turning the World towards Him, as He has turned it since its very beginning, in infinite longing, in infinite love. And I, a child of Earth, take the Lord as my exemplar, and hold my heart out to Hum in the dawn. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
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Television had proved that people will look at anything rather than at each other. Principles of justice should be general. That is, it must be possible to formulate them without the use of what would be intuitively recognized as proper names, or rigged definite descriptions. Thus the predicates used in their statemen should express general properties and relations. Unfortunately deep philosophical difficulties seem to bar the way to a satisfactory account of these matters. In presenting a theory of justice one is entitled to avoid the problem of defining general properties and relations and to be guided by what seems reasonable. Further, since the parties have no specific information about themselves or their situation, they cannot identify themselves anyway. Even if a person could get others to agree, one does not know how to tailor principles to one’s advantage. The parties are effectively forced to stick to general principles, understanding the notion here in an intuitive fashion. The naturalness of this condition lies in part in the fact that first principles must be capable of serving as a public charter of a well ordered society in perpetuity. Being unconditional, they always hold (under the circumstances of justice), and the knowledge of them must be open to individuals in any generation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25
Thus, to understand these principles should not require a knowledge of contingent particulars, and surely not a reference to individuals or associations. Traditionally the most obvious test of this condition is the idea that what is right is that which accords with God’s will. However, in fact this doctrine is normally supported by an argument from general principles. For example, Locke held that the fundamental principle of morals is the following: if one person is created by another (in the theological sense), then that person has a duty to comply with the precepts set to one by one’s creator. This principle is perfectly general and given the nature of the World on Locke’s view, it singles out God as the legitimate moral authority. The generality condition is not violated although it may appear so at first. Nest, principles are to be universal in application. They must hold for everyone in virtue of their being moral persons. Thus I assume that each can understand these principles and use them in one’s deliberations. This imposes an upper bound of sorts on how complex they can be, and on the kinds of number of distinctions they draw. Moreover, a principle is ruled out if it would be self-contradictory, or self-defeating, for everyone to act upon it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25
Similarly, should a principle be reasonable to follow only when others conform to a different one, it is also inadmissible. Principles are to be chosen in view of the consequences of everyone’s complying with them. As defined, generality and universality are distinct conditions. For example, egoism in the form of first-person dictatorship (Everyone is to serve my—or Pericles’—interest) satisfies universality but not generality. While all could act in accordance with this principle, and the results might in some cases not be at all bad, depending on the interests of the dictator, the personal pronoun (or the name) violated the first condition. Again, general principles may not be universal. They may be framed to hold for a restricted class of individuals, for instance those singled out by special biological or social characteristics, such as hair colour or class situation, or whatever. To be sure in the course of their lives individuals acquire obligations and assume duties that are peculiar to them. Nevertheless, these various duties and obligations are the consequence of first principles that hold for all as moral persons; the derivation of these requirements as a common basis. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25
A third condition is that of publicity, which arises naturally from a contractarian standpoint. The parties assume that they are choosing principles for a public conception of justice. Public Right is the sum total of those laws which require to be made universally public in order to produce a state of right. No right in a state can be tacitly and treacherously included by a secret reservation, and least of all a right which the people claim to be a part of the constitution, for a laws within it must be thought of as arising out of public will. Thus if a constitution allowed rebellion, it would have to declare this right publicly and make clear how it might be implemented. This condition is to apply to a society’s conception of justice. It is suppose that everyone will know about these principles all that one would know if their acceptance were the result of an agreement. Thus the general awareness of their universal acceptance should have desirable effect and support the stability of social cooperation. The difference between this condition and that of universality is that the latter leads one to assess principles on the basis of their being intelligently and regularly followed by everyone. However, it is possible that all should understand and follow a principle and yet this fact not be widely known or explicitly recognized. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25
The point of the publicity condition is to have the parties evaluate conceptions of justice as publicly acknowledged and fully effective moral constitutions of social life. The publicity condition is clearly implicit in Kant’s doctrine of the categorical imperative insofar as it requires us to act in accordance with principles that one would be willing as a rational being to enact as laws for a kingdom of ends. He thought of this kingdom as an ethical commonwealth, as it were, which has such moral principles for its public charter. A further condition is that a conception of right must impose an ordering on conflicting claims. This requirement springs directly from the role of its principles in adjusting competing demands. There is a difficulty, however, in deciding what counts as an ordering. It is clearly desirable that a conception of justice be complete, that is, able to order all the claims that can arise (or that are likely to in practice). And the ordering should in general be transitive: if, say, a first arrangement of the basic structure is ranked more just than a second, and the second more than just a third, then the first should be more just than the third. These formal conditions are natural enough, though not always easy to satisfy. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25
However, is trial by combat a form of adjudication? After all, physical conflict and resort to arms result in an ordering; certain claims do win out over others. The main objection to this ordering is not that it may be intransitive. Rather, it is to avoid the appeal to force and cunning that the principles of right and justice are accepted. Thus I assumes that to each according to one’s threat advantage is not a conception of justice. It fails to establish an ordering in the required sense, an ordering based on certain relevant aspects of persons and their situation which are independent from the social position. For example, if it turns out that the fair division of playing time between Matthew and Luke depends on their preference, and these in turn are connected with the instruments they wish to play. Since Matthew has a threat advantage over Luke, arising from the fact that Matthew, the trumpeter, prefers both of them playing at once to neither of them playing, whereas Luke, the pianist, prefers silence to a cacophony, Matthew is allotted twenty-six evenings of play to Luke’s seventeen. If the situation were reversed, the threat advantage would be with Luke. However, we have only to suppose that Matthew is a jazz enthusiast who plays the drums, and Luke a violinist who plays sonatas, in which case it will be fair on this analysis for Matthew to play whenever and as often as he likes, assuming as it is plausible to assume that he does not care whether Luke plays or not. Clearly something has gone wrong. #RandolphHarris 6 of 25
What is lacking is a suitable definition of status quo that is acceptable from a moral point of view. We cannot take various contingencies as known and individual preferences as given and expect to elucidate the concept of justice (or fairness) by theories of bargaining. The conception of the original position is designed to meet the problem of the appropriate status quo. But this may be similarly defective from an ethical point of view. The fifth and last condition is that of finality. The parities are to assess the system of principles as the final court of appeal in practical reasoning. There are no higher standards to which arguments in support of claims can be addressed; reasoning successfully from these principles is conclusive. If we think in terms of the fully general theory which has principles for all the virtues, then such a theory specifies the totality of relevant considerations and their appropriate weights, and its requirements are decisive. They override the demands of law and custom, and of social rules generally. We are to arrange and respect social institutions as the principles of right and justice direct. Conclusions from these principles also override considerations of prudence and self-interest. This does no mean that these principles insist upon self-sacrifice; for in drawing up the conception of right the parties take their interests into account as best they can. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25
The claims of personal prudence are already given an appropriate weight within the full system of principles. The complete scheme is final in that when the course of practical reasoning it defines has reached its conclusion, the question is settled. The claims of existing social arrangements and of self-interest have been duly allowed for. We cannot at the end count them a second time because we do not like the result. Taken together, then, these conditions on conceptions of right come to this: a conception of right is a set of principles, generally in form and universal in application, that is to be publicly recognized as a final court appeal for ordering the conflicting claims of moral persons. Principles of justice are identified by their special five conditions exclude none of the traditional conceptions of justice. It should be noted, however, that they do rule out the listed variants of egoism. The generality condition eliminates both first-person dictatorship and the free-rider forms, since in each case a proper name, or pronoun, or a rigged definite description is needed, either to single out the dictator or to characterize the free-rider. Generality does not, however, exclude general egoism, for each person is allowed to do whatever, in one’s judgment, is most likely to further one’s own aims. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25
The principle here can clearly be expressed in perfectly general way. It is the ordering condition which renders general egoism inadmissible, for if everyone is authorized to advance one’s aims as one pleases, or if everyone ought to advance one’s own interests, competing claims are not ranked at all and the outcome is determined by force and cunning. The several kinds of egoism, then, do not appear on the list presented to the parties. They are eliminated by the formal constraints. Of course, this is not a surprising conclusion, since it is obvious that by choosing one of the other conceptions the persons in the original position can do much better for themselves. Once they ask which principles all should agree to, no form of egoism is a serious candidate for consideration in any case. This only confirms what we knew already, namely, that although egoism is logically consistent and in this sense not irrational, it is incompatible with wat we intuitively regard as the moral point of view. The significance of egoism philosophically is not as an alternative conception of right but as a challenge to any such conception. In justice as fairness this is reflected in the fact that we can interpret general egoism as the no-agreement. If the were unable to reach an understanding, it is what parties would be stuck with. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25
Artifice has so much got the upper hand that the fictitious dares to usurp the place of the real. The overvaluation of productivity that is afflicting our age has so thrived and its par-technical glance has set up a senseless exclusiveness of its own that even genuinely creative people allow their organic skills to degenerate into an autonomous growth to satisfy the demand of the day. What the born deceivers never had, they give up: the ground where the roots of a genuinely lived life alone can grow. They mean, they strive for, and at last they contain nothing but creativity. Instead of bringing forth a natural creation, in a gradual selective progression from experiences to thoughts, from thought to words, from words to themselves out turning all experience to account as public communication; they renounce true necessity and give themselves over to the arbitrary. They poison experience, for already while it is taking place they are dominated by the will to produce. Thus they prostitute their lives and are cheated of the reward for their ignominy; for how can they expect to create anything save the artificial and the transitory? They forfeit both life and art, and all that they gain is the applause of their production-mad contemporaries. However, it seems to me that the will to create is a legitimate part of the experience of every productive human. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25
Thus the painter is the person who paints with all one’s senses. One’s seeing is already a painting, for what one sees is not merely what one’s physical sight receives: it is something, two-dimensionally intensified, that vision produces. And this producing does not come later, but is present in one’s seeing. Even one’s hearing, one’s smelling, are already painting, for they enrich for one the graphic character of the thing; they give one not only sensations but also stimulations. In the same way the poet creates poetry with all one’s senses; in each of one’s experiences the form in which it will be phrased is immediately announced. One’s perceiving is already a transformation of the thing perceived into the stuff of poetry, and in its becoming each impression presents itself to one as an expression of rhythmic validity. That is need so. However, this dynamic element that you find in the experience of the creative is no will to create but an ability to create. This potentiality of form also accompanies every experience that befalls the non-artistic human and is given an issue as often as one lifts an image out of the stream of perception and inserts it into one’s memory as something single, definite, and meaningful in itself. For the creative human this potentiality of form is a specific one, directed into the language of one’s particular art. If an intention is expressed in this direction, it is that of one’s genius, not that of a self-conscious resolution. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25
The dynamic element of one’s experience does not affect is wholeness and purity. It is otherwise when in perceiving one already cherishes the deliberate intention of utilizing what one perceives. Then one disturbs the experience stunts its growth, and taints the process of its becoming. Only the unarbitrary can grow properly and bear mature and healthy fruit. That humans are legitimately creative who experiences so strongly and formatively that one’s experiences unite into an image that demands to be set forth, and who then works at one’s task with full consciousness of one’s art. However, one who interferes with spontaneity of perceiving, who does not allow the inner selection and formation to prevail, but instead inserts an aim from the beginning, has forfeited the meaning of this perception, the meaning that lies above all aims. And one who meets humans with a double glance, an open one that invites one that invites one’s fellows to sincerity and the concealed one of the observer stemming from a conscious aim; one who is friendship and in love is cleft into two humans, one who surrenders oneself to one’s feelings and another who is already standing by to exploit them—this individual cannot be delivered by any creative talent from the blight that one has brought upon oneself and one’s work, for one has poisoned the springs of one’s life. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25
You wish, then, to reintroduce int aesthetics the ethical principle that we have finally succeeded in banishing from it? What was banished from aesthetics was an ideology that had degenerated into rhetoric and had thereby become false. It certainly signified a conquest of sure ground wen the perspective was established that evaluated a work of art—approving or rejecting it—not by its relation to the aspirations of the aspirations of the artist buy by its intrinsic qualities. Now for the first tie we can, without promoting misunderstanding, strive towards the deeper insight: that this approval affords entrance into the other circle only, but in the inner circle those works alone count that have given form to the meaning of being. Similarly, a gain in clarity and solidity was achieved when it was recognized that the significance of an artist does not depend upon one’s morals: now for the first time we can attain the deeper clarity that in inner development mastery and power accrue only to that artist who is worthy of one’s art. The way people use language is braided together tightly with the way they think. While we do not need to think in language (a child can think prior to language acquisition, and, in fact, since language is a vehicle for thought, language presupposed thought and not vice versa), nevertheless, language development is critical for cultivating a careful, precise, attentive mind. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25
Most people today do not use good grammar or syntax in sentence construction. Interestingly, the demise of grammar and syntax reflects a change in the main way language is currently used. Today, we primarily use langue to express emotions, create experiences, or get someone to do something, like buy a product. Careful thought is not always relevant to these modern appropriations of language. How many television commercials actually persuade us to buy something on the basis of an articulate defense of a product! The devaluation of grammar correlates closely with a devaluation of the mind, truth, and thought. When a main purpose of language is the careful precise expression of thought, grammar and syntax become critical because they make such expression of thought possible. If we Christians are to develop our minds, we must take greater care to improve our syntax and grammar, and we must expect this from each other. From years of experience grading student papers, I can tell you that is a student’s grammar is poor, one has a difficult tie developing a coherent line of thought clearly and carefully. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25
Let us give ourselves permission to correct one another’s grammar with a gentle, nonarrogant spirit in our fellowship meetings. Is not a developed intellectual love for God worth the price of an initial embarrassment at such correction? After all, the alternative is to continue to allow one another to speak incorrectly and fail to realize the intellectual benefits that come from the correct use of language. Having seen the importance of a Christian mind, and having (hopefully) been persuaded of the importance of good thinking, ordered language, and good grammar, you may be asking, “Okay, wat is well-reasoning thinking?” Let us look now at an introduction of some of the principles that govern reasoning and why they are important to the mind. Why Logic? Besides cultivating virtue, taking study as a spiritual discipline, and being more disciplined about your grammar and syntax, you should be acquainted with certain logical tools that constitute the very nature of thought. Even young children use these tools without knowing the names for them. If you really want to develop your intellectual skills, you should memorize these and practice using them and recognizing their presence in things you hear or read. We Christians must never forget that our God is a God of truth, reason, and logic. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25
He speaks wisdom to His children, invites them to reason and argue with God logically, and demands that they present in logical fashion the reason why they believe. The image of God within us includes the faculty of abstract reasoning and logical thought. In Romans, the apostle Paul presents in a careful, logical fashion a host of Old Testament text about the nature of sin, judgment, and justification. In public debate, Jesus Himself regularly used careful logic to refute opponents’ arguments and present them with a carefully reasoned alternative. When John Wesley told a group of ministers to become proficient in logic as a part of their calling, he was expressing a deep understanding of the Christian faith as that faith is depicted in the Bible and throughout church history. In logic, an argument is defined as a group of statements containing premises and a conclusion in which the former are claimed as support for the latter. Using an argument is not the same as being argumentative. In using an argument, one simply supports a conclusion with premises. Being argumentative is a defensive personality defect. Christians are required by God to argue, not to be argumentative. “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. However, do this with gentleness and respect,” reports 1 Peter 3.15. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25
Arguments are either deductive or inductive. In a valid deductive argument, if the premises are true, then the conclusions must be true. For example, “(1) All dogs are ducks, (2) All ducks are cats, (3) Therefore, all dogs are cats,” is a valid deductive argument. In spite of the fact that premises 1 and 2 are false, if they were true, the conclusion would have to be true. In an inductive argument, the premises do not guarantee but merely provide support or grounds for the truth of the conclusion. An inductive argument with true premises does not guarantee but only makes probably the truth of its conclusion. It would be possible to have a good inductive argument with true premises and a false conclusion. For example, “(1) Ninety-five perfect of people who receive the antibiotic get well, (2) We are about to give John the antibiotic, (3) Therefore, John is about to get well” is a good inductive argument. Premises 1 and 2 do in fact provide good support for the conclusion, even though the premises could be true and the conclusion false. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25
Deductive arguments can be either valid or invalid. As we have seen, if a deductive argument is valid, its conclusion must be true if its premises are true. An invalid deductive argument is one in which the premises could be true but the conclusion false. For example, “(1) All dogs are mammals, (2) All cats are mammals, (3) Therefore, all dogs are cats: is invalid because it contains true premises and a false conclusion. A sound argument is a deductive argument with true premises (and therefore, a true conclusion), and this is what we want to employ as best we can. A syllogism is deductive argument that consists of exactly two premises and one conclusion. The argument above about dogs and cats is a syllogism (an invalid one). If you wish, call it self-making—this process of using one’s own mental powers, one’s own emotional energies, to actualize the new being that is one’s best self. It does not seek like a mendicant for free transformation by another person, a guru. It makes use of the highest kind of imagination, a deeply relaxed suggestive visualization. Whatever is called for to being on enlightenment exists within oneself already, but it is latent and undeveloped. By study, exercise, and practice the aspirant can be one’s own teacher. Sooner or later one will have to take this work into one’s own hands. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25
The notion that someone else can or will do it for one is delusory, the belief that a guru can absolve one’s duty is adolescent wishful thinking. If the result is to have any lasting value, it must be self-wrought or in the end the aspirant will have to start again, use this approach, and throw away the negative thought the one is helpless without someone else who must be sought and found. The kind of teacher who is really useful will put no emphasis upon oneself but upon the aspirant’s own work, and then see one at intervals only. Once the materials needed are pointed out, the student should teach oneself; and this one can do only through self-practice. “And it came to pass that in the latter end of the eighteenth year those armies of robbers had prepared for battle, and began to come down and to sally forth from the hills, and out of the mountains, and the wilderness, and their strongholds, and their secret paces, and began to take possession of the lands, both which were in the land south and which were in the land north, and began to take possession of all the lands which ad been deserted by the Nephites, and the cities which had been left desolate. However, behold, there were no wild beasts nor game in those lands which had been deserted by the Nephites, and there was no game for the robbers save it were in the wilderness. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25
“And the robbers could not exist save it were in the wilderness, for the want of food; for the Nephites had left their lands desolate, and had gathered their flocks and their lands desolate, and had gathered their flocks and their herds and all their substance, and they were in one body. Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to obtain food, save it were to come up in open battle against the Nephites; and the Nephites being in one body, and having so great a number, and having reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years, in the which time they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land; and thus the eighteenth year did pass away. And it came to pass that in the nineteenth year Giddianhi found that it was expedient that he should go up to battle against the Nephites, for there was no way that they could subsist save it were to plunder and rob and murder. And they durst not spread themselves upon the face of the land insomuch that they could raise grain, lest the Nephites should come upon them and slay them; therefore Giddianhi gave commandment unto his armies that in this year they should go up to battle against the Nephites. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25
“And it came to pass that they did come up to battle; and it was in the sixth month; and behold, great and terrible was the day that they did come up to battle; and they had a lamb-skin about their loins, and they were dyed in blood, and their hears were shorn, and they had head-plates upon them; and great and terrible was the appearance of the armies of Giddianhi, because of their armor, and because of the being dyed in blood. And it came to pass that the armies of the Nephites, when they say the appearance of the army of Giddianhi, had all fallen to the Earth, and did lift their cries to the Lord their God, that he would spare them and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. And it came to pass that when the armies of Giddianhi saw this they began to shout with a loud voice, because of their joy, for they had supposed that the Nephites had fallen with fear because of the terror of their armies. However, in this thing there were disappointed, for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore, when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them. And the battle commenced in this sixth month. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25
“And great and terrible was the battle thereof, yea, great and terrible was the battle thereof, yea, great and terrible was the slaughter thereof, insomuch that there was never known so great a slaughter among all the people of Lehi since he left Jerusalem. And notwithstanding the threatenings and the oaths which Giddianhi had made, before, the Nephites did beat them, insomuch that they did fall back from before them. And it came to pass that Gidgddioni commanded that his armies should pursue them as far as the borders of the wilderness, and that they should not spare any that should fall into their hands by the way; and thus they did pursue them and did slay them, to the borders of the wilderness, even until they had fulfilled the commandments of Gidgiddoni. And it came to pass that Giddianhi, wh has stood and fought with boldness, was pursed as he fled; and being weary because of his much fighting he was overtaken and slain. And thus was the end of Giddianhi the robber. And it came to pass that the armies of the Nephites did return again to their place of security. And it came to pass that this nineteenth year did pass away, and the robbers did not come again in the twentieth year. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25
“And in the twenty and first year they did not come up to battle, but they came up on all sides to lay siege round about the people of Nephi; for they did suppose that if they should cut off from all their outward privileges, that they could cause them to yield themselves up according to their wishes. Now they had appointed unto themselves another leader, whose name was Zemnarihah; therefore it was Zemnarihah that did cause that this siege should take place. However, behold, this was an advantage to the Nephites; for it was impossible for the robbers to lay siege sufficiently long to have any effect upon the Nephites, because of their much provision which they had laid up in store, and because of the scantiness of provisions among the robbers; for behold, they had nothing save it were meat for their subsistence, which meat they did obtain in the wilderness; and it came to pass that the wild game became scarce in the wilderness insomuch that the robbers were about to perish with hunger. And the Nephites were continually marching out by day and by night, and falling upon their armies, and cutting them off by thousands and by tens of thousands. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25
“And thus it became the desire of the people of Zemnarihah to withdraw from their design, because of the great destruction which came upon them by night and by day. And it came t pass that Zemnarihah did give command unto his people that they should withdraw themselves from the siege, and march into the furthermost parts of the land northward. And now, Gidgiddoni being aware of their design, and knowing of their weakness because of the want of food, and the great slaughter which had been made among them, therefore he did send out his armies in the night-tie, and did cut off the way of their retreat, and did place his armies in the way of their retreat. And this did they do in the night-time, and got on their march beyond the robbers began their march, they were met by the armies of the Nephites both in their front an in their rear. And the robbers who were on the south were also cut off in their place of retreat. And all these things were done by command of Gidgiddoni. And there were many thousands who did yield themselves up prisoners unto the Nephites, and the remainder of them were slain. And their leader, Zemnarihah, was taken and hanged upon a tree, yea, even upon the top thereof until he was dead. And when they had hanged him until he was dead they did fell the tree to the Earth, and did cry with a loud voice. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25
“He said: May the Lord preserve his people in righteousness and in holiness of heart, that they may cause t be felled to the Earth all who shall seek to slay them because of power and secret combinations, even as this man hath been felled to the Earth. And they did rejoice and cry again with one voice, saying: May the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, protect this people in righteousness, so long as they shall call on the name of their God for protection. And it came to pass that they did break forth, all as one, in singing, an praising their God for the great thing which he had done for them, in preserving them from falling into the hands of their enemies. Yea, they did cry: Hosanna to the Most High God. And they did cry: Blessed be the name of the Lord God Almighty, the Most High God. And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction,” reports 3 Nephi 4.1-33. O God, Whom none can love except they hate the thing that is evil, and Who willedst by Thy Son our Saviour to redeem us from iniquity; please deliver us when we are tempted to look on sin without abhorrence, and let virtue of His Passion come between us and the enemy of our souls; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25
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The Greatest Miracles of Genius Breed Doubt as Well as Faith About the Labyrinth in His Soul of Love!
On some bright essence could I lean, and lull myself to immortality. We are not really pacifists, we are just nonviolent soldiers. As long as you feel insecure, you have no real capacity to face other men and women in that skill of communication which more than any other skill requires freedom from tension. By communication I did not of course mean only intellectual conversation but the whole aesthetic of emotional relations; when one first begins to examine one’s experience, one will find most of their delights in natural things, and this will facilitate the ability to chiefly reckon each day’s catch of happiness in terms of one’s relationships with others. While we go about our day being able to work or study, we should think continually of others who are denied that happiness by their material circumstances or their health. One brilliant Summer morning at Gunsbach, during the Whitsuntide holidays—it was in 1896—there came to me, as I awoke, the thought that I must not accept this happiness as a matter of course, but must give me something in return for it. Proceeding to think the matter out at once with calm deliberation, while the birds were singing outside, I settled with myself before I got up, that I would consider myself justified in living till I was thirty for the science and art, in order to devote myself from that time forward to the direct service of humanity. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
Many a time already I had tried to settle what meaning lay hidden for me in the saying of Jesus! “Whosoever would save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel shall save it.” Now the answer was found. In addition to the outward, I now had inward happiness. What would be the character of the activities thus planned for the future was not yet clear to me. I left it to circumstances to guide me. One thing only was certain, that is must be directly human service, however inconspicuous the sphere of it. Those who are so favoured as to be able to embark on a course of free personal activity must accept this good fortune in a spirit of humility. They must often think of those who, though willing and capable, were never in a position to do the same thing. And as a rule they must temper their own strong determination with humility. They are almost always destined to have to seek and wait till they find a road open for the activity they long for. Happy are those to whom the years of work are allotted in richer measure than those of seeking and waiting. Happy those who in the end are able to give themselves really and completely! #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
I have often recognized that the need to do something special was born of a restless spirit. Such persons want to dedicate themselves to larger tasks because those that lay nearest do not satisfy them. Often, too, it was evident that they had been brought to their decisions by quite secondary considerations. Only a person who can find a value in every sort of activity and devote oneself to each one with full consciousness of duty, has the inward right to take as one’s object some extraordinary activity instead of that which falls to one’s lot naturally. Only a person who feels one’s preference to be as a matter of course, not something out of the ordinary, and who has not thought of heroism, but just recognizes a duty undertaken with sober enthusiasm, is capable of becoming a spiritual adventurer such as the World needs. There are no heroes of action: only heroes of renunciation and suffering. Of such there are plenty. However, few of them are known, and even these not to the crowd, but to the few. My thirtieth birthday, I spent like the man in the parable who desiring to build a tower, first count the cost whether he have wherewith to complete it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
Several times, indeed, it was my experience that my appeal to the act of obedience which Jesus’ command of love may under special circumstances call for, brought upon me an accusation of conceit, although I had, in fact, been obliged to do violence to my feelings to employ this belief at all. In general, how much I suffered through so many people assuming a right to tear open all the doors and shutters of my inner self! As a rule, too, it was of no use allowing them, in spite of my repugnance, to have a glimpse of the thoughts which had given birth to my resolution. They thought there must be something behind it all, and guessed at disappointment as the slow growth of y reputation. For this there was no ground at all, seeing that I have received, even as a young man, such recognition as others usually get only after a whole life of toil and struggle. Unfortunate love experiences were also alleged as the reason for my decision. I felt as a real kindness the action of persons who made no attempt to dig their fists into my heart, but regarded me as a precocious young man, not quite right in one’s head, and treated me correspondingly with affectionate mockery. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
However, only one, who thanks to his own ability or the devotion of friends is in Worldly matters a free man, can venture nowadays o take the path of independent activity. This consciousness cannot be got from another human by transfer (although its presence in one may be felt by sensitivity) but only by one’s own hard toil. The right action done in the wrong way becomes wrong in itself. Although it is right to look towards a teacher for guidance and inspiration throughout the course of one’s quest, it is wrong to become over-dependent on that teacher. People approach the saint-type primarily to get what is called in India a darshan. This may be variously translated as a glimpse, a spoken blessing, a sight, a view, an initiation, or a silent benediction. One is a phenomenon and they stand at a distance to gaze at one, to admire one, or to be overwhelmed with awe by one. The few minutes or days or weeks or months or years taken up—the duration is immaterial for extension in time does not change the nature of the happening—leave the devotee with the same character, the same consciousness that one had before the meeting. Its service is to portray the goal, not to being one nearer to perfection in any way. The delusion that the longer they stay with one the farther they travel on the road to perfection remains a delusion still. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
The darshan leaves them with their weakness and faults, their egoism and animality untouched. The work of getting rid of these things is theirs to undertake and no darshan-magic can be substitute for it. The belief that a self-actualized person will do for one once and for all what in the end one has to do for oneself belongs to the untutored masses and the sectarian mystic circles. Only the self-deceived or the charlatanic will offer to save you. All others will offer only to guide you. You must labour for yourselves. It is the common way to demand entry into enlightenment through someone else. This renders it needful to make clear that nobody, not even the best of the self-actualized, can possibly pass on and there are not many with that capacity. Even in such cases, one’s disciples must work diligently and win it themselves. The service of a spiritual director in correcting errors, providing instruction, stimulating aspiration, and fostering intuition are immense; but they are only a prelude to the services a student must render to oneself. Those who leave their spiritual future totally in the hands of their guide, lose the years which could be spent in developing themselves. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
It is not enough to receive a teaching from someone else. The truth of the teaching must be tested by personal experience, the worth of it should be measured by personal knowledge. Of all the will for the ideal which exists in humankind only a small part can be manifested in action. All the rest is destined to realize itself in unseen effects, which represent, however, a value exceeding a thousandfold and more that of the activity which attracts the notice of the World. Its relation to the latter is like that of the deep sea to the waves which stir its surface. The hidden forces of goodness are embodied in those persons who carry on as a secondary pursuit the immediate personal service which they cannot make their lifework. The lot of the many is to have as a profession, for the earning of their living and the satisfaction of society’s claim on them, a more or less soulless labour in which they can give out little of nothing of their human qualities, because in that labour they have to be little better than human machines. Yet no one finds oneself in the position of having no possible opportunity of giving oneself to others as a human being. The problem produced by the fact of labour being today so thoroughly organized, specialized, and mechanized depends only in part for its solution on society’s not merely removing the conditions thus produced, but doing its very best to guard the rights of human personality. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
What is even more important is that sufferers shall not simply bow to their fate, but shall try with all their energy to asset their human personality amid their unfavourable conditions by spiritual activity. Anyone can recuse one’s human life, in spite of one’s professional life, who seizes every opportunity of being a human by means of personal action, however unpretending, for the good of fellow humans who need the help of a fellow human. Such a person enlists in the service of the spiritual and good. No fate can prevent a human from giving to others this direct human service side by side with one’s lifework. If so much of such service remains unrealized, it is because the opportunities are missed. It is the guide’s duty to hold up a gasolier on a dark path but the disciple must decide for oneself the speed and distance of the journey along that path. No command is laid upon one, for it is one who must estimate the strength within one and the opportunity without. One is given full freedom in making one’s decision. It is unfortunately the case that many emotionally unstable persons are attracted to mysticism, with the result that they spend years with their dreams of magical achievement but do nothing to convert those dreams into realities, or else flit from one dream to another. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
That everyone shall exert oneself in that state of life in which one is placed, to practice true humanity toward one’s fellow humans, on that depends the future of humankind. Enormous values come to nothing every moment through the missing of opportunities, but the values which do get turned into will and deed mean wealth which must not be undervalued. Our humanity is by no means so materialistic as foolish talk is continually asserting it to be. Judging by what I have learned about men and women, I am convinced that there is far more in them of idealist will power than ever comes to the surface of the World. Just as the water of the streams we see is small in amount compared to that which flows underground, so the idealism which becomes visible is small in amount compared with what men and women bear locked in their hearts, underground waters to the surface: humankind is waiting and longing for such as can do that. If the student responds sufficiently to the hints given one or the counsel bestowed on one, the teacher will be encouraged to go father. The uneasiness which many feel in the teacher’s presence is partly caused by the fact that there are negative qualities in themselves which are not present in the teacher. However, partly it is also caused by their miscomprehension of one’s character. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
The righteous teacher does not attempt to criticize, judge, or condemn them, nor to approve or disapprove of them. One accepts that this is not one’s business for one accepts that evolution has made them what they are, both the good and bad in them. To this extent their uneasiness is unnecessary. The freedom to be who one deeply is strikes an especially resonant chord in underrepresented and marginalized communities. A primary concern of existential psychotherapy is the relationship among freedom, limitation, and choice. The daily question for many people, even the rich and famous is: “With whom can I be myself?” The dangers are real. Physical safety, economic security, and acceptance by others are threatened. And hiding one aspect of the self affects other dimensions of the self, such as self-esteem, creativity, and the ability to love. Even for those who appear to be comfortable with who they are, the issue goes deeper. It saddens and angers people that they cannot talk to people about their lives or express who they really are because they are around people who expect them to always be kind and understanding, so people have to create these carefully mastered personalities, but it may not reflect their full character. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
Repressed individuals even go as far as to make statement which have been carefully crafted to make people feel better. Many individuals cannot just change the subject; this is their life. As a result, people who are repressed turn to long term celibacy so they are able to fully embody who they are since they cannot express their full humanness. Therapeutic work concerning the freedom to express oneself and therapeutic work touching on identity issues are mutually reinforcing. As people gain a greater sense of self and possibilities, they also learn to accept themselves; as they learn to accept themselves, they become increasingly more able to express all of who they are and to experience a widening sense of possibilities. One lady, Katrina, who had developed an inflammatory condition had to totally change her life. Doctor’s noticed that when she was under stress, the condition would flare up and recommended a lifestyle change because something was wrong in her environment. The young woman had to go to cognitive therapy, go on medication for the inflammation, end her romantic relationship and become celibate for years, she even quit her job, and moved. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
While undergoing this life style change, the lady also made the decision not to receive any financial support from her parents. The general physician overseeing her general healthy needs, noticed as the woman became more responsible for herself, this enforced her sense of freedom to express who she truly was and her health had started improving after three years of celibacy. She learned to “check in” with herself—not merely to think about particular issues but to resonate to them, to experience them kinesthetically. She learned did not simply run from her problems, she learned to counter her constriction and productively regenerate her life. This inspired her to become response-able—personally, socially, and spiritually. Spiritual discipline is an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and His Kingdom. In any human endeavour, repetitive exercise and practice bring skill and excellence. Sometimes a particular activity is good because it accomplishes a specific result. If it produces a base hit, swinging a baseball bat is good. However, that same activity can also be done, not for the result alone, but for the training it offers. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
A person can repeatedly swing a bat in a batting cage for the purpose of training, and not to increase one’s output of base hits. And other good results can follow from such training besides the one usually or normally intended; for example, regular trips to a batting cage can get a person in good overall condition besides helping one get base hits. The same thing is true of study. We often correctly approach study specifically for some direct end—preparing a lesson or learning a topic covered in a book. However, study should also be approached as a set of training activities, as spiritual and intellectual exercises. Study is a discipline that strengthens the mind and enriches the soul. Sometimes I study a book for the sheer value of engaging my intellect in a stretching, strenuous activity. As other times, I read to help myself cultivate the intellectual virtues that will bring one closer to God. Seen as discipline, study becomes a means of building my character, ingraining habits of thought and reflection, and reinforcing my own soul the value of the life of the mind. We study, then, not simply to gain knowledge about the topic of study, but as a broader spiritual discipline. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
By way of application, it is important to read books from time to time as a form of spiritual discipline and intellectual exercise, even if the topic of the book does not address one of your immediate, felt needs. If all you do is read simple books or those that overemphasize stories or practical application, you will never learn to think of yourself as a mature Christian, nor will you develop a trained mind. Peace if the rest of will that results from assurance about how things will turn out. It is always a form of active engagement with good, plus assurance that things will turn out well. “I am at peace about it,” we say, and this means I am no longer striving, inwardly or outwardly, to save some outcome dear to me or to avoid one that I reject. I have released whatever is at issues and am no longer even putting “body English” or “spin” on it or inwardly gritting my teeth. Of course everyone is at peace about some things, one hopes, but few have peace in general, and fewer still have peace that reaches their body and its automatic responses to such a depth that it does not live in a covert state of alarm. Ultimately it will be by one’s own efforts alone that one uncovers the wisdom and beauty one is seeking—and which are even now within one. Such efforts, in order to be successful, must be courageous and continuous. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
Repeated failures should serve only to stimulate deeper determination. In the end each seeker has to become one’s own teacher by putting all one’s experience, one’s beliefs, one’s ideas, to the test. Most people carry heavy burdens of care, and usually about the things that are most important in life: what will happen to their loved ones, their finances, health, death, their physical appearance or what others think of them, the future of society, their standing before God and their eternal destiny. To be at peace with God and others (family, neighbours, and coworkers) is a great attainment and depends on graces far beyond ourselves as well as on our own efforts. That is also true of being at peace with oneself. Peace with God comes only from acceptance of one’s gift of life in His Son. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God,” reports Romans 5.1-2. We are then assured of the outcome of our life and are no longer trying to justify ourselves before God or others. We have accepted that we are not righteous or even totally competent and that we cannot be so on our own. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
We have laid down the burden of justifying ourselves before God and are learning not to justify ourselves before humans. This is the pace that grows from within us. It is possible to being this truth within the mind’s sight and within the will’s reach as long as we do our own work. Whoever offers one a free redemption plays God. Form those around me I must simply assume grace and mercy, not that I will get what I deserve. I am a beggar on my way through the World. Justice is not enough for my needs, and I could not stand it if I got it. When others do not extend the grace and mercy I need, I have to draw on the grace and mercy I need, I have to draw on the abundance of it in God. “Who is this that is condemning me?” I remind myself, “Jesus even died for me, was raised from the dead, and is now standing up for me before God,” reports Romans 8.34. Assurance of this allows me to “seek peace and pursue it,” reports 1 Peter 3.11, no matter who is involved, and to “pursue peace with all humans,” reports Hebrews 12.14. That includes all our family members and coworkers! Even in case where, though no fault of my own, there must be a struggle between me and others, there does not have to be a struggle within me. Look not for refuge to anyone besides yourself. Try to become like the master. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
I may have to resist others, for some good reason, but even so I do not have to make things come out right. I am not the one in control of outcomes. I do not have to hate those whose course of action I resist, or even get mad at them, and so I can always be at peace within myself as well as toward them. Although the truth of our intellect is caused by the thing, yet it is not necessary that truth should be there primarily, any more than that health should be primarily in medicine, rather than in the animal: for the virtue of medicine, and not its health, is the cause of health, for here the agent is not univocal. In the same way, the being of the thing, not its truth, is the cause of the truth in the intellect. Hence, a fact or a word is true from the fact that a thing is, not because a thing is true. “And now it came to pass that in the sixteenth year from the coming of Christ, Lachoneus, the governor of the land, received an epistle from the leader and the governor of this band of robbers; and these were the words which were written saying: Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, behold, I write tis epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of your firmness, and also the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
“Yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were supported by the hand of a god, in the defence of your liberty, and your property, and your country, or that which ye do call so. And it seemeth a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye should be so foolish and vain as to suppose that ye can stand against so many brave men who are at my command, who do now at this time stand in their arms, and do await with great anxiety for the word—God own upon the Nephites and destroy them. And I, knowing of their unconquerable spirit, having proved them in the field of battle, and knowing you because of the many wrongs which ye have done unto them, therefore if they should come down against you they would visit you with utter destruction. Therefore I have written this epistle, sealing it with mine own hand, feeling for your welfare, because of your firmness in that which ye believe to be right, and your noble spirit in the field of battle. Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye would yield up unto this my people, your cities, your lands, and your possessions, rather than that they should visit you with the sword and that destruction should come upon you. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
“Or in other words, yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us and become acquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren that ye may be like unto us—not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our substance. And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will do this, with an oath, ye shall not be destroyed; but if ye will not do this, I swear unto you with an oath, that on the morrow month I will command that my armies shall come down against you, and they shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, but shall slay you, and shall let fall the sword upon you even until ye shall become extinct. And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this secret society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof I know to be good; and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us. And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoeus, and I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and your possessions, without the shedding of blood, that this my people may recover their rights and government, who have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
“And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites, and also of the threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers. Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber; therefore he did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them. Yea, he sent a proclamation among all the people, that they should gather together their women, and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all their substance, save it were their land, unto one place. And he caused that fortifications should be built round about them, and the strength thereof should be exceedingly great. And he caused that armies, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites, or of all them who were numbered among the Nephites, should be placed as guards round about to watch them, and to guard them from the robbers day and night. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
“Yea, he said unto them: As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers. And so great and marvelous were the words and prophecies of Lachoneus that they did cause fear to come upon all the people; and they did exert themselves in their might to do according to the words of Lachoneus. And it came to pass that Lachoneus did appoint chief captains over all the armies of the Nephites, to command them at the time that the robbers should come down out of the wilderness against them. Now the chiefest among all the chief captains and the great commander of all the armies of the Nephites was appointed, and his name was Gididdoni. Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that the bad spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gididdoni was a great prophet among them, as also was the chief judge. Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands. However, Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
“Therefore, as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands. And it came to pass in the seventeenth year, in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the land, and they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance, and did march forth by thousands and by tens of thousands, until they had all gone forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies. And the land which was appointed was the land of Zarahemla, and the land which was between the land Zarahemla and the land Bountiful, yea, to the line which was between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation. And there were a great many thousand people who were called Nephites, who did gather themselves together in this land. Now Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves together in this land. Now Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves together in the and southward, because of the great curse which was upon the land northward. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
“And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle. And they were exceedingly sorrowful because of their enemies. And Giddiddoni did cause that they should make weapons of war of every kind, and they should be strong with armour, and with shields, and with bucklers, after the manner of his instruction,” reports 3 Nephi 3.1-26. On the ring of the World, God is dancing. In His bright robe, He is dancing. Young and handsome and strong, God is dancing. Bringer of vision, God is dancing. Dance, Sun King, into the Sky, please being the day to those who wait for you. As the Sun rises, I face His glory, grateful that the darkness has come to an end. Though darkness is sacred, its soothing a gift, I am a human, a creature of light. So I face you in thankfulness and greet your return with praises and prayer and the honour that is due you. O Lord and Saviour Christ, Who camest not to strive nor cry, but to let Thy words fall as the drops that water the Earth; please grant all who contend for the Faith once delivered, never to injure it by clamour and impatience. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
However, teach them to speak Thy precious Truth in love, so to present it that it may be loved, and that humans may see in it Thy goodness and Thy beauty; Who livest as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Truth is found in the intellect according as it apprehends a thing as it is; and things according as they have being conformable to an intellect. This to be the greatest degree found in God. For His being is not only conformed to His intellect, but it is the very act of His intellect; and His act of understanding is the measure and cause of every other being and of every other intellect, and He Himself is His own existence and act of understanding. Whence it follows not only that truth is in Him, but that He is truth itself, and the sovereign and first truth. Although the divine intellect there is neither composition nor division, yet in His simple act of intelligence He judges of all things and knows all things complex; and thus there is truth in His intellect. O God, the Sovereign Good of the soul, Who requirest the hearts of all Thy children; please deliver us from all sloth in Thy work, all coldness in Thy cause; and please grant us by looking unto Thee to rekindle our Love, and by waiting upon Thee to renew our strength; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
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For the First Time in Human History the Opportunity to Evolve Beyond their Enslaved Past Has Been Accepted!
If your thing is paradise, it may be hard to obtain, but worth keeping. I believe that the whole future of human culture depends upon our solving the problem of how to introduce into education processes the essence of the preventive and curative methods to avoid poverty and crime. Education will be preventive in the sense that it will limit and guide the fateful dichotomy which occurs early in life between conscious and preconscious processes on the one hand, and the inaccessible unconscious on the other. It will have to be curative as well, because we cannot expect prevention ever to work perfectly. Consequently we shall always have to build into the concepts and techniques of education certain types of therapeutic experiences, both for groups and for individuals, which will be designed to reintegrate unconscious with conscious and precious processes. Even to attempt this will require that we overcome not only the individual resistances and prejudices to which are floating about in society, but also the entrenched opposition of many existing social, cultural, religious, and educational institutions. This is no small order: and I would hesitate to offer the challenge, if I did not have so deep a conviction that all of our vaunted culture and education, as we have known them in the past, have failed humankind completely. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
Some may feel these views to be unduly pessimistic. Yet I believe that these criticisms of our educational processes are rooted in optimism, and pursue an optimistic ideal. If our purpose in studying our failures is to learn how not to fail in the future, it is not pessimism to face the fact of past failure. It was neither pessimism nor a morbid fascination with death which led medicine to the autopsy table, but rather courage, optimism, spiritual humility, and a determination to avoid the endless repetition of past error. Humankind’s reward is scientific medicine; and we must now face the failure of education with the same combination of humility and determination. Because education has failed humankind in the past, it does not follow that it must necessarily continue to fail, unless we cling obstinately and defensively to methods which have already been tried without success. Yet the tendency to prescribe more of the old medicines is deep in us. For instance, when I read that a new college president declares that what we need in education is a greater emphasis on religion, I confess that my heart feels joy. Much like when someone says we need more humanities. Or when professors call for more of the great books by greater thinkers out of the past, or when a classicist calls for more of the classics, or a mathematician for more mathematics or a chemist for more chemistry. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
When in the face of our general culture failure each cultural specialist cries out for larger doses of one’s own specific remedy, it is not a pretty spectacle, nor a reassuring measure of the maturity of the educators. However, at least they can recognize that the human mind needs more cultivation and are speaking up because we cannot have an education system that is producing people with little wisdom or maturity. It is important to understand that scientists, including psychiatrists, are not immune to these frailties; and that they are equally true for all of those who carry the banners of culture. It is an old story of youthful idealism, of young confidence that the way to the good life is in their hands, then of a gradual disillusionment which usually is masked by a paradoxical defensiveness and a refusal to face the limitations of existing methods, turning instead in their anger against anyone who is honest and sceptical enough to challenge one’s particular road to salvation. All of us want to go on educating as we have in the past, making at most only trivial curricular changes. However, what humankind actually needs is a cultural stride of far grander dimensions. A little more or less general knowledge and more in-depth information. General information does not give power to train and grow. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
General information without knowing how to think, apply it, nor build will create novice who are not able to process information correctly because they have not studied long enough to see how trends and supply shocks may impact the future, and they may not know how to accurately forecast and avert disasters. After having devoted a lifetime to having honestly mastering some erudite discipline, and having thereby become a pew-holder in a towering cathedral with a limited seating capacity, it is indeed understandable to see why one would believe that their technique which they have mastered at such great costs is just enough. We can see why a doctor might say, “Give the patient more of my medicine. More of the same is what he needs. Pour it down his throat. It is just a maintenance dose we are slowly introducing and will increase overtime before we move to something stronger because it will surely get him in remission in the future.” We have to teach people more and give them more art, writing, history, science, theology so they can become more cultured and expand their minds and increase their attention spans and learn to see the truths. Those who represent the World of the mind and of the spirit must acquire the humility which leads doctors and law enforcement to prevent people from lying on the autopsy table. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
What then must education achieve? It must make it possible for human beings to change. That is the necessary goal of education. America is a city on a hill, a holy experiment, whose success would prove that God’s plan for His churches could be successfully realized in the American wilderness. This is why militant Protestants work diligently to promote the prosperity of the church. Uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rests on the belief tat there is one true religion and that it is the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of its citizens. Religion will liberate the savages from their inhumane ways. It is a way to control the sinful, Worldly people. It also allows for authority figures to worship closely with the people and monitor and help them keep their Godly ways through counseling and education. This is a unique moment in human culture. And as we do this, let us stop to remind ourselves that when a patient dies, the doctor does not blame the patient, unless he or she was not following medical orders, otherwise the doctor feels it was his or her fault. However, when humanity fails, people do not blame themselves. They do not turn their pitiless scrutiny on themselves, their beliefs, and their techniques. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
Our culture is supposed to be revered as though it were a creative and moving force in the Divine Kingdom. An education not only gives humans sophistication, tastes, historical perspective, manners, erudite parlor conversation, and knowledge of how to use and control the forces of nature on the human spirit, it teaches you to appreciate life. We see it is the uneducated and students, who have failed humankind, not humankind which has failed us. Science and art and philosophy and religion and learning have succeeded; just as it is medicine which as succeeded when it keeps a patient alive, and prevents them from becoming a corpse. The next goal of education is a progressive freeing of humans—not merely from external tyrannies of nature and of others humans, but from internal enslavement by their own unconscious automatic mechanisms. Therefore, all of education and all of art and culture must contribute to this. It has been long recognized that in spite of technological process, and in spite of art, literature, religion, and scholarly learning, the heart of humans has not changed. This is basically a challenge and a rebuke to the TV News Media culture and its devastating commentary on culture. It is possible to break through the sonic barrier between conscious and unconscious processes, and thereby to bring to humans for the first time in human history the opportunity to evolve beyond their enslaved pass. That is why this thesis can claim for itself a realistic spiritual optimism. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
Just as the battle for political freedom must be won over and over again, so too in every life the battle for internal psychological freedom must be fought and won again and again, if humans are to achieve and retain freedom from the tyranny of their own unconscious processes, the freedom to understand the forces which determine their thoughts, feelings, purposes, goals, and behaviour. This freedom is the fifth and ultimate human freedom; and like every other freedom, it demands eternal vigilance. Without this dedicated to truth and honour, education will sell humanity own the river—back into slavery. And this will continue to be true until we rescue humans from their present oblivion this forgotten human of education. Self-knowledge in depth is not all there is to wisdom, but that is what makes maturity and understanding possible; and what is even more important, it frees us from the tyranny of those rigid compulsive mechanisms which have made impossible our psychological evolution. Without self-knowledge in depth, we can have dreams but not art, we can have the neurotic raw material of literature, but not mature literature. Without it we have no adults, but only aging deviants armed with words, paints, clay, and atomic weapons, none of which they understand. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
It is aging, uneducated deviants which makes a mockery of the illustrious claims of education, or religion, of the arts, and science. Self-knowledge is the Forgotten Human of our entire educational system and indeed of human culture in general. Without self-knowledge it is possible to be erudite, but never wise. My challenge to all of us is to have the humility to face this failure, and the determination to do something effective about it before it is too late. We have to relate to each other as people, trusting each other, and sharing the energy of our lives in meaningful, honest ways. In the milieu of trust and openness we create, I think we all discover more capacities in ourselves and in each other than we had thought possible. This will allow spontaneity, courage, and integrity of the people to emerge. The spirit of self-determination, freedom, and growth (like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) lives on in people like the Sun on a Summer in California with a light of trust, understanding, compassion, and awareness shining on the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is an attitude embodying a respect for the integrity and worth of persons; it is a way of seeing and relating to the World and others. This is the experience of responsible freedom. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
The way to utilize power is when dealing with people, trust the, have no desire to control or manipulate them, and have it be a shared responsibility. We want to foster an environment of mutual trust, openness, sharing, excitement, creative and self-responsible actions. Cooperation will replace competition. Self-discipline takes the place of external discipline. Each person will be able to experience and freely utilize one’s own power. We have all experienced the smarting hurt, the feeling of being blow away, exterminated, by the injustice of the action of oppression. It gives us a tiny view of the destruction of self that has been felt by millions of persons who have been the object of the crushing force of impersonal, arbitrary, blind power. However, the politics of power and control can be devastating, even when exercised by those who are only trying to protect and care for the young. Leadership, creativity, imagination spring up everywhere as individuals resist the encroachment of their rights as persons. There are also tremendous advantages for growth, support, and community in our present relationships. If anyone gets depressed, there are others to give one support. Though so many of us have been through so many changes in the past year—from ecstasy to terror—we have to accept each day as it comes. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
Feel good about your present life-style. Many of us could not imagine ourselves living a closed, possessive, and jealous existence. It is a blessing to have the freedom to be who one is; to explore the many facets of one’s personality with many people without fear of being caught or criticized. It is nice to meet people who are gentle, loving—caring. People want others in their lives who balance them. Others who share their past as well as present life; both the sad and happy times. Thanksgiving Day has always been a warm, beautiful day, a day of happiness among all Americans. It makes people glad to be alive to know that people can be happy, relating freely without jealousy and possessiveness. People can communicate with their loved ones freely, and express loving and joyful feelings. The growth that families are encouraged to experience is continuously infused back into their loved ones, keeping them strong and alive—a process rather than a fixed entity. However, we must also learn to recognize interpersonal abuse and crippling coming from the avoidance of jealousy or the experience of it. In addition to the Angels of faith, hope, charity, wisdom, and loving, are also the Angels of doubt, despair, need, passion, and hate. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
The morbid Angels are part of us all, I believe. However, many of the people in our community come across as pre-Raphaelite saints, there are no characteristics of evil in them. In our environment, jealousy, greed, competitiveness, and anger are equated with being imperfect. To not allow oneself or others the right to both feel and express emotions is to hold the person in an emotional strait jacket. When emotions are allowed to be legitimate and valued part of interaction, difficulties can be dealt with more flexibly and more humanely than when they are suppressed. From my understanding, for many people, along with the intense pain of jealousy, comes a shame at having the feeling at all. People, instead of experiencing and owning their jealousy, often try to find other rationalizations for their pain as a way of making sense of their feelings. I guess they can make sense of their jealousy; it comes from a place deeper in them than “sense” goes. Indeed it has its own sense, and their minds have little understanding of it. Perhaps one learns to be jealous, and in many cultures that seems to be an approved lesson. One can also learn not to be jealous. People just have to understand to what extent do they feel fraudulent in their personal life? #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
One has to know those feelings of jealousy are wrong, so unbelievable, so shameful. What exactly is love? It is will to good or “Bene-volence.” We love something or someone when we promote its good for its own sake. Love’s contrary is malice, and its simple absence is indifference. Its normal accompaniment is delight, but a twisted soul may delight in evil and take no pleasure in good. Love is not the same thing as desire, for I may desire something without even wishing it well, much less willing its good. I might desire a vanilla ice cream cone, for example. However, I do not wish it well; I wish to eat it. This is the difference between lust (mere desire) and love, as between two intimate partners. Desire and love are of course, compatible when desire is ruled by love; but most people today would, unfortunately, not even know the difference between them. Hence, in our World, love constantly falls prey to lust. That is a major part of the deep sickness of contemporary life. By contrast, what characterizes the deepest essence of God is love—that is, will to good. His very creation of the World is an expression of will to good, and it is then to be expected that His World would be found by Him to “very good,” reports Genesis 1.31. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
God’s love and goodwill towards humans is, therefore, not an add on to a nature that is fundamentally careless or even hostile. It is another expression—one of the more important ones, of course—of what He always and in every respect is. It is not hard for God to love, but it is impossible, given His nature, for Him not to love. Our human World as we find it is not like God, though it was intended to be. We have already expanded on this in the past, but must take note of it again here. Love is not natural in our World, though desire or lust certainly is. “The lust of the flesh, the lust f the eyes and the pride of life,” the apostle said, is “all that is in the World,” 1 John 2.16. Pride is defined by desire, not by love. It is, above all, the presumption that my desires should be fulfilled and that it is an injustice, a crying shame, and an injury if they are not. Lust and pride all around us inevitably result in a World of fear. For they bring us into a World of little dictators; and the most likely thing is that each person will be used and abused by others, possibly destroyed, and at least not helped and cared for. Our families, which should be a refuge from such a World, often turn out to be places where victimization is at its worst. “The dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence,” reports Psalm74.20. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
The tender young are initiated into an adult World hardened in evil. Some babies are not even safe from people in their mother’s womb. “And one who turns aside from evil makes oneself a prey,” reports Isaiah 59.15. Injury brings pain and loss, then fear and anger, which mingle with resentment and contempt and settle into postures of coldness and malice, with brutal feelings that drain the body of health and strength and shatter social well-being. “And now it came to pass that Samuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written. And behold, he said unto them; Behold, I give unto you’re a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name. And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great light in Heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto humans as if it was day. Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the Sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless that night shall not be darkened; and it shall be night before he is born. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
“And behold, there shall a new star arise, such and one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you. And be this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in Heaven. And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the Earth. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life. And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea; he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the ways of the Lord. And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have cast me out from among you. And ye shall hear my words, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgment of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance; and also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of Heaven and of Earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming of the intent that ye might believe on his name. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
“And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them though his merits. And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his death. For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it benooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby humans may be brought int the presence of the Lord. Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemth all humankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all humankind, by the Fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual. However, behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemth humankind, yea, even all humankind, and bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repentance the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness. Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19
“However, behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the Sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light upon the face of this land, even from the time that one shall suffer death, for he space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead. Yea, at the same time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the Earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this Earth, which are both above the Earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more par of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up; yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole Earth, yea, both above the Earth and beneath. And behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great. And many highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate. And many graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
“And behold, thus hath the angel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours. And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that darkness should cover the face of the whole Earth for three days. And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that these signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of humans—and this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a righteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned thy bring upon themselves their own condemnation. And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto oneself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto oneself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made your freed. He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
“And ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored to you,” reports Helman 14.1-31. Come, Holy God, and please bless this Thanksgiving food that will feed my body, though the actions of which you are daily made manifest in the World. O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth shall declare Thy praise. Praised art Thou, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, mighty, revered and exalted God. Thou bestowest lovingkindness and possessest all things. Mindful of the patriarchs’ love for Thee, Thou wilt in Thy love bring a redeemer to their children’s children for the sake of Thy name. O King, Thou Helper, Redeemer and Shield, by Thou praised, O Lord, Shield of Abraham. Thou, O Lord, art mighty forever. Thou callest the dead to immortal life for Thou art mighty in deliverance. This Thanksgiving dinner is the work of many made palpable. Before eating, it is right to acknowledge their labour. We thank all these people and all their protective spirits. I send my prayers to God. Holy Ones, please accept my invitation. Please be honoured by it, by life’s true sacrifice. The food we eat is a gift from you and how grateful we are to have family and a beautiful home and safe Ultimate Driving Machines and a wonderful education. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
Residence One at Mills Station holds 1,932 square feet of single story living. The open concept design includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two car garage. Each home includes a Home Hub located at the front of the home which can be used as a study, playroom or sitting room.
The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters. The great room is spacious and full of natural light with a covered patio! The Owner’s suite is nestled in the rear of the home separate from the secondary bedrooms, providing maximum privacy. Enjoy a spa like experience in the Owner’s bathroom with a large walk in shower, dual vanities, and makeup counter.
This home is designed with Universal Design concepts meaning that its well equipped for life’s transitions and aging in place. Learn more about this unique feature by speaking with a sales associate today!
Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Google Mini to help connect everything together! https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/move-in-ready-home-site-77/
Thank you, Holy Ooe: please share my good fortune. I praise you, Holy One: please share my friendship. How wonderful! How marvelous! This home is the gift from the Earth which it grew. #CresleighHomes
The Average Human Does Not Even Dare to Ask Oneself Whether the Emperor Wear Clothes!
What passes for a culture in my head is really a bunch of commercials. The intuitive idea of justice as fairness is to think of the first principles of justice as themselves the object of an original agreement in a suitably defined initial situation. These principles are those which rational persons concerned to advance their interests would accept in this position of equality to settle the basic terms of their association. It must be shown, then, that the two principles of justice are the solution for the problem of choice presented by the original position. In order to do this, one must establish that, given the circumstances of the parties, and their knowledge, beliefs, and interest, an agreement on these principles is the best way for each person to secure one’s ends in view of the alternative available. Now obviously no one can obtain everything one wants; the mere existence of other persons prevents this. The absolutely best for any human is that everyone else should join with one in furthering one’s conception of the good whatever it turns out to be. Or failing this, that all others are required to act justly but that one is authorized to exempt oneself as one pleases. Since other persons will never agree to such terms of association these forms of egoism would be rejected. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
The first principle of justice guarantees the right of each person to have the most extensive basic liberty compatible with the liberty of others. The second principle states that social and economic positions are to be to everyone’s advantage and open to all. These two principles of justice seem to be a reasonable proposal. In fact, I should like to show that these principles are everyone’s best reply, so to speak, to the corresponding demands of the others. In this sense, the choice of this conception of justice is the unique solution to the problem set by the original position. By arguing in this way one follows a procedure familiar in social theory. That is, a simplified situation is described in which rational individuals with certain ends and related to each other in certain ways are to choose among various courses of action in view of the knowledge of the circumstances. What these individuals will do is then derived by strictly deductive reasoning from these assumptions about their beliefs and interests, their situation and the options open to them. Their conduct is, in the phrase of Vilfredo Pareto (an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher) the resultant of obstacles. In the theory of price, for example, the equilibrium of competitive markets is thought of as arising when many individuals each advancing one’s own interests gives way to each other what they can best part with in return for what they most desire. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
Equilibrium is the result of agreements freely struck between willing traders. For each person it is the best situation that one can reach by free exchange consistent with the right and freedom of others to further their interests in the same way. It is for this reason that this state of affairs is an equilibrium, one that will persist in the absence of further changes in the circumstances. No one has any incentive to alter it. If a departure from this situation sets in motion tendencies which restore it, the equilibrium is stable. Of course, the fact that a situation is one of equilibrium, even a stable one, does not entail that it is right or just. It only means that given human’s estimate of their position, they act effectively to preserve it. Clearly a balance of hatred and hostility may be a stable equilibrium; each many think that any feasible change will be worse. The best that each can do for oneself may be a condition of lesser injustice rather than of greater good. The moral assessment of equilibrium situations depends upon the background circumstances which determine them. It is at this point that the conception of the original position embodies features peculiar to moral theory. For while the theory of price, say, tries to account for the movements of the market by assumptions about the actual tendencies at work, the philosophically favoured interpretation of the initial situation incorporates conditions which it is thought reasonable to impose on the choice of principles. By contrast with social theory, the aim is to characterize this situation so that the principles that would be chosen, whatever they turn out to be, are acceptable from a moral point of view. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
The original position is defined in such a way that it is a status quo in which any agreements reached are fair. It is a state of affairs in which the parties are equally represented as moral persons and the outcome is not condition by arbitrary contingencies or the relative balance of social forces. Thus justice as fairness is able to use the idea of pure procedural justice from the beginning. It is clear, then, that the original position is a purely hypothetical situation. Nothing resembling it need ever take place, although we can by deliberately following the constraints it expresses simulate the reflections of the parties. The conception of the original position is not intended to explain human conduct except insofar as it tries to account for our moral judgments and helps to explain our having a sense of justice. Justice as fairness is a theory of our moral sentiments as manifested by our considered judgments in reflective equilibrium. These sentiments presumably affect our thought and action to some degree. So while the conception of the original position is part of the theory of conduct, it does not follow at all that there are actual situations that resemble it. What is necessary is that the principles that would be accepted play the requisite part in our moral reasoning and conduct. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
The acceptance of these principles is not conjectured as a psychological law or probability. Ideally anyway, I should like to show that their acknowledgement is the only choice consistent with the full description of the original position. The argument aims eventually to be strictly deductive. To be sure, the persons in the original position have a certain psychology, since various assumptions are made about their beliefs and interests. These assumptions appear along with other premises in the description of this initial situation. However, clearly arguments from such premises can be fully deductive, as theories in politics and economics attest. We should strive for a kind of moral geometry with all the rigor which this name connotes. Unhappily the reasoning I shall give will fall far short of this, since it is highly intuitive throughout. Yet it is essential to have in mind the ideal one would like to achieve. There are many possible interpretations of the initial situation. This conception varies depending upon how the contracting parties are conceived, upon what their beliefs and interests are said to be, upon which alternatives are available to them, and so on. In this sense, there are many different contract theories. Justice as fairness is but one of these. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
However, the question of justification is settled, as far as it can be, by showing that there is one interpretation of the initial situation which best expresses the conditions that are widely thought reasonable to impose on the choice of principles yet which, at the same time, leads to a conception that characterizes our considered judgments in reflective equilibrium. This most favoured, or standard, interpretation I shall refer to as the original position. We may conjecture that for each traditional conception of justice there exists an interpretation of the initial situation in which its principles are the preferred solution. Thus, for example, there are interpretations that lead to the classical as well as the average principle of utility. These variations of the initial situation will be mentioned as we go along. The procedure of contract theories provides, then, a general analytic method for the comparative study of conceptions of justice. One tries to set out the different conditions embodied in the contractual situation in which their principles would be chosen. In this way one formulates the various underlying assumptions on which these conceptions seem to depend. However, if one interpretation is philosophically most favoured, and if its principles characterize our considered judgments, we have a procedure for justification as well. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
We cannot know at first whether such an interpretation exist, but at least we know what to look for. The popular picture of animal aggressiveness has been largely influenced by the concept of territorialism. The general public has been left with the implication that humans are dominated by an instinct for defense of their territory, inherited from one’s animal ancestors. This instinct is supposed to be one of the main sources of animal and human aggressiveness. Analogies are easily drawn, and the facile idea appeals to many that war is caused by the power of this same instinct. The idea, however, is quite erroneous for a number of reasons. In the first place there are many animal species for whom the concept of territoriality does not apply. Territoriality occurs only in higher animals such as the vertebrates and arthropods and even there in a spotty fashion. Still, the so-called territorial defense may be, after all, merely a fancy name for the reaction patterns to strangers, flavoured with anthropomorphism and nineteenth century Darwinism. Further and more systematic experimental explorations are necessary to decide this issue. It seems certain territories are selected mainly on the basis of properties to which the animals react innately. This makes all animals of the same species, or at least of the same population, select the same general type of habit. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
However, the personal binding of a male to its own territory—a particular representative of the species’ breeding habitat—is the result of a learning process. In the description of primates we have seen how often there is an overlap of territory. If the observation of apes teaches us anything, it is that various groups of primates are quite tolerant and flexible with regard to their territory and simply do not offer a picture that would permit the analogy to a society, jealousy guarding its frontiers and forcibly preventing the entry of any “foreigner.” The assumption that territorialism is the basis for human aggressiveness is erroneous for still another reason. Defense of territory has the function of avoiding the serious fighting that would become necessary if the territory were invaded to such an extent as to generate crowding. Actually the threat behaviour in which territorial aggression manifests itself if the instinctively patterned way of upholding spatial equilibrium and peace. The instinctive equipment of the animal has the function that legal arrangements have in humans. Hence the instinct become obsolete when other symbolic ways are available to mark a territory and to warn: no trespassing. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
It is also worth keeping in mind that, as we shall see later, most wars start for the purposes of gaining advantages of various kinds and not in defense against a threat to one’s territory—except in the ideology of the war makers. Equally wrong impressions exist popularly about concept of dominance. In many species, but by no means in all, one finds that the group is organized hierarchically. The strongest male takes precedence in food, pleasures of the flesh, and grooming over other males on lower orders of the hierarchy. (One has more rarely drawn a parallel from this hierarchy to the “instinctive” roots for dictatorship than one has from territorialism to patriotism, although the logic would be the same. The reason for this different treatment lies probably in that it is less popular to construct an instinctive basis for dictatorship than for “patriotism.”) However, dominance, like territorialism, by no means exists in all animals and, again, not regularly in the vertebrates and mammals. With regard to dominance among the nonhuman primates we find a great difference between some of the monkey species like the baboons and macaques, in whom one finds rather well-developed and strict hierarchal systems, and the apes with whom dominance patters are much less strong. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
Of mountain gorillas definite dominance inter-actions were observed 110 times. Dominance was most frequently asserted along narrow trails, when one animal claimed the right of way, or in the choice of sitting place, when the dominant animal supplanted the subordinate one. Gorillas showed their dominance with a minimum of actions. Usually an animal low in the rank order simply moved out of the way at the mere approach or brief stare of a high-ranking one. The most frequently noted gesture involving a bodily contact was a light tap with the back of the hand of a dominant individual against the body of a subordinate one. Although there was some evidence of differences in status between individual chimpanzees, dominance interactions formed a minute fraction of the observed chimpanzee behaviour. There was no evidence of a linear hierarchy of dominance among males or females; there were no observations of exclusive rights to receptive females; and there were no permanent leaders of groups. However, in a study of baboons, circumstantial evidence suggests that hierarchical behaviour is associated with environmental stress of various kinds and under stress it is the lower-ranking animal which first shows physiological symptoms (lower disease resistance, for example). #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
If it is subordinate behaviour that determines rank (rather than dominant behaviour as usually assumed), the stress factor can be seen as directly affecting all animals to difference degrees dependent on their construction, producing physiological and behavioral (submitting behaviour) changes at the same time, the latter in turn giving rise to a hierarchal social organization. The hierarchy appears to be maintained chiefly by subordinates’ behaviour pattern, and by the low—rather than the high-ranking animals. However, in the study of chimpanzees, we express some strong reservations. The view taken here is that dominance and subordination are simply conventional designations for the fact that chimpanzees often stand in the relationship to each other of intimidator and intimidated. Naturally, we would expect the larger, stronger, more boisterous, and more aggressive animals in any group (being intimidating to almost everyone else) to display a kind of generalized dominance status. Presumably this accounts for the fact that in the wild, mature males are generally dominant over adult females, and they, in turn, are dominant over adolescents and juveniles. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
Apart from this observation, however, there is no indication that chimpanzee groups as a whole are organized hierarchically; not is there any convincing evidence of an autonomous drive for social supremacy. Chimpanzees are willful, impulsive, and greedy, certainly a sufficient basis for the development of dominance and subordination, without the participation od specialized social motives and needs. Dominance and subordination can thus be regarded as the natural by-product of social intercourse, and but one facet of the relationship between two individuals. For dominances, as far as it exists, the same comment applies which I have made with regard to territorialism. It functions to give peace and coherence to the group and to prevent friction that could lead to serious fighting. Human substitutes agreements, etiquette, and laws for the missing instinct. Animal dominance has been widely interpreted as a fierce “bossiness” of the leader who enjoys having power over the rest of the group. It is true that among monkeys, for instance, the authority of the leader is often based on the fear one engenders in the other. However, among the apes, as for instance the chimpanzee, it is often not fear of the retaliatory power of the strongest animal, but one’s competence in leading the group which establishes one’s authority. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
As an example of this, mentioned earlier, it was reported about an old chimpanzee who retained his leadership because of his experience and wisdom, in spite of the fact that he was physically weak. He is what the youth refer to as an OG (original gangster), someone who was tough and strong and dominant in his youth and was to be feared, who is now greatly respected because he has a reputation for being someone to admire. Nevertheless, some of these OG’s can still tango with the strongest youth. Whatever the role of dominance in animals is, it seems to be pretty clear that the dominant animal must constantly merit one’s role—that is to say, show one’s greater physical strength, wisdom, energy, or whatever it is that makes one accepted as a leader. A very ingenious experiment with monkeys suggests that is the dominant animal loses one’s distinguishing qualities even momentarily, one’s commanding role ends. In human history, when dominance becomes institutionalized and no longer a function of personal competence as is still the case in many primitive societies, it is not necessary for the leader to be in constant possession of one’s outstanding qualities, in fact it is not even necessary that one has them. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
The social system conditions people to see in title, the uniform, or whatever else it may be, the proof that the leader is competent, and as long as these symbols, supported by the whole system, are present, the average human does not even dare to ask oneself whether the emperor wear clothes. If human actions can be traced up, by a necessary chain, to the Deity, they can never be criminal; on account of the infinite perfection of that Being, from whom they are derived, and who can intend nothing but what is altogether good and laudable. Or, if they be criminal, we must retract the attribute of perfection, which we ascribe to the Deity, and must acknowledge one to be the ultimate author of guilt and moral turpitude in all His creatures. In ever period of its existence, there is an instructive and inspiring progression from an initial faith in God through Christ, with an accompanying initial hope, to a subsequent or higher-level hope that does not disappoint. The apostle Paul wrote this way because, in the progression of our experience, the Holy Spirit pours out into our own hearts the kind love God has. This important message needs to be studied in depth for any adequate understanding of spiritual formation in the Christian tradition, especially as it concerns feelings. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
The initial faith Christ gives us our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. This is the new birth into Christ’s kingdom. It puts an end to the war between me and God that has gone on most of my life and surrounds me with God’s gracious actions. Now, become of Christ’s death for me and his continuing graces, I know that God is good, and I am thrilled with the hope that God’s goodness and greatness will serve as the basis of my own existence as well as of everything else. Thus, we exult in hope of the glory of God. However, this opens the path for transformation of our character. I am also thrilled about my tribulations! I know that they will prove God’s power and faithfulness in love to me, and to trust him in all things becomes my settled character. Therefore we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation beings perseverance; and perseverance, proven character. However, Godly character now brings about a different quality of hope. Character is a mater of our entire personality and life, which has now been transformed by the process of perseverance under God. Hope therefore now pervades our life as a whole. And this new and pervasive hope—which is an outgrowth of our initial hope of the glory of God, but now covers our entire life—does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
Those ills, under which we labour, are, in reality, goods to the Universe; and to an enlarged view, which can comprehend the whole system of nature, every event becomes an object of joy and exultation. The characters, which engage our approbation, are chiefly such as contribute to the peace and security of human society; as the characters, which excite blame, are chiefly such as tend to public detriment and disturbance. The World is full of obscurities and perplexities, and we must not focus on difficulties because our enquiries with launch us into a boundless ocean of doubt, uncertainty, and contradiction! “And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of humans; yes, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him. Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocs and their herds, and in gold, and in sliver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of the enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of one’s people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and the exceedingly great prosperity. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
“And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yes, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him. O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and how devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of humans; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the World! Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths! Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide. O how great is the nothingness of the children of humans; yea, even they are less than the dust of the Earth. For behold the dust of the Earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
“Yea, behold at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake. And by the power of his voice they are broken up, and become smooth, yea, even like unto a valley. Yea, by the power f his voice doth the whole Earth shake; yea, by the power of his voice do the foundations rock, even to the very center. Yea, and if he say unto the Earth—Move—it is moved. Yea, if he say unto the Earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done; and thus, according to his word the Earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto humans that the Sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the Earth that moveth and not the Sun. And behold, also, if he say unto the waters of the great deep—Be thou dried up—it is done. Behold, if he say unto this mountain—Be thou raised up, and come over and fall upon that city, that it be buried up—behold it is done. And behold, if a human hide up a treasure in the Earth, and the Lord shall say—Let it be accursed, because of the iniquity of one who hath hid it up—behold, it shall be accursed. And if the Lord shall say—Be thou accursed, that no human shall find thee from this time henceforth and forever—behold, no human getteth it henceforth and forever. And behold, if the Lord shall say unto a human—Because of thine iniquities, thou shalt be accursed forever—it shall be done. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
“And if the Lord shall say—Because of thine iniquities thou shalt be cut off from my presence—he will cause that is shall be so. And wo unto one to whom God shall say this, for it shall be unto one that will do iniquity, and one cannot be saved; therefore, for this cause, that humans might be saved, hath repentance been declared. Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved. And may God grant, in his great fulness, that humans might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works. And I would that all humans might be saved. However, we read that in the great and last day there are some who shall be cast out, yea, who shall be cast off from the presence of the Lord; yea, who shall be consigned to a state of endless misery, fulfilling the words which say: They that have done good shall have everlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting damnation. And thus it is. Amen,” reports Helaman 12.1-26. O God, merciful Father, Who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, as this race is set before us, please cast the light of Thy true to brighten our path. Thou hast ordained strength to protect our souls from assault and pain. Please keep us, we beseech Thee on the way of Thy commandments. May we so faithfully serve three. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
May we show forth our thankfulness in all things and may our service be to perfect freedom. For Whom to serve is to reign, as Thee protects us from perils and dangers, from snares. In Thy true religion Thou hast blessed us with Godliness and continual kindness as Thee support us in all dangers, for it is by Thy help we may overcome the things which we suffer for our sins. Who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful humans, for Who makest the minds of faithful humans to be of one will. Please nourish us with all goodness. May we not be brought into the temptations of the World, the flesh and the devil, for infections of sin are of the devil. I am setting a place at my table for God. Blessed One, please come eat with me! I am setting a place at my table for God of my household. Blessed One, please come eat with me. I am setting a place at my table for the Ancestors, Blessed one, please come eat with me! I am setting a place at my table for the Holy Ghost, blessed One, please come eat with me. God of Earth and Sky, please eat with me, be my guest. I invite the Holy Ones to my table. Please come; sit with me, eat and drink with me. I offer you the hospitality of my home. You are always welcome here. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
Prayers over food and drink are a special type of thanksgiving prayer. The connection between them is shown quite strongly in the North American Harvest festivals that have been given the name “Thanksgiving.” We should thank God and the food. Our eating is a constant reminder of one of the central mysteries of the connection between life—and our Heavenly Father. Our life depends on God, he provides us with our food, so we should be thankful, it is only proper. Thanksgiving is a special day because eating together draws people together, and thanking God brings us closer to Him. We sit down to the table of God where the company of Heaven meets, and we share with them our food. Blessed ones, please be our dining companions! May God’s great name be blessed forever. May Jesus Christ be blessed forever. Exalted and honoured be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory transcends, yea, is beyond all praises, hymns and blessings that humans can render unto Him. May the prayers and supplications of the whole house of Israel be acceptable unto their Father in Heaven. May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and life for us and for all Israel. May He who establisheth peace in the Heavens, grant peace unto us and unto all Israel; and ye say, Amen. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
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Give Me a Laundry-List and I Will Set it to Music!
Chemistry is applied theology. In order to actualize our potentialities, in order to become fully human and completely ourselves, we must not merely think; we must also permit ourselves to be thoughts. Both the historical record of creative thought and the laboratory report of its appearance today, indicate clearly that creative intelligence can spring from the mind that is not strained to its highest pitch, but is utterly ease. Our is a civilization in which vast numbers of children and adults are so chronically bored that they have to resort during their leisure hours to a regimen of non-stop distractions. Any method which promises to make life seem enjoyable and the commonplaces of everyday experience more interesting should be welcomed as a major contribution to culture and morality. It is most certainly very difficult, perhaps quite impossible, to serve two gods simultaneously—to pursue the most sordid interests while aspiring to realize the highest ideals. This is obvious. Only a little less obvious, however, is the fact that it is very hard, perhaps quite impossible, to serve God wile failing to make the best of both Worlds—of all the World of which, as human beings, we are the inhabitants. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25
Rightness as fairness is to be understood as a replacement for existing conceptions There is no necessity to say that sameness of meaning holds between the word “right” (and its relatives) in its ordinary use and the more elaborate locutions needed to express this ideal contractarian concept of right. If the theory of justice as fairness, or more generally of rightness as fairness, fits our considered judgments in reflective equilibrium, and if it enables us to say all that on due examination we want to say, then it provides a way of eliminating customary phrases in favour of other expressions. So understood one may think of justice as fairness and rightness as fairness as providing a definition or explication of the concepts of justice and right. we are not to gain from the cooperative labours of others without doing our fair share. The two principles of justice guarantees the equal basic rights and liberties needed to secure the fundamental interests of free and equal citizens and to pursue a wide range of conceptions of the good. These two principles of justice define what is a fair share in the case of institutions belonging to the basic structure. So if these arrangements are just, each person receives a fair share wen all (one’s self included) do their part. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25
Further, the content of obligation is always defined by an institution or practice the rules of which specify what it is that one is required to do. And, obligations are normally owed to definite individuals, namely, those who are cooperating together to maintain the arrangement in question. As an example illustrating these features, consider the political act of running for and (if successful) holding public office in a constitutional regime. This act gives rise to the obligation to fulfill the duties of office, and these duties not as moral duties but as takes of responsibilities assigned to certain institutional positions. It is nevertheless the case that one may have a moral reason (one based on a moral principle) for discharging these duties, as when one is bound to do so by the principle of fairness. Also, one assumes public office is obligated to one’s fellow citizens whose trust and confidence one has sough and with whom one is cooperating and running a democratic society. Similarly, we assume obligations when we marry as well as when we accept positions of judicial, administrative, or others authority. We acquire obligations by promising and by tacit understandings, and even when we join a game, namely, the obligation to play by the rules and to be a good sport. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25
All of these obligations are, I believe, covered by the principle of fairness. There are two important cases though that are somewhat problematical, namely, political obligation as it applies to the average citizens, rather than, say, to those who hold office, and the obligation to keep promises. In the first case it is not clear what is the requisite binding action or who has performed it. There is, I believe, no political obligation, strictly speaking, for citizens generally. Psychologically, humans are highly educated products of the twenty-first century civilization, chained, in a state of uneasy and hostile symbiosis, to a disturbingly dynamic unconscious, a wild phantasy and an unpredictable id—and yet capable of falling in love, writing string quartets, and having mystical experiences. They feel pride. They are proud to be members of a community where there is so much caring and concern for others, a caring that is broader and more sensitive than one individual is capable of. However, at times people are so frustrated with life because they work so hard and are tired and do not realize that they are burnt out and need a vacation that it can make them wonder if coming to the community is worth it. However, the other reaction they have is much stronger. People watch with awe the birth pangs of something new in the World. And their earlier state of mind returns. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25
If humanity can live together without destroying one another, can live together with a caring concern for the full development of each person, can live together in the richness of diversity instead of the sterility of conformity, then we may have found a truth with many, many implications. Some people themselves are painfully confused, uncertain where they stand or who they really are. To provide themselves with a recognizable identity, a niche in the scheme of things that they can call “home,” they will give assent to the unlikeliest dogmas, conform to the most absurd and even harmful rules of thought, feeling, and conduct, put on the most extravagant fancy dress and identify themselves with masks that bear almost no resemblance to the faces they cover. The inhabitants of all these personal ideologies must somehow learn to make the best of the community in an ability to discover anything that is approximately true and Earthshaking as revolutionary power. And I believe we are making some such discovery. So there is hope that some of the overwhelming World issues may be touched, in ways we cannot even dream of now, by what we are doing. However, a good education may be defined as one which helps the boys and girls subjected to it make the best of all the Worlds in which, as human beings, they are compelled, willy-nilly, to live. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25
An education that prepares them to make the best of only one of their Worlds, or of only a few of them, is inadequate. Mens sana in corpore sano (a Latin phrase, which means “a healthy mind in a healthy body”) is an ancient educational ideal and a very good one. Unfortunately, good ideals are never enough. Unless they are accompanied by full instructions regarding the methods by which they maybe realized, they are almost useless. Hell is paved with good intentions, and whole periods of history have been made hideous or grotesque by enthusiastic idealists who failed to elaborate the means whereby their lofty aspirations might be effectively, and above all harmlessly, implemented. Just how good is modern education? How successful is it in helping young people to make the best of all the Worlds which they all have to live in? At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in other schools where similar problems have arisen, the answer to this question has found expression in a renewed interest in the humanities. Excessive scientific specialization is tempered by courses in philosophy, history, literature, and social studies. All this is excellent so far as it does. However, does it go far enough? #RandolphHarris 6 of 25
Do courses in the humanities provide a sufficient antidote for excessive scientific and technical specialization? Do they, in the terminology we have been using, help youth to make the best of a substantially greater number of their Worlds? Our natural duties are to help one another when one is in need or jeopardy, provided that ne can do so without excessive risk or loss to oneself; the duty not to harm or injure another; and the duty not to cause unnecessary suffering. The first duty is a positive duty, the duty of mutual assistance. We have a duty to do something good for one another. Whereas the last two duties are negative in that they require us not to do something that is bad. The distinction between positive and negative duties is intuitively clear in many cases, but often gives way. Now in contrast with obligations, it is characteristic of natural duties that they apply to us without regard to our voluntary acts. Moreover, they have no necessary connection with institutions or social practices; their content is not, in general, defined by the rules of these arrangements. Thus we have a natural duty not to be cruel, and a duty to help another, whether or not we have committed ourselves to these actions. It is no defense or excuse to say that we have made no promise not to be cruel or vindictive, or to come to another’s assistance. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25
Indeed, a promise not to kill, for example, is normally ludicrously redundant, and the suggestion that it establishes a moral requirement where none already exited is mistaken. Such a promise is in order, if it ever is so, only when for special reasons one has the right to kill, perhaps in a situation arising in a just war. Another further feature of natural duties is that they hold between persons irrespective of their institutional relationships; they obtain between all as equal moral persons. In this sense the natural duties are owed not only to definite individuals, say to those cooperating together in a particular social arrangement, but to persons generally. This feature in particular suggests the propriety of the adjective “natural.” One aim of the law of nations is to assure the recognition of these duties in the conduct of states. This is especially important in constraining the means used in war, assuming that, in certain circumstances anyway, wars of self-defense are justified. From the standpoint of justice as fairness, a fundamental natural duty is the duty of justice. This duty requires us to support and to comply with just institutions that exist and apply to us. It also constrains us to further just arrangements not yet established, at least when this can be done without too much cost to ourselves. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25
Thus is the basic structure of society is just, or as just as it is reasonable to expect in the circumstances, everyone has a natural duty to do one’s part in the existing scheme. Each is bound to these institutions independent of one’s voluntary acts, performative or otherwise. Thus even though the principles of natural duty are derived from a contractarian point of view, they do not presuppose an act of consent, express or tacit, or indeed any voluntary act, in order to apply. The principles that hold for individuals, just as the principles for institutions, are those that would be acknowledged in the original position. These principles are understood as the outcome of a hypothetical agreement. If their formulation shows that no binding action, consensual or otherwise, is a presupposition of their application, then they apply unconditionally. The reason why obligations depend upon voluntary acts is given by the second part of the principle of fairness which states this condition. It has nothing to do with the contractual nature of justice as fairness. In fact, once the full set of principles, a complete conception of right, is on hand, we can simply forget about the conception of original position and apply these principles as we would any others. There is nothing inconsistent, or even surprising, in the fact that justice as fairness allows unconditional principles. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25
It suffices to show that the parties in the original position would agree to principles defining the natural duties which as formulated hold to principles defining the natural duties which as formulated hold unconditionally. The same principle of fairness may establish a bond to existing just arrangements, the obligations covered by it can support a tie already present that derives from the natural duty of justice. Thus a person may have both a natural duty and an obligation to comply with an institution and to do one’s part. The thing to observe here is that there are several ways in which one may be bound to political institutions. For the most part the natural duty of justice is the more fundamental, since it binds citizens generally and requires no voluntary acts in order to apply. The principle of fairness, on the other hand, binds only those who assume public office, say, or those who, being better situated, have advanced their aims within the system. There is, then, another sense of noblesse oblige: namely, that those who are more privileged are likely to acquire obligations trying them even more strongly to a just scheme. I shall say very little about the other kind or principles for individuals. For while permissions are not an unimportant class of actions, I must limit the discussion to the theory of social justice. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25
It may be observed, though, that once all the principles defining requirements are chosen, no further acknowledgments are necessary to define permissions. This is so because permissions are those acts which we are at liberty both to do and not to do. They are acts which violate no obligation or natural duty. In studying permissions one wishes to single out those that they significant from a moral point of view and to explain their relation to duties and obligations. Many such actions are morally indifferent or trivial. However, among the permissions is the interesting class of supererogatory actions. These are acts of benevolence and mercy, of heroism and self-sacrifice. It is good to do these actions but it is not one’s duty or obligation. Supererogatory acts are not required, though normally they would be were it not for the loss or risk involved for the agent oneself. A person who does a supererogatory act does not invoke the exemption which the natural duties allow. For while we have a natural duty to bring about a great good, say, if we can do so relatively easily, we are released from this duty when the cost to ourselves is considerable. Supererogatory acts arise questions of first importance for ethical theory. For example, it seems offhand that the classical utilitarian view cannot account for them. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25
It would appear that we are bound to perform actions which bring about a greater good for others whatever the cost to ourselves provided that thus sum of advantages altogether exceeds that of other acts open to us. There is nothing corresponding to the exemptions included in the formulation of the natural duties. Thus some of the actions which justice as fairness counts as supererogatory may be required by the utility principle. I shall not, however, pursue this matter further. Supererogatory acts are mentioned here for the sake of completeness. Children should be taught that words are indispensable but also can be fatal—the only begetters of all civilization, all science, all consistency of high purpose, all angelic goodness, and the only begetters are the same time of all superstition, all collective madness and stupidity, all worse-then-bestial diabolism, all the dismal historical succession of crimes in the name of God, King, Queen, Nation, Party, Doctrines, Beliefs. Never before, thanks to the techniques of mass communication, have so many listeners been so completely at the mercy of so few speakers. Never have misused words—those hideously efficient tools of all the tyrants, war-mongers, persecutors, and heresy-hunters—been so widely and so disastrously influential as they are today. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25
Generals, clergymen, advertisers, and the rulers of totalitarian states—all have good reasons for disliking the idea of universal education in the rational use of language. To the military, clerical, propagandist, and authoritarian mind such training seems (and rightly seems) profoundly subversive. To those who think that liberty is a good thing, and who hope that it may some day become possible for more people to realize more of their desirable potentialities in a society fit for free, fully human individuals to live in, a thorough education in the nature of language, in its uses and abuses, seems indispensable. Whether in fact the mounting pressures of overpopulation and overorganization in a World still enthusiastically dedicated to nationalistic idolatry will permit this kind of subversive linguistic education to be adopted by even more democratic nations remains to be seen. Make the body capable of doing many things, this will help you to perfect the mind and come to the intellectual love of God. Education is desirable and indeed, if the child is to grow into a fully human being, absolutely necessary. The detailed curriculum for an education in what maybe called the nonverbal humanities has still to be worked out. Humanities is a process that should be started in the kindergarten and continued through all the years of school and college—and thereafter, as self-education, throughout the rest of life. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25
Education is to life in general—an indispensable condition for any kind of improvement. School children need to learn a kind of internal awareness that can lead to a creative conscious control. All our mental processes depend upon perception. Inadequate perceiving results in poor thinking, inappropriate feeling, diminished interest in and enjoyment of life. Systematic training of perception should be an essential element in all education. Awareness has to be assigned to each special significance and value for the human being who aspires to make the bet of both Worlds and so, by teaching one’s psychophysical organism to do many things to perfect the mind and come to the intellectual love of God. It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the sky. It is the part of creation in which nature has done more for the sake of pleasing humans, more for the sake and evident purpose of talking to one and teaching one, than in any of her other works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her. There is not a moment in any day of our lives in which nature is no producing (in the sky) scene after scene, picture after picture, glory after glory, and working always upon such exquisite and constant principles of the most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain it is all done for us and intended for our perpetual pleasure. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25
We never attend to the sky, we never make it a subject of thought. We look upon it….only as a succession of monotonous and meaningless accident, too common or too vain to be worthy of a moment of watchfulness of a glance of admiration. Who, among the chattering crowd, can tell me of the forms and the precipices of the chain of tall white mountains that girded the horizon at noon yesterday? Who saw the narrow Sunbeam that came out f the south and smote their summits until they melted and mouldered away in a dust of blue rain? All has passed unregretted as unseen; or if the apathy be ever shaken off, if even for an instant, it is only by what is gross or what is extraordinary. A habit of wise passiveness in relation to the everyday drama of the clouds and mist and Sunshine can become a source of endless pleasures. However, most of the products of our educational system prefer Westerns and alcohol. In the United States of America, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are constitutionally guaranteed. However, if life hardly seems worth living, if liberty is used for subhuman purposes, if the pursuers of happiness know nothing about the nature of their quarry or the elementary techniques of hunting, these constitutional rights will not be very meaningful. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25
An education in that wise passiveness recommended by the saints and the poets, by all who have lived fully and worked creatively, might help us to transform the papers promises of a democratic constitution into concrete contemporary fact. The mentally ill are the victims of their phantasy, and even more or less normal people find themselves tempted into folly, or inhibited from behaving as they know they ought to behave, by what goes on in the superreal but unrealistic World of their imagination. How can we make the best of this odd, alien, almost autonomous Universe that we carry about with us inside our skulls? Truth lives, proverbially, at the bottom of a well, and wells are often muddy. No genuinely scientific investigator has any right to be squeamish about anything. Made the worst of, our imagination will destroy us; made the best of, it can be used to break up long-established habits of undesirable feeling, to dissipate obsessive fears, to provide symbolic outlets for anger and fictional amends for real frustrations. In the course of the last three thousand years how many sermons have been preached, how many homilies delivered and commands roared out, how many promises of Heaven and threats of hell-fire solemnly pronounced, how many good-conduct prizes awarded and how many immature buttocks lacerated with whips and canes? #RandolphHarris 16 of 25
And what has been the result of all this incalculable sum of moralistic words, and of the rewards and savage punishments by which the verbiage has been accompanied? The result has been history—the successive generations of human beings comporting themselves virtuously and rationally enough for the race to survive, but badly enough and madly enough for it to be unceasingly in trouble. Can we do better in the future than we are doing today, or than our fathers did in the past? Can we develop methods more effective than pious talks and Pavlovian conditioning? Moral equivalents must be found not only for war but also for delinquency, family squabbles, bullying, puritanical censoriousness, and all the assorted beastliness of daily life. Hope is anticipation of good not yet here, or as yet “unseen.” It is of course inseparable from joy. Sometimes the good in question is just deliverance from evil, which is here. Then “we are saved by hope,” (Romans 8.24), and “we rejoice in hope,” (Romans 12.12), because “if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it,” (Romans 8.25). That eager anticipation strengthens us to stay faithful to God and to stay on the path of what is right. One of the remarkable changes brought by Jesus and his people into the ancient World concerned the elevation of hope into a primary virtue. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25
Hope was not well regarded by the Greco-Roman World. It was thought of as a desperation measure. And whole, according to the myth of Pandora’s box, it may be all we have left with which to endure the agonies of life, it must be grimly held in check or it will give rise to vain expectations that only cause more misery. Christ, by contrast, brings solid hope for humanity. Clearly, then, hope also is closely related to faith. Faith is confidence grounded in reality, not a wild, desperate “leap.” It is, as Hebrews 11.1 says, substance, and evidence, or poof, not—as contemporary translations usually have it—subjective psychological states such as “being such of” or “having a conviction of.” Rather, faith sees the reality of the unseen or invisible, and it includes a readiness to act as if the good anticipated in hope were already in hand because of the reality of God (compare 2 Corinthians 4.17-18). One that believes dare trust God for the morrow, and is not more solicitous for the next year than one is for that which is past. No one worries about what was going to happen last year. Accordingly, Moses “left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king,” reports Hebrews 11.27. Egypt and its king were in the realm of “the seen.” #RandolphHarris 18 of 25
Moses was able to disregard them to stick with his goal because he saw the One who is invisible but none the less real for that. For one endured, as seeing Him who is unseen” (Hebrews 11.27). That is faith as the Bible portrays it. “And now it came to pass in the seventy and second year of the reign of the judges that the contentions did increase, insomuch that there were wars throughout all the land among all the people of Nephi. And it was this secret band of robbers who did carry on this work of destruction and wickedness. And this war did last all that year; and in the seventy and third years it did also last. And it came to pass that in this years Nephi did cry unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be destroyed by the sword; but O Lord, rather let there be a famine in the land, to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they will repent and turn unto tee. And so it was done, according to the words of Nephi. And there was a great famine upon the land, among all the people of Nephi. And thus in the seventy and fourth year the famine did continue, and the work of destruction did cease by the sword but became sore by famine. And this work of destruction did also continue in the seventy and fifth year. For the Earth was smitten that it was dry, and did not yield forth grain in the season of grain. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25
“And the whole Earth was smitten, even among the Nephites, so that they were smitten that they did perish by thousands in the more wicked parts of the land. And it came to pass that the people saw that they were about to perish by famine, and they began to remember the Lord their God; and they began to remember the words of Nephi. And the people began to plead with their chief judges and their leaders, that they would say unto Nephi: Behold, we know that thou art a man of God, and therefore cry unto the Lord our God that he turned away from us this famine, lest all the words which thou hast spoken concerning our destruction be fulfilled. And it came to pass that the judges did say unto Nephi, according to the words which had been desired. And it came to pass that the people had repented and did humble themselves in sackcloth, he cried: again unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, behold this people repenteth; and they have swept away the band of Gadiantion from amongst them insomuch that they have become extinct, and they have concealed their secret plans in the Earth. Now, O Lord, because of this their humility wilt thou turn away thine anger, and let thine anger be appeased in the destruction of those wicked humans whom thou hast already destroyed. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25
“O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, yea, thy fierce anger, and cause that this famine may cease in this land. O Lord, wilt thou hearken unto me, and cause that it may be done according to my words, and send forth rain upon the face of the Earth, that she may bring forth her fruit, and her grain in the season of grain. O Lord, thou didst hearken unto my words when I said, Let there be a famine, that the pestilence of the sword might cease; and I know that thou wilt, even at this time, hearken unto my words, for thou sadist that: If this people repent I will spare them. Yea, O Lord, and thou seest that they have repented, because of the famine and the pestilence and destruction which has come unto them. And now, O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, and try again if they will serve thee? And if so, O Lord, thou canst bless them according to thy words which thou hast said. And it came to pass that in the seventy and sixth year the Lord did turn away his anger from the people, and caused that rain should fall upon the Earth, insomuch that it did bring forth her fruit in the season of her fruit. And it came to pass that it did bring forth her grain in the season of her grain. And behold, the people did rejoice and glorify God, and the whole face of the land was filled with rejoicing; and they did no more seek to destroy Nephi, but they did esteem him as a great prophet, and a man of God, having great power and authority given unto him from God. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25
“And behold, Lehi, his brother, was not a whit behind him as to things pertaining to righteousness. And thus it did come to pass that the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land, and began to build up their waste places, and began to multiply and spread, even until they did cover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east. And it came to pass that the seventy and sixth year did end in peace. And the seventy and seventh year began in peace; and the church did spread throughout the face of all the land; and the more part of the people, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, did belong to the church; and they did have exceedingly great peace in the land; and this ended the seventy and seventh year. And also they had peace in the seventy and eighty years, save it were a few contentions concerning the points of doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets. And in the seventy and ninth year there began to be much strife. However, it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi, and many of the brethren who knew concerning the true points of doctrine, having many revelations daily, therefore they did preach unto the people, insomuch that they did put an end to their strife in that same year. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25
“And it came to pass that in the eightieth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, there were a certain number of the people of Nephi, there were a certain number of the dissenters from the people of Nephi, who had some years before gone over unto the Lamanites, and taken upon themselves the name of Lamanites, and also a certain number who were real descendants of the Lamanites, being stirred up to anger by them, or by those dissenters, therefore they commenced a war with their brethren. And they did commit murder and plunder; and then they would retreat back into the mountains, and into the wilderness and secret places, hiding themselves that they could not be discovered, receiving daily an addition to their numbers, inasmuch as there were dissenters that went forth unto them. And thus in time, yea, even in the space of not many years, they became an exceedingly great band of robbers; and they did search out all the secret plans of Gadianton; and thus they became robbers of Gadianton. Now behold, these robbers did make great havoc, yea, even great destruction among the people of the Lamanites. And it came to pass that it was expedient that there should be a stop put to this work of destruction; therefore they sent an army of strong humans into the wilderness and upon the mountains to search out this band of robbers, and to destroy them. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25
“However, behold, it came to pass that in that same year they were driven back even into their own lands. And thus ended the eightieth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And it came to pas in the commencement of the eighty and first year they did go forth again against this band of robbers, and did destroy many; and they were also visited with much destruction. And they were again obliged to return out of the wilderness and out of the mountains unto their own lands, because of the exceeding greatness of the numbers of those robbers who infested the mountains and the wilderness. And it came to pass that thus ended this year. And the robbers did still increase and wax strong, insomuch that they did defy the whole armies of the Nephites, and also of the Lamanites; and they did cause great fear to come unto the people upon all the face of land. Yea, for they did visit many parts of the land, and did do great destruction unto them; yea, did kill many, and did carry away others captive into the wilderness, yea, and more especially their women and their children. Now this great evil, which came unto the people because of their iniquity, did stir them up again in remembrance of the Lord their God. And thus ended the eighty and first year of the reign of the judges. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25
“And in the eighty and second year they began again to forget the Lord their God. And in the eighty and third year they began to wax strong in iniquity. And in the eighty and fourth year they did not mend their ways. And it came to pass in the eighty and fifth year they did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they were ripening again for destruction. And thus ended the eighty and fifth year,” reports Helaman 11.1-38. I am praying to God of Heaven, may the Earth be blessed with a sweet smell and bring Him to mind, to give Him the best of what I have, as is only His proper share. Our God and God of our fathers, accept our rest. Sanctify us through Thy commandments, and grant our portion in Thy Torah. Please give us abundantly of Thy goodness and make us rejoice in Thy salvation. Purify our hearts to serve Thee in truth. In Thy loving favour, O Lord our God, grant that Thy holy Sabbath be our joyous heritage, and may Israel who sanctifies Thy name, rest thereon. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who hallowest the Sabbath. Magnified and sanctified be the name of God throughout the World which He hath created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom during the days of your life and during the life f all the house of Israel, speedily, yea, soon; and say ye, Amen. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25
Cresleigh Homes
When planning #MillsStation Residence 1, we did not *just* create an open floor plan—we incorporated windows, lighting, and slanted ceilings to maximize light and space in this room! This charming home is 1,932 square feet, three bedrooms, two bathroom, and a home hub, which could function as a den, playroom, fourth bedroom, office or formal dining room. There is also a private backyard and a two car garage.
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Who Would Respect Someone who Voted in a Jury Trial or Decided which House to Buy with No Regard to the Evidence Relevant to the Decisions?
Just because you like my stuff does not mean I owe you anything. Those who generally deny or ignore their World of private and subjective experience during wakefulness seem to recall fewer dreams than those who accept and exploit this dimension of experience. Emotional problems often take advantage of the dreaming state and a skilled psychoanalyst can use dream content therapeutically. Replacing the notion that dream last only a few seconds was the finding that EEG-monitored Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stages of sleep are rarely less than 10 minutes long and may last for an hour or more. During your sleep, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system. There is an average of four of five REM stages in the course of a typical night’s sleep. The average young adult subject spends about 20 percent of one’s sleep time in the REM state. During infancy and childhood the proportion is much higher, while during old age it is somewhat lower. REM sleep is usually a deep sleep and if someone woke you, you would likely feel disoriented. It is interesting that the larger animals with a longer lifespan and a lower metabolic rate tend to have longer sleep-dream cycles. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
The average length of time from the beginning of one REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage to the next varies from four minutes in the Mus musculus to 90 minutes in the adult man. It has been suggested that cyclical dreaming evolved because this arrangement gave the organism an opportunity to come to a state of near waking readiness and “sample” the environment for danger. REM sleep is basically a process for “programming” the brain; this programming system is homeostatic, organizing and storing memories [perceptual, cognitive, and behavioural programs]. Thus, lower or “fixed program” forms of life do not need much or any REM time while newborn high life forms should have more REM time than adults to develop the central nervous system. It is also possible that the fetus spends almost all of time in the REM state. If the REM sate serves a developmental function, one might be able to detect a disturbed or atypical sleep-dream cycle among individuals with central nervous dysfunction. If this dysfunction responds to therapy, one might expect to see a reflection of this change in the sleep-dream cycle. Dreaming serves to integrate new information into existing past information stores and leads to improvement of speech production and comprehension (exempli gratia, “reprograming”) would alter the sleep dream cycle of aphasics. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
Artemidorous Daldianus, a professional diviner, in the second century A.D., produced the first systematic interpretation of dreams. He asserted that truth exists within dream symbols—as when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream of the seven fat and seven lean cattle as seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Rather than serving as evidence of communication with God, Artemidorous looked upon Pharaoh’s dream as an indication of human intuition. Jeffery David Ullman, an American computer scientist and the Stanford W. Ascherman Professor of Engineering, also concerned himself with the roles that dreams play in a particular culture. He notes that dreams of preliterate people reflect the prevailing mythology and that dreams often act as a channel for a person’s idiosyncratic modes of viewing the cultural myths. Dr. Ullman conceded that the end-product could be banal or ecstatic but noted it is an act of creation to have the dream in the first place. An idea may sleep for decades in the unconscious mind and then suddenly return to consciousness. In primitive and ancient societies, dreams were typically thought to be the work of supernatural entities, appearing to mortals with messages of hope or despair. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
Some peoples believed that the soul left the physical body in sleep and wandered in a spirit World. It was generally believed that dreams could provide a glimpse of the future, reveal events happening at a distance, or indicate the thoughts of another person. Our normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go throughout life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness. No account of the Universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded. Individuals who make a persistent, conscientious, disciplined attempt to cope with internal events typically report that the quest has assisted their capacity to perceive and understand the various levels of reality, to accept and enjoy the self, to behave spontaneously, to appreciate art and nature, to develop close interpersonal relationships, to work creatively—in other words, to become a more fully realized human being. The current interest in dreams and other forms of altered consciousness is a promising development for humanistically oriented psychology, psychiatry, religion, education, and other fields. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
The goal is to produce superhumans who are fully functional. As a larger number of professionals and noneprofessional become involved in the inner life, the possibility grows that there is a new consciousness emerging in our time—a consciousness geared toward self-actualization and the full development of the human potential. If you could hear that a flying saucer from another planet had landed on Earth one hundred years ago, you would want to know how the space ship was constructed and what kind of power propelled it, but most of all you would want to know about the people who navigated it and the society from which they came. If they lived in a World without crime and war and destructive conflict, and if they were comparatively free from chronic mental and physical ailments, you would want to know about their methods of healing and education, and whether these methods would work as well with the inhabitants of Earth. If you heard further that the navigators of the ship had found a group of 12,000 people living as an isolated community among the mountains, and had demonstrated that these preliterate people would utilize their methods of healing and education, and reproduce the society from which the celestial navigators came, you would probably be curious about these psychological and social methods that conquered space inside the individual, than you would about the mechanics of the ship which conquered outside space. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
These people lived in long community houses, skillfully constructed. They maintained themselves by practicing dry-land, shifting agriculture, and by hunting and fishing. Study of their political and social organization indicated that the political authority in their communities was originally in the hands of the elder members of the patrilineal clans. Because of their psychological knowledge of strangers in their territory, they could very easily devise means of scaring them off. They did not black magic, but allowed the nomadic hill-folk surrounding them to think that they did if strangers invaded their territory. However, the absence of violent crime, armed conflict, and mental and physical diseases in their own society can only be explained on the basic of institutions which produce a high state of psychological integration and emotional maturity, along with social skills and attitudes which promote creative, rather than destructive, interpersonal relationships. They are, perhaps, the most democratic group reported in anthropological literature. In the realms of family, economics, and politics, their society operates smoothly on the principle of contract, agreement and democratic consensus, with no need of police force, jail, or psychiatric hospital to reinforce the agreements or to confine those who are not willing or able to reach consensus. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
Study of their society seems to indicate that they have arrived at this high state of social and physical cooperation and integration through the system of psychology which they have discovered, invented and developed, and that the principles of this system of psychology are understandable in terms of Wester scientific thinking. They have built a system of interpersonal relations which, in the field of psychology, is perhaps on a level with our attainments in such areas as television and nuclear physics. Humans create features or images on the outside World in their own mind as a part of the adaptive process. Some of these features are in conflict with them and with each other. Once internalized, these hostile images turn humans against themselves and their fellows. In their unconscious minds, humans have the power to see these facets of their psyche, which have been disguised in external forms, associated with their own fearful emotions, and turned against them and the internal images of other people. If the individual does not receive social assistance through education and therapy, these hostile images, built up by human’s normal receptiveness to the outside World, get tied together and associated with one another in a way which makes one physically, socially and psychologically abnormal. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
Unassisted, these unconscious ideas, which humans create to reproduce inside oneself the external sociophysical environment, tend to remain against one the ways the environment was against one, or to become disassociated from one’s major personality and tied up in wasteful psychic, organic, and muscular tensions. With the help of a trained professional, these psychological replicas of the socio-physical environment can be redirected and reorganized and again become useful to the major personality. Any human being, with the assistance of one’s fellows, can outface, master, and actually utilize all beings and forces in the unconscious universe. Humans discover their deepest self and reveals their greatest creative power at times when one’s psychic processes are most free from immediate involvement with the environment and most under the control of one’s indwelling balancing or homeostatic power. The freest type of psychic play occurs in our unconscious minds, and the social acceptance of our deepest repressed thoughts and idea, therefore, constitute the deepest possible acceptance of the individual. Evil is neutralized by enforcing desirable behaviour. Modern civilization may be sick because people have sloughed off, or failed to develop, half their power to think. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
People rely too much on the news, often as their only source of information about the World. However, the news is a vision someone wants to present to you, and it is to generate revenue. Much of the news is entertainment, and if you want to be entertained, then watch a movie, read a book, listen to music, get some exercise. Western society is rife with war, crime, and wasteful economic conflict, insanity, neurosis and chronic psychogenic physical ills because people are more willing to watch the news than they are to go to church and learn about God and His laws. Through religion and a focus on intellectual and social interests, we can solve the problem of violent crime and destructive economic conflict, and largely eliminate insanity, neurosis and psychogenic illness. Instead of sitting down for half an hour to watch the evening news, go for a walk or to the gym with a friend. Play sports. Do something to be active. Notice that children have about two hours of activity in a school day, physical education and lunch, well adults need to be active as well and it will improve your health and mind. Now, the realm of feelings may appear on first approach to be an area of total chaos. However, this is not so. There is also order among feelings, and it is a much simpler one than most people think. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
When we properly cultivate with divine assistance those feelings that should be prominent in our lives, the remainder will fall into place. What then are the feelings that will dominate in a life that has been inwardly transformed to be like Christ’s? They are the feelings associated with love, joy, and peace. For the sake of simplicity we shall simply call them love, joy, and peace, though, as we have noted, love, joy, and peace are not mere feelings but conditions of the whole person that are accompanied by characteristic beneficial feelings. Love, joy, and peace are, we recall, the three fundamental dimensions of the fruit (note the singular) of the Spirit. They mutually interpenetrate and inform one another and naturally express themselves in the remainder of that one fruit: “patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” reports Galatians 5.22-23. Faith (confidence) and hope are also very important in properly structuring the feeling dimension of the mind and self. However, they play their role in that regard in subordination to love, joy, and peace—that is, because of their relationship to them. The three primary dimensions of “the fruit” (love, joy, and peace) are in fact not separable from the three things “that remain” of 1 Corinthians 13.13 (faith, hope, and love) and of course are partially identical with them. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
Love, joy, peace, faith, hope, and love are all focused on goodness and what is good, and all are strength-giving and pleasant even in the midst of pain or suffering. That is not what we see them for, or something we try to make of them. It is, simply, their nature. I once told my children that if they ever got to the point where they thought it was unreasonable to believe that Christianity was true, then they should abandon the faith. Does that sound risky? It is, but what is the alternative? Should we tell our children to set their minds aside totally and accept the Christian faith without using their intelligence? It can be risky to encourage people to develop their minds and allow reason to help them decide what they believe and why. No one can predict where such an approach will lead in a specific individual’s life. It is easy to lose control of the outcome. If your church is Reformed, charismatic, or whatever, and if your church actually equips people to think widely and deeply about their own theological beliefs, there is no guarantee that they will all come down where the church leaders are on a specific topic. For some, this can create an uncomfortable heterogeneity; it forces us to work harder at drawing lines between what sort of theological diversity a church will or will not tolerate within its membership. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
Commitment to truth and reason: The fears just mentioned are easy to understand. However, we cannot let our fears dictate to us our approach to Christian growth and ministry. We need to keep two things firmly planted in the center of our mines. First, we simply must reaffirm our commitment to truth and right reason and be confident that our Christian beliefs both warrant that commitment and will flourish in light of it. Any commitment, it seems, depends on two distinct elements. It presupposes certain beliefs [to be true] and it also involves a personal dedication to the actions implied by them. We are committed to Christianity in general, or some doctrinal position. And we are committed to the importance of our God-given faculty of mind to assist us in assessing what is true. Second, we need to remember the consequences of abandoning a fundamental commitment to truth and reason. A people that does not care about these will be easily led to behave in certain ways by rhetoric, image, narcissistic self-infatuation, and so on. This is extremely dangerous. Further, if our allegiance to Christianity is not based on the conviction that it is true and reasonable, then we are treating the faith as a mere means to some self-serving pragmatic end, and that demeans the faith. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
To further highlight the illustration, if we are more concerned with practical application from the Bible than with having a good reason for thinking we have correctly interpreted it, then our bottom line will be that the Bible exists as a tool to make us a success, and we do not exist to place ourselves under what it really says. In medicine, we all know what a placebo is. It is an innocuous substance that does not really do anything to help an illness. However, the patient’s false belief that it works brings some mental relief. Unfortunately, a placebo works due to the naïve, unenlightened, false belief on the part of the patient, but that also shows you the power of the mind to heal the body. Many people have Worldview placebos—false, naïve, misinformed beliefs that allow them to live in a safe fantasy World of their own mental creation. Often, life is a struggle. We grow sick, lose our jobs, experience fragmented relationships with others, and eventually go to Heaven. We want to know if there is anything real upon which to base our lives. Is there really a God and what is He actually like? What does God believe about the things that matter most? Is there any purpose to life and, if so, what is it? Why was I thrust into this World? Are the values objective and real, or arbitrary and invented? #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
Is there life after death? In what ways can I really count on God, and are there any true, effective ways to get close to Him? When we ask these questions, we do not just want answers that help us merely because we believe them. We want to be comforted because our answers to these questions are really true. For the wise person of virtue, a life well lived is based on the truth, not on a placebo. However, if truth really matters after all, then it follows that rationality also is crucial to a life well lived. Why? Because if we want a life built on truth, we want to be sure that our Worldview consists of the highest percentage of true beliefs and the lowest percentage of false ones. The only way available to us for making sure this is the case with our own belief system is through the careful use of faculty of reason. In ordinary decisions of daily life, we try to base our beliefs and actions on the best evidence we can get. From sitting on a jury to buying a new house, we try to base our decisions on a careful assessment of all the relevant evidence we can get. Who would respect someone who voted in a jury trial or a decided which house to buy with no regard to the evidence relevant to these decisions? #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
If someone used blind faith and bought the first house one saw with a For Sale sign in front of it, but made no effort to get information about the house and neighbourhood, we would consider that person foolish. Why? Because when we use our reason and base decisions on the best assessment of the evidence we can make, we increase our chances that our decisions are based on true beliefs. Now if this is the case for day-to-day issues why should we suddenly abandon the importance of reason and evidence when it comes to religion? We should not. Any religious belief worthy of the name should be accepted because we take the best exercise of our mental faculties we can muster. In the long run, it is better to risk losing control, face our doubts, be patient, and do the best job we can of using our minds to get at the truth. Not only is the Christian faith secure enough to withstand such an approach, but the faith actually encourages it. If we are going to make progress in our Christian lives, then we must defeat the empty self and take back what insecurity and fear of losing control have taken from us. This is the first step toward making progress in cultivating the Christian mind as part of an overall spiritual journey pleasing to God and good for others and ourselves. However, just exactly how does one develop a more careful intellect? #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
How can a person learn to think better and be more assured that one’s belief are, in fact, true? Christ wants a child’s heart, but a grown-up’s mind. “And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them. And it came to pass that Nephi went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him. And it came to pass as he was thus pondering—being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities—and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19
“Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the Earth with famine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people. Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on Earth shall be sealed in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people. And thus, if ye shall say unto this temple it shall be rent in twain, it shall be done. And if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou cast down and become smooth, it shall be done. And behold, if ye shall say that God shall smite this people, it shall come to pass. And now behold, I command you, that ye shall go and declare unto this people, that thus saith the Lord God, who is the Almighty: Except ye repent ye shall be smitten, even unto destruction. And behold, now it came to pass that when the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land, and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord which had spoken unto him, concerning their destruction if they did not repent. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
“Now behold, notwithstanding that great miracle which Nephi had done in telling them concerning the death of the chief judge, they did harden their hearts and did not hearken unto the words of the Lord. Therefore Nephi did declare unto them the word of the Lord, saying: Except ye repent, thus saith the Lord, ye shall be smitten even unto destruction. And it came to pass that when Nephi had declared unto them the word, behold, they did still harden their hearts and would not hearken unto his words; therefore they did revile against him, and did seek to lay their hands upon him that they might cast him into prison. However, behold, the power of God was with him, and they could not take him to cast him into prison, for he was taken by the Spirit and conveyed away out of the midst of them. And it came to pass that thus he did go forth in the Spirit, from multitude to multitude, declaring the word of God, even until he had declared it unto them all, or sent it forth among all the people. And it came to pass that they would not hearken unto his words; and there began to slay one another with the sword. And thus ended the seventy and first year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi,” reports Helaman 10.1-19. From you have flowed freely many gifts, given with no conditions, offered with open hands. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
Continually you have renewed the World with your largesse; continually you have brought new wonders into being. I come before you, then, with unnecessary gratitude; no matter what my actions are, yours will not change. What you do is in perfect accord with your nature. I wish to be more like you, to take you as my model, and, though my gifts may be unnecessary for you, they are all too vital for me. I hold them out to you, then, generous ones. See—I am generous too. Our fathers’ shield, God’s word has ever been; he giveth life eternal to the dead. Holy is He; no other can compare with Him who giveth rest each Sabbath day unto His people whom He loves. With veneration and with awe we serve Him; we praise Him every day and bless His name. To God all thanks are due, the Lord of peace, He halloweth the Sabbath and doth bless the seventh day; He giveth rest unto a people knowing its delight, in remembrance of creation. The circle turns, it turns around, carrying me with it, and I turn too. These wonderful things that came from God are being returned to Him, to keep the turning going. The balance is kept: I do not only take, I also know how to give. God has given birth to another wonder in this marvelous life of mine. I will thank Him daily for the gift of life and for all He distributes from His free and open hands. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
Cresleigh Homes
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I Hold it True, what’er Befall; I feel it when I Sorrow Most; ‘Tis Better to Have Loved and Lost!
Youth is not chronological age but the state of growing, learning, and changing. All people must be helped to regain the condition of youth. The two principles of justice: The first guarantees the equal basic rights and liberties needed to secure the fundamental interests of free and equal citizens and to pursue a wide range of conceptions of the good. The second principle provides fair equality of educational and employment opportunities enabling all to fairly compete for powers and positions of office; and it secures for all a guaranteed minimum of the all-purpose means (including income and wealth) that individuals need to pursue their interests and to maintain their self-respect as free and equal persons. In applying the two principles of justice to the basic structure of society one takes the position of certain representative individuals and considers how the social system looks to them. The difference, for example, requires that the higher expectations of the more advantaged contribute to the prospects of the least advantaged. Or as I sometime say more lightly, social and economic inequalities must by in the interests of the representative people in all relevant social positions. The perspective of those in these situations defines a suitably general point of view. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
However, certainly not all social positions are relevant. For not only are there farmers, say, but dairy farmers, wheat farmers, farmers working on large tracts of land, and so on for other occupations and groups indefinitely. If we must take such a multiplicity of positions into account, we cannot have a coherent and manageable theory. Therefore we need to identify certain positions as more basic than the others and as providing an appropriate standpoint for judging the social system. Thus the choice of these positions becomes part of the theory of justice. On what principle, though, are they to be identified? We must keep in mind the fundamental problem of justice and the manner in which the two principles cope with it. The primary subject of justice, is the basic structure of society. The reason for this is that its effects are so profound and pervasive, and present from birth. This structure favours some starting places over others in the division of the benefits of social cooperation. It is these inequalities which the two principles are to regulate. Once these principles are satisfied, other inequalities are allowed to arise from human’s voluntary actions in accordance with the principle of free association. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
Thus the relevant social positions are, so to speak, the starting places properly generalized and aggregated. By choosing these positions to specify the general point of view one follows the idea that the two principles attempt to mitigate the arbitrariness of natural contingency and social fortune. I suppose, then, that for the most part each person holds two relevant positions: that of equal citizenship and that defined by one’s place in the distribution of income and wealth. The relevant representative humans, therefore and the representative citizens and those who stand for the various levels of well-being. Since I assume that in general other positions are entered into voluntarily, we need not consider the point of view of humans in these positions in judging the basic structure. Indeed, we are to adjust the whole scheme to suit the preferences of those in the so-called starting places. In judging the social system we are to disregard our more specific interest and associations and look at our situation from the standpoint of these representative humans. Now as far as possible the basis structure should be appraised from the position of equal citizenship. This position is defined by the right and liberties required by principle of equal liberty and the principle of fair equality of opportunity. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
When the two principles are satisfied, all are equal citizens, and so everyone holds this position. In this sense, equal citizenship defines a general point of view. The problems of adjudicating among the fundamental liberties are settled by reference to it. Many questions of social policy can also be considered from this position. For there are matters which concern the interests of everyone and in regard to which distributive effects are immaterial or irrelevant. In these cases the principle of the common interest can be applied. According to this principle institutions are ranked by how effectively they guarantee the conditions necessary for all equally to further their sims, or by how efficiently they advance shared ends that will similarly benefit everyone. Thus reasonable regulations to maintain public order ad security, or efficient measures for public health and safety, promote the common interest in this sense. So do collective efforts for national defense in a just war. It may be suggested that maintaining public health and safety, promote the common interest in this since. So do collective efforts for national defense in a just war. It may be suggested that maintaining public health and safety or achieving victory in a just war have distributive effects: the affluent benefit more than the less affluent since the have more to lose. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
However, if social and economic inequalities are just, these effects may be left aside and the principle of the common interest applied. The standpoint of equal citizenship is the appropriate one. The definition of representative humans for judging social and economic inequalities is less satisfactory. For one thing, taking these individuals as specified by the levels of income and wealth, I assumed of power and authority to avoid an index problem. That is, I suppose that those with greater political authority, say, or those higher in institutional forms, are in general better off in other respects. On the whole, this assumption seems safe enough for our purposes. There is also a question about how many such representative humans to single out, but this is not crucial because the difference principle selects one representative for a special role. The serious difficulty is how to define the least fortunate group. Here is seems impossible to avoid certain arbitrariness. One possibility is to choose particular social position, say that of the unskilled worker, and then to count as the least advantaged all those with the average income and wealth of this group, or less. The expectation of the lowest representative human is defined as the average taken over this whole class. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
Another alternative is a definition solely in terms of relative income and wealth with no reference to social position. Thus all persons with less than half of the median income and wealth may be taken as the least advantaged segment. This definition depends only upon the lower half of the distribution and has the merit of focusing attention on the social distance between those who have least and the average citizen. Surely this gap is an essential feature of the situation of the least favoured members of society. I suppose that either of these definitions or some combination of them, will serve well enough. In any case we are to aggregate to some degree over the expectations of the worst off, and the figure selected on which to base these computations is to a certain extent ad hoc. Yet we are entitled at some point to plead practical considerations in formulating the difference principle. Sooner or later the capacity of philosophical or other arguments to make finer discriminations is bound to run out. I assume therefore that the persons in the original position understand the difference principle to be defined in one of these ways. They interpret it from the first as a limited aggregative principle and assess it as such in comparison with other standards. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
It is not as if they agreed to think of the least advantaged as literally the worst off individual and then in order to make this criterion work adopted in practice some form of averaging. Rather, it is the practicable criterion itself that is to be evaluated from the perspective of the original position. It may turn out that a more exact definition of the least favoured proves unnecessary. As far as possible, then, justice as fairness appraises the social system from the position of equal citizenship and the various levels of income and wealth. Sometimes, however, other positions may need to be taken into account. If, for example, there are unequal basic rights founded on fixed natural characteristics, these inequalities will single out relevant positions. Since these characteristics cannot be changed, the position they define count as starting places in the basic structure. Distinctions based on gender are of this type, and so are those depending upon race and culture. Thus is, say, humans are favoured in the assignment of basic rights, this inequality is justified by the difference principle (in the general interpretation) only if it is to the advantage of women and acceptable from their standpoint. And the analogous condition applies to the justification of caste systems, or racial and ethic inequalities. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
Such inequalities multiply relevant positions and complicate the application of the two principles. On the other hand, these inequalities are seldom, if ever, to the advantage of the less favoured, and therefore in a just society the smaller number of relevant positions should be ordinarily suffice. Now it is essential that the judgments made from the perspective of the relevant positions override the claims that we are prone to make in more particular situations. If we think of ourselves in terms of our more specific positions, not everyone always benefits by what the two principle require. And unless the viewpoint of the relevant position has priority, one still has a chaos of competing claims. Thus the two principles express, in effect, an understanding to order our interests by giving certain of them a special weight. For example, persons engaged in a particular industry often find that free trade is contrary to their interests. Perhaps the industry cannot remain prosperous without tariffs or other restrictions. However, if free trade is desirable from the point of view of equal citizens or of the least advantaged, it is justified even though more specific interests suffer. For we are to agree in advance to the principles of justice and their consistent application from the standpoint of certain positions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
There is no way to guarantee the protection of everyone’s interests over each period of time once the situation of representative humans is defined more narrowly. Having acknowledged certain principles and a certain way of applying them, we are bound to accept the consequences. This does not mean, of course, that the rigors of free trade should be allowed to go unchecked. However, the arrangements for softening them are to be considered from an appropriately general perspective. The relevant social positions specify, then, the general point of view from which the two principles of justice are to be applied to the basic structure. In this way everyone’s interests are taken into account, for each person is an equal citizen and all have a place in the distribution of income and wealth or in the range of fixed natural characteristics upon which distinctions are based. Some selections of relevant positions is necessary for a coherent theory of social justice and the ones chosen should accord with its first principles. By selecting the so-called starting places one follows out the idea of mitigating the effects of natural accident and social circumstance. No one is o benefit from these contingencies except in ways that redound to the well-being of others. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
The very first character trait that should flow out of experiencing God’s grace is gratitude to Him. Everything we are and everything we do that is of any value, we owe to the grace of God. This, of course begins with our salvation. The longer I live the Christian life, the more grateful I am for the salvation God gave to me when I was an eighteen-year-old college student. Years ago I memorized Mark 8.36-37: “For what shall it profit a human, if one shall gain the whole World, and lose one’s own soul? Or what shall a human give in exchange for one’s soul?” Initially, I memorized that passage to take the gospel offer seriously. However, in recent years I have begun t mediate on those verses for my own benefit to help me realize what an infinitely priceless gift I have received in God’s gracious gift of eternal life. As I think of the message of those verses, I visualize a balance scale with all the treasures of the entire World on one tray and eternal life on the other tray. The two rays are not balanced. Rather the scale is bottomed out on the side of eternal life. In the gift of eternal life, God has given us greater treasure than all the accumulated wealthy of the whole World. Are we sufficiently grateful for this priceless gift? Do we take time to actually give thanks to God for the gift that cost Him so much? #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Are we as grateful today as we were the day we initially experienced the forgiveness of our sins and peace with God? If we are truly living by the transforming grace of God in our daily lives, gratitude for God’s gif of eternal life through Jesus Christ will be a growing experience. We should have a greater sense of gratitude, and be more desirous of expressing that attitude to God, today than the day we were brought out of the kingdom of sin into the Kingdom of grace. God has, of course, given us so much else in Christ. Have we grown in the Christian life so that we are a bit more mature today than we were a year ago? Are we perhaps more loving and gentler today than we were a year ago? If so, where did this growth come from? It did not come from ourselves, because as Paul said, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature,” reports Romans 7.18. There are only two moral forces within us: our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit empowering our new nature. If we are more Christlike today than a year ago, it is because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us, and this is by the grace of God. Certainly, we must clothe ourselves with Christlike virtues, but these same virtues are also called the fruit of the Spirit—that is, the result of His work in us. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
One great paradox of the Christian life is that we are fully responsible for our Christian growth and at the same tie fully dependent upon the Holy Spirit to give us both the desire to grow and the ability to do it. God’s grace does not negate the need for responsible action on our part, but rather makes it possible. What about ministry? Have we accomplished some specific work for God? As we have already seen, we must admit to God, “All that we have accomplished you have done for us,” reports Isaiah 26.12. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, we are or we have done that is worthwhile, that is not the result of God’s Spirit working in us and through us. I fear that often we Christians begin to think our spiritual growth and “success” in ministry is due, at least in large measures, to our own goodness and hard work. The irony is, the more committed and diligent we are, the more susceptible we are to that temptation. We face the same temptation in a spiritual sense that Israel faced in a material way when God warned them they would be prone to say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me,” reports Deuteronomy 8.17. Let us go on to the temporal blessings of life. Are we comfortably situated in a nice home with plenty of food in the cupboard and the refrigerator? #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
Do we enjoy a reasonable degree of health? Do we have our own personal copy of the Bible (aside from the half dozen or so different translations some of us have)? Are we able to gather with other believers for worship and study of the Scriptures without fear of religious persecution? All of these blessings come to us by God’s grace, and all of them are occasions for gratitude and giving thanks to Him. It is interesting that some people use the expression “saying grace,” for the prayer of thanksgiving at meal time. I have no idea of that expression’s origin, but I suspect it was born out of a recognition that the food on the table was not only from God, but that it was there by His grace. We actually ought to “say grace” continually throughout the day for the temporal and spiritual blessings that come our way so abundantly. I know many of us are going through some difficult times, and it is tough to have a grateful spirit. However, if we stop and consider, we will recognize that we are still recipients every day of the amazing grace of God. If we are truly growing in grace, gratitude—and its expression in actually giving thanks to God—will be an ever-growing characteristic in our lives. Many adult learners have a deep sense of insecurity about their own mental abilities. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
Defensiveness and a false sense of pride can arise to protect one from feeling embarrassed about not knowing something. Intellectual embarrassment is one of the worst forms of humiliation—no one wants to come off as stupid or uninformed. I think our adult Sunday school classes have unintentionally contributed to this false sense of pride. I have spoken in hundreds of churches and have regularly observed Sunday school classes which divine into small groups to reflect on a passage or discuss an idea. Later, when the groups recombine to share their observations with the entire class, group feedback is almost always affirming no matter how inaccurate or poorly reasoned the point is. Over the years, this creates a feeling of safety in the class but at the price of generating both a false sense of pride and the mistaken notion that all opinions are equal, whether spontaneous and quickly conceived or the result of detailed study prior to class time. It also keeps adults from learning how to receive criticism for their ideas in the interest of truth and stifles growth in the ability to respond nondefensively. If we do not work on this in the safety of the company of our own brothers and sisters, we will come off as small, reactionary, and inarticulate in the public square. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
We need to give one another permission to express inadequately thought-out points to each other and create the expectation that we can learn to argue with one another, critique and defend ideas, or leave class with more work to do on a subject. All of this is in the interest of learning to reason carefully to get to the truth of what we study together. This may be a bit threatening at first, but over the long haul it will produce a church filled with people who are more secure about what they believe and why. The very forms that define our periods of study together often institutionalize false pride and a lack of intellectual growth. There is absolutely nothing wrong with admitting you do not know something or that you are currently inadequately equipped to think a topic through. What is unacceptable, however, is running from this fact and thereby giving up on intellectual and spiritual growth in the interest of avoiding embarrassment or possible rejection. We all need help in this area, and we should care enough about truth and reason to give that help. Even if we agree with one another’s conclusions, we need to dedicate ourselves for Christ’s sake to refusing to allow each other to reach those conclusions with poor argumentation and sloppy treatment of data. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
Another form of inferiority comes from the simple fact that we are evangelicals. For some time now, our culture had told us that conservative Christians are intellectually inferior, that the Christian faith is irrational, and so forth. And we constantly watch our view caricatured as the news media, hostile university professors, and others regularly build straw humans out of Christians positions and proceed to destroy those straw humans. When a community is repeatedly told that it is ignorant, it will come to believe that message whether or not it is true. Asking them to leave: What should we do about this problem? I think we need to work harder at holding forth and celebrating our past and contemporary Christian thinkers. We need to know who they are. Do you know who the top Christian intellectuals are today in various fields? Are these people and their work placed before our children as examples to be emulated? We do this for Christian sports heroes, missionaries, and public speakers, so why not do it for our intellectuals? The effect of identifying and celebrating our Christian intellectuals before one another cannot be overestimated. Even though the early church was a minority movement that faced intellectual and cultural ridicule and marginalization, it maintained internal cohesion and a courageous witness thanks in no small measure to the powerful role in the broader Christian community of Christian intellectuals and apologist. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
The early church knew who her intellectuals and apologists were, and this gave them confidence and a feeling of strength. In the same way, we must identify, celebrate, utilize, and make role models out of our Christian thinkers. And we need to celebrate the absolutely unequaled history of the intellectual life in the Christian church. If an alternative community of atheists, or anything else can rival the rich culture and intellectual leadership in church history, let someone come forth and demonstrate it. The intellectual life is our heritage as Christians, and it is time to remind ourselves of this. However, if one becomes so dependent that every problem as it arises is at once put before the teacher for solution, the consequence will eventually be an utter helplessness before all problems. The capacities for independent judgment, for taking the initiative, for showing creativeness and forming decisions, will decay and even disappear. Becoming a satellite and revolving around a guru may be beneficial to a human. However, when this revolution become a permanent one, the harm beings, and one will never again be able to move into a fresh orbit and fulfill the evolutionary intention secreted within one’s own being. It is absolutely indispensable for the disciples to learn how to live their own lives. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
The guide must not only be competent to do what one proposes to do, but the disciple also must be qualified to take advantage of it. Rare is the true disciple. It is better to have a few earnest students who willingly work hard for their self-improvement than a mass of students who do nothing more than read books and talk amongst themselves. The kind of student one likes to see, but unfortunately rarely does see, blends a fine moral character with good intelligence and sound practicality, all topped by profound mystical intuition and a proper sense of reverence. Such a one is thoroughly dependable and reliable, one’s words are not mere froth of emotion to be quickly forgotten. When a seeker’s determination to follow the quest become tough enough not to be deviated by adversity or by luxury, one is ready for a teacher. “And it came to pass that when the sixty and second year of the reign of the judges had ended, all these things had happened and the Lamanites had become, the more part of them, a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith. For behold, there were many of the Nephites who had become hardened and impenitent and grossly wicked, insomuch that they did reject the word of God and all the preaching and prophesying which did come among them. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
“Nevertheless, the people of the church did have great joy because of the conversation of the Lamanites, yea, because of the church of God, which had been established among them. And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy. And it came to pass that many of the Lamanites did come down into the land of Zarahemla, and did declare unto the people f the Nephites the manner of their conversation, and did exhort them to faith and repentance. Yea, and many did preach with exceedingly great power and authority, unto the brining down many of them into the depths of humility, to be the humble followers of Go and the Lamb. And it came to pass that many of the Lamanites did go into the land northward; and also Nephi and Lehi went into the land northward, to preach unto the people. And thus ended the sixty and third year. And behold, there was peace in all the land, insomuch that the Nephites did go into whatsoever part of the land they would, whether among the Nephites or the Lamanites. And it came to pas that the Lamanites did also go whithersoever they would, whether it were among the Lamanites or among the Nephites; and thus they did have free intercourse one with another, to buy and sell, and to get gain according to their desire. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
“And it came to pass that they became exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites; and they did have an exceedingly plenty of gold, and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals, both in the land south and in the land north. Now the land south was called Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek, which was after the son of Zedekiah; for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south. And behold, there was all manner of gold in both these lands, and of silver, and of precious ore of every kind; and there were also curious workmen, who did work all kinds f ore and did refine it; and thus they did become rich. They did raise grain in abundance, both in the north and in the south; and they did flourish exceedingly, both in the north and in the south. And they did multiply and wax exceedingly strong in the land. And they did raise many flocks and herds, yea, many fatlings. Behold their women did toil and spin, and did make all manner of cloth, of fine-twined linen and cloth of every kind, to clothe their nakedness. And thus the sixty and fourth year did pass away in peace. And in the sixty and fifth year they did also have great joy and peace, yea, much preaching and many prophecies concerning that which was to come. And thus passed away the sixty and fifth year. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
“And it came to pass that in the sixty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, behold, Cezoram was murdered by an unknown hand as he sat upon the judgment-sea. And it came to pass that in the same year, that his son, who had been appointed by the people in his stead, was also murdered. And thus ended the sixty and sixth year. And in the commencement of the sixty and seventh years the people began to grow exceedingly wicked again. For behold, the Lord had blessed them so long with the riches of the World that they had not been stirred up to anger, to wars, nor to bloodshed; therefore they began to set their hearts upon their riches; yea, they began to seek to get gain that they might be lifted up one above another; therefore they began to commit secret murders, and to rob and to plunder, that they might get gain. And now behold, those murderers and plunderers were a band who had been formed by Kishkumen and Gadianton. And now it had come to pass that there were many even among the Nephites, of Gadianton’s band. However, behold, they were more numerous among the more wicked part of the Lamanites. And they were called Gadianton’s robbers and murderers. And it was they who did murder the chief judge Cezoram, and his son, while in the judgment-seat; and behold, they were not found. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
“And now it came to pass that when the Lamanites found that there were robbers among them they were exceedingly sorrowful; and they did use every means in their power to destroy them off the face of the Earth. However, behold, Satan did stir up the hearts of the more part of the Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with those bands of robbers, and did enter into their covenants and their oaths, that they would protect and preserve one another in whatsoever difficult circumstances they should be places, that they should not suffer for their murders, and their plunderings, and their stealings. And it came to pass that they did have their signs, yea, their secret signs, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered int the covenant, that whatsoever wickedness his brother should do he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who did belong to his band, who had taken this covenant. And thus they might murder, and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness, contrary to the laws of their country and also the laws of their God. And whosoever of those who belonged to their band should reveal unto the World of their wickedness and their abominations, should be tried, not according to the laws of their country, but according to the laws of their wickedness, which had been given by Gadiation and Kishkumen. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“Now behold, it is these secret oaths and covenants which Alma commanded his son should not go forth unto the World, least they should be a means of bringing down the people unto destruction. Now behold, those secret oaths and covenants did not come forth unto Gadiaton from the records which were delivered unto Helaman; but behold, they were put into the heart of Gadianton by that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit—yea, that same being who did plot with Cain, that if he would murder his brother Abel it should not be known unto the World. And he did plot with Cain and his followers from that time forth. And also it is that same being who put it into the hearts of the people to build a tower sufficiently high that they might get to Heaven. And it was that same being who led on the people who came from that tower into this land; who spread the works of darkness and abominations over all the face of the land, until he dragged the people down to an entire destruction, and to an everlasting hell. Yea, it is that same being who put it into the heart of Gadianton to still carry on the work of darkness, and of secret murder; and he has brought it forth from the beginning of humans even down to this time. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“And behold, it is he who is the author of all sin. And behold, he doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder, and doth hand down their plots, and their oath, and their covenants, and their plans of awful wickedness, from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of humans. And now behold, he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites; yea, insomuch that they had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver. And it came to pass that all these iniquities did come unto them in the space of not many years, insomuch that a more part of it had come unto them in the sixty and seventh year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And they did grow in their iniquities in the sixty and eight year also, to the great sorrow and lamentation of the righteous. And thus we see that the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief, and grow in wickedness and abominations, while the Lamanites began to grow exceedingly in the knowledge of their God; yea, they did begin to keep his statutes and commandments, and to walk in truth and uprightness before him. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
“And thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts. And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words. And it came to pass that the Lamanites did hunt the band of robbers of Gadianton; and they did preach the word of God among the more wicked part of them, insomuch that this band of robbers was utterly destroyed from among the Lamanites. And it came to pass on the other hand, that the Nephites did build them up and support them, beginning at the more wicked part of them, until they had overspread all the land of the Nephites, and had seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils, and to join with them in their secret murders and combinations. And thus they did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek, and the humble followers of God. And thus we see that they were in an awful state, and ripening for everlasting destruction. And it came to pass that thus ended the sixty and eighty year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi,” reports Helaman 6.1-41. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
Almighty God and Jesus Christ, over the deeply sounding sea please carry me safely. Part the mists and guide me through. End the chaos, mighty Lord. Protect y people with sword upraised by at my side. All seeing God, may I be just. Lord, father, friend, please keep my feet clearly on the path of the right. King of Heaven, bless my home. Lord, endow me with wisdom. We thank Thee also for the miraculous and mighty deeds of liberation wrought by Thee, and for Thy victories in the battles our forefathers fought in days of old, at this season of the year. In the days f the High Priest Mattathias, son of Johanan, of the Hasmonean family, a tyrannical power rose up against Thy people of Israel to compel them to forsake Thy Torah, and to force them to transgress Thy commandments. In Thine abundant mercy Thou didst stand by them in time of distress. Thou didst rise to their defense and didst vindicate their cause. Thou didst bring retribution upon the evil doers, delivering the strong into the hands of the weak the many into the hands of the few, the wicked into the hands of the just, and the arrogant into the hands of those devoted to Thy Torah. Thou didst thus make Thy greatness and holiness known in Thy World, and didst bring great deliverance to Israel. Then Thy children came into Thy dwelling place, cleansed the Temple, purified the Sanctuary, kindled lights in Thy sacred courts, and they designated these eight days of Hanukkah for giving thanks and praise unto Thy great name. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
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It is a Melancholy Truth that Even Great People Have their Poor Relations!
I have asked you for a moral and spiritual restoration in the land, and give thanks that in Thy sovereignty Thou hast permitted a leader to lead us at this momentous hour of our history. Rules establish a sense of obligation and license as they apply to the microacts of seeing, thinking about, remembering, recognizing, feeling, or display. Consider, for example, the relation of obligation to act: “He will be obligated to precent himself from becoming so swollen with feelings and a readiness to act that he threatens the bounds regarding affect that have been established for him in the interaction.” Or, a gamesman “has a right to deeply involve himself.” Feelings are contributions to interactions via the passive medium of a bodily self. We act behaviorally, not affectively. The system affects our behaviour, not our feelings. Institutions—such as corporations control us not simply through their surveillance of our behaviour but through surveillance of our feelings. People actively manage feelings in order to make their personalities fit for public-contact work. Emotions signal messages to the individual. Anxiety signals the presence of a danger from within or outside the individual. It is a means by which the individual told of an apprehended danger. Similarly, other emotional states such as joy, sadness, and jealousy—can be seen as the senders of signals about the way of apprehending the inner and outer environment. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
What we see is known to be mediated through our notions of what we expect to see. Prior expectations are part and parcel of what we see, and in the same way they are part of what we feel. This idea of prior expectation implies the existence of a prior self that does the expecting. For example, when we feel afraid, the fear signals danger. The realization of danger impinges on our sense of a self that is there to be endangered, a self we expect to persist in a relatively continuous way. Without this prior expectation of a continuous self, information about danger would be signaled in fundamentally different ways. Most of us maintain a prior expectation of a continuous self, but the character of the self we expect to maintain is subject to profoundly social influence. Insofar as our self and all we expect is social—as by the time of adulthood it inevitably is—the way emotion signals messages to us is also influenced by social factors. Mechanisms of defense are ways of altering the relation of expectation to grasped facts as well as ways of altering each in itself in order to avoid pain. Feelings signals not only a newly apprehended reality (outer or inner) but what that reality impinges upon—our prior self and expectations. Feeling signals perception and expectations to us, and turning this around, different patterns of perception and expectation correspond to different feeling names. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
Since culture directs our seeing and expecting, it directs our feeling and our naming of feeling. In sadness, I am focusing of what I love, like, or want and also on the fact that it is not available to me. I do not focus on what has caused the loss or absence nor on my relation to the cause of the loss. I do focus on my relationship to the loved object. In nostalgia, the focal points are the same but the focus on the love or liking is stronger than the focus on what is gone, which adds sweetness to the bitterness of plain grief. In frustration, the focus is not on what I want that I do not have but on the self in this state of not having; the focus is on my not having rather than on the wanted thing. When we focus on the desirable qualities of a person or thing and on our closeness to one, or it, we call it love. When we focus on the desirable qualities of the person in light of some attention to social distance, we call it admiration. In awe, we take not of much greater social distance. As with all emotion, it is not that awe is a compound of entities in the sense that chemicals are compounds. What is combined are particular twists and turns of moment-to-moment noticings that lend context to seeing. As in the case of all emotions, too, what is noted is expected as relevant to the self. The emotion tells exactly how. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
So long as I live my identity-for-myself, I experience my action as my very existence in the situation. My technique is simply what I am see doing as I pursue my projects. One’s intent to insert oneself into the social system with the status, responsibilities, and privileges is serious; that one is willing to undergo sacrifices in order to gain qualifications; that one is trying to learn from one’s predecessors. However, there is a limit to this learning. That is why many people become skilled at impersonating commitment. In time, their charade is discovered. The time to become self-conscious and to reflect upon one’s praxis is when it fails to yield hoped-for outcomes. However, so longas one is seriously addressing one’s task, one is a unified being; and effective action will emerge spontaneously, through trial-and-error in thought or deed. Humans learn as they pursue goals and project that have meaning for one. One is always learning something. Perhaps the key to the problem of independent learning lies in the phrase, “the leaner has the need and the capacity to assume responsibility for one’s own continuing learning.” It may well be that those who train young people in the ways of their group (a most necessary task) have overshot the mark; they have trained youngsters to believe that they cannot, dare not, learn anything without a trainer close at hand. The only safe and good learning is learning-for-the-trainer. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
And the youngster, being human, independently learned something meaningful to them; namely, that it is dangerous or futile to become interested in something, to learn for oneself. It is only safe to learn for the teacher’s or for society’s approval. One set of image-molders, the teachers, have been commissioned by social leaders to shape youngsters to the acquiescent mode. They implement this commission by invalidating a child’s experience of spontaneous curiosity and fascination with aspects of the World. They insist one learn only when and what one is taught. One must learn for others. The teachers and parents have robbed children of their autonomy—their capacity to experience amazement, wonder, and fascination—by invalidating it whenever it appears. Then, they look at their product and find it wanting; they produced a Golem, a humanoid, a “dependent learner.” Now we are asked to breathe life into it. We are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Children must be shown the ways of their group; they must be taught and trained. However, they must also be able to transcend this training and learn for themselves, if they are to experience their lives as meaningful, and if the society in which they live is to grow and change. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
The question is, how is it possible to reconcile the contradiction between teaching children for society and letting them learn for themselves, such that children can serve their society without loss of freedom and capacity to go beyond what they have been taught? This is the same problem, writ large, that every serious teacher—of piano, of art, of psychotherapy, business and economic, or even teaching—faces: how can one teach a pupil in the fundamental techniques of this art without producing a mere technician? In any of these arts, we wish the learner to commit himself, to be willing to struggle for objectives beyond mastery of exercises and technique (learning experienced as “for-the-teacher”) and even beyond current goals. We hope one will seek to make actual one’s own image (not one’s teacher’s image) of beautiful music, pictures, healthy personalities, or independent leaners. If the teacher has been effective, one will have shown one’s pupil that techniques are no more than a beginner’s set of tools, to be used up to the point that an impasse is reached. Then, true artist, the involved therapist, the committed teacher (committed to one’s own image of ultimate goals, not means), gropes and leaps into the unknown, exercising that courage that is not devoid of fear and trembling, to invent or discover new means to further one’s project of actualizing the image. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
If the old versions of ultimate goals have lost meaning, the pupil will envision new embodiments of them. Our inference can be either immediate—a sudden intuition—or a result of longer reflection. In the latter case, the inner clue is really our memory of a feeling, and here culture may influence how we remember. Some people tend to upgrade feeling in retrospect, to remember feeling happier than they actually did at the time, whereas others downgrade feeling in retrospect. When we use our feelings as a clue to outer reality, we seem to presuppose certain things, namely, that emotion provides information about what we expect and desire, and about what we see our imagine as a new reality. Thus, emotion functions as a prism through which we may reconstruct what is often invisible or unconscious—what we must have wished, must have expected, must have seen or imagined to be true in the situation. From the colours of the prism we infer back what must have been behind and within it. “I did not know she cared so deeply,” and “I did not know the situation was that bad,” are various of reality that we infer from feeling. In addition we may “ride over” a feeling (such as a nagging sense of depression) in the attempt to feel cheerful. When we meet an inward resistance, we “put on” the cheer. When we meet no inward resistance we amplify a feeling: we “put it out.” #Randolphharris 7 of 23
However, neurotic troubles will soon follow upon an attempt at self-repression; for example, a neurosis will soon avenger her upon the unloved husband and cause him just as much unpleasantness and sorrow as the real truth would cause him had he known. Modern conditions created a moral imagination which could define inauthenticity as a problem, for among so many prejudices and false passions, it is necessary to know how to analyze the human heart and to disentangle the true feelings of nature. The intensity of pleasure or the enjoyment which indicates well-being is the intensity of pure sensation; and that while the intensity of such sensations can be experienced and known by the subject, it is impossible for others to know it or to infer it with reasonable certainty. If we can decide whether a change in the basic structure makes one better or worse off, we can determine one’s best situation to another. The primary social goods, to give them in broad categories, are rights and liberties, opportunities and powers, income and wealth. (A very important primary good is a sense of one’s own worth.) It seems evident that in general these things fit the description of primary goods. They are social goods in view of their connection with the basic structure; liberties and powers are defined by the rules of major institutions and the distribution of income and wealth is regulated by them. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
A person’s good is determined by what is for one the most rational long-term plan of life given reasonably favourable circumstances. A person is happy when one is more or less successfully in the way of carrying out this plan. The good is the satisfaction of rational desire. We are to suppose, then, that each individual has a rational plan of life drawn up subject to the conditions that confront one. This plan is designed to permit the harmonious satisfaction of one’s interest. It schedules activities so that various desires can be fulfilled without interference. It is arrived at by rejecting other plans that are either less likely to success or do not provide for such an inclusive attainment of aims. Given the alternatives available, a rational plan is one which cannot be improved upon; there is no other plan which, taking everything into account, would be preferable. It is assumed that the members of society are rational persons able to adjust their conceptions of the good to their situation. There is no necessity to compare the worth of the conceptions of different persons once it is supposed they are compatible with the principles of justice. Everyone is assured an equal liberty to pursue whatever plan of life one pleases as long as it does not violate what justice demands. People share in primary goods on the principle that someone can have more if they are acquired in ways which improve the situation of those who have less. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
Once the whole arrangement is set up and going on questions are asked about the total of satisfactions or perfections, things work themselves out according to the principles that would be chosen in the original position. On this concept of social justice, then, expectations are defined as the index of primary goods that a representative being can reasonably look forward to. A person’s prospects are improved when one can anticipate a preferred collection of these goods. We learn thence the great force of custom and education, which would mould the human mind from its infancy, and form it into a fixed and established character. Is the behaviour and conduct of one gender very unlike that of the other? It is thence we become acquainted with the different characters, which nature has impressed upon the genders, and which she preserves with constancy and regularity. Are the actions of the same person much diversified in the different periods of one’s life, from infancy to old age? This affords room for many general observations concerning the gradual change of our sentiments and inclinations, and the different maxims, which prevail in the different ages of human creatures. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Even the characters, which are peculiar to each individual, have a uniformity in their influence; otherwise our acquaintance with the persons and our observations of their conduct, could never teach us their dispositions, or serve to direct our behaviour with regard to them. One day, driving back to the office from an appointment, I was grappling with some difficult circumstances in my life and feeling a bit sorry for myself. However, as I drive, I tried to focus my mind on some portions of Scripture and reflect on them rather than on my problems. As I did this, I thought of Colossians 3.12-14, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” When reflecting on this passage, my mind goes directly to the character traits we are to put on: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love. I had never paid attention to the apostle Paul’s introductory phrase: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” To me Paul was saying nothing more than, “Since you are Christians, act like Christians.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
Behaving like good Christians is our duty, the traits of Christ’s character we should seek after. However, that day the Holy Spirit caused my mind to focus on the two words “dearly loved.” It was as if He said to me, “William, you are feeling sorry for yourself; but the truth is, you are dearly loved by God.” Dearly loved by God—what an incredible thought! However, it is true, and that afternoon the Holy Spirit drove home to my heart the wonderful truth with such force that my self-pity was completely dispelled. Pity. The phrase “take pity” came into common use with the establishment of the Christian church. The church, in turn, came to power in an age known for extreme differences in wealth and generally brutalizing conditions of life. There were, in addition, communal ties between people who were in dire need—widows, orphans, the elderly—and people who could “take pity” and provide for them. Now that almsgiving has been bureaucratized so that giver and receiver remain unknown to each other, the perceptual focus that corresponds to pity is less common. As certain social conditions, habits of seeing, and namable feelings fade from a culture, others enter. I continued on to our office rejoicing in the fact that, despite my difficult circumstances, I was dearly loved by God. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
Of course, the main thrust of Paul’s teaching in this passage is that we are to clothe ourselves with Christlike virtues, what I call “garments of grace.” However, he grounds is exhortation on the grace of God—on the fact that we are chosen by Him, holy in His sight, and dearly loved by Him. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, for us to show compassion or patience to someone else if we are not sure God is patient with us—or, worse, if we do not sense the need for God is to be patient with us. So these garments of gracious Christian character can only be put on by those who are consciously experiencing God’s grace in their own lives. Having experience God’s grace, we are then called on to extend that grace to others. The evidence of whether we are living by His grace is to be found in the way we treat other people. If we see ourselves as sinners and totally unworthy in ourselves of God’s compassion, patience, and forgiveness, then we will want to be gracious to others. God’s grace is indeed meant to be transforming grace. As Paul said in Titus 2.11-12, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all humans. It teaches us to say, ‘No’ to ungodliness and Worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and Godly lives in this present age.” #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
The grace of God bring salvation, not only from guilt and condemnation of sin, but also from the reign of sin in our lives. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodly character traits, but also to say “Yes” to Godly character traits. God’s grace teaches us to clothe ourselves with “garments of grace.” Paul listed eight different character traits in Colossians 3.12-14 with which we are to clothe ourselves. I did a detailed study on most of these traits, as well as others, and these five traits are particularly related to grace: gratitude, contentment, humility, forbearance, and forgiveness. “And it came to pass that in this same year, behold, Nephi delivered up the judgment-seat to a man whose name was Cezoram. For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction., for the laws had become corrupted. Yea, and this was not all; they were a stiffnecked people, insomuch that they could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were to their destruction. And it came to pass that Nephi had become weary because of their iniquity; and he yielded up the judgment-seat, and took it upon him to preach the word of God all the remainder of his day, and his brother Lehi also, all the remainder of his day. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
“For they remembered the word which their father Helaman spake unto them. And these are the words which he spake: Behold, my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people these words. Behold, I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them ye may remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good. Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it maybe said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them. And now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is, that ye may not do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in Heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away; yea, that ye may have that precious gift of eternal life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers. O Remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby humans can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the World. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
“And remember also the word which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them from their sins. And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls. And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if humans build they cannot fall. And it came to pass that these were the words which Helaman taught to his sons; yea, he did teach them many things which are not written, and also many things which are written. And they did remember his words; and therefore they went forth, keeping the commandments of God, to teach the word of God among all the people of Nephi, beginning at the city of Bountiful. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
“And from thenceforth to the city of Gid; and from the city of Gid to the city of Mulek; and even from one city to another, until they had gone forth among all the people of Nephi who were in the land southward; and from thence into the land of Zarahemla, among the Lamanites. And it came to pass that they did preach with great power, insomuch that they did confound many of those dissenters who had gone over from the Nephites, insomuch that they came forth and did confess their sins and were baptized unto repentance, and immediately returned to the Nephites, insomuch that they came forth and did confess their sins and were baptized unto repentance, and immediately returned to the Nephites to endeavour to repair unto them the wrongs which they had done. And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did preach unto the Lamanites with such great power and authority, for they had power and authority given unto them that they might speak, and they also had what they should speak given unto them. Therefore they did speak unto the great astonishment of the Lamanites, to the convincing them, insomuch that there were eight thousand of the Lamanites who were in the land of Zarahemla and round about baptized unto repentance, and were convinced of the wickedness of the traditions of their fathers. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
“And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did proceed from thence to go to the land of Nephi. And it came to pass that they were taken by an army of the Lamanites and cast into prison; yea, even in that same prison in which Ammon and his brethren were cast by the servants Limhi. And after they had been cast into prison many days without food, behold, they went forth into the prison to take them that they might slay them. And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi were encircled about as if by fire, even insomuch that they durst not lay their hands upon them for fear lest they should be burned. Nevertheless, Nephi and Lehi were not burned; and they were as standing in the midst of fire and were not burned. And when they saw that they were encircled about with a pillar of fire, and that it burned them not, their hearts did take courage. For they saw that the Lamanites durst not lay their hands upon them, but stood as if they were struck dumb with amazement. And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did stand forth and began to speak unto them, saying: Fear not, for behold, it is God that has shown unto you this marvelous thing, in the which is shown unto you that ye cannot lay your hands on us to slay us. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
“And behold, when they had said these words, the Earth shook exceedingly, and the walls of the prison did shake as if they were about to tumble to the Earth; but behold, they did not fall. And behold, they that were in prison were Lamanites and Nephites who were dissenters. And it came to pass that they were overshadowed with a cloud of darkness, and an awful solemn fear came upon them. And it came to pass that there came a voice as if it were above the cloud of darkness, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, and seek no more to destroy my servants whom I have sent unto you to dealer good tidings. And it came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul—and notwithstanding the mildness of the voice, behold the Earth shook exceedingly, and the walls of the prison trembled again, as if it were about to tumble to the Earth; and behold the could of darkness, which had overshadowed them, and did not disperse—and behold the voice came again, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; and seek no more to destroy my servants. And it came to pass that the Earth shook again, and the walls trembled. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
“And also again the third time the voice came, and did speak unto them marvelous words which cannot be uttered by man; and the walls did tremble again, and the Earth shook as if it were about to divide asunder. And it cam to pass that the Lamanites could not flee because of the cloud of darkness which did overshadow them; yea, and also they were immovable because of the fear which did come upon them. Now there was one among them who was a Nephite by birth, who had once belonged to the church of God but had dissented from them. And it came to pass that he turned him about, and behold, he saw through the cloud of darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi; and behold, they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels. And he behold that they did lift their eyes to Heaven; and they were in the attitude as if talking or lifting their voices to some being whom they beheld. And it came to pass that this man did cry unto the multitude, that they might turn and look. And behold, there was power given unto them that they did turn and look; and they did behold the faces of Nephi and Lehi. And they said unto the man: Behold, what do all these things mean, and who is it with whom these men do converse? Now that man’s name was Aminadab. And Aminadab said unto them: They do converse with the angels of God. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
“And it came to pass that the Lamanites said unto him: What shall we do, that this could of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us? And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall be removed from overshadowing us? And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you. And it came to pass that they did begin to cry unto the voice of him who had shaken the Earth; yea, they did cry even until the cloud of darkness was dispersed. And it came to pass that when they cast their eyes about, and saw that the cloud of darkness was dispersed from overshadowing them, behold, they saw that they were encircled about, every soul, by a pillar of fire. And Nephi and Lehi were in the midst of them; yea, they were encircled about; yea, they were as if in the midst of a flaming fire, yet if did harm them not, neither did it take hold upon the walls of the prison; and they were filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
“And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from Heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words. And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying: Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the World. And now, when they heard this they cast up their eyes as if to behold from whence the voice came; and behold, they saw the Heavens open; and angels came down out of Heaven and ministered unto them. And there were about three hundred souls who saw and heard these things; and they were bidden to go forth and marvel not, neither should they doubt. And it came to pass that they did go forth, and did minister unto the people, declaring throughout all the regions round about all the things which they had heard and seen, insomuch that the more part of the Lamanites were convinced of them, because of the greatness of the evidences which they had received. And as many as were convinced did lay down their weapons of war, and also their hatred and the tradition of their fathers. And it came to pass that they did yield up unto the Nephites the lands of their possession,” reports Helaman 5.1-52. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
May I descend with God, may I rise with God. God Whose wings support all beings, please by my help, please by my supporter. I call on you Father, Lord, King, Almighty, Most High. God, best and greatest, please rule in splendor. Love’s dear patron, handsome king. Bright shield, bright spear, bright God, please come. May no act of mind disturb your feather. Our God and God of our fathers, may our remembrance and the remembrance of our forefathers come before Thee. Remember the Messiah of the house of David, Thy servant, and Jerusalem, Thy holy city, and all Thy people, the house of Israel. Please grant us deliverance and well being, lovingkindness, life and peace on this day of On Rosh Hodesh say (the New Moon), On Pesah say (the Feast of Unleavened Bread), On Sukkot say: (the Feast of Tabernacles). Remember us this say, O Lord our God, for our good, and please be mindful of us for a life of blessing. With Thy promise of salvation and mercy, please deliver us and be gracious unto us, have compassion upon us and save us. Unto Thee do we lift our eyes for Thou art a gracious and merciful God and King. O may our eyes witness They return to Zion. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who restores Thy divine presence unto Zion. We thankfully acknowledge Thee, O Lord our God, or fathers’ God to all eternity. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
Cresleigh Homes
What is even better than a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf stocked with books? A coffee table that can hold even more. 😉
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A Cresleigh Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong, and happiness never ends.
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Randolph Harris II International Institute 